Chapter 228

The best way was naturally to nip it in the bud, but there was no longer an opportunity to kill the two of them.

He returned to the Profound Heaven Sect without any further accidents, showed his waist token, and successfully entered the mountain gate.

Xu Yang circulated his energy to make his face look pale and his breath unstable, even forcing a few drops of blood from the corner of his mouth.

Just as he was thinking about who to report the events at the foot of the mountain to, he happened to see Deacon Zhao Qing.

He ran over quickly and said: "Reporting to Deacon Zhao, when this disciple returned from the foot of the mountain, I encountered a group of men in black besieging four fellow disciples, including Qin Ze and Liu Qian; this disciple was severely injured and dared not save them, so I implore the Deacon to send people to rescue them."

Zhao Qing was expressionless: "Leaving the mountain gate without cause, you deserve to die if you get killed, get out of my sight."

Xu Yang's face was full of fear, and he said: "Yes, yes, this disciple was meddling in other people's business."

Although he had anticipated this result, hearing Zhao Qing be so cold-blooded still made him feel a sense of desolation.

Because this was not directed at Qin Ze and the others, but at all outer sect disciples; they simply did not take outer sect disciples seriously.

If one day he encountered the same situation as Qin Ze and the others, the Profound Heaven Sect would also not care whether he lived or died.

"This is raising poisonous insects!"

It was also mainly because there were too many people; with hundreds or thousands of outer sect disciples, if they sent people to rescue everyone who got into trouble, they would probably be too busy to handle it all day.

Xu Yang walked for a while and met a disciple from the Spirit Monkey Fist Hall, immediately informing him of the situation with Qin Ze and the others.

Whether the other party would find people to rescue them was not something he could concern himself with.

He did all this just to prevent Liu Qian and Qin Ze from returning alive, having fulfilled his earlier request for help; even if the sect investigated, he had not stood by and watched them die.

The disciple from the Spirit Monkey Fist Hall had his face change drastically, thanked Xu Yang, and hurried off to find people for rescue.

Xu Yang shook his head secretly; if Liu Qian and Qin Ze had not escaped, going down the mountain now would only be to collect their corpses, and if they had escaped, they would be able to return without needing rescue.

Stepping into the courtyard again, he saw that most of the people were there.

Jiang Fan, Sun Tao, Jiang Ping, and Wan Hai were gathered together chatting.

Seeing Jiang Ping, Xu Yang was greatly surprised; he hadn't seen Jiang Ping, Zhang Yong, and Zhao Zhifei since they were arranged by the Sharp Wind Hall to go to the Yunling Mountain Range to capture exotic beast cubs, and he had thought they wouldn't be coming back.

"Junior Brother Xu, you're back?" Sun Tao stood up with a smile.

Xu Yang hadn't returned for over a month, and they were afraid that one day they would hear the news of Xu Yang dying in Qingyang City.

Xu Yang cupped his hands: "Greetings, Senior Brother Sun."

Immediately after, he nodded to Jiang Fan and the others, considering it a greeting.

"I heard that Junior Brother performed a meritorious deed by slaying the leader of the Iron Eagle Gang, Liu San, at the Hundred Medicine Hall and was rewarded by Deacon Zhao; this is a joyous and congratulatory event." Sun Tao smiled.

Only then did Xu Yang know that what happened in Qingyang City had already spread back to the Profound Heaven Sect.

Xu Yang shook his head: "I was just lucky; that person thought I was at the Qi Gathering Realm and was caught off guard, allowing me to kill him with a sneak attack; otherwise, I might have already been finished at the Hundred Medicine Hall."

He tried his best to hide his true strength.

"Junior Brother Xu is a lucky person with his own destiny." Jiang Ping said.

For a moment, Xu Yang was still a bit unaccustomed to him speaking so kindly to him; in the past, Jiang Ping would have likely said he was just lucky to have performed a meritorious deed.

Jiang Ping sighed and said: "Zhang Yong and I almost didn't make it back this time..."

After some conversation, Xu Yang learned that many people had died during their trip into the Yunling Mountain Range to capture exotic beast cubs, and the team leader, Yun Feng, had almost lost his life.

Zhao Zhifei, who had always looked down on those from humble backgrounds, became food for the exotic beasts and died in the Yunling Mountain Range, becoming the first to die among the six Dragon-Ascending disciples of the Weiyuan Hall.

Zhang Yong and Jiang Ping also had a narrow escape from death, luckily practicing Qi into Gang, and were now at the Gang Qi Realm, which could be considered a blessing in disguise.

"How cruel!" Xu Yang also felt some emotion.

Having been at the Profound Heaven Sect for nearly half a year, twenty or thirty of the Dragon-Ascending disciples of their batch should have already died.

"Guo Jian is also dead." Sun Tao said.

Xu Yang showed a look of surprise.

Guo Jian was one of the nine people living in this courtyard, and he had no friendship with him, not even having spoken a few words, so he hadn't expected him to be dead too.

In the courtyard, everyone's expression was not good, and even the two old disciples, Wan Hai and Xu Cheng, were silent for a while.

"Big news, something big has happened."

Just at this moment, Zhang Yong walked in from outside.

Seeing Xu Yang, he subconsciously paused his steps, revealed a smile, and said: "Eh, you're back?"

Xu Yang nodded gently and asked curiously: "What happened?"

Zhang Yong revealed a serious expression: "Just now, Qin Ze and Liu Qian returned to the sect severely injured; it is said that they were intercepted and killed while returning from the auction at the Myriad Treasure Pavilion, and the two of them luckily escaped back, while Yue Gui and Chen Jiang are both dead."

Neither of them had died!

Xu Yang felt disappointed in his heart.

Sun Tao was greatly shocked: "Yue Gui and Chen Jiang are both dead?"

When they were in Qingyuan, these two were very famous geniuses, especially Yue Gui, who had comprehended hidden force at the Qi Gathering Realm, and his reputation was no smaller than Han Xing's, making him a powerful expert with the potential to challenge the top three; he hadn't expected him to die after just one trip down the mountain.

Immediately after, he sneered: "Good riddance; the retribution for betraying Junior Brother Xu has finally arrived."

Zhang Yong's expression was unnatural; he could also be considered to have betrayed Xu Yang, and now being pitted against by the Sharp Wind Hall, wasn't that also retribution?

If he had followed Xu Yang's path all along, although it might have been bumpier, he would definitely not have ended up with his life in someone else's hands like this.

"Han Xing and Yue Gui are both dead; how are we supposed to survive?" Jiang Ping felt a chill down his spine.

It had been less than half a year, and of the sixty geniuses who ascended the dragon in Qingyuan County, there were now fewer than fifty left.

Three years later, would ten of these sixty people be alive?

Just at this moment, a commotion came from outside the courtyard, and they saw Liu Qian and Qin Ze walk in with blood-stained robes, cupping their hands and saying: "Many thanks, Brother Xu."

Xu Yang was a bit helpless; was it really his request for help that saved them? So they came to thank him, or were they just coming to show an attitude, telling him that they would not hold a grudge for his refusal to save them?

Or perhaps, they were coming to tell him that they had returned alive, so he should just wait and see.

Keeping his composure, he cupped his hands and said: "It was your own good fortune; I only did something insignificant."

"We are both injured, we will thank Brother Xu again later."

Qin Ze and Liu Qian left quickly.

Sun Tao asked curiously: "Junior Brother Xu, why did they come to thank you?"

Xu Yang said: "When I returned, I happened to encounter them being besieged, but I had also encountered a strong enemy and was injured, so I was unable to intervene to save them; when I reached the mountain gate, I told the people from the Spirit Monkey Fist Hall about this, and they went down the mountain to rescue them; they should be thanking me for that."

Sun Tao was greatly shocked: "You were injured? Why is it so chaotic at the foot of the mountain, and how could someone attack you?"

Only then did he notice that Xu Yang's complexion was a bit abnormal and there were some bloodstains on his body.

Xu Yang smiled bitterly: "Like them, I also went to participate in the Myriad Treasure Pavilion auction, so naturally I was also targeted; you all should be careful if you participate in the Myriad Treasure Pavilion auction in the future."

"How are your injuries, do you need help?" Zhang Yong said.

Xu Yang shook his head: "I'll recover in a few days; my internal organs were not injured."

Sun Tao sighed: "Junior Brother Xu is truly of noble character, returning good for evil; Qin Ze and the others are so despicable, yet you still helped them fetch reinforcements; if it were me, I wouldn't care if they lived or died, and not kicking them while they were down would be considered good enough."

Except for him praising Xu Yang's character, everyone else had an expression of "you actually saved those who backstabbed you."

Xu Yang said solemnly: "Senior Brother, one thing is one thing; others are heartless, but I cannot be unrighteous; after all, we were fellow disciples, and it was just a matter of passing on a message; refusing to save them would be going too far.

If I hadn't been injured and could have intervened, perhaps Yue Gui and Chen Jiang wouldn't have had to die."

Sun Tao looked ashamed, as he had actually ended up needing his Junior Brother to teach him how to conduct himself.

Jiang Ping looked regretful, thinking he was truly blind; he didn't befriend someone as righteous as Xu Yang, but instead befriended heartless wretches like Lu Ren and Gu Hao.

Zhang Yong also regretted his past actions.

"I'm going to heal my injuries, you all chat, Senior Brother Sun."

Finding an excuse, Xu Yang returned to his room, locked the door, and took out all his gains to start counting.

The silver notes obtained from Yue Gui amounted to nearly six hundred taels.

The silver notes on the two men added up to nearly four hundred taels, totaling nearly one thousand taels of silver, plus a blade worth three hundred taels, a secret manual, and a bottle of pills.

Xu Yang opened it and found that it was a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills, totaling five, worth fifty taels.

Excluding the secret manual, the gains exceeded thirteen hundred taels of silver, which could be considered his biggest haul yet.

He couldn't help but beam with joy; with these gains, he wouldn't have to worry about money for a while and could continue to cultivate with the Eight Treasures Body-Strengthening Pill.

He couldn't be bothered to sell these Qi-Nourishing Pills, so he immediately swallowed one, his Gang Qi slowly dissolving the medicinal power, and took out the secret manual.

"Blazing Sun Gang Blade, this is a Gang Qi cultivation method!"

Just by reading the opening, Xu Yang couldn't help but feel a burst of wild joy.

He had been practicing Qi into Gang for over two months, but in battle, he had always used martial arts of the True Qi Realm; he had long wanted to obtain a Gang Qi martial art.

He had originally thought he would have to wait until the Hundred Medicine Hall mission ended and settle his contribution points before he could exchange for a Gang Qi martial art; he hadn't expected to obtain it in this way, and it was even a weapon martial art he had yet to obtain.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he continued to watch.

The Blazing Sun Gang Blade had three realms, the first being Qi Gathering into Blade.

Using a special mental method to infuse Gang Qi into the blade edge, forming a blade glow, achieving the effect of enhancing the blade's power, capable of cutting iron like mud and breaking through Gang Qi and armor.