Chapter 461

Ye Liuyun spent the coming time cultivating inside the Xuan Kong Stone.

After five days, he had already been inside the Xuan Kong Stone for fifty days, and even he could no longer stand staying there.

When he emerged, his cultivation had broken through to the third level of the Heavenly Gang Realm and had stabilized at the mid-stage of that level.

The Nine Dragon River Mountain Cauldron and the Nine Dragons Mountain-flipping Seal would take at least another five days to retrieve.

Ye Liuyun, having nothing to do, began to study the set of Hunting Demon Armor and Hunting Demon Bow.

The Hunting Demon Armor, he could wear it now, but its defensive power was only equivalent to a venerable-tier treasure, which was of little use to him.

The Hunting Demon Bow, with his current Heavenly Gang third-level cultivation, he could only draw it a quarter of the way, not even able to nock a True Essence arrow.

"What a pity! To see treasures and not be able to use them." Ye Liuyun silently put the set away, only able to wait until later to use it.

The people around Ye Liuyun were also bored from staying in the Dragon Palace. He thought, since he was idle anyway, he would spar with them one by one to practice his techniques, and at the same time learn about their cultivation progress and combat experience.

Finally, after waiting, his treasures were returned. When Piao Yun delivered Ye Liuyun's two venerable-tier treasures back, everyone cheered together. These past days, they had all been thoroughly abused by Ye Liuyun.

Ye Liuyun gave the Nine Dragons Mountain-flipping Seal directly to Lei Ming, letting him refine it and then practice using it. Ye Liuyun himself first began to concoct pills.

After a period without making pills, in one furnace he produced ten Heavenly Origin Pills: only two reached the upper grade of the Saint tier, while four were middle grade and four were lower grade.

"Not too bad to accept, after all I haven't made pills for so long."

He comforted himself, then continued making pills. He made some more Heavenly Origin Pills, then specially refined a portion of Saint Origin Pills for Yu Er and Ru Yue. Finally he made some healing pills. He basically reached the supreme grade of the Saint tier, so he stopped trying harder.

After all, he didn't make a living from pill concoction; roughly this amount was enough.

Everything was ready. "Let's go, take you out for a walk! Outside there are many people waiting to assassinate me; we can't keep them waiting forever, we should go out and move around."

Ye Liuyun's words instantly ignited everyone's enthusiasm, especially the Ninth Princess, who clapped her hands and jumped up.

Lei Ming also immediately transformed into beast form and crouched on Ye Liuyun's shoulder. To her, going out meant raiding, which would bring more cultivation resources and barbecued meat.

Ye Liuyun also summoned Piao Yun, and together with everyone, they swaggered out of the Iron Eagle Sect headquarters.

He knew someone was secretly watching him, and that was exactly the effect he wanted. He wanted to confront those assassins directly, then wipe out the entire assassin organization, and then take revenge on those who paid to have him killed.

He wanted everyone to know that dealing with him would come at a great cost.

Some scouts monitoring Ye Liuyun from outside, seeing him finally emerge, instantly became active, pulling out Transmission Talismans to send word, then tightly followed Ye Liuyun and the others.

Ye Liuyun led the group, not far before arriving at a prefectural city. He brought everyone straight to a tavern to have a hearty meal.

People at their cultivation level can go a long time without food, relying on True Essence to sustain the body's needed energy. Yet the pleasure of eating is still necessary. Since his last meal of barbecued meat with Lei Ming, he had gone this long without eating anything.

Although only a little over ten days had passed outside, inside the Xuan Kong Stone he had already cultivated for fifty days.

Lei Ming and the Ninth Princess both liked this bustle; upon entering the city, they bought whatever tasty or fun things they saw. Ye Liuyun let them do as they pleased.

Ye Liuyun's Divine Sense already sensed that inside the tavern, many Heavenly Gang Realm experts had arrived, clearly following him and his group. Some sat together in private rooms, while others gathered at scattered tables outside, waiting for Ye Liuyun.

Wu Qingcheng discussed with Ye Liuyun: "These people out in the open don't look like assassins; their killing intent is too obvious."

Ye Liuyun also nodded. "The real assassins haven't shown up yet. Never mind them, let's eat first!"

Immediately, they ordered many dishes, then began talking and laughing while eating and chatting. Each time the tavern served a dish, Ye Liuyun tasted it first to ensure it was safe before letting everyone eat.

They were enjoying their meal when suddenly an argument broke out outside the private room.

The group sitting next to Ye Liuyun's private room could wait no longer. They grabbed a passing young man, deliberately provoked him, and flung him toward the door of Ye Liuyun's private room.

As soon as they made a move, more people drew their weapons and rushed here to kill.

"They don't want us to have a peaceful meal!" the Ninth Princess complained, drew her treasure sword, and was the first to charge forward.

Then Lei Ming, Piao Yun, and the others also rushed out to fight. Only Ye Liuyun and Wu Qingcheng remained, exchanging a smile, after which Wu Qingcheng also followed them out.

Outside, a clamor of fighting had already erupted, with shouts rising in confusion.

Inside the private room, the young man who had just been flung in, bruised and swollen, now cowered to one side, stunned.

"This… this has nothing to do with me! They deliberately shoved me in." the young man stammered, explaining timidly.

"Hmm, I know." Ye Liuyun glanced at him and paid no further attention.

Not long after, the tavern could not withstand the aftershocks of so many experts' attacks, and signs of collapse began to appear.

"Ah!" The young man who had just been cowering, not daring to move, now clutched his head and fled in panic, risking danger to run outside. Ye Liuyun sat not far from the door; if he wanted to escape from here, he would certainly have to pass by Ye Liuyun's side.

Ye Liuyun looked at him with a half-smile. Just as the young man passed by Ye Liuyun's side, a black dagger appeared in his hand at some unknown time, now thrusting toward Ye Liuyun.

At the moment the dagger would have struck Ye Liuyun, the young man's killing intent finally burst forth—but then he froze.

He felt that his dagger had not actually struck Ye Liuyun; it seemed to have hit only air.

In that instant of his stunned pause, his soul was directly pulled into Ye Liuyun's soul domain, while Ye Liuyun appeared behind him.

Actually, while they were arguing outside, Wu Qingcheng had already suspected this young man was an assassin. After he was flung in, although he looked disheveled, the instant he landed, Ye Liuyun and Wu Qingcheng could tell his landing was extremely light.

Ye Liuyun's Golden Pupil had also long seen that he was using True Essence to protect his vital points, suffering only superficial wounds. So Ye Liuyun had been on guard against him all along.

As he passed Ye Liuyun's side, the moment the dagger appeared in his hand, Ye Liuyun's Golden Pupil detected it and immediately vanished into the void; thus what he struck was Ye Liuyun's illusion.

At this moment, Ye Liuyun had already examined his soul and found him to be a hired assassin, also unaware of the whereabouts of Blood Hand. Keeping him was useless, so Ye Liuyun directly devoured his soul.