Nine Astra Skies

Ye Chen signaled the Flying Dagger within his mind, and with a roar, the Celestial Chi inside of him swirled into a violent current before it circulated in three distinct elemental cultivation systems simultaneously.

Primordial Thunder Body!

At his behest, a golden aura of light layered itself on Ye Chen's skin. Staring at Ye Moyang with determination etched in his eyes, Ye Chen remarked silently, 'I wouldn't be so smugly certain if I were you!'

"Oh, the Primordial Thunder Body Technique, huh? So what? Do you honestly think that you'll be able to eclipse the rift between a mere Sixth Stage and the peak of Seventh Stage? Well, I'm more than ecstatic to teach you a lesson on the meaning of power discrepancies!" Ye Moyang snarled coldly. His attack was not showing any signs of slowing down as his talon-like hand clawed at Ye Chen's chest.

The Chi Venom in Ye Moyang's hand gushed out of his skin as he charged towards Ye Chen. Even if he survived this fatal attack, he would still be barely alive!

The subtle difference between what Ye Moyang had promised — that he was going to capture the brat alive — and his actual action had not escaped Yun Laoliu's cognition at all. Perturbed, the man wanted to jump in and stop the former Elder, but he realized that he was too slow to make any difference at this moment.

Watching as the object that could have brought him handsome rewards about to perish in Ye Moyang's hands, Yun Laoliu could only curse under his breath in frustration, "You stupid brat! Serves you right for making an enemy out of him… But now I'm going to get nothing outta this!"

Even the others who were watching the fight from a distance could only foresee a blood-splattered mess by the end of Ye Moyang's attack!

At the height of Ye Moyang's confidence, Ye Chen suddenly lifted his head.

Resting on his face was not an expression of fear or its equivalents, but one of a contemptuous smirk.

Ye Moyang's heart skipped a beat, thinking that Ye Chen might have something hidden up his sleeves. Yet, he could no longer stop his momentum by this point!

All he could see was a sudden, ominous flash from the eyes of a snowy-white tanuki that perched on Ye Chen's shoulders. Then, out of the blue, Ye Chen's figure suddenly blurred and disappeared from his sight. Whereas Ye Moyang had found himself suddenly deposited in the middle of a wasteland, with not a single soul around him. He did not know what was going on.

Back in the real world, Ye Moyang's eyes glazed over and Ye Chen sidestepped, almost too easily. With this, Ye Moyang's attack immediately faltered. Using that momentum, Ye Chen riposted with his own Rumbling Thunder Burst right at Ye Moyang's left chest.

With a puff, blood burst out from Ye Moyang's mouth as he hurtled backward.

Ye Chen had aimed his attack on Ye Moyang's most vulnerable area, and as his strength pierced through any semblance of defense the ex-Elder's body could offer, Ye Moyang's heart had effectively sustained a direct assault!

With the aid of Primordial Thunder Body, Ye Chen's force was not any way weaker than a Mid-Seventh Stage fighter. After all, he had earlier killed a resilient Demon Wolf with the same singular cuff at its brain.

A person who had attained the Seventh Stage would automatically learn the Internal Chi Adsorption — a technique that allowed one to encase their internal organs with a Celestial Chi buffer to cushion any kind of internal damages; Ye Moyang was no different. Despite the lethality of Ye Chen's attack, the man did not die on the spot.

However, no Internal Chi Adsorption could save the man's meridian channels from being completely punctured by the strength of Ye Chen's attack. In other words, Ye Moyang was effectively rendered crippled by Ye Chen's attack — the very same state that the young man was for three years.

Alas, unlike the young scion, Ye Moyang was now without family who would be willing to spend thousands of Chi-amassing Pills to recover him from the state of being half-alive, much less go through the troubles to help repair his damaged meridian system with a Nexus Pill.

Ye Moyang flew backward in the air for several feet before gravity finally anchored him, breaking his fall with a heavy smack.

He could not even get up from whatever posture his fall made him assume. Instead, the only strength he had left was only enough for a wail of agony before he fell into unconsciousness.

'Impossible!' the bystanders thought in unison. 'The person who was being sent flying was Ye Moyang instead of that brat!'

The men from the House of Yun stood in stunned silence, especially Yun Laoliu, whose eyes widened in sheer stupefaction as the question "what had happened?!" was repeated over and over again in his head. Since that brat's Celestial Chi Stage was undoubtedly only at the Sixth Stage, he could not understand how a Seventh Stage master like Ye Moyang could end up being assailed, considering how the punk did not even try to evade the man's Shadow Storm Talon right then. In fact, Ye Moyang's attack had faltered before he was being taken out by a single riposte!

Yun Laoliu started to wonder if he had been tripping. He knew how wide a gap was between a Sixth Stage and a Seventh Stage, considering that he had been through both Stages of cultivation. Therefore, the only reason Yun Laoliu could come up with to justify this insane outcome was that the kid must have had some form of non-obvious help at that moment!

By this point, he noticed that Ye Chen was shimmering in a golden aura, and his knowledge as a martial art savant kicked in. It was the House of Ye's Primordial Thunder Body technique! Nonetheless, could the Primordial Chi Body alone be so powerful that its practitioner could eclipse the large power gap between Stages to the point of lethality?

"Something's not right with this brat, and worst of all, he had learned how to perform that Primordial Thunder Body from that old slick Ye Zhantian. Everyone, be careful and let's take him down together!" Yun Laoliu gave a command in a low voice. Responding to his words, the others quickly joined him to form a semicircle around Ye Chen before they lunged forward simultaneously.

Little Tanuki squealed from its spot, and with one forceful heave, white fog was ejected from its mouth, obscuring everyone's vision for multiple feet.

"Gah! I can't see!"

"Damn it, I can't see either. This is the work of a mystical beast's phantasmal technique!"

The men from the House of Yun were rendered blind in an instant. Meanwhile, Ye Chen widened his eyes and activated his astral form.

Upon securing every single one of his enemies in the fog through his astral power, a smirk curled on his lips. 'Welcome to the House of Ye! Hope you came to stay because you're never going to leave!'

Ye Chen somersaulted and pounced at one of the Sixth Stage men, delivering a Rumbling Thunder Burst to the back of his head.

The target was quick enough to detect Ye Chen's movement. He turned as soon as he felt a whoosh behind him, with a counterattack readied in his hand. Yet, his speed was woefully unmatched to Ye Chen's and just like that, his face was hit squarely by the latter's attack. He flew backward in an instant, already dead while still sailing on air.

One down!

Ye Chen's eyes turned to the remaining three enemies. His stare was as dangerous as daggers.

Just like any other self-respecting member of the Ye clan, the unquenchable animus between his family and the House of Yun tacitly informed Ye Chen's actions. Holding nothing back, Ye Chen leaped and unleashed another attack. This time, he knocked another one of the Sixth Stage fighters away.

"You little twerp of the Ye clan! Get your *ss out of this fog and fight like a real man!" Yun Laoliu bellowed in fury. His vision may have been obscured, but he was still sensitive enough to hear two of his clansmen's cries before they had fallen. Enraged, he pounded on the earth.

There was a loud crash as his strength shook the earth, sending debris flying upward for about a feet away from where Ye Chen was.

Yun Laoliu could estimate where the young man was through echolocation, but his vision was still too blinded by the fog to help him confirm his hunch.

'Oh, I'm just a "twerp" and not a hero. So what if I hide?" Ye Chen thought indignantly, pursing his lips. Ye Chen knew that the boss of this team was someone who had already acquired the power of Chi Construction. Hence, if he were to subdue an Eighth Stage pugilist, he would need a very different tack than plain old fisticuffs. At that thought, his right hand brandished an Explosive Seed. Now that they were out of Lianyun Mountains, there should be no problem using one of these.

Yu Laoliu made his advances in the fog very carefully, and after a while, he heard a very soft sound close to him. He was just about to swing his hand into an attack when he heard a familiar voice cried, "Who's there?"

"It's me!" Yun Laoliu immediately replied as he recognized his own clansman.

The two immediately huddled close together as they listened intently.

"I don't know how this twerp did it, but he managed to tame some mystical beast as his pet, and now this bloody fog is that beast's doing! We need to be careful and use our ears, my brother," Yun Laoliu said grimly.

The world was filled with all kinds of mystical beasts, each of them equipped with all kinds of phantasmal techniques. However, he had never heard of a human being taming a mystical beast enough to aid him in battle. Moreover, a mystical beast that could spit out a fog this expansive and disruptive must have been a pretty high-level monster in its own right!

Just as the two were talking, Ye Chen cast out his Explosive Seed at them.

Yun Laoliu suddenly felt something hurtling in his direction, but it was a black blur. He assumed it was most likely a black rock or something. He couldn't help but sneer, "Ha! Leave it to a kiddie to resort to throwing rocks in a real man's fight!!"

He swung his palm forward and his strength elicited a gale, striking neatly at the black object.

First, there was a loud crash of explosion. Then, tongues of flames roared and engulfed every space in its proximity. Yun Laoliu instinctively activated his Chi Construct ability and encased his body with a Chi armor against the bursting shockwave. Yet, it was too late. With a loud bang, every part of his body sustained a heavy blow.

He felt a sharp gust of air forced into his throat before his feet were swept away from the ground.

The man beside him — a Seventh Stage fighter did not make it at all. Just as Yun Laoliu was, he was standing in the path of the Explosive Seed's explosion, but unfortunately, he had not learned how to protect himself with Chi Construction at all.

He was inflicted with fatal blows that were a result of the explosion and flew two feet away before he landed onto the earth with a smack. He was never to rise again.

Yun Laoliu stumbled as he climbed up from his sprawling position; his hand clutching on his chest in pain. He now knew that Ye Chen had not tossed a rock. Instead, it was a very powerful, concealed weapon with a force that rivaled a Ninth Stage master's attack. He was only saved by the distance between the point of the weapon's detonation and himself. Had he been hit by it point-blank, he would have died without leaving as much as a complete corpse!

He fought the unbearable stinging pain in his chest. His injuries were so severe that he could no longer create another Chi Construct. Seeing his new state, Yun Laoliu mustered any Celestial Chi left in his body and started to flee.

"You're not going anywhere!" Ye Chen cried as he chased after him. Since he had used one of the two Explosive Seeds, Ye Chen decided to conserve the other one. Besides, he was sure that Yun Laoliu had sustained enough damage that the playing field had been leveled.

Primordial Thunder Body!

With this technique available and activated, Ye Chen dispatched a Rumble Thunder Burst straight at Yun Laoliu's back.

Ye Chen could not allow Yun Laoliu to get away! If he ever fled, Ye Chen's actual powers would be made known to the House of Yun, or worst, they would also know about the Explosive Seed!

Yun Laoliu managed to stumble for a dozen steps before his vision was increasingly marred by clumps of black spots. His heart sank in a state of hopelessness as he thought, 'Is this how it will end for me? A master pugilist whom few could match, ultimately dying in the hands of a bloody child?!'

He could hear the howl of an incoming attack coming from behind. In his last-ditch effort to deny the embarrassment of his bitter end being brought about by a boy who had not even passed adolescence, Yun Laoliu summoned all of his Celestial Chi and turned around.

Chi Construct Heavenly Strike!

Bang! A loud roar was heard as Ye Chen's palm met exactly with Yun Laoliu's.

The young man stumbled backward as blood trashed within his veins, threatening to burst out of his mouth. In fact, he could feel a few of his internal organs damaged by Yun Laoliu's force while the meridian channels in his right hand were almost severed. Ye Chen was shocked at the display of power by an Eighth Stage pugilist with advanced Chi Construct Level. Even when Yun Laoliu was obviously on the verge of death, he had managed to unleash such a devastating attack! With a reeling realization, Ye Chen finally understood that he had been tempting his fate the moment he had decided to take on Yun Laoliu.

To be fair, he had never dueled with an Eighth Stage fighter with Chi Construct before, so he had no inkling of how strong they could be.

At least he could honestly say he knew better now.