Chapter 148: Murder (6)

The enormous Profound Fire Crystal Beast, as large as a hill, lay before Su Fan. Yet the situation before him left no room for rash action, and this was no time to claim the spoils.

Yu Ming’s face was pale, but he forced himself to stand before Su Fan and said coldly, “You extract the marrow. I’ll hold them off.”

With that, Yu Ming staggered toward the group from the Everjoy Sect. The fifteen people were somewhat disheveled, and two of the Nascent Soul cultivators looked particularly miserable.

Even so, they were in far better condition than the members of the Profound Mystery Sect. At the very least, none of them had been injured. Ye Yang gave Yu Ming a mocking smile. “Fellow Daoist Yu Ming, you and I belong to the same sect. Why must you stand in my way?”

Yu Ming’s gaze darkened as he stared coldly at Ye Yang without replying.

Strictly speaking, the Profound Mystery Sect was an affiliated sect of the Everjoy Sect, and the two could indeed be considered fellow disciples. It was merely that neither side acknowledged it. Yet whether they admitted it or not, that was the truth, so Yu Ming did not bother arguing.

“The Profound Fire Crystal Beast is a treasure from head to toe. Its marrow, in particular, can dispel cold poison, heal wounds, and serve as a material for refining pills and artifacts. It is truly an unparalleled treasure. Fellow Daoist Yu Ming certainly has a keen eye.”

Ye Yang smiled calmly as he walked toward Su Fan and continued, “Since the two of you have just finished fighting and are both seriously wounded, allow me to take care of this Profound Fire Crystal Beast.”

With that, Ye Yang quickened his pace and moved forward.

Yu Ming frowned slightly, suddenly drawing out a willow branch. With a cold snort, he said, “A mere wounded beast could injure me? You truly know how to jest. Do you think I, Yu Ming, am as helpless as you imagine? If you people insist on remaining here, I will act all the same.”

Ye Yang halted and stopped advancing. He thought to himself that, setting aside Su Fan’s existence, Yu Ming could indeed be called the number one cultivator in Everjoy Commandery. But he was a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator—how could he possibly have remained uninjured?

“Why be so distant, Fellow Daoist Yu Ming? If you are injured, then you are injured. Go rest for now. With four Nascent Soul cultivators protecting you, there is no need to worry...”

Su Fan was startled. Ye Yang had clearly brought up the strength of his own side in an attempt to crush their morale. He was indeed devious. And the facts proved it. The Profound Mystery Sect disciples standing silently nearby were visibly different from before. Though they were no longer as timid as they had been, the urge to retreat was rising once more.

Yu Ming suddenly said softly, “In that case, very well. I shall trouble you, fellow Daoists.”

Having said this, Yu Ming slowly retreated, pulling Su Fan away with him. In a low voice, he said, “We’ll recover over there.”

Ye Yang gave a light laugh and casually waved his hand. The disciples behind him immediately rushed forward and surrounded the Profound Fire Crystal Beast.

“Go ahead, junior brothers. This beast is a treasure from head to toe, so be careful.”

As he spoke, Ye Yang slowly crouched down and took out a dagger. It was the very dagger he had used to open the valley. Were it not for the lightning flickering across its surface, it would have looked no different from an ordinary dagger.

Su Fan glanced at it almost imperceptibly and said softly, “While they are busy taking the treasure, let us leave first.”

Yu Ming let out a cold laugh. “Why leave? We have yet to obtain the marrow.”

As he spoke, Yu Ming took out several pills and swallowed them, then sat cross-legged and began slowly recovering. With no other choice, Su Fan could only stand nearby and protect him.

When the disciples saw that Yu Ming was indeed injured and had even yielded ground, fury surged within them. Yu Ming was the pride of their disciples. How could he yield to someone whose cultivation was lower than his? Who did that person think he was?

Their anger soon swept away their fear and desire to retreat. The disciples who had previously possessed no fighting spirit were suddenly filled with resolve. Su Fan gave Yu Ming a meaningful glance and nodded slightly.

The group taking the treasure continued their relentless plundering. Even the beast’s mountain-sized body could not withstand the combined efforts of dozens of people. Before long, its thick hide was peeled off in one intact piece.

Next came the cutting of its flesh and removal of its bones, the severing of its head and draining of its blood, and the gouging out of its eyes.

The entire process was swift and practiced, as if they had planned it long ago. The sight enraged the disciples of the Profound Mystery Sect, and several of them nearly charged forward to hack the others apart.

Had Su Fan not held them back, a battle would have already broken out. Su Fan looked at Yu Ming with speechless admiration, thinking that the more outrageously the Everjoy Sect behaved today, the better.

In the presence of such immense treasure, greed was inevitable. Several of the disciples processing the corpse quietly concealed useful parts for themselves. Ye Yang saw everything, yet did not point it out in the slightest.

Seeing that Ye Yang raised no objection, several Everjoy Sect disciples grew bolder in their theft. A few even began openly dividing among themselves the heads that had already been severed.

The disciples of the Profound Mystery Sect had long been furious. Upon witnessing this, they could no longer endure it. Some even began hurling extremely vile insults, while quite a few clenched their fists and prepared to act.

Ye Yang paid no attention to any of it. He swept a disdainful glance over Yu Ming, then sneered, “My Everjoy Sect went to great lengths to hunt this Profound Fire Crystal Beast, expending a tremendous amount of effort. However, since you are fellow disciples of our sect, we can spare you some of its flesh.”

With a single casual sentence, he had claimed the entire beast as his own. His scheming was truly exceptional. Su Fan admitted that he could also behave so unreasonably, but even he felt ashamed at how calmly Ye Yang could speak such shameless words.

“Fellow Daoist Ye, that is rather shameless of you,” Su Fan said, still smiling.

Ye Yang gave a soft laugh and reached out. A pill radiating waves of heat flew from within the Profound Fire Crystal Beast. He then rose calmly and smiled. “Compared with you, Fellow Daoist Su, I am still lacking in a few respects.”

Su Fan asked curiously, “Lacking in what?”

The crimson pill floated gently above Ye Yang’s palm. Ye Yang stared at it with intense excitement and sneered. “I am still lacking a few measures of fearlessness.”

Fearlessness meant the absence of fear. That was how Su Fan understood it.

After a moment of silence, Su Fan replied leisurely, “Without such fearlessness, how could I contend with people as shameless as you, yet even more cunning than foxes?”

Ye Yang gave a cold laugh and accepted Su Fan’s assessment without comment. He continued watching the pill as it slowly began to burn, then said casually, “Unfortunately, you will never defeat me.”

Su Fan suddenly burst out laughing. He picked up a yellow leaf that had fallen during the earlier battle and tossed it into the air. The leaf drifted silently toward Ye Yang, struck him in the face, then landed on the pill and was instantly incinerated.

“Is that your inner core?” Su Fan suddenly asked.

Ye Yang instinctively clenched the pill tightly and said coldly, “It is indeed an inner core.”

Su Fan asked curiously, “Do you cultivate fire?”

Ye Yang gave another cold laugh and closed his hand around the inner core, his tone mocking. “As it happens, I do. This inner core is therefore extremely useful to me. At least killing this beast was not a waste.”

Su Fan smiled faintly and slowly walked over to Yu Ming’s side. In a low voice, he said, “Fellow brothers, make your defensive preparations.”

Then Su Fan glanced silently at Yu Ming, who was still meditating, and said, “Senior Brother, are you ready?”

The question was rather strange. Yu Ming had been meditating to heal his injuries, yet Su Fan’s words made it sound as though they were preparing for some plan, as if Yu Ming had been making preparations throughout his meditation.

Yu Ming slowly opened his eyes, exhaled lightly, and rose to his feet. With a cold laugh, he said, “Give me the marrow.”

His tone was utterly calm, as if this were only natural.

Ye Yang and the disciples dividing the treasures all froze, then slowly rose and turned to look at Yu Ming.

“Give it to me, or I will take it myself.”

After speaking, Yu Ming was already standing not far from the group. The three Nascent Soul cultivators who had previously worn indifferent expressions instantly moved to block his path. One of the older cultivators cast an almost imperceptible glance at the inner core.

Had Su Fan not been watching him so closely, he would never have noticed anything unusual. Seeing this, a thought suddenly arose in Su Fan’s mind: among the Everjoy Sect’s party, Ye Yang was not the leader. That person was.

It was only a suspicion and had yet to be confirmed, so Su Fan continued watching the developments before him. He had noticed the change in Yu Ming earlier and realized that Yu Ming might possess a trump card. He simply had not expected that trump card to be such astonishingly rapid recovery. In only a brief time, Yu Ming’s injuries had already healed by more than half.

Ye Yang shook his head helplessly and said coldly, “Fellow Daoist Yu Ming, if not for the friendship between our two sects, I would have killed all of you and taken your command tokens long ago. How could I have allowed you to live even this long?”

Su Fan suddenly said, “Fellow Daoist Ye said that no one could be killed.”

Ye Yang stared at Su Fan with mocking disdain and said harshly, “Who knows whether you were killed by me or by that savage beast?”

Su Fan nodded, then said, “The Profound Mystery Sect has seniors with extraordinary abilities. They will naturally know everything that happens here.”

Ye Yang suddenly burst out laughing. “Seniors with extraordinary abilities? Even if one of them had reached the peak of the Divine Transformation realm, they still could not detect the slightest trace of this place.”

Su Fan silently nodded again and gave a soft laugh. “When that Profound Fire Crystal Beast first appeared, we were all terrified. Later, we discovered that it was injured, so my senior brother arrogantly went forward to kill it, only to be wounded instead. Now that my senior brother is injured, you, Fellow Daoist Ye, are thinking of arrogantly trying to kill him... You should think this over carefully.”

Ye Yang’s expression shifted slightly. He cast a light glance at the somewhat elderly Nascent Soul cultivator, then took a small bottle from his storage bag and prepared to hand it to Yu Ming, who stood some distance away.

Suddenly, a large hand snatched the bottle away.

“Junior Brother Ye, there is no need to hurry.”

Ye Yang’s expression immediately became extremely respectful. He lowered his head slightly, clasped his fists, and said respectfully, “Yes, Third Senior Brother.”

“Third Senior Brother?”

The Everjoy Sect disciples repeated those three words in astonishment. The meaning behind them immediately surfaced in their minds: deep scheming, unfathomable cunning, an unpredictable temperament, and a reputation for slaughter.

He was Feng Shan, the favored disciple of the Grand Elder, one of the four great elders of the Everjoy Sect. He ranked third among all Everjoy Sect disciples. For many years, he had been responsible for the sect’s external intelligence, traveling throughout the world to investigate forces that might harbor designs against the Everjoy Sect.

Once such a force was discovered, it was annihilated.

Feng Shan excelled at disguise and infiltration. His acting was so extraordinary that it seemed almost divine. He had hidden among the group earlier without revealing himself, and even Yu Ming had failed to detect him.

“Fellow Daoist Yu Ming wants this marrow, but it is also of great use to my master. I truly cannot bear to part with it, so I ask for your understanding.”

As Feng Shan spoke, he suddenly glared at Ye Yang, clearly expressing his displeasure that Ye Yang had exposed his identity.

Ye Yang’s face immediately turned deathly pale. He stared blankly at Feng Shan, utterly at a loss.