Under Gu Duxing’s watchful eye, Ji Mo put down his sword. The first action he took was to actually rub his own buttocks. A nauseated expression appeared on his face. He didn’t bother disguising himself with makeup; in the first place, the swelling on his face hadn’t gone down yet and now, even his eyes were swollen from crying. Then, he tugged and pulled at his hair until it became a mess, as though a bird nest.

The two of them hopped off the tree swiftly.

They made a detour, going out dozens of miles in the opposite direction.

After that, they sped back in the original direction in a state of panic, not even looking where they were going. Fearing that people wouldn’t notice them, strong winds blew everywhere they passed by along the way. It was as if a whirlwind was suddenly rampaging through the area above the entire Aspen Valley!

The Xiao Clan experts in the valley were alerted at once, all of them looking up at the same time.

Right at this point, Ji Mo even let out a thunderous bellow as he lifted and flipped a hill over with a loud bang. He yelled, “I’ll fight it out with you… Today, one of us will die here…”

Gu Duxing shouted grimly, “Hand that thing over! And I’ll leave you an intact corpse!”

Ji Mo let out a tragic laugh. The misery and sorrow in his laugh echoed throughout the atmosphere.

Under the attention of everyone, a mountain suddenly went overturning outwards in the far distance. Right away, the entire ground started to shake, as though a tsunami sweeping through the area.

Ji Mo leaped into the air and flew swiftly. Then, he struck himself in the chest with his palm brutally. Letting out a tragic cry, he used his actual voice to yell, “I’ll never let you off even if I become a ghost…”

Throwing up a mouthful of blood, he spasmed in mid-air. As if a kite with its string broken, he plummeted in the direction of the entrance of the mine, flailing the entire way.

Behind him, dust and earth flew everywhere, covering the entire sky and ground and obscuring everything from view!

It looked just as if countless gods and demons from ancient times were going after him!

…

Several Xiao Clan experts leaped into the air and looked far into the distance.

However, with dust and smoke covering the entire place, what was there for them to see?

The only thing they could see was a human figure, who seemed to have lost the ability to control his movements, plummeting downwards swiftly and with great momentum as his body overturned in mid-air. None of the Xiao Clan experts standing beside the mine dared to go forward and catch hold of him due to the high speed of his fall. Neither were they in time to react in any way.

In the twinkling of an eye, Ji Mo smashed onto the mine brutally, as though a falling meteor. A tragic scream that shook the heavens left his mouth — This scream, however, was honest to goodness genuine!

If he wanted to put up a show in front of these experts, his only choice was to do the real thing!

Amidst a deafening boom, Second Master Ji’s body smashed hundreds of feet right through the mountain before landing brutally inside the mine. Cracking sounds resounded without pause as he smashed through the mountain. All the bones in his body had probably already broken into smithereens!

It was only after that that a tragic gasp could be heard. “Even if I die… You’ll never get… that Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal…”

And his eyes rolled up. This time, he was knocked out for real!

Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal?

Inside the mine, a Xiao Clan expert dressed in purple raised his white eyebrows, a startled expression on his face. “Don’t kill him!”

The shocked Xiao Clan experts originally wished for nothing more than to kill Ji Mo and scatter his ashes, but the moment they heard this ‘Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal’, all of them were stunned for a moment.

Amidst clouds of dust in the sky, a figure dressed in black with his face hidden suddenly appeared. There was fearsome killing intent in his eyes. He shouted icily, “In that case, if I can’t get it, then no one shall!”

All of a sudden, his sword gleamed in the light as he slashed violently in mid-air, the force from the slash cleaving downwards brutally!

A wave of sword aura that could practically split open the heavens and earth came cleaving downwards like a bolt of lightning! The bedazzling sword aura rendered the entire mountain into two as he struck at Ji Mo’s unconscious form without any mercy!

“Block it!” A fierce shout echoed!

Below, more than ten Xiao Clan experts, regardless of level and grade, struck out at the same time to receive his attack!

Gu Duxing had already used 90 percent of his strength in this attack! It was extremely fierce and forceful. Before striking, fearing that this bunch of Xiao Clan bastards wouldn’t fall for it, he didn’t dare to use his full force.

The moment he saw the Xiao Clan experts taking action, at the same time as his heart was put at ease, he now rested assured as he struck with 120 percent of his power!

A series of deafening booms resounded. Out of the seventeen Xiao Clan experts who had struck, blood sprayed from the mouths of four of them whose cultivation was not as high as they were thrown outwards. The others also staggered violently. Alarm and fear could be seen in their eyes. To think this black-robed man who had appeared out of nowhere was actually this strong!

More than ten of them had come together to deal a counter-attack. Even though this had happened without any warning, resulting in them not using their full strength, their counter-attack was in no way something that a typical fifth-grade Supreme Martial Artist could withstand. Those below fifth-grade didn’t even need to think about receiving it.

In mid-air, a muffled grunt escaped Gu Duxing as the recoil threw his body back like a ball, hurtling a thousand feet high up into the sky. Raising his head violently, a large mouthful of blood spurted from his mouth!

He got a huge shock.

The cultivation levels of just these people who had acted were already terribly shocking. He seriously couldn’t tell just how many people the Xiao Clan had stationed here.

Whooshes could be heard coming from all around. A few figures leaped into the air and approached Gu Duxing swiftly.

With a whoosh, Gu Duxing fell back a few hundred feet. He asked coldly, “Who are you people?”

An elderly man in the lead asked him sinisterly, “Who are you? Actually having the guts to come to the Xiao Clan’s territory and act so audaciously?”

Gu Duxing was taken aback. He asked, “The Xiao Clan? You’re right… Sword aura with autumn intent…”

All of a sudden, he flipped backwards and flew out lightning quick. He shouted, “Since it’s the Xiao Clan that’s here, then it’s I who acted too rashly today. I shall pay a visit another day to offer my apologies. So long…”

That Xiao Clan expert didn’t expect the other party to escape and vanish so quickly after leaving behind just a one-liner.

“Go after him!” Someone shouted.

That purple-robed elderly man said coldly, “Don’t bother… Who could catch up to a fifth-grade Supreme Martial Artist who’s hell-bent on escaping? Go back down, all of you!”

…

Below, in the mine.

Ji Mo laid on the ground, covered from head to toe in blood. His breathing was weak; one could tell that he was on his last breath.

Above him, sunlight shone through the hole.

He was easily a few hundred feet away from the entrance of that hole.

This was a ‘road to heaven’ that he had literally smashed out with his body!

The elderly man in purple robes stood beside him, a frosty light glinting in his eyes as he looked Ji Mo up and down. He commanded emotionlessly, “Wake him up first!” Then, he left with a flourish of his sleeve.

With his keen eye, he had pretty much counted even every single strand of hair there was on Ji Mo’s head. He could tell that the life of this fellow in front of him right now was hanging by a thread. Or rather, one could even totally call him a living dead.

If this was a ruse to provoke sympathy, going to this extent was no doubt too much of an overkill.

“Elder Master, there’s something fishy about this incident today,” said another man dressed in yellow robes.

The purple-robed elderly man replied dispassionately, “It’s just two men fighting it out for treasure. People have always been motivated by wealth since ancient times. While we ought to be prudent in everything we do, we shouldn’t be alarmed at the mere rustle of leaves in the wind and see danger lurking in every shadow.”

“Understood.” All the Supreme Martial Artists behind him lowered their heads in response.

The purple-robed elderly man asked, “Are there any noteworthy movements recently? Go and check whether our spy has sent any news. Other than that, check on the Chu Clan’s movements too and determine whether this man is the Chu Clan’s attempt at a ruse to provoke sympathy.”

“When he wakes up, sound him out on his background.”

“Understood! Rest assured, Elder Master.”

“There’s no need to put too much effort. It’ll do as long as you wake him up. Get him to reveal the whereabouts of that so-called Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal and then send him on his way! We cannot afford undue delay in case of potential trouble.”

“Understood.”

This purple-robed elderly man was one of the two remaining Elder Masters of the Xiao Clan, the younger brother of Xiao Chenyu, the Elder Master who had founded the clan, and the second son of one of the Nine Tribulations back then, Xiao Chenlei!

To think that the land of Dragon and Phoenix Bringing Prosperity could actually activate him to come over personally this time. From this, one could see just how much importance the Xiao Clan placed on this land of Dragon and Phoenix Bringing Prosperity!

Xiao Chenlei was also one of the only three ninth-grade Supreme Martial Artists in the Xiao Clan!

Even though he was just a ninth-grade elementary level Supreme Martial Artist, it was enough to let him be ranked among the top 20 out of all the ninth-grade Supreme Martial Artists known to this Nine Heavens Continent!

…

The words ‘Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal’ which Ji Mo had shouted before he fell into a coma were seriously too mighty!

A Soul of Purple Crystal was already something which existed only in legends in the Nine Heavens Continent.

Even with the Xiao Clan’s ten thousand years of history, they only possessed a single piece of Soul of Purple Crystal! Moreover, that piece of Soul of Purple Crystal was even left inside the Purple Crystal mine and left unextracted.

As everyone knew, the reason why a Purple Crystal mine could form was precisely due to the existence of a Soul of Purple Crystal. A steady production of Purple Crystals was possible only if there was a Soul of Purple Crystal constantly nourishing them.

No one knew just how many tens of thousands of years were needed before a Purple Crystal mine could form. But if the Soul of Purple Crystal were to be taken away, the entire Purple Crystal mine would immediately lose its very core.

Therefore, the importance of a Soul of Purple Crystal was practically incomparable to anything else!

What more when what Ji Mo had shouted was a Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal? It was obviously something of an even higher grade!

To a super clan like the Xiao Clan, the allure it held was practically incomparable to anything else!

Even if it was Ji Mo who was uninformed and his supposed ‘Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal’ was actually just the Soul of Purple Crystal, the Xiao Clan would also keep him alive first. Besides, once they got their hands on it, they definitely wouldn’t be disappointed either.

…

Ji Mo slowly came to. When he tried to sit up, he instead grunted in pain and fell back down. He murmured, “Am I still alive?”

Beside him, an icy voice said, “All the bones in your body are broken. It’s better that you behave and not move.”

Ji Mo asked feebly, “Who are you people? Did you save me?”

That person replied coldly, “Can it be anyone else who saved you other than us?”

A face appeared above Ji Mo. When Ji Mo took a good look, all he could think of was, “What a long horse-like face!”

If this person’s face was placed on a horse head, nobody would find it out of place at all. His features were simply too similar — Not only was the face long, that nose, those eyes, those eyebrows, that mouth and that chin…

Second Master Ji was stunned on the spot. “What the f*ck! A horse is talking to me… Am I in hell? Have I already died?”

Horse Face’s countenance darkened immediately. All around them, insuppressible snickers could be heard.

With a furious snort, Horse Face threw his arm back and said, “Damn it, all of you ask him instead!”

Then, he turned around and left.

After the others explained to him what had happened, Ji Mo ‘finally believed’ that he had been saved. At once, he was full of gratitude, struggling to get up to bow and offer his thanks. The moment he moved, a wave of intense pain came over him. His eyes rolled up again and he passed out from pain once again.

The Xiao Clan members looked at each other.

After a long while, Second Master Ji finally regained consciousness again. He was in so much pain that he couldn’t even speak. Left with no other choice, the Xiao Clan members could only treat his injuries again. Only then was he barely able to hang in there.

“I’m someone who had a hard life…” Second Master Ji began narrating his story.

In the story, he was the successor to a reclusive clan. His surname was Jiang and his name Jiang Ye. The reclusive clan was extremely powerful but had fallen under the covetous eyes of others. As such, a traitor infiltrated the clan, which was the man from earlier…

After that, he found out that the Jiang Clan’s rise to power was all thanks to a Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal that had ancient secrets inscribed on it. A certain mysterious force destroyed the Jiang Clan overnight. He risked his life to escape and fled all the way to this place…