Volume One: Entering the Dao, Chapter Ninety-Six: The Curtain Falls

Only then did a great blade suddenly appear in Situ Hong’s hand out of thin air, slashing down at Ye Junze. Meanwhile, Wei Qing gripped two crescent-shaped blades, one in each hand, crossing left and right with Situ Hong to strike from both sides and pin Ye Junze in a pincer attack.

When Ye Junze saw this, there was not the slightest trace of worry on his face. Calmly and unhurriedly, he summoned the small cauldron from his palm. With a loose grip on it, he held the two men at bay.

Seeing that the man before him was so reckless, Situ Hong lowered his voice and barked, “Now that his back is exposed, move in together and strike before he can react!”

At his command, the members of the Heaven-Stealing Gang immediately gathered into formation and attacked Ye Junze from behind.

Sensing their assault, Ye Junze merely smiled. Inwardly, he said, “Just what I wanted.”

Then he split off a portion of his attention and commanded the Lingxu Sword beside him to attack the crowd behind him.

“Let’s use you to test the strength of my sword control. Go, Lingxu Sword,” Ye Junze said inwardly, forming a hand seal with his left hand.

The moment his words fell, the Lingxu Sword obediently flew toward the rear and engaged the others in battle. It spun continually through the crowd, one instant before a person’s face, the next before another’s. It looked less like a fight than a mischievous child teasing people for fun.

Perhaps because Ye Junze had some special intention, the Lingxu Sword, while toying with them in this way, did not take their lives. It only occasionally left behind minor wounds.

After Ye Junze’s divine sense confirmed this, he nodded in quiet relief. He then stopped paying attention to the rear and once again concentrated on dealing with the combined assault of Situ Hong and Wei Qing.

Seeing that Ye Junze, while fighting two Core Formation cultivators, still had the spare attention to command a sword and handle the situation behind him, Situ Hong’s expression darkened as he said in a displeased tone, “When fighting others, you are this arrogant. Do you truly not place the two of us in your eyes?”

Ye Junze, still exchanging blows with them, sneered, “I’ll say it again: do you deserve it?”

Enraged, Situ Hong laughed instead and shouted, “Fine, fine! You are indeed conceited. I only hope that when you are defeated later, you can still be so full of confidence.”

“You’ll know soon enough whether I can or not,” Ye Junze said impatiently, waving a hand as he swung the small cauldron in his grasp at them.

Wei Qing hurriedly raised his weapon to block the cauldron and shouted, “Boss, be careful!”

Realizing that his words had failed to affect Ye Junze, and fearing that he might instead be disturbed by the other man’s composure, Situ Hong said no more and focused solely on the fight.

The two sides traded blows in rapid succession, sometimes fists and feet clashing, sometimes weapons colliding, the battle fierce and lively.

Situ Hong and Wei Qing both trusted in the fact that they had experienced countless battles and possessed abundant combat experience. On top of that, their coordination had been honed through endless joint fighting, making them even more formidable when working together. Even against opponents of higher cultivation, they could still put up a fight. Moreover, the young man before them looked so youthful; even if he had broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, it would only mean his cultivation was slightly higher. In terms of combat experience, he would certainly be inferior to the two of them. By relying on their teamwork, after a long attritional struggle, it would still be impossible to say who would emerge victorious.

However, the two of them had clearly underestimated Ye Junze. Though he had advanced to the Nascent Soul stage by virtue of the special advantage that accompanied this dream realm, how could the Dream-Manifestation Grand Formation of An Ze be so simple? Since it could allow a person to become a Nascent Soul cultivator in a dream, then that level of power was certainly real and substantial. Whether in the reserves of spiritual energy or the range of his divine sense, everything was exactly what a genuine Nascent Soul cultivator should possess. Thus, the current Ye Junze was also an authentic Nascent Soul cultivator.

Furthermore, Ye Junze was not as devoid of combat experience as the two imagined. After all, for more than the past two years, he had spent all his time within the Taixu Illusory Realm. And in that realm, he had experienced no small number of battles.

Mingyuan had once said: “If one only has the cultivation realm and does not know how to fight, if one has no fighting style of one’s own, then when later contending with others, even if one’s realm is only slightly higher than the opponent’s, one may still instantly fall into disadvantage.”

Therefore, in order to ensure that Ye Junze would not become such a hollow shell, Mingyuan had specially devised many forms of training for him. And the various large and small trials within the Taixu Illusory Realm, which existed precisely to improve Ye Junze’s strength, had also provided him with tremendous help in mastering combat experience. As a result, although Ye Junze may not have experienced as many battles over these two-plus years as Situ Hong and Wei Qing, if he were said to have no combat experience at all, then the two of them would be the ones to suffer a bitter loss.

After such a long exchange, Situ Hong and Wei Qing were already beginning to feel somewhat exhausted. Yet in contrast, their opponent still looked relaxed and unhurried, as if the earlier struggle had merely served as a warm-up.

Seeing the state the two men were in, Ye Junze could not help but mock them. “Leader Situ, what’s wrong? Weren’t you just saying you’d make me look good? At this rate, can the two of you still manage?”

“You are being far too smug. That was only a warm-up. Next, please keep your eyes open,” Situ Hong replied with a grim face.

Hearing this, Ye Junze smiled and taunted, “Then by all means, Leader Situ, show me your real abilities. I still haven’t had enough fun.”

“Spare us your cheap talk,” Situ Hong said. As soon as the words left his mouth, he exchanged a glance with Wei Qing and launched an even more violent assault.

Ye Junze saw this, and a satisfied look appeared in his eyes. Then he continued to focus on dealing with the two of them.

This time, however, he did not rely solely on the small cauldron. Ye Junze began to draw upon the thunder mark within his dantian.

Soon after, Situ Hong and Wei Qing saw streak after streak of purple lightning leaping out from Ye Junze’s palm.

“Be careful!” the two cried out at once, dodging to the side.

“I can’t believe this man also has thunder techniques. Stay alert and don’t fall for it,” Situ Hong said in shock to Wei Qing beside him.

Wei Qing nodded and answered, “Yes.”

Seeing that the purple lightning had been avoided, Ye Junze was not surprised. After all, he had only been testing the effect of the thunder path.

And so, with one hand crackling with lightning and the other wielding the small cauldron, Ye Junze alternated between the two, leaving Situ Hong and Wei Qing somewhat hard-pressed to cope.

...

During a brief lull in their exchange, Wei Qing suddenly said to Situ Hong, “Boss, something feels off. This man seems to be holding back. He still hasn’t been taking us seriously.”

Situ Hong nodded when he heard this, indicating that he had noticed it as well. He frowned, seemingly deep in thought.

After pondering for a while, he suddenly cried out in alarm, “No good! This man may be using us to hone his techniques. He’s treating us like sparring partners!”

Upon hearing this, and recalling the many signs from their earlier exchanges, Wei Qing realized it too. His face instantly turned unsightly. They had thought that by joining forces, they could defeat their opponent, but they had never imagined that the other side had not been taking this fight seriously at all, merely using them to practice his moves.

At once, the two were overwhelmed by shame. Situ Hong’s face was livid as he roared, “You brat, how dare you!”

“Oh? So you’ve figured it out,” Ye Junze said in mild surprise after hearing their exchange. Then he went on, “I was planning to play a little longer, but since that’s the case, you can disappear as well.”

Situ Hong bellowed, “I’d like to see who disappears from this place today!”

As he spoke, the two men’s attacks grew even more ferocious, as if they had already resolved to pour every last bit of their strength into killing Ye Junze.

After realizing that his intentions had been seen through, Ye Junze also put away the earlier attitude of deliberately underestimating them.

“I’ve almost gotten used to their moves by now. It’s about time,” he thought to himself.

With that in mind, Ye Junze was seen channeling all the thunder power in his left hand into the small cauldron with full force. After receiving such tremendous thunder energy, the entire cauldron began to emit wave after wave of purple lightning arcs, a sight so fierce it was almost alarming.

When Situ Hong and Wei Qing’s weapons came into contact with the cauldron, both of them sharply inhaled, then instinctively clutched the webbing between their thumbs and forefingers. In that instant of contact, they both felt a numbing sensation surge from the cauldron. It was as if, with the addition of thunder power, the cauldron now possessed a measure of thunderous force itself. Once their weapons touched it, their hands were naturally numbed by the thunder energy upon its surface.

Situ Hong spat on the ground and said resentfully, “I never expected that not only are you deeply cultivated, even your mind is so crafty.”

“Leader Situ, that’s too much praise. How could I compare with your Heaven-Stealing Gang, so full of wicked deeds?” Ye Junze replied indifferently.

With a cold huff, Situ Hong said no more and continued to give his all.

What the two of them had not realized was this: if not for Ye Junze’s earlier intention to temper his techniques, he would have shown no mercy at all. With only the two of them at the Core Formation stage, if a Nascent Soul cultivator like Ye Junze had wanted to end the battle sooner, they would have already been dead long ago.

Now, however, every time the two of them came into contact with the small cauldron, wisps of lightning would surge from its surface. At first, it might not have been much of a problem. But as more and more lightning passed through, they instantly felt that many parts of their bodies had begun to go numb. Even when they circulated spiritual energy, they could not quickly dispel the numbness.

Their expressions changed at once, and both inwardly cried that something was wrong.

“Oh? So you’ve already noticed?” Ye Junze said with a smile. Then he added, “Unfortunately for you, it’s already too late.”

The instant he finished speaking, Ye Junze formed seals with both hands. At his movement, the two men suddenly saw purple lightning manifesting all over each other’s bodies. The bolts of lightning, once they appeared, immediately converged with obvious purpose toward the centers of their chests.

“Not good!” Situ Hong cried out, hurriedly circulating his spiritual energy in an attempt to suppress the purple lightning.

Wei Qing followed suit.

But after a moment, the two discovered that this not only had no effect, it actually accelerated the gathering of the purple lightning. They exchanged a glance and quickly stopped.

At that point, terror finally appeared on both their faces, as though the very existence of the purple lightning had filled them with immense dread. They knew that if this continued, they might truly die.

“Senior, spare our lives! We were blind and failed to recognize your greatness. We have offended you. Please, with your broad heart, let us go!” Situ Hong immediately threw down the weapon in his hand and fell to his knees to beg for mercy.

Almost at the same time, Wei Qing did the same as Situ Hong, his voice full of panic as he pleaded, “Yes, senior, please be magnanimous and spare us! We know we were wrong. I, Wei Qing, swear here and now that from this day onward I will never again do evil!”

Seeing their leader and strategist both kneel and beg for mercy, the others in the Heaven-Stealing Gang had long since lost all their earlier arrogance. They hurled their weapons aside and dropped to their knees as well, bowing furiously and begging for forgiveness.

Ye Junze was unmoved by the sight. Calmly, he said, “Save those words for when you can meet King Yama.”

As he spoke, Ye Junze changed his hand seal once more, and the lightning gathered at the two men’s chests suddenly burst forth, radiating a fierce purple brilliance.

“No! I—”

But before they could finish, the purple lightning exploded within their chests.

And their bodies were utterly destroyed by that lightning. As the purple light faded, there was no longer any trace on the ground of the Heaven-Stealing Gang’s Leader Situ or Strategist Wei. Everything had turned to dust, their souls scattered between heaven and earth.

After finishing this, Ye Junze turned around and looked at the other members of the Heaven-Stealing Gang now prostrate on the ground.

At this moment, seeing that their leader and strategist were both dead, they had already collapsed in utter defeat. Their faces were blank with confusion, as though everything they had believed in had crumbled before their eyes.

Some of them cried out, “Senior, spare us! Senior, spare us!”

Seeing this, Ye Junze waved a hand and said, “Go. Remember this: there will be no more Heaven-Stealing Gang from this day on. I hope you will behave yourselves from now on and never commit evil again.”

“Yes! Many thanks for your mercy, senior!”

“Thank you, senior! Thank you, senior!”

After speaking, the crowd finally seemed to be granted release, and they fled in complete disarray.