Ye Xiao received the note from Lan Langlang and rushed to the suggested place - the corner of the alley near Zuo Xiang Fu.
The sun had already set when he was halfway there, and the darkness was quickly settling in.
Not far from where he stood was the Zuo Xiang Fu. Ye Xiao smiled with satisfaction and turned left so as to make a detour into the alley. But just as he reached the corner, his senses were invaded by a terrifying feeling.
"Hmm?" Ye Xiao stopped immediately.
He sensed immense danger!
It was the instinct he had gained after experiencing countless life-and-death situations and ambushes. He had absolute trust in these instincts which he had developed after a lifetime of fighting.
Ye Xiao knew that his instincts would not warn him with time to spare unless the situation was one of extreme peril.
He could sense a large wave of cultivators converging towards him.
And he was very near the place where the cultivators would converge.
"Are they coming for me?" Ye Xiao frowned and then shook his head, "They shouldn't be… I am not qualified enough for them to make such a big move. They wouldn't be thinking too highly of me, would they?"
At the same time, impatient footsteps approached from the opposite end of the alley. A murmur could be heard, "Ye Xiao will come, will he not? He won't play me off, right?"
It was the voice of Zuo Wuji.
Obviously, he had arrived earlier, and he was now waiting anxiously for Ye Xiao.
His presence here made Ye Xiao eliminate him as a suspect. It meant that this ambush was planned by an unknown entity.
"Aha… You…" Zuo Wuji couldn't help but shout out loud when he saw Ye Xiao, and he practically skipped towards him.
"Hush!" Ye Xiao covered his mouth hastily, "Did you bring the item?"
Zuo Wuji nodded as his mouth was covered, and then he took out a package from behind him.
Ye Xiao could tell that this was the crystal without seeing it, he could feel it!
Zuo Wuji had pinched the crystal quite easily, perhaps as a result of him becoming used to thievery.
"Here's the note for 750 taels of gold. Remember to pay me back." Ye Xiao said as he exchanged the note for the package. He felt a huge sense of accomplishment.
"Thank you sooooo much…" Zuo Wuji nearly cried, "Brother, a real good brother… From now on brother Ye, you are my best brother. I… I…"
He stuttered due to excitement.
Thinking about giving the ruyi back to his father, saving his reputation and no longer remaining a sandbag for his father and grandfather… Zuo Wuji had become very emotional "… sniff, you really are my benefactor…"
"Oh thank god! The title of the number one black sheep in the kingdom will be taken away from me soon. God knows how stressed I have been these past few days…" He thought.
"All right now. Off you go quickly. Save your thanks for another day." Now that he got the crystal, Ye Xiao didn't want to spend another second in this alley.
His instincts were practically screaming at him to get away.
Luckily, Zuo Wuji was even more eager to leave, "Bro, after the auction the day after tomorrow, I will be free again. After that, we must get a drink together." Zuo Wuji said while running away.
Now that he had a chance to save his reputation, he felt that he could no longer waste even a second of his remaining life.
"Screw that…" Ye Xiao was impressed, "The bastard runs even faster than me…"
Now that the crystal he had dreamt of was finally in his grasp, Ye Xiao was one hundred percent satisfied. He turned around to leave the alley as he petted the crystal in the package.
Suddenly, he felt a strong dizziness which made him sway on the spot, forcing him to hold his forehead.
The remnant of the poison within his body had gotten out of control and begun its attack.
"I had completely suppressed it before. How could it flare-up again so quickly?" He thought.
The dizziness in his mind got stronger and stronger, and it even showed a slight eagerness, as if it was alive… He, however, wouldn't dare to consider its threat insignificant. He gnashed his teeth and took out his knife. He currently had no choice but to cut off a piece of the Heavenly Crystal Marrow and use it against the poison, as it had already grown vicious enough to take his life at a moment's notice. At this point, he really couldn't care about wasting some of the crystal because what he prioritized foremost was his own survival.
A grinding sound could be heard as he cut off the surface of the crystal. But he soon discovered that its insides were extremely hard. With his present strength, he could only manage to scrape off a little powder from its surface.
"It is actually that hard!" Ye Xiao felt helpless as he swallowed the powder.
Ye Xiao only had some second-hand knowledge about the crystal, and prior to today, he hadn't even seen it, let alone swallow some of it. It was only at this moment that he found out about the crystal's hardness.
It felt even harder than diamond!
The moment he swallowed the powder, a fragrance emerged from the crystal in his arms. It made him feel refreshed. He inhaled the sweet smell with a deep breath and felt relaxed, and then…
Another kind of dizziness invaded his head He saw some golden words flashing within his mind. The very next moment, he felt that the package had become weightless. The crystal was gone!
The package was indeed still in his arms!
How could the crystal inside it disappear? It had actually vanished into thin air!
Ye Xiao was gobsmacked! "What the fxxk is going on?" He could clearly feel that it wasn't a superhero who had stolen it right under his nose!
Although he had lost all his powers, he wasn't lame enough to not notice someone whisk away his crystal!
Maybe the crystal wasn't gone, but instead had merged into his body!
But… How did it get inside his body?
The size of this crystal was considerable. How did it get inside? From where?
Ye Xiao really felt faint at the moment; not just physically, but also mentally. Suddenly, a flow of energy rushed up from inside his dantian!
It all happened in a flash. Ye Xiao turned sweaty at once, which was a result of a huge amount of spiritual qi flowing inside his body! He clearly felt that his pulse had become erratic, but struggling against it was futile.
"Oh no! This is bad!" Ye Xiao was crestfallen.
As an expert of cultivation, he had a very good idea of what was going on. The suddenly arising energy definitely wasn't anything good. It was very likely that he would be screwed this time.
The reason for this analysis was simple. The adventitious energy which had poured into his body was too rampageous. Ye Xiao was unable to contain it with his present condition. Although he had desired for more power, but this surely was overkill… he had no possibility of controlling it! He now regretted that he had made contact with this thing. Although he had known the crystal to be very powerful, he had vastly underestimated its effects!
The current situation was a million miles - no, even further away from what he had predicted… The only way to solve this problem was to let the rampaging power out of his body and let it disperse. Otherwise, his body would be ruined. If the poison didn't kill him, the energy would… It had become a really shxtty scenario!
And at that moment…
BOOM! A bang was heard nearby. Fire was rolling up in the sky!
The piercing sound of battle could now be heard. The sounds of the weapons colliding against each other could be compared to thousands of blacksmiths forging their iron together. Ye Xiao now truly felt like crying.
The thing he had feared the most was now occurring. His intuition had been spot on - a battle was taking place in the Zuo Xiang Fu!
And it was taking place right when he was in this awkward situation!
Fortunately, those cultivators, whom he had perceived earlier, turned out to be aiming for the Zuo Xiang Fu, not him.
Unfortunately, the place where he was standing at right now was right next to the infiltrators…
He was already going through a lot, and now he had even managed to crash into this mess.
He decided to do the only thing he was capable of doing, which was to cover his head using the package in his arms, creating a makeshift hood…
And then, he tried to get away…
The messy battle had absolutely nothing to do with him…
The sound of fighting was getting louder and louder. It could be easily made out that the force of the Zuo Xiang Fu had begun to fight back and currently held an advantage.
Suddenly, a peculiar whistling sound echoed out. Ye Xiao frowned, "A long sound, which is then followed by three short sounds, should be a sign of retreat…"
A lot had happened just now, and yet he was able to reach the end of the alley - not that he didn't want to move faster, he just wasn't able to. Suddenly, a swordlight slashed right in front of him.
It turned out that one of the infiltrators had already strayed out and arrived here.
He hacked his sword and indiscriminately tried to kill all who opposed him.
And he easily succeeded in killing everyone standing in his path.
Ye Xiao suddenly turned bitter, "These guys who wear black and cover their faces could never be with Zuo Xiang Fu. They move quicker and are way fiercer than some ordinary warriors - they should be some extremely well-trained assassins!"
Maybe even more menacing than some well-trained assassin!
While Ye Xiao was collecting his thoughts, the assassin didn't stop his merciless lightning-like sword hacks!
On account of the spiritual force of the assassin moving forward, the power of his sword actually released a shiny green light. The surface of the alley wall was now hacked into pieces while some fissures had appeared on the ground. It was as if the sword's breath had even torn the air apart.
———
