31 My heart is clear!

Yao Jun and Yun Yantian traveled together for a few more days, the frequency of the bandit attacks only increasing, until they suddenly stopped one day. When the bandit attacks stopped, Yao Jun couldn't help but feel that it was a shame. These past few days of fighting had worked wonders on his combat strength, allowing him to raise his proficiency with his powers.

Yun Yantian explained that the bandit attacks stopped because they were getting close to Great Xian City. No bandits dared to attack anyone in the vicinity of Great Xian City, if they were discovered by the guards while attacking someone, their ending would not be pretty.

The area around the road had also changed after these few days of walking. When Yao Jun first stepped onto the road, the surrounding area was mostly forests and tall hills as far as the eye could see. The forests and hills slowly gave way to a vast plain covered in smaller villages and some spread lakes.

Since the area around them was now mostly flat, they could see much further than they could before, allowing Yao Jun to see the structures in the distance. In the distance straight ahead of them, Yao Jun could see large metal walls rising upwards into the sky. Yun Yantian knew that these walls were the defensive bulwark of Great Xian City.

Yao Jun turned his head sideways, looking at an area to the east of the city. The area was dominated by a massive grey stone tower that stretched all the way into clouds. The tower was simple and unadorned, built out of what seemed to be normal stone. The tower seemed ancient and decrepit, but it still stood tall, its spire proudly piercing the heavens.

Yun Yantian had explained to him what this tower was. This tower was the old abode of an ancient cultivator who had reached an unfathomable level of power. It had already stood outside Great Xian City for several hundred years, but it had yet to be completely explored and conquered, no one had managed to get that ancient cultivator's full inheritance.

Getting closer to the city, Yao Jun managed to get a clearer look at it. The walls towered above the people walking below them, reaching around 50 meters in height and almost three meters in thickness. The entire outside of the walls was full of red and white markings that connected together at different points. These markings were defensive arrays, strengthening the walls and allowing them to resist most attacks.

The entrance to the city was a massive gate that seemed to be made out of a strange type of black metal. The outside of the gate was mostly empty, only a few spread groups of people coming or going through the gate. Everyone who entered or left the city had to line up and pass through a gap between two bone pillars that towered almost five meters into the air.

The bone pillars seemed to be made out of a single five-meter long bone. Carved into the shape of a pillar and inscribed with a plethora of runes and arrays that twisted around the entire pillar, looking like snakes and dragons.

"What are those bone pillars?"

This was the first time Yao Jun had ever seen anything like this. Even when he was a child and lived in the main branch of the Yao Clan had he not seen anything like those bone pillars. The bone pillars seemed to radiate an ominous presence, he did not doubt that they came from a completely monstrous Demonic beast.

"Those are the city's Anti-Demon Pillars. If any Demonic beast or Demon Race person were to try and pass through them, the runes would light up with a red light, alerting everyone."

Yun Yantian spoke nonchalantly, not noticing that Yao Jun's expression suddenly turned solemn. Yao Jun was uncertain if the pillars would react to him. His parents were humans, but his body had still been invaded by the powers of the Demon Race. The girl from the Demon Race, Wan Yi, said that he could not be considered completely human, so Yao Jun was worried that the pillars would react to him. If they did, buying the maps he needed would instantly become harder.

Yun Yantian and Yao Jun were getting closer and closer to the bone pillars. Yun Yantian had his hands behind his head and had a carefree look on his face. Yao Jun did his best to look as nonchalant and indifferent as he could, but he was already circulating all his Qi into the Garden of Eden, prepared to call out Little Gray and flee at any moment.

Next to the gate stood four guards clad in full armor. The armor was made out of a strange, dull gray metal that seemed to be rough and coarse to the touch. The guards looked at the bone pillars with a bored expression. To the guards of this city, guarding next to these pillars was one of the most boring jobs they could get. They could not leave nor move, standing next to these pillars for hours on end.

Yun Yantian nonchalantly walked through the two bone pillars, even giving the four guards a short nod. He noticed that the sound of Yao Jun's footsteps had slowed down, so he turned around to check on him, only to see Yao Jun slowly stepping into the space between the pillars, a bit of sweat dripping from his forehead.

"What's the matter Brother...."

Before Yun Yantian could finish his sentence, he was shocked to see the runes on the pillars light up with a red glow that pierced towards the heavens. The red glow was blindingly bright, stabbing into Yun Yantian's eyes and heart. He had never expected that the person he had been traveling with and called brother was a person from the Demon Race, the enemy of the Human Race. For a second he didn't even know how to react.

"Haah, so it really came to this..."

Yao Jun only heaved a heavy sigh as he saw the pillars light up. With this, it was now impossible for him to enter the city and get his hand on the maps, he might even be hunted by the people from the city.

"I'm sorry Brother Yantian, but it seems like this is as far as we can go together goodbye."

Yao Jun cupped his hands at Yun Yantian, before a gray light shot out from his body and manifested as a Mist Eagle. The guards were stunned upon seeing the pillars light up and were a bit slow to react, but seeing the Mist Eagle appear next to Yao Jun, they immediately sprung into action.

"Demon Race! Kill him!"

"Prepare the net, don't let him get away!"

Three of the guards immediately unsheathed their swords charged at Yao Jun, while the fourth guard pulled out a crystal and poured his Qi into it. When the Qi entered the crystal, a bright light was emitted by it and strings of yellow light shot out of it, forming a net that covered the sky above Yao Jun. The net was falling downwards towards Yao Jun, he calculated that it would probably only take it around 20 seconds before it completely blocked his escape path.

Normally, 20 seconds would be nothing to Yao Jun. But right now he was being attacked by three guards that were blocking his path, he couldn't even use Little Gray to fly into the air to escape as the net was above him. Yao Jun tried to use his mental powers to disorient the guards, but when he did, a white cover of light appeared on their armor, completely shutting out his mental powers.

Yao Jun took a deep breath and pulled out his sword, if mental energy didn't work, he would just have to cut his way out. Little Gray turned into a gray light and returned to his chest, a purple light flying out immediately afterward. The purple light turned into a Lightning Tiger that followed Yao Jun to charge at the guards.

Yao Jun clashed with one of the guards while Little Thunder clashed with a second. Yao Jun's heart sank when he clashed with the guard. The guard was only around his level of power, only reaching that level of power by training his body, but the guard's armor was exceedingly strange. Yao Jun's sword couldn't even put a scratch on the armor, giving the guard free reign to ignore defending and focus on attacking.

Little Thunder wasn't doing much better than Yao Jun. Little Thunder's lightning was incapable of piercing through the guard's armor, and its physical power was only enough to push the guard backward. The third guard helped the second guard in suppressing Little Thunder, several large gashes quickly appearing on its body, dyeing its fur a bloody red.

Yao Jun's heart bled as he watched Little Thunder bleed. Little Thunder was the first Demonic beast he had absorbed, it could even be said that it had followed him ever since he truly stepped onto the path of cultivation. Little Thunder and Little Gray weren't Demonic beasts to Yao Jun, they were brothers.

Yao Jun grit his teeth and circulated his Qi into the Garden of Eden, forcing Little Thunder to turn into a ray of purple light and fly back into his chest. He didn't know what would happen to the Garden of Eden if he ended up dying here, but he could only place his hopes on the Garden of Eden being an actual place, not just a separate space created by his powers.

The two guards immediately charged towards Yao Jun after Little Thunder disappeared. They would only need to hold Yao Jun down for another 10 seconds. After that, the net would fall down and trap him there, allowing them to capture and interrogate him. Yao Jun grit his teeth and allowed the guard that he was currently fighting to land a hit on his shoulder, giving Yao Jun the chance to deliver a kick to the guard's legs, sending him tumbling to the ground.

He had found that the guards had a ridiculous defense, but their speed and flexibility left much to be desired. Yao Jun was just preparing to face the two guards and do whatever it took to open a path when he suddenly heard a sigh from behind him. After the sigh sounded, two swords flew past his head, going directly towards the eye holes in the guard's armor.

While the guards stopped to raise their swords and defend, Yao Jun felt someone grabbing his arm and dragging him away. Turning around, he saw Yun Yantian holding onto his wrist, dragging him away from the guards and the city, breaking away from the net.

"Summon the Mist Eagle again! Our only chance is to reach the mystic ruins before anyone else comes after us!"

Before Yao Jun had the time to say anything, Yun Yantian barked out an order, two more swords appearing in his hand. The swords quickly flew out of his hand and charged at the guards, floating in front of them and holding them back. Yao Jun shook himself out of his daze, he had no other choice but to trust Yun Yantian now, Little Gray quickly flying out of his chest. Yao Jun and Yun Yantian quickly hopped onto Little Gray's back and Little Gray flew up into the air, heading towards the large tower in the distance.

"Haah, I've truly done it now. If Uncle finds out about this, there is no telling for how long I will be grounded."

While they were flying towards the tower at full speed, Yun Yantian sighed and shook his head. The guards wanted to chase them, but how could their running speed compare with a Mist Eagle's flying speed? All they could do was send a message to their superiors and await their orders.

"Why would you help me, it'll be impossible for you to enter the city now."

Yao Jun was happy that Yun Yantian decided to help him, even though all signs pointed to him being from the Demon Race, but at the same time, he could not understand why he would help him. Him helping Yao Jun could very easily end up with him being branded a traitor to the Human Race.

"Well firstly, I never really needed to enter the city, I only figured it would be nice to stock up on some more provisions before I entered the mystic ruins. Secondly, I already called you Brother Jun, and you even called me Brother Yantian. You have even protected my life a few times over these past few days. I can also tell that you are very similar to me, serious, yet carefree. Vicious, yet kind. If I just abandoned a friend like that, I would be no better than a beast."

"I will live my life the way I want to. I will save those I want to save, kill those I want to kill. If people refuse to accept my choices, they are not people I need to care about. So what if I am branded a traitor, with a brother by my side, no enemy will ever stop me. I will live my life with a free heart and a clear mind."

Yun Yantian spoke passionately, even beating his own chest as he spoke. Yao Jun could not help but feel touched, Yun Yantian had after all practically abandoned his everything just to help Yao Jun.

"It seems I really underestimated Brother Yantian's free spirit, having a brother like you can be considered my life's greatest fortune."

Yao Jun spoke with a smile, patting Yun Yantian as he spoke. He had said goodbye to Yun Yantian when the pillars lit up because he believed that Yun Yantian would certainly leave him to his fate. Favoring to follow the customs of killing everyone from the Demon Race instead of helping him.

"It's fine, just treat me to some good wine and I'll forgive you. Good brothers need to drink good wine after all..... You should tell the Mist Eagle to go down over there, at the base of the tower."

As they talked, they had already gotten close to the large tower. There was no one behind them yet, but there was no telling if they were being pursued or not so they couldn't let their guards down. They landed in front of the large tower entrance. There was no one located in front of the tower entrance, the mystic ruins had been here for so long that it was mostly just a few people every year that entered it.

The entrance to the tower was a simple wooden door with the carving of a sword decorating most of it. Yao Jun gave Little Gray a few herbs and meat that it could bring back into the Garden of Eden and give to the wounded Little Thunder. Staying inside the Garden of Eden would slowly heal him, but the herbs would help speed up the process.

Yao Jun and Yun Yantian both entered the tower through the door. Passing the door, they entered a round room that was completely empty. The floor of the room was covered in many interconnected lines, forming a large array. Yun Yantian had already explained that this was the array that would lead them into the mystic ruins, it was also the only entrance.

Yun Yantian took out a few Spirit Stones and placed them in certain spots on the formation. When the last Spirit Stone was placed down, the formation suddenly lit up with a pale white light that enveloped Yao Jun and Yun Yantian. Yao Jun felt the space around him congeal and twist before the world in front of him turned black and he was transported away.