Chapter 8: Disagreement Leads to Blades Drawn

Watching the young shop assistant scurry upstairs in a panic, Ye Yun merely offered a cold smile. "Come, let us head to the second floor."

"Understood!" Luo Li replied, following Ye Yun directly up the stairs.

A shop assistant stood at the top of the landing, but seeing the pair’s overwhelming momentum, he dared not block their path. The assistant who had gone ahead to report had never imagined they would ascend so quickly; he had barely reached the door of a private room to deliver the news when Ye Yun and Luo Li walked right in. He stood there, flustered and at a loss for what to do.

The manager, an elderly man with hair and beard as white as snow, saw the intrusion and his face sank, his eyes burning with rage. "You two, I have distinguished guests here. I must ask you to wait outside!" The old manager delivered his eviction notice with a grim countenance.

Beside him sat a middle-aged man in black robes. His cultivation was profound—he was a peak tenth-level cultivator of the Origin Sea Realm.

"You two, please come out with me and wait for a moment!" the young shop assistant turned and said, shaking his head with a bitter smile.

"This is none of your concern. Get lost!" Ye Yun reached out and shoved the assistant aside with a single flick of his hand.

"Insolence!" Seeing their arrogance, the old manager was incensed. He said coldly, "Do you two not understand the rules of my Myriad Treasures Pavilion?"

"Rules are set by people," Ye Yun replied, his gaze sharp as a sword as he stared coldly at the old manager. He sneered, "And they are also meant to be broken."

"Very well… very well!" The old manager’s face darkened, then flushed red, and finally turned a pale, sickly green under the sting of Ye Yun’s words.

He could not gauge the depth of the young man before him, who gave off the impression of an ordinary person without a shred of cultivation. Yet, the stunning young girl beside him possessed an astonishing aura, having already reached the peak of the tenth level of the Origin Sea Realm. It was her that he feared the most.

The black-robed man, who had been sitting silently, stood up. With his hands behind his back and his eyes narrowed, he stared at Ye Yun and sneered, "I never expected that a tiny place like the Ancient Moon Dynasty would produce such arrogant people. It is truly an eye-opener!"

Seeing the black-robed man flare up in anger, the old manager turned quickly and said apologetically, "Please, Elder Liu, forgive us. This matter originated from our Myriad Treasures Pavilion, so we shall resolve it ourselves!"

"Hmph!" The man in black snorted and sat back down with a sullen face, clearly out of respect for the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.

"Luo Li!" Ye Yun suddenly called out. "Cut him down!"

Hearing the command of her ancestor, Luo Li did not hesitate. She drew the Supreme Golden Dragon Sword, her aura surging like a rainbow, and struck out with a blade aimed straight at the black-robed man.

"What the—!" The man in black was startled by the terrifying strike and scrambled to dodge to the side.

Luo Li’s blade shifted mid-air, pursuing him relentlessly.

"This is going too far!" Enraged, the man in black drew his own sword and countered with a flash of light.

*Clang!*

The two swords collided, and with a sharp, crisp sound, the black-robed man’s weapon shattered.

*Swish!*

Like a startled dragon, another flash of light descended. Luo Li’s sword pierced the man’s arm. He cried out and stumbled backward repeatedly. The entire sequence happened in a flash, dizzying to behold.

Before the old manager could even react, the battle between two peak Origin Sea Realm experts had concluded. What shocked him was that this young girl, barely in her teens, was so formidable that she had wounded Elder Liu with a single strike.

The old manager trembled violently. The girl’s swordsmanship was fast, ruthless, and precise, possessing a lethal force that could only be matched if he gathered all the experts of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion at once. But he feared he would be struck down long before he could call for help.

"Get out!" Ye Yun glanced at the man in black indifferently.

Holding his bleeding arm and keeping his head down, the man in black dared not utter a single threat. He slunk out of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, realizing that the young girl had a powerful background and strength far beyond what he could afford to provoke.

Only Luo Li, Ye Yun, and the old manager remained in the room. The manager trembled, unable to hide his terror.

"My lords, please, tell me what you wish to know. I will tell you everything I know, hiding nothing!" he said, his voice quivering.

Luo Li pointed her sword at him and asked indignantly, "Who exactly ordered you to capture the descendants of the Divine Dragon Sect?"

Hearing this, the old manager paused, hesitant to speak.

"Speak. If you do not, you may die right here," Ye Yun remarked, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

Under Ye Yun’s gaze, the old manager felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. He felt a sudden, bone-chilling cold, as if he were hallucinating that the room had been swallowed by an endless, blood-stained hell with no hope of escape.

*This young man is terrifyingly powerful!* The manager’s heart shattered; he knew he had encountered someone of immense significance.

"My lord, I do not know who issued the task. The person was mysterious and wore a bronze mask. He offered a massive bounty to our Myriad Treasures Pavilion to hunt down the disciples of the Divine Dragon Sect," the old manager stammered, spilling every detail without omission.

Ye Yun’s expression remained cold. The manager’s words did not exceed his expectations. The mastermind behind the scenes was cautious; even when dealing with a small sect like the Divine Dragon Sect, he was careful enough not to act personally.

"A dozen days ago, one of my junior brothers was captured by people from the Green Sword Sect. Where is he now?" Luo Li asked, her voice hoarse as she leveled her sword at the manager.

"He was taken by that mysterious masked man," the manager replied, his face deathly pale.

"Do you know where he took him?" Luo Li pressed.

The old manager looked out the window, recalling for a few seconds before saying, "Before he left, he only mentioned the words... Myriad Ghost Ridge."

"What? Myriad Ghost Ridge?" Luo Li’s heart trembled.

Myriad Ghost Ridge was a legendary forbidden land. It was said to be inhabited by countless evil spirits and was rumored to lead directly to the Nine Nether Hells. No one dared to approach it. Those who ventured near never returned alive.

However, there was one exception. Every hundred years, Myriad Ghost Ridge held a special sacrificial ceremony known as "Lighting the Sky Lantern."

"Lighting the Sky Lantern" meant that various factions within the Ancient Moon Dynasty would capture heinous criminals or innocent wandering cultivators and send them to the ridge. They would use the humans as wicks and their flesh as oil; it was said the lanterns would burn for forty-nine days before the victims finally died. During this time, the thousands of ghosts in the ridge would run rampant, howling in the woods as if celebrating a festival.

Those who delivered the sacrifices were guaranteed safe passage. By performing this ritual, the various factions ensured peace around the ridge for the next hundred years.

"Where is this Myriad Ghost Ridge?" Ye Yun asked, looking toward Luo Li.

Luo Li hurriedly told her ancestor everything she knew. Ye Yun nodded slightly. It seemed this Myriad Ghost Ridge was another mysterious force that had emerged later.

"My junior brother has been gone for ten days..." Luo Li sighed, her heart heavy with dread. Her junior brother’s cultivation was low; if he had been sent to the ridge, he would never last forty-nine days. He was almost certainly doomed.

Leaving the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, Ye Yun took Luo Li and sped toward the ridge. It was thirty thousand miles away, yet they arrived in a few breaths.

Myriad Ghost Ridge was a black mountain range shrouded in ghostly mist and yin energy. It stretched for thousands of miles, covering a vast expanse.

Standing in the void, Ye Yun looked down. He saw cultivators from various factions pushing bound wandering cultivators and sealed prisoners in a long line, marching into the ridge.