Daqin arrests alchemists, what does it matter to me as a qi refiner?

The members of the other smaller families exchanged bewildered glances, frantic with worry. What should they do next? They had thought that after a few days of relative calm from the Dark Gate members, they would regain their freedom, but now it seemed that was all wishful thinking!

"Master, you must think of a solution quickly! Their sudden outburst is definitely no small matter!"

"That's right, Patriarch, you'd better think of a solution!"

They couldn't help but press for answers. Just then, someone approached. Seeing it was someone from the hidden gate, their hearts tightened, unsure of their intentions. They had already given everything they could; were they really going to kill them all?

"All of you stay here. What happens next is none of your business!" They left these words to prevent their escape. The man, out of their sight, curled a cold smile. The powerful figures had already been dealt with, and they hadn't found any more formidable opponents.

"Now we'll set up an array and forcibly seize their life essence! This life essence will be of great use to us!" he shouted, his aura swirling around them. The crowd looked bewildered, unsure of what they were up to.

The family members quickly realized what was happening. He abruptly stood up, his voice laced with accusation: "What are you trying to do? We've already stayed here, what more do you want? You're not going to let us go?" He spoke bluntly, and the atmosphere instantly turned icy. To everyone's surprise, they burst into laughter. Actually, telling them wouldn't have been a problem.

"Let me tell you, the reason we've left you here is because the essence within you is extremely useful to us! You'll all die by our hand in the end, and this essence will further enhance our cultivation!" They knew the importance of essence, but those with weaker strength also had weaker essence. Who would have thought they had this in mind? They were truly ruthless!

No wonder they wanted them to stay here; it turned out they had already made up their minds to make them stay willingly. They couldn't believe they would encounter such a thing.

"Alright, you're already fortunate enough to be able to work for us!"

They gritted their teeth, their minds racing with thoughts of how to proceed.
Is it a desperate gamble, or to resign oneself to fate?

To be honest, they were powerless to resist.

The opponent was far too powerful; they were no match for them.

Those people wore smiles, their words laced with sarcasm:
"You'd better stay here obediently!"

The others reacted and stood up. They were not weak themselves, how could they let themselves be slaughtered like this? They might as well fight them to the death! However, before they could make a move, they were stopped by the other party.

"These people shouldn't pose a threat, right?"

"Of course not, they're so weak, they're no match for us. Besides, there are so many of us here, with me here, nothing will go wrong!"

"Alright, I'll go check elsewhere first. If we can't improve our strength, that would be troublesome!" They naturally need a large amount of source energy to improve their cultivation level, a point that coincides with Yang Ling's own. Yang Ling remained expressionless, looking up at the scene, thinking to himself: These people are truly delusional and ignorant of their own limitations.

He knew perfectly well what these people were up to. The others also sensed something was wrong, but didn't know what was happening. They tried to leave, but were stopped. Some realized something was amiss and wanted to escape, but were powerless to do so.

"Why have they trapped us here? What are they trying to do?"

"It's not just here, they've sealed off everywhere. They want to wipe us out in one fell swoop!"

"Let's charge in together! We can't just sit here and wait to die! If we had known they were so treacherous, we should have left in the first place!" they shouted eagerly, itching to rush forward immediately. However, their attacks were completely ineffective against the people from the Dark Gate. The Dark Gate members burst into laughter; these people actually thought they would show mercy? What a fool they were! They clenched their fists, their faces contorted in pain.

Those people felt the intense pressure, coughing up blood as they watched helplessly as their life essence was taken away. Yang Ling instantly realized what they were planning. His eyes lit up, but unfortunately, these people were still too weak. Yang Ling noticed a vortex above his head; no wonder so many people were gathered here—they wanted to kill people and steal their life essence.

Yang Ling had suspected something was amiss, but upon learning the truth, he still felt anger. He had to eliminate the members of the Dark Gate as soon as possible. Those people stared at Yang Ling, for they had sensed his presence immediately; they were at the same "level" as him and could naturally detect him. Realizing this, they decided to eliminate Yang Ling first to prevent further trouble.

Yang Ling clashed with them without hesitation. He drew his sword, and the power of his strike was astonishing, shaking even the heavens and earth. Many sensed this aura and looked up. When they saw Yang Ling's figure, they quickly realized:

"This is our savior! This man is dressed in a black robe that covers his face, but his aura is undeniable. He truly is our savior!"

"He's fighting with the people from the Dark Gate. Can he really win? The people from the Dark Gate are so powerful, he might not be able to win!"

"Don't be discouraging! He's so strong, how could he not win? Besides, I feel his strength is unprecedented!" they said eagerly. Yang Ling remained calm; for him, all of this was expected, and he understood what it meant.

The others sneered, having overheard their discussion, they now knew Yang Ling's identity. So Yang Ling was the person they were looking for! They were eager to eliminate him, as he had challenged their dignity. Yang Ling moved swiftly, aiming for a quick victory. The man before him suddenly brightened, for Yang Ling was the first person who could fight him to a draw. Their previous tactics had worked wonders on others.
But their attacks had no effect on Yang Ling. When had they become so weak? Seeing Yang Ling defeat the members of the Dark Gate, they were extremely excited. Yang Ling was truly too strong; even the members of the Dark Gate were no match for him. Yang Ling looked at that person, who then realized Yang Ling's strength and decided to join forces to kill him.

The others were enraged to see them all charging at them. The Dark Gate members were utterly shameless, ganging up on one person—wasn't that intentional?! The Dark Gate members were incredibly excited while acquiring the source, but before they could even react, Yang Ling smashed them away, leaving them completely unable to retaliate.

Where did Yang Ling come from? They had no recollection of him. If they had known anything about Yang Ling beforehand, he would have already dealt with them. As for the others, they hadn't expected Yang Ling to kill the Dark Gate members so quickly. They felt a surge of admiration for him. Yang Ling knew there were still many to deal with, and after realizing this, he quickly moved forward. The Dark Gate members were fighting against several families when they suddenly felt a force approaching them. They were wondering who it was when they saw it was Yang Ling, and immediately realized that their men must have been eliminated by him, otherwise he wouldn't have appeared so easily. They gritted their teeth.

"You dare to cause trouble for us? You're utterly shameless!"

"And you even managed to take care of our people? You're truly ungrateful!" Yang Ling glanced at them, remaining calm. He was already being quite lenient by not eliminating them. These people were still yelling and shouting, which Yang Ling found incredibly noisy. The family members looked ashamed; they had heard about Yang Ling's exploits recently. Yang Ling looked young, yet his strength was extraordinary.

This filled them with shame. They stood up abruptly, determined to fight the people of the Dark Gate to the bitter end.

"Young master, we initially surrendered to them temporarily to save our lives, but they are shameless, and we will certainly not associate with them any longer. How about we join forces to deal with them?"

"That's right, young master. Although I don't know your background, your ability to deal with them is definitely impressive!"

"Why don't we cooperate?" they suggested. Yang Ling had no intention of cooperating with them, but considering that those people were waiting for them to rescue, he thought he might as well do them a favor and let them go.

Yang Ling would never admit that he wanted to use them as tools.

"In that case, I'll have to trouble you all!"

As Yang Ling finished speaking, their excitement reached its peak. The key was that the members of the Dark Gate were no match for Yang Ling; with their strength, they were completely unable to withstand his attacks. No matter how they attacked, Yang Ling could always recover quickly, as if nothing had happened.

This was completely beyond their expectations. With the assistance of two other people, Yang Ling managed to kill them. Yang Ling acted swiftly, directly seizing their life essence. After taking the life essence of several people, he felt his internal energy surging, showing signs of a subtle improvement.

He moved swiftly, and the others watched Yang Ling, unable to intervene. The Evil Cloud Saint sensed the surging aura within Yang Ling and couldn't help but wonder just how much essence Yang Ling had absorbed.

"Finally, I've witnessed this scene. He's incredibly fast; he managed to take down so many people."

"That's right, he held off these people with his own strength, which is a blessing for us!"

"The people of the Dark Gate are all cunning; killing them countless times wouldn't be too much!"

They eagerly praised Yang Ling's strength, considering him practically a savior of the world, unique and unparalleled. Just then, someone suddenly said:
"We are not weak either, and we will definitely become stronger in the future!"

"What do they have to compare with us? No matter how powerful the Dark Gate people are, they still lost to us!"

"We'll fight the Dark Sect to the bitter end! We'll never collude with them!" They talked excitedly, Yang Ling's deeds igniting their fury. Although Yang Ling had almost wiped them out, they weren't completely doomed. Since joining the Dark Sect wouldn't end well anyway, they might as well fight to the death. Yang Ling's aura was about to leak out...

He knew this aura was extraordinary, one that even he himself couldn't underestimate. For Yang Ling, this was perhaps a form of torture, but thankfully he was able to hold on. However, Yang Ling was about to collapse; he suddenly felt the surrounding aura growing increasingly intense, a power he simply couldn't withstand. What had these people done? Why had he become like this? Yang Ling was utterly baffled.

He gritted his teeth and began to slowly deplete his internal energy.

The Evil Cloud Saint sensed Yang Ling's pain; in his eyes, Yang Ling was risking his life. But to the others, Yang Ling was a savior, and everyone was thrilled. The others looked at Yang Ling with a mixture of excitement and unease, after all, Yang Ling had just saved them. Seeing Yang Ling kill the Dark Gate members, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Since not many people were injured, they couldn't help but lament that they were all getting on in years, and yet they still had to rely on younger generations to step in at crucial moments. Where would they put their faces in the future? They had been blind to Yang Ling's greatness before and had offended him greatly. Yang Ling coughed.

"Take care of yourselves. The Dark Gate people will definitely come again. Be more careful in the future, and don't overthink things!" Yang Ling muttered to himself. To them, his words were more of a warning. Although they had escaped this calamity, they couldn't be too careless. The Dark Gate people could find them at any time and crush them; they couldn't let their guard down.

After speaking, Yang Ling turned and left, his speed so fast that they couldn't react in time. They were inwardly amazed; although they were at the same level as Yang Ling, they couldn't sense his strength. How did Yang Ling do it? They didn't even know how he had avoided their gazes and left so easily. The difference was enormous; indeed, Yang Ling was even more powerful than they had imagined. They exchanged glances.

"Why haven't we heard of someone like him all these years? It's like he appeared out of nowhere. His strength is too great, making people admire him even more!"

"I'm not sure. Maybe even God couldn't stand it anymore and sent such a savior to rescue us!"

They exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes filled with admiration. During this time, all their families and sects had been slaughtered by the Dark Gate, yet Yang Ling had appeared out of nowhere, rescuing them from their dire straits. In total, at least a dozen people had died at Yang Ling's hands—this was the sheer overwhelming power of his opponents.

Back then, the members of the Dark Gate were invincible, and they suffered defeat after defeat. Yang Ling's sudden appearance at this time—what else could he be but a savior?
"Alright, this incident has taught us a profound lesson. We can't trust those guys; they're all liars. Even if we join the Dark Gate, we won't have a good ending. They're blinded by greed and don't value human life!"

"Our family was almost killed by them! It was like throwing an egg against a rock, let alone protecting them. We almost lost our own lives!" He felt they had been too foolish to think they could survive by surrendering. The Dark Gate members were all ruthless and heartless; there was no point in cooperating with them. They had trusted them too much, which was why they were taken advantage of. (End of Chapter)