From the fake emperor to the concubine

Zheng Yi and the others had arrived. Zheng Yi glanced at the scorpion and said, "This scorpion is quite strong, equivalent to the peak of the late-stage Nascent Soul realm. You can't handle it; you should retreat."

"Very well, thank you, fellow Daoist!" Although the middle-aged man was unwilling, he knew that continuing to fight would only lead to his death. He quickly led his men to retreat, away from the battlefield.

The scorpion, struck by the sword light, was clearly enraged. It turned towards Zheng Yi and the others, letting out a piercing screech, and then pounced.

“I’ll do it,” Zheng Yi said. He raised his hand and waved it, and an invisible barrier appeared in front of everyone.

The scorpion's pincers slammed against the barrier, but it was as if it had hit an iron wall, and it was shaken back repeatedly.

"Bowen, Hongzhi, attack from both flanks. Ruyan, cover them," Zheng Yi calmly commanded.

"Yes!" the three replied in unison.

Zheng Bowen and Zheng Hongzhi immediately flanked from both sides. Zheng Bowen unleashed a flaming longsword, its blade wreathed in intense flames, and slashed at the scorpion's side. Zheng Hongzhi, meanwhile, cast a spell, sending several bolts of lightning crashing down from the sky and striking the scorpion's carapace.

Liu Ruyan also made her move. The Xuanbing Sword in her hand flew out, transforming into several streaks of icy blue sword light, constantly harassing the scorpion and preventing it from concentrating on its attack.

The scorpion was surrounded on three sides and was immediately in danger. It let out an angry screech and lashed out with its venomous tail, trying to drive the group away.

However, Zheng Yi and the others cooperated extremely well. Whenever the venomous tail attacked one person, the others would increase their attack power, forcing the venomous scorpion to withdraw its venomous tail for defense.

Zheng Yi remained silent, quietly observing the scorpion's movements. He was searching for the scorpion's weakness.

Finally, he saw an opportunity.

As the scorpion attacked Zheng Bowen, its vulnerable spot below the head was exposed for a fleeting moment. In that instant, Zheng Yi moved.

His figure vanished from his spot like lightning, appearing a moment later directly beneath the scorpion. His longsword thrust out, striking precisely at that vulnerable spot.

puff--

The longsword plunged into the scorpion's body, its tip emerging from the other side. Zheng Yi twisted his wrist, and a surge of violent spiritual energy erupted from the sword, raging within the scorpion's body.

The scorpion let out a piercing scream, its massive body convulsing violently. Its venomous tail lashed out wildly, trying to sting Zheng Yi.

But Zheng Yi was prepared. He drew his longsword, and in a flash, he had already retreated ten feet away.

Without the support of that fatal blow, the scorpion's life force rapidly drained away. It struggled a few times, then its massive body collapsed to the ground, never to move again.

"Good!" The middle-aged man arrived with his clansmen, his face beaming with excitement. "Thank you all for your help! If it weren't for you, we would probably all be dead here."

Zheng Yi sheathed his sword and said calmly, "It was nothing."

"A mere favor?" The middle-aged man shook his head. "It may be a small favor for you, but for us, it's a life-saving grace. I am from Baiyun Mountain of the Bai family, and these are all members of my Bai family. May I ask your esteemed names?"

"My name is Zheng Yi, from the Zheng family of Taixu Peak," Zheng Yi said, clasping his hands in greeting.

"Tai Xu Peak?" Bai Yunshan was taken aback. "Never heard of it. But with such strength, it must be no nobody. Fellow Daoist Zheng, my Bai family will never forget your life-saving grace. If you ever need our help in the future, please don't hesitate to ask!"

He spoke with great passion, his face full of gratitude.

Zheng Yi nodded: "Chief Bai, you're too kind. Now that the scorpion problem has been solved, we'll take our leave."

"Wait!" Bai Yunshan quickly called out to them, "Fellow Daoists, why don't you travel together? This ruin is fraught with danger; more people means more strength, and it'll be good to have someone to help you."

Zheng Yi was about to refuse when Liu Ruyan said, "That's fine too. The Bai family is a long-established family in the Xuan Tian Domain; having another partner is good."

Zheng Yi glanced at Liu Ruyan, and seeing her nod slightly, he understood her meaning. He then said, "Then thank you very much, Chief Bai."

"Haha, no problem at all!" Bai Yunshan was overjoyed. "With several experts traveling with us, we feel much more at ease."

So the two groups merged and continued their journey through the wilderness.

Bai Yunshan was very talkative, constantly exchanging ideas with Zheng Yi and the others along the way. He gave a detailed account of the Bai family's situation and shared many interesting stories about the Xuan Tian Domain.

Zheng Yi responded politely on the surface, but felt a little uneasy inside.

He secretly whispered to Zheng Bowen, "What do you think of this Baiyun Mountain?"

Zheng Bowen replied telepathically, "His excessive enthusiasm makes us feel uncomfortable. Besides, I noticed several of his clansmen were constantly glancing at us, their eyes filled with calculation."

“I feel the same way,” Zheng Yi said. “Stay vigilant and be prepared to respond at any time.”

Just then, a stone palace suddenly appeared in front of them.

The stone hall wasn't large, but it was exquisitely constructed. The doors were tightly shut, and intricate runes were carved on them, radiating powerful energy fluctuations.

"There's treasure!" Bai Yunshan's eyes lit up. "This stone hall must contain something good!"

His people also got excited and crowded around him.

Zheng Yi frowned, about to warn them to be careful, when Bai Yunshan suddenly turned around, his amiable expression completely gone, replaced by a sinister look.

"Make your move!" he shouted coldly.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a dozen cultivators from the Bai family attacked simultaneously, unleashing a barrage of spells and supernatural powers upon Zheng Yi and his companions.

This sudden turn of events took both Zheng Bowen and Zheng Hongzhi by surprise.

"Damn it! They're ungrateful!" Zheng Bowen cursed angrily.

But Zheng Yi remained calm. He was prepared; the moment the Bai family made their move, he had already set up a defense.

An invisible barrier appeared around everyone, blocking all the attacks.

Boom boom boom——

Various attacks struck the barrier, producing deafening roars. But the barrier remained completely still, showing no signs of damage.

Bai Yunshan's expression changed drastically: "How is that possible? He was already on guard against us!"

"Chief Bai, what do you mean by this?" Zheng Yi looked at him coldly, his eyes flashing with a cold light.

Knowing he'd been exposed, Bai Yunshan dropped the pretense. He grinned maliciously, "What do you mean? Heh, of course I want your lives! You helped me kill the Poisonous Scorpion, and you have so many good things; wouldn't it be a waste not to kill you?"

"So you never had good intentions from the beginning," Liu Ruyan said coldly.

“Of course,” Bai Yunshan said smugly. “In these ruins, only the dead are truly reliable. You are powerful; how can we feel at ease if we don’t eliminate you? Besides, if we kill you, all the treasures on your bodies will be ours.”

As he spoke, a greedy glint appeared in his eyes. He had already figured it out; although Zheng Yi and his group consisted of only seven people, each of them was a master and must possess many valuable items.

"Unfortunately, you've misjudged the situation," Zheng Yi said calmly. "You think you can kill us?"

"Arrogant!" Bai Yunshan roared. "I admit you are strong, but there are more than a dozen of us, and I have already set up a trapping formation. You have no way to escape! Kill them!"

At his command, the Bai family launched another attack. This time, they were clearly serious, unleashing a barrage of deadly moves, determined to kill Zheng Yi and his companions.

But what they didn't know was that they were facing a powerful expert at the Integration Realm. Zheng Yi's expression turned completely cold. He had originally intended to spare these people's lives, but since they were determined to die, he couldn't be blamed.

“The realm of spacetime,” he said in a low voice.

Instantly, a powerful force of spacetime erupted from his body, enveloping an area of ​​a hundred feet in radius.

Within this realm, the flow of time became chaotic. The Bai family members suddenly found their movements extremely slow, as if they were stuck in a quagmire. Their spells froze in mid-air before they could even be cast.

"What kind of supernatural power is this?!" Bai Yunshan was terrified. He tried to break free, but he couldn't at all. Within this domain, he couldn't even move a single finger.

Zheng Yi looked at them coldly: "I gave you chances, but you didn't cherish them."

He raised his hand and waved it, sending out several sword beams that accurately struck the vital points of the Bai family members.

Puff puff--

Blood splattered, and more than a dozen cultivators from the Bai family fell to the ground simultaneously, all lifeless.

Only Baiyunshan remained, imprisoned in mid-air by the power of time and space, unable to move.

Zheng Yi walked up to him and asked coldly, "Speak, who ordered you to attack us?"

Fear filled Bai Yunshan's eyes. He wanted to speak, but his throat was gagged, and he couldn't make a sound.

Zheng Yi slightly relaxed his restraint on him.

“Yes, it was Young Master Ning,” Bai Yunshan said with difficulty. “Young Master Ning instructed us to search for cultivators from other regions, and to eliminate them once encountered. He said that cultivators from other regions come to seize treasures and cannot be allowed to live.”

“Ning Zhiyuan?” Zheng Yi sneered. “It really was him.”

He had long suspected that the gentle and refined Ning Zhiyuan was not as simple as he appeared. Now it seemed that he not only wanted to deal with Zheng Yi, but also wanted to eliminate all the cultivators from the outer regions.

"Is there anything else you want to say?" Zheng Yi asked.

"Spare my life!" Baiyunshan pleaded.

"It's too late," Zheng Yi said calmly.

With a wave of his hand, a flash of sword light appeared, and Bai Yunshan's head flew up while his body fell to the ground.

Zheng Bowen and Zheng Hongzhi looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, feeling both angry and shocked. They were angry that the Bai family had repaid kindness with enmity, and shocked that their patriarch's strength was so terrifying; more than a dozen cultivators had no chance to resist him.

Liu Ruyan walked to Zheng Yi's side and whispered, "It seems this trip to the ruins is more dangerous than we imagined. Ning Zhiyuan has already ordered the elimination of all the cultivators from the outer realms."

“That suits me perfectly,” Zheng Yi said coldly. “Since he wants to play, I’ll play along to the end.”

He turned to look at the stone hall, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes: "Let's go see what treasures are inside."

The group approached the stone hall. Zheng Hongzhi stepped forward to examine it and said, "There's a restriction on the hall's doors; it needs to be broken."

“Let me do it,” Zheng Yi said.

He walked to the palace gate and carefully sensed it. The restriction was indeed very strong, but it was nothing to him.

He raised his hand and placed it on the palace door, and a surge of spatial and temporal power flowed in. Under the influence of this power, the restriction was quickly disintegrated.

click-

The palace doors slowly opened, revealing a deep, dark passageway inside.

“Go in,” Zheng Yi said.

The crowd filed in. The hall was not large, but it was exquisitely decorated. Luminous pearls were inlaid on the walls, illuminating the entire hall.

In the center of the hall, there was a stone platform. On the platform were several items: an ancient jade scroll, two bottles of elixirs, and a long sword.

Zheng Yi stepped forward and picked up the jade slip. He probed it with his divine sense and his eyes immediately lit up.

"This is... the Time-Space Sword Technique?" he exclaimed in surprise.

This jade slip contained a sword technique related to the laws of spacetime. To Zheng Yi, it was like finding a priceless treasure.

“It seems we’ve come to the right place.” Zheng Yi put away the jade slip and then looked at the two bottles of pills and the longsword.

Those two bottles of pills were for breaking through cultivation levels, extremely useful for Nascent Soul stage cultivators. The longsword, on the other hand, was a mid-grade spiritual treasure, possessing considerable power.

"You can divide these things among yourselves," Zheng Yi said to Zheng Bowen and the others.

"Thank you, Patriarch!" Everyone was overjoyed.

After distributing the treasures, the group left the stone hall and continued their exploration in the wilderness.

Elsewhere, Ning Zhiyuan stood on a high platform, looking down at the scene below.

A subordinate rushed over and respectfully said, "Young Master, the Bai family has failed. Their spirit tablets have all been destroyed; they must have been completely wiped out."

Ning Zhiyuan's expression changed slightly: "Completely wiped out? Bai Yunshan is a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, leading more than a dozen clansmen, and yet he still failed?"

“Yes, young master,” the subordinate replied.

Ning Zhiyuan remained silent for a moment, a cold glint flashing in his eyes: "It seems this Zheng Yi is even more difficult to deal with than I imagined. But it doesn't matter; only the Bai family will fail. I will personally take action next."

He turned to look into the distance, a cold smile playing on his lips: "Zheng Yi, just you wait. This ruin will be your burial ground."

The winds of the wilderness swept across the land, whipping up clouds of red dust. Zheng Yi stood atop a boulder, gazing at the distant, rolling mountains, his eyes deep and resolute.

Ning Zhiyuan thought he could get rid of him through schemes and tricks, but little did he know that in the face of absolute power, all his calculations were in vain.

"Ning Zhiyuan, I'd like to see what other tricks you have up your sleeve," Zheng Yi muttered to himself, his voice carried away by the wind across the wilderness.

Liu Ruyan walked to his side, looking in the same direction: "Fellow Daoist Zheng, what are your plans?"

“Let’s go deeper,” Zheng Yi said. “There should be something even more important deep within this wilderness. I can sense a more powerful fluctuation of spacetime energy there.”

“Then let’s go,” Liu Ruyan nodded.

The group continued their journey through the wilderness, the red sand beneath their feet gleaming eerily in the sunlight. Zheng Yi led the way, his divine sense constantly scanning their surroundings, alert to any potential dangers.

After walking for about an hour, they suddenly heard faint crying sounds ahead.

The crying was very soft, almost imperceptible, nearly drowned out by the wind in the wilderness. But Zheng Yi's cultivation was so profound that he still clearly detected it.

"Wait." He raised his hand to signal everyone to stop.

"What's wrong?" Liu Ruyan asked alertly. (End of Chapter)