Chapter 826: Just Another Heir
There was a jade fan in his hand, and he was dressed in white robes.
A cloak with cloud embroidery was draped over him as well. Overall, he gave off an elegant bearing, and his towering height added to his demeanor.
Two elders clad in white and the other in black robes stood next to the young man. The two elders were holding a sword. Their auras were restrained, but they were both half-step Path Creation Realm experts.
Behind these two elders were dozens of strong individuals, all dressed in black and carrying long sabers. Most of them were at hundred percent divinity, with the weakest still at the eighty percent divinity.
Ye Guan\'s expression changed at the formidable lineup. They had at least thirty full divinity experts. This was an incredible force.
Zhou Yuan standing next to Ye Guan said, "Young Master Ye, that \'young man\' is actually a young lady."
Startled, Ye Guan looked closely at the young man at the helm of the group.
Sure enough, the young man had delicate features, red lips, white teeth, and a slightly protruding chest, which looked a bit off to Ye Guan.Ye Guan became certain at the sight that the young man before him was a young woman disguised as a man.
The elder in white stared at Ye Guan, and an invisible sword force enveloped Ye Guan.
Zhou Yuan stepped forward and flicked his sleeve, dispersing the sword force.
Ye Guan observed the scene with a frown.
The elder in white\'s eyes narrowed as he stared at Zhou Yuan. His sword began vibrating, and an invisible battle intent and sword energy spread throughout the starry sky.
Zhou Yuan remained calm with his right hand behind his back as he stared at the elder in white. The elder in white was about to draw his sword when the "young man" next to him chimed in, "Left Elder, there\'s no need for that."
The elder in white glared at Ye Guan, "That young man was staring at you with disrespectful eyes. He deserves to die."
The "young man" glanced at Ye Guan and chuckled. "I\'m pretending to be a man right now, so it\'s only natural for him to be curious about my motives. There\'s no harm in that."
The elder in white glared at Ye Guan and replied, "Offending the young miss is an unforgivable offense."
The "young man" smiled calmly. "Are you trying to teach me how to handle things, Left Elder?"
The elder in white\'s expression changed instantly. He withdrew his sword and aura before bowing slightly. "I wouldn\'t dare."
The "young man" looked at him and said, "A narrow mind can cause many troubles. Left Elder, you must not be narrow-minded while you\'re exploring the outside world. Don\'t let trivial issues provoke you into killing the other party, as it is unwise to stir up unnecessary karma. Remember, there is always a higher mountain out there. Our Zhou Clan is strong, but we have to remember that. Do you understand?"
The elder in white bowed respectfully and remarked, "I understand, young miss."
The young woman turned to Ye Guan in the distance and smiled gently. She put away her fan and cupped her fist in a gesture of greeting.
Ye Guan was slightly taken aback, but he returned the gesture in kind.
With that, the young woman and her group turned around and left.
Standing beside Ye Guan, Zhou Yuan remarked, "She\'s an extraordinary young woman. I couldn\'t even sense her aura."
"There are countless exceptional individuals in this vast expanse."
"Indeed."
"They must be here for the ruins of that ancient civilization," Ye Guan remarked.
A trace of concern flashed in Zhou Yuan\'s eyes. "This situation is becoming quite complicated."
Ye Guan laughed. "Let\'s play it by ear."
"As you say, Young Master Ye." Zhou Yuan nodded.
Ye Guan then turned to Yi Nian, who had just devoured an entire lamb. Yi Nian\'s mouth was oily from the feast.
Ye Guan smiled and shook his head. He walked over to her and wiped her mouth clean with a silk handkerchief.
Yi Nian beamed at him and said, "One lamb isn\'t enough."
"Pfft!" Ye Guan burst out laughing and said, "Next time, I\'ll roast two lambs for you—wait, three lambs."
"Really?" Yi Nian was overjoyed. "All right!"
Ye Guan chuckled. "Let\'s go."
"Wait, let\'s go inside the tiny pagoda," Yi Nian remarked and returned to the tiny pagoda to resume her research on the mysterious spacetime within the tiny pagoda.
Yi Nian wasn\'t doing a deep dive into the spacetime of the tiny pagoda. Instead, she was trying to simplify it so that her husband would be able to understand and make use of it.
It had to be incredibly simple and easy to understand!
In Yi Nian\'s heart, Ye Guan already belonged to her.
Outside, Ye Guan instructed Zhou Yuan and the others to return to the tiny pagoda. Too many people would attract unwanted attention, and it was more convenient for him to move by himself.
Soon after, Ye Guan found himself inside a vast mountain range. He stood on a mountain peak and looked across the rolling clouds and mountains that appeared intermittently amidst the mist.
The scenery before him resembled a slumbering ancient dragon spanning millions of kilometers.
Far away, there was a bronze ghost gate on a mountain peak.
The gate seemed to have been crafted from a mysterious alloy, and it was towering—reaching a few kilometers high. Its surface was adorned with grotesque human and beast faces. The gate also emitted inscrutable energy fluctuations.
Zhou Yuan suddenly said, "This bronze ghost gate wasn\'t here the last time we were here. I think someone is trying to break our array."
Ye Guan looked around and sensed many hidden presences nearby.
His mouth fluttered open to speak, but the young woman from earlier suddenly appeared near the bronze ghost gate.
She looked around and smiled. "Everyone, I have a way to break this ancient array, but there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Those who want to enter this ruin must give me thirty Ancestral Veins. What do you think?"
No one responded.
However, the young woman was not discouraged. Instead, she smiled and added, "I guess no one wants to go in now. All right, you can keep waiting outside. If you\'re lucky, you\'ll only have to wait a few hundred years."
With that, the young woman turned around to leave
"Wait." A voice echoed from far away. "Can you truly break this array?"
The young woman\'s steps came to a halt, and a faint smile tugged at her lips. "Of course."
"If you can break the array, I\'ll give you thirty Ancestral Veins," replied the same voice.
"I\'ll do the same," someone else chimed in.
Soon, more and more voices echoed, and they all agreed to her terms.
They weren\'t fools. Thirty Ancestral Veins weren\'t much to them, but the ancient ruins clearly were extraordinary.
The array alone indicated that it was the ruins of a Tier Four civilization.
The young woman closed her folding fan and tapped it against her palm, smiling. "Let me make this clear first. Everyone must pay once I\'ve shattered this array. Otherwise, I will not be nice to you."
Swoosh!
Two swordsmen clad in a black robe and a white robe suddenly appeared next to her.
The two swordsmen were half-step Path Creation Realm experts.
The hidden figures were taken aback by the sight.
Without saying more, the young woman turned toward the distant bronze ghost gate. She opened her palm, revealing a golden dragon seal. When the seal appeared, the spiritual energy in the environment surged toward it like a tornado.
Everyone was astonished by the sight.
Ye Guan\'s expression grew serious. The spiritual energy on this planet was converging toward the dragon seal.
"There\'s a Spirit Progenitor inside that dragon seal!" Zhou Yuan exclaimed.
Ye Guan was dumbfounded. He looked at the dragon seal with curious eyes. This was his first time being so close to another Spirit Progenitor other than Little White.
"A pale golden spiritual energy... the Spirit Progenitor within that dragon seal must be a very high-level Spirit Progenitor. That young woman\'s background is definitely extraordinary."
"Pale good? That\'s it?" Ye Guan calmly remarked, "Little White\'s spiritual energy is deep purple mixed with a mysterious color."
Zhou Yuan had no idea what to say.
In the distance, the lady gently placed the dragon seal in front of her and said, "The Great Zhou Imperial Clan is here; all laws retreat."
A mysterious spiritual energy burst out of the dragon seal, and the array trembled violently before disappearing into nothingness.
Ye Guan was thrilled. "Master Pagoda, what do you think about putting Little White in a seal? Wherever we go, we can just say, \'The Guanxuan Civilization\'s Yang Family is here, all treasures come here!\' or something like that."
"You want to put her in a seal?" Little Pagoda asked, "Are you that raring to die?"
Ye Guan was speechless.
Little Pagoda added, "If you do that, the outcome would be the other way around."
Ye Guan laughed heartily.
The young woman put away the golden dragon seal and looked around, smiling, "Everyone, the array is broken."
A shadowy figure suddenly appeared before her and opened his palm, sending a storage ring flying toward her.
The young woman accepted the ring with a slight nod, and the figure transformed into a black light, disappearing into the bronze ghost gate.
People walked into the gate one after another, and each of them handed over thirty Ancestral Veins without any exception. After all, no one wanted to provoke the two powerful swordsmen by her side.
Just like that, the young woman collected over three hundred Ancestral Veins in the blink of an eye.
Ye Guan couldn\'t help but feel envious. What a profitable venture.
After a while, Ye Guan finally forward.
The young woman smiled upon seeing him.
Curious, Ye Guan asked, "Does that dragon seal contain a Spirit Progenitor?"
The young woman didn\'t bother hiding the truth and nodded. "Yes."
Ye Guan asked once more, "Is the Spirit Progenitor serving as the spirit of the seal?"
"Not exactly," the young woman replied with a smile. "Not exactly. The dragon seal contains the dragon energy of our Great Zhou ancestors, and it is useful to the Spirit Progenitor inside of it. That is the reason she\'s been willing to stay inside."
"I see," Ye Guan replied. He then took out a storage ring and handed it to the young woman.
The ring contained exactly thirty Ancestral Veins.
The young woman glanced at the ring and smiled. "It\'s alright; you can just go in."
Ye Guan was surprised. "Do you not want my Ancestral Veins?"
"My people were quite rude to you earlier. I hope you\'re not going to take it to heart."
"You\'re too kind, it was just a small matter..." Ye Guan muttered with a smile. He then looked at the young woman and asked, "My name is Ye Guan. May I know your name?"
The young woman replied, "Zhou Fan."
Ye Guan nodded and smiled. "Lady Zhou, I\'m heading in, then."
Ye Guan left the storage ring and walked away.
"Young Master Ye," Zhou Fan called out.
Ye Guan turned to look at her.
Zhou Fan pointed at the storage ring, pretending to be a bit upset. "Are you still upset at us?"
Ye Guan shook his head with a smile. "No."
"Then, please take this ring with you."
Ye Guan pondered briefly over it before accepting the ring and putting it away. He then cupped his fist and remarked, "Thank you."
Zhou Fan smiled slightly. "No need to be so formal."
With that, Ye Guan turned into a beam of sword light, disappearing into the bronze ghost gate.
The elder in white\'s face was solemn as he remarked, "Young Lady, why are we so friendly toward him? His cultivation base is so low that he doesn\'t even deserve to carry your shoes in our Great Zhou, much less talk to you like that."
"A broad mind is the door to blessings, Left Elder. It\'s always better to have a generous heart," Zhou Fan replied.
The Left Elder wanted to say something, but the black-robed elder beside him suddenly exclaimed, "Shut up! The young miss is severing the nearby bad karma for you. Has cultivating the Overlord Sword Dao damaged your brain or something? That young man\'s cultivation base is low, but he is both calm and composed in the face of powerful experts like us. He did not show even a trace of inferiority at all. He\'s definitely an extraordinary young man."
Left Elder remained expressionless as he retorted, "Our Great Zhou is invincible against everyone except for the Tianxing Civilization."
The black-robed elder was infuriated.
Zhou Fan didn\'t get angry. Instead, she smiled and asked, "What if he\'s from the Tianxing Civilization?"
Left Elder was stunned. Then, he shook his head vigorously and said, "No way... that is absolutely impossible. I\'m lacking, but I\'ve always had a great reputation in Great Zhou due to my keen eyes. In my opinion, he\'s just another heir who came out here for training. In other words, he\'s just an arrogant young master."