Little Pagoda muttered, “You deal with it by yourself! I can’t help you.”

Ye Guan smiled and shook his head. 

He stared at Si Qing with a complicated expression. He could see that she was still wary of him. If he were to kill Si Qing, there was no way he would face any issues down the road, but his conscience didn’t want him to kill Si Qing.

Si Qing had never treated him or Nalan Jia with any animosity. Moreover, she even gave them two Fire Spiritual Fruits. If he were to kill her just because he was afraid of being exposed, then what kind of person would he become?

He couldn’t do something as despicable as that. A human being had to have a bottom line. Otherwise, how would they be any different from beasts?

Little Pagoda went quiet. 

Ye Guan took out a storage ring and walked over to Nalan Jia. Nalan Jia wordlessly stared at him. Ye Guan extended the storage ring over to her, but she didn’t take it from his hands.

Ye Guan said, “Ask away.”

Nalan Jia stared deeply at Ye Guan. “You’re a swordsman?”

Ye Guan nodded without saying anything. 

Nalan Jia went silent. Eventually, she spoke and asked, “Did you happen upon something?”

Ye Guan nodded. 

Nalan Jia looked incredulous as she said, “So I’m the social climber all this while!”

Ye Guan shook his head and asked, “Why are you putting it that way?”

Nalan Jia stared at Ye Guan. Ye Guan said solemnly, “Can’t a man and woman like each other without ulterior motives? Are status, background, and money really necessary for people to love each other?”

Nalan Jia’s mouth curled up as she asked, “Then, what do you like about me?”

Ye Guan’s expression turned stern as he exclaimed, “I like how you’re really beautiful!”

Nalan Jia’s smile widened. 

Ye Guan also smiled before extending the storage ring over to Nalan Jia once more. 

“You deserve this ring,” he said.

Nalan Jia finally accepted the storage ring. However, she seemed to have recalled something as she turned to look at the two corpses and asked, “What do we do?”

Ye Guan fell silent. The deaths of two highly-talented individuals from the top three clans couldn’t be glossed over. 

Si Qing chimed in. “I can say that we got attacked by demonic beasts, and they perished as a result of the attack.”

Ye Guan and Nalan Jia looked at Si Qing. 

“I’ll be the witness, so there shouldn’t be any reasons for their clans to target the two of you, but I’m sure they won’t just gloss over the matter. I have the Si Clan to count on, so I won’t have any issues. Lady Jia also has Tutor Fei backing her, but…” Si Qing trailed off and stared deeply at Ye Guan before saying, “You will definitely be in trouble.”

Ye Guan was silent. He also knew that he would be in trouble!

Since Ye Guan didn’t speak, Si Qing continued. “You have two choices. Firstly, you should ask your backer to help you. With their help, you shouldn’t have any issues. You’re a swordsman, so I refuse to believe that you don’t have any backers.”

Ye Guan hurriedly asked, “Master Pagoda, are you afraid of the clans in Nanzhou?”

Little Pagoda was quick to respond, “Yes, I’m afraid—I’m really scared of them!”

Ye Guan’s expression fell, and he said, “Aren’t you extremely strong? Why are you afraid of them?”

Little Pagoda replied, “It’s all because I’m injured…”

Ye Guan sighed. He looked at Si Qing and asked, “Tell me about the second choice.”

Si Qing muttered, “You should enroll in the Guanxuan Academy. I’m sure they’ll protect you once you become one of their students.”

The Guanxuan Academy! Ye Guan was silent. 

Si Qing continued. “It shouldn’t be too difficult for you to enroll in the Guanxuan Academy, but you can’t be an ordinary student. You need a backer who is as strong as Tutor Fei because only people like them aren’t afraid of the Nan or Zheng Clan!”

Ye Guan nodded slightly. “I see!”

Si Qing’s expression turned complicated as she stared at Ye Guan. She could have never imagined that such a low-profile guy like him was actually a swordsman with a sword dao inheritance.

He was scary… she had truly misjudged the man!

Ye Guan asked the ladies, “Shall we continue?”

The two ladies looked at Ye Guan. Ye Guan added, “In addition to a pure-grade spiritual vein, there’s also an earth vein here. In other words, we’ll reap a ton of profit!”

The two ladies glanced at each other, and they could see each other’s excitement from their gazes alone.

Ye Guan smiled at the sight. “Let’s go!”

With that, they continued on their journey. They gathered quite a number of pure-grade purple spiritual crystals, and they also managed to gather a good amount of gold spiritual crystals. In other words, it was a bountiful harvest!

All of a sudden, Ye Guan came to a halt and glanced at the two ladies next to him. 

“Stand behind me,” he said. The two ladies looked at Ye Guan. Ye Guan retrieved the Path Sword and stood at the helm before explaining, “It’s too quiet. I think there’s something dangerous here.” 

Nalan Jia smiled at Ye Guan before obediently walking after him. 

Si Qing didn’t say anything and hurriedly walked after Ye Guan.

After about fifteen minutes, Ye Guan stopped once more. He thrust his sword into the ground and tore it open.

Sss!

The ground was torn open, and Ye Guan saw a white river that he estimated to be about thirty meters long beneath them. They were visibly shaken at the sight, as it was a pure-grade spiritual vein!

It looked like a tiny river at first glance, but it was a pure-grade spiritual vein that could spur the powerful figures of Guanxuan Academy into action. 

Ye Guan asked, “How do we split this?”

The two ladies glanced at each other before looking at Ye Guan. 

“It’s a bit difficult to split this vein between us. We’d be in trouble if we were to bring this out to sell, and if we were to trade this just between us, the amount of purple spiritual crystals we have on hand wouldn’t be enough…” Ye Guan trailed off and swept his gaze across the two ladies. “Any suggestions?”

Si Qing fell into deep contemplation before saying, “This spiritual vein will be a disaster for both of you. Your clans will surely become the targets of unscrupulous people who would want to take this vein for themselves…

“And that is why I’m going to make you an offer. In exchange for this spiritual vein, I will give you all of my purple and gold spiritual crystals, along with three Earth-rank cultivation manual!”

Earth-rank cultivation manuals!

Ye Guan glanced at Nalan Jia. 

“It’s up to you,” said Nalan Jia with a smile. She was Tutor Fei’s direct disciple, so she was actually cultivating using an Earth-rank cultivation manual.

Ye Guan fell into deep contemplation. The spiritual vein was much more valuable than three Earth-rank cultivation manual, but he couldn’t just hand over this spiritual vein to the Ye Clan. 

Si Qing was right. If he were to hand this spiritual vein over to the Ye Clan, the clan would get wiped out the next day. 

Meanwhile, the three Earth-rank cultivation manual would be very useful to the Ye Clan. Skills were divided into the following ranks—Human, Spiritual, King, Earth, Sky, Saint, and God.

Earth-rank cultivation manual were extremely precious, even in Guanxuan Academy. 

If the Ye Clan had an Earth-rank cultivation manual, then it would only be a matter of time before the overall strength of the Ye Clan rose. In addition, Si Qing was also willing to give him all of her purple and gold spiritual crystals.

Ye Guan looked at Si Qing and said, “Lady Si Qing, this spiritual vein is yours, but in exchange, I want you to give us the spiritual crystals that we might find later.”

“Okay!” Si Qing nodded.

The clan will go crazy once I bring this pure-grade spiritual vein back with me.

Ye Guan stored the spiritual vein in a storage ring and handed it over to Si Qing. Si Qing took the storage ring and immediately handed over three black ancient scrolls, along with her purple and gold spiritual crystals.

Ye Guan gave half of the spiritual crystals to Nalan Jia. 

The issue was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, so they merrily continued on their way deeper into the cave.

They found more gold spiritual crystals along the way. Ye Guan realized that he had so many gold spiritual crystals in his possession that it seemed a bit unfair, so he handed a thousand of them to Si Qing. “Take these. It’s for you.”

Si Qing looked at Ye Guan and declined. “We agreed that the crystals will be yours.”

Ye Guan smiled and replied, “I didn’t expect that there would be so much more. Anyway, just take them. Take them as a symbol of our great affinity!”

Great affinity. Si Qing stared deeply at Ye Guan before accepting the crystals.

Nalan Jia started alternatingly between Si Qing and Ye Guan, but she didn’t say anything in the end. They continued on their journey, and Ye Guan stopped once more after about fifteen minutes of walking.

He tore the ground open and saw a gold river that was longer than thirty meters.

An earth vein! Ye Guan and the two ladies were stunned. 

There was indeed an earth vein here.

However, their faces changed drastically when they heard footsteps approaching them. Ye Guan pulled Nalan Jia behind him and raised his guard up. 

They stared in the direction where the footstep had come from and saw a demonic beast.

The demonic beast looked like a dog covered in thick, shiny scales, and it had two horns. Its tail seemed to be its weapon because it looked like an extremely sharp spear, and the sight of it alone would cause anyone to break out into goosebumps.

Their expressions grew solemn. 

The demonic beast swept its gaze across them.

Boom!

The demonic beast’s gaze made them feel as if they had been struck by lightning, and they reeled from the shock as blood flowed out of their orifices.

Ye Guan was horrified. “A-A King-rank demonic beast!”

The demonic beast looked at him with disdain and said sarcastically, “King? What nonsense are you spouting?! I’m an Imperial!”

An Imperial-rank demonic beast?! Ye Guan and the two ladies paled. 

Demonic beasts were similar to humans in the sense that demonic beasts also had their own Nine Realms, but demonic beasts beyond that would be divided into the following ranks—Spiritual, King, Earth, Sky, and Imperial!

The most powerful demonic beast in Nanzhou is just a King-rank demonic beast, but this demonic beast is an Imperial-rank demonic beast? Is this for real? Ye Guan’s mind went blank. 

Si Qing’s face turned ashen as well because she knew that they were doomed.

Ye Guan’s voice trembled as he called out to the pagoda. “Master Pagoda, didn’t you say that nothing here poses a threat to me?”

Little Pagoda replied, “Mmhm, that’s right!”

Ye Guan cried out. “An Imperial! An Imperial-rank demonic beast! How can you say that a demonic beast at that rank doesn’t pose a threat to me?!”

Hearing that, Little Pagoda muttered, “Hmm… Oh, I see. Yes, dangerous indeed!”

Ye Guan was speechless. 

He turned cold and shivered all over. Master Pagoda isn’t reliable at all!

Nalan Jia and Si Qing looked extremely pale. They could have never expected that they would stumble upon an Imperial-rank demonic beast here.

Imperial-rank demonic beasts truly existed, but everyone knew that the strongest beast in Nanzhou was just a King-rank demonic beast. 

In other words, the appearance of an Imperial-rank demonic beast here was like seeing a dragon emerge from a tiny stream. It was such a curveball that no one could have expected it!

The demonic beast glared at them coldly and roared, “How dare a bunch of ants disturb me from my sleep!”

With that, it opened its mouth to swallow them. 

Ye Guan pulled Nalan Jia behind him and took out the Path Sword.

Standing still and waiting for my death simply isn’t my style! Even if there was no chance of winning, Ye Guan would still try his best until the end.

When Ye Guan took out the Path Sword, the demonic beast jumped up, looking as if it had seen a ghost in broad daylight. “W-W-what?! Damn it…! Ah! Y-you… why do you have that sword? Damn it… why do you have that sword…” 

The demonic beast trembled, and it moved toward Ye Guan under the group’s fearful eyes. 

“Brother, this is a misunderstanding! Yes, a misunderstanding… I had no idea that you’re one of her people. Anyway, let me bow to you!” exclaimed the demonic beast before its trembling figure fell to its knees with a soft plop. 

Ye Guan and the ladies were speechless.