Chapter 134: Danger

The chaotic scene suddenly fell into an eerie silence. Countless gazes, filled with profound shock, flickered back and forth between the youth holding the silver spear in the center of the arena and the two battered figures sprawled on the ground.

Luo Long had been defeated. A powerhouse at the Great Completion of the Yuan Realm had actually been bested in front of everyone by a youth of only seventeen. Even more unbelievable to the onlookers was that this youth was merely at the Peak of the Blood Essence Realm. This ability to fight across tiers left everyone’s jaws on the floor.

Staring at Luo Long, who lay on the ground gasping his final breaths with a fist-sized hole in his chest, it took a long while for the crowd to process this incredible outcome.

"Young Master Ye Cheng... he's so powerful."

The guards of the Ye family gasped in unison. They had never imagined such an end. The might of Luo Long was far beyond their understanding, and in their rumors, countless experts had perished at his hands. Yet, this formidable figure had fallen to their young master and become a ghost of the past.

"Gulp!"

Not far away, Ye Ming and the others swallowed hard. Ye Cheng’s strength had reached a level that forced them to look up to him. Ye Ming couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, Ye Cheng is truly defying the heavens today."

At seventeen years old, at the Peak of the Blood Essence Realm, to defeat a Great Completion Yuan Realm expert—what kind of concept was that?

"Haha, good, good! Truly worthy of being my second brother's son!"

Ye Zhan, who was engaged in battle with Luo Huo and others, laughed toward the sky after a moment of stunned silence. The sheer ecstasy on his face was impossible to hide. Seeing Ye Cheng now, he felt as if he were looking at his second brother, Ye Shan, during his prime when he dominated Luoyang Town.

The Third Commander, Wang Yang, also involuntarily raised his estimation of Ye Cheng in his heart. Such a genius had an immeasurable future.

In contrast to the jubilation of Ye Zhan’s camp, the faces of Luo Sen and Luo Huo turned ghastly in an instant. They could not fathom how Luo Long, with his cultivation, could have lost to a mere stripling.

"Damn it! Useless piece of trash," Luo Sen cursed under his breath as he glanced at the half-dead Luo Long on the ground. His aged face was dark and gloomy to the extreme.

With Luo Long defeated, half of their plan to eradicate the Ye family had crumbled. The situation, which had seemed firmly in their grasp, had suddenly become precarious. Whether their Luo family could destroy the Ye family now seemed uncertain to everyone.

Thinking of this, Luo Sen glared viciously at Ye Cheng, who held the silver spear, his killing intent laid bare. Had it not been for the appearance of this Ye Cheng, the Luo family might have already wiped out the Ye family instead of being locked in this bitter struggle.

Under the watchful eyes of the entire crowd, Ye Cheng braced himself with his silver spear, his complexion deathly pale. This was the result of overexerting his blood essence. Although his internal energy was depleted, the effect of the Explosive Qi Potion had not entirely faded. A tiny thread of energy, no larger than a pinky, still pulsed within him, keeping him upright. Once this energy was exhausted, Ye Cheng would be just like Old Wu—drained of all combat ability and requiring days to recover from the weakness.

Seizing the remaining strength, Ye Cheng moved with lightning speed, stepping forward to thrust his spear directly into the throat of the still-breathing Luo Long. After a few gurgling sounds, the light faded from Luo Long's eyes, filled with lingering resentment.

"Huff, huff!"

Having done this, the remaining duration of the potion, which could have lasted a quarter of an hour, was burned away by his massive expenditure of energy. As the last shred of power vanished from his body, a flush of blood rose to Ye Cheng’s face, followed by a spray of fresh blood.

A sense of total exhaustion washed over his entire body, and only by leaning on his silver spear could he steady his swaying frame.

"The side effects of this Explosive Qi Potion are truly severe," Ye Cheng muttered with a bitter smile, his gaze catching the ring on the ring finger of the now-dead Luo Long.

"A Storage Ring!"

The value of a storage ring was far beyond that of a simple storage pouch. A pouch only had a small capacity of a meter in width and height and was prone to damage; Ye Cheng had nearly filled one just with the blood cores he had collected earlier.

A storage ring, however, carved out a space within a spiritual artifact, with the smallest being twenty cubic meters in size. Ye Cheng knew that even the cheapest storage ring cost ten medium-grade spirit stones—a price comparable to a high-grade spiritual artifact, something that could not be bought with mere gold coins. Like high-grade artifacts, they could only be bartered for with spirit stones or rare treasures.

Spirit stones were divided into three tiers: high, medium, and low. One medium-grade stone could be exchanged for one hundred low-grade stones, and one high-grade for one hundred medium-grade.

In a small place like Luoyang Town, there were only a few small mineral veins. The Ye and Luo families each occupied one, producing only about a hundred low-grade spirit stones a year. One could imagine how many years it would take to save up for a storage ring. In the entire Ye family, only Old Master Ye, Ye Zhan, and Ye Hong possessed one.

In a major city like Yongle City, which governed vast territories spanning tens of thousands of miles, there were many medium-grade veins. They could mine tens of thousands of low-grade stones annually, along with a significant amount of medium-grade stones. That was why Nangong Xue, Nangong Lin, and all nine commanders were each equipped with a storage ring.

Ye Cheng struggled to crouch down and pulled the ring from Luo Long’s finger. With Luo Long dead, the ring had become ownerless.

"Die!" Seeing this, Luo Sen suddenly burned his own blood essence. His tyrannical aura surged violently in an instant. With a sudden burst of power, he shoved Wang Yang back and lunged directly toward Ye Cheng. He unleashed his immense Yuan power without reservation. By the look of it, he wasn't just trying to reclaim the ring—he wanted Ye Cheng’s life.

The terrifying talent Ye Cheng had just displayed was like a nightmare to him. If forced to choose between destroying the Ye family or killing Ye Cheng alone, he would choose the latter without hesitation. Even if the Ye family survived, his Luo family might still have a chance, but if Ye Cheng were not eliminated, the Luo family would surely be destroyed by his hand one day.

Luo Sen understood this clearly, so he was willing to burn his blood essence and damage his own martial foundation to cut down this threat. Only by doing this did his family have a future.

Luo Sen’s sudden act of burning his blood essence stunned many. When Wang Yang and Ye Zhan saw his target, their faces flushed red instantly as they shouted:

"Ye Cheng!"

"Little Cheng, look out!"

Meanwhile, Old Master Ye was locked in a bitter struggle. The Golden and Silver Protectors were not exceptional individually, but their combined attack technique was highly sophisticated. Even Old Master Ye had fallen into a disadvantageous position several times and had no spare energy to attend to Ye Cheng.

"This Luo Sen, he really knows how to pick his moments."