Chapter 2299: Chapter 2299 The Present
As Ye Liuyun absorbed the divine soul, he commanded the battleship to approach.
His Golden Phantom Eyes had already spotted signs of human habitation and he was prepared to lead his troops to investigate the situation.
However, before his battleship could arrive, Ye Liuyun noticed that the locals had banded together and surrounded Qiong Qi.
"What’s going on?" Ye Liuyun rushed over and demanded an explanation from Qiong Qi.
"These people are accusing us of killing their guardian beast and demanding a compensation!" Qiong Qi informed him.
"Guardian beast?" Ye Liuyun was puzzled.
"That’s right! It was because of that beast that we were protected from the attacks of the foreign races. Now you’ve killed it and you claim you’re protecting us?" A leading martial cultivator shouted at Ye Liuyun.
Ye Liuyun glanced at the man’s cultivation level and saw that he was only at the early stage of the ninth tier of the Immortal Realm. The other martial cultivators around him were mostly at the seventh or eighth tier of the Immortal Realm, indicating that their overall strength was not particularly high.
However, their numbers were significant with over five thousand people gathered around.
Qiong Qi argued back indignantly. "That creature was clearly refining the world’s power of origin and I saw human bones beneath it. It was treating you all as food and you claim it was protecting you?"
The man scoffed, "So what? If it wanted energy, we could give it some. It only ate high-level martial cultivators and had no interest in those with lower cultivation levels. At least it allowed most of us to survive.
Now that you’ve killed it, who will protect us when the foreign races come? How will we survive?"
This statement opened the eyes of both Qiong Qi and Ye Liuyun.
Qiong Qi retorted, "It would have eventually devoured all of you and drained all the energy!"
"That would have been years from now! The foreign races had attacked here before. If it weren’t for that beast, we would have been wiped out long ago. With it around, at least we could live a few more years!" The man continued.
"What about the years after that?" Ye Liuyun retorted.
"Who cares about what happens years from now? Stop wasting time and pay up! Don’t think just because you’re at a higher cultivation level, you can take on all of us!"
The man raised his arms after shouting. The crowd around him echoed his call, releasing their auras in unison to intimidate Ye Liuyun and his companions.
"Roar!"
Qiong Qi let out a deafening roar, infuriated by the mob. He combined sound wave and soul-crushing tactic attack and sent those who stepped closer sprawilng to the ground and spurting blood.
Ye Liuyun sighed deeply.
"If all you care about is the present, then you don’t deserve a future!"
Without hesitation, he told his clone to release the fifty thousand Devil Clan warriors.
"Let’s hunt!"
He tolf the fifty thousand Devil Clan warriors.
"Roar!"
The fivfty thousand Devil Clan warriors roared in unison as they charged toward the five thousand cultivators.
These warriors were already on par with their opponents in terms of strength. With their bodies even more resilient and towering physiques that gave them a clear advantage.
Moreover, they had been rigorously training and honing their skills, significantly boosting their power. Facing these lower tier cultivators was almost too easy for them.
Ye Liuyun had been feeding them with the stored meat of feral beasts, rationing it carefully to ensure it would not run out.
The Leo Aurelius beast they had just encountered had only whetted their appetites, leaving them far from satisfied. With the restraints lifted, they unleashed their primal instincts, abandoning their weapons and resorting to tearing and biting with their bare hands and teeth, fiercely competing for their share of the plunders.
The five thousand martial cultivators found themselves completely surrounded by these towering giants, with no hope of escaping.
Qiong Qi joined the carnage without hesitation.
The leader of the group was on the verge of being torn apart by Qiong Qi when Ye Liuyun swiftly intervened. He released his divine soul power and pulled the leader’s divine soul into his ocean of consciousness for a thorough interrogation.
Initially, Ye Liuyun had suspected the martial cultivator was lying, attempting to deceive them. However, he discovered that the man’s claims were indeed true upon delving into his memories.
These martial cultivators would rather be devoured by the Leo Aurelius and had their power of origin drained than engage in battle with the foreign race.
Moreover, this was not just the stance of this particular group. The several major factions in the region shared the same cowardly attitude.
"A bunch of spineless cowards!"
Without hesitation, Ye Liuyun summoned both the beastman and the demonic beastman troops.
"Kill everyone here and stockpile the provisions!"
Ye Liuyun commanded with a wave of his hand and released all of them.
"Roar! Roar!"
The beastmen roared in unison, their voices echoing with a menacing growl as they charged forward, trailing a cloud of Devil Qi.
Qiong Qi transformed back into its humanoid form after having his bloodlust sated and approached Ye Liuyun.
Unwilling to witness the gruesome scene any longer, Ye Liuyun expanded his divine sense, locating the region’s power of origin. He then made his way towards it swiftly with Qiong Qi.
As for the Devil Clan and Devil Beasts, Ye Liuyun simply instructed them not to fight among themselves. How they hunted for food was none of his concern.
The layer of soil covering the power of origin here had already been dug through by the Leo Aurelius.
Ye Liuyun had previous encounters with power of origin and his current strength far surpassed what it had been before. He had not even reached the Imoortal Realm back then.
Qiong Qi and him sensed the energy emanating from the power of origin. Instead of rushing directly into the spirit energy radiating from it, they descended toward the energy underground.
Qiong Qi began absorbing the energy as they dived deeper.
Ye Liuyun was not in a hurry. He first attempted to communicate with the power of origin using his divine sense, wondering if he could refine it.
To his surprise, the power of origin seemed to have a consciousness of its own. It immediately accepted Ye Liuyun’s divine sense after sensing no hostility from him.
It even accepted Ye Liuyun’s Divine Sense willingly, integrating it into its core. Without much effort, Ye Liuyun had essentially refined the Power of Origin.
“Huh?” Qiong Qi immediately sensed the change in the power of origin.
Bound by a contract with Ye Liuyun, he could no longer absorb the power of origin once it had been refined by Ye Liuyun.
“Damn, you refined it that easily? I should’ve tried it myself!” Qiong Qi grumbled and could not do anything about it.
Though he could not help but add, “Your luck is just insane!”
Deep down, he was genuinely happy for Ye Liuyun. For Qiong Qi, it was just a matter of resources and he had never short of it after following Ye Liuyun for so long.
If he could not absorb this power of origin, he had other reserves to fall back on.
“I didn’t expect it either. It seemed to accept me willingly!” Ye Liuyun explained awkwardly.
Qiong Qi thought for a moment and said, “It probably sensed it was about to be drained dry. So, the moment it realized you meant no harm, it accepted you.”
“So, what should I do next?” Ye Liuyun asked.
Qiong Qi replied with a hint of exasperation, “What else? Move it into your spatial world! Or just take this entire world with you!”
Qiong Qi’s words struck a chord with Ye Liuyun. He had been planning to expand his spatial world and moving the energy into it to integrate with his spatial world seemed like an excellent idea.
