As Ye Lin rushed toward the Outer Academy, two incredibly powerful figures were fiercely fighting high up in the sky above the Outer Academy.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Even the slightest shockwave from their battle could crush vast stretches of mountain ranges into powder.
These two were none other than Qi Changqing's Dao protector, Gu Qin, and Jiang Qianyue, who had come for talks that had completely broken down.
“Half of the human territories in this Southern Domain are under my master's control. Since this Ye Lin was born in the Tianyuan Dynasty, the secrets on him belong to my master.”
“If you take your young master and leave now, I won't stop you. But as for this Ye Lin, I must take him away today.”
After trading another palm strike with Gu Qin and pulling back, Jiang Qianyue spoke with a calm expression.
In truth, she was already incredibly wary of Gu Qin, because she could feel that Gu Qin hadn't used her full strength at all when fighting her.
And the reason she was so determined to take Ye Lin back was entirely because a treasure given to her by the great figure behind her had reacted.
That treasure could locate true favored children of heaven to plunder their talents for the great figure behind her.
However, this treasure had a major drawback: it would only react when close to a true genius and when their name was spoken.
Originally, she had brought Ji Qianxing here just to persuade Gu Qin to take Qi Changqing away from the Tianyuan Dynasty, so she could lay down the Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation and fulfill her agreement with the evil spirits.
But who would have thought that after entering Tianqi City, she would casually mention Ye Lin's name, causing the treasure to give an incredibly intense prompt.
This was the first time she had ever seen a prompt of this level. Based on the treasure's vibration frequency, she guessed that Ye Lin's talent definitely surpassed the Saint-grade.
If such talent could be plundered by the great figure behind her, it would not only allow that great figure to take their strength a step further and accelerate their pace of controlling the Southern Domain, but she would also receive massive rewards bestowed by that master.
Therefore, for the sake of the rewards and opportunities, and to make herself more valuable in the eyes of that great figure, she would take Ye Lin away today even if she had to pay a huge price.
“Your so-called master is indeed quite a figure, but if you want to suppress me with his reputation, you think far too highly of the person behind you.”
“I will repeat myself: Ye Lin is someone my young master wants to protect. You cannot take him away.”
“If you continue to pester us, don't blame me for destroying your physical body first.”
Facing Jiang Qianyue's attempt to intimidate her with power, there wasn't a hint of fear on Gu Qin's face.
The great figure behind Jiang Qianyue was indeed a legendary figure, but she came from the Qi family, a major power in the Sacred Domain.
Although she didn't know why her young master, Qi Changqing, insisted on helping Ye Lin, as a member of the Qi family, the young master's command was her absolute law.
Since the young master said to protect Ye Lin, she would strictly execute it.
For a moment, both of them seemed to have reasons they could not back down from.
“I'll keep her busy. You go to the Cultivation Academy and take Ye Lin away.”
Seeing that Gu Qin refused to budge, Jiang Qianyue could only secretly transmit her voice to Ji Qianxing in the crowd below.
Upon hearing this, Ji Qianxing felt like ten thousand grass mud horses were stampeding through his heart.
Damn it, he hadn't dared to face the bizarre Ye Lin even several days ago, which was why he chose to report Ye Lin's secrets to the Leng family of the Earth-grade Cultivation Academy.
Now that Ye Lin had become even more powerful, this dog Jiang Qianyue actually wanted him to deal with Ye Lin. Wasn't this forcing him to his death?
But he didn't dare to refuse openly either, so after some thought, he decided to slack off.
He would actively head to the Cultivation Academy, but as for whether he could capture Ye Lin, that was a different story.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of the experts in Tianqi City didn't dare to place their bets early at all; they could only watch the clash between the two great figures in the sky with trembling hearts.
Of course, there were also those who wanted to seek wealth in danger, such as many experts of the royal family.
For one, they were already standing on opposite sides of Ye Lin, and there would eventually have to be a reckoning between them.
Secondly, with Jiang Qianyue acting as a natural ally to keep Gu Qin occupied, now was the absolute best time to make a move against Ye Lin.
Thus, the royal Ancestor Nangong Tian, who only had his Nascent Soul remaining, immediately led several Golden Core Venerables and quietly entered the Cultivation Academy.
“Remember, this kid Ye Lin cannot be judged by common sense. The moment we see him later, immediately use our Nangong clan's Dragon-Trapping Formation with all your might.”
While rushing at the very front, Nangong Tian transmitted his voice to the four Golden Core Venerables behind him.
“We obey the Ancestor's decree.” Hearing this, the four Golden Core experts nodded with solemn expressions.
They were all figures who had lived for hundreds of years and had naturally seen countless geniuses. For a raptor crossing the river like Ye Lin, no amount of caution was too much.
“To be fair, this Ye Lin can indeed be considered a peerless genius. He isn't inferior to that person from back then in the slightest.”
“It's a pity our Nangong family couldn't keep that person. Now another one has appeared, yet because of that foolish descendant Nangong Yun, he has been pushed to the opposing side of our Nangong clan.”
“Otherwise, if we had nurtured him with all our resources, our Tianyuan Dynasty might have been able to reach even greater heights in the future.”
As they were about to enter the Cultivation Academy, Nangong Tian couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
How wonderful would it be if they could be friends with a genius like Ye Lin?
But unfortunately, there were no “what-ifs” in this world. The moment the royal family pushed Ye Lin forward to take the fall to protect their face, there was no longer any room for reconciliation between the Nangong clan and Ye Lin.
One of the five was a high-ranking member of the academy, so they weren't attacked by the academy's formations along the way.
In a short while, they arrived at the teleportation formation between the Outer Academy and the Inner Academy.
But before they could even step forward, the teleportation formation in the distance suddenly flashed with a burst of light.
Immediately afterward, a figure that left them stunned abruptly appeared before their eyes.
The newcomer was a youth of eighteen or nineteen. He wore a black robe with gold trim, trod upon an Earth-grade flying sword, and had a faint look of haste on his face.
“Ye Lin?”
“Enemies truly meet on a narrow path. Strike with all your might!”
Seeing Ye Lin appear before them like a gift from heaven, the four royal Venerables did not hesitate at all, immediately blocking all of Ye Lin's escape routes from the north, south, east, and west with all their strength.
As for the Ancestor, Nangong Tian, he was responsible for mobilizing the momentum of heaven and earth to bolster the formation, trapping Ye Lin within the grand array in just an instant.
“Heh, and here I was wondering who it was. Turns out it's just the bugs of the Nangong clan.”
“Since you've delivered yourselves as a group, it saves me the trouble of looking for you one by one.”
To be honest, Ye Lin was a bit dazed to be enveloped by a formation the moment he teleported over.
But when he activated the Great Dao Mirror of Years in his right eye and saw through the identities of the five, he suddenly smiled.
So it was the members of the royal family who had been hiding in the shadows trying to plot against him.
In that case, there was nothing more to say. Since they had delivered themselves as a group, he would simply accept them all.
“The raptor crossing the river is indeed arrogant. Facing our Nangong clan's Dragon-Trapping Formation, you're not only completely unfazed, but you actually have the mood to smile.”
“Since you're so confident, let's see if you can escape from our hands today!”
Seeing Ye Lin trapped by the grand formation yet still behaving so relaxed and casual, Nangong Tian and the four Golden Core Venerables almost lost their composure.
“Rumble!”
Without any hesitation, each of them held a formation flag and directly controlled the grand array with all their might.
Five phenomena—wind, fire, thunder, lightning, and water—emerged one after another from the formation, each crashing toward Ye Lin with destructive power.
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