The middle-aged man was truly dumbfounded. Protect you? Who in this universe would dare to protect you?
At this point, protecting Ye Guan was equivalent to waging war on Guanxuan Academy. Who would do such a thing?
The group of mercenaries turned and left without hesitation. They were already hesitant about attacking Ye Guan. Three strands of Great Dao Destiny were simply too alluring for them to pass up.
It was an opportunity to change their destiny.
Changing one’s destiny was harder than ascending to the heavens if one was at the bottom of society. However, it was a different story with a strand of Great Dao Destiny.
It wouldn’t make their life a breeze, but it would definitely help them through many difficulties. Luck would often be on their side, and luck alone was enough for many cultivators at the bottom to rise up the ranks.
However, they evidently still had concerns, so they decided to ask questions rather than just attacking Ye Guan outright. The reason behind their mercenary group’s growth was their meticulous and careful nature.
Regardless of whether it was a mission or task, they would always be extra cautious.
They were reluctant to leave, but they had no choice.
The middle-aged man and Ye Guan didn’t talk by way of voice transmission, so everyone heard their conversation. The members of the mercenary group made their decision based on their conversation.
They had to admit that they had indeed been captivated by the alluring promise of strands of Great Dao Destiny and a million immortal spiritual crystals. The rewards were so tempting that they were blinded and ignored the facts of the situation.
Ye Guan’s Dao Protector slaughtered over a thousand powerhouses of the An Clan.
To make matters worse, it seemed that they had also forgotten about how Ye Guan had defeated the Chosen One, who hailed from the Five Dimensions Universe and how Ye Guan murdered the Heavenly Dao of the Zhongtu Divine Continent.
In other words, wouldn’t his backer be extremely powerful?
Ye Guan had defeated even the so-called invincible Chosen One. Moreover, Ye Guan’s cultivation base was drastically lower than the Chosen One, so the fact that Ye Guan emerged victorious meant that he was an extremely powerful swordsman.
In addition, Ye Guan’s Dao Protector was definitely not capable of taking on the entire Main Guanxuan Academy by herself, but she could definitely slaughter a mercenary group.
Killing Ye Guan meant that they would become the target of Ye Guan’s Dao Protector, and Ye Guan’s Dao Protector was daring enough to kill the powerhouses of the An Clan.
The members of the mercenary group snapped back to reality. It was great to be rich, but they had to be alive to enjoy it. They had to retreat and refrain from attacking Ye Guan if they wanted to live.
Therefore, they quickly disappeared from Ye Guan’s eyes.
Ye Guan and Ji Xuan boarded the space ship once more and continued on their journey to Qingzhou. Ye Guan stood at the bow of the space ship?with closed eyes.
His words had scared away quite a few cultivators, but he was also aware that not everyone would be terrified of his words. However, Ye Guan reckoned that those daring enough to stay after his speech were powerhouses from the great clans or powerhouses from the Guanxuan Academy.
The Guanxuan Academy! Ye Guan clenched his fists. He was prepared for the worst-case scenario, and he was also willing to take drastic measures if he had no choice but to do so.
Ji Xuan walked toward Ye Guan and smiled warmly at him. “Don’t worry. The Sword Master will definitely seek justice for us!”
They spent the next three days in peace—no one made a move against them.
Ji Xuan was standing next to Ye Guan as she pointed out. “That should be Qingzhou’s star field ahead of us.”
Qingzhou’s star field.
Upon entering Qingzhou’s star field, they would reach Qingzhou’s Guanxuan Academy in two days at most.
Two days! Ye Guan turned to look at Ji Xuan.
Ji Xuan rolled her eyes at him and chuckled. “Are you trying to chase me away again?”
Ye Guan went silent. Ji Xuan smoothened her fringe next to her face and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely run if the enemy is too strong. It’s not like we’re close enough for me to sacrifice my life for you.”
Ye Guan sounded serious as she said, “You have to run by yourself if the situation calls for it.”
Ji Xuan nodded. “I know!’
Ye Guan nodded and went silent.
He stared?into the distant star field, seemingly in deep thought.
Soon, the space ship entered Qingzhou’s star field.
A rift in space opened around a hundred meters away from the space ship.
A black-robed old man and two powerhouses clad in black-scaled armor stepped out of the rift. A badge was on the right chest of the old man, and it was emblazoned with crimson red words—Discipline Committee.
“The Discipline Committee Guards!” a lurker in the shadows shroud.
The Discipline Committee Guards of Guanxuan Academy had arrived. The aura of the old man at the helm of the group was powerful, and it was nothing like the mercenary group that Ye Guan had recently encountered.
The old man was a Seal Shattering Realm cultivator!
The expressions of the onlookers and lurkers turned grim. They were surprised not because of the old man’s cultivation realm but the fact that he was in the Discipline Committee, which was the law enforcer of the Guanxuan Academy.
The black-robed old man stared at Ye Guan with a straight face. There was a sharp glint in his eyes as he said, “The Academy has issued an arrest warrant for Ye Guan. If he resists, he shall be killed on the spot.”
Killed on the spot! Without wasting any more words, the black-robed old man waved?his right hand and the two Discipline Committee Guards behind him vanished into thin air.
A murderous light flashed in Ye Guan’s eyes as he stood at the bow of the space ship. He stepped forward and slashed down fiercely.
Sword light exploded, and the two Discipline Committee Guards were forced a few meters backward. There was dead silence in the surroundings, everyone was surprised by what Ye Guan had done.
He was resisting arrest! He was defying the Academy’s orders.
The black-robed old man glared murderously at Ye Guan.
“You are courting death!” he roared and vanished.
The black-robed old man turned into a bolt of lightning that made a beeline for Ye Guan.
Ye Guan’s expression hardened. The black-robed old man was more than five times stronger than the Divine Tribulation Realm cultivators he had fought before.
Ye Guan knew that the Academy’s powerhouses were bound to be stronger than their peers, so he couldn’t afford to be careless against the black-robed old man.
Ye Guan dashed forward. He turned into a sword light that streaked across the sky.
He performed the Instant Death Strike and shattered the spacetime rule while wielding the Path Sword in hand. Ye Guan had decided to use the Path Sword because he didn’t want to take any chances with his opponents.
The black-robed old man was eight cultivation realms higher than him, after all. In other words, he would have to exert a ton of effort to defeat the black-robed old man if he refrained from using the Path Sword.
The black-robed old man noticed that Ye Guan was wielding a different sword, and his expression fell. He could feel death approaching him as Ye Guan’s sword made a beeline for him.
However, it was already too late.
The Path Sword shredded the lightning bolt, and Ye Guan thrust the Path Sword into the black-robed old man’s head. A hole appeared in the black-robed old man’s skull as blood haphazardly spurted into the air.
Ye Guan had instantly killed a Seal Shattering Realm cultivator, shocking the lurkers and onlookers. He had been hiding his strength?!
Ye Guan turned toward Ji Xuan. He smiled and said, “Lady Ji Xuan, thank you for escorting me on this journey. Qingzhou is right in front of us, and you will definitely be in danger if you stay with me any further.
”I will definitely repay you in the future, so let’s see each other again by then.”
With that, Ye Guan hopped onto his sword and disappeared into the horizon. He was heading for Qingzhou. He didn’t wait for Ji Xuan’s reply because he knew that he had to make the final stretch of the journey by himself.
He couldn’t drag Ji Xuan down, and his Sword Travel was much faster than the space ship. Granted, the energy consumption was high, but he had enough spiritual pills to recover until he reached Qingzhou.
Qingzhou’s Guanxuan Academy would definitely send more people after him, so Ye Guan knew that he had to reach Qingzhou as fast as he could before his enemies could surround him.
He was going to Qingzhou to seek justice, and there wasn’t anyone else who could give him justice other than the Sword Master.
Ye Guan wasn’t a god.
He couldn’t confront an entire Guanxuan Academy by himself.
In fact, it was actually a ludicrous idea.
Ji Xuan suddenly appeared in front of Ye Guan, surprising him.
Ji Xuan stared at Ye Guan and asked, “Are you afraid of dragging me down, or are you afraid that I will slow you down?”
“I—” Ye Guan started.
However, Ji Xuan laughed and said, “You’re probably afraid of both, right?”
Ye Guan remained silent.
Ji Xuan got even closer to him. She stared into his eyes and asked, “Or are you afraid that I’ll fall for you?”
Ye Guan remained silent, eliciting a chuckle from Ji Xuan.
“Am I not allowed to like you?” she asked.
Ye Guan shook his head and explained, “Lady Ji Xuan, this is a very perilous journey.”
Ji Xuan remained steadfast as she looked at him and demanded, “Answer me.”
Ji Xuan asked, “Is it that hard to answer?”
Ye Guan shook his head. “I just don’t want to put you in danger.”
Ji Xuan took a few steps toward Ye Guan. “I’ll repeat my question then: am I not allowed to like you?”
Ji Xuan had gathered the courage to speak because she knew that she might no longer have a chance to say it if she were to refrain from saying it.
Ji Xuan’s head drooped, and she asked, ”Can you like me? Like me, and I’ll treat you the best in the world.”
The best in the world! Ye Guan stared blankly at Ji Xuan. After a while, he looked down at the Path Sword in his hands and responded, “Someone gave up her life for me, and I think she’ll be very sad if I were to like another woman in this lifetime.”
With that, he turned and disappeared into the distance.
Ji Xuan stared at the disappearing ray of sword light. She burst into laughter and couldn’t stop laughing. Soon, tears welled up in her eyes, and they trickled down her face.
“I’m supposed to be angry, and I should hate you, but why? Why do I feel like I’ve fallen even deeper for you?”
The lurkers and onlookers in the starry skies wore?grim expressions. Ye Guan had just killed a Discipline Committee member. His crimes had gotten too great for the Guanxuan Academy to possibly pardon.
A Discipline Committee Guard crushed a transmission talisman.
Meanwhile, Ye Guan was using Sword Travel in the starry skies. Ji Xuan had told him about where Qingzhou was located, so he wasn’t concerned about getting lost at all.
A rift was abruptly torn open in front of him, and an old man walked out of it.
Ye Guan glanced at the old man, but he didn’t stop.
The old man had no choice but to shout, “Young Lord Ye, please stop!”
Ye Guan came to a halt and stared at the old man.
“Who are you?” he asked.
The old man answered, “I am a guard of Qingzhou’s star field.”
Ye Guan was aware that every star field had a guard.
“Young Lord Ye,” the old man started and said, “I know why you want to reach Qingzhou, and I also know what happened between you and the An Clan.
”I know your circumstances, and I sympathize with you. I’m in no position to interfere with your journey, but the Main Guanxuan Academy has issued an arrest warrant for you. Therefore, I cannot let you enter Qingzhou.”
Ye Guan approached the old man and said, “I’m here to see the Sword Master. If the Academy has done no evil, why do they not want me to meet the Sword Master?”
The old man shook his head and answered, “You shouldn’t have killed the Heavenly Dao of the Zhongtu Divine Continent, and you should have spared that elder of the Discipline Committee. You’ve effectively challenged the Academy’s authority.”
Ye Guan chuckled and said, “The Heavenly Dao wanted to kill me. Are you saying that I should have just accepted my death?
”It seems that everyone knows what I’ve done, but what about the An Clan and the Ancient Heavenly Dragon Clan? Does everyone know what they did to me?”
Ye Guan shook his head and scoffed, “I know…. I am completely aware that I am powerless with no family background and backer?to speak of.
”The influential figures of the Academy wouldn’t offend the An Clan for my sake, and I also got dragged into the muddy waters of the Academy. In other words, almost everyone in the Academy wants me to die!”
The old man remained silent.
Ye Guan continued, “Who else aside from Representative Ye was concerned about who was in the right and who was in the wrong? No one else! The Academy has always been revered by everyone as the most powerful organization in the universe.
“However, the Academy had long forgotten to care about what was right and what was wrong. The Academy only cares about the potential profits and benefits. Of course, only their clans will reap those profits and benefits!”
“If the Academy had truly been fair, why do they not want me to see the Sword Master? Why are they afraid?” he asked.
The old man sighed and said, “Young Lord Ye, I’m only trying to do my job. You shouldn’t voice out your concerns to me.”
Ye Guan stared deeply at the old man and said, “Senior, I don’t think you’re a bad person from the way you talk. Please step aside, I don’t want to kill you.”
The old man briefly pondered before suggesting, “Let’s exchange a move for a show.”
Ye Guan nodded. “All right.”
Their figures blurred, and they disappeared from their spots.
There was a loud explosion as the old man was sent flying away from the collision.
Meanwhile, Ye Guan had already turned into a ray of sword light that quickly vanished into the distance.
The old man stood rooted and stared at the sword light rapidly speeding away.
He sighed to himself. What a shame…
Mount Canglan was the most famous mountain in Qingzhou, and Qingzhou’s Guanxuan Academy was located on Mount Canglan. The Sword Master had studied here before, so it was a respected sacred land in Qingzhou.
A long, long time ago, the Guanxuan Academy wasn’t here, but the Canglan Academy. At the moment, there were only a handful of people who knew about such a fact, but it wasn’t strange, as it had been a long time since Qingzhou’s Guanxuan Academy was built here.
The young man who had come here for help with his sister on his back could have never imagined that his descendant would one day end up here as well to ask for help.