Ye Chen watched as Lei Qing was knocked unconscious, his face showing not a hint of disturbance.
This Lei Qing, along with two other Loose Cultivators, had invaded his family's domain to kill and plunder. Such a man, now faced with this retribution, had brought it upon himself.
It was not just a matter of knocking him unconscious—Ye Chen had no intention of sparing his life, so as not to let him bring harm to others!
His relentless pounding was meant to draw out the other two among the three major Loose Cultivators.
But unexpectedly, Lei Qing was now knocked out cold, and a large part of Black Cliff Stronghold's Qingshi Tower had been destroyed, yet the other two Loose Cultivators had still not shown themselves.
Ye Chen turned his eyes towards those minions who were shivering in terror.
Living in Black Cliff Stronghold, surely some of them knew the whereabouts of the other two Loose Cultivators.
"Let me ask you, where are your Great Chieftain and Second Chieftain now?" Ye Chen scanned the various minions and asked aloud.
Those fixed by Ye Chen's gaze trembled in fear.
"Your Excellency, we don't know where the Great Master and the Third Master are!"
These minions were even addressing Ye Chen respectfully as "Your Excellency"!
Ye Chen's current strength was such that even their Third Master could not gain any advantage against him; they naturally did not dare show him anything but respect.
"You don't know where your Great Master and Third Master are?" Ye Chen's eyebrows furrowed as his eyes moved over the faces of the minions.
When he saw one minion whose face twitched uncontrollably, unable to look him in the eye, Ye Chen reached out his hand. Despite the distance of tens of meters, he unexpectedly grasped the minion out of thin air and pulled him over!
"Your Excellency, spare my life!"
The minion struggled and pleaded for mercy frantically.
The vast power of Ye Chen's True Qi swept up the minion into his hand: "Stop struggling, otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety."
With that, the previously writhing minion dared not make any more moves.
"I ask you again, do you truly not know where your Great Master and Second Chieftain are?" Ye Chen's eyes bore into the minion's, asking slowly.
"Excellency, I truly don't know where they are, but I know that the Great Master and Second Chieftain must still be within the stronghold," the minion interrupted.
"They must be hiding somewhere cultivating!"
"They've rarely been seen since they returned from Qingyang City more than a month ago."
The minion hastily relayed all he knew to Ye Chen.
"Returned from Qingyang City over a month ago? Isn't that the time when the treasures were taken from my family?"
"Rarely being seen, could it be that they are cultivating some technique or trying to break through a realm?"
Ye Chen's gaze swept across Black Cliff Stronghold, recalling from the younger members of his family that the most precious treasure that the three major Loose Cultivators had taken was the two Creation Yuan Pills exchanged by Bai Xiaodie.
The Creation Yuan Pill could help those in the late stages of the Spirit Sea Realm increase their chances of breaking through to the Rotating Pill Realm by seventy percent.
The two reclusive Loose Cultivators were at the mid-stage of the Spirit Sea Realm; it seemed likely they were intent on using the Creation Yuan Pills to attempt to break through to the later phase as soon as possible.
Ye Chen's speculation was correct. At this moment, Sikong Miao and Wei Wuya, the two leaders among the three major Loose Cultivators of Wan Ya Mountain, were in a secret chamber within the stronghold, deep in cultivation, indeed clueless about the outside world.
Seeing that the minion held in his hand knew nothing more, Ye Chen released him, and with a sweep of his Sword Intent, he sent the minion flying back to his original position.
Whisked away and then suddenly returned by Ye Chen's hand, the minion's heart pounded fiercely; standing back on the ground, he could hardly keep his balance.
And the other minions dared not even breathe too loudly, fearful they too would be pulled up by Ye Chen for questioning.
"They're in Black Cliff Stronghold?"
"Since they refuse to come out, let's find them!"
Ye Chen stretched out his arm and grabbed the unconscious Lei Qing, his wings spreading behind him as he flew about within the bounds of Black Cliff Stronghold.
While flying, he used his Divine Sense to explore every nook and cranny.
The minions in Black Cliff Stronghold knew early on about Ye Chen's intrusion, especially the striking scene of him ferociously pounding the Third Master Lei Qing into submission, which shocked countless of them.
Everyone knew that a formidable young man had arrived in the stronghold seeking their Chieftains.
As Ye Chen flew across the stronghold's territory, the small-time minions didn't dare to utter a single word, pretending as if they didn't see anything at all.
"There's nothing here either!"
Ye Chen's Divine Sense could now cover a thousand zhang in radius. With the help of his swift motions and Divine Sense exploration, he had investigated a large part of Black Cliff Stronghold in an instant.
When he arrived at the eastern edge of Black Cliff Stronghold, Ye Chen suddenly stopped.
Through his Divine Sense, he shockingly discovered what seemed like a hidden space beneath the ground.
"Could it be hiding right inside here?"
Ye Chen grabbed the unconscious Lei Qing with one hand, while with the other, he pointed toward the ground, and in an instant, a boundless Gang Yuan True Qi burst forth from his fingertip.
As soon as the Gang Yuan True Qi shot out, it transformed into a gigantic Sword of True Qi, which then directly struck downward toward the earth.
With every slash of the Sword of True Qi, the earth was cleaved, forming gashes tens of meters long and more than half a meter wide. After several continuous strikes, the earth was pierced more than ten meters deep!
The onlookers from Black Cliff Stronghold, who had been surreptitiously watching Ye Chen, revealed expressions of amazement and admiration when they saw the Qi shining from his fingers condense into a sword.
As they watched Ye Chen continuously strike the earth, these onlookers began to wonder, "Could there be something beneath the ground?"
Just as they were speculating, the earth that had been split open to reveal a space more than ten meters deep and tens of meters long now exposed the top of a secret chamber made of refined iron.
"Could it be that the Great Master and Second Chieftain are cultivating inside there?"
The informer among the underlings could not help but look toward the secret chamber.
Upon seeing the underground chamber, Ye Chen did not stop. His finger moved again and, in an instant, a Sword of True Qi several meters long formed in his hand.
This Sword of True Qi was even more powerful than the one he had used to strike the earth earlier. It was the Sword of True Qi formed through Ye Chen's use of Slaughter Sword Intent.
With a flick of his finger, the meter-long Sword of Slaughter struck fiercely toward the top of the iron-refined secret chamber.
As if slicing through mud, the Sword of Slaughter effortlessly and completely cut off the top of the secret chamber. Just then, two figures explosively flew out from it.
These two figures were none other than the leader Sikong Miao and the deputy leader Wei Wuya of the three great Loose Cultivators of Wan Ya Mountain.
The two had been hiding in the secret chamber to cultivate. The moment Ye Chen struck the earth, they had already been awakened. They were about to leave the chamber to see what was happening outside when they did not expect the entire top of the chamber to be sliced off.
When they flew out from the top of the secret chamber, they immediately saw Ye Chen and Lei Qing, whom Ye Chen was holding unconscious.
In a flash, the two soared into the sky.
Looking around, they saw that many buildings of Qingshi Tower had been destroyed beyond recognition and there were colossal pits in the ground caused by impacts.
They also saw the fearful looks in the eyes of their underlings as they regarded Ye Chen.
"Did you do this?" The Great Master among the three Loose Cultivators, the elder Sikong Miao clad in a green robe, asked Ye Chen with a cold glint in his eyes.
Next to him, the Second Chieftain with fiery red eyebrows, Wei Wuya, began rubbing his hands together, evidently ready to act against Ye Chen.
Ye Chen faced Sikong Miao and Wei Wuya without any fear. He continued to grip Lei Qing and abruptly slammed him into the ground, tossing him onto the earth.
Then, Ye Chen looked at the two men, "You must be the top two of the three great Loose Cultivators from Wan Ya Mountain, Sikong Miao and Wei Wuya!"
The faces of Sikong Miao and Wei Wuya twitched as they saw Ye Chen daring to treat Lei Qing so disrespectfully right in front of them.
They could not fathom where this young man got the audacity from to ascend Wan Ya Mountain alone and cause such havoc here.
They had even lost their youngest brother to this young man's hands.
The two began to guard themselves secretly against Ye Chen. From the chaotic scene before them, they inferred that this young man was certainly not as simple as the Realm of True Qi he appeared to display.
"Yes, we are Sikong Miao and Wei Wuya. Who are you, and what brings you to our Black Cliff Stronghold?"
Even with cold light surging in his eyes, Sikong Miao still questioned Ye Chen.
He wanted to find out the origin of this young man.
"Who am I? I am one of the people from the three great families of Qingyang City!"
"What brings me here? I have come to take the heads of you three great Loose Cultivators!"
Ye Chen said to Sikong Miao and Wei Wuya with unparalleled calm.