"Qingyun Sect, I have returned!"
Ye Chen looked up at the Qingyun Sect's entrance plaza not far ahead, his eyes filled with complex and indescribable emotions.
More than three months ago, he left Qingyun Sect to go to Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, in order to accumulate real battle experience and enhance his strength.
In these three months, he had successfully broken through from the fourth level of True Qi to the sixth level, and his strength had increased by several tens of times or more! Now, with his many hidden techniques, he could even kill a ninth level True Qi expert without breaking a sweat!
He had very well achieved his goal of entering Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain!
But upon returning to the sect, Ye Chen felt not a whit of joy, but rather a surge of anger in his heart—because, his parents were being detained within Qingyun Sect!
It was all because of Zhou Yuntian, who had subjected his parents to such humiliation!
It was because of Zhou Yuntian that his parents' peaceful life had been shattered!
"Zhou Yuntian, if it weren't for your son pressing me relentlessly, refusing to stop until he killed me, I wouldn't have killed him!"
"He forced my hand first!"
"Now, you've even dragged my parents into this. Do you really think I'll just let you bully me?!"
"Do you truly believe that, with your Spirit Sea Realm mid-stage cultivation, you can kill me?"
"Well, let's try then!"
Inside Ye Chen's body, six True Qi whirlpools surged wildly, with robust True Qi enveloping him.
At the same time, the flying sword "Crimson Fire" in the Sword Palace Acupoint between his eyebrows also started to move ferociously, swimming in the Sword Qi Spirit Liquid.
After fully opening his Qi Meridian, Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and thirty-three Heaven Cycles, his Gang Yuan True Qi also flowed slowly, and Ye Chen became acutely aware of every change within a hundred yards around him.
He had made all the preparations necessary to fully settle the matter with Zhou Yuntian concerning the ocean affair!
Ye Chen's figure moved, and the "Wind Movement Technique" turned him into a gust of wind as he shot towards the entrance plaza of Qingyun Sect.
"There are so many Heavenly Net Sect disciples within Qingyun Sect!"
As soon as he approached the outer peak's entrance plaza, Ye Chen, with his senses extending in all directions, immediately noticed the change from the usual scene at the plaza.
Normally, the plaza was filled with Qingyun Sect's nominal disciples practicing their cultivation, and if there were others, at most they would be Qingyun Sect's outer disciples coming in and out of the mountains passing through the plaza.
It was rare for disciples from other sects to appear in the plaza.
However, the plaza was now clearly filled with many disciples wearing Heavenly Net Sect's uniforms, walking around inspecting various areas, as if searching for something.
The Qingyun Sect disciples would hurriedly avoid these Heavenly Net Sect disciples and dare not provoke them.
Yet, there were still many who were caught by patrolling Heavenly Net Sect disciples and interrogated, causing quite a few Qingyun Sect disciples to turn red with anger, yet not daring to speak out.
"That Zhou Yuntian is so arrogant!"
"To actually send disciples to search inside Qingyun Sect!"
"This is like stepping on Qingyun Sect's face with feet!"
From the expressions of those Heavenly Net Sect disciples, Ye Chen knew they were probably looking for him, what he hadn't anticipated was that the Qingyun Sect's sect master and elders would tacitly allow this to happen.
At this moment, Ye Chen felt utterly disappointed with Qingyun Sect.
As a nominal disciple of Qingyun Sect, they should have stepped forward to protect him.
Now it seemed that Qingyun Sect had no intention of protecting him at all; even more so, the fact that his parents had been captured by Zhou Yuntian and brought to Qingyun Sect was likely with the sect's acquiescence.
Even if he had caused trouble, the sect may not dare to interfere, but at the very least, they shouldn't allow the parents of their own disciple to be captured by others and brought to Qingyun Sect.
Even if Zhou Yuntian had forcibly taken his parents away, capturing them to Heavenly Net Sect, Ye Chen wouldn't have blamed Qingyun Sect!
Now, however, it was evident that Qingyun Sect didn't regard him as one of their own disciples to protect at all!
"Is it because of the difference in strength?"
"Zhou Yuntian is indeed a mid-stage Spirit Sea Realm expert, and I am but a nominal disciple in the sect."
"But to simply give up on one's own sect disciples, that truly is disappointing!"
Ye Chen chuckled coldly.
"Capturing a few Heavenly Net Sect disciples should lure out that Zhou Yuntian, right? He's been hoping for me to fall into his trap, hasn't he?"
"Then, let's fulfill his wish!"
As Ye Chen's figure moved, he darted towards the sect entrance plaza.
Just as he was about to capture a few Heavenly Net Sect disciples to draw out Zhou Yuntian, his divine consciousness detected at the corner of the sect entrance plaza a group of Heavenly Net Sect disciples surrounding a little girl; Ye Chen's eyes suddenly flashed with sharpness.
"Eh, is that... Tao'er?"
"What is she doing here?"
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Ye Chen then flew towards the corner of the sect entrance plaza.
In the corner of the sect entrance plaza, a little girl about twelve years old was encircled by six Heavenly Net Sect disciples.
This little girl had a childlike face and a slightly immature figure, her hair tied into two braids, and she was dressed in the manner of a maid, but her eyes sparkled with vivacity.
At the moment, surrounded by the six Heavenly Net Sect disciples, the little girl showed no fear in her eyes; instead, she shouted crisply at the six, "What are you trying to do? Could it be that even the mighty Heavenly Net Sect disciples intend to bully a little girl like me?"
The little girl's shouts attracted the attention of many Qingyun Sect disciples in the plaza, but when they saw it was Heavenly Net Sect disciples surrounding her, they quickly walked faster, steering clear of this problematic spot.
The reaction of these Qingyun Sect disciples made the little girl pout her lips; seeing this approach ineffective, her eyes spun as she pondered another plan, thinking to herself, "When I visited the Qingyun Sect several times before to deliver silver to the young master, I never realized that Qingyun Sect's disciples were such cowards."
"What to do? Now these Heavenly Net Sect disciples have surrounded me; they probably became suspicious of me for inquiring about the young master these past few days."
As the girl was considering ways to escape, the pale-faced youth leading the six Heavenly Net Sect disciples, watching the lively eyes of the girl they surrounded, huffed, "Little girl, stop thinking of tricks. We've been watching you for quite some time."
"Speak, what is your relationship with Ye Chen? Do you know where Ye Chen is right now?"
Upon hearing the pale-faced youth mention "Ye Chen," the little girl's complexion subtly changed; she looked at the pale-faced youth, blinked, and said with a smile, "Ye Chen? Who's Ye Chen? I've never heard that name before!"
"Hmph, don't play dumb with me. You've been asking Qingyun Sect disciples about Ye Chen in a roundabout way these past few days; you really think we don't know?"
"If you don't talk, don't blame me for not being polite!"
"I don't know, when I say I don't know, I mean it," the little girl, standing her ground with a defiant look, responded to the six Heavenly Net Sect disciples.
"It seems we must show you some color before you realize we're not pushovers!"
The pale-faced youth, with a clawing motion, reached directly for the little girl's arm.
In that claw, True Qi flashed like cold light, revealing deadly intent.
The little girl had no signs of True Qi surging within her body, yet the pale-faced youth used a killing move, apparently intending to rip off the little girl's arm with a single claw!
How ruthless the pale-faced youth was!
As the white-faced youth made his grab, the little girl cried out "Oh no" in her heart, finding herself unable to dodge. Terrified, she closed her eyes tightly, her long eyelashes trembling incessantly.
After all, she was just a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl. Despite her sharpness, she was frightened in the face of this bloody killing move.
However, as the little girl closed her eyes, she felt no pain in her arm but instead heard a mysterious cry of pain.
That cry of pain... could it be from the pale-faced youth who tried to grab her arm?
With this thought flashing through her mind, the little girl involuntarily opened her eyes. When she did, she was shocked to see the hand that was reaching for her now flying into the air.
The pale-faced youth was covering his severed hand, screaming in agony!
"Did someone save me?"
The little girl widened her eyes and looked around. Then, she saw a familiar yet somewhat strange figure coming towards her.
"Is this... my young master?"
"Isn't my young master only at the first level of True Qi? How did he become so powerful?"
The little girl stretched out her hand, rubbed her eyes vigorously, and looked again at the approaching figure. When she saw the smiling face of the figure, she couldn't believe her eyes and exclaimed in wonder, "Young master, is it really you!"