Frank was a talented disciple from the Flaming Sun Valley. On his arrival, the first thing he did was to
occupy the nearest hill. Of course, there was no resistance to the occupation. The cultivators on the hill
hardly matched up to him and obediently left on his instructions.
When the hill was quiet, a melodious bell rang in the air, announcing the arrival of two mysterious
figures that flew down as light and fast as swallows.
When they stepped down, you could make out a young man and a young woman. There was definitely
something otherworldly about them. If you stared into their eyes, you would say they were neither old
nor young but eternal.
The man was tall and handsome, and a long sword hung from his waist. His face bore no expression
but was neither hard nor mean. It was tranquil like stream water. You could sense he was thinking
something but on the surface, everything was peaceful.
The young woman's snow-white skin and long black hair marked her from the crowd. Such gorgeous
looks enhanced by bright sparkling eyes, somewhat like the phoenix's, made the rest think of her as a
princess.
There was an inexplicable aura to them. No one had to ever ask, all knew in their hearts, that the pair
was different.
"They are Leo and Cynthia from the Peripatetic Sect. Their coming too, to the Grand Desolation
Mountain is most unexpected," said someone.
The Peripatetic Sect was the most superior sect in the whole of Violet Orchid Empire. Its power
outdistanced that of all other sects'.
Even the royal family of the Violet Orchid Empire showed respect to this sect.
For this reason, the Peripatetic Sect's disciples were highly regarded by the common folk.
Leo was not only the disciple of the Peripatetic Sect, but the best of the lot. It was said that his
cultivation base had reached the medium stage of Earth Realm and he ranked seventh among the
young generation of the Violet Orchid Empire.
Leo and Cynthia went directly to one of the hills near the celestial energy ginseng. There were several
cultivators there and they had just conquered a place from the others through a battle. And now,
looking at Leo and Cynthia coming over, they felt both angry and frustrated.
Glaring at the pair, their leader hesitated for a moment. He very well knew how strong these two people
were. Finally, he gritted his teeth and withdrew with his gang.
They had better go away and find another place.
Soon, they took over another hill with violence. Their conquest was a little farther away from the one
they had recently left.
This was exactly 'the big fish eat small fish and the small fish eat shrimps' world.
Austin was impressed by the celestial energy ginseng attracting so many cultivators.
It was norm for disciples of the five major sects of the Violet Orchid Empire to come here.
However, it seemed that Sun Sect and Joy Gang had no elite disciples present at the moment.
Marvin, Billy and Austin were from Sun Sect and in fact, ordinary. The strongest among them was only
at level eight of the Energy Gathering Realm. There wasn't even a single man who had reached the
Earth Realm of vital energy present.
The disciples of Joy Gang too were only at the Energy Gathering Realm as well. None of the core
disciples had showed up this time.
But, there were many elites from the other three sects, i.e. the Peripatetic Sect, the Flaming Sun Valley
and the Bloody Hero Gang. . . .
"Look! The celestial energy ginseng is about to ripen," said one of the cultivators.
At once, everyone's eyes fixed on the celestial energy ginseng which was rooted at the center of the
valley.
And like a shot, a strong colorful light sparkled from the celestial energy ginseng bathing the whole
valley in its hypnotic luminous light. And with that, a thick fruity aroma wafted in the air.
In a trice, for those present, it was a sublime moment, out of turn and one meant to be written down in
history for this hadn't happened in the longest time.
The thick spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered into a gust of wind and blew towards the
celestial energy ginseng. And like a bottomless pit, the ginseng swallowed up all the spiritual energy at
once.
With their eyes wide open, all the cultivators felt charged with the excitement they witnessed but no one
dared blink lest they lost sight of the celestial energy ginseng.
"Wow! It is just as my grandpa said. The celestial energy ginseng is at the most critical moment of
ripening."
Fanny exclaimed and covered her mouth with hand embarrassed.
Surrounding the celestial energy ginseng, in tens of square meter area, the reiki of heaven and earth
was getting emptied in a short period of time.
And as that happened, the ninth halo which circled the celestial energy ginseng started to thicken,
emitting a constant flow of kaleidoscopic lights.
All the cultivators held their breath and looked nervously at the celestial energy ginseng. They knew
that the crucial moment had come.
"Violet, are you ready?" Austin whispered.
He used his thought to communicate with Violet, the little fox in the Illusion Bead. In fact, just now
Austin had secretly discussed with her how to seize the celestial energy ginseng.
Austin knew that just his strength had no chance of meeting success and seizing the celestial energy
ginseng. In the face of so many strong people, maybe Violet's help, could turn the odds.
Now the celestial energy ginseng was about to ripen, so he reminded Violet urgently.
"Don't worry, master! I'm ready!" Violet replied.
Hearing her answer, Austin breathed out his anxiety. . . .
Waiting with bated breath, all eyes were fixed on the celestial energy ginseng. It was as if the air in the
valley was frozen and a hush of silence had fallen upon them.
At this moment, using his spiritual sense, Austin overheard a conversation of two people.
"Tomb Owner, there are too many cultivators here. Moreover, some of them seem very strong. Are we
really going to act now? I'm afraid we can't make it."
"Huh? It is rare that so many disciples gathered here. How can we miss such a good opportunity? The
higher their strength, the higher the quality of their souls. If we can collect these souls, it will be a great
achievement to us. What's more, if we get this celestial energy ginseng and present it to the Altar
Owner, he will be happy and probably teach me the Soul-refining Formula."
"But, Tomb Owner! I don't think we have enough people to fight so many cultivators."
"Please rest assured! The people from Tomb No. 28 are nearby too. Just now, I sent a message telling
them to come. Maybe by now, they've already started deploying the Soul Collection Array at the
periphery."
"The men of the Tomb No. 28 are also here? If we fight together, success will be ours."
This conversation came from a hill shrouded with dark dense fog under the cover of which a group of
strange people hid.
'The Tomb Owner?'
Austin searched his memory. No, he couldn't remember which sect had the title of the Tomb Owner.
And the Soul Collection Array, he had never heard of it before either.
Are those people really deploying the Soul Collection Array or not?' Austin suddenly recalled what they
had just said.
He looked up and saw dozens of men coming from all directions behind the cultivators. From top to
bottom, they were in black, and there was something ghostly about them.
These people sneaked around, throwing out an object from time to time, either to the ground or into the
air.
Following the direction of Austin's eyes, Fanny also noticed them.
Both Fanny and Austin shifted their attention from the celestial energy ginseng to those in black.
"They are deploying array," Fanny uttered a soft cry.
Austin gestured to her to be quiet. They couldn't act impulsively.
"How would you know?"
Austin asked in a low voice.
Just now, he had overheard the conversation by utilizing his strong spiritual sense. So he knew that the
people in black were deploying the array.
But Fanny seemed to know everything even though she couldn't hear them.
"Of course I know. Don't you know my grandfather is a great array master? I have grown up watching
my grandpa deploying arrays. How can they hide this trick from me?"
Fanny curled her lips in pride mocking Austin for his ignorance.
"These people are poorly skilled. But the array is really terrific. I'm afraid even I cannot break it," added
Fanny, frowning.
"You can break arrays?" asked Austin.
He always felt distrustful of the girl's skill.
"Of course I can. But to be honest, except this one. Because I've never seen such a complicated array.
If there are no array masters here, I'm afraid that no one will be able to escape from the array."
Shaking her head, Fanny asserted.
"Are you serious? There are so many strong cultivators here. Can an array stop all of us?"
Austin still didn't believe her.
"You are really a person of narrow view! Have you ever seen the world?"
Fanny taunted him annoyed.
"An excellent array has infinite power. With my own eyes, I once saw a villain who was at the medium
stage of the Mysterious Realm trapped and killed by my grandpa's big array. Let alone the cultivators
here. They are nothing in the face of such a strong array," she pouted.
She was angry at Austin for looking down upon her.
"Even a medium stage cultivator at the Mysterious Realm was trapped? It's incredible!"
Mouth agape with incredulity, Austin looked at Fanny in dismay.
The Mysterious Realm cultivator was very strong. So, could one imagine how powerful the big array
should be?
And Fanny's grandfather was an expert if he could deploy such a skillful array.
In fact, Austin didn't doubt the authenticity of Fanny's words. He just felt that Fanny was childlike in her
behavior.
'If this so-called Soul Collection Array is that powerful, when it is effected, even I can't run away from it.'
He felt nervous thinking this.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Fanny was calm. "Since you've said that all cultivators here and even you
can't break this array, why aren't you worried?" wondered Austin. "As soon as the array starts, I'm
afraid even you can't escape," he added.
When Fanny heard this, she immediately raised her beautiful face triumphantly.
"I can't break the array, but it also can't trap me. Are you afraid that you can't escape? Take it easy! I'll
be kind enough to take you out," Fanny giggled.
"Can you really run away from the array?"
Looking at her delicate body, Austin was still worried. She was a weak girl anyway, how was she
supposed to rescue him?
"You can rest assured that I will keep my promises. Leave that to me!"
Fanny patted herself expansively on the chest like a man.
Austin cast his eyes unconsciously at her chest.
He noticed that despite the girl being very young, her body was a woman's.
"What are you looking at? You pervert! You're peeping at places people shouldn't see."
Fanny folded her hands over her chest and her eyes filled with tears at once.
Austin looked away embarrassed. His expression was of extreme guilt, quite like a sugar daddy when
caught by others when flirting with a young girl.
Fanny glared at his awkward look and snorted, "Just as my aunt used to say, all men are lecherous."
Austin was thunderstruck by her conclusion. 'How come little girls nowadays are so mature in their
thoughts? She seems to know all things that she shouldn't know.'
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