"Nancy, are you still half asleep?"
"What makes you so confident you can kill me?"
Looking at Nancy in the distance, Ye Cangtian gave her a dismissive glance.
He admired her upright spirit, but to take his head, she should first consider her own strength.
He had fought Nancy before.
While Nancy was not an ordinary peak Xuan-grade cultivator, and was even making strides towards Di-grade, she couldn't even defeat him back then. Now, the gap between them was likely even wider.
"Whether I can kill you or not, we'll find out by trying!"
Nancy snorted lightly, her powerful aura erupting from her body, her eyes filled with fighting spirit.
"Heh heh, trying is certainly possible."
"But wouldn't it be a shame if you died by my hand?"
"Stand down. I'm not in the mood to fight you today. We can settle this another time!"
Seeing Nancy draw her long sword, Ye Cangtian pondered for a moment before shaking his head and speaking with a smile.
He didn't know what Nancy had been through recently, but she truly lived up to her title of a celestial pride.
In just a few months, Nancy's cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds. Although she hadn't reached Di-grade, she was only a hair's breadth away from it.
It could be said that her cultivation was almost catching up to his before he entered the Dark Ruins.
Such significant progress even earned his admiration.
If it weren't for the assistance of a Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir, relying solely on his own efforts, it would have been very difficult to defeat the current Nancy.
Of course, these were not the reasons he chose not to fight.
The real reason was that the situation was currently chaotic. If he were to kill the celestial pride of the Light Hall, Bedra might go berserk.
No one could predict what Bedra, in his rage, might do.
"Hmph! Do you think this is up to you?"
Hearing Ye Cangtian's words, coupled with his dismissive tone, Nancy immediately let out a cold snort and charged forward.
Her long sword sliced through the air, manifesting countless sword flowers, making it difficult to discern its true trajectory. It was extremely bizarre.
But in Ye Cangtian's eyes, it was a different scene entirely.
After cultivating mental energy combat techniques, Ye Cangtian's mental power had surged.
The sword strike in his vision wasn't fast at all. He could even clearly see the trajectories formed by those sword flowers.
Clang!
Sensing everything, Ye Cangtian drew the Skeleton Dagger and, with a casual flick of his wrist, blocked Nancy's sword.
"Nancy, give up. You're still too weak..."
Ye Cangtian shook his head helplessly, but before he could finish, Nancy exploded with rage.
"Ye Cangtian, how dare you call me weak! Today, I'll tear you into a thousand pieces!"
What Nancy couldn't stand the most was being called weak, especially from the mouth of the opponent she recognized.
In her furious roar, Nancy flickered and moved at high speed around Ye Cangtian, her sword attacks becoming exceptionally tricky and sharp.
However, no matter how she attacked, Ye Cangtian easily blocked them.
After a short while, Nancy suddenly retreated, creating distance, and a strange smile appeared on her face.
Seeing this, Ye Cangtian chuckled and said, "What? You think I didn't notice your little trick?"
Also due to his mental power, Ye Cangtian had long noticed Nancy's subtle movements. She had secretly scattered some crystals during her previous attacks.
These crystals were instantly covered by the soil.
And Ye Cangtian, with his understanding of formations, instantly deduced that Nancy was secretly setting up a formation to kill him.
"Hmph! So what if you found out?"
"It's too late for anything!"
"I advise you to say your last words!"
Hearing Ye Cangtian's words, Nancy was slightly stunned, then let out a cold snort. She was also surprised how Ye Cangtian discovered her subtle actions.
However, she thought it didn't matter much. If Ye Cangtian had escaped just now, all her preparations would have been in vain.
But now that the formation was complete, Ye Cangtian had no chance to escape.
As soon as Nancy's words fell, the ground beneath Ye Cangtian began to tremble.
The next moment, two large hands grabbed Ye Cangtian's ankles, and then rows of thorns shot out from the ground, aiming to stab him.
"Heh heh, you think this can kill me?"
"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you!"
Looking at the attack formed by the formation, Ye Cangtian sneered dismissively. Immediately, a black light flashed in his hand, directly severing the large hands on his ankles, and then he began to flicker.
This...
How is this possible!
Watching Ye Cangtian weave through the rows of thorns, Nancy was completely stunned.
These thorns were incredibly fast and possessed immense power.
Once, a Cardinal had evaluated her formation, stating that even a Di-grade expert would find it very difficult to escape if caught.
Yet, Ye Cangtian could quickly traverse the gaps between the earth's magnetic forces. This was utterly beyond her comprehension.
Whoosh!
Perhaps due to shock, Nancy didn't react to Ye Cangtian's counterattack at all. With a flash of black light, the Dragon Soul Blade was already at her throat.
"Nancy, you lost. Go back and cultivate diligently!"
"Also, I want to tell you that no matter how powerful a formation is, it's an external force. True strength lies in one's own power!"
As Ye Cangtian's voice fell, he lowered the blade and turned to leave.
He didn't clarify the matter of Bardak.
Firstly, even if he clarified, Nancy might not believe him.
Secondly, Nancy was not the captain of the Light Hall's operation this time, and she couldn't make the decision.
Finally, the Light Hall's action against him this time might just be a smokescreen to cover up a certain objective.
Now that the Light Hall's plan was complete, even if they learned the true reason, they wouldn't easily back down.
Therefore, whether this matter was clarified by Nancy or not was not important.
"Ye Cangtian, I will remember this humiliation today!"
"If you can survive, when I have achieved mastery in cultivation, I will surely compete with you again!"
Watching Ye Cangtian's retreating back, Nancy gritted her teeth and said fiercely.
She really wanted to catch up, but even her strongest offensive formation couldn't do anything to him. If another battle ensued, she would only suffer more humiliation.
Thinking of this, she still gave up.
"Heh heh, there are plenty of people who want to kill me, but I'm still alive and well!"
From a distance, Ye Cangtian's voice carried back without him looking back.
Nancy gritted her teeth and only turned to leave after his silhouette disappeared.
...
In the villa.
When Ye Cangtian returned, Tang Xinwan had already gone back to her room, leaving him some food in the kitchen.
As Ye Cangtian was just starting his dinner, two figures appeared before him, namely Gu Yue and Gu Qin.
"Brother Ye, there were uninvited guests today!"
Gu Qin glanced at Ye Cangtian and spoke directly.
The two women had returned from an outing that day and sensed something unusual in the separate courtyard. Shortly after, over ten burly men rushed out.
These burly men intended to capture the two women to threaten Ye Cangtian.
However, their strength was too weak, and they were ultimately dealt with by the two women.
Hearing this, Ye Cangtian put down his chopsticks and asked, "Do you know which force they belong to?"
Gu Yue nodded and replied, "Yes, they called themselves members of the Lightning Mercenary Group."
Lightning Mercenary Group?
Hearing the name, Ye Cangtian's brow furrowed. He had encountered the Lightning Mercenary Group in the island ruins before.
The Lightning Mercenary Group wasn't strong. He didn't expect such a weak mercenary group to dare to attack him!
"It seems there is a grand conspiracy behind this!"
He muttered to himself.
Gu Qin became curious upon hearing this and asked, "Hmm? Why do you say that?"
Gu Yue also looked over curiously, waiting for Ye Cangtian's explanation.
"It's very simple, it's because of my identity."
Ye Cangtian glanced at the two women and explained.
As everyone knew, Ye Cangtian was the captain of the Grim Reaper Squad. While it might be difficult to say in front of other forces, in the mercenary world, the Grim Reaper Squad still held some prestige.
Logically speaking, a weak force like the Lightning Mercenary Group shouldn't dare to offend the Grim Reaper Squad, let alone come to his house to court death.
Therefore, Ye Cangtian deduced that there must be a huge temptation of benefits that made the Lightning Mercenary Group take the risk.
Since such benefits existed, there must be an invisible hand manipulating everything from behind the scenes.
Hearing Ye Cangtian's explanation, the two women nodded as if they understood.
Then, Gu Qin leaned forward and asked, "Brother Ye, who do you think is most likely orchestrating all this?"
"It's unclear for now."
"It could be the Light Hall, or the Ninja Division, or even the Dark Association."
"It's hard to say at the moment, but as things unfold, all of this will surely come to light!"
Ye Cangtian shook his head slowly and replied.