Chapter 2523: The Setup

This compelled a strange look on Ye Futian’s face. This map… Could it be?

The pavilion master of Breeze Pavilion imposed a lockdown on Jiuyi City to find the Deity Map. Now, this old man secretly added a map when they were trading with no apparent reason. It was hard for Ye Futian not to connect the two together.

Moreover, his last few words were also full of suggestions.

“You, my friend, are being watched by many people, so you must be careful. Don’t take out the contents inside lightly.”

Was he alluding to the alchemy technique or that map?

Ye Futian saw that the old man took out another treasure to continue transacting. He paid no more attention to him. So Ye Futian, too, turned and left quietly, not wanting to attract any more attention. However, many people were still staring at him, not because of the map but because of the alchemy technique itself.

The alchemy technique was already an extraordinary treasure, and it was quite understandable that it would be coveted by others. Furthermore, he had used the treasure to impress the old man, indirectly revealing to the others that he possessed considerable wealth, so it was natural that he would be noticed.

But Ye Futian didn’t care much about that. There were not many who could touch him now. Even in this sealed sword domain, no one could stop him if he didn’t want to be stopped.

Ye Futian did not leave this area, however. He continued to walk on the mountainous path. He paid close attention to see if there were any other treasures. He found many medicinal materials for refining pills and made trades accordingly. If he were to refine the pills later on, he would have considerable needs for these medicinal materials, so he needed to start preparing right now.

Walking all this way, Ye Futian had reaped quite a lot. He finally left this area when he reached the Breeze Pavilion on top of the mountain.

Jiuyi City was built on a mountain. Below Jiuyi City, the area was mountainous with many cultivators who cultivated in these mountains. Of course, even in those winding mountain ranges, there were buildings or cavern residences.

Ye Futian found an unoccupied area and created a cavern residence. He entered the cavern residence after setting it up, then set up a force of seal outside of it, which was a common practice among the cultivators.

Inside the cavern, Ye Futian took out the map. This ancient map looked particularly lackl.u.s.ter. Ye Futian’s divine consciousness invaded the map, and suddenly a bright light came from it. Countless lines began to appear. A clear pattern now emerged that looked like a picture of landscape.

The map depicted a body of water, and there were many islands denoted in this body of water. It was so simple that it was hard to decipher the meaning behind it.

Ye Futian took out a jade slip and invaded it with his divine consciousness. Suddenly a large map appeared, and it was a map of the West Sea Domain given to him by Xi Chiyao. He wanted to find the area that resembled the area depicted in the smaller map. If the map was that of some other island in the West Sea Domain, he should find the same place on this larger map, determining the location indicated on the smaller map.

Ye Futian’s divine consciousness continued to scan the larger map, and found many similar locations. However, after close examination and comparison, he found that there were still some differences. As long as there were some deviations that could not be fully reconciled, there was the possibility that it was not the same location he seek.

The West Sea Domain was a ma.s.sive territory with countless islands, it was not surprising that there were so many areas that looked similar.

After a long time comparing the two maps, Ye Futian still hadn’t located the place.

If this is the Deity Map, it must have a long history. This map was drawn many years ago, and some islands in the Western Sea Domain may have gone through some changes since then. Some islands may have even disappeared for whatever reason. If this is the case, it would be impossible to find it on the map, Ye Futian thought. If this was really the case, it would create some trouble in accurately identifying the location depicted on the map.

More importantly, why would the old man give him the Deity Map?

He had thought it would be very difficult to get the Deity Map here, but if what he had in his possession was indeed the map, then this was all too easy.

Just as he was putting the Deity Map away, Ye Futian noticed something strange. He turned his eyes and thought about for a moment. He understood everything.

“So this was why.” Ye Futian proceed to smile coldly when he realized what was happening. It seemed that Jiuyi City would soon face an unavoidable great battle.

Ye Futian took out the alchemy technique, and closed his eyes to begin cultivating, staying inside the cavern residence. He planned to cultivate this alchemy technique first, then try to refine some medicine. Anyway, there was nothing else for him to do at the moment.

Moreover, after detecting the abnormality just now, he could basically ascertain that this map was the Deity Map. There might have been some deception involved. He had no plan to leave just yet and would stay in Jiuyi City to wait and see.

While Ye Futian was cultivating, more and more cultivators had arrived in Jiuyi City. In addition to the cultivators already in the West Sea Domain, top figures from other domains were crossing the endless s.p.a.ce to get to Jiuyi Celestial Mountain in the West Sea Domain. They were all here in search of the Deity Map.

If it was just the inheritance of one Great Emperor, there were quite a few of those already in the Original Realm, so perhaps it would not be so attractive to these cultivators. However, this ancient Great Emperor may be a Great Emperor in alchemy. Today’s Divine Prefecture was in need of alchemical refining technique, so the inheritance of a Great Emperor in alchemy was invaluable; there was no one who would want to miss it.

Therefore, in addition to the islands in the West Sea Domain, people from other places outside the domain had arrived as well.

On this day, Ye Futian was still cultivating in his cavern residence when the cavern residence suddenly shook violently. It continued to shake with loud booming sounds; it was as if a terrifying earthquake was taking place.

Ye Futian opened his eyes, as the divine flame in front of him had gone out. He looked up and saw that the cavern residence was in the process of collapsing. He knew instantly that a war had erupted outside, but this was all within his expectations.

Boom…There was a terrifying sound that was heard, and the cavern residence started disintegrating. Divine light flowed around Ye Futian’s body, forming a light screen to protect him. His figure flashed and appeared outside, right before the mountain, where the cavern residence was built. It was reduced shattered to a pile of rubble .

And at this moment, there was a horrific sword will outside. Above the firmament, a brilliant sword was flowing about, descending in one direction, highly terrifying. From where the sword was aiming was also an astonis.h.i.+ng aura from below. It seemed as if two top-level cultivators were battling.

Beneath the sword screen, a man stood above the void. All around him, radiant sword lights fell from the sword domain above; it was Li Qingfeng—the pavilion master of Breeze Pavilion.

And the cultivator below, with white beard and white hair, was precisely the old man who had previously traded with Ye Futian.

Ye Futian was not surprised in the least since he had already suspected it.

The cultivators of West Imperial Palace had told him before that Daoist Monk Mu was an expert at disguise; his ability to impersonate and camouflage was second to none. Therefore, he must have arrived in Jiuyi City before stealing the Deity Map. He must have had been trading there ever since and forged a good relations.h.i.+p with the Breeze Pavilion as a trader so that even Li Qingfeng knew of him.

Later, he stole the Deity Map and continued to trading there in disguise as if everything was business as usual. It was indeed difficult to suspect him, as these methods he employed were very clever. His camouflage was so flawless that he was able to fool Li Qingfeng.

“The cultivation of Daoist Monk Mu should not be at the same as that of Li Qingfeng.” Ye Futian raised his head to look at the battlefield yonder. It was extremely terrifying, with devastating sword light everywhere that threatened to destroy Jiuyi city and raze it to the ground.

“You are in a leisurely mood,” said a voice. Ye Futian turned his attention to a group of three cultivators who were now next to him. All three of them had perceivably strong auras, and Ye Futian recognized them as those who had latched onto him a few days ago while he was trading with Daoist Monk Mu. However, these people had not make their move until now.

But at the moment, with a great war going on, the true ident.i.ty of Daoist Monk Mu was exposed, and all of Jiuyi City was in chaos. They had finally decided to take action.

Things such as committing murders to stealing treasures were commonplace. They occurred every day in all parts of the cultivation world.

But Ye Futian didn’t really care about these people’s existence. He glanced at them, and continued to focus his attention on the battlefield, ignoring them. “Go away now, and I won’t see this as a challenge,” he said.

The three of them frowned and stared at the white-haired young man before them. They saw him looking into the distance with his hands casually folded behind his back, completely ignoring them.

The eldest of the three frowned slightly. He had a head of white hair and was clad in white clothing. He was handsome beyond description.

He suddenly remembered a piece of information that had been pa.s.sed on to Jiuyi Celestial Mountain not too long ago and was instantly alarmed. Without any hesitation, he turned around to leave, saying, “I won’t tread these muddy waters. The two of you can fight for it if you want.”

Having said that, he quickly left this place and moved far away from here. When he reached a mountain peak quite a ways away, he turned and looked at where Ye Futian was, feeling rather fortunate. He hoped it was not the man that everyone was talking about

The other two cultivators frowned, not understanding why the man suddenly gave up.

Could it be that he was awed by the other man’s temperament?

The temperament of this man was indeed extremely exceptional.

Ye Futian’s body levitated and headed towards the direction of the battlefield. One of the other two cultivators couldn’t wait any longer and acted.

A tyrannical aura of the Great Path erupted, and the Divine Wheel of the Great Path appeared in the void. It was a golden disc. It seemed as if there were countless halos circulating around, giving birth to terrifying golden spears.

Buzz! Layers of divine light circulated, as the golden wheel radiated downward, and long spears inside the divine wheel shot out, covering the entire sky until the area was submerged. They were attacking Ye Futian in an extremely domineering manner.

The other man didn’t do anything. It seemed as if he was merely observing from the sidelines.

Ye Futian raised his arm and pointed to the sky. With this one gesture, a horrific sword will penetrated the void directly, slaughtering towards the golden disc.

Bang, bang, bang… There were explosions as the disc was pierced through. It had been shattered and destroyed.

His divine wheel destroyed, the cultivator who unleashed the attack let out a m.u.f.fled groan. His face turned pale as he spat up a mouthful of blood. He looked at Ye Futian in horror, back-peddling now, attempting to leave.

Ye Futian pointed his finger at him, the sword light flashed and was gone, penetrating through the man’s body.

With Ye Futian’s current cultivation, no ordinary Renhuang in the Ninth-Realm could block his attack. The man was obliterated just like that.

When the other man witness this, his face suddenly changed, his body moving backward, wanting to leave the battlefield immediately.

“Too late.” Ye Futian faced the man and pointed with his finger again. A terrible light appeared in the void, penetrating through the s.p.a.ce, pa.s.sing through the other man’s body. Without any hesitation or doubt, it was death for both of them.

The man who had fled into the distance could only feel a tremendous horror as his body was covered in a cold sweat. Sure enough, it was him. Because of the turmoil in Jiuyi City, the city was locked down, and it was difficult for any news from the outside to come in. He was lucky to come by this piece of information from Yingzhou City before the lockdown, which accounted for his wise decision not getting himself involved. Otherwise, in the situation of three against one, he would definitely have made a move as well.

He was lucky he escaped with his life.

At this moment, Ye Futian glanced at him from the distance, and he could only feel a terrifying fright within him; it was as if his heart was about to come out of his chest. He turned around and flee immediately, not daring to waste any more time. He had no wish to continue spying, waiting to see what would happen.

If Ye Futian wanted to kill him, he had no doubt he would not be able to leave and would lose his life.

But Ye Futian didn’t kill him. His eyes turned back as he, once again, looked towards the battlefield.

With a flash, he was standing on an ancient peak from where he was watching that major battle. Because of the explosion of this battle, no one had paid any attention to what had just happened to him. The attention of all of Jiuyi City was focused on Li Qingfeng and Daoist Monk Mu.

Judging from the development, Li Qingfeng had already suppressed the Daoist Monk Mu. There was not much doubt as to the outcome. However, now Jiuyi City was being watched closely by all the forces in the Western Sea Domain, even people from outside the domain had arrived. Technically speaking, this battle had not much significance, even if Li Qingfeng was about to recover the Deity Map from the Daoist Monk Mu, he couldn’t possibly keep it, even if he was a cultivator of the Tribulation Plane.

Compared to that, the approach of Daoist Monk Mu was much smarter. But the premise was that he would not die by Li Qingfeng’s hands first.

Of course, Daoist Monk Mu’s luck didn’t seem to be the greatest since he had met Ye Futian, so he was doomed to fail as well!