Gazing at the Stainless Qi in Jian Chenâs hand, Ye Qingyunâs eyes shone with interest. He said, âAccording to my understanding, youâre also in desperate need of Stainless Qi. Now that youâve finally obtained a strand, why arenât you keeping it for yourself and offering it to me instead?â
âI can stay here for several thousand more years at the very least, so Iâll obviously obtain far more than just one strand of Stainless Qi. You just happen to possess something that interests me, so Iâm specially offering this strand of Stainless Qi to exchange for it,â Jian Chen said calmly.
âWhat do you want from me?â Ye Qingyun secretly raised his guard.
âYou must still have those pills that allow you to reach Immortal Exalt, right? I want to use this Stainless Qi to exchange for that kind of pill.â Jian Chen smiled gently.
Ye Qingyunâs expression changed slightly. He said sternly, âThose kinds of God Tier pills come from the previous aeon. They are a miracle of creation, and their method of creation has already vanished. No one can refine them anymore. They canât be replenished. The value of a single strand of Stainless Qi comes nowhere close to one of these God Tier pills.â
Jian Chen fell silent. He was aware that Ye Qingyun was telling the truth. Stainless Qi was precious, but some would appear in the sacred land of the Observance Heaven City every once in a while. It could be replenished.
In terms of actual value, Stainless Qi truly came nowhere close to these wondrous God Tier pills that could never be produced again.
Ye Qingyun stood on the stone pillar and hesitated for a while before fishing out a white jade bottle from his Space Ring. âSince fellow Chang Yang wants one of these pills, then Iâll exchange one with you, partly as a deal and partly as a gift.â
Jian Chen opened the jade bottle and took a look. Sure enough, a round pill rested in there. It was firmly enveloped in a special membrane that gave off the presence of time.
âWhatâs the name of this pill?â Jian Chen asked out of curiosity.
âEven I donât know what its original name is, but I call it the Immortal Exalt pill!â Ye Qingyun answered.
âThe Immortal Exalt pill? That sure does match.â After confirming there was nothing wrong with the pill, Jian Chen stowed the jade bottle away and gave the strand of Stainless Qi in his hand to Ye Qingyun. âYou canât store Stainless Qi for too long, so you better consume it quickly. Farewell!â
With that, Jian Chen left the eighth floor without looking back, returning to the ninth floor.
Because he already possessed the right to access the ninth floor, he could freely enter and leave the ninth floor within this set time.
Ye Qingyun gazed in the direction that Jian Chen had vanished into. Only after several seconds of thought did he activate the formation around the stone pillar. He was obscured by the formation.
Ye Qingyun studied the Stainless Qi in his hand inside the formation. After an extremely close examination and confirming several times that there was nothing wrong with the Stainless Qi, he merged it with his soul, absorbing it directly.
But in the next moment, Ye Qingyunâs expression suddenly changed drastically. Seated on the stone pillar, his figure began to tremble violently. His tremendous presence as a Ninth Heavenly Layer Immortal Emperor erupted uncontrollably, together with a turbulent storm of energy that wreaked chaos in the surroundings, kicking up fierce winds.
âArgh! Chang Yang, you despicable scoundrel, youâre actually screwing me over like this!â Ye Qingyun roared furiously.
Ye Qingyunâs gaze became extremely frightening, lighting up like a pair of suns. They were filled with intense struggle and seething fury.
The artifact spirit of the Observance Heaven City appeared silently. It peered through Ye Qingyunâs formation and clearly saw everything occurring to him.
âWhatâs going on?â the artifact spirit of the Observance Heaven City murmured with its eyebrows furrowed in confusion and uncertainty.
Boom!
At this moment, there was a colossal rumble, and the formation that Ye Qingyun had arranged around the stone pillar ruptured. A powerful storm of energy erupted from his body like it had lost control.
He fell off the stone pillar, falling to the ground. A blinding ball of light flickered violently near his forehead.
At this moment, Jian Chen returned to the eighth floor. He stared straight at Ye Qingyunâs horrific state with a sunken face.
âArtifact spirit, what is going on?â Jian Chen asked sternly.
The artifact spirit of the Observance Heaven City said nothing.
Suddenly, a wooden puppet separated from Ye Qingyun. An ancient imprint shone brightly on the wooden puppetâs head, stuck to its forehead firmly like a tattoo. Afterwards, the imprint merged with the wooden puppetâs head and vanished completely.
When the wooden puppet separated from Ye Qingyun, the pain and struggle on his face vanished as well. He rapidly settled down again. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
However, his face was extremely sunken, and his eyes were filled with anger. He stared straight at Jian Chen with bloodshot eyes and ground his teeth. âChang Yang, how despicable of you. I gave you a precious Immortal Exalt pill. Not only did you not thank me, but you actually schemed against me like this.â
âYe Qingyun, youâve misunderstood. I had no plans of scheming against you. If you donât believe me, senior artifact spirit is right here. You can ask it and you will know.â Jian Chen stared at Ye Qingyun with mixed feelings.
âSenior artifact spirit, you have to give me the justice I deserve!â Ye Qingyun clasped his fist towards the artifact spirit.
âI did not find any issues with the Stainless Qi that Chang Yang gave you. As for the ancient imprint hidden within the Stainless Qi, the methods behind that are beyond my knowledge. However, I can roughly tell that the imprint should be some kind of extremely ancient slave imprint. This slave imprint was not planted by Chang Yang,â said the artifact spirit.
âSlave imprint?â Jian Chenâs face became very ugly. The Stainless Qi that Daowei Chengqing gave him actually hid a slave imprint?
Daowei Chengqing was actually trying to enslave him?
Ye Qingyunâs face became uneasy as well. He asked sternly, âThe slave imprint wasnât planted by Chang Yang? The Stainless Qi came from Chang Yang. Apart from him, who else could it be? And, if Chang Yang wasnât hiding ulterior motives, why did he return here?â
âThe Stainless Qi was gifted to me by the crown prince of the Waymight clan, but I didnât absorb it, instead exchanging it with you. I never imagined that you would almost fall victim to a slave imprint.â Jian Chen explained with a darkened expression. No matter how he racked his brains, he was unable to imagine why Daowei Chengqing would go to such lengths to come after him after meeting him once. He had gone to such great lengths to hide a slave imprint in a strand of Stainless Qi.
What surprised him even more was Daowei Chengqingâs method of hiding the slave imprint had even fooled the sword spirits and the artifact spirit of the Observance Heaven City.
Was the method far too wondrous? Or was it something that artifact spirits were incapable of seeing?
âWhat? The crown prince of the Waymight clan?â Ye Qingyunâs expression suddenly changed. Clearly, he had heard plenty about this legendary figure renowned throughout the Immortalsâ World as well.