Chapter 546: News
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Sisters?"
Fang Yuan was slightly confused but recovered himself when he saw them.
"It's you two!"
"Greetings to the mountain leader of Nine Extremes Mountain from Ye Shuhua and Ye Shumin!"
The older Ye Sister smiled at Fang Yuan stiffly and bowed.
"Please take us in on account of our friendship!"
Fang Yuan had gotten acquainted with these two ladies back in the Changli Hollow. They had continued to keep in touch, with the sisters helping Fang Yuan to acquire the Nine Smelting Technique other resources.
Fang Yuan blinked and the memories came flooding in. He sighed thoughtfully.
In fact, the Ye Sisters were even more surprised.
"It's only been a few years since he entered the Realm Alliance and he has already achieved so much?"
Ye Shuhua gazed at Fang Yuan.
"If you would protect us in these dark times...we will no longer have anything to worry about…"
She decided to put aside the last vestiges of her ego.
"Protect you?"
Fang Yuan was silent for a moment.
"Why not go to the Realm Alliance?"
"You must be joking, mountain leader…"
Ye Shuhua smiled sadly.
"In the Realm Alliance, there are many who hope to take advantage of us...besides, after all these major occurrences, our network of contacts have dwindled greatly…"
'Seems like the Realm Alliance holds great danger for them. Has their last backer fallen as well?
This was to be expected after the savage battle of the Jade Capital!
It was incredible that the Ye sisters could survive till today and even manage to make their way to the Nine Extreme Mountain.
"I thought...we had agreed previously that we no longer owed each other anything?"
Fang Yuan's mental faculty was still very much in control even in the face of feminine beauty. He looked at Ye Shuhua.
"You must be prepared to pay a price if I chose to protect you, for I will potentially have to challenge the Realm Alliance as a result."
"How can you still fear the Realm Alliance with your level of prowess?"
Seeing that Fang Yuan remained unmoved, Ye Shuhua could not help but feel dejected. She realised that he would not give in unless an offer was made.
"After such an upheaval, we no longer have anything left. However, we have recently heard a piece of news that the Realm Alliance, Baize Mountain and the Evil Divine Sect have decided to form the Dream Masters Alliance with these three organisations heading it. The dream masters under their charge must follow their orders or die otherwise...how much is this piece of news worth?"
"It is not uncommon for an organisation to assert its authority by using violence…"
Fang Yuan shook his head.
"You will have to do better!"
"There's something else...do you know why The Ancient One, the grand sage of the Realm Alliance, is content with mediocrity and has not made any attempt to accomplish anything?"
"You have aroused my interest!"
The Ancient One was a scheming fellow. He possessed the cultivation of a spiritual knight and had attained the level of a higher being, yet he was secretive to the extreme.
The fact that he was lying low during a time of upheaval such as this did not make sense at all.
Unless he was conserving his energy and preparing for a large-scale operation!
"The Ancient One has been concealing himself because he has set his sights elsewhere...Fang Yuan, have you heard of the Ancient Realm? Where sages attain the highest level of consciousness?"
Ye Shuhua had a complex look on her features. Revealing this information would set her up against the sages.
Although there was probably only one True Elemental spiritual knight among the sages of the Realm Alliance, they had a powerful reputation that intimidated her.
"Oh? Go on!"
Fang Yuan was excited. He had designs on the Ancient Realm, even though the Heavenly energy of that world would be too strong for him to overcome. It was probably time for another try, now that Da Qian's coordinates were shifting.
"Ever since there had been changes in the Ancient Realm, the sages have been trying to access it. They were making progress until the battle of the Jade Capital happened, which forced them to start over. Thus, their plans were delayed!"
Ye Shuhua had wanted to incite a conflict between Fang Yuan and the Realm Alliance. This might make him more willing to protect them.
Fang Yuan believed her.
Among the dream masters in this world, only a few knew that Da Qian was shifting. This fact reinforced Ye Shuhua's credibility.
"How did you come to know about these secrets?"
The Ancient One making plans to conquer the Ancient Realm was not earth-shattering news, but the details would not be made available to every common member of the Realm Alliance.
"The Ye family is one of the founding families. Our family inheritance contains much valuable information…"
Ye Shuhua offered a rough explanation.
"If that's the case, you can pledge allegiance to the sage directly. No one would dare to cross the two of you by virtue of your status."
Fang Yuan asked them sceptically.
He was not a paranoid man but it always paid to be careful.
"Hmph...if only we could even see the sage. The only person we got to see was a disciple of the sage and he was a wastrel. He had hidden away during the battle of the Jade Capital and only emerged after to deal with us in the hope of gaining wealth and our bodies. We were not going to let him have his way!"
Ye Shumin answered angrily.
"Hehe...I see!"
Fang Yuan seemed to be expecting this answer, which made the Ye sisters blush.
"Alright, since you two have approached me for help, I can at least guarantee you temporary respite. We'll talk about the rest after I conduct my own investigations…"
Fang Yuan had made his decision. He then asked the sisters a final question casually.
"How far is the Ancient One into his research?"
"He has already figured out the time travelling problem for the dream masters to the Ancient Realm and has almost completed his calculations of the coordinates!"
"Tsk tsk...no wonder the Dream Masters Alliance is ranked among the 5 Grand Organisations. Even after they had been dealt such a huge blow, the sages did not give up on their research and are now back on track."
Fang Yuan sighed repeatedly but was not surprised.
After all, the Realm Alliance was more knowledgeable than he was.
Besides, they had more than enough time to recover. After all, Fang Yuan himself had gone to and returned from the Ancient Realm in this span of time.
"What a pity...if it wasn't for the internal conflict within the Evil Divine Sect and if Baize Mountain hadn't gone under attack, the sages might have been able to pool their resources together and break new grounds in research!"
Fang Yuan waved his guests away. He had said his piece.
Liu Mengmei understood and immediately took the Ye Sisters to their lodgings.
"The Ancient Realm…"
Fang Yuan sighed.
That feeling that he had experienced the split moment before he left was one of a kind! He had felt like he was one with the realm.
'I've worked hard to gain the approval of the realm. I can't let the Ancient One harvest the realm's energy before I do…"
Fang Yuan was somewhat emotionally attached to the world.
For one, the Ancient Realm reminded him of the Former Qin era in his memories. On the other hand, it had accepted him.
The world had treated him as one of its own. This was a privilege that did not extend to visitors or intruders.
In other words, Fang Yuan saw the Ancient Realm as his right. Now that there was another hunter in the shadows, it was no wonder that Fang Yuan had become restless.
"Just as well. The Dream Realm has collapsed, leaving the Dream Alliance with no choice but to set up a temporary headquarters in the real world...I have to check it out…"
Fang Yuan was very interested in the dream-traversing techniques devised by the Ancient One for spiritual knights and the coordinates of the Ancient Realm indeed.
...
The Ye Sisters had made up their minds to break away from the Realm Alliance and were willing to tell him anything. They had also tried to egg him on to teach the disciple of the sage a lesson. But what they did not know was that Fang Yuan was targeting the Ancient One himself.
'The Ancient One is a tough nut to crack. Seeking him out would be an unpredictable endeavour. I might as well challenge him to a fight to the death!"
A plan was forming in Fang Yuan's mind.
Even the Lord Demon Killing Divine Pen of the Source Seeking Sect had been killed by him. He did not mind killing again.
If Fang Yuan had not been severely injured during his time in the Jade Capital, he would have massacred all of the sages!
After all, they would potentially become his enemies in the future! How could he let them off?
'The Realm Alliance isn't like the Baize Mountain and the Evil Divine Sect. It didn't use to have a headquarters, is loosely organised and does not have a strong defence system. It would be easy to deal with them!'
Fang Yuan had become bloodthirsty.
"The Realm Alliance's makeshift headquarters is at the Heavenly Eye Lake at Jin Region...although it is two regions away, the journey is manageable albeit troublesome…"
Fang Yuan's mind was made up and he passed down some orders to his staff before setting off.
"Every time this happens, I'll miss those flying beasts...so much for the Divine Lotus Cult being one of the 5 Grand Organisations. They can't even deploy flying spiritual beasts!"
Fang Yuan grumbled as he bashed his way through the forest.
He was not being fair to the Divine Lotus Cult. After all, they did not specialise in raising and training spiritual beasts.
Besides, even if there were flying beasts, then they would be deployed to the Jade Capital as transportation and die horrible deaths in the process.
All the high-levelled dream masters had already taken away all the items in the headquarters. Although Fang Yuan had taken all of the techniques along with him, Liu Mengmei had told him that it will take time to train the flying spiritual beasts!
The flying spiritual beasts of the Divine Lotus Cult were not simple creatures. Their fighting prowess could rival even dream masters of the Illusionary Divine stage.
"Hmm...it'll take time to convert my knowledge of the Divine Lotus Cult's techniques into practical power…"
Fang Yuan sighed. He had made his move too late.
"Hmm?"
A disturbance ahead had caught his attention. It was the violent oscillation of a wave.
"This vibration...it feels familiar."
Fang Yuan had wanted to ignore it but the sense of familiarity intrigued him. He followed the signs of the disturbance and found himself on the edge of a battlefield.