Celestial Dragon Sword Venerable-Chapter 79: I Don’t Like the Look of You

The array, laid out with a full thirty-six Profound Crystal Stones, suddenly stopped.

The Profound Crystal Stones shattered one by one, turning into fine powder.

Ye Tianling stopped the process of assailing his acupoints. Only then did he notice that during his Cultivation, he had still been absorbing Spiritual Qi and converting it into True Qi within his body.

As a result, the Crystal Stone Energy was depleted, and this "array" collapsed on its own.

Despite the Imprisonment from the Great Prohibition Talisman, Ye Tianling found that cultivating Inner Power was surprisingly smooth, and the effects were significantly better.

Not to mention the immense body-refining effects of the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Cloth Shirt, just the Muscle Strengthening Scripture alone showed tremendous results during Ye Tianling’s process of assailing his acupoints after this recovery Cultivation session.

However, Ye Tianling did not break through the Great Prohibition Talisman. Instead, he compressed and condensed the True Qi in his body, refining it with Cultivation Techniques like the Innate Technique and the Purple Mist Divine Skill, transforming the True Qi into True Essence.

The complete absorption of the energy from the thirty-six Profound Crystal Stones was precisely the effect of the Innate Technique, the Purple Mist Divine Skill, and the North Nether Divine Skill.

With the True Qi in his body transformed into True Essence, Ye Tianling’s first thought was that there was now almost no difference whether the "Great Prohibition Talisman" existed or not.

This was because his Sword Essence could be used as True Essence, and his True Essence could not only be used as True Essence but also serve as Sword Essence.

Within Ye Tianling’s Dantian, amidst the expanse of Chaos, a Taiji-shaped Chaos Vortex had formed. A portion of the Sword Essence Energy within the vortex was shackled by the Great Prohibition Talisman’s mysterious Talisman Array, bound by chains that seemed to contain faint wisps of lightning.

The other portion, however, was in a state of chaotic operation, circulating with a misty halo. This was the True Essence Power.

This True Essence Power gave Ye Tianling the illusion that he had transformed into the Dugu Sword Demon.

’This level of cultivation efficiency is excellent. In this Sword Dao World, even if I can never cultivate my Sword Dao Realm again, my Martial Dao Realm can still forge a new path. With two Cultivation Techniques, I possess a foundation that the Cultivators of this World can hardly imagine.

The Great Prohibition Talisman? It’s perfectly suited to shackle my Sword Essence, allowing me to cultivate the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Cloth Shirt to Great Success.’

As Ye Tianling mulled this over, he found himself quite satisfied with everything.

This Cultivation session had taken the better part of a day. This place wasn’t so bad after all.

Having completed his Cultivation, Ye Tianling took out the record-keeping Jade Scroll for the Medicinal Garden and began to read.

Soon, he had learned quite a bit about the situation in the Medicinal Garden.

’This Medicinal Garden has three female disciples and three male disciples for daily herb maintenance? The Steward is even assigned two "Maids"? Why haven’t I seen any Maids?’

After reading the relevant rules, Ye Tianling glanced around the room again and vaguely noticed traces indicating that women had lived here.

’It would be nice to have a few subordinates to maintain the Medicinal Garden; I could save some time that way. Pure Profound Crystal Stones aren’t of much help in refining my body. I need to hunt some Fierce Beasts and use their Inner Cores and bloodlines, combined with medicinal herbs, to temper my physical form.’

Mulling this over, Ye Tianling walked out of this section of the Medicinal Garden.

Outside, the sun was bright and the sky was clear.

Under the sunlight, Ye Tianling finally noticed his own rather ’slovenly’ appearance.

Ye Tianling circled halfway around the Medicinal Garden and, near the central area, discovered three disciples standing at the edge. They were observing the state of the garden while discussing various topics.

Ye Tianling used his Soul Talent Sensing and immediately identified the three disciples.

...

Ye Zhengyun paced back and forth a few steps. He looked at some withered herb seedlings but made no move to use his body’s Energy to help restore them. Instead, he continued, "That Ye Tianling arrived yesterday, but he doesn’t seem to care about the medicinal herbs at all? Now that he’s been demoted to the Outer Sect, he’s not going to cause a mess here too, is he?"

Su Muye laughed. "Let him make whatever mess he wants. It’s not like we’ve offended him. With his so-called ’ability’, what’s he going to do, slap my face?"

Su Muye was very proud of his status as an Inner Sect Disciple. If he wasn’t pursuing Tang Siyu, why would he ever come to a place like this?

Hearing this, Tang Siyu let out a small laugh. "Senior Brother Muye, you shouldn’t say such things. You may be an Inner Sect Disciple and from the great Su Family, but this Senior Brother Ye Tianling is not someone to be trifled with. He’s ferocious."

Su Muye gave an arrogant smile and said, "He just likes to act tough. My grandfather could already tell yesterday that he’s a spent force. Besides, he only ever fights back after someone picks on him. I may not like the look of him, but I have no intention of causing trouble for him. You think he’d actually attack me first?"

Ye Zhengyun laughed. "Exactly. When he came over with his cousin Ye Shuiyan yesterday, we kept our distance to avoid any trouble. But that Steward, Senior Brother Zhang Qingyuan, is a crafty one. He took away the two junior sisters who were supposed to look after daily life and meals. He claimed it was because he was afraid Ye Tianling would turn into a beast, but in reality, wasn’t it just his own dirty mind at work?"

Su Muye sneered. "Zhang Qingyuan, running his mouth everywhere, saying he’s going to use Ye Tianling’s head as a chamber pot. He’s got some nerve! It’s only because he saw Ye Tianling was half-dead when he was brought over yesterday. But just him? Even if that Ye Tianling were on his last breath, killing Zhang Qingyuan would hardly be a challenge."

Tang Siyu said softly, "Zhang Qingyuan’s younger brother was killed in a Prohibition Talisman explosion. Even though Senior Brother Ye Tianling wasn’t the one who did it, the incident was related to him. Still, Zhang Qingyuan is definitely going too far—"

As Tang Siyu was speaking, she suddenly clamped both hands over her mouth, her beautiful eyes widening in shock. The rest of her words died in her throat.

"S-Senior Brother Ye."

As she spoke, Tang Siyu immediately bowed, her lovely face turning a few shades paler.

Seeing Tang Siyu’s reaction, Su Muye and Ye Zhengyun were also startled. They turned their heads and discovered Ye Tianling—covered in dark, dried blood scabs and looking like a beggar—standing silently beside them, regarding them with an indifferent gaze.

"Uh—Senior Brother Ye."

Su Muye’s expression immediately turned awkward as he bowed in greeting.

Ye Zhengyun was even more apprehensive. He bowed, stood silently to one side, and respectfully called out, "Senior Brother Ye."

SLAP—

Ye Tianling suddenly struck out, gathering a sliver of True Essence in his palm and swinging a backhand that cracked across Su Muye’s face.

THUMP—

Su Muye was sent flying from the force of the blow, soaring seven or eight meters. He tumbled twice in the air before stumbling and nearly collapsing to his knees on the ground.

He possessed the realm of Sword Essence Third Heaven, but in front of Ye Tianling, he was utterly powerless to fight back.

"I just slapped your face. What are you going to do about it?"

Ye Tianling said, his gaze icy and his expression frigid.

"N-Nothing. Senior Brother Ye... you were right to hit me. I spoke out of turn. I... I deserved it."

Su Muye’s face was pale. Normally, being humiliated like this in front of Tang Siyu would have enraged him, but the slap from Ye Tianling had shocked him to his senses. He proactively slapped his own face three more times, immediately backing down and apologizing.

Ye Tianling then glanced at Ye Zhengyun, and Ye Zhengyun’s face immediately grew even paler.

WHAM—

Ye Tianling’s figure blurred as he lifted a leg and shot out a kick, striking Ye Zhengyun squarely in the chest.

Ye Zhengyun stumbled back seven or eight steps. Though he had no ability to block, he managed to endure the blow.

His handsome face flushed red with anger, but ultimately, he said nothing.

It was obvious, however, that he was far from resigned to it.

"S-Senior Brother Ye, w-we didn’t do anything to offend you... W-why are you..."

Tang Siyu looked at Ye Tianling fearfully. ’Is it my turn now? Is he going to assault me?’

’But we didn’t offend Ye Tianling—this makes no sense.’

’Isn’t Senior Brother Ye Tianling supposed to live by the principle of "I won’t attack unless I’m attacked"?’

’But now, he’s...’

Ye Tianling said nonchalantly, "Su Muye, I don’t like the look of you, so I decided to slap you. Is that a problem?"

Su Muye jumped in fright. "A problem? No, not at all. If Senior Brother Ye says it’s okay, then it’s okay."

Ye Tianling nodded, then turned to Ye Zhengyun. "As for you, I was just testing out my Cultivation Technique and your reaction. I didn’t even use much force, and you’re angry? Besides, I don’t like the look of you, either. You kind of resemble Ye Cangqian, and you’re more handsome than me? Kicking you made me feel a whole lot better."

Ye Tianling’s explanation nearly made Ye Zhengyun cough up blood.

Tang Siyu was also completely dumbfounded, her jaw hanging open. Not only was his reasoning bizarre, but it was also just so... willful.