Nevertheless, people of the Fiend Palace never showed any interest in those cultivators from thirty-six states since then.

Fabulous dishes and liqueur were served every single day. They all got assigned bedroom respectively. The Fiend Palace stood on the place that owned the most abundant Spiritual Power in the whole Fiend Realm, and these righteous cultivators were not prohibited from cultivating. Days at the Fiend Palace could be described comfortable, but the only blemish was that they hadn’t got any chance to meet the Fiend Exalt.

This day, Luo Jianqing and Fo Zi decided to play chess in the yard.

Fo Zi took each step quite slowly, while Luo Jianqing took strike with every piece he put down. They played for a whole day and a whole night. Finally, Fo Zi laughed, “Amitabha, I will never play chess with you again. You are so good at this. I’m not a matching opponent.”

Luo Jianqing answered, “If you don’t play chess with me, well, what else could we do at the Fiend Palace?”

Fo Zi was stunned slightly. Eyes meeting in the air, they burst into laughter.

Luo Jianqing was right. In the Fiend Palace, the Elders were constantly asking to see the Fiend Exalt, but the youth were left to do nothing. Though no one prohibited them from cultivating, they wouldn’t dare to cultivate here. After all, this is the headquarters of the Fiend Cultivators. Nobody knew whether this was a trap or not. Giving in to their Internal Demons was quite likely to happen at a place like this.

While chatting, they started a new game.

Fo Zi was still a slow player, who thought over and over again before putting down each piece. There was one time he even spent a whole hour on the move. Luo Jianqing gave him a wry smile, “Fo Zi, how long do you need? Can I take a walk right now? Hope to see your piece down after I come back.”

Fiddling with his Buddha Beads, Fo Zi said, “Take it easy, Cultivator Luo. I’m doing it right now.”

Hesitating no more, Fo Zi made the decision. At the moment he put down the piece, a pleasant voice came above them, “Hey monk! Are you silly or what? You can’t take that move. If you do, you’ll lose seven pieces to him!”

Looking up, Fo Zi and Luo Jianqing saw the cute comely girl dressed in black lying on a branch, resting her chin in her hands, looking back at them.

Luo Jianqing smiled, “It’s already been one year, Cultivator Yun. I wasn’t expecting you to reach Nascent Soul Period so quickly. Congratulations.”

However, Fo Zi moved away his eyes, “Amitabha, Cultivator Yun.”

Squatting on the branch and then tapping the bark with her feet, Yun Xiang got down from the tree. Walking straight toward Fo Zi, she complained, “I heard Uncle Qin said that you’ve been in the Fiend Realm for days, and you spent a long time finding the Fiend Palace. Well, why don’t you shake that bell I gave you? I could come to find you guys at the border and lead you here.”

Fo Zi shook his head and smiled, “I wouldn’t want to bother you with stuff like this.”

“This is no ‘bother’ to me, alright? Don’t you want to save some time on your way?”

Fo Zi smiled with embarrassment, but didn’t answer the question. Luo Jianqing went on, “Then, Yun Xiang, could you please lead us to the Fiend Exalt? For ten days, the Elders of our sects were requesting to see him, but he was nowhere to be found. We are here to celebrate his birthday, not to enjoy idle days.”

Hearing this, Yun Xiang frowned slightly. She minced her words, “You want to meet my Master?”

Luo Jianqing nodded.

Yun Xiang said, “My Master is in seclusion right now, which, he’s been practicing for years. It was unlikely for you guys to meet him, not even I could.”

Luo Jianqing was astonished, “But I remember that you told me one year ago that the reason why you went to the Yun State was that you wanted to find a proper gift for your Master’s birthday. Now are you telling me that he’s not going to end the seclusion at all?” Then whom did you prepare the gift for?

Luo Jianqing didn’t speak the last sentence out, while Yun Xiang got what he meant. She pondered for a while and then said, “Well, I just want to prepare the gift in advance and give it to him after he ends the seclusion. What’s wrong with that?”

Luo Jianqing chuckled, “Of course you can.”

Yun Xiang finally felt relieved, then she looked at Fo Zi. The latter trembled a little when he noticed her stare, and then he heard Yun Xiang speaking, “Even if you were worried about being discovered by others so you didn’t call me by the bell, since you’ve arrived at the Fiend Palace, why don’t you try to contact me then?”

That’s right!

Luo Jianqing and Fo Zi exclaimed together, “Oh, right! We could contact her at the Fiend Palace!”

Seeing their goofy reactions, Yun Xiang chuckled, but before the girl could say something, she felt a gust driving down from her back. She turned back to resist the attack swiftly. However, her Fiend Claw was destroyed in a blink. Somebody clenched her throat.

Yun Xiang groaned in pain, “Who is it… how dare you… constrain me?!”

Fo Zi and Luo Jianqing stood up at once. The former’s face darkened, “Sir Gui Yi, why are you doing this?”

The Elder Gui Yi sneered, “Kids, why don’t you report that you’ve found this fiend girl? With her in our hands, the Fiend Exalt will surely reveal himself!”. Gui Yi tightened his claws on Yun Xiang’s neck, and condensed Spiritual Power into his voice, “Fiend Exalt! I have got your disciple! You’ve been playing us as your puppets for ten days, and I’ve had enough. Show yourself! Otherwise I’m sure if you can have your disciple back in one piece!”

In a blink, Yu Qingzi arrived at the yard, followed by the others.

Qin Guihe was the first Fiend Cultivator who got here. Seeing Yun Xiang was caught by her throat and couldn’t utter a word, the man was enraged, “Gui Yi! You are such a coward who only had the gut to bully a young girl! Do you dare to fight with me instead?!”

However, Gui Yi replied, “It was you guys who forced me to do this! Fooling us around for days, now it’s time to end this!”

Summoning his giant blade, Qin Guihe warned the Elder in a cold voice, “This is the last chance you get to release her voluntarily, otherwise I will cut off your cock!”

Though he can’t help closing his legs tightly, Gui Yi still sneered, “Well, you could try. Let’s see which one is faster – me, who break up her neck in my hand, or you, who touch me with that stupid blade!”

“How dare you!”

They’ve reached a stalemate. Not long after this, the other Dharma Pala arrived as well. Seeing Yun Xiang was caught as a hostage, he looked ashen immediately. However, not like Qin Guihe, the man tried his best to stay calm, and then he said, “We treated you as guests, and we are not expecting to be repaid in this way. May I ask you guys a question? Do you really come here for greeting sincerely?”

Hearing this, Yu Qingzi frowned with sorry, but before she could explain, Gui Yi questioned the Fiend Cultivators, “We’ve already been here for ten damn days. Was he aware of that or he wants to let us linger around forever doing nothing? Why should we greet him if he doesn’t even show up!? Except… he CANNOT reveal himself at all!”

The Righteous cultivators all stayed silent.

This was the only possible explanation that they could find through days of discussion.

They aligned as a team and came here because they were worried about the Fiend Exalt in the first place. However, even though they had made it to the palace, the Fiend Exalt was still nowhere to be found. All signs were indicating that something had happened to him.

Eyes ablaze, Qin Guihe shouted back, “What do you mean by that, huh? Watch your mouth. You are not allowed to slander our master!”

“Go ahead to prove me wrong. Ask him to show himself!”

Gui Yi tightened his fingers on Yun Xiang’s neck.

Though being one of the most talented cultivators in the young generation, and only half-year later than Luo Jianqing to reach the Nascent Soul Period, Yun Xiang was still no match to a late-stage Da Sheng Period cultivator. Gui Yi was serious on this. Face flushing, the girl was groaning in pain. Watching this, Luo Jianqing was clearly irritated, and Fo Zi was glaring at Gui Yi in anger as well.

It seemed that a fight was unavoidable. However, suddenly a tremendous amount of fierce coercion struck them like thunder. The room was filled with clouds of blood, and the coercion devoured them like flood.

Gui Yi was attacked by the coercion and couldn’t utter a word. Face becoming redden, he was suffering from the pressure. A trace of blood oozed from his mouth. The man finally released Yun Xiang. Qin Guihe caught the girl before she fell on the floor, while Gui Yi was still shivering constantly, eyes dyed red, as if he saw something terrifying.

The coercion had no sign to stop, but was all aiming solely at Gui Yi.

Time was passing slowly, finally a cold sneer sounded out of nowhere. It was a husky voice, but was backed with colossal Spiritual Power. Little by little, Gui Yi was forced to kneel on the ground, and couldn’t move a little.

“I know it has been ages since the last time Xuan Lingzi and I ever showed what we are capable of, but this doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want with your PROUDLY ACHIEVED Da Sheng Period cultivation! I heard that you want to meet me desperately. Well, then, three days later I shall meet you guys in the Grand Palace. That kid of Duan Hun Sect, heed my words, I want the hand that you used to clench Yun Xiang’s throat. Three days later, kneel on the floor and present it to me!”