Ten minutes later, a Golden Lion pulling a luxurious carriage galloped out of the Ye Family Main Town.
Tang Long sat on the Golden Lion’s back.
He had brought Tang Long along because traveling alone would waste too much of Ye Xuan’s time. And time was exactly what Ye Xuan lacked right now! Whether it was Alchemy, Arrays, practicing Martial Techniques, or improving his cultivation, everything required time.
Making Tang Long act as the driver and wasting his time was better than wasting Ye Xuan’s own.
"The amount of Super Spirit Pills shouldn’t be enough to raise my cultivation by another layer, so I might as well try setting up Arrays," Ye Xuan murmured.
At this moment inside the carriage, he was not consolidating his cultivation. He knew that based on his consumption rate, the remaining twenty-one Super Spirit Pills would most likely fail to push his cultivation to the 4th Layer.
Most of these twenty-one Super Spirit Pills were only of high-grade quality. Even if they were all top-grade, it probably still wouldn’t be enough. According to his estimates, he would need about thirty top-grade Super Spirit Pills to advance his cultivation to the 4th Layer.
In other words, even if he consolidated his cultivation now, he still lacked the necessary resources.
Since he couldn’t improve his cultivation, he decided to spend his time inside the carriage comprehending Arrays.
A day and a night passed in silence.
The Golden Lion finally arrived at the Zhang Family Main Town.
"Lord of the Family, we’ve arrived. But something seems off," Tang Long’s voice called out from outside.
Inside the carriage, Ye Xuan clung to the ceiling like a gecko, etching the final Array pattern into place. He then planted four Array Banners into the corners one after another.
"Activate!"
With a light stomp of his foot, Ye Xuan channeled his Spiritual Qi to trigger the Array.
Instantly, brilliant light flooded the interior of the carriage. The surrounding Array patterns suddenly sprang to life, forming a barrier that protected the vehicle.
This was a Level One Guardian Array.
A Guardian Array was an evolution of a Trapping Array. After all, trapping the carriage was essentially the same as protecting it. Only the terminology differed, and the Array itself had minor variations.
Seeing the Array glowing brightly, Ye Xuan smiled. In just one day, he had successfully set up an Array and become a Level One Array Master. Although the level wasn’t high, it was still worth celebrating. It proved that he had a talent for Arrays as well.
Shaking his head, Ye Xuan stepped out of the carriage and asked, "What’s off?"
"Look, Patriarch, the gates to the Zhang Family Main Town are shut tight."
Ye Xuan followed his gaze. Sure enough, the massive black gates were tightly closed.
The situation was indeed unusual. A town’s gates were generally never closed. Unless something major had happened inside.
Could the Zhang family have been wiped out too? Was it really that much of a coincidence?
"Go knock on the door," Ye Xuan ordered.
"Understood. I’ll give it a try."
Tang Long dismounted the Golden Lion and knocked on the heavy gates. The doors likely weighed tens of thousands of pounds and required considerable force just to make a sound.
After a long moment, a head popped over the town wall.
The man snapped impatiently, "Can’t you see the notice next to you? Knock again, and you’re dead!"
Tang Long was briefly taken aback before noticing a temporary bulletin plastered on the town wall.
"Notice: The Zhang Family Main Town will be temporarily closed for one day."
He returned to the Beast Vehicle and reported, "Patriarch, the Zhang family has closed its gates for the day."
Ye Xuan narrowed his eyes. "Closing their doors at a time like this? Could it be that they know I’m here? But that doesn’t make sense. If they dared to withhold their tribute, they shouldn’t be afraid of my arrival."
Just as Ye Xuan was feeling puzzled, a deferential voice rang out from inside the town. "Open the gates already! Do you have no eyes?"
RUMBLE.
Gears turned, and the heavy gates slowly rose.
An old man, bearing the embroidered emblem of a Flaming Lion on his chest, bowed and scraped before two middle-aged men beside him.
"Please, my lords. Rest assured, if there’s any news, I will definitely crush this Jade Pendant to notify you. However, are you sure you won’t stay for one more night?"
The two men were dressed in fine brocade garments. On their chests was the embroidered emblem of a Dapeng spreading its wings. Whether in attire or sheer presence, the old man paled in comparison to these two.
One of the middle-aged men said flatly, "Why would we linger in such a backwater speck of dust? The air here is so coarse it makes my throat uncomfortable."
"Yes, yes, of course." The old man sweated profusely, not daring to argue.
Without sparing the old man another glance, the two middle-aged men arrogantly walked out of the Zhang Family Main Town.
"Hm? Whose carriage is blocking the way?!" The two suddenly frowned.
Directly in front of them sat Ye Xuan’s carriage. Tang Long glanced at Ye Xuan, seemingly seeking his opinion.
Before Ye Xuan could speak, one of the middle-aged men suddenly raised his hand. From a distance, he lazily flicked his palm through the air.
A terrifying force abruptly materialized right beside the Beast Vehicle.
Ye Xuan’s expression changed drastically. Grabbing Tang Long by the shoulder, he swiftly dodged out of the way.
BOOM!
With a massive explosion, the carriage was instantly reduced to ash. The Golden Lion was similarly obliterated, turning into a rain of mangled flesh.
If Ye Xuan had been even a second slower, they would have been severely injured, if not outright killed.
Such power!
The middle-aged man had merely waved his hand without overtly releasing any Spiritual Qi. Yet, the Spiritual Qi surrounding the carriage had seemingly been drawn in and whipped into a sudden frenzy. This required an absolute, masterful control over the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Such a realm of mastery could only be achieved by a Demon Spirit Realm expert—and not just any ordinary Demon Spirit Realm expert, at that.
After destroying the carriage, the two middle-aged men didn’t even spare a glance for Ye Xuan and Tang Long, who had tumbled awkwardly to the ground. With their heads held high, they strode away.
But as they walked, one of the middle-aged men suddenly reappeared right beside Ye Xuan.
His speed was like lightning! It was impossible for the naked eye to catch.
The middle-aged man grabbed Ye Xuan by the collar and hoisted him into the air. He stared intently into Ye Xuan’s face for a long moment. Then, he released his grip and quickly departed, though a trace of lingering suspicion remained in his eyes.
"Yun Kong, what was that about? Why did you suddenly jump in front of that brat?"
"Yun Lei, didn’t you find that young man a bit familiar?"
"Familiar? This is our first time in a speck-of-dust town like this. How could he be familiar?"
"I mean his facial features."
"Hm? Now that you mention it, his facial features do look a lot like..." The middle-aged man suddenly snapped his mouth shut mid-sentence. After a long pause, he said in astonishment, "Could it be that the rumors are true? What should we do? Should we report this to the master?"
"We should. At the end of the day, we are just servants. The master will decide what needs to be done."
"So, do we continue our mission now, or head back?"
"How about this: you continue searching for clues, and I’ll head back."
At the town gates.
Ye Xuan watched the two men leave, his brows furrowed deeply as an intense killing intent radiated from his body.
The man from moments ago had tried to kill him without any warning. Did he really see Ye Xuan as nothing more than an ant on the ground—something he could casually stomp to death without bearing any responsibility?
If the opportunity ever arose, he would definitely kill that middle-aged man!
"The emblem embroidered on their left chests... it seemed to be a Golden-Winged Roc..." Ye Xuan muttered.
Ye Xuan had seen it clearly just now. The clan emblem on those two men’s chests was the Fierce Beast, the Golden-Winged Roc. A family that used a Fierce Beast as their clan totem couldn’t possibly be weak.
But why did that clan emblem feel so familiar? It was as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Yet, for the life of him, he just couldn’t remember where.