Seeing Ye Tiancheng's confident expression, Hou Mingzhu also gained a lot of hope. When Hou Mingzhu looked at Ye Tiancheng again, her eyes were filled with admiration.
"Thank you. I thought you would resent me. We had so many misunderstandings before, I thought you wouldn't bother with me."
"You've given me the divine artifact, so I'll definitely try my best to help save your father. Those minor grievances are nothing; human life is the most important thing."
Seeing Ye Tiancheng's broad perspective also gave Hou Mingzhu a deeper understanding of him.
"I was too petty before. My behavior was embarrassing and made you laugh."
"There's no time to talk more. I need to set off now. The place you mentioned is quite far."
The place called Heishan was two provinces away. Ye Tiancheng disliked flying, but traveling by car was too slow. Regardless, he should depart quickly.
"I'll drive you to the airport."
In the end, the heroine made the decision for Ye Tiancheng. He couldn't refuse a woman, so Ye Tiancheng agreed.
"Okay, thank you for your trouble."
After arriving in S City, Ye Tiancheng rushed to the suburbs. The so-called Heishan was even further than the suburbs; it was practically a deep mountain wilderness.
Ye Tiancheng searched for the entrance but couldn't find it after searching for a long time. In desperation, he had to ask the Nuwa Stone for help.
"Why didn't you say so earlier? The entrance is quite easy to find. You need to use your heart. Anyway, I know, but I won't tell you."
"You stinky rock, I've noticed you've been tricking me more and more lately. You're happy when I have bad luck."
The Great Green Snake knew that the Nuwa Stone was displeased with Ye Tiancheng recently, which was why it kept trying to upset Ye Tiancheng. The Great Green Snake enjoyed opposing the Nuwa Stone the most.
"Alright, I'll take care of you since you've been unlucky lately. See the river ahead? The entrance is in the water."
"But I'm afraid of water."
Ye Tiancheng hesitated. At this moment, the Great Green Snake helped: "Go into the water. I can guarantee that you won't be afraid of water for several hours."
"Thank you."
After speaking, Ye Tiancheng jumped into the water with a splash.
The Great Green Snake was indeed quite powerful. Ye Tiancheng swam like a fish in the water and wasn't afraid of drowning.
As Ye Tiancheng swam, he noticed some bright lights, like fireflies, seemingly pointing the way.
Ye Tiancheng immediately followed the direction of the fireflies and soon discovered some green plants underwater that looked like kelp.
Ye Tiancheng violently pulled down all the green vegetation. He couldn't stand the mess. As the vegetation was pulled down, a circular door suddenly appeared.
"This must be it."
Ye Tiancheng muttered to himself and then used his true qi to blast open the iron door.
Strangely, when the large door opened, the water did not flow in, as if it were two separate worlds. Ye Tiancheng quickly swam inside.
As soon as he entered, he saw stone walls on both sides, which looked a bit like an ancient tomb.
This adventure was novel for Ye Tiancheng, but at the same time, he felt a little nervous.
"Stinky rock, Great Green Snake, keep an eye out. I feel like there should be mechanisms inside. My eyes aren't enough to see everything. We're all in this together now; you can't abandon me."
The two of them agreed in unison. Such minor mechanisms were nothing to them; they didn't even bother to look at them.
Before Ye Tiancheng had taken a few steps, he stepped on a mechanism on the ground. With a click, he heard a whistling sound, and then arrows flew from all directions.
Unfortunately, the hidden weapons all fell halfway, clattering to the ground.
"Not bad, your stinky rock has some skills. Thank you this time."
"You have a sweet tongue."
The two were rarely harmonious. When facing danger, their bad tempers disappeared.
Thus, Ye Tiancheng went through a series of hardships and finally reached a large stone gate.
The Great Green Snake, which had been silent for most of the journey, finally spoke.
"Inside there is a strange beast that is neither dragon nor horse. Kill it and take its inner core; that will be the medicine."
Ye Tiancheng suddenly felt a bit nervous. He hadn't expected to reach the final moment so quickly, much faster than he had imagined.
Ye Tiancheng kicked open the large door. With a deafening roar, the large iron door fell to the ground, kicking up dust.
Then Ye Tiancheng saw something red on the ground, resembling a snake but much larger than a snake. The monster's body felt as thick as a thousand-year-old tree.
"You want to kill me?"
The great snake could not speak, but its consciousness was transmitted into Ye Tiancheng's divine sea.
"You are no match for me. Be good and hand over your inner core."
"I can't defeat you. There is an inner core in the dark chamber over there. Please spare my life."
Having long sensed an ancient power emanating from Ye Tiancheng, the red snake monster knew it was no match for him, so it could only beg for mercy. Although it looked rough, its strength was very weak.
In this society where the strong prey on the weak, whether it's humans or monsters, if one is weak and wants to survive, they must be adaptable.
"You're such a coward, but this is good; it saves me time. I'll take your inner core and leave. It doesn't matter if it's not taken from your body, as long as it's real. If I find out you've deceived me with a fake, I'll make you suffer a terrible death before letting you die."
The red snake monster trembled in fear.
"That was my former kin. How dare I lie to you? You appear to be human on the surface, but in reality, you have the Nuwa Stone and the Great Green Snake with you, as well as a fragment of the Fuxi Qin. How dare I lie to you, unless I want to die!"
After taking the inner core, Ye Tiancheng quickly left and then handed the inner core to Hou Mingzhu.
Hou Mingzhu expressed her gratitude many times, saying that after her father recovered, she would definitely repay Ye Tiancheng generously.
Ye Tiancheng had resolved the matter and fulfilled his promise to others. Only then did he use the divine artifact for finding people to locate Lin Xue.
After the delay, Ye Tiancheng was no longer as angry as before, but he still felt resentful. He had to get a clear explanation from Lin Xue about what had gone wrong and why his disciple had betrayed him. Ye Tiancheng had never done anything to wrong her.
In a remote deep mountain wilderness, Ye Tiancheng finally found Lin Xue. It was raining heavily when Ye Tiancheng rushed there. The pouring rain did not feel refreshing at all; it made him feel particularly irritable.
"Finally found you, you traitor. After doing such a thing, can you truly be at peace? Won't you have sleepless nights, feeling guilty?"
Ye Tiancheng was very curious. Was the Lin Xue who had always acted so well around him truly so wicked, or was all of this just a facade? Did this woman have unavoidable hardships that led her to betray him?
"Master!"
Seeing Ye Tiancheng arrive, Lin Xue was naturally very surprised. To avoid revealing her whereabouts, she had never said where she was, but even so, the all-powerful Ye Tiancheng had found her.
"How did you find me?"
"Of course, you didn't want me to find you, you traitor. Return the spatial ring, and perhaps I'll let you die a quick death."
"Master, this is my destiny. If you want to kill me, go ahead. I know I can't resist at all, and I won't beg for mercy. I only hope that you will grant me a swift death in consideration of our master-disciple relationship."
Seeing Lin Xue's willingness to die, Ye Tiancheng became even more curious. If this traitor had argued with him or pleaded tearfully, it might have disgusted Ye Tiancheng, and he would have simply eliminated her.
But Lin Xue's demeanor was so calm, as if she didn't care at all. Her resolute attitude made it impossible to associate the woman before him with a traitor without any principles.
"Kill you? I'm afraid it would dirty my hands."
Ye Tiancheng unceremoniously took back the spatial ring. The spatial ring seemed to recognize its owner; any struggle and it returned to Ye Tiancheng.
"Master, after taking back your spatial ring, I never opened it. Perhaps I was not fated to have it."
"You still haven't explained why you stole it, and why you suddenly became so attention-seeking. What is your purpose?"
Ye Tiancheng had kept these questions in his heart for days. Now that he had finally met Lin Xue, he could ask them all at once.
"I don't want to say. If Master wants to kill me, then kill me. You've found me, and I can't escape anymore. I choose to accept my fate."
Ye Tiancheng was truly curious, but it was clear that Lin Xue did not want to speak. Even if he was curious, it was useless, so he had to endure it.
"Don't think that by acting this way, I will forgive you. You're dreaming. I will never forgive you easily. You committed acts of betrayal against your master; you should not have a good end. The death penalty can be waived, but living punishment is unavoidable!"
Ye Tiancheng extended his palm, and a surge of true qi burst forth from his palm, striking Lin Xue accurately.
To his surprise, Lin Xue did not dodge at all and took the palm strike of true qi directly. She immediately clutched her chest and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"You..."
Lin Xue's current behavior was truly strange. Her refusal to dodge made it impossible to understand what she was trying to do.
"Master, you don't need to do it yourself. A traitor like me is not worth you dirtying your hands. As atonement, I can only punish myself."
Ye Tiancheng did not expect Lin Xue to be so fierce. As she spoke, she suddenly raised her hand and was about to strike her own forehead.
"Lin Xue!"
Although he was angry, Ye Tiancheng had no intention of killing Lin Xue. Besides his affection for her, there was also the master-disciple relationship. These feelings were not so easily disentangled. In short, it had not reached the point where she absolutely had to die.
Just as Lin Xue was about to strike herself to death, several black-clothed figures suddenly rushed out.
These black-clothed figures, holding swords that shone with a chilling light, rushed out to assassinate Lin Xue, but accidentally interrupted her suicide attempt.
This was truly a twist of fate. Ye Tiancheng was stunned. It was the first time he had seen such foolish assassins. If they hadn't intervened, Lin Xue might have been a corpse by now.
"You traitor who betrayed your sect, today we will finish you off, to completely remove you from this world, and never allow you to be a traitor again!"
Good heavens, how many people had this Lin Xue betrayed? Ye Tiancheng suspected that if he wanted revenge, he would have to queue up.
Ye Tiancheng pondered carefully and realized something was wrong. He had arrived first.
"I say, where are you guys from? Don't you know the rule of first come, first served? I'm here to deal with my rebellious disciple. If you want to kill someone, you have to wait behind me. Cutting in line is bad behavior."
Those assassins had rushed out too eagerly and hadn't noticed Ye Tiancheng. Now, upon seeing Ye Tiancheng, they immediately became angry.
"Who do you think you are? How dare you interrupt our work!"