"What is this underground city planning?" Bai Zizhen fell into thought as he watched Ye Qingcheng's departing figure.
"Could it be that the City Lord of the Underground City, Yu Xing, has returned?" Yan Se, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Star Sect, spoke up. "After all, the shackles have disappeared, which might have significantly weakened the restrictions on Nascent Soul stage cultivators."
"What Yan Se said is not unreasonable," said Yan Yuzhu, the Palace Master of Bright Palace.
Song Mingqin sat to the side, lost in thought. Song Mingqin had once heard Ye Bufan say that after the shackles disappeared, the Heavenly Seal on Nascent Soul stage cultivators would remain for the first year. It would only vanish on the second day, after which the Heavenly Seal for the next ascension cycle would continue.
Therefore, Yan Se's guess, in Song Mingqin's view, was unlikely. However, he was certain that the underground city had made preparations this time.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Ye Bufan, after discovering people from Yin Fan, Sakura Island, and the Demonic Cult at the Chu family's factory, spent several days clearing out all the cultivators surrounding the Chu family's factory.
This action caused a headache for the forces closely monitoring the Chu family's newly developed factory. In their eyes, the Chu family now seemed to be protected by specialized experts. After suffering heavy losses for several consecutive days, they were deliberating whether to withdraw those cultivators.
While they were in a dilemma, Ye Bufan had already obtained the locations of their respective strongholds from the minds of those cultivators.
Ye Bufan ultimately chose the stronghold of Sakura Island, which was a bar. Ye Bufan discovered that people from Sakura Island were very fond of using bars as cover.
The cultivators here were going about their business. Ye Bufan's appearance caused everyone in the bar to stop what they were doing.
All eyes were on Ye Bufan. With a sweep of his spiritual power, Ye Bufan had already determined the number of people in the bar, with the highest cultivation being a cultivator at the peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage.
As Ye Bufan walked past these people, they immediately collapsed to the floor, foaming at the mouth. He finally arrived at the manager's office. The Foundation Establishment stage cultivator inside was greatly surprised when he saw Ye Bufan. Ye Bufan waved his hand, and a flash of sword light appeared, leaving a blood line across the man's throat. The Sakura Island person instantly fell.
"Next." After dealing with Sakura Island's stronghold, Ye Bufan proceeded to the Demonic Cult's stronghold.
The Demonic Cult's stronghold was more hidden, choosing an internet cafe frequented by a mixed crowd. There were several private rooms inside. What appeared to be private rooms on the outside were actually specially set up cultivation rooms for the Demonic Cult members, filled with soundproofing cotton, providing excellent sound insulation within.
Ye Bufan walked to the door and knocked. A few Qi Refining stage cultivators saw Ye Bufan and charged at him fiercely, pointing at him.
"Fall!"
Ye Bufan flicked his sword finger, and these people immediately felt the weight of a thousand pounds pressing down on them. In an instant, they vomited blood and fell to the floor.
The commotion outside attracted the attention of the Demonic Cult members in the private rooms. They rushed out. Before they could get a clear look at Ye Bufan's face, Ye Bufan pierced their chests, sending them flying backward, their breaths extinguished.
After resolving the two locations, it was time for the third. This was the stronghold of the Yin Fan cultivators.
This was also the first time Ye Bufan had learned the location of Yin Fan's stronghold. What surprised Ye Bufan the most was that it was less of a stronghold and more of a small stall.
The person was setting up a food stall. Noticing Ye Bufan's appearance, he immediately scurried away.
"Strange, I've been hidden for so long." Ye Bufan frowned and closely pursued the man. The man weaved and turned through the alleys, thinking he had successfully escaped. However, to his surprise, when he looked up, Ye Bufan was standing right in front of him.
"You, you, you, who are you?" The man's words became hesitant as he looked at Ye Bufan.
"Ye Bufan," Ye Bufan replied.
"You... you are Ye Bufan?" The man was somewhat surprised, not expecting that Ye Bufan himself was the one who had found him.
"I am a cultivator of Yin Fan," the man said. "If you kill me, you'll be declaring war on our Yin Fan?"
Ye Bufan smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, if I kill you, no one will know it was me who did it."
With that, Ye Bufan formed a sword incantation, and a sword energy flew towards the man. A swift cut to the throat instantly silenced him.
After doing all this, Ye Bufan did not rest. Instead, he transported the corpses of the Demonic Cult, Sakura Island, and Yin Fan cultivators to the deep mountains outside Jinhe. Here, together with the beast-taming one-horned white tiger Bai Mufeng and the spiritual-horned rhinoceros, he created a scene of a great battle.
"Done!" Ye Bufan looked at the scene he had created with satisfaction and left the forest on the outskirts of Jinhe.
Next, Ye Bufan set up an attack formation outside Chu Mengyao's factory and then had Song Mingqin arrange for a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator to guard the factory.
With these arrangements made, Ye Bufan took Chu Mengyao and Wang Xinyan on a passenger plane and stayed at the City Lord's Mansion in Kyoto.
As the main object of this international cultivator exchange and learning session, Ye Bufan naturally had to arrive at the City Lord's Mansion in advance. Simultaneously, by understanding Ye Qingyi's plan, he could gradually reveal the true intentions of those people.
Three days later, learning groups of cultivators from eight countries, including the Allied Nations, Yin Fan, Sakura Island, and the United Kingdom, arrived in Kyoto.
The sect masters of major sects such as the Red Sword Sect, Bright Palace, Overlord Saber Sect, Heavenly Origin Sect, and Heavenly Star Sect had all sent their representatives.
This time, each sect brought disciples from their younger generation, each being an elite of their sect. Behind the scenes, there was a palpable tension between the major sects.
However, due to Ye Bufan, these disciples paled in comparison to him.
On the other hand, Ye Qingyi had already united the major sects and strictly guarded all entrances. Even the places where everyone stayed were uniformly arranged.
In the past few days, apart from the ancient pagoda, all the top families and enterprises in Kyoto's underground city had been made to appear before the foreign cultivators by Ye Qingyi.
This was Ye Qingyi's first step: to show them what they wanted them to see.
The second step was to lure the snake out of its hole. Ye Qingyi temporarily designated several places as forbidden zones in the underground city, but in reality, these places were all traps set for the other party, waiting for them to fall in.
"Are you ready?" Ye Qingyi transmitted a message to Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan nodded. Together with the representatives of the major sects, he stood at one of the entrances of the underground city to welcome the delegation of foreign cultivators.
"Welcome," Ye Qingcheng, as the representative of the underground city, stood at the forefront and shook hands with several foreign friends.