With a smile on her face, Zhuo Lingling escorted Yuan Ming and Gu Yue to the door of the private room. Yuan Ming politely declined her offer to see them out of the building.

He didn’t want to draw too much attention.

The two of them made their way to the first floor lobby, passing through rows of shelves. They were about to head towards the exit when they noticed a commotion at the entrance. A crowd of people was pouring in through the main door.

Leading the group was a young man in his twenties, dressed in white. He was handsome, with white hair and thin lips, giving off a somewhat frivolous impression.

The young man was arm in arm with a girl in a red dress, chatting and laughing, seemingly oblivious to the stares of the people around them.

The girl in the red dress was beautiful and curvaceous. Her thin, long dress accentuated her figure, and her whole body exuded a captivating charm, like a blooming fire lotus.

Yuan Ming had seen many beautiful women, but he had never seen anyone as fiery and enchanting as her. He couldn’t help but take a few more glances.

The other guests in the Changxian Tower were the same, their gazes inevitably drawn to the girl in the red dress.

The girl in the red dress seemed to be used to being the center of attention, leaning half against the young man in white, occasionally letting out a soft giggle.

Behind the two of them were seven or eight people who looked like bodyguards, subtly surrounding the young man in white.

Among the bodyguards was an old man in a black robe, with a deep aura and sharp eyes like a hawk.

“A Foundation Establishment cultivator!” Yuan Ming was secretly surprised.

The young man in white was only at the Qi Refining stage, yet he had a Foundation Establishment bodyguard. His status must be extraordinary.

“These people have a dragon pattern embroidered on their sleeves. They should be disciples of the White Dragon Island in the eastern region of the South. The young man in white should be the son of the island master of White Dragon Island, Wula.” Gu Yue leaned over to Yuan Ming and whispered.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming took another look at the young man in white, faintly sensing a rather pure water attribute mana fluctuation from him.

“Master, look, that gem is so beautiful.” The girl in the red dress looked at a blue gem on a nearby shelf, her face full of anticipation.

“These are just ordinary spiritual materials. If you like anything, just take it. Later, I’ll take you upstairs to see the real treasures.” The young man in white laughed carelessly.

“Thank you, Master!” The girl in the red dress was delighted and took the blue gem.

“When will I be able to be so suave and wealthy, with beauties always by my side.” Gu Yue sighed softly.

Yuan Ming wasn’t interested in these gossips of the cultivation world. Seeing that the group had already entered, and the main door was left open, he planned to leave the Changxian Tower directly.

But as he reached the entrance, a figure stepped into the Changxian Tower, brushing past him.

This person was dressed in a grey and white robe, his face covered in colorful paint, wearing a somewhat comical pointed hat on his head, and strange-looking shoes on his feet. He looked like a clown from a circus troupe.

There were many people in the market dressed in strange costumes, so the appearance of the clown didn’t attract much attention.

However, Yuan Ming stopped in his tracks and looked back at the man.

“Brother Yuan, what’s wrong?” Gu Yue asked when he saw this.

Yuan Ming remained silent. The moment the man brushed past him, the hairs on his back stood up, as if he had encountered a terrifying beast.

He activated his spiritual sense, wanting to probe the man’s situation. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to give up.

Probing others with spiritual sense was considered impolite. If this clown was indeed a powerful figure, it might bring trouble to himself.

The clown didn’t linger in the shop but walked straight towards the group from White Dragon Island.

“Who are you?” A bodyguard blocked the man’s path and asked in a low voice.

The other bodyguards also became alert when they saw a stranger approaching.

“Hehe…”

The clown let out a strange laugh. Without making any noticeable movements, six golden light blades shot out from his fingers, slashing across the necks of the two leading bodyguards.

It wasn’t until blood spurted out that the two bodyguards reacted. But by then, they had lost all their strength and collapsed to the ground.

The six light blades didn’t stop, but headed straight for Master Wula. In an instant, they were behind him.

Master Wula was holding the enchanting woman, evaluating a piece of spiritual material, completely unaware of the danger approaching from behind.

Just as he was about to be pierced by the golden light blades and meet the same fate as the two bodyguards, a dark green shield the size of a table flew over from the side, blocking the six golden lights at the last moment.

With a loud “clang”, the six golden lights shattered into countless golden sparks.

The dark green shield was also knocked back several feet, trembling a few times before stabilizing.

A shadow flickered next to the shield, and the old man in the black robe appeared like a ghost, shouting, “Master, retreat quickly!”

The clown let out a strange laugh, clapped his hands, and shot out more than a dozen golden light blades towards the old man in the black robe.

The old man in the black robe was furious. At this moment, he naturally didn’t care about the rule that one shouldn’t fight in the market. He pointed at the dark green shield, and it expanded again, becoming nearly half larger and much thicker, colliding with the incoming golden blades.

The golden and green lights collided violently in front of the dark green shield, creating a deafening explosion. The nearby shelves were knocked over, and the floor tiles were torn apart by the powerful mana, causing dust to rise. The inside of the Changxian Tower was instantly in a mess.

The clown and the old man in the black robe moved extremely fast. The guests in the shop didn’t react until this moment, panicking and fleeing outside. The green-robed attendants of the Changxian Tower did the same.

Most of them were just ordinary people. When had they ever seen someone dare to fight in the Changxian Tower?

However, there were still many cultivators and ordinary people who loved to join in the fun, standing far away at the entrance of the Changxian Tower, watching everything that was happening inside.

Yuan Ming pulled Gu Yue and followed the crowd outside.

The remaining six bodyguards from White Dragon Island had already surrounded Master Wula. Some tried to assist the old man in the black robe, but the fight between the clown and the old man in the black robe was so intense that they couldn’t get close. When they used their magical tools and spells to attack the clown, they were knocked back by the violent collision before they could even touch him.In the deepest part of the dust and smoke, the golden light blade’s power grew stronger and stronger, each collision sounding like a boulder striking.

The dark green shield’s surface flashed wildly with green light, continuously retreating, seemingly unable to withstand the bombardment of the golden light blade.

The black-robed elder was both shocked and furious, but he did not panic. With one hand supporting the dark green shield, he was about to use another technique with his other hand.

At this moment, the elder’s eyes suddenly ached intensely, and in the next moment, they exploded, turning his sharp eyes into two bloody holes.

The heart-wrenching pain made the black-robed elder unable to continue fighting, and he fell to the ground.

The clown in colorful clothes had a bloodthirsty excitement in his eyes. He licked his lips and pointed his finger in the air.

The black-robed elder’s head exploded with a “bang”, and a large amount of red and white matter splattered everywhere, his screams abruptly ending.

Yuan Ming was shocked that a Foundation Establishment cultivator was killed so easily. At the same time, his gaze unconsciously fell on the black-robed elder’s corpse. Under the elder’s waistband, a small white bag was revealed, which was the storage bag pressed under the elder’s body.

A thought flashed through his mind, and he quietly left the crowd, turned around and walked away. He came to a deserted place near Changxian Tower. A black light flashed between his eyebrows, and a soul crow flew out and entered the spirit beast bag around his waist, hitting the black toad’s head and entering it.

The black toad’s eyes glowed with a hint of green, which was the newly awakened corpse control ability.

This ability could not only control corpses but also living creatures, provided that their souls were weak, such as mortals, or creatures like the black toad that would not resist their master.

A hint of human-like intelligence flashed in the black toad’s eyes, and a purple-black vine grew from its back. It waved quickly, easily performing various flexible movements that it couldn’t do before, just like Yuan Ming’s own arm. His magic power could also circulate within the vine.

“Just as I thought.” Yuan Ming muttered to himself, controlling the vine to extend out of the spirit beast bag.

He took off the storage ring from his hand and put it on the purple-black vine. The vine “popped” into the ground and quickly burrowed towards the bottom of Changxian Tower. In the blink of an eye, it reached under the black-robed elder’s corpse, close to the white storage bag.

A surge of magic power emanated from the purple-black vine, entered the white storage bag, enveloped everything inside, and pulled it out.

At the same time, Yuan Ming carefully manipulated the storage ring on the vine, covering the items in the black-robed elder’s storage bag.

A faint white light flashed underground, and most of the items in the black-robed elder’s storage bag fell into Yuan Ming’s storage ring, leaving only a few dozen spirit stones.

The purple-black vine immediately returned silently along the same path, re-entering the spirit beast bag, leaving behind a storage ring with a bit of dirt on it.

Yuan Ming’s heart was pounding heavily. He took a deep breath, then picked up the storage ring, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

This series of processes may sound complicated, but they actually happened within a few breaths.

He quietly returned to the crowd. Gu Yue was a person who loved to join in the fun. At this moment, he was staring intently at the inside of the tower, not even noticing that Yuan Ming had quietly left for a moment.

Inside Changxian Tower, the young master Ula was already terrified. In his panic, he took out a blue bowl, and a blue light shield fell down, covering his body.

Almost at the same time, the clown in colorful clothes pointed his deadly finger.

With a “clang”, the blue light shield deeply caved in, almost pierced through, but in the end, it barely held up.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming locked his divine sense on the caved-in part of the light shield, finally discovering some clues.

An extremely thin golden light was stabbing the blue light shield. It was invisible to the naked eye, and if one’s divine sense was not strong enough, they would not be able to detect it.

Tiny golden sparks gathered from all directions, which were the scattered spiritual power after the six golden light blades shattered earlier, quickly merging into the thin golden light.

The thin golden light did not become thicker, but its power grew stronger and stronger. After a few breaths, it finally pierced through the blue light shield and stabbed Ula’s forehead.

A spot of blood appeared on Ula’s forehead, and in the next moment, his head exploded. His headless body swayed twice before falling to the ground.

The entire place fell silent, and you could hear a pin drop both inside and outside the shop.

The people nearby didn’t understand how the black-robed elder and young master Ula died. They looked at the clown in colorful clothes with fear in their eyes. The guards from White Dragon Island, seeing this situation, hurriedly fled in all directions, fearing that they would be the next ones to have their heads explode.

(End of the chapter)