Chapter 21: The Vermilion Bird Diagram

  A purple long gown was pitch black and turned into scattered steps falling all around.

  A sharp long sword pierced through the middle-aged man's entire chest, and blood-red liquid continuously gushed out from the wound, dyeing the ground red.

  After a long time, Ye Chen still didn't feel any movement from the figure, but the habits he had cultivated over the years made him remain in his original position, staring coldly at the body.

  Suddenly another burst of breaking wind sounded, and an old figure slowly floated in mid-air, then that figure jumped down to the young man's side.

  With a cold gaze, it suddenly became clear that it was the old man's figure from earlier. The old man's chest had also been pierced by a sharp sword, and his originally ruddy face was now deathly pale.

  The old man's right foot trampled heavily on the middle-aged man's chest, grasping the long sword inserted in the young man's chest. The long sword stirred constantly, and blood gushed out like a fountain. The mad roar said: "Little rabbit, you finally died at the hands of Lao Fu, haha, Zhuque Map is still Lao Fu's!"

  But before the words had fallen, the roar stopped abruptly, and the young man who was originally on the ground suddenly jumped up, a palm knife fell, the old man's head fell back powerlessly, blood spurted out from his neck to all sides, the old and weak figure fell backwards, stirring up dust all over the ground.

  The middle-aged man sneered at the rolling head on the ground, let out a cold laugh, and slowly turned to face the tree hole where Ye Chen was hiding, his voice cold as he said: "Still not coming out?"

  Ye Chen's heart skipped a beat as the middle-aged man's gaze suddenly turned towards him. Had he been discovered?

  "Little one, it seems you've really been discovered!" Huo Qilin said with some embarrassment, at this moment he also couldn't figure out how the middle-aged man had discovered Ye Chen.

  Ye Chen fell silent, feeling the sternness in the middle-aged man's gaze. Ye Chen remained bent over in the tree hole, not moving at all.

  "Little one, who is Ye Mowan to you!" The middle-aged man's eyes flashed with a hint of admiration, and he continued in a gentle tone.

  His body shook, a bitter smile, helplessly shrugged his shoulders. The middle-aged man in front of him could actually say Ye Muwen, it seemed that he had really been discovered. He tightly grasped the iron sword and pointed at Qilin's mouth. Huo Qilin was slightly stunned, then said: "Youngster, that little rabbit has already reached the end of the strong crossbow. I can keep you safe!"

  With a nimble leap, he landed elegantly on the gravel, and Ye Chen was shocked by the gaping hole in the middle-aged man's chest. If someone had been so severely injured in their past life, they would probably have died long ago. Yet, the middle-aged man before him was still alive. Qi was indeed a wondrous thing.

  "Little one, you are indeed a descendant of the Ye family!" The middle-aged man's eyes were icy cold, his tone was fleeting, as if Ye Chen's answer wasn't satisfactory, he would immediately take poisonous action.

  With a thoughtful expression, the middle-aged man had just mentioned Ye Muyu's name, and he had also claimed to be from Jian Shen Men. If I'm not mistaken, Ye Muyu joined Jian Shen Men six years ago. Could it be that this middle-aged man is Ye Muyu's namesake? Gripping his long sword tightly, Ye Chen didn't dare relax, saying calmly: "Yes!"

  "Who is Ye Mowan to you again?" The middle-aged man's speech also slowed down extremely, his face a dull gray.

  "It's the young lady from my house!" Ye Chen warned.

  "Hey kid, can you help me deliver this to your young mistress?" the middle-aged man said in a low voice, at this moment cold sweat continuously dripped down his face, apparently not long for this world.

  Ye Chen gazed at the middle-aged man with profound meaning, his right foot stepped forward, and he suddenly leaped backward. In an instant, his iron sword transformed into a flowing light that shot towards the middle-aged man.

  The sword swooped in with a whoosh, the middle-aged man's face changed color, clearly not expecting Ye Chen to make a sudden move. He let out a cold snort and slapped out with his palm, the chilly fist wind mixed with a small amount of true energy directly shattered the iron sword, turning it into fragments that scattered all over the ground.

  Blood kept flowing out, a middle-aged man's eyebrows slightly furrowed, killing intent overflowing, coldly said: "You little brat, you're looking for death!"

  Ye Chen's eyes gazed indifferently at the middle-aged man, his body leaping to the top of a nearby tree, and said indifferently: "Did you just want to kill me?"

  At the moment of exposure, Ye Chen felt the icy killing intent in the middle-aged man's eyes.

  For those who want to kill themselves, Ye Chen takes action without any hesitation.

  Ye Chen's figure suddenly sprang into action, like a hungry tiger descending the mountain. With one retreat and one sweep, the scattered stones on the ground floated up, and the boundless palm shadows rolled out like a stormy rain, carrying hot air and true energy towards the middle-aged man. However, in the next instant, Ye Chen's figure leapt back onto the treetop.

  The scorching heat envelops everything, and has completely blocked off all avenues for a middle-aged person.

  The middle-aged man snorted, his body suddenly bursting out, his long arm shook, and the terrifying sword energy shot out from his fingers, annihilating the palm shadow. He then jumped onto the treetop like a ghost, using his finger as a sword, with the sword energy spreading out, resembling a long rainbow shooting towards Ye Chen. Ye Chen's face didn't show any panic, he took a step forward with his right foot and suddenly shot out violently.

  "Little Fire, it's your turn!" Ye Chen suddenly clapped his palm backwards, and a red flame-like true energy burst out, accompanied by crackling sounds.

  The middle-aged man's face changed color in an instant, a strange purple flame appeared out of thin air and disappeared just as strangely.

  A shrill cry suddenly rang out, and the middle-aged man who was originally covered in blood all over his body was like a piece of black charcoal, swaying back and forth as he fell from the top of the tree.

  A wave of burnt smell wafted over, Ye Chen's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he helplessly shrugged his shoulders, bitterly saying: "Xiao Huo, if you want to kill him, just do it directly, why roast him with fire!"

  "Old man, apart from roasting people, you can't do anything else!" Huo Qilin responded proudly to Ye Chen. Ye Chen smiled helplessly and slapped the middle-aged man's body again. Seeing that the middle-aged man didn't react at all, he jumped to his side, and the purple long gown suddenly turned into ashes. A red scroll appeared in front of Ye Chen.

  The body slightly curved, picked up that one picture scroll, a hot flow flashed through the fingers, and the whole picture scroll presented a dark red color.

  Holding the scroll, Ye Chen clearly felt a tremble in his body's true crystal, and immediately thought of the Vermilion Bird Diagram mentioned by the old man earlier. He muttered to himself: "Could this be the Vermilion Bird Diagram they spoke of? I wonder what value this scroll has that it would cause two powerful Qi Wu realm masters to engage in a life-and-death struggle!"

  "Zhu Que diagram?" The figure of Huo Qilin slowly emerged, and immediately a hint of surprise flashed in his dark eyes, disbelievingly saying: "Could it be the Zhu Que diagram? That faint, almost imperceptible aura is indeed similar to that old man's, but why has this thing appeared here!"

  Flipping back and forth

  The whole picture scroll, Ye Chen didn't find anything special, and saw Huo Qilin muttering to himself, couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Little Fire, do you know what this thing is!"

  Hu Qilin's gaze fell tightly on the picture scroll, and he immediately opened his mouth: "Little boy, we must leave quickly!"

  "Leave?" Ye Chen also understood immediately, if this Zhu Que diagram was valuable, it might not be just two Qi Wu realm strongmen competing for it. Ye Chen nodded slightly.

  His pupils contracted, Ye Chen rolled up the picture scroll, his face paused, and his gaze slowly fell on the two corpses. Suddenly, his figure flashed, and he pulled out the two sharp swords inserted in the ground with a swoop, without caring about the blood stains on the sword. He jumped up and rushed towards the dense forest outside.

  "Kid, you're really not wasting a single bit!" Ye Chen's action of pulling the sheep by the hand undoubtedly made Huo Qilin feel a wave of disdain.