Du Laotan sighed and said, "There's a story behind this, isn't there?"
Ye Zhan nodded, his gaze piercing through space and time as his thoughts drifted back to a long time ago.
Back then, Ye Zhan was still a young man full of heroic aspirations.
Ye Zhan was the only son of Ye Qianjue, the patriarch of the Ye family, and was born to inherit the position of family patriarch.
From a young age, Ye Zhan displayed extraordinary talent. At just eighteen years old, his cultivation had already reached the peak of the Great God realm, making him a renowned cultivation genius in the Zhantian domain and even the entire Shenyi Continent.
When Ye Zhan was twenty, his father, Ye Qianjue, prepared to pass on the leadership of the Ye family to him.
However, the Ye family had a rule that in order to succeed as the family patriarch, one must go out and train for three years and pass the family's trials.
Full of spirit, Ye Zhan bid farewell to his father and mother one morning and left the Ye family, embarking on his journey of training.
He left the Zhantian domain, traversed the Nine Sacred Domains, and arrived at the Chaotic Domain.
This was because his family's trial was to kill ten vicious criminals in the early stage of the God King realm.
And in the entire Shenyi Continent, the place with the most vicious criminals was the Chaotic Domain.
For Ye Zhan, with his cultivation at the peak of the Great God realm, killing someone in the early stage of the God King realm was a simple matter.
Upon his arrival in the Chaotic Domain, Ye Zhan received news that a flower-picking thief named Ping Le had already defiled nearly a hundred women.
Young and hot-blooded, Ye Zhan naturally set his sights on this flower-picking thief, Ping Le, as his first target.
Ye Zhan staked out for half a month and finally managed to figure out Ping Le's patterns of behavior.
On this day, Ye Zhan lay in ambush on Ping Le's usual route, preparing to eliminate this lecherous thief once and for all.
That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high, with dark clouds pressing down. But for cultivators, such foul weather was a mere trifle.
Soon, Ping Le appeared with a昏迷 (hūn mí - unconscious) woman in his arms, heading towards where Ye Zhan was hidden.
Ye Zhan, being a genius, possessed the pride of a genius.
He did not ambush Ping Le but openly blocked his path and asked, "Are you the lecherous thief Ping Le?"
Ping Le was taken aback at first, then said dismissively, "So what if I am?"
Ye Zhan sneered, "Very good. Since you admit it, it means I haven't found the wrong person. Prepare to die!"
With that, he drew a large saber and slashed at Ping Le.
Ping Le's figure flickered, evading Ye Zhan's attack and creating distance between them.
Ping Le chuckled coldly, "You look no older than twenty, and your cultivation is only at the peak of the Great God realm. You dare to set your sights on the bounty? Do you even know how to write the word 'death'?"
"Bounty?"
Ye Zhan blinked, then remembered that Ping Le's name was on the bounty list, with a reward of one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Ping Le mistook Ye Zhan's hesitation as being motivated by greed and quickly tried to persuade him, "I say, young man, you don't look like a pauper. Why risk your life for a mere hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones?"
Ping Le was not afraid of Ye Zhan. He had already captured a beauty and was eager to spend a passionate night with her, so he didn't want to waste time here.
Ye Zhan had originally intended to kill Ping Le out of a sense of justice. Now, being mistaken for being after the bounty was a blatant insult to him!
"Hmph! You ten-times-accursed lecher, even without the hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones bounty, I will still cut you down and rid the people of this scourge! Take this!"
Ye Zhan righteously rebuked Ping Le and then, brandishing his saber again, charged at him.
Ping Le let out a mocking laugh. Instead of dodging, he pushed the captive woman forward and said, "Cut me down? Go ahead, try!"
Ye Zhan did not expect Ping Le to be so despicable as to use the captive woman as a shield.
To avoid harming the woman, Ye Zhan quickly retracted his saber and cursed, "Despicable! If you have the guts, release the woman and fight me for three hundred rounds!"
Ping Le sneered, "Fight you? Not interested! A passionate night is worth a thousand gold, I can't be bothered with you!"
After speaking, he tucked the woman under his arm and flew into the depths of the night.
"Stop!"
Ye Zhan roared and chased after him.
They ran and chased, and in the blink of an eye, a whole night had passed.
Ping Le, who initially didn't want to entangle with Ye Zhan, found himself unable to enjoy the captured beauty and chased by Ye Zhan all night. His anger flared.
"You're seeking death!"
Fueled by rage, Ping Le stopped running. He threw the woman aside and drew a bone fan, attacking Ye Zhan.
"You brat, I intended to spare your life, but since you're courting death, don't blame me for sending you to the underworld!"
Ye Zhan was fearless. He met the attack with his saber.
The bone fan and the saber collided, sending sparks flying.
Clang, clang, clang…
In a flash, they had exchanged over five hundred blows.
The ground was riddled with potholes, and the surrounding flora and fauna had suffered.
Both of them had depleted a significant amount of spiritual energy from running all night. Especially Ye Zhan, who was a realm lower than Ping Le, and was at a disadvantage in both spiritual energy and law power.
But a genius is a genius. Challenging opponents of higher realms was a common occurrence for someone like Ye Zhan.
After another thousand moves, Ye Zhan fought with increasing vigor, showing signs of gaining the upper hand.
Ping Le was inwardly shocked and increasingly frustrated.
He, a cultivator in the early stage of the God King realm, was unable to defeat someone at the peak of the Great God realm, and was even falling behind. A thought of escape began to form in his mind.
"Brat, I'll remember today's debt. Mountains don't always turn into water, don't let me run into you again!"
Ping Le uttered a harsh threat, feigned an attack, and then fled.
How could Ye Zhan let Ping Le escape?
Firstly, his family's trial was to kill ten evil beings in the early stage of the God King realm.
Secondly, if a lecherous thief like Ping Le escaped today, who knew how many more women would suffer?
Therefore, Ye Zhan, without a second thought, moved to give chase.
But at that moment, the woman Ping Le had thrown aside slowly woke up.
"Ah~"
A scream echoed through the air.
Her appearance clearly indicated that she remembered being captured and was terrified.
Ye Zhan was forced to stop his pursuit to check on the woman.
"You... who are you? You... you... don't come any closer!"
The woman recoiled, shouting at Ye Zhan in terror.
Ye Zhan had no choice but to stop, standing still, and soothed, "My lady, do not be afraid. I am not a bad person! The one who captured you has been driven away by me!" Su Dan novel network
The woman, having been excessively frightened, did not hear Ye Zhan's words, merely repeating, "Don't come closer! Don't come closer..."