"But, sir, these goods are priceless treasures, worth at least tens of millions of catties of spirit stones at auction. We shouldn't..." a bandit spoke up, eyeing the numerous goods in the merchant caravan with unwillingness. If they seized these goods, they could also sell them for an astronomical sum.
How could these bandits be willing to let them go? They were all filled with intense reluctance.
Hearing this, the mercenary groups in the caravan were one thing, but the merchants all turned exceptionally tense. Their livelihoods depended on this; their goods were their lives. Once lost, everyone would be bankrupt.
"Hmph!"
But with a single cold snort from Ye Chen that exploded like thunder, deafening and echoing between heaven and earth, it was directed solely at all the bandits. It made them all shudder violently, their internal blood energy roaring and boiling, their faces pale, feeling so wretched they almost vomited blood.
Ye Chen's eyes shone with a piercing, dazzling light, an intangible yet terrifying pressure spreading out overwhelmingly, causing all the bandits to change color as if invisible mountains were pressing on their shoulders, making it hard to breathe.
"What is it? Do you dare disobey my orders now?" Ye Chen stood with his hands behind his back, his expression icy cold!
All the bandits fell silent, not daring to speak.
This was a terrifying figure who had even subdued the great bandit Wang Tian.
Then Ye Chen's expression softened as he spoke gently to everyone in the caravan: "Everyone, if possible, please hand it over. I won't make things difficult for you."
But everyone in the caravan indicated they had no knowledge, and they all appeared calm, not seeming to be faking it.
Wang Tian spoke up: "They probably truly don't know. The person carrying the secret treasure likely did so deliberately, unknown to anyone, to misdirect our attention. Naturally, it's even more possible they aren't in this caravan at all."
"In that case, I have no choice but to personally investigate thoroughly."
Boom—
Divine radiance suddenly surged and shone from between Ye Chen's eyebrows, bright as a small sun, dazzling and resplendent. A vast, indescribable divine thought power instantly spread out, covering this stretch of heaven and earth, directly conducting an inch-by-inch search.
"Such formidable divine thought power!"
Wang Tian beside him was directly taken aback, his astonishment simply impossible to conceal, because this level of divine thought power was far too powerful, beyond expectation, even surpassing that of an Ancient Saint like himself.
Originally, he thought that no matter how strong Ye Chen was, he was only a Demi-Saint, so his divine sense couldn't be too powerful. But everything before him told him Ye Chen's divine sense was unexpectedly, extraordinarily strong.
Ye Chen's divine sense covered everything indiscriminately, whether goods or people, conducting an inch-by-inch search for any object resembling a stone stele, a comprehensive search leaving nothing missed.
During this, he indeed discovered quite a few treasures among the goods, such as heaven and earth treasures, materials for refining weapons, esoteric artifacts, heavenly silk, Nine Yang Night-Luminous Pearls, and various other treasures, many of them priceless.
No wonder the Plunder Heaven Plains could spawn so many bandits, with thieves running rampant everywhere. It was no surprise such treasures caught their eye.
The merchants all looked extremely tense, fearing Ye Chen would kill them to silence them after learning about the goods.
Fortunately, Ye Chen remained calm and took no action, letting them all breathe a sigh of relief. Otherwise, if a supreme expert like Ye Chen truly wanted to act, he wouldn't be so polite; he'd just strike directly.
A full half-hour later, Ye Chen withdrew his divine sense and sighed lightly. He hadn't found any similar item at all.
The great bandit Wang Tian said: "Divine sense probably can't detect it. That item is very mysterious; divine sense probing it is like touching nothing."
Ye Chen understood: extraordinary objects must have extraordinary qualities.
"Since divine sense can't detect it, what about this?" Ye Chen murmured to himself, then sat cross-legged in the void, his eyes slightly closed. A portal opened directly within his body, vast world power pouring out, directly flooding this stretch of heaven and earth, conducting a layered search of all the goods for the secret treasure.
"World power!?"
Wang Tian's expression changed repeatedly, then he sighed in resignation. Previously, Ye Chen had easily defeated him without even using world power. He truly was an invincible figure.
World power, where a single wisp could crush mountains and rivers, was under Ye Chen's control as light as nothing. Moreover, he seemed to transform this stretch of heaven and earth into his own small world, conducting an even more meticulous, layer-by-layer search.
And this area was like his true inner world; everything had to be revealed in detail, unable to escape his pursuit.
Unfortunately, after another full half-hour, he still found nothing in the end.
Ye Chen had no choice but to give up. The mysterious stone stele was not in the caravan.
Seeing his expression, Wang Tian knew it wasn't there and sighed slightly. That secret treasure truly wasn't in this caravan.
Before leaving, Ye Chen sighed lightly and flicked a wisp of divine radiance with his finger, sending it into the severely wounded and unconscious old Saint's body. Streaming light overflowed, actually directly reviving the old Saint, bringing joy to many faces in the caravan.
Even severely wounded, as long as the old Saint existed, he was a deterrent, enough to make many bandits wary, not daring to steal or plunder. This was the deterrent power of a Saint.
Ye Chen smiled slightly. This could be considered settling a thread of causality with the caravan.
"Let's go!"
At his command, he led the great bandit Wang Tian and the other bandits away from the area. Only after a long time did everyone in the caravan finally breathe a sigh of relief, also feeling gratitude towards Ye Chen.
If not for Ye Chen's intervention today, such a large caravan would likely have faced total annihilation.
The inner region of the Plunder Heaven Plains wasn't large, but it spanned nearly a million miles in radius, the area where bandits were most concentrated in the entire Plunder Heaven Plains.
Originally, entering the inner region wasn't easy. Along the way, numerous bandit groups were heavily stationed, preventing others from entering the inner region, making it very dangerous.
There were even quite a few great bandits out there, figures that would make even someone like Ye Chen treat with three parts gravity.
But after subduing Wang Tian, ranked eighteenth among the great bandits, having his guidance made everything much simpler and easier, almost like entering unopposed territory.
The many bandits along the way, upon seeing the great bandit Wang Tian, all submitted one after another, not daring to obstruct in the slightest, demonstrating the harsh order of 'the strong rule' within the Plunder Heaven Plains.
But when all the bandits saw a young, handsome man walking ahead of Wang Tian, actually walking shoulder-to-shoulder with him, his expression calm and indifferent, while the great bandit Wang Tian's expression faintly showed threads of wariness and reverence...
This scene shocked all the bandits. Just who was this young man?