Ye Yunfei took some time to learn about the current state of the Ye Family and was quite satisfied.
The Ye Family's overall strength had seen a tremendous improvement!
Ye Tianpeng had reached the late-stage Yuan Foundation Realm, and several of the Ye Family elders were all at the mid-stage Yuan Foundation Realm.
As for the other Ye Family members, there were now many who had reached the True Manifestation Realm.
Such overall strength was leagues beyond what the Ye Family of Yuanyue City had once possessed.
Of course, merely reaching the Yuan Foundation Realm and True Manifestation Realm wasn't anything much, but the Ye Family's starting point had been low.
Furthermore, Ye Yunfei wanted the people of the Ye Family to develop steadily and surely, first solidifying their foundational power before seeking further growth. That was the path to true longevity.
Otherwise, with Ye Yunfei's means, had he wished to, he could have forced the Ye Family's overall strength to soar to a remarkable level in a short time.
However, he wouldn't do such a thing, forcing growth like pulling up seedlings.
"Dean Ye, we've purged all the remaining traitors!" Xie Changkong arrived before Ye Yunfei, accompanied by a large group of high-ranking figures from the academy, and reported.
"Come, let's go somewhere," Ye Yunfei nodded and said.
He then soared into the air, heading in a certain direction with the academy's high-level members.
Xie Changkong and the others, confused, followed behind Ye Yunfei.
A short while later, they landed on a certain mountain peak.
"This is Miao Tianfeng's cultivation peak!" the high-ranking figures, including Xie Changkong, recognized.
Ye Yunfei approached a sealed door to a cave dwelling. With a flick of his sleeve, he shattered the door and walked in.
Xie Changkong and the others followed him into the cave dwelling.
Deep within, before their eyes, appeared an altar shrouded in dense demonic energy.
"What is this...?" Xie Changkong and the high-ranking members were utterly shocked, stepping forward to examine the strange altar.
"If I'm not mistaken, this is how they were contacting the Aoyue Demon King," Ye Yunfei said calmly.
"Contacting the Aoyue Demon King with this altar!" The academy's leaders were immediately startled and backed away, putting distance between themselves and the altar.
The Aoyue Demon King was one of the three great Demon Kings of the Ancient Demon Realm, a figure with a ferocious reputation!
Ye Yunfei walked forward, releasing his Soul Power to analyze and study the altar.
With Ye Yunfei's knowledge and insight, he naturally understood such formations used for cross-realm communication perfectly. In just moments, he had grasped its principles completely.
Ye Yunfei formed hand seals with his fingers, continuously casting them into the altar.
Boom...
The altar immediately began to tremble violently.
An aura of distant time and space emanated from its surface.
Then, a towering, illusory figure wreathed in billowing demonic energy slowly manifested on the altar, its form gradually solidifying.
This figure was at least ten meters tall! Its entire body swirled with rolling demonic energy, its presence intimidating.
"What's happening? Who are you people?!" The figure's gaze shot out two terrifying beams of light, like searchlights, sweeping over Xie Changkong and the others as it demanded sharply.
Finally, those two beams of light fixed on Ye Yunfei. "You are Ye Yunfei!" it exclaimed in a voice filled with disbelief.
"That's right. And you must be the Aoyue Demon King," Ye Yunfei said flatly, looking at the illusory figure on the altar.
"He is the Aoyue Demon King!" Xie Changkong and the academy's high-level members were terrified and backed away further.
"How is this possible! Ye Yunfei, weren't you in the Northern Barrens Domain? When did you return to the Tianxuan Continent?! Your current cultivation has already reached the Great Mysterious Pill Realm, yet you can freely enter the Tianxuan Continent? How did you manage that? I've tried countless times, and I simply cannot enter through that spatial crack! Also, why aren't the Heaven and Earth rules of the Tianxuan Continent rejecting you?" After confirming that the young man before him was indeed Ye Yunfei, the Aoyue Demon King couldn't help but fire off a series of questions.
"You cannot enter, but that doesn't mean I cannot. As for why the Heaven and Earth rules of the Tianxuan Continent don't reject me... I should actually thank you for that," Ye Yunfei said. "Thank you for giving me the Sky-Shading Cover."
As soon as he finished speaking, a piece of yellow cloth flew out from Ye Yunfei's body, emitting a dazzling yellow glow.
It was precisely the Sky-Shading Cover!
"That Sky-Shading Cover was borrowed from the Tianji Sect! Return it to me immediately!" The Aoyue Demon King grew visibly agitated upon seeing the yellow cloth.
For this Sky-Shading Cover, he had groveled and apologized to the Tianji Sect countless times and compensated them with an astronomical sum of treasures. To this day, the Tianji Sect would periodically send people to the Ancient Demon Realm demanding he retrieve their precious artifact.
Because for the Tianji Sect, the Sky-Shading Cover was nothing less than a sacred treasure!
Back then, if it weren't for Young Master Wu of the Martial Family from the Sacred Domain personally requesting that the Tianji Sect lend the Sky-Shading Cover to him, the Aoyue Demon King could never have borrowed such a treasure on his own reputation.
Each time he thought about this Sky-Shading Cover, it felt like his heart was bleeding!
Rumble...
Upon seeing the Sky-Shading Cover, the Aoyue Demon King projected on the altar extended a demonic hand, which swelled rapidly while exuding a vast and mighty pressure of demonic power as it reached for the artifact.
Whoosh...
At a thought from Ye Yunfei, the Heavenly Soul Sword was unleashed and sliced forward.
Boom!
The demonic hand was struck by the Heavenly Soul Sword and instantly exploded into fragments.
The Aoyue Demon King on the altar was merely a wisp of its demonic soul projected across realms via the altar—extremely weak. Ye Yunfei wasn't afraid of it at all.
"Ye Yunfei, if you return the Sky-Shading Cover to me, I can guarantee that the grudge between you and our Ancient Demon Race will be settled. How about it?" The Aoyue Demon King's sharp, aggressive gaze remained fixed on Ye Yunfei.
"Hahaha...
Settled? Your Ancient Demon Race has invaded the Tianxuan Continent twice on a large scale, taking countless lives of its inhabitants.
The blood debt piles high! The Tianxuan Continent is my homeland. Do you think it's possible for the grudge between me and your Ancient Demon Race to be settled? It will be settled... once I have exterminated your entire race," Ye Yunfei suddenly laughed and said.
Upon hearing Ye Yunfei's words, the Aoyue Demon King stared at him intently, its eyes concealing boundless murderous intent.
"Ye Yunfei, I, the Aoyue Demon King, swear to kill you!" After a long silence, the Aoyue Demon King said word by word.
Each word was laden with shocking, sky-rending killing intent. The dreadful murderous aura instantly plunged the cave's temperature to a bone-chilling level.
Xie Changkong and the others, their cultivation weak, felt as if they had fallen into a ten-thousand-year glacial cavern; their bodies nearly froze stiff.
"And I swear to kill you," Ye Yunfei said plainly.
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Yunfei pointed forward. Five spiritual swords shot out simultaneously and began to mercilessly tear through the altar.
Boom!
The altar, including the wisp of the Aoyue Demon King's demonic soul projected onto it, instantly shattered and vanished without a trace.
Then, the temperature within the cave dwelling gradually rose, returning to normal.