Chapter Sixty-Four: Reunion with Two Women Amidst the Ruins

Two days later.

Ye Wuya arrived at a vast land of ruins. The expanse was immense, stretching endlessly beyond the horizon in continuous waves.

A giant python!

As soon as Ye Wuya approached the ruins, a massive python, as thick as a water barrel and shimmering with iridescent hues, slithered out from beneath the shattered stones. The python, sensing an intruder, flicked its tongue with a hissing sound, then spewed a cloud of eerie green gas in Ye Wuya’s direction. Wherever the venomous mist passed, the flowers, grass, and trees withered and died.

During his past “work” underground, Ye Wuya had occasionally encountered venomous pythons, but rarely ones capable of spraying toxic miasma. As the python fully emerged, stretching five or six meters long, Ye Wuya regarded it coldly. He was still gravely injured and had trekked for two days—snake gall was a potent restorative.

The thrill of the hunt sparked in his chest.

With a sweep of his blue longsword, a sharp sword aura slashed forth, and with a crisp sound, the giant python was severed in two. Ye Wuya stepped forward and expertly extracted the snake gall, swallowing it in one gulp.

Warmth radiated from his abdomen, slowly absorbed by his battered body. His previous disintegration had been complete—cultivation, tendons, dantian, all destroyed. Even the Mad Corpse Forbidden Art had fallen silent, no longer circulating of its own accord, which was just as Ye Wuya wished. He had no intention of meddling with things that did not truly belong to him.

Lately, he had relied solely on sword energy and intent, focusing chiefly on restoring his body. Though it had been over a month, and he could function normally, that was only as long as he avoided combat. Any premature engagement would risk reopening old wounds, compounding his misery.

Outwardly, his wounds had scabbed over, but internally, chaos remained. He could find no method to heal himself, yet after consuming the snake gall, he sensed improvement—the gall must contain the essence of the python.

Now with a goal, Ye Wuya strode deeper into the ruins. Here, the snake galls seemed akin to miraculous healing elixirs. At this rate, if he slew several thousand, even ten thousand, he might fully recover. Given the enormity of the ruins, where countless serpents surely dwelled, tens of thousands of giant pythons would be no great matter. What concerned Ye Wuya was the apparent absence of human habitation, making it likely that fierce and formidable beasts lurked within.

As he pondered, a piercing bird cry echoed from the depths ahead—so sharp it seemed to rend the sky, making Ye Wuya’s eardrums throb and his head ring as if something within his skull had exploded.

He quickly looked up toward the sound’s source. A golden silhouette flashed by, trailed by a storm of crackling lightning, diving at breakneck speed toward a distant mountain peak.

“It seems this wilderness is far from simple,” Ye Wuya murmured, watching the figure. “That looked like a bird—a bird wreathed in lightning. An electric bird!”

It was so swift as to be a blur, Ye Wuya barely able to discern its form, only the aura of electricity enveloping it.

Roars sounded from the mountaintop as the blue electric bird dove, as if warning the intruder not to trespass upon their territory.

Once the blue silhouette landed, it soared aloft again, spreading its massive wings. Only then did Ye Wuya see its true appearance—a great bird, feathers the color of sapphire, glimmering with electricity, its wings casting shadows like a roosting roc. Its wingspan stretched three to four hundred meters.

Clutched in its sharp talons was a hundred-meter-long python. The two clashed in the air, the giant python coiling around the electric bird. Instantly, the bird erupted in ten thousand bursts of lightning, illuminating the sky with blinding radiance. Thunder crashed overhead while electricity exploded across the python’s body, splitting its scales with crackling blasts. Blood rained from the heavens as the electric bird vanished into the distance with the slain serpent.

Ye Wuya, hiding in a crevice, gaped in awe. This was his first time witnessing the legendary electric bird. Its power was terrifying—if he were struck, he would have been roasted alive on the spot. He did not believe his body could withstand even a single blow.

The power of lightning is always among the most domineering forces under heaven—pure, unyielding, and absolute.

“So, there are great demons dwelling in these ruins,” Ye Wuya mused. “If I ran into that blue electric bird, I’d be utterly outmatched. I’d better be cautious and focus on slaying smaller snakes to recover.”

Watching the receding figure, he muttered, “I wonder if that electric bird’s meat is any good to eat…”

After killing seven or eight more giant pythons on the outskirts, his injuries improved further.

He lingered another month in the ruins, during which he slew more than three thousand pythons. Day after day, he gorged on snake gall, to the point of near revulsion. Still, the healing effect was undeniable—after about a month, he’d recovered thirty or forty percent of his strength.

He threw a punch, the wind howling fiercely. With a dull thud, his fist shattered a three-meter-tall boulder, which tumbled noisily down.

With a beckoning hand, his blue sword leapt from ten meters away into his grasp in the blink of an eye.

“My body’s much improved. I can try going deeper now.”

Having found no more pythons at the periphery, Ye Wuya rested for a day, then set out early next morning, venturing further into the ruins.

After traveling another dozen miles, he halted in a chaotic stone forest.

Suddenly, he heard the voices of young men and women nearby.

Creeping to the edge of a massive stone, Ye Wuya peered out to see a group just ten meters away.

“Ye Yunque, Dongfang Yanran? It’s actually them? What are they doing here?” he wondered.

There were seven or eight figures, all around seventeen to nineteen years old, brimming with vitality and spiritual energy.

They had divided into two groups: Ye Yunque and Dongfang Yanran stood together, while the remaining six formed the other group, clearly ostracizing the pair.

“Just a newly inducted disciple—a wild girl who’s never even seen a true mystical art. Who knows where Elder Third found these two? Barely half a month since entering the sect, and you were defeated by this kind of trash? You’ve shamed Elder Second!” sneered a young man, about eighteen, the youngest yet at the center, as if the others revolved around him.

“Hmph, trash, scum—can you speak properly?” Dongfang Yanran retorted coldly.

“Huh? Trash, scum? She’s only been gone a month, and Dongfang Yanran’s temperament has become just like Ye Yunque’s. By contrast, Ye Yunque seems much quieter now,” Ye Wuya thought wryly from behind the stone.

It was as if the two had swapped personalities.

With a sharp sound, Ye Yunque drew her sword, pointing it at the central youth. “If you have the guts, fight me. If not, keep your mouth shut!”

“Well, I suppose I was mistaken—that’s Ye Yunque’s temperament after all. A girl who’d rather fight than argue would never suddenly become quiet. Impossible!” Ye Wuya thought, exasperated.

He continued to watch in silence. Strangely, Dongfang Yanran, once so gentle and poised, had picked up Ye Yunque’s bluntness—she was even cursing now.

A girl beside the central youth sneered, an elegant beauty marked by a teardrop tattoo at the corner of her eye, which made her even more striking. Despite her looks, she radiated an icy, bone-chilling aura. “So you’ve got a temper. So what? The path of cultivation is long—who can say who will have the last laugh? Don’t think being a chosen one, favored by elders, means you can look down on others. Remember, even prodigies can fall before their time.”

The young man’s face darkened as he spat out his words, dripping with sarcasm.

Ye Yunque threw back her head and laughed. “Arrogant? Calling me trash? Then what does that make you? Even less than trash! Ridiculous! If not for the elders’ orders against inner conflict, I’d teach you all a proper lesson in how to be decent people.”

“Right—trash!” Dongfang Yanran echoed.

When did they join another faction? It looked as though they were here for a trial.

He’d been gone nearly two months—who knew what had happened in Ling City.

Their robes bore the word “Azurecloud” embroidered on the chest.

Azurecloud—what was that? A sect? What had happened in these ruins? Ye Wuya had already encountered several groups of Lieyang Sect disciples here, and now he’d run into this Azurecloud group.

It seemed these ruins would not remain peaceful. Should he leave, or venture deeper?

For now, he decided to wait and observe from the shadows, to see what these two factions were really up to. Though he could ask Dongfang Yanran and Ye Yunque directly, his appearance would only complicate matters.

Until he possessed absolute strength, he would not risk seeing another woman hurt because of him.

Xueqing’s departure was because he lacked the power to keep her by his side.

Ye Ruoyue and Ye Ruxue had been taken, again because he, Ye Wuya, was not strong enough. Otherwise, none of this would have happened.

So he would rather remain hidden than step forward—so long as Dongfang Yanran and Ye Yunque were safe, he would not intervene.