As the voice, like heavenly might, boomed, the entire Wild River Valley seemed to be dragged into the depths of the netherworld. The dim sky began to shatter bit by bit, as if forcibly torn from within. A spatial rift, ten meters long, appeared before everyone.
Following this, a man and a woman stepped out of the void, as if they were the king and queen of this realm, bathed in divine radiance and looking down upon the masses.
Their arrival instantly became the focal point of everyone's attention.
"You bastard! Couldn't you have come back sooner?"
Nangong Qianyu looked at the man suspended in the air, her small face etched with grievance. However, the exquisite arc of her smile was impossible to hide.
As long as that man was back, all her worries and unease could be swallowed back without reservation.
"Who are you?"
The man hidden in the black mist looked at the pair emerging from the spatial rift, his aura noticeably strengthening. His words carried a hint of apprehension.
Since they could tear open a spatial rift, it proved their strength was not to be underestimated.
Just then, the new first elder of Wushen Mountain, who had arrived fashionably late, finally reached the Wild River Valley. Several elders followed behind him.
However, when he saw the man and woman floating in the air, he froze. Not only that, but his legs involuntarily began to tremble.
Boundless fear instantly surged in his heart. Everything he had done would become his death warrant.
He knew better than anyone that Ye Chuan Shagong detested betrayal the most. Coupled with her mother's fate, she had long ago developed a deep loathing for such acts.
Therefore, for Okamura Yasuhhiro, there was no turning back now.
Success or death.
"Sha... Shadow-sama! That young man is Ye Ming from Huaguo, whom I mentioned to you before." Okamura Yasuhhiro suppressed the fear in his heart and said in a deep voice, "It seems he was the one who saved Ye Chuan Shagong earlier."
"Oh! It's him!"
To Okamura Yasuhhiro's surprise, Shadow-sama, while not recognizing the youth, seemed to find him not entirely unfamiliar.
"Sha... Shadow-sama! Do you know him?" Okamura Yasuhhiro asked tentatively.
"No! I can't say I know him!"
The figure hidden in the black mist said solemnly, "However, he is quite famous where we come from now."
Where they come from?
Quite famous?
Hearing this, Okamura Yasuhhiro's heart skipped a beat, and his expression turned grim.
Their conversation naturally reached Ye Ming's ears.
"Finally, someone with some weight has appeared!" Ye Ming narrowed his eyes, staring at the black mist, as if he could see right through the other party.
"You go to Qianyu first!" Ye Ming patted the arm of the woman beside him and said softly.
"Okay!"
Ye Chuan Shagong said nothing more. She merely cast a cold glance at Okamura Yasuhhiro and the elders behind him before leaving.
"Sister Shagong! Are... are you alright!"
Perhaps it was a woman's intuition, but when Nangong Qianyu saw Ye Chuan Shagong again, she felt that something subtle had changed about her, giving her a sense of déjà vu.
But she couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.
"I'm... I'm fine!"
Seeing Nangong Qianyu scrutinizing her, Ye Chuan Shagong, a cultivator in the Origin Realm, felt inexplicably guilty.
It was as if she had done something wrong, and she couldn't quite meet the gaze of the... sister before her.
"It's good that you're fine!"
Nangong Qianyu linked her arm with hers and glanced at Okamura Yasuhhiro and the others in the distance, her expression turning cold again:
"Sister Shagong! Wushen Mountain has betrayed us."
As Nangong Qianyu recounted the events that transpired during their disappearance to Ye Chuan Shagong, Ye Ming and the man in the black mist confronted each other.
"You seemed quite interested in my woman earlier!"
Ye Ming walked through the air, and with each step he took, the surrounding air seemed to thin a little, "What, have you chickened out now?"
As Ye Ming walked towards him, the man in the black mist remained silent, but the aura he exuded maintained a state of vigilance.
The name Ye Ming had indeed become quite significant in their circles lately.
"If you don't speak, do you think it's over?"
A gentle smile played on Ye Ming's lips, but his eyes were filled with chilling coldness.
"Mr. Ye! I did not know she was your woman!"
Sensing the hostility emanating from Ye Ming, the man in the black mist finally spoke.
However, his first words carried a hint of appeasement.
Whether he genuinely didn't know Nangong Qianyu was Ye Ming's woman was unknown.
But his statement made Okamura Yasuhhiro's heart turn ice-cold by half.
His only support now was Shadow-sama before him. If even he feared the other party, then his own fate...
"Oh! Is that so?"
Ye Ming landed on the ground, his smile unwavering, "Whether you knew or not, my woman was frightened just now. We need to settle this score!"
Since you've chosen to back down, I'll ensure you have nowhere left to retreat.
As far as Ye Ming was concerned, he did not wish for things to end so easily.
Having finally lured out a big fish, letting it go so readily was not his style.
"Mr. Ye! What do you want?"
The other party had seen through this and did not utter any useless words. He went straight to the point, wondering if he could afford the price Ye Ming would demand.
Whether it was a price or a probe, only the man in the black mist himself knew.
"Yo! So straightforward?"
The other party's willingness to compromise was somewhat beyond Ye Ming's expectations.
However, since the other party was so eager to show his sincerity, why should Ye Ming not go along with it?
"Since you are so courteous, I, Ye, am not an unreasonable person." Ye Ming looked at Okamura Yasuhhiro and the others behind him, revealing his signature charming smile, "Before we resolve our grievances, is it not appropriate for these people to be present?"
Although Ye Ming did not know the specifics of what had happened at Wushen Mountain, Okamura Yasuhhiro's presence here already indicated much.
"Very well! You all withdraw!"
The man in the black mist waved his hand, signaling Okamura Yasuhhiro and the others to leave.
To him, the strength of these individuals was not enough to share the burden.
Just as Okamura Yasuhhiro breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to leave, Ye Ming suddenly spoke, "Let me help you leave!"
Before anyone could react, Ye Ming waved his hand, and a dark spatial rift appeared bizarrely before Okamura Yasuhhiro and the others.
Subsequently, a terrifying suction force emanated from within the spatial rift, and in the blink of an eye, Okamura Yasuhhiro and the few others were forcibly drawn into it.
Ye Ming waved his hand again, and the spatial rift vanished.
"My lord! Now, let's settle the matter between us."