Against The Heavens 78 I Won't Play Along.

Soul tablets were a type of jade tablet where one could store part of their Qi and blood, allowing the tablet to be connected to the one who first put their Qi and blood into it. Once the person who put his Qi into the tablet died, it would crack and dim down, allowing others to know that the person had died. Since Gao Gang's Soul Tablet had shattered, it was clear to Xiang Wuying and the others that he had already died.

Xiang Wuying personally searched the center of the palace, so the other searching disciples were unable to find the emptied treasury, causing them to click their tongues in an unsatisfied manner. Once the entire palace was swept clean and all the disciples were killed, Xiang Wuying gathered everyone together and gave a light clap of his hands.

"Alright, let's return to the clan and pick up our reward."

Huang Yong and the others could only nod their heads, still somewhat annoyed that the sect seemingly didn't have a treasury. Xiang Wuying sent a slight glance at Li Yang, but he didn't seem to have any interest in mentioning Li Yang emptying the treasury, allowing Li Yang to keep the spoils to himself, seemingly looking to build a friendly relations.h.i.+p with Li Yang.

The group undid the formation they had set up around the palace and then quickly left the city, ignoring the shocked and relieved cries of the citizens that went to check out the palace. The moment the formation vanished, a black light swooped down from the sky, Jinwu landing on Li Yang's shoulder and letting out a few caws.

Jinwu had killed and turned the five fleeing disciples to ash, so right now he was a bit annoyed that he didn't get to eat them. Because of that, Li Yang could only quietly promise him that he could eat the next ones.

The group swiftly returned to the mountaintop where the temporary spatial array was located. They gathered on the spatial array and Xiang Wuying brought out the jade plate, inserting his Qi into it and activating the formation beneath them. A silver light flashed in front of their eyes, s.p.a.ce around them turning viscous and stretching around them into a coc.o.o.n.

Once the coc.o.o.n vanished, the group was standing in the mission control room again, in front of the booth of the gray-haired and black-robed elder. Xiang Wuying handed the jade plate back to the elder, as well as handing over the gray jade slip, the heads of Teng Jiang and Gao He, as well as the Soul Tablet of Gao Gang, proving that the mission was completed.

The black-robed elder went over the proof, making sure that everything was in order. Once he was certain that the mission was completed, he started to hand out the rewards, starting with Xiang Wuying. Before Xiang Wuying left after received his reward, he turned to Li Yang, giving him a slight nod.

"Junior Brother Yang, if you face any troubles in the future, you can come to look for me and I will help you resolve them."

Huang Yong and the two others couldn't help but turn slightly jealous after hearing this. Having one of the top five outer disciples personally guarantee that they would take care of you was something that every outer disciple dreamed of. Li Yang put on a polite smile, cupping his hands.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Wuying, I will make sure to keep that in mind."

Xiang Wuying gave another slight nod of his head, leaving the mission control building. Huang Yong and the two others also quickly left after receiving their rewards, leaving Li Yang as the last one to receive his reward.

The black-robed elder swiped his interspatial and took out a plum blossom that was crimson in color, an orange pattern in the shape of a flame decorating the leaves, a faint heat radiating from the flower. He handed the flower to Li Yang, asking a standard question.

"Here is the Fireplum Blossom, the 100 contribution points have also been registered in your name, raising your contribution points up to 200. Would you like a list over everything that can be bought for contribution points?"

Li Yang accepted the flower and stored it into his interspatial ring, placing it amongst the other items he had gotten from the Ghost Banner sect treasury. He then gave the black-robed man a nod, as he didn't actually know all the things he could buy using contribution points. The black-robed elder swiped his interspatial ring, taking out a jade slip made from yellow jade, handing it to Li Yang and allowing him to leave.

As Li Yang left the mission control building and made his way back to his own lodgings, he sank a part of his mind into the jade slip and quickly went over the contents. Seeing the wide variety of items that could be bought for contribution points, his eyes couldn't help but light up, especially when he saw the top-ranked items.

"They even have blood like this huh? That means that this clan has someone who has at least reached the middle stage of the Celestial Immortal realm, a Heavenly Immortal. It should be quite useful for Jinwu or the Shenlong twins, so I should try to get my hands on some."

Three of the top-ranked items were a few drops of blood, specifically the blood of an adult Crimson Dragon, the blood of an adult Kun, and the blood of an adult Peng. These three creatures were all Divine beasts like Jinwu and Shenlong, so their blood, especially the blood of adults, was incredibly valuable. This was reflected in the price as well, as each drop of blood would cost 10 million contribution points, a number that felt incredibly distant to the current Li Yang.

The clan also offered various cultivation manuals that interested Li Yang, especially the body cultivation or the soul cultivation manuals. Some of them were rather cheap, while others were quite expensive, so Li Yang decided to check through the collection of books he had just acquired before deciding on which he should buy. After checking through everything he could buy, Li Yang sent a part of his mind into his interspatial ring and started to organize the various books he had acquired.

Once Li Yang reached his own lodging, which was located close to the sh.o.r.e of a lake, he saw that Rivergra.s.s and his two other servants were working around his house, cutting the gra.s.s and cleaning the house, keeping everything in pristine condition. Seeing his arrival, the three servants quickly bowed to him, the scarred and black-haired Blackstone swiftly speaking up.

"Senior Brother Yang, you have returned. Would you like me to make some food?"

They remembered that Li Yang referred to eating as one of the greatest joy a cultivator could have, so he a.s.sumed that Li Yang would want some food right after completing a mission. Li Yang gave a short nod, affirming Blackstone's thoughts.

"Please do."

The three swiftly entered the house and started to work on the dinner, Ji Shun and Blackstone cooking while Rivergra.s.s prepared the table. They all sat down at the table once the food was done, Jinwu and Shenlong sitting on the table at the left and right of Li Yang. While they were eating, Li Yang seemed to think of something, taking out three books from his interspatial ring.

"Right, the three of you can study these books, they should prove to be helpful to your cultivation."

He handed the books to the three servants with a casual wave of his hand. He had already checked these books while he was returning to his house and had found that their contents were useless to him. They described various aspects of several laws, but none of the laws that Li Yang cultivated, so he decided that he might as well hand them to these three servants. They were useless to him but far better than anything Rivergra.s.s and the others had access to, so they were ecstatic when receiving them.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Yang!"

The group continued to eat, quickly finis.h.i.+ng the food. Once they had finished eating, Li Yang dismissed the three servants and retreated to his room, sitting down on the bed with crossed legs His plan now was to carve one or two more runes, increasing his cultivation further by using the resources he had looted in the treasury.

He took out a few herbs, fruits, and mushrooms from his interspatial ring, handing them to Jinwu and Shenlong. The resources he handed them were either fire, ice, lightning, or poison element resources, as only those would be really useful to them. The resources weren't of the top-quality that Divine beasts would usually use, but it was the best he had access to at the moment, so they could only accept them.

After handing them their resources, he took out the ones meant for him and placed them on the bed around him, closing his eyes and sinking his mind into his own dantian, which resembled a pitch black s.p.a.ce where six sets of four different runes floated.

The first thing he did was absorb all the energy within the herbs and fruits that contained large amounts of pure Qi, drawing it into his dantian and using it to a.s.sault the edges of his dantian. The size of his dantian started to slowly increase, creating room for more runes and allowing him to store more Qi in his dantian.

Once he had created enough s.p.a.ce, he split the remaining Qi into eight separate streams, positioning them next to his other runes. The first runes he decided to carve were the runes for his law of true destruction.

The two streams of Qi that gathered next to his previous runes started to slowly change as he inserted part of his mind into them. The previous colorless Qi turned a deep black in color, a slight suction force spreading out as the streams started to change in shape, coiling around themselves and forming the images of black holes.

The suction force released by the runes slowly grew stronger as Li Yang inserted more and more of his mind into them, solidifying his understanding of true destruction into the runes. After an unknown amount of time, the suction force completely vanished, leaving behind two runes in the shape of black holes. The two runes didn't release any suction force or radiate an ounce of pressure, but looking at them filled one with a sense of dread that was born from their own instincts.

The next runes he carved were the runes for his law of lightning. The two streams he had set aside for his law of lightning split up into even more thin strings, each string slowly turning a deep azure in color. He sunk his mind into each of the strings, imbuing them with different parts of his understanding.

some strings crackled with lightning that contained intense heat, some with lightning so fast it could be seen, some with lightning that released a strange attraction force, some with lightning that spiraled as it moved, and some with lightning that seemed strangely calm and weak.

The various strings started to coil around each other, twisting and turning as they slowly started to form two runes. The two runes were in the shape of a cloud crackling with bolts of lightning, each bolt of lightning radiated a different type of pressure, representing a different part of his understanding.

The next runes he carved where his fire runes, the two streams of energy turning a deep crimson in color. Different from his lightning runes, these fire runes only contained a single understanding, extreme heat that burned everything, turning all of creation into a single ma.s.sive fire. The streams quickly coiled around themselves, forming runes that resembled a burning flame.

The last runes he carved were his ice runes, the last two streams of energy turning a light blue in color, a horrifying freezing feeling radiating from them. These ice runes also only contained a single understanding, a cold so horrifying that it would turn all of creation into ice. The streams started to form runes that resembled a clean and pure lotus formed from terrifyingly cold ice.

With the completion of his ice runes, Li Yang had successfully managed to increase his cultivation by two small sub-realms, pus.h.i.+ng him into the middle stage of the Xiantian rune realm. After finis.h.i.+ng the runes, he also realized how much time had pa.s.sed, just about 10 days, a rather short period of time. But his brows were furrowed as he opened his eyes, a light mutter escaping his lips after he finished carving the runes.

"It's gonna start to become more troublesome soon... I should put more focus on increasing my understanding of the fire and ice elements, or at least bring that one concept to the very peak."

Thanks to Fang Ying, Li Yang had some understanding of quite a few other laws. But this could only be called a very basic understanding, far from comparing to his understanding of the law of lightning. He was only in the Human Rune realm right now, so he could get away with only carving fire and ice runes that contained a single understanding, but if he wanted his ice and fire laws to be on par with his lightning laws in the future, he would likely have to deepen his understanding of them.

But rather than increase his understanding of the various applications of fire and ice, he knew that there was one other thing he could do instead, focus fully on the aspect of extreme heat and extreme cold.

Li Yang found the law of fire and ice to be very similar to the law of true destruction, in that they were incredibly inclusive. If true destruction was left to wreak havoc, it would swallow the entire universe, turning everything into the empty void that was true destruction.

But fire and ice were the same, in that as long as there was enough heat, a fire could burn everything in existence, turning everything into more flames. Ice was the same, in that as long as there was enough cold, everything could be turned into ice, turning even the entire universe into a single block of ice.

Because of this, he could either widen his understanding of the two laws, learning all about their various utilizations and aspects, or he could focus fully on these two extremes, making his fire and ice runes very similar to his true destruction runes.

He continued to mull over it but didn't manage to reach a conclusion in a short amount of time, so he got up from the bed to stretch his body a little, heading over to the kitchen to pick up some wine that he kept cool. As he headed to his kitchen, he suddenly heard a soft sound coming from the wall of the house. He tilted his head slightly, quietly listening. The sound came again, sounding as if something soft hit the side of the house.

Li Yang turned towards the door, Jiwnu and Shenlong quickly taking their usual spots on his body. Jinwu landed on his left shoulder, and Shenlong coiled around his neck. Both had grown a little larger after devouring the given resources and even though he couldn't see Huanglong, he guessed that she had grown just as much.

Li Yang left his house, immediately spotting the tall and brown-haired Long Jucai and the more average, black-haired Yuan Lanxia. Standing between the two was a wooden wheelbarrow filled with brown feces, the both of them holding shovels that they used to pick up the feces and fling it at Li Yang's house. After Li Yang stepped out of the house, the female Yuan Lanxia nodded her head and gave him an enthusiastic greeting.

"Good morning, Junior Brother Yang!"

Li Yang didn't return her greeting, tilting his head as he looked at the wheelbarrow filled with feces. His expression was calm as he couldn't help but let out a light chuckle, stepping a bit away from his house so that none of the feces would land on him.

"Throwing s.h.i.+t? Is Yijun really that childish?"

These two worked for his Senior Sister Yijun, who seemed to be annoyed that he refused to pay the tax that everyone else paid. Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia didn't give him a response, continuing to throw feces at his house while he just calmly watched. Once the wheelbarrow was empty, Li Yang c.o.c.ked his head slightly, glancing at the two.

"Are you done now?"

It couldn't be that they carried around a second wheelbarrow filled with feces, right? But it seemed like that one wheelbarrow was all they had, as Long Jucai nodded his head and gave Li Yang a polite smile, cupping his hands.

"Yes, we will leave now, sorry for taking up your time."

The two turned around and started to walk away, leaving behind the empty wheelbarrow and the two dirty shovels. But before they managed to walk more than a few steps, the voice of Li Yang stopped them in their tracks.

"Leave? First, you have to clean up all this s.h.i.+t."

His voice was still calm, as if his house hadn't just been peppered in feces. The two turned around, Long Jucai shaking his head and giving Li Yang a look that told him that he should be more sensible now.

"Sorry, but we cannot do that, orders from Senior Sister Yijun. But if you were to pay the tax, I am certain she would be so kind as to send some servants over to help you clean."

After Long Jucai spoke up, he was surprised to find that Li Yang suddenly started to laugh lightly. Jiinwu and Shenlong moved away from Li Yang, flying a bit away. Li Yang continued to laugh lightly, giving a light shake of his head.

"Heh, seems like people think that I will just accept whatever just because I didn't want to cause any trouble. But oh well."

He just wanted to acquire resources and peacefully cultivate before he met up with Fang Ying again. He had no interest in ruining this little ruling gig that Yijun and the other top outer disciples had going. Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia didn't quite understand the meaning of Li Yang's words, so Yuan Lanxia c.o.c.ked her head slightly.

"What are you-!?"

She didn't get to finish her words, as crimson flames suddenly burst out from all of Li Yang's pressure point as he activated the technique Jing Yimu had taught him, Burning Hope. The rumbling of thunder rang out as Li Yang suddenly vanished from his position, a thin arc of lightning flas.h.i.+ng past Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia.

The two only had a cultivation at the early stage of the Ascending Heaven realm, so they didn't even have the chance to reach when Li Yang burst forth with most of his strength. The both of them felt a strong impact strike their backs, a mixture of fiery and icy energy invading their bodies, scorching their veins and freezing their bones.

Now that he had reached the middle stage of the Xiantian Rune realm, Li Yang didn't even need to fuse with Jinwu or Shenlong to deal with cultivators like Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia. The two were pushed forward by the strong force of the attack, collapsing to the ground and rolling forward. With their bones freezing and their veins burning, the two didn't even have the strength to stand up, but they still glared at Li Yang and shouted at him, a sliver of fear appearing in their eyes.

"Are you trying to break the law of the clan?!"

Li Yang stood at the spot where the two had just been, crimson flames, azure lightning, and a fine blue mist all dancing around him, his azure hair fluttering around thanks to the unleashed energy. He still wore a calm smile as he walked towards the two of them, chuckling lightly.

"Break the law? Not at all, I have no intention of crippling or killing you, just inflict a teensy amount of pain."

He didn't want to cause any trouble, but that didn't mean that he would allow others to do against him as he wished. He was no longer the Thunder Monarch of the past, but his pride was already bone-deep, engraved into his very being. How could a proud person like him possibly allow others to throw feces at his house?

He also wasn't worried about revealing some of his might, like the Burning Hope technique, as he had already prepared a plan in case people got suspicious. He stopped in front of the two collapsed disciples, pointing at his dirty house with a calm smile.

"Now then, it should be about time for you two to clean up all this s.h.i.+t."

Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia s.h.i.+vered slightly when faced with Li Yang's calm black eyes, which they only now noticed resembled black holes. But despite the fear they were feeling, they still grit their teeth and spoke out.

"We refuse!"

They weren't worried that Li Yang would go too overboard, as they were after all working for Senior Sister Yijun. Just the fact that he had attacked them like this was enough for Senior Sister Yijun to seek out Li Yang and make him pay reparations. They stubbornly refused, but all that met them was the calm laughter of Li Yang.

"Refuse? What part of my words made it sound like you had a choice? I'm not asking or requesting you, I am ordering you. The moment I spoke up, my words turned into a divine decree for the two of you. You must obey, whether you want to or not."

After he chuckled, he pointed his finger at them, several small arcs of lightning shooting out from his fingertips and entering the bodies of the two. After the lightning entered their bodies, the two were shocked to discover that their bodies started to move, standing up and walking towards the house. The part that shocked them was the fact that they weren't the ones controlling their bodies! They even tried to stop moving, but their bodies wouldn't listen to them. They couldn't help but cry out, their voice a mixture of fear and shock.

"This... What is this?!"

Li Yang walked a bit behind the two, slightly raising one of his sharp eyebrows after he heard their shocked cry. He gave another light chuckle, explaining it to the two of them in a mocking voice.

"What, you're part of the Yuan clan but don't know that all the movements your body makes are all dictated by small electric currents that run through your body? Are you that r.e.t.a.r.ded? Or maybe you are just too dumb to actually bother studying? So in theory, as long as one can delicately control their law of lightning, they can control the actions of others, even what they see and hear. Of course, if one's control is a bit off, it could end up frying the brain or nerves of the one being controlled, turning them into a cripple or a r.e.t.a.r.d."

His words were meant to frighten the two, but they were still true. If his control was off, his lightning could suddenly increase in strength and fry their brain or nerves. Of course, there was no chance of that happening right now, not with Li Yang in control. The three swiftly reached the dirty house, Li Yang giving a light clap of his hands.

"If you were at full power, I wouldn't be able to control you this easily, but now that you are wounded and weak, it is a piece of cake. So, time to clean the s.h.i.+t."

Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia thought that Li yang would have them enter the house to pick up cleaning supplies, but they quickly turned pale when they noticed that he was making them push their faces closer and closer to the feces that stained the house. The two quickly called out in disgust and fear.

"Stop, stop! Please stop, we'll clean it!"

If the options were to either clean to house on their own or have their faces covered in feces, it was a simple choice. But what a shame, Li Yang only let out another calm laugh, his calm smiling face sending s.h.i.+vers up the spines of Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia.

"Oh, I know you will. But first, since you threw s.h.i.+t at my house, you must be ready to have some s.h.i.+t thrown at you."

The two felt like crying, but Li Yang didn't stop. They buried their own faces in the feces that they had thrown at his house, completely covering their faces in the disgusting substance. Only when their faces were completely smeared in feces did Li Yang have them pick up cleaning supplies, starting to clean the entire house.

Two hours later, the house was finally completely clean again. Li Yang grabbed the two by the neck, tossing them away and undoing his control over them. After they landed a short distance away from his house, his voice fluttered into their ears, the calmness of it continuing to send s.h.i.+vers down their spine.

"Good work, you cleaned up every last bit! Now f.u.c.k off and tell Senior Sister Yijun that she can keep her childish ideas and grand delusions of being a mighty ruler to herself, I won't play along."