Against The Heavens 79 Such Annoying People.

"Senior Brother Yang... They..."

Ji Shun and the others were very clear on the ident.i.ties of Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia, they were the servants of one of the top five outer disciples. Li Yang beating them so easily was shocking, but it didn't really matter, what mattered more was that this would provoke the ire of the one standing behind them, Yuan Yijun. But facing the three nervous servants, Li Yang simply gave a calming wave of his hand.

"Don't worry about it, they won't be returning."

Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia wouldn't dare return, and if Yuan Yijun was smart, she wouldn't bother sending any more people. After all, Li Yang's strength was unknown to her, so sending more people could easily result in her simply having more of her men beat up and humiliated. The three servants didn't seem to understand this, so they still looked worried. But Li Yang simply shrugged his shoulders, casually waving his hand as he started to walk away.

"I plan on checking out some of the training grounds, you guys should focus on your cultivation."

If Li Yang wanted to deepen his understanding of the laws of fire and ice, his best choice was to check out the training grounds set up by the clan, they would allow him to save quite a bit of time. Li Yang didn't know where the training grounds were located, so he followed Jiang Chen's advice and headed for the mission control building. Once inside, he simply walked up to the closest stall and asked the black-haired male youth behind the counter.

"I would like some directions to the training grounds, where can I get those?"

The black-haired youth put on a polite and charming smile, nodding at Li Yang and then pointing to the very back of the large hall.

"All training ground questions can be taken to Elder Zhuten, you can find him sitting at the booth located at the far back, to the east."

The booth he pointed at was located in the far back, but it was surprisingly visible, with very few booths located around it. Liang Chen thanked the youth and then headed for the booth, giving the old man with silky black hair a quick nod.

"I would like directions to the training ground focusing on the law of fire, could you point me there?"

The black-haired Elder Zhuten opened his eyes, revealing them both to be completely white, as if he was blind. But despite seemingly being blind, his eyes were able to perfectly locate Li Yang's face, the two locking eyes. Elder Zhuten spoke up, his voice a bit hoa.r.s.e.

"Head to the Ascending Carp Staircase and follow it up the mountain for about 700 steps, then enter the first house to your left, the small one-room building with the orange door. But don't forget that staying in the training ground requires contribution points. If you run out while training, you will be thrown out, so keep it in mind."

Li Yang thanked Elder Zhuten, giving him a deep look before he left for the Ascending Carp Staircase. Elder Zhuten seemed like a frail and blind elder, but Li Yang felt that something about him was off, he just couldn't place his finger on it.

He followed the directions, quickly reaching the staircase that went from the foot of the main mountain all the way to the peak. He counted the steps as he made his way up, stopping after exactly 700 and turning to the left. There was indeed a small one-room house standing a few meters away from him, a bright orange door taking up most of the wall.

Li Yang opened the door and entered the house, arriving in a small room that was completely empty. The floor of the room was covered in lines and runes drawn using blood filled with Qi, forming a small spatial array. Once Li Yang entered the room, the formation lit up, a thin stream of energy entered his body, sinking into the piece of jade that had sunk into his body when he became a member of the Yuan clan. The formation quickly lit up, s.p.a.ce around Li Yang distorting and twisting, a silver light blinding him as he was sent through s.p.a.ce.

When the light vanished, Li Yang found himself standing in an incredibly hot environment. He was standing in a small clearing surrounded by a large forest, with a ma.s.sive volcano spewing black smoke towering above him in the distance. But the forest around him wasn't completely normal, it was completely ablaze.

All of the trees were burning with crimson flames, even the earth was covered in flames. But strangely enough, whenever a tree was turned to ash, it would quickly grow anew from the ashes, only to catch fire again. Looking at the forest around him, Li Yang rubbed his chin slightly.

"So this is the training ground... What a peculiar place. I wonder just where on the continent, or planet, we are right now."

Li Yang searched his memories, but he could not remember there being a volcano as ma.s.sive as the one in front of him located on this planet. Had it popped up while he was gone, or did the array take him to a different planet? It wasn't completely out of the question that this was a new planet, as the Yuan clan should be strong enough to spread to some of the closer planets.

Li Yang temporarily took his eyes away from the blazing fires, inspecting the ground and some of the trees, gazing deeper into the forest, a light flickering in his eyes as he rubbed his chin in interest.

"There is an array supporting the entire area, but it seems that the density of energy is stronger the closer we get to the volcano. Is it a separated formation, or maybe a layered one? Or maybe it's a formation within a formation?"

He could tell that there seemed to be a single array covering the burning forest and the large volcano, but there were clear differences in the strength of the array based on how close to the volcano one got.

For this to be the case, the array had to either be a separated array, an array that was split up and fueled by different energy sources of varying strength, or it had to be a layered array, an array where the material used to draw it changed as you drew it, the stronger parts of the array drawn using more powerful blood. As for a formation within a formation, that was much simpler, one simply drew one array on top of part of another array, taking great care to not have the lines interfere with each other.

While Li Yang was muttering about what sort of array could be used to fuel this training ground, Jinwu and Shenlong let out a few cries, nudging Li Yang and interrupting his thought process. He glanced at the two of them, who were looking at him with imploring eyes. He let out a light chuckle, waving his hand.

"Yes yes, the two of you can run loose, but don't cause any trouble."

Jinwu and Shenlong immediately shot out after Li Yang waved his hand. Jinwu could absorb the fire to increase his strength, and while Shenlong and Huanglong couldn't absorb the fire, they could at least use the heat to somewhat temper their bodies. Li Yang watched them vanish, a smile on his face. Once they disappeared from sight, Li Yang's eyes landed on the blazing flames.

"Alright then, let's delve into the mysteries of fire."

He hadn't forgotten why he had come here, to deepen his understanding of the law of fire. Even if he was interested in the arrays used to support this place, he could inspect them in the future, once he had a bit more time.

Li Yang took a deep breath, stepping into the burning forest and pus.h.i.+ng his concentration to the peak. He spread out his senses, connecting his mind to all the fire burning around him as he slowly walked through the forest, his mind almost blanking as he entered what he considered to be a standard cultivation state.

He instantly lost track of time as he walked, his mind becoming part of the fire that scorched this forest. And it was because his mind was part of the fire that he started to discover some of the finer parts of it.

Fire wasn't just destructive, it had other properties than just extreme heat. When controlled, it brought peace and warmth to people, pus.h.i.+ng away the cold and the beasts that lurked in the dark. When it was unleashed on a forest, it would destroy everything, but the energy in the fire, as well as the nutrients in the resulting ash, would allow the forest to grow back incredibly fast, healthier than ever before. Fire could also sterilize, the high heat burning away harmful ent.i.ties that were too small to be seen. Fire was far more than just destruction and heat.

Li Yang continued to immerse himself in the burning flames, not even noticing when the fire spread to his own body, scorching away his robes and starting to melt his body. Li Yang's body had been rebuilt using fire during one of the trials he undertook in Zhao Feng's hidden realm, so the fire didn't hurt him, it instead melted and rebuilt his body again, tempering it a bit further and increasing his affinity to fire.

Of course, had it not been for Li Yang's body having been rebuilt by fire, something that was only possible thanks to the tremendously strong array Zhao Feng had set down as well as the control of Chen Huo, the green dragon that controlled the array, Li Yang would die if his body was to be subjected to treatment like this.

After his body melted and was rebuilt using fire several times, Li Yang suddenly left his cultivation state, clarity returning to his eyes. He took out a fresh robe from his interspatial ring, one of the violet wolf skin robes, putting it on and using his Qi to push away the fire around him. He swept the surroundings with his gaze, a sigh escaping his lips.

"Haah, this truly is a wonderful training ground. With the array slowly strengthening and changing as you head deeper, you can always just turn back if you wish to focus on one specific aspect of the law, or head deeper when you feel that your understanding has deepened. It even tests your understanding to see if you are ready to head deeper. I truly wonder just how an array like this was set up."

Despite being in a deep cultivation state, thanks to his mind being connected to the surrounding fires, he was still able to keep an eye on his surroundings. It was thanks to this that he noticed that the entire training ground was split up into several different areas, each area focusing on a different part of the law of fire. The surrounding array would even prevent others from going deeper if they didn't prove that they had a sufficiently deep understanding of the law of fire. For such a training ground to exist, it was clear that whoever set it up had not only a terrifyingly deep understanding of the law of fire, but was also highly proficient in arrays.

Li Yang checked the piece of jade that had fused with his chest, checking on his contribution points. And once he saw his current balance, he couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile.

"It feels like its only been a few minutes, but two months have already pa.s.sed. I've only stayed in the outskirts of the array, so each day only cost me 2 contribution points, so I'm down to only 80. Should be about time for me to gather up some more."

It felt like he had just barely sunk his mind into the surrounding flames, but it turned out that two months had pa.s.sed by without him noticing it. Over these two months, his cultivation hadn't increased, but his fire runes had grown even purer and more profound, increasing the strength of his flames, and his body had grown somewhat stronger.

Li Yang let loose a loud whistle that echoed through the area, patiently waiting after the sound vanished. The sound of flapping wings quickly approached Li Yang, Jinwu and Shenlong coming at full speed, landing in their usual spots on Li Yang's body.

The s.h.i.+ne of Shenlong's scales had grown a bit more resplendent, and Jinwu's eyes now contained a trace amount of golden color, it was clear that both had gained a bit after these two months. Li Yang gave a satisfied nod of his head and then returned to the clearing where he had first appeared, returning to the Yuan clan.

Li Yang quickly descended the Ascending Carp Staircase and made his way back to his own home. He had been gone for two months, so he was a bit curious about what might have happened in his absence. But when he reached his own house, his eyebrow couldn't help but rise.

The three houses that Blackstone and the two other servants lived in had been completely ruined, the three servants sitting on the ground outside Li Yang's house. Their faces were bandaged and their bodies bruised, so it was clear that they had suffered a beating. Seeing Li Yang approaching, the three quickly stood up and put on forced smiles, cupping their hands.

"Senior Brother Y"

Before the three even got to finish their greetings, Li Yang waved his hand and cut them off, his voice completely calm.

"What happened here?"

His own house was perfectly fine, it didn't even have a scratch or a stain. But the three houses he had gifted his servants had been destroyed so badly that one might as well just rebuild the houses from scratch. The three servants gave each other a quick glance, Blackstone shrugging his shoulders.

"It's nothi-"

Li Yang once again cut them off before they got to finish their sentence, stepping forward and instantly arriving in front of Blackstone, the sound of m.u.f.fled thunder ringing out.

"Just tell me what happened here."

He wasn't interested in hearing their excuses, he just wanted to figure out what had happened here. Blackstone's expression turned into a grimace for a short second, before he let out a sigh and told the truth.

"It was Kong Lingxin, Senior Sister Yujin's third in command. He came to seek reparations for what happened to Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia."

He came to seek reparations, but since Li Yang was training somewhere, he couldn't get a hold of him. Li Yang gave a slight nod of his head, giving the surroundings a slight sweep with his gaze.

"Hoh? Seems like he got a bit impatient while he waited. So I guess this is supposed to be something of a message? Where can I find this Kong Lingxin?"

Blackstone, Rivergra.s.s, and Ji Shun, these three people were Li Yang's servants, people working for him. He had told Long Jucai and Yuan Lanxia that he would not stand for anyone laying a hand on the people a.s.signed to him, as it was something that Fang Ying hated. But now they had gone and done just that, even destroying the things that Li Yang had gifted the three of them.

Blackstone wanted to give another excuse, but seeing the calm expression on Li Yang's eyes, he felt a slight s.h.i.+ver run down his spine, so he quickly told him the truth.

"There is no nee... He enjoys battling others, so he often frequents the arena, both as a spectator and as a contestant."

Li Yang gave another nod of his head, turning around and calmly making his way towards the horizontally split mountain that was the arena. Blackstone and the others didn't dare follow, as provisional disciples weren't allowed to enter the arena, but they still heard Li Yang's faint mutter as he left.

"This is why people like Yijun and such are so annoying, they get a tiny amount of power and control, and suddenly they think that everyone has to follow them."