Against The Heavens 98 Completing The Mission And Returning To The Clan.

"Could you bring us closer? It's easier to give out orders if I am close enough to properly observe everything that's going on."

The two elders nodded their heads, bringing the flying carriage that everyone was sitting on to the spot that Li Yang had pointed at. From this spot right above the mountain, Li Yang would be able to see everything that went on around the mountain. It would be a bit of a strain on his eyes to closely observe such a large area, but it would be manageable.

Other than the six disciples that had already been sent out to deal with their a.s.signed tasks, the remaining 11 disciples were eagerly awaiting their turn to take part in the mission. This was the last mission in the rank-up test, so everyone was eager to use their full strength and show their best sides.

Four hours after he sent out Bai Wei and the two other disciples to rescue the hostages, they returned with 17 people who had wounds of varying degrees. Most of the hostages were young and beautiful women so Li Yang and the others knew what they had gone through before Bai Wei had even delivered the report. Li Yang swept the hostages with a quick glance, turning to Bai Wei.

"The mission summary stated that around 30 people had been kidnapped, are the rest dead?"

The mission was to kill the bandits and rescue all the living hostages, so he wanted to make doubly sure that there were no more hostages left within the mountain before he started the second part of the plan. Bai Wei nodded her head with a grim expression, casting a disgusted sideways glance at the mountain.

"No one else remains. Junior Brother Yang, I want everyone within that mountain dead, don't you dare fail this mission."

Bai Wei was a woman herself, so seeing what these female hostages had been put through filled her with nothing but endless disgust and rage. Of course, the male disciples were also filled with similar emotions, wondering how they would feel if their friends, family, or lovers had been among these female hostages. Li Yang nodded his head, his expression still as calm as it had always been, not a single one of his thoughts visible in his expression.

"You don't have to worry about that, their deaths were already set in stone when I received this mission."

Li Yang had no intentions of allowing this mission to fail, as the odds of him becoming an inner disciple would fall drastically if he were to do so. So from the moment the scroll that contained the summary of this mission landed in his hands, the fates of all the bandits within this mountain were sealed.

Li Yang handed all the hostages to Elder Su and Elder Mujin, directing Bai Wei and the remaining disciples to head out and meet up with Xing Zhong and the two other disciples that had finished sealing up all but two of the entrances. He had already decided on the groups earlier, so all the disciples split up into their designated groups and lined up in front of the two entrances, which were located only a very short distance away from each other.

Elder Mujin and Elder Su brought the flying carriage closer to the two entrances so that Li Yang could give orders from only a few meters away, allowing him to quickly change his orders should it be necessary. Li Yang looked at the two groups that were eagerly waiting, nodding his head and giving the orders.

"Senior Sister Fen, please fill both the caves with a plethora of plants."

The brown-haired Han Fen didn't specialize in the law of plants, but she had studied it a bit, enough to almost reach the Ascending Heaven realm with it. She nodded her head and took out a leather pouch from her interspatial ring, opening the pouch and revealing that it was filled with small seeds. She threw the seeds into the two caves that led into the mountain, using her law of plants to drastically increase the speed at which the plants grew.

Before long, both caves were filled with colorful and slightly poisonous plants, so many of them that they made it nearly impossible to see further into the caves. The plants only filled the 500 meters of the caves, but it was more than enough. Li Yang turned to two other disciples, nodding his head at them.

"Senior Brother Min and Senior Brother Cai, your turn."

The blue-haired Xie Min and the black-haired Lie Cai nodded their heads, stepping forward and waving their hands at the caves. Deep crimson flames roared into existence inside the caves, the plants quickly starting to burn and filling the caves with noxious smoke. The two disciples then took a step back, Li Yang nodding his head at Bai Wei and another disciple by the name of Yan Hu.

Bai Wei and Yan Hu nodded their heads, clapping their hands and causing the earth around the cave entrances to crumble and twist, forming a thick wall in front of the caves. They only left tiny holes that allowed the air to enter the caves, Li Yang stationing two disciples in front of the holes and having them use their law of wind to funnel air into the tunnels, blowing the smoke deeper into the mountain.

With the smoke starting to fill the maze of caves that filled the mountain, Li Yang and the other disciples simply had to wait, occasionally throwing more flames into the caves through the small holes in the blockade. Sounds of shouting and coughing started to slowly echo throughout the caves, the sound of people running around barely audible.

It seemed like the bandits within the mountain were looking for an exit they could use, but Xing Zhong and the others had made all the other exits completely unusable. The only exits that still looked like they might be usable were the ones where Li Yang and the others were currently waiting.

It didn't take long for the bandits to notice this fact as well, quickly flooding into the two caves that led to these exits. They saw the flames and the blocked exits, but they could only rush through the flames and do their best to smash down the blockades, the closed cave entrances starting to vibrate as more and more attacks landed on them.

Li Yang continued to calmly look on as the blocked cave entrances were attacked, but it seemed like some of the other disciples weren't able to be as calm as him. A few of them seemed to get a bit antsy, a middle-aged disciple with long brown hair, Kang Xia, turning to Li Yang.

"We should just open the blockades and crush the bandits head-on with our overwhelming strength. Please open the blockade!"

The four other disciples that were getting antsy mimicked Kang Xia's sentence, not willing to just wait around. This was their last chance to show their cultivation and might, they weren't content with just waiting here without showing-off. Li Yang cast a sideways glance at the five disciples, but he didn't really bother with them or their proposal, shaking his head.

"No need. Throw some more flames into the cave to increase the density of the smoke."

The two disciples responsible for filling the caves with flames nodded their heads, using the small holes in the blockade to throw more flames into the caves. There were a few shrieking sounds coming from beyond the blockade so it seemed like a few bandits had been hit by the flames and were currently being roasted. The five disciples grew a bit antsier, Kang Xia seemingly getting an idea as he spoke out in a righteous voice.

"We are representing the Yuan clan in this mission, to protect the pride and reputation of the Yuan clan, we should face these bandits in battle and show our superiority by crus.h.i.+ng them!"

Before the start of the second trial, Elder Su had reminded them that they were representing the Yuan clan in these missions so they had to do their best to not tarnish the reputation of the clan. It seemed like Kang Xia wanted to use this fact to force Li Yang to follow his proposal, giving him a chance to show off in front of Elder Su and Elder Mujin. But what a shame, Li Yang simply gave a cold snort and cast a disdainful sideways glance at Kang Xia.

"If protecting the pride and reputation of the clan means that we must start needless fights and risk our lives in a secluded location like this where there isn't even a single witness, then it's better to throw away that pride."

No one other than the people here would ever know how this mission had been completed, so what did it matter how they completed the mission? Besides, the Yuan clan was too large for something like this to tarnish its reputation. On the contrary, people might even praise the Yuan clan for coming up with a clever and safe way of dealing with the bandits if they were to find out about this.

Kang Xia's mouth twitched slightly as he swept the surrounding disciples and the two elders with a quick gaze, looking for others to support him. But other than the four that were already supporting him, the others didn't even bother with him, they were agreeing with Li Yang. Kang Xia should realize that the best option was to relent, but he was too caught up with trying to show off, so he decided to open his mouth to protest some more.

"You must think of the clan's pride at all times, even if no one is looking. You have to open that blockade so that we can crush the opponents head on. If you won't do it, then for the pride and glory of the grand Yuan clan, I will have to do it."

He mentioned the pride and glory of the Yuan clan in an attempt to make himself look to be the righteous one, the one who was correct. But at this point, even Elder Su and Elder Mujin were rolling their eyes at him. Kang Xia was already expecting Li Yang to reject him, so he had already started working on another counterargument while he was still talking. Sadly, he didn't understand how Li Yang acted and thought.

The moment Kang Xia finished his righteous words, the loud rumbling of thunder rang out, Li Yang vanis.h.i.+ng from his previous spot. He arrived in front of Kang Xia, his gaze cold and his body wrapped in glimmering lightning. His arm shot forward, his right hand clamping down on Kang Xia's throat like a vice, lifting him up from the ground. Kang Xia struggled to free himself, but lightning and ice flooded into his body, dulling his movements and strength to a point where he couldn't even resist. He hadn't been prepared for Li Yang to attack, so he hadn't even put up any defenses.

The others turned to look at the spectacle, Li Yang looking at Kang Xia and the four other disciples who had mimicked his sentiment with a cold gaze. He clenched his fist slightly, his fingers starting to dig into Kang Xia's throat and drawing a few drops of blood as he spoke.

"If you bring up that stupid idea of yours one more time, if you threaten to open that blockade one more time, or if you try to bring up the f.u.c.king pride of the clan one more time, I will consider it not only insubordination but also an attempt to hinder the completion of this mission, and then I will act accordingly."

Li Yang would not allow this Kang Xia or his little cronies to mess up this mission, he would not let them mess up his chance to become an inner disciple. The resources he would receive after becoming an inner disciple would allow him to greatly increase his strength before the compet.i.tion where he would meet up with Fang Ying again, so he was quite unwilling to give up on them.

Kang Xia tried to look at Elder Su and Elder Mujin for help, but neither of them moved to help him. Li Yang was the leader of this mission, so Kang Xia's actions could indeed be seen as insubordination and an attempt to hinder the progress of the mission. Of course, they would not allow Li Yang to kill Kang Xia, but a bit of punishment was fine.

In the end, Kang Xia could only give several nods of his head, showing that he understood that he had overstepped his bounds and could only relent. Li Yang let go of his throat and let him fall to the ground, coughing heavily and gasping for breath. Li Yang then turned to the other disciples, giving an order in such a calm voice that the previous threat had seemed like nothing but an illusion.

"More fire."

The disciples in charge of the fire nodded their head and threw more fire into the caves, no one else daring to even mention removing the blockades and facing the bandits in a head-on battle. With more and more fire being thrown into the caves, more and more smoke started to gather within the mountain, the sounds of shouting and coughing slowly dying out.

Seven hours after they started throwing fire into the caves, the inside of the mountain had turned completely silent. Li Yang had everyone wait for another hour before he finally allowed them to remove the blockades and check if any bandits had survived. They blew away the smoke with some wind, starting to go through the caves one by one, checking up on all the bandits.

But there were no bandits left alive, all of them having choked on the thick smoke and suffocating to death, the caves of this mountain truly becoming their burial grounds. They picked up any interspatial rings and other items that might be valuable, picking up the bandit bodies so that they could serve as food for the Demonic beasts that the Yuan clan reared.

Once they finished this, Elder Mujin and Elder Su announced the successful completion of the mission, bringing all the disciples back to the clan to announce who among them would become an inner disciple and what rewards they would receive.