Chapter 702

Chapter 702: The World Tree

As dawn rose, Ye Yun casually threw on a loose black robe that hung baggy over his frame. When he reached the canyon’s edge, he found Golden Ling’er and Jin An waiting. Their eyes lit up at the sight of him.

“Senior, do you think Ling’er will find her fortune inside the World Tree?” Golden Ling’er chirped, bouncing behind Ye Yun.

Jin An shook his head at her antics, then tensed as more Nascent Soul cultivators arrived. Many flew in groups, clearly allied, all drawn to the World Tree’s promise.

“The Moon Goddess Palace is here,” someone muttered. Ye Yun glanced toward hundreds of moon-robed figures. At their center stood a black-clad woman, coldly surveying the canyon like a star amidst lesser lights.

“Jun Ruolan! How’s my Infant-Breaking Pill treating you?” Yao Hongchen sauntered over, flashing a grin for the Medicine King Valley’s sake.

“Mediocre. Nothing special,” Jun Ruolan replied, voice frostier than winter.

Yao Hongchen chuckled, unfazed. “Yet even ‘mediocre’ cost you dearly, didn’t it?”

“Must you waste breath on nonsense?” She turned away. “Your valley master will skin you alive if he learns your latest batch failed.”

“Ah, your spies work fast.” Yao Hongchen’s smile tightened. “But if I claim the World Tree’s top three superb heavenly materials and earthly treasures, even failure becomes irrelevant.”

“You think you can take them from me?” Her laugh was a blade. “Delusional, alchemist.”

“Alone? No. But with a friend…” Yao Hongchen waved. “Brother Ye! Come greet our Senior Sister!”

“So you’ve teamed up with him.” Jun Ruolan’s mask slipped for a heartbeat—long enough to remember Ye Yun’s hand in Zhang Yanhua’s unraveling mind.

“We’re acquainted,” Ye Yun said, materializing beside Yao Hongchen in a flash of light. “No need for formal introductions.”

“Perfect! Persuade her to yield those three treasures to me,” Yao Hongchen pressed.

Ye Yun turned to Jun Ruolan. “For my sake?”

“For you?” Her lips twitched. “I’ll fight harder to keep them.”

“You see how it is.” Ye Yun spread his hands.

Yao Hongchen sighed. “Then we join forces.”

Ye Yun’s chuckle held no commitment. Around them, sects gathered—yet Moon Dynasty and Sword Seeking Villa were conspicuously absent.

“Too cautious, those Moon Dynasty rats,” Yao Hongchen muttered. “They’ll regret skipping this layer.”

“Why hasn’t the World Tree opened?” Jun Ruolan snapped.

“Let the weak rush in first. We’ll watch.” Yao Hongchen nodded at the canyon’s pulsing life energy.

“Then watch.” Jun Ruolan’s Moon Goddess power flared. She shot toward the canyon, disciples trailing like comet tails.

BOOM!

The earth split. A gargantuan tree erupted, its trunk swallowing the canyon. Life energy thickened until the air itself felt alive.

Jun Ruolan became a silver streak piercing the tree’s heart. Ye Yun and Yao Hongchen followed, though not before Ye Yun warned Golden Ling’er: “Greed kills. Stay back.”

The duo lingered, opting survival over glory.

Inside, Ye Yun breathed in the life-rich air. His soul power stirred, hungrily absorbing the energy. The Ancestor of the Sword Path’s voice warned in his mind: *Move carefully. Take what you can without provoking the herd.*

A scream ripped through the first layer. A carnivorous plant gulped Nascent Soul cultivators, vines snatching escapees. Ye Yun watched, unmoved. Fools deserved their fates.

Yao Hongchen wasn’t so patient. His Qianshou Ding unleashed beastly phantoms that shredded the flora. “For the greater good,” he declared.

Ye Yun smirked. When a low-grade heavenly material glinted ahead, he lashed his Fire Dragon Whip, searing a barrier. A spatial twist later, the treasure was his.

“Spatial laws? Impressive,” Yao Hongchen remarked.

“Says the man hoarding a Spatial Dragon’s Soul.” Ye Yun’s grin didn’t reach his eyes.

Yao Hongchen paled but laughed. “A lucky find! The egg’s soul’s in my cauldron. The rest… well, survival of the fittest.”

Guided by the Ancestor, Ye Yun pillaged the second layer, leaving scraps. Yao Hongchen watched, calculating.

“They’ll turn on you,” he warned as cultivators eyed Ye Yun’s bulging haul.

“Let them try.” Ye Yun’s fingers crackled with restrained power.

Yao Hongchen’s smile hid daggers. *Let the wolves come. I’ll pick through the bones.*

Unseen, Ye Yun smothered the Spatial Dragon Soul’s rage in his core. That soul in Yao Hongchen’s cauldron—it would be his. Soon.