Chapter 291

Chapter 291: Someone Is Out to Get Me!

Ye Tianming stood there dumbstruck.

What on earth was Xianbao Pavilion pulling here?

He had never seen anything like this at the Xianbao Pavilion in the real world — the one outside must have developed some kind of high-tech operation.

The man and woman were getting more and more worked up as they argued, while the people standing nearby were grinning so wide they couldn’t close their mouths.

After watching for a bit with Zhantai Zhan, Ye Tianming found it all rather dull and headed upstairs.

This Xianbao Pavilion had twelve floors.

The topmost floor was off-limits to everyone.

Just like the one in the real world, the twelfth floor was a private residence.

It sat empty year-round.

But it had to be there!

That floor was reserved exclusively for the Yang family.

The remaining eleven floors held tens of thousands of pavilion stalls, each representing a different merchant. Xianbao Pavilion was without question the largest trading guild in the entire universe, but it was certainly not the only merchant around — the thing was, any merchant in the universe who wanted to grow had no choice but to work with Xianbao Pavilion, or they simply couldn’t operate.

That was precisely why you could buy anything at Xianbao Pavilion as long as you had the money.

Because their supply came from every corner of the universe.

It was safe to say that Xianbao Pavilion had no rivals anywhere in the universe.

Ye Tianming brought Zhantai Zhan to Xianbao Pavilion’s all-you-can-eat restaurant — of everything here, this place had always left the deepest impression on him. It offered cuisine from every civilization across the universe, and it was absolutely delicious.

And Zhantai Zhan loved eating more than anything.

Sure enough, the moment she laid eyes on all the food spread across the tables, her eyes lit right up.

Seeing that, Ye Tianming broke into a smile.

Each of them grabbed a basin.

Here, once you paid, you could eat as much as you liked.

Before long, the two of them had filled both basins to the brim.

Zhantai Zhan had felt a little embarrassed at first, but when she saw Ye Tianming grab a basin too and pile it just as high, she laughed.

The two sat by the window — a perfect spot with a sweeping view of nearly half the city spread out before them.

Ye Tianming and Zhantai Zhan dug in ravenously.

After a while, Zhantai Zhan suddenly held out a big drumstick to Ye Tianming. He took it and chomped off a bite, and Zhantai Zhan burst into a grin, then pointed at his face — it was covered in food.

Ye Tianming pointed right back at Zhantai Zhan’s face, because hers was just as messy.

They both burst out laughing.

And so it went, until after quite some time, the two of them had cleaned out every last bit of food in their basins.

Zhantai Zhan wiped her mouth. “Delicious, absolutely delicious!”

Ye Tianming watched her with a smile.

Since arriving in the Theology Universe, he had tried teaching Zhantai Zhan cultivation, but it had been no use whatsoever — not even his Tianming Jue had worked. Not a single trace of spiritual energy from heaven or earth could enter her body. On top of that, even the energy from food was barely absorbed by her at all.

It was making her thinner and thinner.

And mortals only lived a few decades at best — Zhantai Zhan had even less time than that left, perhaps only a few years.

The Fate of Calamity!

If he didn’t solve this problem for her soon—

The Dao Rankings!

Ye Tianming slowly turned to look out the window.

Half a year!

He knew perfectly well that getting the Dao Rankings to acknowledge a master was no simple matter — but he had no other path to take.

The Law of All Beings!

Ye Tianming slowly closed his eyes. Rather than drifting along and following others, he would blaze his own trail—

Zhantai Zhan moved to sit beside him, then gently leaned against him, and before long she had fallen asleep.

Just then, a woman suddenly sat down across from the two of them.

She looked to be in her thirties, dressed in a flowing crimson robe, strikingly alluring.

The woman looked Ye Tianming over and smiled. “So you’re the one from the Cultivator’s Academy?”

Ye Tianming said calmly, “Savage Demon Clan?”

The woman smiled. “Sharp.”

Ye Tianming showed no surprise. “You got here fast.”

The woman glanced around. “Xianbao Pavilion has rules — no fighting on the premises. We don’t want to cause any trouble, so shall we take this outside?”

Ye Tianming said, “Can you wait a moment?”

The woman looked at him. “Why?”

Ye Tianming glanced down at the sleeping Zhantai Zhan beside him. “She usually sleeps for two hours, so — how about we wait until she wakes up?”

The woman stared at Ye Tianming and smiled. “I’m afraid not.”

Ye Tianming suddenly extended one hand and pressed down gently.

Boom!

In an instant, every last bit of the woman’s cultivation vanished completely, and she was pinned in place, unable to move a muscle.

Ye Tianming gave her a look. “When I tell you to wait, you wait. Understood?”

At that moment, the smile had vanished entirely from the woman’s face, replaced by an expression of profound gravity.

In that instant, she knew she had underestimated him.

She was a Chengzu Realm cultivator!

And yet, before this man, she couldn’t even fight back.

Ye Tianming said nothing more. He picked up the teacup on the table in front of him and took a quiet sip.

At that moment, a Xianbao Pavilion steward walked over.

The steward glanced at the two of them, composed and unhurried. “Guests, fighting is not permitted on these premises. We would ask that you both—”

Ye Tianming extended two fingers and crooked them. The woman’s storage ring flew into his hand. He pulled out some True Star Core Crystals and set them in front of the steward. “We’ll be staying for two hours.”

The steward glanced at the crystals, gave a slight nod, and smiled. “Xianbao Pavilion has always been happy to oblige. Today, we extend that courtesy to you, sir.”

With that, he stepped back — and before long, someone brought over a cup of spirit tea and placed it in front of Ye Tianming.

Clearly, it was a gift from the steward.

Xianbao Pavilion had its rules, but rules were rigid things — anyone capable of becoming a steward was naturally someone who knew how to be flexible.

Ye Tianming picked up the spirit tea and took a quiet sip.

Across from him, the woman’s expression remained deeply grave.

Soon, two hours passed.

Zhantai Zhan woke up. When she saw the woman sitting across from them, she froze for a moment, then turned to look at Ye Tianming.

Ye Tianming smiled. “You’re up?”

Zhantai Zhan nodded. “Mm.”

Then she looked at the woman again.

Ye Tianming smiled. “It’s fine.”

Then he looked at the woman across from him. “Let’s go.”

With that, he took Zhantai Zhan’s hand and walked toward the exit.

At that moment, the woman returned to normal.

After a brief silence, she followed them out.

Ye Tianming led Zhantai Zhan straight to the outskirts of the city, with the woman from the Savage Demon Clan following behind them.

Ye Tianming turned to face her. “What does your Savage Demon Clan plan to do about what I did?”

The woman fixed her eyes on Ye Tianming. “You killed one of our people and you’re still this brazen — is it because you have the Cultivator’s Academy behind you?”

Ye Tianming said, “Skip the talk. I don’t like wasting time.”

He raised his right hand.

Seeing that, the woman’s expression shifted instantly. She said quickly, “Wait — I didn’t come here for revenge.”

Ye Tianming looked at her. The woman said in a measured tone, “I was sent to investigate the full story behind this incident. Our Savage Demon Clan is not an unreasonable people… I’ve already looked into it. Manyue provoked you first — that was his fault. What you did can only be considered… self-defense.”

Ye Tianming nodded. “The Savage Demon Clan really is quite reasonable.”

Seeing that the man seemed to believe her, the woman felt a wave of relief wash over her. She was about to speak again — but at that moment, Ye Tianming swept his sleeve.

Boom!

The woman’s pupils contracted sharply. In the next instant, she felt her body beginning to dissolve into ash, piece by piece.

Ye Tianming glanced at her, then took Zhantai Zhan’s hand and turned to leave.

And so the woman could only watch helplessly as she faded away bit by bit — and through the entire process, she could do nothing to resist.

Soon, she was gone completely.

Not far away, Zhantai Zhan suddenly asked, “She was lying just now, wasn’t she?”

Ye Tianming smiled. “She didn’t want to die.”

Zhantai Zhan said, “Then was there ever any chance of resolving this peacefully with them?”

Ye Tianming thought for a moment, then said, “It’s complicated.”

Zhantai Zhan looked up at him. “Can you tell me about it?”

Ye Tianming smiled. “Since you want to hear it — let me break it down. First, I killed their Demon King’s son. That immediately turned it into a matter of face. If the Savage Demon Clan doesn’t retaliate, they lose face — and that’s something they can’t afford to lose.”

He paused, then continued, “For powers at the very top, losing a person isn’t always a big deal. But face is everything — it can’t be thrown away lightly. And on top of that, there’s a core issue at the center of all this, and that’s the Theology Academy.”

Zhantai Zhan looked puzzled. “The Theology Academy?”

Ye Tianming nodded. “Think about it — right from the start, when Manyue was provoking me… they were watching from the sidelines. They could have stepped in. If they had come out then, with their standing, Manyue would never have dared keep going. But they didn’t… And later, when I went to kill Manyue — did they really not know? They knew.”

Zhantai Zhan blinked. “You mean the Theology Academy was deliberately stoking the conflict between you two?”

Ye Tianming smiled faintly. “Everything I said before was speculation — but when I tried to resign, and they didn’t try to stop me at all… what does that mean? It means they had already wanted me gone from the Theology Academy long ago. They just needed a reasonable excuse — one that would pin the blame squarely on me. And I have no grudge with the Theology Academy, plus there’s the bond with my grandmaster — under normal circumstances, there’s no way they would do something like this. Which means someone behind the scenes is pulling strings…”

He looked up slowly and said quietly, “To exert influence over a power ranked fourth in the universe, you’d have to be one of the top three. I have no quarrel with the Divine Realm — so that means…”

With that, he slowly closed his eyes.

Without a doubt.

The Yang family.

Was the wager over?

No.

It may have only just begun.

This time, he decided he would not carry it alone.

Ye Tianming took Zhantai Zhan back to Xianbao Pavilion. He pulled out a sheet of letter paper and began to write: “Little Uncle-Master Liusha, it has been too long since we last crossed paths — my longing for you flows on like a river, endless and unbroken. The years of cultivation pass in a blur, like clouds drifting by in the blink of an eye… I trouble you to pass word to my grandmaster that although your grand-disciple has been cast out of the Theology Academy, and life is lean and meals are scarce, I am getting by…”

A moment later, he started on a second letter: “Big Brother Zidian, someone’s trying to do me in — help…”