Free Web NovelChapter 304: Chapter 303: I Actually Do Have One
As Thundercloud was being escorted to the Spirit Tower, the Spirit Race clansmen cursed him the entire way. They called him ungrateful, despicable, selfish, and worse. If not for Ye Qingxuan’s orders to stand down, they would have already attacked and torn Thundercloud to pieces!
Although he was one of them, this kinsman was a complete scourge who had brought the Spirit Race to this disastrous state.
The root cause was the Netherworld Empire, but if it weren’t for Thundercloud, the Spirit Race would never have ended up in such a miserable state. Had they been united against this foreign threat, even the Netherworld Empire wouldn’t have dared a direct confrontation. The Spirit Race’s own power was not to be underestimated, and neither were their connections.
This time, the Netherworld Empire had seized the advantage completely. Even allies with strong connections no longer dared to rashly help the Spirit Race. Their situation was simply too tragic; unless an ally was prepared to risk everything, offering aid was pointless. Yi Tianyun had just witnessed this himself. Without his intervention, the most the Spirit Race could have done was launch a few sneak attacks. Completely driving out the invaders would have been impossible.
Thundercloud by himself had been enough to suppress them. The invaders’ mission had been to completely crush the Spirit Race, but they never expected a savior to appear out of nowhere, repair the Divine Runes, and help clear out all the enemies.
If Yi Tianyun hadn’t arrived, they could have held on for a little while, but it would have been impossible to last much longer.
Ye Qingxuan viciously swung the silver whip in her hand, sending Thundercloud flying into the center of the main hall. Elder Yan had already come down by this time, and when he saw Thundercloud, his eyes blazed with a murderous fury.
"Thundercloud, spit out everything you know! The key to the prison, the whereabouts of the elders and the Old Ancestor, and all the Netherworld Empire’s plans! Tell me everything!" Elder Yan’s killing intent flared, pressing down heavily on Thundercloud.
Since Thundercloud’s cultivation had been crippled, he was forced heavily to his knees by this pressure, unable to resist in the slightest. The humiliation was so great he bit his lip until it bled, yet he remained powerless to struggle. He had once been an elder, a genius of his generation; when had he ever suffered such disgrace?
"Hahaha... Make me talk? Impossible! But I can tell you where the prison key is. It’s on General Long. By all means, go and take it from him!" Thundercloud roared with laughter, his expression full of contempt despite his cultivation being crippled. He clearly looked down on them.
"General Long..."
Ye Qingxuan frowned. Being enemies of the Netherworld Empire, they were well aware of General Long’s power. Someone of a general’s rank would never have a weak cultivation base. He was certainly a peak Core Transformation Realm expert, at the Ninth Level or higher, and possibly even at the Void Spirit Realm.
Without such a cultivation level, he would never have been made a general, no matter how brilliant his skills as a Commander-in-Chief. After all, if the enemy sends a top-tier expert, they can take your head regardless of your strategic genius! At times, a Grand General must personally take action and slay any and all invaders.
"That’s right, General Long. If you’ve got the guts, go and snatch the key to open the prison gate!" Thundercloud sneered. "And don’t worry, they’ll be attacking soon. The moment they realize they haven’t heard from us, they’ll storm this place! I’m giving you one last chance: surrender obediently and join the Netherworld Empire. This is your final opportunity!"
Thundercloud knew they stood no chance of stealing a key from such a terrifyingly powerful individual, and he knew their forces were meager, so he threatened them without restraint.
"And you," Thundercloud sneered, turning to Yi Tianyun. "You think you’re strong, huh? Just wait until General Long arrives with his legion of experts. Then you’ll realize just how insignificant your power is! Helping the Spirit Race is the biggest mistake you’ll ever make!" frёewebnoѵēl.com
The faces of everyone present changed. If General Long personally led an assault, the Spirit Race would be utterly doomed.
SMACK!
A heavy slap struck Thundercloud, knocking his jaw to the side. When the others finally processed what had happened, they realized it was Yi Tianyun who had struck him.
No one had expected Yi Tianyun to be the one to make a move, rather than Ye Qingxuan.
"I’m beginning to think that letting you live was my biggest mistake," Yi Tianyun said coolly. "If you grow tired of him, you can hand him over to me. I’ll deal with him for you." freewebnoveℓ.com
To the others, it sounded like he thought they were too soft-hearted to deal with the traitor themselves and was offering to do the dirty work. In truth, to Yi Tianyun, Thundercloud was a massive source of experience points and, more importantly, a significant boost to his Divine Rune Mastery. How could he let such an opportunity slip by?
"That won’t be necessary," Ye Qingxuan’s gaze was like a chilling ray of light, as if she intended to pierce right through Thundercloud. "We will lock him in the Spirit Race’s Ice Realm and let him die from the agony of being frozen solid!"
"The Ice Realm..." Thundercloud’s expression changed. Of course he knew what the Ice Realm was. The deeper one was taken, the more agonizing it became. His body would be slowly frozen stiff, bit by bit. The feeling was like being constantly pierced by innumerable sharp spikes, a torment that would last for a very long time until he was utterly Frozen.
He would remain conscious through the entire process, constantly feeling the excruciating pain, a fate worse than death! He would die in the end, but only after enduring so much agony that he would beg for death long before it came.
"Very well, then." Yi Tianyun felt a little disappointed. ’That’s a Divine Rune Master’s worth of Divine Rune Mastery right there. Gaining that would have been a great boost to my own skill.’
"Take him to the Ice Realm!" Ye Qingxuan ordered with a wave of her hand, and her clansmen moved to drag him away.
"Yes, Holy Daughter!" They nodded and began to drag the bound Thundercloud away. Without his cultivation, Thundercloud was as weak as a child and couldn’t struggle at all.
"You... you’re all dead meat! The Spirit Race will be ruined because of you! Only I can lead our race to glory!" Thundercloud thrashed, his face a mask of rage and resentment. "If you don’t let me go, the Old Ancestor and the others will die! And so will all of you..."
Ye Qingxuan and the others turned a deaf ear, paying no mind to Thundercloud’s threats. Anyone who wasn’t a complete fool understood that even if they released him, they still wouldn’t be able to rescue the Old Ancestor. The Spirit Race prisoners were in the Netherworld Empire’s hands now, which meant they were under the Empire’s jurisdiction. Not even Thundercloud could intervene.
Besides, could Thundercloud’s words even be trusted? Would letting him go really solve everything?
"Holy Daughter, what do we do now?" Elder Yan asked, looking to Ye Qingxuan. "If things continue like this, the Netherworld Empire will realize they haven’t received any word from their forces and will surely send a host of powerful experts to crush us!"
Ye Qingxuan remained silent, unsure of what to do. A feeling of helplessness washed over her. Faced with a behemoth like the Netherworld Empire, she felt completely powerless.
"There’s no need to worry," Yi Tianyun, an outsider to their clan, interjected. "While they’re still unaware of what happened here, we can go rescue the Old Ancestor and the others."
Everyone froze, then turned to look at him with peculiar expressions. ’Of course we want to rescue the Old Ancestor and the others, but do we have the key?’
"We know that, of course, but we don’t have the key," Ye Qingxuan sighed. "Even if we used Stealth to sneak in, we wouldn’t be able to open the prison."
"The key, you say... I actually have one of those," Yi Tianyun said, scratching his head sheepishly.
