At this moment.
It was as if the wind had stopped, and the entire forest fell dead silent, leaving only the sound of blood gently flowing. Besides that, not a single person dared to make a sound.
The cultivators stood there as if struck dumb, their faces pale, their bodies trembling.
It took just three breaths.
These Slaughter Hall disciples, who seemed almost unbeatable in their eyes, were easily slaughtered like chickens and dogs.
Too strong!
At this moment, the cultivators only felt their bodies icy cold, as if all their blood had been frozen by Ye Qingchenās gaze.
"Young Master Ye!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Almost without any hesitation.
The cultivators knelt down one after another, fearing that if they were slow, they would follow in the footsteps of these Slaughter Hall disciples.
"Why did Slaughter Hall capture you?"
Ye Qingchen asked casually.
He only held enmity towards Slaughter Hall and naturally wouldnāt harm those unrelated to him.
"To report to Young Master Ye, itās said that Slaughter Hall found a treasure on this island. And this treasure is located within the volcano, which is highly unstable and could erupt lava at any time."
"So they have to capture people to explore the path, to find a safe way!"
Facing Ye Qingchenās question, the cultivators looked at each other, and finally, an elder stepped forward slowly and respectfully answered. He was seventy-three this year and behaved like a junior in front of Ye Qingchen.
As the saying goes, in the path of the Martial Dao, those who achieve are first.
Ye Qingchen frowned.
This clearly intended to let the cultivators use their lives to explore the path for Slaughter Hall!
However.
Such are the rules of the Martial Dao, the strong prey on the weak.
Those with low strength are like ants in the eyes of the strong.
Ye Qingchen, although ruthless towards his enemies, could not ignore othersā lives for his own desires.
Nodding slightly, Ye Qingchen asked again, "What treasures are within the volcano?"
The elder hesitated and shook his head, saying, "Young Master Ye, we donāt know about that, but if Slaughter Hall is interested in it, it probably isnāt ordinary!"
"Do you know how many people Slaughter Hall has on this island?"
Ye Qingchen asked again.
The elder quickly replied, "Slaughter Hall has nearly a hundred disciples entering this island, led by the Fourth Elder, Zheng Yuanfeng! His cultivation level is at the Profound Pill Eighth Heaven! Besides that, there are also some elite disciples among them!"
"The Fourth Elder Zheng Yuanfeng?"
Ye Qingchen whispered.
Slaughter Hall has a total of seven elders, and none of them are weak having come through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The strongest is undoubtedly the Great Elder Yuan Shisan, and although the others are a bit weaker, they arenāt far off.
As for Zheng Yuanfeng, Ye Qingchen had heard of him as well; he was also a ruthless type!
"If there were only one Fourth Elder, perhaps I could fight to the death, but combined with the hundred elite disciples from Slaughter Hall, it wouldnāt be so easy to deal with!"
Ye Qingchen frowned secretly.
"Forget it!"
"Iād better go check out that volcano first!"
Ye Qingchen made up his mind.
Even if he couldnāt take down the Fourth Elder Zheng Yuanfeng, he absolutely could not let Slaughter Hall obtain the treasure so easily.
After dispersing the cultivators captured by Slaughter Hall, Ye Qingchen rushed toward the direction of the volcano mentioned by the elder.
Not long after.
The forest cleared, and a massive volcano appeared before Ye Qingchen.
Looking from afar.
He saw the volcano emitting thick smoke with an astounding temperature.
The ground around it was fiery red, with no grass growing.
Quite a few people gathered at the volcanoās mouth, and those people were naturally disciples of Slaughter Hall. They were being scolded by a middle-aged man:
"You idiots, why havenāt you caught the path explorers yet?"
Seeing that middle-aged man, Ye Qingchen couldnāt help but narrow his eyes.
Evidently.
The person was Slaughter Hallās Fourth Elder Zheng Yuanfeng.
"To report to the elder, weāve already caught all the cultivators around the volcano, and if we capture more, itās going to take more time," a timid elite disciple replied.
"A bunch of idiots!"
Zheng Yuanfeng shouted angrily, his greedy gaze fixed on the volcano.
Three days ago.
He entered this mysterious world with others and arrived on the island.
After digesting the information in the token, Zheng Yuanfeng immediately realized this island provided both danger and immense opportunity.
Thus.
He quickly gathered the scattered Slaughter Hall disciples on the island, hunting down others to seize their tokens. Just a day ago, he found the volcano exuding spiritual Qi with a strange brilliance.
This was clearly a sign of a treasure hidden within the volcano.
Unfortunately.
The inside of the volcano was treacherous, and after several attempts, he still hadnāt reached the bottom, being forced back each time by the lava.
"A treasure capable of growing in a volcano must be extraordinary. If I could obtain it, I might even achieve the Profound Pill Ninth Heaven! Perhaps even step into the Celestial Saint Realm!"
Thinking of this, the heat in Zheng Yuanfengās heart increased.
However.
Just then, he suddenly felt a strange sensation and instinctively looked to the side, shouting coldly, "Who is it, whoās hiding there?"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Instantly.
Several figures at the mouth of the volcano rushed out to survey the surroundings carefully, then flew back to the volcano.
"How odd!"
Zheng Yuanfeng squinted.
Earlier.
He clearly felt a gaze watching him.
"Could it be that Iāve been too tense these past few days?"
"Forget it, I need to figure out how to enter the volcano!"
Zheng Yuanfeng shook his head, refocusing on the volcano before him.
However.
He didnāt notice that not far from the volcano, hidden within a crevice covered by rocks, Ye Qingchen was concealed within.
"Indeed, an expert of Profound Pill Eighth Heaven can sense my presence even from such a distance!"
Ye Qingchen squinted his eyes.
From this angle, he could perfectly observe every aspect of the situation at the mouth of the volcano.
"Aside from Zheng Yuanfeng of Profound Pill Eighth Heaven, there are 116 Slaughter Hall disciples, including nine at Profound Pill Sixth Layer, twenty-six at Profound Pill Fifth Layer... This isnāt easy!"
Ye Qingchen frowned secretly.
If these Slaughter Hall disciples were a bit weaker, he might have already charged out. But their numbers were substantial, and quite a few were elite-level.
If he appeared now, heād surely be besieged heavily by them.
"Could it be I can only let them enter the volcano?"
While contemplating his next move, Ye Qingchenās gaze swept over the creviceās corner, his pupils contracting involuntarily, emitting a sound of surprise and doubt.