Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

"Hmph, don't think you can escape with just a teleportation array. Even if you escape thousands of miles away, I will still bring you back."

Yan Yan's face was gloomy. He was furious at being repeatedly thwarted by a junior Qi Refining cultivator.

His divine sense was no longer concealed in the slightest, and his figure soared into the sky, flying rapidly towards a place a hundred miles away.

However, halfway through the flight, something even more unexpected happened: the once crystal-clear divine imprint gradually blurred, then became barely perceptible, and finally disappeared completely, becoming undetectable.

"Impossible! How could a mere Qi Refining junior erase the divine imprint I left behind?"

Yan Yan didn't want to believe it, but the reality before him forced him to accept it.

Completely baffled, Yan Yan could only fly towards the place where the mark had disappeared to investigate.

After a short while, Yan Yan arrived at a secluded cave.

Inside the cave were messy footprints and the ground was slightly pressed down by a body. It must have been Yan Ruyan lying here, and that junior Qi Refining cultivator had used some method on her to obscure his senses.

On the other side of the cave, there were two damaged teleportation arrays, just like those in the valley.

It is clear that after they were teleported here from the valley, they used another teleportation array to leave.

Yan Yan rushed out of the cave and searched the surrounding area for another half hour, but finally, his last glimmer of hope was extinguished.

But the moment he saw the teleportation array, he realized that searching for two people within a radius of hundreds of miles without any guidance was something he couldn't do alone in a short time.

But where does he find the time now?

The escaped cultivators from the seven sects will immediately report the defection of Yan Family Fortress to the enemy. Within a day at most, the experts from the seven sects will swarm in. If they don't leave now, they won't be able to leave.

Yan Yan gritted his teeth, glared hatefully at the cave below, and suddenly swung his sword, completely destroying the cave.

After letting out a small sigh of relief, Yan Yan didn't linger any longer. He transformed into a streak of light and flew towards Yanling Fortress.

……

One hour later.

Yanling Fort.

Wang Chan, her face pale and bruised, clearly looking disheveled, stared at Yan Yan and said, word by word.

"Senior Yan, you said Miss Yan was kidnapped... what do you mean!?"

Wang Chan gritted his teeth, his heart burning with barely suppressed rage.

He came to Yanjiabao with lofty ambitions.

Besides wanting to marry Yan Ruyan, a genius with a heavenly spiritual root, and cultivate the Blood Spirit Great Art with her, he also planned to subdue the Yan Family Fortress without bloodshed, and at the same time annihilate the cultivators of the seven sects, so as to achieve a good start for their demonic invasion of the Yue Kingdom.

As a result, everything went smoothly at first, but on the day of the actual operation, unexpected things happened one after another. Not only was the news leaked, making the cultivators of the seven sects wary, but they also failed to kill the enemy successfully.

During the subsequent pursuit, he performed far below his usual standard. With his late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, he chased after a Yellow Maple Valley cultivator in the early-stage Foundation Establishment stage, but he ended up in a fierce battle and was even injured by a strange poisonous mist, nearly losing his life.

Having finally escaped back, he was wondering what kind of punishment he would face from his father when he returned, but then Yan Yan actually lost Yan Ruyan too.

Without this girl with a Heavenly Spirit Root for dual cultivation, it would be difficult for his Blood Spirit Great Art to achieve great success, unless he could find another suitable female cultivator with a Heavenly Spirit Root. But where are Heavenly Spirit Root cultivators so easy to find?

Suppressing his anger, Wang Chan listened to Yan Yan and Xuan Ye recount the whole story, and he was so angry that he laughed.

"Hehehe, Qi Refining Level 8... I, Wang Chan, have painstakingly planned and schemed, only to have my efforts benefit a piece of trash at Qi Refining Level 8?"

After saying that, Wang Chan glared at Yan Yan and the others.

"With so many people in your Yan Family Fortress, you can't even protect one Yan Ruyan. What use are you?"

Xuan Ye and the others frowned, but Yan Yan remained relatively calm.

"What, is the young sect leader preparing to attack us?"

Seeing that things were not going well, the Li brothers quickly sent a telepathic message to advise them:

"Young Master, no! This old ghost Yan is quite strong. Although the two of us can hold him back, we probably can't suppress him. The Ghost Spirit Guards are strong, but they can't fight against so many people from the Yan family. If we really fight, we won't have the upper hand."

"Yes, young master, the people from the seven factions will probably arrive soon. The most urgent task is to withdraw from Yue Kingdom as soon as possible. It would be unwise to turn against the Yan family at this time."

Wang Chan's expression softened slightly. He had indeed been a bit carried away, but after being persuaded by the Li brothers, he quickly calmed down. However, he naturally didn't reveal any flaws in his words.

"Hahaha, your Yan family has become a stray dog, why should we take action? If it weren't for the protection of my Ghost Spirit Sect, you wouldn't have been able to get past the Seven Sects alone."

Yan Yan remained expressionless as he looked at the other person.

"Our Yan Family Fortress has indeed gone astray, but if we repent, capture the young sect leader and hand him over to the seven sects, and then compensate the victims, do you think the seven sects will accept it?"

Wang Chan narrowed his eyes, and his subordinates also tensed up. It has to be said that if Yan Family Fort really did this, the Seven Sects might actually let them off the hook.

Ultimately, the cultivation world is also a place where profit is the only motive. As the young sect leader of the Ghost Spirit Sect, the Seven Sects can definitely exchange Wang Chan for considerable benefits from the Ghost Spirit Sect. If the Yan Family Fortress pays a certain price, it is not impossible to let this matter go. After all, to put it bluntly, it is just a few Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Although the seven factions will inevitably lose trust in the Yan family in the future, at least they can save them from the danger of being wiped out.

But this was a situation that Wang Chan absolutely did not want to see.

"If Senior Yan really does this, then he will be at odds with my Ghost Spirit Sect to the death. Even if the Seven Sects can let Yan Family Fort go, my Ghost Spirit Sect will never let you go."

Yan Yan smiled, seeing through Wang Chan's bluster.

"That's right, so my Yan Family Fort doesn't want to be the kind of fickle people. Since we've agreed to return to the Ghost Spirit Sect, we won't have any more expectations for the Seven Sects."

"As long as the young sect leader swears that he will not treat us differently in the future, Yan Family Fort will follow his lead from now on."

Wang Chan was taken aback, momentarily unable to process Yan Yan's change in attitude.

"vow?"

"That's right. If you want my Yan family to follow you, the young sect leader must swear that you will not retaliate against my Yan family cultivators in the future, or deliberately send us to carry out missions that are sure to lead to our deaths. You must treat us the same as everyone else. Only in this way can we feel at ease serving the young sect leader."

Yan Yan cupped his hands in greeting, a hint of resentment in his eyes, but for the sake of his family's survival, he could only endure it for the time being.

"Of course, my Yan family will do its best to make up for the loss of the young sect leader. More than a hundred foreign cultivators who participated in the treasure hunt on the east side of Yanling Fortress have been captured. Their souls will be used as a gift for my Yan family's advancement."

"Furthermore, the Yan family will not give up searching for Yan'er's whereabouts. Even if we truly cannot find her, we will do our utmost to search for other female cultivators with heavenly spiritual roots suitable for cultivating the Blood Spirit Great Art, until the young master is satisfied. What does the young master think?"

Wang Chan looked at Yan Yan, who had his head bowed and eyes lowered, and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Lord Yan, you are truly cunning. You captured these cultivators, but offered their souls to me. If these sects investigate in the future, our two sides will be completely bound together."

Yan Yan did not deny it.

"If the young master wants the Yan family to be loyal, there will always be a price to pay."

"Hahaha, alright, I agree. From now on, your Yan Family Fortress will be my dog, Wang Chan's dog!"