Soaring the Heavens Chapter 421: A Suspicious Party

'What's going on? Yan Beihong wants to challenge us?'

The monks were completely shocked. The leader immediately transmitted his voice over to his comrades, asking, "Which one of you has a grievance with Yan Beihong?" 

The answer was obvious. They all replied saying they had never even met Yan Beihong before, so how could they possibly have a grievance with him?

'It looks like that Yan Beihong really mistook us for someone else!' When it came to matters that concerned life and death such as this, how could they not go and properly explain themselves? What's more, Sikong Wuwei even added, "Esteemed grandmasters, you should be well aware that individuals who wield a certain amount of strength are typically lacking when it comes to patience. If you keep dragging on, I doubt he will continue waiting for you."

'He has a point!' The ten monks immediately rushed out of their cave, leapt onto their mounts and hastily made for the battle arena.

They were not afraid that 'Yan Beihong' was going to ambush them, as the six representatives had already set out rules forbidding private battles. Else, there was no way that security could be so lax here, that Sikong Wuwei was able to barge inside so easily.

As he watched the ten monks leave, Sikong Wuwei let out a sly chuckle, before he turned around and swiftly made his way towards a different cave.

Under the night sky, Miao Yi and the Gu Sanzheng trio sat quietly atop their mounts. Soon, ten riders hastily charged over, gradually slowing down as they carefully approached. Both parties then examined one another.

As Miao Yi was pressed for time, he didn't even bother greeting the other party and just immediately asked, "Are you the ones who ambushed me a few years ago?"

"Sir Yan, we've never even met before this. How could we possibly ambush you? I am sure you've mistaken us for someone else." The leader of the monks said as he placed his palms together.

"But why do I find you so familiar then?" Miao Yi scornfully said. "Do you all have any proof that it wasn't you?"

"This…" The leader looked to the comrades beside him, then helplessly said , "Sir Yan, how do you expect us to show you proof for something like this? We really didn't know who you were before this!"

"You men are sure brushing this off rather easily. You think this matter can be settled just by saying you don't know me?" Miao Yi then coldly added, "In that case, we shall meet tomorrow on the battlefield! Let's go!"

Miao Yi and the others immediately turned their mounts around and acted like they were leaving.

The ten monks were immediately flustered by this. Misunderstandings like this could kill a man if allowed to persist. Who could possibly block that man's terrifying spear attack?!

The leader anxiously called out, "Sir Yan, how can I get you to believe us?"

The group of four stopped. Miao Yi then turned Charcoal around and said, "To be honest, I cannot confirm whether or not you all are the culprits either. However, the death of my subordinates still linger vividly in my mind. I won't be able to rest easy if I just let you off so easily. What if I'm wrong in sparing you? Wouldn't I have to live with that regret for the rest of my life then?!"

"Sir Yan, your spot in the top one hundred is all but assured. On the other hand, we still have a long, difficult path ahead of us. From the very beginning, those of us who follow in Buddha's teachings never wished to partake in such strife. But alas, we are helpless against the whims of the mighty. We are not even sure if we'll live or die in the end. Why must Sir Yan push us so then? Why not stay your hand of vengeance, and show generosity to your fellow man?" said the leader, clapping his hands together.

Miao Yi turned to look at the people beside him, and asked, "What do you guys think?"

Gu Sanzheng replied, "He does have a point. Even if we don't kill them, there's still a chance that they would end up dying to someone else. In that case, must we really go so far, that we would rather kill wrongly than to show them mercy?"

Miao Yi sighed, "But I am quite dissatisfied with this. What if I'm wrong in sparing them?"

Gu Sanzheng simply replied, "Why don't we let them off with a light punishment then? Let's just have them hand over their belongings, then let them go." 

After some thought, Miao Yi nodded and said, "A sound plan. Let's do as you say." He shifted his gaze back to the leader, and continued, "I'll cut to the chase then. Hand over all your belongings, and I won't make things hard on you tomorrow."

The ten monks exchanged glances with one another. Wasn't this a bit too much?

Gu Sanzheng growled, "Hey monk, didn't you just say that those of you who follow in Buddha's teachings don't wish to partake in such strife? I was finally able to get you a shred of hope at survival. Why do you still care so much for your worldly possessions? How is this the attitude of a monk?"

"It looks like these monks would rather part with their lives than their wealth. No matter. Even if you don't hand them over tonight, I can still take them publicly tomorrow!" Miao Yi turned around and shouted, "Let's go!"

Miao Yi's words were nothing short of decalring their death, and he was absolutely correct. Even if they didn't capitulate to his demands today, Miao Yi would still be able to take their belongings away tomorrow, and by then, he would be taking them along with everyone's lives added to the basket. If that was the case, why must they waste their lives as well?

"Please wait!" All ten monks called out almost simultaneously.

Miao Yi's departing figure immediately stopped, and he turned to look at them coldly.

The ten monks glances at one another. There was no longer any need to think about which option to take. Simply put, the other party hadn't give them much of a choice to begin with. They could either hand over their belongings and be able to keep their lives, or lose both to Miao Yi.

What's more, as long as they were able to keep their lives, and not get in this guy's crosshairs in the upcoming battles, they would still have a chance to recoup their losses from the other competitors. Even if they died fighting, then there wouldn't be much point holding onto these things either way. Was there even a need for consideration then?

"We are willing to hand over our belongings. But I hope that Sir Yan will hold up your end of the bargain!" The leader said dejectedly with a sigh.

Miao Yi let out a breath, and said, "Rest assured! I am a man of my word. If I don't live up to my promise, you are more than welcome to expose me tomorrow!"

As such, the ten monks reluctantly took off the storage rings on their fingers, clearly still a little unwilling to part with them. After all, even monks needed these so-called worldly possessions to survive. This was everything that they had saved up over the years. How could they possibly not be bothered?

Miao Yi tilted his head and shot a glance at Tan Lao, who immediately got down from his dragon steed, bent down into a half-crouching position, and took away all the storage rings. He then proceeded to search the monks' bodies. Miao Yi and the others were practically robbing these monks blind. If it weren't so troublesome to chop off their hands, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't take away their Geotranscendence Bangles as well.

Meanwhile, Ye Xin and Gu Sanzheng stood vigilantly to the side, in case the monks suddenly fought back in desperation.

Miao Yi had brought the three of them along precisely to act as a safeguard against any mishaps. He wasn't afraid of a fight breaking out. Rather, he was just worried that these monks wouldn't be able to tolerate the humiliation and started retaliating with their transcendent artifacts. Thus, Gu Sanzheng, Tan Lao and Ye Xin's transcendent artifacts were precisely there to keep him safe.

Seeing how thoroughly Miao Yi was robbing them, the leader immediately became flustered. "Sir Yan, we are willing to give you most of our belongings, but if you even take away the weapons we defend ourselves with, the Orbs of Will needed to recover our transcendence energy, and the medicine to treat our wounds, how is this any different from killing us? What do you expect us to do once someone decides to challenge us?"

After some thought, Miao Yi had to agree as well. If he forced the other party all the way to the edge, they would surely retaliate. It would do him no good to escalate such an incident as it would make it much more difficult for him to make his move on the other participants. As such, he quickly had Tan Lao return some of their necessities back to them.

Under the moonlight, ten monks left in low spirits. After which, as he was watching from the Yao Nation's camp, Zhao Fei immediately released ten Yao cultivators over... 

After cleaning out around a dozen groups back to back, Miao Yi finally noticed something off about the situation. Even though there were plenty of monks, the loot they gained from these groups was far less than the others. Some of them only had just that one Geotranscendence Bangle on their wrist, and no matter how hard Miao Yi and the others searched, they couldn't find a second Geotranscendence Bangle anywhere. There wasn't anything much inside the storage rings either. These monks were really pitiful.

"What's the deal with this?" Miao Yi asked curiously.

Ye Xin answered, "It's simple. The reason why we're seeing so many monks at this stage of the Subjugation Crusade is because they rarely participate in the murdering and pillaging of others, and instead are normally in hiding. Thus, there are so many survivors among them. This also of course means that they haven't gotten much loot either."

Everyone else nodded in agreement. Gu Sanzheng then said in a sombre tone, "We were only able to clean out three groups in the span of fifteen minutes. In two hours, we would only be able to deal with two hundred people at most. And by daybreak, we would have only gone through a thousand. This isn't a practical approach. If we get all these people mixed up, there's a chance we would mistakenly rob the same group the next day. This would inevitably waste our time. Not to mention, while those monks are plenty in number, they don't carry much on them. There's no need for us to waste so much time on them then. I suggest we start with just the Ghost Nation, Yao Nation, or Boundless Nation participants tonight. After we're done cleaning out one camp, we'll move on to the next one the following day. Since each camp has about a thousand participants left anyway, it's just the right amount for us to work on if we do one camp per day. We should first target the ones with the greatest amount of loot. That way, even if our plan is revealed, we don't have to be afraid of losing the chance to make our move on the rest of the participants. Once the big fish is out of the way, we can still take our time dealing with the Buddha Nation participants. By then, they would have even more loot to be gained." 

"You have a point!" Miao Yi nodded and said, "Ye Xin, go contact the others and tell them to stop. We've already spent a fair amount of time on this tonight. For today, we'll simply clean out all the belongings of those several hundred Yao Nation participants. Then tomorrow, we'll make our move on the Ghost Nation participants."

Ye Xin nodded, then immediately rode off on her dragon steed...

As the next day came, the forces of all six camps gathered together, and the carnage resumed once more.

Once again, Miao Yi was just sitting with his eyes shut and refining an Orb of Will, having stayed up the whole night earning a fortune.

Behind him, Gu Sanzheng and the rest had also lost interest in watching the battles. After all, with Miao Yi here acting as a deterrent, they need not concern themselves with much of what was going on. Furthermore, they wouldn't be getting any rest tonight either, and still needed to prepare themselves to stay awake for the upcoming nights as well. When else could they rest then, if not during the day?

All in all, this was just an extremely suspicious group of people. Their eyes were all closed and they were simply resting.

Yue Yao was in no mood to concern herself with the people at the back. However, she would still cast a glance at Miao Yi from time to time. She couldn't help but clench her teeth a little when she saw how he was still resting today. He wasn't showing any sign of going up to fight despite making her such a big promise yesterday.

Right at this moment, the group sent out by the Celestial Nation was completely decimated by a powerful foe. It was a terrible loss for the Celestial Nation! On the other hand, following Yun Feiyang's lead, the victorious Devil Nation participants all cheered in joy.

Yue Yao had finally reached the limit of her patience, and transmitted her voice over to Miao Yi, asking, "When will you finally go out and fight?"

Miao Yi opened his eyes slightly and turned his head to face her, then transmitted his reply back, "Yue Yao, don't be hasty. A watched pot never boils. Even if I step out now, what can I possibly achieve? The six camps will challenge one another following a set rotation sequence. Even if I step out every time it's our turn to be the challenger, I will only be able to fight nine battles a day at best. We won't be able to earn many Geotranscendence Bangles that way. What's more, I won't be able to sustain myself for that long."

Initially, Miao Yi was prepared to make a giant killing in one fell swoop at the final stretch of the competition. However, it was Yue Yao's desire for first place that got him thinking about a different way. Now that he had an ever better solution at hand, was there really a need for him to go risk his life?

'He's calling me Yue Yao again!' Yue Yao was feeling incredibly exasperated. Regardless of whether it was his gaze or his tone, she realized that this man truly didn't see her as the stunning beauty that all the other men perceived her to be. What else could it possibly mean, but him not holding her in any regard? Thus, Yue Yao was irritated and pressed him, "I'm asking you again, when are you going to make your move?"

"When the time comes, I will naturally make my move." Miao Yi smiled, "Don't worry. Even if you hadn't ask me to, I would still try my best to help you!"

Yue Yao was speechless at the tone Miao Yi was taking with her. She felt as though before him, she was nothing more than a weak, little girl who always needed him to take care of her.

However, she still conducted herself with dignity. After all, it wouldn't look good for her to continue arguing with this fellow. She was practically grinding her teeth in frustration, yet she was helpless to do anything about it at the same time. She thought, 'I'll just wait and see. If you can't do what you said you would after being so rude to me several times now, you will be in for a whole lot of trouble once we get back to the Celestial Nation!'

Chapter end