Chapter 1396: Friends Will Meet Again

On the open wilderness, over a dozen figures were chasing one another.

At the very front was a round, ball-shaped little fatty—who else could it be but Xie Jingyi?

And behind him, over a dozen people were in hot pursuit.

The little fatty was stout and looked extremely clumsy, yet his movements were remarkably agile. Those dozen or so people simply couldn't catch up, only eating his dust.

Over the years, Ye Yuan had been providing him with divine-grade cultivation pills.

After all this time, Xie Jingyi had already broken through to the Great Perfection of Cave Abyss.

Coupled with his training in the Rockwind Cave up to the sixth level and his mastery of one of the six great mansion-guarding ultimate arts, the Bewildering God Steps, his movement technique had nearly reached the pinnacle within the Cave Abyss realm.

For these people to catch up to him—how easy could that be?

"You dead fatty, hand over the Red Firmament Fruit and we'll spare your life!"

"Dead fatty, if you've got the guts, stop running!"

"Stop right there, you dead fatty! How dare you steal our spoils while we were busy? When I catch you, I'll tear you to pieces!"

…

The group behind, unable to catch Xie Jingyi no matter what, cursed him in frustration.

"I say, you've been chasing Fatty for three days and three nights now. Aren't you tired? It's just one Red Firmament Fruit—is it really worth this?" Xie Jingyi shouted as he sprinted.

Three days ago, the group behind him had been locked in fierce battle with three extremely powerful giant centipedes over this very Red Firmament Fruit.

The little fatty happened to pass by, and seeing them engrossed in battle, he got an idea. Using his movement technique advantage, he snatched the Red Firmament Fruit.

With that, the little fatty incurred the wrath of the crowd.

The people behind forced back the three giant centipedes and chased after him for dear life.

That chase lasted three days and three nights.

The Red Firmament Fruit was a very rare spiritual fruit, a favorite medicinal ingredient among body-tempering martial artists.

The little fatty knew that Ye Yuan was also a body-tempering martial artist with considerable strength, which was why he had taken the initiative.

"'Just one Red Firmament Fruit'? Easy for you to say! Damn fatty, stop right there! Why are you running faster?"

Liu Jin was cursing when he suddenly saw a figure appear ahead of the little fatty, and he was overjoyed.

"Friend up ahead, help us stop that dead fatty! When we catch him, we'll each give you three spiritual herbs! Just hold him for a moment!" Liu Jin shouted.

Liu Jin and his group weren't far from Xie Jingyi; if they could delay him just a little, they would catch up.

Then the little fatty would have no escape!

As for whether they'd actually give the promised three spiritual herbs, that depended on their mood.

The little fatty also saw the newcomer, but instead of being alarmed, he was delighted. He sped up even more and dashed toward that person.

"Swoosh!"

The little fatty's figure flickered, and he nimbly hid behind that person, then stopped running!

Seeing this, Liu Jin and the others were overjoyed.

So these two were in cahoots. Had the little fatty lost his mind, hiding behind a rookie at the late stage of Cave Abyss?

"Hey, I knew you'd come looking for me. Fatty didn't misjudge you. Leave those scumbags to me. Fatty's exhausted after being chased for three days and three nights. I'm going to rest a bit."

Ye Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, smiling faintly. "Don't worry, leave it to me."

Just then, Liu Jin and the others arrived. Looking at Ye Yuan, he sneered, "Kid, with strength like yours, you want to stand up for someone?"

Ye Yuan said calmly, "Whether I have the strength or not, why don't you come and find out?"

Liu Jin laughed loudly. "Did you all hear that? This late Cave Abyss guy wants to test us!"

"Hahaha…"

The crowd burst into laughter.

"All together! Cut down this brat who doesn't know his place, then go catch that dead fatty!" Liu Jin shouted, raising his sword and charging forward.

Facing a group of Cave Abyss Great Perfection experts, Ye Yuan stood unmoved.

When the group closed in, the Extermination Sword suddenly shot out, sweeping horizontally in one strike.

The sharp sword aura made Liu Jin and the others' expressions change drastically.

"Ouch!"

Liu Jin reacted quickly, performing a donkey roll to barely dodge the horizontal Star-Slashing strike.

The few in the middle clearly hadn't expected Ye Yuan's strength to be so great. Caught off guard, they had no time to dodge.

With no other choice, they crushed their jade pendants, their figures vanishing instantly, while several storage rings fell from their bodies.

Liu Jin rolled and scrambled to his feet, staring at Ye Yuan as if facing a great enemy.

"This kid is strong! Let's surround him from all sides and not give him a chance to strike!" Liu Jin shouted.

He raised his sword to charge, but found that none of the people behind him moved.

Some even took a few steps back, turned around, and directly fled.

Are you kidding?

That sword strike just now was too fierce. Fighting this guy would be suicide!

Since they couldn't win, they naturally ran.

"You bunch of cowards! Traitors!" Liu Jin roared in anger.

Liu Jin had already charged to a spot not far from Ye Yuan, but his body came to an abrupt halt.

He suddenly put on a smiling face and said ingratiatingly to Ye Yuan, "Haha, that… that was just a joke with Fatty! Just a joke!"

Ye Yuan said with a faint smile, "Will you do it yourself, or shall I?"

Liu Jin's face changed, and he said awkwardly, "I… I'll do it myself! I'll do it myself! Um… if I hand over my storage ring, can I… can I not crush the jade pendant?"

Ye Yuan nodded. "That's acceptable."

Liu Jin, as if pardoned, quickly took out his storage ring and placed it on the ground, then scurried away.

The little fatty watched from the side, laughing uncontrollably. "Hahaha, these bastards were so cocky just now, but now they've gone limp? How dare they bully your Fatty? Now you know what's what, right? Ye Yuan, kill them all!"

But Ye Yuan ignored the little fatty and said calmly, "You too. Leave your storage rings and get lost."

The others didn't dare linger. Each left their storage ring and vanished in a flash.

The little fatty was very dissatisfied with Ye Yuan letting them go. He grumbled, "Fatty was chased by them for three days and three nights! And you just let them go like that?"

Ye Yuan reached out and gathered all the storage rings, then laughed. "Friends will meet again, after all. Don't you think so?"

The little fatty's eyes rolled around, and he suddenly beamed with joy. "Haha, you bastard, you're rotten to the core! But Fatty likes it! Haha!"

The little fatty took out the Red Firmament Fruit from his storage ring and tossed it to Ye Yuan. "Here, this is for you! Just one Red Firmament Fruit, and those bastards chased me for three days and three nights, only to lose their own storage rings in the end. Was it worth it? Haha."

Ye Yuan caught the Red Firmament Fruit, his eyes lighting up.

Wuchen had once given Ye Yuan a body-tempering pill formula. Over the years, Ye Yuan had gathered all the other spiritual herbs, only lacking a Red Firmament Fruit!

Unexpectedly, it came without any effort!