Chapter 2103: Kneel Down

"This... this... I... I..." Red Cloud's face flushed crimson as he stammered, unable to defend himself.

Ye Yuan's gaze was sharp as he coldly shouted, "Kneel down!"

Red Cloud trembled all over, craning his neck defiantly. "What gives you the right to make me kneel?"

Ye Yuan narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, "I am a sub-sage personally appointed by the Grand Ancestor High Priest, ranking even above your master, High Priest Red Feather! Even if he were here, he wouldn't dare be as insolent as you. What, is it not acceptable for me to make you kneel? Or should I go reason with High Priest Red Feather himself?"

All the celestial venerables were silent as cicadas in winter; none had expected Ye Yuan's outburst to be so terrifying.

When Red Cloud had entered earlier, he was arrogant and overbearing, but now he didn't even dare breathe loudly.

Moreover, what Ye Yuan said was perfectly reasonable.

Even if High Priest Red Feather were here, he wouldn't dare openly defy Ye Yuan.

Otherwise, why would Gongyang Lie resort to such underhanded tricks?

Red Cloud's face shifted between gloom and uncertainty as he looked pleadingly at Gongyang Lie.

Gongyang Lie sighed softly, but before he could speak, Ye Yuan sneered, "You want to plead for him? Do you mean to say that his blasphemy against the Grand Ancestor High Priest's dignity should go unpunished?"

Gongyang Lie choked at the words and had no choice but to say to Red Cloud, "Alas, kneel down!"

There was nothing he could do to help Red Cloud this time.

If word reached the Grand Ancestor High Priest's ears, this hurdle would be impossible to cross.

Unless they killed Ye Yuan.

But with so many people present, who would dare kill a sub-sage personally appointed by the Grand Ancestor High Priest?

Red Cloud stood there, his face twisted in struggle.

As the favored disciple of High Priest Red Feather, Red Cloud had been bathed in glory and always looked down on others; when had he ever suffered such humiliation?

But the Grand Ancestor's authority brooked no challenge!

He knew the gravity of this.

"Kneel down!"

Suddenly, Ye Yuan shouted coldly. Red Cloud shuddered and fell to his knees before Ye Yuan with a thud.

The celestial venerables were utterly dumbfounded—Red Cloud had actually been forced to kneel as punishment.

Though each of them was a seven-star priest and a great expert at the mid-to-late celestial venerable stage, they still felt inferior before Red Cloud.

Red Cloud was arrogant, but he had the capital to be so.

In just eight thousand years, he had reached the ancestral realm in the Dao of alchemy, the fastest among all of High Priest Red Feather's disciples to achieve this.

Such talent, combined with his status as High Priest Red Feather's disciple, allowed him to swagger through the Western Spirit Domain unchallenged.

Thus, these celestial venerables always paid their respects respectfully when they saw Red Cloud.

But now, he had been punished to kneel!

Ye Yuan looked down from on high and sternly rebuked, "Red Cloud, do you know your crime?"

Red Cloud, proud as he was, was about to explode, but he caught Gongyang Lie's constant signaling and was jolted into awareness.

"Red Cloud admits his crime!" Red Cloud said through gritted teeth.

Gongyang Lie was far more cunning and experienced than Red Cloud, who had grown up pampered.

At this moment, the more Red Cloud resisted, the worse his fate would be.

If things escalated to an irreparable point and Ye Yuan ordered Red Cloud killed, no one would dare say a word.

Offending a sub-sage was equivalent to offending the Grand Ancestor High Priest; killing you would be letting you off easy!

Fortunately, Red Cloud wasn't stupid; he quickly understood Gongyang Lie's meaning and had to swallow his pride.

"Since you admit your crime, I now sentence you to kneel before the Grand Ancestor's statue in repentance for half a month. Do you accept the punishment?" Ye Yuan said solemnly.

Red Cloud looked up abruptly, his eyes blazing with indignation.

At this very moment, the Western Spirit Domain's Divine Beast Pill Convention was underway, and countless demons were coming and going in the Grand Ancestor Square.

If he had to kneel before the statue for half a month, wouldn't everyone be watching him like a monkey?

This guy was definitely doing it on purpose!

"Hmm? Do you think you are not at fault?" Ye Yuan's voice gradually turned cold.

Red Cloud glared at Ye Yuan, his eyes spitting fire, and said through clenched teeth, "Red Cloud... accepts the punishment!"

Ye Yuan flicked his sleeve and said indifferently, "Go then."

Red Cloud's chest felt like it would explode; with boundless frustration, he went to kneel before the Grand Ancestor's statue.

All the celestial venerables were stunned. Red Cloud had come in aggressively, clearly intending to challenge Ye Yuan, but after just a few words, he was punished to kneel before the Grand Ancestor's statue. This turn of events was truly eye-opening.

However, many thought that Ye Yuan was using his authority to suppress others because he was afraid of Red Cloud.

Red Cloud was different from them; though only at the first level of celestial venerable, he was a genuine ancestral realm expert.

It was hard to say who was superior between the two.

Ye Yuan, afraid of losing the sub-sage's face, dared not make a move.

But Red Cloud had walked right into the trap, selling himself out with his first words upon entering.

Ye Yuan paid no heed to what these people thought and simply walked away with his hands behind his back.

"What are you looking at? Never seen someone repenting before the Grand Ancestor? Get lost!"

From the square came Red Cloud's roars from time to time.

...

Ye Yuan ignored Red Cloud's thoughts. Another purpose of his visit to the Western Spirit Domain was to gather some spiritual herbs for alchemy, to break through the bottleneck of the late Yuan Dan realm.

Having reached the Yuan Dan realm, Ye Yuan finally realized how terrifying his cultivation technique was.

Now, every minor breakthrough required several times the spiritual energy of his peers.

One must know that cultivation in the True God realm often took tens of thousands of years; several times that meant tens of thousands of years' worth of spiritual energy.

With such a vast amount of spiritual energy, even with the aid of pills, Ye Yuan's progress was extremely slow.

Previously, he could break through a minor realm in ten or twenty years, but now it took at least decades or even centuries. And this was only possible because Ye Yuan had consumed countless top-grade pills.

Otherwise, with the spiritual energy of the Yuan Dan realm, an ordinary martial artist might not break through a minor realm even in a hundred thousand years.

Ye Yuan had reached the peak of Yuan Dan sixth level a few years ago, but he had exhausted all his pills on the way to the Extreme North, and he was still one step away from breaking through the bottleneck.

At this Divine Beast Pill Convention, all kinds of spiritual herbs would naturally be abundant, so Ye Yuan couldn't miss the opportunity.

"Young master, you're truly amazing! You even became the demon race's sub-sage! You don't know how fierce those demons of the Extreme North Grasslands were, but they were so obedient before you." Lü'er followed beside Ye Yuan, her face full of admiration.

Gu Hong and Yang Fei'er followed behind the two, their expressions varied.

Yang Fei'er had been with Ye Yuan for half a year, and with the aid of his pills, she had already broken through to the ninth level of True God.

Such a cultivation speed was something she had never dared to imagine before.

And Lü'er, with Ye Yuan's help, was cultivating at an even more terrifying speed.

Yang Fei'er saw Lü'er almost every day and noticed her aura constantly growing; it was simply monstrous.

Ye Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "Silly girl, do you think being a sub-sage is so easy? Right now, countless people in the Divine Beast Domain have their eyes on me!"

Lü'er laughed and said, "I don't care; my young master is the best!"

As they chatted, they brushed past a group of men and women.

Suddenly, the leading young man with red hair and a bare chest frowned and turned to look at Ye Yuan.