Chapter 746: Skimming Stones

"Everyone, follow one by one. Don't step wrong!"

There was no time to think; the martial artists behind followed one after another.

Of course, those at the Boundless Realm could only watch helplessly from the shore, not daring to step up.

There was a bunch of Revelation Realm experts here; competing with them would be suicide, wouldn't it?

Jun Tianyu showed no intention of moving, while He Shuming and his companions followed the martial artists from Qingwan City onto the lotus platform.

After they had all gone up, Jun Tianyu unhurriedly stepped onto the lotus platform.

Only then did the Boundless Realm martial artists follow.

These Boundless Realm martial artists, though weak in strength, inadvertently benefited from Jun Tianyu's presence.

At this moment, Ye Yuan's pace grew faster and faster, until he was using only one foot to step on the lotus platforms.

Even Pei Wenqiang, with his extraordinary strength, had beads of sweat on his forehead.

Every nerve in his body was taut, afraid of making the slightest mistake. If he missed a step, it would be no joke.

He did not have Ye Yuan's rock-solid mental fortitude and could not accurately judge the position of each lotus platform.

There were nearly ten thousand lotus platforms on the river, making it extremely difficult to go the entire way without a single error.

In some places, one had to take detours; it wasn't a straight path forward.

Sometimes Ye Yuan would even come face to face with those behind him, but they were all staring intently at the heels of the person in front and had no time to pay him any attention.

Because Ye Yuan's acceleration was so sudden, except for Pei Wenqiang and Ying Tianya, everyone else was a beat slower.

This created a gap between them, rather than a continuous chain.

At first, the other martial artists could barely avoid mistakes, but later, some gradually couldn't hold on!

"Ah!"

A miserable scream rang out as someone finally missed a step and fell into the surging river, instantly swallowed up.

The scream was piercing, startling everyone. The martial artists behind that person all stopped in their tracks, not daring to move.

The martial artists behind were drenched in sweat, not knowing where to step next!

In contrast, Ye Yuan stepped with lotus blossoms blooming beneath his feet, as if strolling leisurely, carefree and unhurried.

Before long, Ye Yuan leaped and had already reached the opposite shore.

At this moment, Pei Wenqiang was already several lotus platforms behind him.

But Pei Wenqiang had been staring intently at Ye Yuan's steps and had forcibly memorized the positions of those lotus platforms.

"Ye Yuan, you're asking for death!"

Pei Wenqiang landed, and the pent-up rage in his heart desperately wanted to be vented.

Ye Yuan had clearly sped up on purpose, causing those behind to be unable to keep up—his intentions were damnable!

Ye Yuan said with a faint smile, "Having so many of your subordinates as my burial companions wouldn't be a bad choice."

Pei Wenqiang's face darkened, and he turned to look at the river. What he saw shocked him greatly.

Apart from the three of them, everyone else was stranded in the middle of the river!

The foremost person was his subordinate, standing foolishly on a lotus platform. At this moment, he had none of the demeanor of a Revelation Realm expert; he was nothing but a helpless child.

"C-City Lord, s-save me!" the martial artist shouted loudly.

Pei Wenqiang looked at Ye Yuan with a gloomy face and gritted his teeth, saying, "You're good! It seems you really don't know how to spell the word 'death'!"

Ye Yuan put a hand to his forehead and said, "Ah, I'm most afraid of people threatening me. When threatened, I become forgetful. Where was he supposed to step next?"

Pei Wenqiang ground his teeth in fury but could do nothing. He had been staring fixedly at Ye Yuan's steps just now and had no memory of the entire path.

In other words, only Ye Yuan could now lead his men over here.

Ying Tianya, standing aside, remained silent. He knew that what Ye Yuan had just done was not only to deal with Pei Wenqiang but also to warn him.

Ye Yuan had not spoken of the danger of this ancient cave dwelling, but that did not mean he had no opinion about it.

Through this incident, Ye Yuan wanted to warn him that without Ye Yuan, he could not save Xu Yan here.

In fact, even Ying Tianya himself had not expected that after entering the ancient cave dwelling, he would have to rely on Ye Yuan at every turn.

And these Heaven Opening realm experts had become utterly useless, forced to passively accept Ye Yuan's arrangements.

It was like this outside the cave dwelling, and the same after entering.

Pei Wenqiang's face was extremely ugly, but in the end, he compromised.

"Speak! What are your conditions?"

Ye Yuan smiled. "Now this is more like a negotiating attitude! Hmm... My conditions are simple: one hundred thousand Earth Origin Crystals per person."

Ye Yuan's cultivation consumed Earth Origin Crystals at an alarming rate. Now that he had caught a big fish, how could he not fleece him properly?

Charging by the head was Ye Yuan's specialty. Back at the Dayan True Sect ruins, he had blackmailed the Tianqian Sect in the same way.

Come to think of it, aside from Earth Origin Crystals, nothing else seemed very useful to him.

Pei Wenqiang's eyes bulged. "One hundred thousand per person? Why don't you just rob us?"

"One hundred fifty thousand!" Ye Yuan didn't give him any chance to bargain and directly added fifty thousand.

Pei Wenqiang choked. This kid really knew how to exploit a crisis.

At this moment, they were the fish on the chopping block, and Pei Wenqiang had no way to deal with him!

"Here are five hundred thousand Earth Origin Crystals. I'll give you the rest after they cross safely!" Pei Wenqiang threw a storage ring to Ye Yuan and said in a deep voice.

Ye Yuan didn't stand on ceremony. He put away the storage ring and shouted to the martial artist in the middle of the river: "Left one foot!"

The martial artist hesitated upon hearing Ye Yuan's words, but Pei Wenqiang yelled, "Follow his instructions!"

The martial artist hesitated no more and moved left one foot. Sure enough, a lotus platform appeared beneath his feet.

"Left two feet!"

"Forward one foot five!"

...

The distance between each lotus platform was different. For Ye Yuan to comprehend the formation in such a short time and remember the positions of tens of thousands of lotus platforms—what a powerful soul that required!

Earlier, when Pei Wenqiang had followed Ye Yuan, he hadn't thought much about it. Now, listening to Ye Yuan direct his men, he realized how monstrous Ye Yuan was.

"Right one foot!"

"Ah!"

A miserable scream rang out as the leading Heaven Opening realm martial artist fell straight into the river.

Poor man, after trembling on the lotus platform for so long, he still fell in.

"Ye Yuan, what do you mean?"

Pei Wenqiang's chest was about to explode with rage. If he believed Ye Yuan hadn't done that on purpose, he'd be a fool.

"Oh, my apologies. It should have been right one foot five. I misremembered, misremembered! When the Earth Origin Crystals aren't all here, I tend to get things mixed up. Terribly sorry. What a pity, one hundred fifty thousand Earth Origin Crystals down the drain. Sigh!"

Ye Yuan's look of regret made Pei Wenqiang want to vomit blood.

A Heaven Opening realm expert, and he had just been thrown down the drain!

This guy was utterly detestable!