As Ye Xi emerged from the temple, he saw the figures of several men in black robes and blocked their path.
"Please wait a moment, everyone. Our lord would like to invite you to visit our territory!" Ye Xi said to the group.
"Inviting us to be your guests? You don't mean you want to keep us there forever, do you?" The men in black robes were taken aback, then replied with a cold laugh.
"You flatter me, sir. The lord said that what happened just now was simply a matter of mutual benefit. He is very interested in your methods of surviving in the darkness and wants to discuss them in more detail!" Ye Xi said neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"Hmph!" Several men in black robes snorted coldly, their faces grim as they pondered. Ye Xi's reason was nothing more than an excuse, and they wouldn't delve too deeply into the matter with a mere clan. However, whether or not to go to Ye Chen's territory was a question.
"He wants to know about Yang Tianyou, right?" At this moment, a man in black robes said, and everyone suddenly realized.
If Ye Chen had any other connection with them besides the Temple of Mitchell, it would only be with Yang Tianyou.
"I don't know about that! The lord didn't tell me!" Ye Xi shook his head and glanced at the temple next to him before speaking.
Several men in black robes saw her actions and understood her meaning. Mitchell was right next to them, so there were some things that were not convenient to say.
After a brief exchange, the men in black robes finally nodded. "Alright! We'll go with you to see your so-called Heavenly Emperor!"
Ye Xi led everyone back, while Ye Chen, who had turned off the communication, had already begun preparations. He quickly covered up the things that needed to be concealed with the mist flowers, leaving a place to communicate with the man in black robes.
As for whether the other party will reply or not, he doesn't care. It would be best if they did, but it doesn't matter if they don't, since it wasn't an important matter anyway.
However, when Ye Xi and the others arrived at the territory with five men in black robes, Ye Chen still greeted them with a smile.
Upon seeing the territory spanning nearly a thousand kilometers, the perfected Five Elements Cycle Formation, and the energy shield covering the entire territory, the black-robed figures were all deeply shocked.
Especially when they saw the inheritance stele hidden in the clouds in the center of the territory, everyone's mentality collapsed. This was someone who was only one step away from becoming a formal lord!
It's only been a little over two months since the newcomer trials ended, and some people are already about to become official lords. Are newcomers already this overpowered?
The five men in black robes were bewildered in the wind. Even the beautiful Silver Osmanthus Moon Elf was too preoccupied to look at them and wandered in front of Ye Chen as if in a dream.
"Greetings, everyone. Let me introduce myself. I am Ye Chen, the new lord of this year!" Ye Chen said with a smile upon seeing the newcomers.
"Greetings, Lord Ye Chen. I am Ma Jingshuo, a new lord from five years ago!"
"I am Mo Yangxu, the new lord from three years ago!"
"My last year's..."
"I was from the year before last..."
"Me too, from three years ago..."
One by one, the people introduced themselves, explaining that they were all new lords from previous years who had been corrupted by darkness and were forced to remain in the trial space, unwilling to fall but unable to return.
"Tell us, what do you want to say to us?" Ma Jingshuo, the leader, asked first. The two sides had previously been undermining each other in Mitchell's temple, and he didn't really think they had anything to talk about with Ye Chen.
"Let's talk about your plans. The large-scale emergence of wasteland planets is related to you, isn't it?" Ye Chen leaned back in his chair and said casually.
"What plan? What does the large-scale emergence of wasteland planets have to do with us?" Ma Jingshuo asked, puzzled. Ye Chen was also taken aback when he saw his confused look.
Could it be that this has nothing to do with them? That shouldn't be the case!
"So you know Yang Tianyou? Are you close to him?" Ye Chen frowned and continued to ask.
"Not familiar with him! What? Kid, are you here to interrogate a prisoner?" Ma Jingshuo said in an unfriendly tone.
"Sorry, sorry, I was lost in thought and didn't notice for a moment. Ye Xi prepared some small gifts for them, and they can take them with them later!" Ye Chen quickly apologized as he came back to his senses.
Seeing the other party's demeanor, and considering the small gift Ye Xi had retrieved, Ma Jingshuo and the others' anger subsided slightly. They stopped putting on airs, took a sip of water, and then answered the other party's questions seriously.
“We’re not really familiar with Yang Tianyou. We’re just all from the Rescue Association, oh, it’s a small organization of us former lords. We’ve met a few times during occasional gatherings to discuss ways to get home,” Ma Jingshuo replied.
"Does your relief organization have many members?" Ye Chen asked curiously.
"Not many, just a dozen or so people, accumulated over the years."
"So, have you figured out how you're going to get out? If the darkness within you remains, even the rekindled flame of hope won't get you out, right?"
"Heh heh, we've become like this to completely kick out the darkness and retain only our own consciousness. I have to admit, the undead have an easier time doing this!"
"Abandoning the original body, replacing it with a new one, and then using the spark of hope to burn away the darkness in the soul, so that the complete consciousness can be freed up, is indeed a good method! If you really get out, this method can become a life-saving technique in the training of new recruits."
"Hehe, who knows, we might become a group of pioneers someday!" a man in black robes thought with anticipation.
"And what about your family members? Are they still alive?"
"It's gone. The entire territory has been corrupted by darkness. We have no choice but to abandon our territory and nest and leave alone!"
Hearing this, Ye Chen frowned slightly. Their situation seemed to be different from Yang Tianyou's. He had managed to preserve his territory and clan, but he was unable to take them out of this trial space.
"Have you guys been to Yang Tianyou's territory?" Ye Chen asked curiously.
“I’ve been there! Just like ours, it’s completely desolate, with a lot of darkness spreading. Many places are inaccessible, and we can only move around in a small area. I don’t think we can hold out for much longer!” Ma Jingshuo replied.
Ye Chen immediately understood that their situation was different from Yang Tianyou's. When he arrived in Yang Tianyou's territory through the spatial rift, although it was also desolate, it was not so that he could only move around in a small area.
"Yang Tianyou lied to them!" This thought flashed through Ye Chen's mind, but why would Yang Tianyou lie to them?
They're all members of the mutual aid society, survivors corrupted by darkness, so what is Yang Tianyou hiding? Why is he so confident that he can leave the trial space?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
