As soon as Lu Ye finished speaking, he felt a dizzying sensation, the surrounding scenery twisted and shifted, and when he came to his senses again, he was astonished to find himself standing before a somewhat familiar grand hall.

He looked up to see a plaque hanging high above with the large characters "Harmony Light" inscribed on it!

He almost doubted his own eyes.

Within the Nine Provinces, there is only one Harmony Light Hall, which is in Haotian City in Bingzhou, and nowhere else.

Instinctively, he expanded his Mental Consciousness, probed around, and discovered that he was indeed in front of the Harmony Light Hall in Haotian City, Bingzhou.

How... was this done? Lu Ye was truly shocked. Just moments ago, when he was checking the ten-part map, he was still somewhere in Cangzhou, and in the blink of an eye, he found himself in Bingzhou! The distance between them was more than just a hundred thousand miles!

To be teleported from Cangzhou to this place in an instant, without the slightest error, what mysterious method was this?

Yang Qing, however, no longer bothered with him, placing his hands behind his back as he casually walked into the hall.

Lu Ye, feeling somewhat dizzy, followed him in.

The number of cultivators inside the Harmony Light Hall had noticeably increased, all being Divine Sea Level 9 cultivators who had rushed over after receiving the news, along with the previous Constellation Realm cultivators who had been waiting for news about Lu Ye all this time.

When Yang Qing walked in, everyone naturally saw him and immediately noticed Lu Ye, who appeared somewhat mentally unsettled, following behind.

Despite the large crowd in the grand hall, it was so silent that one could hear a pin drop, and many pairs of eyes looked questioningly at Lu Ye, who nodded slightly.

In the exchange of glances, everyone now knew the true identity of this young man clad in green, who was exceptionally youthful.

No one understood why a member of the Dragon Race maintained a human form, but since demon beasts have the path of shape-changing, it stands to reason that the Azure Dragon, leader of the Four Auspicious Sacred Beasts, would possess such an ability.

Some bold individuals activated their Mental Consciousness to probe Yang Qing's reality, but soon their expressions turned solemn.

Because, in the exploration of their Mental Consciousness, where Yang Qing was seemed to be an empty void; one might not even detect his presence if not using the naked eye.

This singular fact alone made those probing realize that this mythical Dragon Race entity is at least on the same level as Yueh Xin, an existence that cannot be contended with in the current Nine Provinces phase!

Under everyone's watchful gaze, Yang Qing, as if there were no others around, walked straight to the main seat, sat down with a plop, put his legs up on the desk, crossed his left leg over his right, folded his hands over his stomach, and opened his mouth: "Bring some food!"

No one expected that the first words from such a powerful figure upon arriving here would be this, leaving everyone momentarily at a loss.

Jian Guhong and others repeatedly cast glances at Lu Ye.

In the current situation, only Lu Ye had contact with Yang Qing, so if any requests needed to be met, it would be most appropriate for Lu Ye to handle them; others should refrain from meddling.

Lu Ye got the hint, stepped forward from the crowd, and said aloud, "Let me introduce to everyone: this is Senior Yang Qing. Senior Yang has been in the Nine Provinces for ten thousand years, although he has rarely appeared, he is one of us."

Yang Qing gave Lu Ye a meaningful look, realizing that no matter the era, the human race always had the most cunning individuals. Having been suppressed for ten thousand years clearly sounded more pleasant the way Lu Ye put it.

And now he's one of them!

Everyone paid their respects with a respectful attitude. They had no choice but to be respectful; not to mention they needed something from him, even if they didn't, his power and age were evident. The oldest among them was Granny Jiew, only two thousand years old, hardly a fraction of his age.

Lu Ye then looked at Yang Qing: "I wonder what Senior would like to eat? The Nine Provinces are vast and abundant in resources; Haotian City also boasts the best chefs. Whatever Senior wishes to eat, I will have it prepared now."

He was a bit apprehensive, fearing that Yang Qing might request human food, which would be difficult to handle.

Yang Qing replied leisurely, "Do you have any spirit jade or spirit crystal?"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at his words, initially worrying he truly meant to eat, only to find out he wanted spirit jade or spirit crystal.

In recent times, Constellation Realm cultivators who ventured into the stellar space all had some gains. Because the Nine Provinces had been sealed for many years, the nearby stellar space remained unexplored and naturally had a considerable accumulation of spirit jade, and even spirit crystals, which were more advanced and typically only condensed in areas rich in stellar space energy.

Is it a case of taking money to avert disaster? This thought crossed everyone's mind as they willingly stepped forward to offer the gains from their time in the stellar space.

There wasn't much, the most anyone had was just over a hundred pieces of spirit jade, while the least was just a few pieces.

However, when gathered together, they amounted to over a thousand pieces.

After the last Constellation Realm cultivator took out their spirit jade, Yang Qing suddenly opened his mouth wide and took a deep breath.

The thousand-plus pieces of spirit jade on the desk before him were all sucked into his mouth, whereupon a chewing sound, crunch, crunch, was heard, leaving the group of Constellation Realm cultivators dumbfounded.

They clearly understood the sheer magnitude of energy contained within a single piece of spirit jade. To be honest, any random piece of spirit jade in their hands would suffice for several days of their cultivation needs.

Spirit crystals could last even longer due to their higher quality.

Over a thousand pieces of spirit jade, including some spirit crystals. Not to mention a Constellation Realm cultivator, even a Moon Jade Realm cultivator would likely explode and die under such a massive surge of energy!

Yet Yang Qing merely chewed casually a few times before swallowing it whole, showing no sign of discomfort.

This instilled some confidence in those unaware of Yang Qing's true strength; with the power he displayed, surely he could handle a Sun Blaze Realm...right?

"Is there any more?" Yang Qing patted his belly, seemingly unsatisfied.

"That's all there is," Lu Ye replied. At such a time, it's impossible for anyone to hold back; all the spirit jades and spirit crystals collected by the Constellation Realm cultivators lately would inevitably have been brought forth.

"Never mind, I shall seek more myself!" Yang Qing said, and his figure suddenly blurred, disappearing from sight.

Lu Ye was astonished and hurriedly called out, "Senior, leave us a way to contact you! What if that villain returns, how can we reach you?"

This Dragon Race couldn't possibly have just eaten and ran, could it? It's possible, but it doesn't seem very likely.

Though Yang Qing was gone, his voice resonated faintly from the void: "Just stall him with false pretenses, safeguard yourselves and the Nine Provinces, and wait for my return to deal with him!"

In the Harmony Light Hall, a silence prevailed.

After a long time, someone finally spoke: "What do we do now?"

The situation had become incredibly bizarre.

That fellow, Yueh Xin, had appeared in the Nine Provinces showing his extraordinary strength, injured a group of Constellation Realm cultivators, and then vanished without a trace. Lu Ye had called upon a Dragon from the Dragon Race, who devoured a meal of spirit jade and spirit crystals and then also disappeared, leaving the cultivators of the Nine Provinces to stare at each other in bewilderment.

It was certain that Yueh Xin would return, but no one knew what he was currently up to!

What was uncertain was whether Yang Qing would come back, which makes it awkward.

"Having been sealed for millennia, even if his power was immense, he must be incredibly weakened now. We should be thankful Yueh Xin is not in the Nine Provinces at this moment, or else Senior Yang Qing might not prevail if they faced off," Lu Ye began to speak slowly, "That's why he asked us for spirit jade, so he could go to the stellar space to restore himself. Mm, he will be back."

This was to comfort everyone, and also to comfort himself.

Simultaneously, he called out to Number Nine: "The Dragon Race didn't just run away, did they?"

Number Nine's voice sounded by his ear: "Rest assured, the Dragon Race, being a Sacred Beast, will keep their word as long as they agree to something, unless they never agreed to anything in the first place."

"The key is, he never promised me anything from the start."

"Didn't he tell you to stall him with false pretenses? Just follow that." At this point, Number Nine sighed slightly: "Life might get tough for Number Nine in the future. Lu Ye, you can't leave me in the lurch!"

"He'll give you trouble?" Lu Ye asked.

"Certainly! He always wanted me to release him, but I pretended it couldn't be done. Now that I've let him out, he'll definitely want revenge. I'm telling you, Lu Ye, the Dragon Race are extraordinarily petty; you mustn't offend him in your future dealings."

Lu Ye said, "How foolish would I have to be to offend a Dragon? Speaking of which, what's the situation at the Spirit Stream battlefield?"

"There's some turmoil. Once it stabilizes, it should be fine, with no major impact."

"That's good."

The Spirit Stream battlefield is the training ground for the most basic cultivation forces in the Nine Provinces cultivation world and is of great significance to the entire Nine Provinces. If any problem arose in the Spirit Stream battlefield, future cultivation for Spirit Stream Realm cultivators would undoubtedly become difficult.

With Yueh Xin gone, and Yang Qing as well, everyone was left waiting in an anxious unease.

The feeling of having no control over life and death is undoubtedly dreadful. One would think that with the world level of the Nine Provinces ascending, cultivators would have a path to the upper realm, and life would steadily improve. Yet, just as things were beginning, calamity struck, proving the unpredictability of the world.

All Constellation Realm cultivators gathered in Haotian City. During this period, numerous Divine Sea Realm cultivators arrived upon hearing the news, and for a time, the number of strong individuals in Haotian City continued to grow.

However, the dissemination of information regarding these events was restricted to certain levels, with cultivators below the Divine Sea Realm generally unaware of these happenings.

For them to know would be futile, merely causing unnecessary turmoil within their minds.

After some exchange with Lu Ye, Number Nine also hid itself away, for it did not know when Yueh Xin might return. If Yueh Xin discovered the existence of the Heaven's Augury Compass, it would spell true disaster for the Nine Provinces.

At present, Yueh Xin only thinks of occupying the Nine Provinces. But if he realizes the existence of the Heaven's Augury Compass, he will certainly attempt to refine it. Once he succeeds, the very roots of the Nine Provinces would fall under foreign enslavement.

Lu Ye was accelerating his cultivation speed.

Originally, he wasn't very urgent about cultivation matters, as his unique cultivation method made advancing his cultivation not particularly difficult. However, one must not solely pursue ascension in realm levels.

But now it seems, he must first advance to the Constellation Realm, at the very least gain the ability to set foot in stellar space, to talk about the future.