C396 Different Dark Arts!

The slender man hailed from the Hu family of the Stormcrown Empire, known as Hu Tianyang.

Yu Yuan was somewhat familiar with the Hu family's members, though he held no particular fondness for them.

During his time in the Serpent Spine Mountains, he encountered Hu Hang, Hu Xuan, Hu Yue, and other Hu family members. Regrettably, they were deceived by Liu Zaihe into entering Gloomhollow.

Ultimately, they became nothing more than skeletons scattered throughout the valley.

The Hu family, skilled in weapon forging, held a prestigious position within the Stormcrown Empire and were greatly esteemed.

Hu Tianyang, despite being part of the weapon-crafting Hu family, seemed to have no interest in the trade. Blessed with innate talent from a young age, he was selected by an envoy of the Devil Palace to learn the authentic dark arts, setting him on the path of cultivation.

Hu Tianyang, who had been predestined to join the Devil Palace since childhood, was accustomed to arrogance.

Within the Stormcrown Empire, few people were worthy of his attention.

After Yu Yuan's blunt remark, Hu Tianyang was initially bewildered, wondering if he had misheard.

"I'm insulting you."

Shi Si, also from the Stormcrown Empire, giggled softly, relishing the disorder, and provocatively added, "Hu Tianyang, if you didn't catch that, let me clarify. This man from the Yu family of Asvetaesi said you're a chatterbox. He finds you irritating. Did you get that?"

The Shi family ranked among the most formidable in the Stormcrown Empire.

Shi Si, a scion of this family, was the sole female and the youngest of the trio.

She appeared underdeveloped, not yet reaching her full height, with a petite and delicate frame. Her attire was reinforced with gleaming silver armor plates over her chest, elixir field, and crucial acupoints.

Shi Si had dainty hands and feet, and her sweet, pretty features resembled those of the girl next door.

Yet, her chest was conspicuously full, strikingly incongruous with her slight stature.

With a cultivation level in the middle period of Veil Breaking, comparable to Hu Tianyang's, her youth suggested even greater potential. Once she entered the Devil Palace, she was bound to be highly esteemed.

"You, are you saying I'm full of hot air?"

Hu Tianyang finally caught on, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. He rolled up his sleeves and struck a pose, challenging, "Come on then, show me what makes you think you can accuse me of talking nonsense?"

As he crouched slightly, the surrounding spiritual energy grew dense and heavy, plummeting down with his movement!

A whirlwind sprang up from nowhere on the deck of the Silver Rainbow Shuttle.

A deep, dark halo of light spilled from beneath Hu Tianyang's arms, unfurling outward like a pair of eerie, astonishing black wings.

The Devil Palace disciples were accustomed to resolving disputes with immediate combat.

The sect implicitly condoned this practice; internal conflicts among disciples were ultimately settled through battle.

In the Devil Palace, the weak submitted to the strong—this was an unspoken rule.

Hu Tianyang considered Yu Yuan a fellow disciple of the Devil Palace, yet Yu Yuan was merely at the Golden Sanctum level. In Hu's eyes, Yu Yuan should have shown the basic respect due when facing a superior.

Yu Yuan's comment about Hu Tianyang's verbosity was a challenge from the weak to the strong. By the Devil Palace's standards, it was acceptable to teach him a lesson through combat.

"Wraith Wings!"

Yan Lu joined Yu Yuan, standing shoulder to shoulder with a sly grin. "Hu Tianyang, you're a whole realm higher with your middle Veil Breaking cultivation. Have you no shame?"

"Shameless, indeed," Hu Tianyang retorted with a snort. "Yet he dares to criticize me, despite his inferior cultivation! Yan Lu, I'm aware that you're both from Silvermoon—no, my mistake, from the Shadowlight Empire. I know you're close and look out for him, but you'd best teach him our sect's rules!"

Having convinced himself that Yu Yuan was a chosen disciple of the Devil Palace, Hu Tianyang felt Yu Yuan's lower cultivation level meant he was unfamiliar with many of the sect's intricacies. With Yan Lu stepping in, Hu Tianyang chose not to press the issue further.

"Everyone's in the same boat here, all seeking to cultivate in peace. Your endless prattle is truly grating," Yan Lu said, massaging his left ear as he stepped forward to confront Hu Tianyang. "Perhaps you could enlighten me on how to be more respectful of the rules?"

A multitude of fine strands of spiritual energy and vitality burst forth from Yan Lu's fingertips, igniting into a series of flames.

The dark fire blazed with a light purple hue, exuding an aura that was at once mysterious, shadowy, and intense.

"Purple devil fire!" Shi Si couldn't contain her surprise and stood up, moving closer to Yan Lu. Her gaze was fixed on the flames erupting from his fingers as she marveled, "I'm impressed. I heard you've only recently advanced to the middle period of Veil Breaking, and yet you've already mastered the purple devil fire. It's no wonder you felt bold enough to challenge Hu Tianyang, even at the same level of cultivation."

Wu Pei, normally the quietest of the trio, opened his eyes wide with astonishment.

The Wu family, a minor name within the Stormcrown Empire, paled in comparison to the Yu family of Asvetaesi. However, Wu Pei's fame had elevated the Wu family's status significantly.

Having reached the late period of Veil Breaking and just a step away from Subtlety, Wu Pei had previously ventured to the Devil Palace for deep cultivation. After resolving some family issues, he had recently returned to the Stormcrown Empire and was now aboard the Silver Rainbow Shuttle, heading to the Embers Sea to try his luck.

Wu Pei was among the few younger members aboard the Silver Rainbow Shuttle who had actually trained at the Devil Palace.

"Purple devil fire..." Wu Pei mused, observing the flames springing from Yan Lu's fingertips and sensing the entwined aura. He too was taken aback.

Both "Wraith Wings" and "Purple devil fire" were among the lower-tiered spiritual spells of the Devil Palace, the former being a fifth-level spell and the latter an eighth-level spell.

In the vast expanse of the Everlands, cultivation techniques and spells were categorized into low, middle, and high tiers, each tier further subdivided into nine ranks, clearly delineating the potency and quality of the spells.

The more advanced the spiritual spell, the more challenging it is to master. Naturally, its potency is also significantly greater.

Higher-level spiritual spells often come with numerous restrictions, such as the cultivator's innate talent, their current realm, the availability of suitable pills or artifacts for assistance, and their level of understanding in that particular field, among other factors.

The purple devil fire is three minor levels above the Wraith Wings, indicating that it is not only more difficult to master but also far more powerful.

Yan Lu has advanced to the middle period of the Veil Breaking realm more swiftly than Hu Tianyang did during his early period.

And now, Yan Lu has successfully mastered the purple devil fire!

If Yan Lu's physical conditioning is not significantly inferior to Hu Tianyang's, within the same Veil Breaking middle period, the formidable power of the purple devil fire should make him stronger than Hu Tianyang.

"Purple devil fire!"

Hu Tianyang couldn't hide his astonishment upon witnessing the wisps of faint purple dark fire emanating from Yan Lu's fingertips.

With a grimace of discontent, he recognized that Yan Lu was not someone he could contend with. Muttering under his breath, he said, "The Yan family is clearly more influential than our Hu family, being the new rulers of the Shadowlight Empire."

His implication was clear: Yan Lu's success in cultivating the purple devil fire was due to the substantial financial backing of his family.

Despite his grumbling, he stepped back, effectively conceding.

"You and Yu Yuan are both disciples of the Devil Palace, so that's to be expected," Hu Tianyang thought bitterly, his gaze turning to Su Yan, who sat nearby with a smile. The more he looked at her, the more irked he became. He challenged her, "What business does a disciple of the Abyssal Dawn have in the Embers Sea? And why are you using our Silver Rainbow Shuttle?"

He felt innately superior to Su Yan.

In his eyes, the Hu family was more formidable than the Su family, and he was a disciple of the Devil Palace, while Su Yan was merely from the Abyssal Dawn, one of the seven lower sects of Euwrea.

By any measure, he considered himself above Su Yan.

Though Yu Yuan was weaker, Hu Tianyang still regarded him as a fellow sect disciple, one of their own. Once Yan Lu stepped in, Hu Tianyang ceased his provocations.

Su Yan regarded him with a mocking stare, provoking his anger once more.

"Su Yan..."

Yan Lu glanced in that direction and offered a faint smile, clearly indicating he had no intention of intervening.

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