Chapter 126: Good News, Bad News

In an ancient European-style building, three men in black robes gathered together. Beneath the hoods of their robes, eerie metal ghost masks could be faintly seen. It was early winter, and the flickering flames in the black cast-iron fireplace cast reddish hues on the masks, making them appear even more sinister.
“What do we do? Dracula and Ye Feng didn’t fight as we expected!” A gloomy voice came from beneath the mask. The speaker stood by the coffee table, looking at the other two.
“That’s understandable. After all, Dracula is an ancient monster who’s lived for hundreds of years. He would easily realize that Ye Feng can’t be the killer of Edward. But I didn’t expect him to regain his senses so quickly. I thought he’d wait until after killing Ye Feng before calming down,” said the man sitting on the sofa in a somewhat lazy tone.
“Let’s move on to the next plan!” In front of the flickering fireplace, a tall figure blocked most of the room’s light. Suddenly, he turned his head toward the two men nearby. “Target those around Ye Feng! Threaten them into handing over that item! There’s no other way now—we can’t keep delaying. Ye Feng has reached the peak of the Golden Core stage. If he breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, he and Long Tian will both be Nascent Soul experts. By then, it will be too late to act. Remember, that item in his hands is the key to his rapid power growth.”
“Alright, let’s kidnap them while Long Yue and the others are alone! I’ve never done something as crude as kidnapping before!” The man on the sofa said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
…
Early in the morning, as soon as Ye Feng opened his eyes, he heard the doorbell. He immediately got up and opened the door.
“Young man, sleeping in isn’t a good habit!” Kong Xu glanced at Ye Feng, who was only wearing shorts, and pushed his way in without hesitation.
“Elder Taoist, what do you need? Why come here so early in the morning? If there’s nothing, I’ll go back and catch up on some sleep…” Ye Feng said, preparing to return to his room.
“Do you really think I’m the kind of old man who can’t sleep at night, wakes up early in the morning full of energy, and likes to harass young people?” Kong Xu stroked his beard with his finger.
“I think you resemble that kind of person today!” Ye Feng smiled. “Let me make you some tea!”

Kongxu sat down on the sofa quite casually. Before long, Ye Feng brought over tea. “Good news or bad news?”
“Both, I guess!” Kongxu was honest.
“Oh, I thought it would only be bad news!” Ye Feng was already prepared to hear bad news.
“The good news is that I roughly understand the reason behind the Ghost Market massacre!” Kongxu said with a smile at Ye Feng.
“What exactly is the reason?” Ye Feng also wanted to know the truth; what he and Long Tian had guessed before were just unverified hypotheses.
“Do you still remember what I told you last time about the teleportation array?” Kongxu asked Ye Feng.
“Mm, I remember. A teleportation array that can send people off Earth!” Ye Feng nodded. “What’s up?”
“I also told you that Earth’s spiritual energy concentration is insufficient, which prevents many powerful cultivators from advancing beyond the Yuan Ying stage, right?” Kongxu continued.
“Mm, you did say that!” Ye Feng nodded.
“So, all the powerful cultivators at the Yuan Ying stage on Earth share the same dream: to leave Earth, find a cultivation planet, and then break through to the next stage!” Kongxu’s face showed longing as well.
“To leave Earth, we need four medium-grade spiritual crystals, but there are only two in the whole world, kept in two extremely secret places. To activate the teleportation array, we’re still short two medium-grade spiritual crystals.”
“The reason these two crystals are kept in secret places is that the energy contained in one medium-grade spiritual crystal is enough to help a Yuan Ying-stage cultivator break through to the next level—the Exit Soul stage. This is a huge temptation for most Yuan Ying-stage cultivators.”
“After all, the lifespan of a Yuan Ying-stage cultivator is only three thousand years, while that of a Exit Soul-stage cultivator is five thousand years. Many Yuan Ying-stage cultivators have their eyes on these two medium-grade spiritual crystals. Although leaving Earth is the best way to make a breakthrough, finding the third crystal seems far off. Many think they won’t have a chance to leave and worry they’ll fade away.”
“In fact, most people believe that since we’ve already found two medium-grade spiritual crystals on Earth, it’s possible to find the other two given enough time. But if even one of the existing two crystals disappears due to someone’s selfish desires, our chances of successfully leaving will drop significantly. That’s why we’ve hidden these two crystals in extremely secret locations.”

“What’s the connection between this and the massacre at the Ghost Market?” After hearing so much from Kongxu, Ye Feng raised his doubts.
“From the start, they were targeting you,” Kongxu said, not seeming to be joking at all. “It’s because you were going to the Ghost Market that the murderer stole all the items sold there and carried out a bloody massacre.”
“Why target me?” Ye Feng felt a hint of concern.
“Because the rapid improvement in your cultivation skills didn’t follow normal patterns. They believe your strength increase stems from possessing mid-grade spirit crystals or something similar,” Kongxu said with a smile. “Although Long Tian’s strength also grew at an alarming rate, each time it increased, it was in an open environment, with witnesses present who knew exactly what was happening. Your growth was completely different—you became a warrior out of nowhere, suddenly reached the Condensing Pill stage, and then abruptly advanced to the Golden Pill stage, with almost no signs. Though it’s said your breakthrough to the Condensing Pill stage was due to sudden enlightenment, no one has ever experienced such a thing, so no one knows what really happened behind the scenes. In fact, I even have my doubts.”
“So, they want to get this thing from me? This imaginary thing that doesn’t even exist?” Ye Feng shook his head with a bitter smile. “They think I went to the Ghost Market for this? That’s why they looted all the goods there?”
“That’s right. Killing those merchants was to frame you and create trouble for you. Then they’d look for an opportunity to get close to you, gain your trust, and obtain what they want,” Master Kongxu nodded. “But fortunately, I didn’t handle things conventionally. The usual approach to such a large-scale massacre is to immediately inform the domestic cultivation community upon learning of it, issue a warrant for your arrest along with Long Tian’s, and capture them alive for interrogation. Of course, if that were the case, you and Long Tian definitely wouldn’t just sit idle, and things would only get worse.”
“Indeed, the conflict would intensify further!” Ye Feng nodded. He understood that Master Kongxu’s actions had allowed him and Long Tian to survive this crisis unscathed.
“And your visit to England to see Dracula, with his butler being killed, was also because they wanted to frame you and create conflict between you and Dracula,” Master Kongxu continued analyzing.

“When Dracula found me yesterday, I already knew I had been set up!” Ye Feng said with a bitter smile. “It turns out they’ve been plotting against me from the very beginning!”
“But so far, it seems their actions haven’t caused you much trouble. Well, the news below is bad!” Kong Xu’s expression grew even more serious.
“What is it?” Ye Feng also grew worried.
Kong Xu showed a hint of concern on his face. “I think after two failed attempts, they might target the people around you to force you to hand over what they want…”