Chapter Ninety-One: The Price and the Reward!

Looking at the storage ring in his hand, Yang Ye clenched it hard, but the ancient-looking ring did not break.

“Sturdy enough, I’ll give it that. Too bad,” Yang Ye said with a shake of his head.

If the ring’s owner was dead and the item could be used by others, he could have taken it to reward his subordinates.

“Let me try.”

Long Xiaoqing took the storage ring from Yang Ye and pressed it between two slender fingers.

With a crisp crack, the ring shattered.

Then, with a rustling sound, a large pile of items appeared out of thin air beside them and spilled onto the ground.

Among the heap, most were food and various daily necessities.

There were also some strange materials, along with a large number of stellar beast cores that gleamed red like rubies.

At a glance, there were no fewer than three hundred of them.

“As expected of a super-star cultivator. To think he had so many beast cores,” Yang Ye said in admiration.

“Hm? What is this?”

All at once, Yang Ye gave a surprised cry.

Within the mass of beast cores, a flash of gold caught his eye.

He immediately crouched down and pushed aside a few of the red stellar cores with his fingers, revealing a golden beast core the size of a thumb.

Under the sunlight, it shone clear and bright, like amber.

“This should be a super-star beast core,” Yang Ye said in delight.

Long Xiaoqing nodded. “The energy level of this core is one grade higher than a stellar beast core.”

“Wonderful!”

With a wave of his hand, Yang Ye swept all the beast cores and the many materials into his own storage ring.

He was certain that Zhou Hun and Mao Li’s teams must have reaped a great harvest as well.

By then, they could distribute some of the beast cores as rewards for their subordinates.

...

Yang Ye and Long Xiaoqing soon returned to the Huaxia Patrol Office in Summer Capital City.

At the time, Tian Zhong was waiting there for news.

“Little Ye, how did it go?” he asked with a frown when he saw Yang Ye and Long Xiaoqing return.

Tian Zhong was somewhat worried.

He Fei, Jiang Zhenghong, and the others were all super-star powerhouses, after all. If the five of them had escaped this time, it would have been a huge problem.

Yang Ye smiled. “Don’t worry, old man. He Wei has already been taken care of by me. As for Zhou Hun and Mao Li’s sides, there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Good. Good!”

When he heard that He Wei was dead, Tian Zhong finally relaxed.

What he truly worried about was not personal safety, but the fact that Huaxia was in the middle of a major reform. At a time like this, nothing must be allowed to go wrong.

After a sigh, Tian Zhong looked at the sky outside the window and said quietly, “So long as things proceed smoothly, in another twelve years, when the assessment day comes, Huaxia will surely become the strongest nation on Earth.

“Many cultivators have lost the concept of nation in their hearts. Little do they know that country and people are their roots. No matter where they go in the future, they will still be people with roots, people with homes. Even in the vast universe, the same principle holds.”

“Old man, you’re absolutely right! Don’t worry, if I fail the assessment, I’ll perish together with Earth!” Yang Ye said, clenching his fists.

Tian Zhong laughed and patted Yang Ye’s arm. “You won’t die, and Earth won’t perish either. Our Huaxia people should not only become a mighty race on Earth, but also a mighty race in the universe. I will strive for that goal for the rest of my life, until the day my life comes to an end.”

...

More than an hour later, Zhou Hun and his group finally returned.

Zhou Hun was carrying two bloody heads in his hands.

The moment he saw Yang Ye, Zhou Hun dropped the two heads and knelt on one knee. “Inspector Ye, this subordinate has disappointed you. We lost two men and had three seriously injured. As for Gu Fei, I’m afraid he can no longer serve Inspector Ye.”

“Get up,” Yang Ye said with a frown. “There are established procedures for how this should be handled.”

Yang Ye could tell that Zhou Hun was deeply saddened.

Since following Yang Ye, Zhou Hun and his group had hardly suffered any losses.

This time, Zhou Hun had led the team, so he blamed the deaths of his comrades on his own mistakes in command.

He was injured as well. After taking him in for a closer look, Yang Ye said, “Go and treat your wounds. You’ll have a long period of rest ahead.”

“Yes.”

Only then did Zhou Hun rise and leave.

But just as he reached the doorway, he turned back again. “Inspector Ye, I nearly forgot. Jiang Zhenghong and Li Feihu both had storage rings on them.”

As he spoke, Zhou Hun took two storage rings from his pocket and handed them to Yang Ye.

“What a pity. Three men were lost,” Tian Zhong said with a shake of his head after Zhou Hun left.

Yang Ye waved a hand.

One of the patrol soldiers standing guard at the door came in and took the heads of Jiang Zhenghong and Li Feihu away for disposal.

Yang Ye also said helplessly, “If Xiaoqing and I had made the move, none of them would have died. But if we had done that, they would never have grown. Besides, they will have to face even more brutal battles in the future.”

Tian Zhong sighed. “That’s true. It’s a pity, though. To waste already insufficient strength in internal strife is hardly worth it.”

Past three in the afternoon, the sixteen people led by Wang Ping also returned.

The heads of Han Mu and Hu Tianyun were brought back by Wang Ping.

Likewise, Wang Ping’s team had suffered losses as well: five lightly injured, two seriously injured, and three dead.

Among the seriously injured was Wang Ping himself.

Fortunately, with some time for treatment, the two seriously injured members would recover fully.

By evening, Mao Li and the others had also returned, bringing back the heads of Yamamoto Xianfu and Tianchuan Hongmu.

Of the twenty who had gone out, only thirteen returned. Six had died in battle, and one was left disabled.

This operation had therefore cost them thirteen people.

Out of the forty-eight subordinates under him, every single one had been built up by Yang Ye’s own effort. Seeing such a toll, he too felt deeply pained.

Still, after a fierce struggle to the death, everyone’s spirit and bearing had undergone a transformation.

The gains this time were also immense.

Every super-star cultivator carried a storage ring.

After destroying the rings and releasing the contents, a tally revealed a total of two thousand six hundred and twenty-one stellar beast cores.

Among them, there were five super-star beast cores in all, including the one Yang Ye had obtained.

From the more than two thousand stellar beast cores, Yang Ye took a portion, namely six hundred and twenty-one cores, along with a large batch of materials, and handed them to Tian Zhong for disposal.

The Huaxia Martial Hall needed these things in order to develop.

As for the remaining two thousand beast cores, Yang Ye kept two hundred and distributed the rest to Mao Li for allocation.

These beast cores were not divided evenly. Those who had shown the greatest courage in battle naturally received more.

...

Los Angeles, United States.

After Jeffrey Houston came out of the secret realm, he had originally wanted to trouble Yang Ye.

But partway there, after receiving a call from a family member, he immediately ordered the supersonic aircraft to turn back.

He had received word from Huaxia: the five super-star powerhouses there had all been killed.

As soon as Jeffrey returned to his family, he promptly issued orders for the clan members to disperse across the world, and he himself went into hiding.

Still wanting to seek revenge on Yang Ye?

If he truly went to Huaxia now, he was likely to end up without even bones left to bury.

Seven superstars, all killed by Yang Ye within less than a day.

This news quickly spread through the cultivator world.

Yang Ye’s combat power once again stunned cultivators all over the world.