Chapter 1604: A Powerful Return

"You few are nothing but ants living under Ye Yuan's wings! Without Ye Yuan, you are nothing!"

Zhou Wei's words struck deep, piercing the pride of the group.

Especially Bai Guang, whose anger surged straight to his head.

"A man would rather die than be humiliated. Today, I'll risk it all and fight you!"

Bai Guang's figure flickered, transforming into a fierce tiger as he charged at Zhou Wei.

A faint, almost imperceptible smile flickered at the corner of Zhou Wei's mouth as he suddenly struck out with a palm.

Bai Guang felt an overwhelming, despairing force envelop him from all directions.

"Pfft!"

Bai Guang spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling as if his bones had shattered.

Yue Mengli's expression changed as she quickly moved to catch him.

But the immense force sent her flying as well.

A Divine Lord realm expert was just too strong!

Zhou Wei watched coldly and said indifferently, "See? You can't even withstand a single palm strike from me, and you still dare to say you're not ants? If it weren't for the fact that you live here, you'd be dead by now. But... you won't be living here much longer."

Yue Mengli looked around and said coldly, "Aren't you afraid the Second Elder will find out about this?"

Zhou Wei laughed loudly, "The Second Elder is in seclusion right now, and his favored disciples who are close to Ye Yuan are all busy. Once you're driven out of the inner city and die outside, do you think the Second Elder would kill a protector for a dead man?"

Yue Mengli's expression changed as she said coldly, "It seems the Great Elder's side can no longer hold back!"

Zhou Wei smiled, "So, if you want to survive, earn divine origin stones desperately! Now, hand over all your divine origin stones! There are five of you in total. According to the rules, you need to pay two million five hundred thousand divine origin stones."

Bai Guang gritted his teeth, trying to stand, but he couldn't.

Yue Mengli's gaze was icy as she looked at Zhou Wei and said, "We'll pay!"

With that, Yue Mengli took out a storage ring and tossed it to Zhou Wei.

Beside her, Long Zhan gritted his teeth and said, "Miss Li, I... I'll leave the city today. You don't have to pay so many divine origin stones for me!"

Yue Mengli said, "Stop! If you leave the city now, do you think you'll see tomorrow's sun?"

Long Zhan choked up and said through gritted teeth, "Long Zhan's life is but a cheap one; the master gave me a chance to be reborn! Today, what harm is there in returning my life to him?"

Yue Mengli said firmly, "We came together, and we'll leave together! Don't say such things again."

Zhou Wei looked at this group with a mocking expression and said, "It seems you're all still clinging to false hope! I've never heard of anyone returning alive from the spatial inheritance. You might as well give up on that hope! Haha..."

Zhou Wei left with a loud laugh, and the group's faces turned ashen with anger.

But as Zhou Wei said, without Ye Yuan, they really couldn't contend with these Divine Lord realm experts!

In fact, when Ye Yuan left, he had left them over a hundred million divine origin stones.

But over a hundred years, the cultivation expenses for five people were considerable.

Originally, with the Second Elder's support, they could barely manage.

However, in recent years, Zhou Wei had been extorting them, and now they had only four or five million divine origin stones left.

And today, more than half of that was gone!

Next time Zhou Wei came, they wouldn't be able to afford it.

...

They had thought Zhou Wei would come again in a year, but unexpectedly, he returned just a few days later!

"Zhou Wei, we've already paid the taxes you demanded. What more do you want?" Even Li'er's good temper was about to explode.

Zhou Wei smiled, "Who told you there's only one type of tax in the Tianying Imperial City? Last time, I collected the head tax. This time, it's the spiritual energy tax! The spiritual energy in the inner city is ten times that of the outer city. You live here and cultivate several times faster than others. Shouldn't you pay some tax for that?"

Li'er's expression changed as she asked, "How much this time?"

Zhou Wei smiled, "Not much, just two million will do!"

"Two million! Why don't you just rob us!" Li'er scolded.

Zhou Wei said indifferently, "These are the city lord's mansion's regulations. If you can't pay, then I'm sorry, but you'll have to move out of the inner city."

Yue Mengli's expression shifted uncertainly; she really didn't have that many divine origin stones on her.

She took a deep breath, as if making a great decision, and said, "Fine, we'll move out!"

"No! Sister-in-law, you stay. We'll go!" Bai Guang said.

"Sister Li'er, you can't leave!" Lü'er also said.

Li'er said, "Don't say anymore. I've made up my mind! Everyone, pack up. We're leaving now!"

Zhou Wei said smugly, "Heh, that's right. Ants like you only deserve to live in the outer city or the royal city. The inner city is an inch of land worth an inch of gold. You living here is simply a waste."

Facing Zhou Wei's taunts, the group endured silently.

After packing for a while, as they were about to leave, suddenly an overwhelmingly powerful aura surged from the direction of the Martial Tower.

The spiritual energy of the entire imperial city crazily converged toward the Martial Tower.

At that moment, the spiritual energy in that direction seemed to be drained dry by a pump, while spiritual energy from other directions surged madly toward it.

"Hmm? What's going on? Someone is breaking through?" Bai Guang said in surprise.

"Who is breaking through to cause such a terrifying momentum?" Long Zhan also showed a shocked expression.

Zhou Wei's expression changed slightly, but he snorted coldly, "Whoever is breaking through has nothing to do with you! Could it be Ye Yuan breaking through? Heh, such momentum is probably unmatched even by Divine Lord realm experts. Get lost now! This is no place for you to linger!"

At this moment, the entire imperial city was stirred.

This breakthrough was like a giant pump, frantically plundering spiritual energy from all directions.

"What's happening? Could it be that one of the elders is breaking through?"

"Such momentum is probably unmatched even by a Divine Lord at the fourth or fifth level, right?"

"Who exactly is breaking through? This is too crazy! With so much spiritual energy entering the body, even a Divine Lord expert would be burst apart!"

...

Countless martial artists gathered toward the Martial Tower, wanting to see who was breaking through with such terrifying momentum.

"Aren't you leaving yet? Do you need me, the protector, to personally escort you out?" Seeing Yue Mengli not moving, Zhou Wei frowned and said sternly.

Yue Mengli still didn't move. She suddenly spoke, "It's Yuan Ge! Yuan Ge is breaking through! He's back!"

Zhou Wei's expression changed, and he scolded, "Nonsense! Ye Yuan is already dead in the spatial inheritance. How could he be breaking through? Besides, such momentum—is it something a Return to Void realm martial artist can achieve?"

Yue Mengli turned and glanced at Zhou Wei, saying calmly, "Zhou Wei, if Yuan Ge really is back, do you know what will happen if you still dare to drive us out?"

Zhou Wei's expression changed, and his heart began to waver.