Li Yang's words were quickly proven correct, the entire forest bursting alive with activity. The cultivators chased the fox carrying the box, rousing up the Demonic beasts lurking in the area and resulting in them chasing after the tasty meals that were the cultivators. As for the poor fox, the only thing it had going for it was its excellent speed, everyone else of its specs was average or below average. As a result, the poor beast didn't even get the chance to take a break to gather its thoughts, otherwise, it might have realized that it should drop the box it was carrying.

The more cultivators chased the beast, the more Demonic beasts were alerted, resulting in even more cultivators realizing the situation and joining in on the chase. The situation grew and grew without end, only stopping when the chaos had wrapped up all but the strongest Demonic beasts in the forest. They were more pre-occupied with defending and maintaining their territories, and they knew that the bigshots of the sect were paying attention to the area thanks to all this ruckus so charging forth would be unwise.

As the spark that lit this inferno, there was no way that Li Yang would miss it, dragging an icy Mei Kongxu with him as he followed the fox and quietly observed the people chasing it. Some of the cultivators settled on taking out some of the stronger Demonic beasts that joined the fray, realizing that their chances of getting the box were slim they instead chose to go for the tangible rewards.

But while there were some who made the reasonable choice, there were more than went after the box with ever-increasing fervour. At first, they went after it because of how Li Yang's father had reacted when Li Yang brought it out, but their thoughts slowly warped as the chase dragged on. There were so many people going after this box, surely it must contain something extremely valuable, right?

It was a simple train of thought that was easily spawned in a situation like this, it even affected some of the more intelligent Demonic beasts. But this train of thought only fueled the situation and made it harder for some people to extract themselves from the chase, especially when they started to think that they had already spent all this time chasing it, leaving empty-handed now would be a shame.

And so, the hours passed without end, cultivators stuffing pills or various herbs they had found into their mouths to keep their energy up as hours turned to days. But the chase couldn't continue without end, no matter how fun it was for Li Yang to see all these people rush after the small fox with almost no regard for anything else. The chase had easily taken up most of the time they had in this forest and the time for them to leave was drawing closer and closer, it was time to push the ongoing chaos into the final stages and reveal the fun for all to see.

"You just wait here for a second."

Li Yang left behind Mei Kongxu for a second as he increased his speed to the peak, catching up to the fox after only a short moment. He put on the expression as if he was chasing it using all his power, stretching out his arm and using his law of gravity to dramatically slow the speed of the beast. But just as he was about to grab the box, he created a field of gravity where the centre was located a few tens of metres to his left, resulting in the box and beast getting yanked away as if someone had intervened at the last second.

The box flew out of the fox's mouth and was quickly snatched by a cultivator, who immediately turned tail and ran for the exit of the forest. The others could rob him as long as he was in the forest, but the moment he left then things would be different, they wouldn't be able to steal it as brazenly as he was doing right now. The target of the chase immediately changed to the male cultivator, Li Yang smirking to himself as his gaze followed the fleeing man.

The people chasing him cut a path clean through the forest, desperately hounding him for a reward that they hadn't even seen yet, much less knew anything about. They acted so idiotically that he could only find it funny, so few of them taking even a single moment to think things through. Mei Kongxu caught up with him as he was smirking to himself, still wearing her icy and distant expression. But Li Yang could see the truth in her eyes, nonchalantly stretching his body as he walked over.

"Don't look at me like that, it might be a tad childish, but it's all just fun."

Mei Kongxu didn't voice any opinion in response to Li Yang realizing that she thought of his actions as somewhat childish, her eyes only flashing with a tinge of curiosity. He clearly disdained seriousness, at least sustained seriousness, but she had also seen him be serious on several occasions before, so she was ever so slightly curious exactly where he drew the line. But she wasn't so curious that she would ask, Li Yang walking past her while his expression once again gained a shade of seriousness.

"This world and its people are far too serious at all times, I mean, just look at the lot of them, running around with eyes that are basically exuding a desire to kill just because they saw something that may or may not be valuable. If you mean to tell me that the world is just naturally like that, then I will tell you that the world is wrong, such constant and rigid seriousness is the bane of life."

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Mei Kongxu turned her head slightly, tracing Li Yang's figure while her eyes narrowed faintly. His statement this time was different from how he spoke in the past, it felt less carefree and more personal. Could it be that he wasn't just rebelling against seriousness for fun but actually had a reason for it? But Li Yang didn't provide an answer to the thought that had just popped up in Mei Kongxu's mind, turning his head slightly and revealing that his standard cocky smile had appeared on his face once again.

"Shall we go? The grand finale is about to start."

He stretched out his arm and presented his hand, but rather than accept his hand, Mei Kongxu steppe forward and placed her hand on his shoulder. He could only shrug his shoulder in response and unleash his law of speed, supporting Mei Kongxu with it so that she could run at his pace as he followed after the horde of cultivators and beasts.

They quickly caught up to the other cultivators, the box having already changed hands in the short time that had passed. The one who previously held the box had a large bruise covering half his face, but he still joined in on the pursuit, determined to once again snatch back the item he had been so close as to holding just recently. The chase and ensuing battles only got fiercer as they got closer to the exit of the forest, the box changing hands time and time again.

And eventually, as the swarm reached the outskirts of the forest, a black-haired and silver-eyed woman who had stayed in the centre of the horde of pursuers burst forward. She unleashed more power than she had been using up until now, revealing that she had already carved her 8th rune and had entered the late stage of the Human Rune realm.

She snatched the box and charged away from the pursuers, taking advantage of this newfound distance to open the box and remove the green jade disk within it. She sank part of her mind into the jade disk to glean whatever she could from it in case someone managed to close the distance and steal it from her, but her steps halted the moment her mind entered the disk.

The screeching halt she suddenly performed caught the cultivators completely unaware, the Demonic beasts not daring to charge forward after they realized what part of the forest they had arrived in. The beasts quietly snuck away before the sect experts became displeased and killed them, but the woman who grasped the jade disk started to tremble while holding it, her fingers twitching incessantly. Shortly after she started to tremble, a deep blush spread across her face, a furious bellow erupting from her.

"Li Yang, you fucking narcissistic pig!"

The woman spun around and searched for Li Yang's figure in the crowd, throwing the jade disk to the ground and shattering it while doing so. And when the jade disk shattered, it released several motes of light that gathered together to showcase the contents of the disk.

There wasn't any cultivation technique within the disk, nor were there images showing off a rare martial art. No, what appeared in front of the gazes of the stunned onlookers was pictures of Li Yang, some where he was barely clad in his underwear and others where he was stark naked and just barely covering up his more private parts, seemingly looking embarrassed.

He had originally taken these pictures to mess with Ting Miu as thanks for the help she gave him while he cultivated the Heavenly Queen's 1st Star, but he changed his plans when he saw the people that were joining him to the World-Rending Behemoth sect. The gazes of all the people present quickly riveted onto Li Yang, who was smirking as he saw all their dumbfounded expressions.

Some were quick to realize that he had been playing with them from the very start, his sole aim being to have as much fun as he could on their expense. And upon realizing this, and realizing that they had played along from the very start and ended up wasting all the time they had in this forest, they couldn't help but tremble with fury. Even those from the Deepsea King sect weren't completely unaffected, some sighing in exasperation when they realized that Li Yang had just taken his pranks to a greater stage.

The woman who had been the first to discover the truth took half a step forward while trembling, her fingers still twitching incessantly due to the rage bubbling around within her. Mei Kongxu's gaze narrowed faintly as she too took a step forward, eliciting a sneer from the silver-eyed woman.

"Already stepping forward to protect your man, Junior Sister Kongxu? Did you not see the truth just now? That boy is just another swine from the Deepsea King sect, a little child who can't take anything seriously and thus just ruins things for others to amuse himself. Just look at the expressions of his fellow sect mates, do they look surprised or shocked? The lice were probably in on it from the start, even his father probably played along just to humiliate us. I guess that's about all you can expect from those underwater wastes of space, degenerates the whole lot."

The woman spoke without pause in her fiery rage, so furious at having been toyed with and losing such a valuable chance that she even drew the Deepsea King sect into it. Mei Kongxu's expression turned slightly complicated as she listened to the girl, Yue Hongye's, tirade. This had nothing to do with protecting her man and everything with protecting the only clue she had to finding out the truth about the visions she saw.

But she didn't get the chance to voice that, Li Yang's hand landing on her shoulder as he stepped forward, his mouth smiling but his eyes showing a sharp seriousness.

"Now, I really don't mind it if you insult me, that can be considered your right after getting toyed with like a mindless idiot. But let me tell you this, only I get to make fun of the Deepsea King sect and my father, no one else is allowed to humiliate them or tarnish their pride, only I."