"He, he..."
"By the time of the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons Battle, he had already broken through to the Mysterious Immortal realm."
Huanglong Zhenren struggled free from the rock face, then knelt before Yuanshi again, his head lowered until it nearly touched the ground.
"Do you think there's a difference between a Heavenly Immortal and a Mysterious Immortal?"
"That's not what this disciple meant!"
"That man's cultivation wasn't high, but he wielded two Xiantian Lingbao. This disciple had no Magic Treasure to protect himself, which was why I was defeated."
Huanglong Zhenren kept trying to make excuses for himself.
"What, are you saying it's my fault for not giving you a Magic Treasure?"
"This disciple wouldn't dare!"
Huanglong Zhenren pressed his forehead to the ground.
At that moment, he wished he could slap himself twice.
If his mouth couldn't speak properly, couldn't it just stay shut?
Yuanshi stepped up to Huanglong Zhenren.
"Since you didn't obtain the Xuanling Fruit or the Yin Yang Jiao Dan, why didn't you tell me?"
Huanglong Zhenren cautiously raised his head a little and glanced at Yuanshi from the corner of his eye.
"This disciple was defeated by a Heavenly Immortal, bringing shame upon the Chan Sect. I didn't dare tell you..."
Before he could finish, a terrifying pressure came crashing down.
With a scream, Huanglong Zhenren was driven straight into the ground.
A cloud of blood burst around him, and every bone and tendon in his body was crushed.
The reason he still had a breath left wasn't that he could withstand Yuanshi's pressure.
It was because Yuanshi had held back.
Yuanshi stared at Huanglong Zhenren, covered in blood, his eyes full of fury.
At first, he had truly wanted to kill Huanglong Zhenren.
Not only had he failed to obtain the Xuanling Fruit, but now the Demon Race Heavenly Court was coming to call.
When had the Chan Sect ever suffered such a loss?
But no matter what, Huanglong Zhenren had been personally accepted into the Chan Sect by him.
It would be somewhat improper to kill him just like that.
Next, Yuanshi summoned Chijingzi as well.
After all, from Huanglong Zhenren's account, Chijingzi had known about the matter too.
About a quarter of an hour later, Chijingzi arrived.
The moment he reached the scene, Chijingzi felt his scalp go numb.
Though Yuanshi hadn't released any Saintly Might,
the atmosphere around them still left Chijingzi, a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, struggling to breathe.
Especially when he saw Huanglong Zhenren's terrible condition.
Chijingzi thought, This is bad.
Could Huanglong Zhenren have lost to Xuan Jun?
"This disciple pays respects to Master!"
Chijingzi looked anxiously at Yuanshi.
"You knew about Huanglong Zhenren's situation. Why didn't you tell me?"
Yuanshi had no patience for idle talk with Chijingzi and asked him directly.
It was over!
Now Chijingzi was certain Huanglong Zhenren had lost.
If he wasn't careful, he would suffer for it too.
Damn it, he shouldn't have helped Huanglong Zhenren in the first place.
But he didn't have the time to blame Huanglong Zhenren now.
Stupid mouth, think of something to say!
"Master, this disciple did know about Junior Brother Huanglong's situation."
"This disciple thought that a mere Mysterious Immortal wasn't worthy of Master's attention."
"So I wanted to find this person myself and bring glory to the Chan Sect."
"I just didn't expect him to have such methods. I still haven't uncovered anything about him. I beg Master to punish me."
At the critical moment, Chijingzi showed considerable quick thinking.
He didn't try to shift the blame. Instead, he admitted fault of his own accord.
He even found a decent excuse for coveting the Xiantian Lingbao.
As it turned out, his words worked.
Yuanshi's mood improved a little.
He pointed at Huanglong Zhenren with his right hand. A streak of Golden Light landed on him, slightly improving his injuries.
"I'd like to see who dares to repeatedly make an enemy of my Chan Sect!"
Given his status, he shouldn't have needed to concern himself with this matter.
But this person's actions had truly shown no regard for the Chan Sect.
He wanted to see just who this little Mysterious Immortal was, daring to oppose the Chan Sect so boldly!
Yuanshi formed a Seal Method with one hand and began to divine Lu Changsheng's identity.
A few breaths later, a trace of suspicion appeared in Yuanshi's eyes.
With his abilities, divining the identity of a Mysterious Immortal should have been effortless.
But now, he couldn't find out anything about Lu Changsheng.
What was going on?
Unwilling to accept it, Yuanshi activated his Saint Power and tried again.
Soon, half an hour passed.
Yuanshi's divination was complete, but the result was the same as before.
With the system protecting him, even a Saint's divination was no different.
Seeing Yuanshi's grim expression, Huanglong Zhenren couldn't help asking,
"Could even Master not divine his identity?"
As soon as he said it, Chijingzi shot Huanglong Zhenren a fierce glare.
If he could speak, he should say more.
If he wanted to get himself killed, he shouldn't drag Chijingzi into it.
"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll teach you a lesson on Master's behalf!"
Fortunately, Yuanshi had no desire to deal with Huanglong Zhenren.
Yuanshi was full of questions.
Though he didn't know Lu Changsheng's background,
he knew his own abilities extremely well.
As a Heavenly Dao Saint, there were very few things in all of Honghuang that he couldn't uncover.
There were only two possible reasons a Mysterious Immortal could evade his divination.
First, besides the two Xiantian Lingbao, the man had another Magic Treasure, and it had to be at least a Supreme Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure to protect him.
Second, a Saint was backing him. As long as a Saint intervened, the man could likewise evade Yuanshi's divination.
Wait, the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons incident had taken place in the East Sea.
It was highly likely that Tongtian knew what had happened in the East Sea.
Could it be...
That this man was connected to Tongtian?
One possibility after another crossed Yuanshi's mind.
But though relations between the Jie and Chan Sects weren't good, they hadn't reached that point yet.
Would Tongtian, a Saint, scheme against a Chan Sect Disciple?
Even if he really was targeting Huanglong Zhenren, why send a Mysterious Immortal?
This matter should have nothing to do with Tongtian.
Yuanshi reached his conclusion.
Could he go to Tongtian and ask him to divine the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons incident, then uncover the other person's identity?
The moment the thought arose, Yuanshi dismissed it!
When Tongtian had been there just now, he hadn't mentioned the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons in the East Sea at all.
Either Tongtian knew and was waiting for Yuanshi to ask, so he could laugh at him.
If Yuanshi went to see Tongtian, what could he say—that he couldn't uncover the identity of a Mysterious Immortal?
He couldn't afford that humiliation.
Or perhaps Tongtian didn't know about the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons incident.
In that case, it was even less appropriate to ask Tongtian to investigate the man.
The fewer people who knew about the Chan Sect's embarrassing business, the better—especially members of the Interception Sect!
Yuanshi furrowed his brows.
Since when could a Mysterious Immortal give him such a headache?
What was he thinking?
There were only six Heavenly Dao Saints in all of Honghuang. How could a mere Mysterious Immortal possibly have a Saint backing him?
In other words, the other person had used some sort of Special Magic Treasure to evade Yuanshi's divination.
He refused to believe that the Magic Treasure could protect the man forever.
As soon as his aura was exposed, Yuanshi would be able to track him down.
Then, he would make the man understand the consequences of making an enemy of the Chan Sect!
After sorting out his thoughts, Yuanshi looked at Huanglong Zhenren.
"I can give you one more chance."
"If you can defeat a Demon Commander in the next battle against the Demon Race Heavenly Court, you'll have made up for your mistake."
"But if you lose again, I won't hesitate to replace you among the Jade Void Twelve Immortals."
Huanglong Zhenren was overjoyed. He had finally made it through this ordeal.
"May I ask, Master, about the one who took my Xuanling Fruit—"
Before he could finish, Chijingzi spoke first.
"This disciple thanks Master on Junior Brother's behalf."
"I'll take Junior Brother back to recover from his injuries."
With that, and after Yuanshi gave his tacit approval, Chijingzi hurriedly pulled Huanglong Zhenren away.
"Senior Brother, that man did this to me. Why wouldn't you let me ask Master?"
After leaving Kunlun Mountain, Huanglong Zhenren asked.
"Master will tell you what you need to know. If you don't need to know, don't ask."
"Give me back the Yin Yang Mirror!"
Chijingzi took back the Yin Yang Mirror and hurried straight to Yunxiao Cave without looking back.
He wanted to keep his distance from Huanglong Zhenren so he wouldn't get dragged into trouble.
A surging hatred stirred in Huanglong Zhenren's eyes.
He would remember today's humiliation!
Not far from Kunlun Mountain,
above the clouds, Tongtian formed the final Seal Method.
He looked toward Yu Xu Palace, a hint of amusement in his eyes.
Now that Huanglong Zhenren had been defeated, the Yin Yang Twin Flood Dragons incident couldn't be kept secret for long.
He had already used his own methods to conceal the many clues related to Lu Changsheng.
That way, even Yuanshi wouldn't be able to easily uncover Lu Changsheng's identity.
It wasn't that he was afraid Yuanshi would find out about Lu Changsheng.
After all, with Tongtian there, he would never let Yuanshi, a Saint, lay a hand on a Jie Sect Disciple.
He simply didn't want things to go too smoothly for Yuanshi.
Of course, he didn't know that even without his help in hiding Lu Changsheng from Yuanshi, Yuanshi still wouldn't have been able to find Lu Changsheng while the system protected him.
Then Tongtian continued on his way back to Golden Ao Island.
He also had to make preparations for the Jie Chan Battle.
On the other side, Lu Changsheng stood outside his cave abode.
He had no idea that, because of him, Huanglong Zhenren had nearly died on Kunlun Mountain.
He had spent this time cultivating.
With the aid of the Yin Yang Spirit Merging Pill, his cultivation had reached the Mysterious Immortal Peak.
Today was the day the Interception Sect distributed resources, as well as the day of his duel with Dingguang Xian.
To be honest, he didn't take Dingguang Xian seriously at all.
There was no suspense about the outcome of this battle.
The only question was how much of his strength he would reveal.
He planned to use Dingguang Xian as a stepping stone to raise his standing in the Interception Sect.
He hoped Tongtian would witness this battle.
Time to go. Golden Ao Island!
Before you continue