"So it really was that guy!"
Lin Yan read the intelligence in his hand twice more, baring his teeth as he spoke. Inside, he nearly drew a sharp breath.
Several hundred years ago, he had still been in Yuzhou, one of the Inner Sect Disciples of Cloud Water Sect in Yuzhou.
Judging by the timeline,
this Zhang Qingyuan, the monstrous genius from an Outer Continent mentioned in the intelligence, had risen to prominence at roughly the same time as he had.
A familiar name,
a roughly identical period of rise,
and an equally mysterious origin.
Even now, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's intelligence contained no information on Zhang Qingyuan from before his first appearance in Yunzhou. It was as though he had suddenly appeared in Yunzhou, with no past whatsoever.
As if he had begun cultivating in the deep mountains and old forests from birth, only venturing out into the world after reaching True Essence Peak.
No one could uncover any information from before that.
But that was clearly impossible!
Even birds flying through the sky left traces. No one could hole up in some mountain nest, cultivate in seclusion, and make it all the way to True Essence Peak.
Unless
he came from somewhere even more secretive,
a place unknown even to the Heavenly Secret Pavilion!
Lin Yan knew something about such an origin.
Because he was the same.
Even to this day,
although the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's intelligence spread throughout the Nine Continents, it had failed to uncover his background.
Because his birthplace
was Yuzhou, a lost land that had been cut off from the Nine Continents Continent for more than ten thousand years!
"It's most likely him!"
Carefree Heavenly Venerable sighed as well.
Though several centuries had passed, during the time Lin Yan had risen as a youth,