Seven Heart Lamp
"Boom!"
A rumble of thunder sounded in the sky, and dark clouds descended, obscuring the sun. The once clear sky instantly darkened. When everyone looked up, they saw a man in a purple robe walking through the air. He looked like a Vajra, his entire body radiating a powerful aura, like the blazing sun, making it impossible for anyone to look directly at him.
"This person's cultivation is incredibly strong!" A powerful figure thought to himself, secretly alarmed.
"Is the Fifth Dean of the Vast Academy here to avenge the Seventh Dean Teng Chong?" A cultivator wondered, looking at Lie Xingyun, who had already arrived above Dubian Town.
No sooner had these words been spoken than someone retorted, "That can't be right. The Seventh Dean has only been dead for a short time. Vast Academy is tens of thousands of miles away from Dubian Town. How could the news have reached Vast Academy so quickly?"
"That's right. Even if Vast Academy received the news, it would be impossible for them to send someone to Dubian Town in such a short time." Vast Academy is located at the border of Qin and Zhao, which is too far from Dubian Town. If you go directly across it, it will cross almost half of the Nine Heavens Mountain. If you go around it, you will have to travel through almost half of the Chu Kingdom and a third of Zhao State.
"Not necessarily. I've heard that there's a formation in the Vast Academy that's almost god-level, called the 'Seven Core Teleportation Array.' Once activated, it can instantly teleport a person tens of thousands of miles away. Perhaps the Fifth Dean used the 'Seven Core Teleportation Array' to arrive in Dubian Town in such a short time." A big shot in mid-air seemed to know a lot about the Vast Academy and said something that cleared up everyone's doubts.
Upon hearing this, the surrounding cultivators suddenly realized what was happening, but then their brows furrowed.
"How did Vast Academy learn of this news in such a short time?" Sending people here using Seven Core Teleportation Array is understandable, but this news isn't about people. Teng Chong and his son, who came from afar, as well as that middle-aged man, all died in Dubian Town. Surely they couldn't have relied on those servants to send the news back to the Vast Academy in such a short time?
"I learned about the Seven Core Teleportation Array from the Grandmasters of the Inner Court when I went to the Vast Academy to attend the inauguration of the new Dean many years ago. As for the others, I have no idea." The important figure shook his head, unable to give a specific answer to this question.
"Seven Heart Lamp!" Suddenly, an old man in white spoke up, attracting everyone's attention.
"Seven Heart Lamp?"
Seeing everyone turn their attention to him, the old man pondered for a moment before continuing, "Within the Vast Academy, there is a lamp, a divine artifact left over from ancient times. Later, due to damage, its grade dropped to that of a semi-divine artifact. Its name is the Seven Heart Lamp."
"The Seven Heart Lamp, named for its seven wicks, is a treasure capable of detecting life and death."
"There is a secret in the Vast Academy: each new dean must infuse their own Origin Power into the Seven Heart Lamp. The Seven Heart Lamp, having received the deans 'Origin Power, will burn continuously. Each of the seven wicks represents a dean. If one wick goes out, it signifies the death of a dean, and the Seven Heart Lamp will then divine the location of that dean's death."
At this point, the old man looked at the floating Fifth Dean Lie Xingyun, and pondered, "However, the Fifth Dean may not have come here because of the death of the Seventh Dean."
The reason for this association is simply because the Seventh Dean Teng Chong, died in Dubian Town, and then the Fifth Dean ran away, leading everyone to speculate in this direction. As for whether this is the actual reason, it remains to be investigated.
While everyone was speculating about why Fifth Dean Lie Xingyun had come to Dubian Town, Lie Xingyun, Levitate above Dubian Town, had been waiting for a while. But to his surprise, the Mysterious Bookstore remained unmoved, and no one came out to pay him any attention.
How could the hot-tempered Lie Xingyun tolerate this? He strode in with the speed of a dragon and the gait of a tiger, floating into the air and charging in with overwhelming force, showing no regard for the cultivators around him. Finally, he arrogantly leaped down and stood on the long street in front of the Mysterious Bookstore.
The book review event continued, Ba Jiu meticulously carried out his task. Zhang Yunji and Luan Feng had disappeared somewhere, leaving only the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey guarding the door with a stick. Judging from the way he leaned against the pillar, he was probably asleep.
"His strength is unfathomable." Lie Xingyun looked at Ba Jiu and the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey with a Divine Beast face. He knew about the divine beast; it was the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey that had escaped from the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Its strength was extremely powerful, and if Single Battle -one, he might not be able to gain the upper hand. As for this young man who seemed to be busy with something, although he couldn't see through his cultivation level, Lie Xingyun could vaguely feel a trace of pressure, which clearly indicated that he was stronger than him.
"It seems the Mysterious Bookstore truly lives up to its reputation," Lie Xingyun thought to himself. However, he did not back down despite the other party's higher cultivation level. His aura remained soaring, showing no sign of being intimidated, and he called out towards the Bookstore entrance, "Lie Xingyun of the Vast Academy requests the owner of the Mysterious Bookstore to come out and meet me."
"Buzzing"
The sound seemed to contain special sound waves, startling the surrounding cultivators. Many cultivators with lower cultivation levels were terrified and had to activate their Spiritual Power to protect their eardrums.
"Looks like they're here to cause trouble," the onlookers thought to themselves as they witnessed the scene.
Even the originally lively Question-Answering Rain activity became cautious, with some even glancing towards the entrance of the Mysterious Bookstore while answering questions.
Just then, a boy of about eleven or twelve years old walked out of the Bookstore, carrying a plate with a dark, steaming object on it.
"The shop owner is busy and doesn't have time to see you. You'd better hurry up and go." Zhang Caicai casually replied to Lie Xingyun, then turned to the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey and said, "Brother Monkey, can you taste the food for me?"
The Sky-reaching Ape Monkey glanced at the dark, unappetizing thing on Zhang Caicai's plate and shook its head violently. "Monkeys don't have a sense of taste. I can't taste anything. Go find Ba Jiu; his tongue is very nimble."
The previously lifeless-looking Ba Jiu perked up immediately upon hearing the words of the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey, and hurriedly waved his hand, saying, "My tongue isn't very nimble, Caicai, why don't you go find Zhang Yunji?"
Zhang Caicai could easily tell they didn't want to try her newly developed dish, and she immediately became unhappy. However, before she could speak, Lie Xingyun voice, "Little guy, do you know who I am?"
"Aren't you annoying?! You've said your name is Lie Xingyun and you're from the Vast Academy so many times. Everyone in the entire Dubian Town knows that. Do you think I don't know who you are?" Zhang Caicai said impatiently. He thought this person was like a lunatic, constantly introducing himself and rambling on and on.
"Insolence!" Lie Xingyun was furious. As the Fifth Dean of the Vast Academy, he had never been looked down upon like this before. In addition, he had an extremely violent temper and did not even respect the Grand Dean. Now that a child dared to despise him, he didn't care about anything else. He stretched out his large hand under his robe and grabbed Zhang Caicai directly.
"Whoosh"
With a whoosh, a golden shadow appeared in front of Zhang Caicai in an instant; it was the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey.
"Hmph, then let this dean test how much you weigh, you beast!" Seeing the Lie Xingyun Sky-reaching Ape Monkey blocking Zhang Caicai's way, Lie Xingyun advanced instead of retreating, his body erupting with soaring blood energy. The powerful force sent cultivators within a radius of dozens of meters flying back, even scattering the long line of people queuing to have their books evaluated, directly affecting the progress of the event.