Truth and Lies, Lies and Truth!

The Pill Tower stood at the center of Sacred Pill City's inner district!

It was a black tower nearly a hundred zhang tall. It rose like a small mountain, giving off an imposing, majestic presence.

Its spire pierced the clouds, so high that its peak was nearly impossible to see at a glance. Mist curled around the tip, making it seem all the more mysterious.

Outside the Pill Tower lay a plaza paved with polished granite.

People came and went here without cease. It was an extremely bustling place, and the venue for every Pill Gathering.

"Elder Sheng Yao, long time no see. Are you heading to the Pill Tower on business?"

"Yes! The chairman asked me to make a trip there!"

"Then I won't disturb you. Go on ahead!"

As Sheng Yao led the two toward the Pill Tower, quite a few people greeted him along the way.

Naturally, this drew the attention of many people from the Pill Tower to Ye Yan and Ye Jingheng.

Of the two, one was older and had lower cultivation, yet he wore no Pill Tower alchemist badge on his chest.

The other looked twelve or thirteen. His appearance was ordinary, and his cultivation was only that of a two-star Dou Zhe. Though he could be considered talented, he still wore no alchemist badge on his chest.

This stirred up much discussion among the crowd.

It was truly strange that people like them could enter the Pill Tower.

When some women saw Ye Yan's figure and his inexplicable aura, their eyes lit up, and fondness rose in their hearts.

"Ah..."

But once they looked up and saw his face clearly, they sighed softly.

How could someone with such an aura have such an ordinary appearance? What a pity.

That was the impression those women had when they first saw Ye Yan.

Following behind Sheng Yao, Ye Jingheng patted Ye Yan on the shoulder and said in a low voice.

"I never expected Elder Sheng Yao to have this trick up his sleeve. He shaved off quite a bit more of your charm."

"Enough. Stop talking." Ye Yan brushed Ye Jingheng's hand away and spoke seriously.

The moment he stepped into this place, he felt an inexplicable pressure.

After all, the area around the Pill Tower was filled with people he could not afford to provoke at his current stage. If someone recognized his face and abducted him, he could only pray for Xuan Kongzi and the others to uphold justice.

So he absolutely, absolutely could not make a mistake.

Only after the three made their way across the plaza and entered the Pill Tower did Ye Yan finally relax.

"Kid, why are you so afraid of those women? You even had me conceal your appearance again."

Sheng Yao, who had been watching all along, could not help but ask curiously when he saw Ye Yan's relieved expression.

"Elder Sheng, it's a long story."

Ye Yan's eyes brimmed with tears.

"Tch!"

Ye Jingheng curled his lips.

By Ye Yan's own words, this kid was truly showing off without realizing it.

Who knew how many people in the Ye Family envied him?

"If you don't want to say it, forget it. Let's hurry to the top floor of the Pill Tower so Chairman Xuan Kongzi won't have to wait too long."

Sheng Yao quickened his pace.

Along the way, they encountered quite a few Pill Tower alchemists, including people from all four great clans.

The Ye Family alone was absent.

Among those clans, the Dan Clan and Bai Clan were particularly arrogant. Seeing that Ye Yan and Ye Jingheng wore no alchemist badges, the pride in their eyes practically overflowed.

They only held back because Sheng Yao was leading them. Otherwise, they would likely have stepped forward to question them.

About ten minutes later.

The three finally arrived at a hall on the top floor. Sheng Yao stepped forward a few paces before knocking gently on the door.

"Come in!"

The instant Sheng Yao's fingers touched the door, Xuan Kongzi's faintly smiling voice came from within.

Hearing that,

the three pushed the door open and entered.

Ye Yan swept his gaze across the spacious hall and saw only three figures seated at the head.

At the center sat an old man in white. Beside him sat a beautiful woman and a dark-skinned old man.

"Greetings, Chairman Xuan Kongzi, Chairman Xuan Yi, Chairman Tian Leizi!"

Sheng Yao stepped forward and was the first to bow to the three.

Ye Yan and Ye Jingheng followed suit behind him.

"Elder Sheng, no need to be so polite!"

Xuan Kongzi looked at the three by the door, his eyes full of curiosity.

"These two are from the Ye Family, correct?"

"Yes, these two have come to study at our Pill Tower."

Sheng Yao had lived in the Pill Tower for a long time and understood Xuan Kongzi's character well enough, so he was not too worried.

Ye Jingheng, however, broke out in cold sweat upon hearing Xuan Kongzi's question.

"No need to worry. Tian Leizi only learned some information this morning. We are merely curious."

Xuan Kongzi smiled and pointed at the dark-skinned old man beside him, whose expression was unusually stern and severe.

Tian Leizi's eyes flashed like lightning, and his voice rumbled like thunder.

"Did your Ye Family truly obtain the Bone Spirit Cold Flame?"

Xuan Yi also looked at the two behind Sheng Yao, urgency visible in her gaze.

Sheng Yao did not answer, instead turning to look at Ye Yan and Ye Jingheng.

Ye Jingheng's expression turned solemn.

"Ye Jingheng of the Ye Family greets Chairman Xuan Kongzi... Chairman Xuan Yi!"

"Whether the Heavenly Flame in my Ye Family's possession is truly the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, I do not know. I only know that its effects do indeed resemble those of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame. However, its appearance is not a ghostly white, but a deep blue."

"So it really is deep blue!"

Xuan Kongzi said softly,

"But we have never heard of a deep-blue Bone Spirit Cold Flame. Could it be a variant of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame?"

"Then is the Heavenly Flame obtained by your Ye Family's Great Elder truly a Child Fire, as the rumors say?"

Xuan Yi's icy voice rang through the hall.

"Chairman Xuan Yi, that is correct. The Heavenly Flame refined by my Ye Family's Great Elder, Ye Zhong, is indeed a Child Fire."

Although Ye Jingheng was nervous, he still spoke the words in his heart.

These words had long been discussed in the Ye Family by Ye Zhong, Ye Yan, and the others. This was the explanation they had devised that would benefit the Ye Family the most.

"In other words, your Ye Family came into contact with a Battle Sovereign expert?"

Xuan Yi's tone wavered.

"We don't know whether that senior was a Battle Sovereign or a Battle Saint. We only know that the Heavenly Flame within that spatial rift belonged to him."

"A Battle Saint?"

Xuan Kongzi and Tian Leizi both cried out in shock.

They had suddenly thought of something.

It was said that when the Black Fire Sect attacked the Ye Family, a spatial rift had appeared as well, and that Heavenly Flame had been within it.

That meant there was a separate space.

Only a Battle Saint could create such a space.

If it truly was a variant Bone Spirit Cold Flame, could Yao Chen have broken through to the Battle Saint realm?

But if he had become a Battle Saint, why had he not returned to the Pill Tower to visit his old friends?

No matter what, there should not have been no news at all.

Meanwhile.

Seeing that everything had gone as expected, Ye Jingheng no longer felt nervous.

Beside him, Ye Yan kept watching the expressions of the three.

He saw their expressions shift from confusion, astonishment, and hope to shock and disbelief.

Ye Yan felt that borrowing the tiger's might had truly been the right move.

After all, three parts truth and seven parts lie.

Lies at that level were the easiest to believe.

He truly possessed a Heavenly Flame, and he also had the Entry Space.

He had even separated out a Child Fire.

Those three points alone were enough to fabricate the existence of a Battle Sovereign-level expert.

"Then why was your Ye Family able to obtain a Child Fire from that expert?"

Xuan Kongzi was slightly stunned. After hesitating for a moment, he asked again.

"This..." Ye Jingheng hesitated.

"If it is inconvenient to say, you need not say it. What we have learned is enough."

Seeing this, Xuan Kongzi smiled.

Then he looked at Ye Yan, who was trying to reduce his presence.

"As for you, kid, you are good-looking and highly gifted, yet you are quite cautious."

"Ye Yan of the Ye Family greets the three chairmen."

Ye Yan bowed politely to the three. "I am merely being cautious while away from home. I do not deserve the chairman's praise."

After Ye Yan finished speaking, Xuan Kongzi saw that he still had no intention of removing his disguise and could not help finding the boy's caution rather strange.

"I hope the chairmen will forgive me. I will still need it when I leave the Pill Tower later. This is the only disguise item I have."

"Interesting. If that's the case, I..."

Just as Xuan Kongzi was about to speak, Xuan Yi interrupted him with her gentle voice.

"Take off your disguise item. When you leave the Pill Tower, I will give you a disguise item that can block the scrutiny of even a peak nine-star Dou Zong."

Ye Yan looked stunned and somewhat at a loss as he looked toward Xuan Yi.

He had already put it that way, and she still wanted to see?

"What? You aren't willing?"