I Won!

Langhuan Blessed Land.

Old One, the Book Immortal on rotation, sat before rows upon rows of bookshelves. Countless Book Demons carried books back and forth, piling volume after volume before him.

Old One flipped through the books with a sorrowful expression, unable to stop himself from muttering.

"How could this be?"

"Where exactly did things go wrong?"

"There shouldn't have been a problem like this."

A small Book Demon carrying books nearby saw Old One's furrowed brow and could not help asking in a low voice:

"Grandpa Old, ever since those people from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau came last time, you've been looking so worried. Did they make things difficult for you?"

Old One let out a long sigh at those words, tugging at the beard on his chin as he said:

"If the Imperial Astronomical Bureau were merely making things difficult for me, I would not have needed to rack my brains like this."

"Last time, when the Imperial Astronomical Bureau inquired about the grotto-heaven in the Cloudmist Mountains, they discovered traces suspected to belong to the Ascension Daoist from ten thousand years ago. Since then, the Great Xia Court has been trying every possible way to pry related information from me.

I had originally intended to pay the matter no heed, but the Great Xia Court produced terms that our Langhuan Blessed Land could not refuse: one of the fragments of Langhuan Pavilion that had fallen into the lower realm after its shattering."

The moment those words were spoken, the surrounding little Book Demons revealed astonished expressions.

"How could the Great Xia Court possibly possess a fragment of Langhuan Pavilion?"

"Weren't all the fragments of Langhuan Pavilion in the Profound Yellow Realm collected by the Book Immortals over the past several thousand years?"

A meaningful smile appeared on Old One's face.

"The fragments of Langhuan Pavilion in the Profound Yellow Realm were indeed collected clean, but what Great Xia produced was not necessarily something from the Profound Yellow Realm.

The foundations of this Great Xia Court run far deeper than they appear on the surface."

The little Book Demons immediately began chattering among themselves, while Old One continued leafing through the books, searching for clues that might once have existed.

In truth, as a Book Immortal formed from Primordial Antiquity, Old One possessed the history of the entire Profound Yellow Realm spanning ten thousand years. There was no need for him to search through books with such effort.

Yet surface knowledge alone could never uncover a sect that had been erased, or an Earth Immortal who did not exist in history.

Only by linking the threads of history together could he gradually complete the deduction.

Just as Old One picked up another book, three Bookworms tangled together suddenly appeared in the void before him, and lines of text emerged before his eyes.

Old One's brows immediately knit tightly at the sight.

"A Book Ghost from the Six-Line Divination Classic? And three Bookworms?

Such a great price, just to ask me to investigate one person's origins?"

The little Book Demons immediately cried out in surprise. Naturally, they understood the value of Bookworms; they were treasures that could accelerate a Book Demon's growth.

Even Langhuan Blessed Land needed several years to nurture a single Bookworm. The vast majority of the Bookworms born were distributed among the Book Immortals, leaving only a pitiful few behind.

These Book Demons born in Langhuan Blessed Land might not have enjoyed even one Bookworm from birth until now, much less seen three at once.

"The Six-Line Ghost Diviner is truly formidable. He actually managed to collect so many Bookworms."

"I heard that in the Ghost Market, he has already achieved a different kind of immortality."

"Wouldn't that make him comparable to the Book Immortals?"

Faced with the little Book Demons' discussion, Old One's expression darkened.

"The Six-Line Ghost Diviner willingly debased himself and joined the Ghost Market. His so-called immortality exists only at the Ghost Market's whim. He is rootless duckweed, not worth mentioning.

You must remember this well. Do not follow the Six-Line Ghost Diviner and stray onto the wrong path."

When Old One grew angry, the little Book Demons immediately nodded respectfully in acknowledgment. As for what they truly thought within their hearts, that was another matter entirely.

Old One sighed inwardly, then reached out to take the three Bookworms and tossed them to the little Book Demons around him.

"Take them and divide them among yourselves!"

The little Book Demons caught the Bookworms and immediately scattered in jubilant delight. Only after doing all this did Old One look over the detailed information sent by the Six-Line Ghost Diviner.

"A young man of mysterious origins? That is rather interesting."

Old One calmly accepted the Six-Line Ghost Diviner's request, and Primordial Antiquity appeared before him.

Old One placed his right hand atop the book of Primordial Antiquity and began examining the information within.

The next moment, the previously composed Old One changed color in fury. Under the violent surge of his emotions, vast numbers of surrounding bookshelves collapsed with a roar, and the entire Langhuan Blessed Land trembled along with his emotional upheaval.

"No such person can be found?"

"Could it be him!"

Within the Gambling Pavilion, the Six-Line Ghost Diviner stood before the pool like a gambler driven to the end of the road. His eyes were filled with bloodshot crimson veins.

He stared viciously at the fishing hook, which had not moved for a long time, constantly praying in his heart for a response from that Book Immortal.

At last, the fishing hook trembled slightly. It seemed that Langhuan Blessed Land had finally responded.

The Six-Line Ghost Diviner hurriedly swung the fishing rod, but in the next instant, he nearly fell straight into the pool. Beneath the tranquil water's surface, it seemed as though a huge fish was fighting him for control of the rod.

The Six-Line Ghost Diviner immediately revealed an ecstatic expression. He knew very well that an ordinary Book Ghost's response could never cause such a great reaction.

The harder it was to reel in the reply, the more it proved that the information contained within was precious. This had to be a response from Old One, the Book Immortal on rotation.

His withered arms rapidly swelled as if inflated. Bulging veins writhed across them as he used every ounce of strength in his body to pull the fishing rod. As the fishing line slowly swayed, even the ground trembled with it.

The Six-Line Ghost Diviner had never excelled in strength. This fishing attempt had nearly exhausted all his power, and before this, he had never encountered such a heavy response.

Yet the more so it was, the more excited the Six-Line Ghost Diviner became. Once he won the wager, what he gained would no longer be merely that black cat, but even more benefits beyond his imagination.

With that thought, he even released the power he had borrowed from the Ghost Market to forcefully pull the fishing rod.

The master of the Treasure Pavilion tried to step forward and help, but the master of the Gambling Pavilion stopped him.

"This is Old Ghost Diviner's wager. If we interfere, it will be easy for others to seize upon it as a pretext."

Hearing this, the master of the Treasure Pavilion hurriedly withdrew his movement. Everyone's gaze remained fixed tightly upon the Six-Line Ghost Diviner, rising and falling with his constantly swaying fishing rod.

Far away within Langhuan Blessed Land, Old One looked furiously at the fishing hook hanging down from the void.

The moment he realized that the person the Six-Line Ghost Diviner was asking about was very likely the Ascension Daoist, Old One had immediately decided to guide the Six-Line Ghost Diviner into Langhuan Blessed Land for questioning.

But what Old One had not expected was that the Six-Line Ghost Diviner directly refused his guidance.

The fishing hook swayed several times, yet no response from the Six-Line Ghost Diviner appeared. That straight hook seemed to be silently mocking Old One.

Such an attitude finally enraged Old One.

As a Book Immortal of Langhuan, when had he ever been treated with such contempt?

Old One abandoned the guidance and swept his great sleeve, expelling the fishing hook from Langhuan Blessed Land.

Within the Gambling Pavilion, the long-entangled fishing contest finally reached its end. The Six-Line Ghost Diviner felt the fishing rod in his hands suddenly loosen and hurriedly lifted the hook with force, only to find it utterly empty.

Before the Six-Line Ghost Diviner could even recover his senses, what returned together with the hook was an angry shout that resounded through the entire Gambling Pavilion.

"Scram!"

Like rolling heavenly thunder descending, the winds and clouds above the Ghost Market shifted. The Book Immortal's thunderous voice manifested the might of heavenly lightning that exterminated ghosts and specters, sweeping away all the ghostly miasma and demonic aura in the area.

The four pavilion masters all spat out blood as if struck by lightning.

The master of the Divination Pavilion bore the brunt of it. His Ghost Diviner body turned to charred ash amid the thunderous roar. Only fragments of incomplete ghostly mist successfully fled, barely gathering into an illusory form.

This sight finally shook the masters of the four pavilions to their cores.

They stared blankly at Shen Yuan, who sat calmly before the gambling table, while deep terror rose in their eyes.

If heavenly secrets had merely been obscured, preventing them from calculating Shen Yuan's identity, it would not have been enough to make them panic.

But the master of the Divination Pavilion had already borrowed the power of the Langhuan Book Immortal to investigate Shen Yuan's true identity, only to be rebuked by the Book Immortal's thunderous voice.

Did that not mean that even the Book Immortal dared not casually speak of the identity of the young man before them?

Under the terrified gazes of the four pavilion masters, Shen Yuan slowly announced with a smile:

"It seems the master of the Divination Pavilion did not calculate my origins."

"I won this wager."