Dingguang Steals a Treasure, First Signs of Betrayal

After returning from Three Immortals Island, Xuan Chuan did not loudly proclaim that he had secured the support of the Three Xiao Sisters.

He knew well that reform required careful advances, step by step, like spring rain moistening all things in silence. Revealing every trump card too early would only be detrimental.

He still lived in that somewhat crude cave abode. By day, he either handled the karma registrations submitted by disciples—though most were perfunctory—

or patrolled Golden Turtle Island. At night, he focused on healing and cultivation. The Purple Lightning Hammer lay beside him, faint lightning flickering across it; it served as both deterrence and warning.

Yet the tree wished for stillness, while the wind refused to cease.

This night, with the moon hidden and stars sparse, was precisely the hour when one's vigilance was lowest during cultivation.

An exceedingly obscure aura, nearly blending into the shadows, silently crept outside Xuan Chuan's cave abode like a ghost.

The intruder had concealed his aura exceptionally well. If not for Xuan Chuan's unusual soul and the supreme treasure protecting him, he would have found it almost impossible to detect.

It was none other than Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal!

During the day, he had seen Xuan Chuan return from outside, his aura seemingly several degrees more solid than before. The unease and jealousy in Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal's heart grew ever stronger.

What alarmed him even more was that he vaguely sensed some strange treasure upon Xuan Chuan's person—one capable of disrupting heavenly secrets and perhaps even obscuring a Saint's perception!

Otherwise, how could Xuan Chuan have escaped a Saint's strike, accurately divine heavenly secrets, and persuade Zhao Gongming and the Three Xiao Sisters?

"This brat must possess a supreme treasure! Perhaps... it is the very foundation of his rise!" A flash of greed and viciousness crossed Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal's eyes.

"If I can steal this treasure and present it to... that existence, it will surely count as a great merit! Then why would I need to endure hardship in this increasingly declining Jiejiao?"

He made up his mind to steal it while Xuan Chuan's severe wounds had yet to heal and his mind was immersed in cultivation.

He believed his concealment arts were superb, and with the cultivation of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, dealing with a heavily wounded Golden Immortal should be as easy as turning his hand.

Inside the cave abode, Xuan Chuan sat cross-legged, his five centers facing heaven as he inhaled and exhaled the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The Creation Jade Disc Fragment slowly revolved within his sea of consciousness, spilling strands of clear radiance that nourished his soul and flesh.

At the same time, it perfectly concealed his aura. To outsiders, he appeared to be merely in an ordinary meditative trance.

Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal silently passed through the warning restrictions around the cave abode—Xuan Chuan had deliberately not activated them at full strength—and slipped inside like a slick venomous snake.

His gaze immediately locked onto Xuan Chuan, especially the sea of consciousness at Xuan Chuan's brow, where he sensed an elusive yet profound fluctuation that made even his soul tremble!

That is it! Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal was ecstatic, convinced that the strange treasure lay there.

He held his breath and focused, extending his right hand. A strange gray light capable of numbing the Primordial Spirit coiled around his fingertips,

stealing spiritual opportunity as they slowly reached toward Xuan Chuan's brow, intending to seize the "treasure" within his sea of consciousness directly!

However, he had underestimated the level of the Creation Jade Disc Fragment, and even more so, the One That Escaped's sensitivity to danger!

Just as his fingertips, imbued with a stealing divine art, were about to touch Xuan Chuan's brow—

Buzzz!!!

Within Xuan Chuan's sea of consciousness, the Creation Jade Disc Fragment, which had been quietly floating there all along, seemed to have suffered desecration and provocation as it suddenly shuddered!

An invisible, formless force of recoil erupted, vast and lofty, as though it originated from the source of the Great Dao itself!

This force did not attack the flesh directly. Instead, it struck at the very source of the soul, carrying a peculiar Dao rhythm that obscured, confused, and twisted!

"Ugh—ah!"

Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal was struck as if by a crushing blow and let out a muffled groan he could not suppress! He felt as though an invisible giant hammer had smashed viciously into his soul.

His vision went black as countless chaotic, inverted, utterly illogical images and fragments of information flooded madly into his consciousness, driving a splitting headache through his mind!

Even more terrifyingly, he felt his connection to the heaven and earth outside suddenly become hazy and indistinct.

His own Dao Fruit seemed as though it were about to be temporarily "erased" from the Heavenly Dao's sequence by that force!

"Pfft!" Sweetness rose in his throat, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. He forcibly swallowed it back, but his internal organs had already been injured.

Terror overwhelmed his heart! What kind of treasure was this? It possessed such horrifying autonomous protective and backlash abilities? It could even interfere with the Heavenly Dao's perception?!

He knew the matter could not be pursued. If he remained any longer, Xuan Chuan would surely notice him.

Without daring to hesitate in the slightest, he endured the tearing agony in his soul and the erosion of that chaotic Dao rhythm.

His body transformed into a nearly invisible streak of light, fleeing the cave abode in panic at several times the speed at which he had arrived, vanishing into the boundless night.

The very moment Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal escaped, Xuan Chuan slowly opened his eyes.

His gaze was utterly clear. Where was there even a trace of someone immersed in cultivation?

He had actually noticed Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal the moment he passed through the outer restrictions. The reason he had remained unmoved was to see what the other party intended.

"So, you finally couldn't hold yourself back..." A cold curve rose at Xuan Chuan's lips.

He stroked the Creation Jade Disc Fragment, which was still faintly humming in displeasure, as killing intent gradually rose within his heart.

In the original course of events, this Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal had been one of the chief culprits who betrayed Jiejiao at the critical moment and stole the Six Souls Banner! His nature was cunning and two-faced, and the seeds of betrayal had long been planted.

And today, he had actually dared to sneak into Xuan Chuan's cave abode and attempt theft? It seemed the Western Religion had given him pressure—or perhaps promises—that had left him unable to sit still.

"I had intended to deal with you inner traitors slowly after clearing away the external troubles... Since you have jumped out on your own, you cannot blame me."

Xuan Chuan's divine sense spread like a net, carefully sensing the extremely faint traces left within the cave abode—

the fluctuations of magical power carrying panic and chaos, along with that nearly imperceptible wisp of origin aura belonging to Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal.

The first traitor to clearly emerge above the surface...

I will use you as the sacrifice for the second blaze of my rectification of sect affairs!