Looking around, Ye Qingcheng found nothing out of the ordinary.
So she approached a female disciple from behind.
She raised her hand and gently tapped the disciple's shoulder.
Only after the female disciple turned around and said, "Greetings, Saintess Ye,"
did she ask, "No need for formalities. What happened here just now?"
"You may not know, Saintess Ye..." Faced with Ye Qingcheng's question, the female disciple held nothing back, recounting everything she had seen and knew in full detail.
"What! A single strike from the young master stirred a phenomenon across heaven and earth and scared off a Human Immortal Realm expert from the Inner Court?" Ye Qingcheng looked astonished, unable to believe it.
Yet the disciple's earnest expression suggested she was not joking.
Taking into account the fear still evident on Elder Mo's face, Ye Qingcheng fully believed what the female disciple had said.
What surprised Ye Qingcheng even more was that she had only been inside the Trial Tower for the brief span of an incense stick.
The young master's cultivation had already broken through to the Martial Master Realm! He was poised to surpass her!
How little time had passed?
Recalling why she had been brought to the Tianyuan Holy Land, then looking at Chen Mu, who had now reached the Martial Master Realm and cowed a Human Immortal Realm expert with a single sword strike...
Ye Qingcheng's emotions were a tangled mess.
For a moment, she wondered whether Chen Tianlin had found the outside world's exaggerated praise of her irritating and deliberately brought her before a true, peerless genius to knock her down a peg.
Of course, that was only a joke. How could the esteemed master of the Tianyuan Holy Land possibly take notice of a nobody like her, let alone deliberately target her?
Afterward, seeing Chen Yu and Elder Mo leave,
Ye Qingcheng made her way back to Chen Mu.
"Finished?" Noticing her arrival, Chen Mu spoke first.
"Yes. I didn't even reach the fiftieth floor. I've embarrassed you, young master." Ye Qingcheng lowered her head, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum.
"Not at all. For your first time entering the Trial Tower, that's already a very good result. Don't lose heart. You'll have plenty of opportunities in the future," Chen Mu reassured her.
"Thank you, young master. I'll keep working hard!" Ye Qingcheng lifted her head, determination shining in her eyes.
"It's getting late. Let's head back. I'm sleepy too." Chen Mu raised a hand as he yawned.
After spending a little time outside and getting some light exercise, his stomach no longer felt as bloated as before.
"Yes, young master."
Ye Qingcheng answered and followed behind Chen Mu toward Qingyun Prefecture.
An eagle's cry rang out.
A goshawk landed on the shoulder of someone dressed as an Inner Court disciple.
The disciple rolled up a letter, slipped it into the tiny bamboo tube attached to the goshawk's leg, capped it, and released the bird.
Half an hour later.
The goshawk arrived at the Great Wu Capital.
The Tianyuan Merchant Alliance headquarters.
Hearing the eagle's cry, the man sweeping outside the entrance stopped what he was doing and raised his arm to give the goshawk a perch.
He leaned the broom aside, took the letter from the bamboo tube, and smiled. "Thanks for your hard work."
He took out two strips of spirit beast meat and fed them to the goshawk. After releasing it, he turned and went inside.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Come in."
Only after hearing the voice from behind the door did the man dare push it open and enter.
"Boss, a letter from the Holy Land."
"Is it about Mu?" At the words "a letter from the Holy Land," Chen Juexin's tightly knitted brows immediately relaxed.
Unable to conceal her excitement, she rose to her feet and asked.
"Yes." The man had already checked the letter's contents.
His main concern was that someone might inscribe a forbidden curse within the letter to harm Chen Juexin.
Taking the letter from him, Chen Juexin unfolded it and read it, her smile becoming even harder to contain. "Excellent! Mastery of Thunder Gate Sword Cultivation, and a single sword strike that awed the Human Immortal Realm!"
"I, Chen Juexin, have a peerless prodigy for a younger brother!"
In her delight, Chen Juexin immediately awarded everyone in the merchant association ten thousand Supreme Spirit Stones to celebrate.
She also instructed every merchant association under her name to speed up their search for top-tier cultivation techniques, pills, weapons, and anything else related to lightning and fire attributes, and send it all to Chen Mu.
She resolved to nurture him into the strongest of his age! Unbeaten at the summit!
The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion spread the news at the first opportunity.
With such a peerless genius in the Tianyuan Holy Land, why hide him away instead of making a grand display?
Someone who could awe the Human Immortal Realm with a single sword strike had no need to skulk about while growing stronger.
Before long.
The Great Wu Dynasty.
The Imperial Study.
Knock, knock, knock.
After knocking three times, the old eunuch pushed open the door and entered.
"Your Majesty." The old eunuch cupped his hands and bowed.
"What has happened now?" Song Ao, emperor of Great Wu, set down his brush and looked at the old eunuch.
"Your Majesty, this servant has just received firsthand news from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion and came expressly to report it."
"News? What news?" Song Ao asked again.
The old eunuch stepped forward to Song Ao's side and presented the Martial World Bulletin with both hands. "It concerns the Tianyuan Young Master."
Hearing that, Song Ao asked no further questions. He took the Martial World Bulletin, unfolded it, and began to read.
"Thunder Gate Sword Cultivation? Wasn't that a technique created by a mighty figure with heaven-reaching powers who held an entire region in submission during the Age of Chaos?"
"It's been lost for so long. To think the Tianyuan Holy Land obtained it and even allowed the Tianyuan Young Master to receive the Primordial Legacy."
"What?!"
He continued reading.
The more Song Ao read, the more goosebumps rose across his skin. As though sitting on a bed of needles, he sprang to his feet in shock.
"A single sword strike stirred a phenomenon across heaven and earth and awed a Human Immortal Realm expert—and an Inner Court elder of the Tianyuan Holy Land, no less! This... this, this, this!"
He was numb. Song Ao's whole body had gone numb. Words rose to his lips, yet he had no idea what to say.
He had seen plenty of geniuses and monstrous talents.
But he had truly never seen anyone like this!
"Your Majesty, what should we do? This servant fears..." The old eunuch trailed off.
Some things did not need to be spelled out.
"You fear that if the Tianyuan Holy Land continues like this, it will no longer tolerate Great Wu's existence and replace us, correct?" Song Ao had no intention of blaming the old eunuch.
After all, the man had been at his side since childhood. He was both an old servant and an old friend.
"..." The old eunuch did not deny it.
"Rest assured. As long as Great Wu continues fulfilling its duties as it has and causes no trouble, they probably won't do anything..."
Both Song Ao's words and his tone sounded rather like he was trying to reassure himself.
"By the way, which princesses in the palace remain unmarried?"
"Your Majesty, do you intend to...?"
Song Ao nodded.
Elsewhere.
Within the Eastern Pole Holy Land, which, like the Tianyuan Holy Land, was one of the Southern Region's three great holy lands.
Zhao Guizhen, master of the Holy Land, looked up from the Martial World Bulletin, swept his gaze over everyone below the dais, and asked, "What do you make of this?"
"It must be false news spread by Tianyuan itself to build momentum and attract talent!"
"Exactly. No matter how talented he is, awing a Human Immortal Realm expert with a single sword strike after just a few days is far too outrageous!"
"The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion belongs to the Tianyuan Holy Land to begin with. There's nothing surprising about it spreading false news like this."
"In my view, the Tianyuan Holy Land's fortune is running dry, and now it's starting to stir up mischief."
No one in the Eastern Pole Holy Land believed the Martial World Bulletin's account of Chen Mu.
"Holy Master, this disciple is willing to visit the Tianyuan Holy Land under the pretext of offering congratulations and discover the truth!"
At that moment, Zhao Yuhao, the Eastern Pole Saint Son, stepped forward.
Before you continue