Inside the Taoist Grounds' main hall on Outer Cabinet Mountain.
Yuan Yinxin had sat there for a very, very long time.
A palm-sized statue now stood before him, its entire surface dyed crimson.
A bead hung against the statue's chest.
Six ears and six eyes, rendered with lifelike precision.
No one dared enter the main hall.
Yuan Yinxin remained expressionless, no different from the statues in the hall.
A few days earlier, he had used every Emotion Flower Fruit he had treasured over the years to restore Gua Kuo, the deity accompanying Gu Yiren, to full strength. He had been preparing to enter Sacred Way Mountain and remove the thorn that had hung over his head for so many years.
The destruction of the formation had shattered all his plans!
Not only that, the two people from Outside the Mountain refused to leave Headless General Mountain. That was another problem.
The purple-robed Taoist was manageable. A mere Real Person Taoist was nothing to fear.
But the gentleman staying at the Mountain Summit posed an ongoing threat.
A few days earlier, Yuan Yi had brought him news. That gentleman seemed to have suffered some injury, leaving him ill-tempered and behaving strangely.
Yuan Yinxin had concluded that the gentleman must have fought something.
On Outer Cabinet Mountain, no one but him could fight someone capable of yin spirit projection.
The gentleman had remained at the Mountain Summit, so he could not have encountered Ba Xiao either.
That left only one conclusion.
Had the man fought Yuan Tianshu invisibly, across Cabinet Mountain?
No conclusive evidence was needed. The facts were staring him in the face.
The people from the Heavenly Mechanism Taoist Grounds had entered Sacred Way Mountain, and Yuan Tianshu had escaped his confinement.
Immediately afterward, one of these two uninvited guests