Testing the Waters

Faced with Min Wen's threat, Luo Yan stepped forward and threw a simple punch. In an instant, a bloody flower burst from Min Wen's head. Luo Yan had killed him on the spot with a single blow.

"You killed him?"

"Do you know he works for Young Master Yun Yue?"

"Brat, you're dead! You dared to kill Min Wen? Young Master Yun Yue won't let you off!"

The others were first terrified, then shocked, and finally furious.

No one had expected Luo Yan to be so forceful, killing Min Wen over a disagreement.

Luo Yan swept a casual glance over them. "Have that so-called Young Master Yun Yue of yours come speak to me. You aren't qualified!"

Hearing his arrogant tone, they realized they were no match for him and immediately snarled, "Just you wait! We'll report this to Young Master Yun Yue right now! You're finished today!"

After delivering their threats, they turned and left.

The Tianxuan disciples who had witnessed the scene were stunned. Some even recognized Luo Yan.

"Luo Yan, be careful. Young Master Yun Yue is a prodigy at the peak of the Dao Palace Secret Realm, just one step away from breaking through to the Four Extremes Secret Realm. His father is also a Great Power elder of the holy land!" someone warned him through a secret voice transmission.

Luo Yan knew him. His name was Li Huayi, and he was another member of the Tianxuan Saintess Pursuers Organization. The two were on good terms.

"Don't worry, Brother Li. I know what I'm doing. Someone is targeting me, testing the waters!" Luo Yan replied through voice transmission.

Li Huayi nodded from within the crowd and said nothing more.

He came from the Central Plains Divine Dynasty and had infiltrated the Tianxuan Holy Land. Besides his mission to investigate a secret concerning the Road to Immortality, he also wanted to behold the Tianxuan Saintess's peerless beauty. She was the greatest beauty of the Eastern Wasteland; if he never saw her even once in his lifetime, a prodigy like him would still be left heartsick.

Luo Yan's origins were mysterious. With Li Huayi's knowledge and experience, he could naturally tell that the unadorned, innate air of the Great Dao about Luo Yan was not something an ordinary person could possess.

Before long, a young master in splendid robes flew over.

"You killed Min Wen?" Yun Yue asked, anger on his face.

"What? Are you going to seek justice for him?" Luo Yan countered.

Yun Yue was just about to speak, seemingly ready to retort, when he suddenly stopped.

"Min Wen abused his influence and offended you, young master. He deserved to be killed by you in public!" Everyone could tell that he had originally intended to attack, only to stop abruptly and force out a string of conciliatory words through gritted teeth.

"Young Master Yun Yue..." The men who came hurrying up behind him were utterly bewildered by the scene.

Yun Yue glanced at them and spat out one word through clenched teeth: "Leave!"

"How did this happen? Young Master Yun Yue is just letting him off?"

"That isn't like Yun Yue. He always repays even the slightest grievance!" The spectators were full of questions.

Still, some disciples who knew a little of the inside story offered their guesses.

"Rumor has it that one of our Tianxuan seniors returned alive after venturing deep into the Desolate Forbidden Zone and discovered an earth-shattering secret, apparently related to the Road to Immortality! Quite a few Desolate Ancient Families and holy lands have sent elders and disciples to infiltrate Tianxuan and find out whether the news is true. Could this man be from a Desolate Ancient Family, a holy land, or even a divine dynasty?"

"Yes, I heard that too. They say experts from holy-land-level powers like the Ji Family, the Jiang Family, and Yaoguang met with our Tianxuan Holy Land's senior not long ago!"

"His surname is Luo, so he's most likely a disciple of some holy land. We just don't know which one!" There were no Desolate Ancient Families surnamed Luo in the Northern Dipper.

For a time, everyone grew deeply wary. Although the Tianxuan Holy Land was one of the most glorious holy lands in the world, they still dared not take a gifted disciple from another holy land lightly. Anyone accepted as a disciple by a holy land was bound to possess considerable talent!

Still, everyone expected Luo Yan to suffer Yun Yue's frenzied retaliation within the Tianxuan Holy Land in the days ahead.

"Could you tell? Which holy land is he from?"

"He only made one move, so I can't tell yet. But it involved the power of time, so his origins must be extraordinary. With all the great families and holy lands watching us like tigers eyeing their prey, we should be cautious. We shouldn't make more enemies! This concerns the Road to Immortality..."

"Alas, we've been far too overbearing these past years and have already provoked resentment in many holy lands. Even our disciples have gradually begun to look down on everyone. It was only supposed to be a simple probe, yet they insisted on swaggering around with their noses in the air. This is already the fifth one killed on the spot!

"Keep your respective disciples in check for the time being. Don't let them stir up any more trouble. This is a critical period. Once that plan succeeds, we'll follow the example of the Feathered Divine Dynasty and ascend as an entire sect!"

"Do you think we'll succeed? The Feathered Divine Dynasty was such a glorious dynasty, yet even they failed..."

"It's hard to say... Since ancient times, attaining immortality has been nothing more than a legend. No one has ever seen a true immortal!"

"In a few days, Ancestor Nanyang will take the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon and join forces with the Desolate Ancient Families and holy lands to venture deep into the Desolate Forbidden Zone again and investigate that Road to Immortality. The final decision will depend on what happens that day!" an elder revealed.

Given Luo Yan's cultivation, even though these elders were communicating through voice transmissions, he could still intercept them.

This was an opportunity!

Once the Tianxuan Holy Land's Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon was gone, nothing in the entire holy land would be able to restrain me!

If anything in the Tianxuan Holy Land could threaten me, it could only be the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon!

"Unfortunately, that Emperor Weapon was destroyed in the Desolate Forbidden Zone, and later generations could never find it." That was a great regret.

Only a Great Emperor could destroy an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon, and the forbidden zones happened to be home to supreme beings-Great Emperors and Ancient Emperors who had once severed part of their own cultivation!

The Desolate Forbidden Zone in particular held a great accomplishment sacred body with unimpaired emperor-level combat power, as well as an unimpaired female Great Emperor!

The Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon must have been destroyed during the assault on the forbidden zone.

Presumably, not long after their next expedition, the Tianxuan Holy Land would make the decision that would bring about the entire holy land's destruction overnight.

The next day, Wei Yi returned injured with the Time Mirror, his expression grim.

After asking about it, Luo Yan gained a rough understanding of the whole affair.

Wei Yi had not been trying to prove his innocence at all. He had been helping the Tianxuan Saintess find the stolen Ten-Thousand-Face Flower. This divine medicine had remarkable effects. A whole Ten-Thousand-Face Flower could not only extend one's life by two hundred years, but also possessed an effect that would drive every woman in the world mad: preserving her beauty forever!

The Tianxuan Saintess had originally risked her life to bring this divine medicine seed back from an extremely dangerous place. She had successfully grown it, and it had been on the verge of ripening when it was stolen. Furious, the saintess had immediately set her sights on Little Madman, with whom she was usually most at odds, and beaten him up, suspecting him of the theft.

Normally, Little Madman was the one being unreasonable. Since when had he ever been beaten up for no good reason?

So Little Madman began asking around for information and happened to run into the simple-hearted Wei Yi, who was wholly intent on bringing Luo Yan and the Tianxuan Saintess together. Afterward, Wei Yi borrowed the Time Mirror from Luo Yan.

Using the Time Mirror, Wei Yi and Little Madman retraced the entire theft of the Ten-Thousand-Face Flower. In the end, they discovered that the thief was a damned fat man dressed in Daoist robes!

An elder happened to witness the entire scene replayed by the Time Mirror, which led to the subsequent attempt to test Luo Yan's abilities. They simply had not expected the people they sent to be so useless, provoking Luo Yan with their words.

Yun Yue then appeared, and just as a fierce battle was about to erupt, an elder watching from the shadows intervened in time to stop the slaughter.