Scouting the Way

"Brother Luo Yan, you're hopeless! Such a perfect opportunity, and you traded it for a lousy stalk of grass! I'm so mad! If you'd shown even a little initiative, you might have had a chance to get closer to Senior Sister later!" Wei Yi's little cheeks puffed up with anger.

Luo Yan flicked him on the forehead. "What would a little kid know? Stop playing matchmaker!"

Wei Yi planted himself in Luo Yan's path, fuming. "How do I not know? Taking that spirit medicine meant accepting Senior Sister's repayment. Now you won't have an excuse to go see her and grow closer!"

"Where did you learn all this?"

Wei Yi looked embarrassed and stammered, "N-no... nobody taught me..."

Luo Yan stopped and looked up at a nearby tree. "Are you coming out, or do I have to invite you out?"

A spirited, vigorous black-haired youth emerged from behind the tree. Caught red-handed by the man himself, Little Madman was utterly mortified, but he still braced himself and called out, "Brother Luo Yan..."

"Come see me at Brilliant Peak tomorrow!"

Little Madman wore a look of resignation.

Time flowed like water.

In the blink of an eye, another two years had passed.

Wei Yi was now a cultivator in the Dao Palace Realm, while Little Madman had reached the peak of the Dragon Transformation realm under Luo Yan's guidance.

Wei Yi and Little Madman's standing in the Tianxuan Holy Land rose by the day. Over those two years, they had fought their way through the holy land without finding a rival at their own realms, and fighting opponents above their realms was effortless. Some even named them and the Tianxuan Holy Son the Three Heroes of Tianxuan of their generation. All three were unrivaled at their own realms, each showing the makings of an invincible figure.

The disciples of the Tianxuan Holy Land were now divided into three tiers.

The first tier consisted of only one person: the peerless beauty whose presence left every prodigy of the Eastern Wasteland struggling for breath, the Eastern Wasteland's foremost beauty, the Tianxuan Saintess.

The second tier consisted of the Three Heroes of Tianxuan, who could contend with Holy Son-level prodigies from the outside world at the same realm: the Tianxuan Holy Son, the young Old Madman, and Wei Yi.

The third tier comprised all the remaining disciples, without exception.

Born into this era, some of them were certainly prodigies, but compared to those four, they were like mayflies trying to shake a tree. Looking upon those four was like gazing up at the vast blue heavens.

That day, countless figures rode streaks of rainbow light away above the Tianxuan Holy Land. As they flew overhead, terrifying auras spread from them. On the surface, there were three Half-Saint auras and one Saint aura; how many lurked in secret was unknown. Luo Yan, at least, sensed three hidden experts no weaker than Saints. Among them was a Great Saint, and the Tianxuan Holy Land's Emperor Weapon was in his hands.

Countless disciples and elders of the Tianxuan Holy Land looked up.

"The Holy Lord and Ancestor Nanyang have set out with the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon! Is there really a Road to Immortality beneath the Desolate Forbidden Zone?"

"If there is, does that mean we'll become immortals?"

"Becoming an immortal is hard, so hard! How terribly hard it is!" Some held out no hope and sighed deeply.

On Brilliant Peak, Luo Yan glanced back at Little Madman and Wei Yi, who were still cultivating. He put on a secret treasure he had refined two years ago that could alter his appearance, then took a step and vanished.

A figure slowly appeared outside the Scripture Pavilion.

The old man at the Scripture Pavilion, who usually spent almost all his time asleep, suddenly opened his eyes and looked over. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Fellow Daoist, you've come!"

He stared at Luo Yan with his sunken eyes, as though he had expected his arrival.

Luo Yan was slightly startled. This seemingly ordinary old man was actually a Saint King. Although his vitality had waned, he had traveled far within that realm and was almost at the threshold of the Great Saint Realm.

"You knew I would come?"

"Since entering our Tianxuan Holy Land, you've visited the Scripture Pavilion fifty-four times, gone to the Thatched Cottage thirty-one times, and stood outside our Holy Lord's palace more than a dozen times. It would be hard for me not to know!"

The old man continued, "If you hadn't been wary of the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon, you would likely have entered long ago! Now that it has left the holy land, it would be strange if you didn't come!"

"So, are you planning to stop me, Fellow Daoist?" Luo Yan asked, already prepared to fight.

The old man shook his head. "Your strength far exceeds mine. One of our Great Saints, who is partially sealed within divine source, has said that you may go wherever you wish. We will not obstruct you!"

He stared at Luo Yan, seemingly trying to discern the true identity beneath the mask, but disappointment soon followed. The mask blocked every means of probing.

A Great Saint? Was this a warning not to act recklessly?

As expected of a holy land with an emperor's legacy, even in this age on the verge of the decline of cultivation, it still had a Great Saint watching over everything within the Tianxuan Holy Land.

Luo Yan knew they were unaware of his true identity and had merely guessed that an expert from another faction was hiding within the Tianxuan Holy Land. Now that the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon had left, if a fight truly broke out, the holy land would suffer unpredictable losses without it to suppress the enemy. Thus, they could only yield and avoid fighting as much as possible. Even if they had to fight, they would need to wait for the Emperor Weapon to return.

This was the first time the old man had encountered Luo Yan at such close range. Previously, he had only observed him from afar and sensed his aura. Now, face-to-face, no probing was necessary. Luo Yan merely had to stand there for him to sense that abyss-like power! Just as the Great Saint had said, this man was unfathomable! He was likely a Great Saint himself! Even if he was not, he could not be far off!

"Thank you!"

Luo Yan entered the Scripture Pavilion and headed straight for the top floor. The pavilion held the vast majority of the Tianxuan Holy Land's cultivation methods. As one of the Nine Secrets, Nine Secrets: Xing would surely be kept on the highest floor.

The Scripture Pavilion had seven floors in total, with fewer cultivation methods stored on each successive floor.

The Scripture Pavilion was inscribed with formations that blocked cultivators' divine senses. If Luo Yan wanted to find Nine Secrets: Xing, he could only search through the books one by one.

A short while later, Luo Yan left the Scripture Pavilion in disappointment. Nine Secrets: Xing was not inside.

Seeing Luo Yan disappear from sight, the old man at the Scripture Pavilion immediately extended his divine sense after him.

If Luo Yan did anything that threatened Tianxuan, he could intervene and notify the other elders at once.

At the same time, when Luo Yan revealed himself, the Tianxuan Holy Land's Great Saint had already awakened from his half-slumber and was secretly watching his every move.

This man had appeared within the holy land two years ago, when Great Saint Nanyang brought back the news. Besides him, several experts from other factions had also come, but the Great Saint paid them little mind. The strongest among them was merely a Half-Saint. Only this man remained inscrutable to him, and he could sense an intense threat emanating from him!

That meant this man was, at the very least, a supreme expert in the Saint King realm, one who had already touched the threshold of the Great Saint Realm!

This man hasn't come for the Road to Immortality. Could he have come for Nine Secrets: Xing? A suspicion arose in the Great Saint's mind.

Luo Yan's actions did not resemble a search for clues about the Road to Immortality. They looked more like a search for some cultivation method!

Only two cultivation methods within the Tianxuan Holy Land could attract a cultivator of his caliber. One was the holy land's Emperor Scripture, but its cultivation requirements were exceptionally stringent. At present, only the Tianxuan Saintess cultivated it in the entire holy land.

Apart from that, there was only Nine Secrets: Xing, one of the legendary Nine Secrets!

In all likelihood, this man had come for it.