A cultivator in the Dao Palace Secret Realm challenging someone in the Four Extremes Secret Realm?
Didn't that sound like a tale from the Arabian Nights?
An entire major realm separated them. There was no way he could win!
"Wei Yi, you absolutely mustn't agree! There's a whole major realm between you and Yun Yue. No cultivation method or secret art can bridge that gap!"
"A mere Dao Palace Realm cultivator dares challenge someone in the Four Extremes Realm across a major realm? He really doesn't know his own limits! Does he think he's an Ancient Great Emperor in his youth?"
"I think some people have grown arrogant after being named among the Three Heroes of Tianxuan. They've lost all sense of their own strength!"
"Arrogant!"
Upon hearing that the two would fight, quite a few more disciples came to watch. The Tianxuan Saint Son was also in the crowd, wearing a mocking expression.
"Brother Luo Yan... I..." Wei Yi lacked confidence.
Luo Yan smiled. "You needn't fear failure. Fighting across a major realm will indeed be difficult for you, but that doesn't mean you can't put up a fight. You will lose this battle, but what I hope for most is that you'll gain insight into yourself and make a breakthrough through combat!"
Though Wei Yi was highly gifted, he had cultivated for too short a time. Naturally, he couldn't compare to Yun Yue, a disciple of the holy land who had cultivated since childhood.
"Fellow Daoist Luo Yan is right!"
A voice rang out. Everyone turned to see the Saintess approaching gracefully, lotus blossoms seeming to bloom beneath each step. An ethereal, otherworldly air surrounded her, as though she were the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden.
At the sight of her, the Saint Son in the crowd first looked uncomfortable, then let out a long sigh and cupped his fists toward the Tianxuan Saintess. She nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
Beneath her radiance, he, the Saint Son of the Tianxuan Holy Land, was all but eclipsed. Whenever people mentioned the Tianxuan Holy Land, their first thought was of this peerlessly beautiful Tianxuan Saintess. On the rare occasions they mentioned him, he was merely her foil, a green leaf setting off her blossom.
The Tianxuan Saintess was truly dazzling. She was hailed as the greatest talent the Tianxuan Holy Land had seen in a hundred thousand years, comparable to an Ancient Great Emperor. The holy land's ancestors praised her as a peerless prodigy who could become its second Great Emperor.
Simply standing there, she seemed crowned with a halo, lofty and unattainable, an immortal untouched by mortal dust.
Everyone gazed at her with nothing but wonder and admiration. Even Little Madman had to praise this senior sister of his.
Only Luo Yan felt a sense of unease. Two years ago, he had picked up a paper boat in the stream below Brilliant Peak and answered a question written on it. Ever since, the Saintess had taken an interest in Brilliant Peak and often came here for walks.
Over the past two years, she had all but settled on Luo Yan as her target, indirectly asking those around him about his origins more than once.
"Senior Sister, have you come to take another walk with Brother Luo Yan?" Little Madman's eyes darted as he asked with a mischievous grin.
The Saintess smiled enchantingly. "Indeed! I wonder whether Fellow Daoist Luo would care to stroll around Brilliant Peak with me!"
Over the past two years, whenever the Saintess visited Brilliant Peak, she would invariably have a private "date" with Luo Yan and question him about the future.
Who knew where she had heard the unfounded rumor that his Time Mirror could predict the future and project future events? Moreover, the Tianxuan Holy Land was now preparing an unprecedented undertaking. If they could see the future, wouldn't that mean they could learn whether the holy land would succeed?
Ever since, the Saintess seemed to have set her sights on Luo Yan, coming to Brilliant Peak for a "walk" every so often.
Faced with the Saintess's invitation, the disciples who knew nothing of the situation were dumbfounded.
Who was this man? How could he be invited to walk with the Saintess?
Soon, someone recognized him as the man who had once defeated Yaoguang's Saint Son candidate and helped the Saintess retrieve the Ten-Thousand-Face Flower! Besides that, Wei Yi, who was about to fight Yun Yue, and another of the Three Heroes of Tianxuan both called him Brother Luo Yan!
His identity was deeply mysterious, his origins extraordinary and unknown! They had only heard that someone had once seen him sitting as an equal with the holy land's elders!
"Brother Luo Yan, hurry and take a walk with Senior Sister! With Brother Madman watching over things here, they won't dare try anything!" Wei Yi urged.
Little Madman also stepped forward and declared confidently, "That's right! I'll keep an eye on things here, Brother Luo Yan. Don't worry!"
"An ancestor sent me here to consult you on a few matters. Please don't decline, Fellow Daoist!" the Tianxuan Saintess transmitted to him.
Luo Yan sighed inwardly, returned her greeting with a slight bow, and smiled. "Please follow me."
"I hear you've recently been working on a game called xiangqi, Fellow Daoist? I imagine this must be it." The Tianxuan Saintess took a seat in Luo Yan's cave abode. Compared with her own residence, which rivaled an immortal paradise, this place was extremely simple, secluded, and quiet. However, out of personal habit, Luo Yan had remodeled it in a modern style that seemed entirely out of place.
A board lay before them, with a dozen or so pieces on it.
"How did you hear about it, Saintess?" He had only made this board the day before yesterday.
The Tianxuan Saintess smiled without answering, her smile carrying a hint of meaning and enough beauty to topple a city.
Luo Yan understood, and his face immediately darkened.
Guard against thieves by day and night, but a thief within the household was hardest to guard against.
The Saintess reached out with her slender, jade-like hands and toyed with the xiangqi pieces. Since she didn't understand the rules, she soon lost interest.
Her voice was as ethereal as an immortal's. "Don't you intend to introduce these oddly shaped things, Fellow Daoist?"
This was the Tianxuan Saintess's first visit to Luo Yan's home. Though its surroundings fell far short of her own residence, many of the things here were novelties she had never seen before.
She rose and wandered around Luo Yan's cave abode, first setting her sights on a long seat upholstered in demonic beast hide.
"Fellow Daoist, what is this? It feels wonderfully comfortable to sit on, so soft and pleasant!"
"It's called a genuine leather sofa, a type of seat from my homeland. If you like it, Saintess, it's yours."
At his words, the Tianxuan Saintess put it away right in front of him, storing it in her divine repository. "Then I would be remiss to refuse!"
"And what is this, Fellow Daoist?" The Tianxuan Saintess turned her gaze toward a glass mirror opposite the sofa, with a small coffee table between them.
Luo Yan said, "I call it a television. Insert a source stone to activate the formations inside, and you can view the mountains and rivers of the Eastern Wasteland, all the variety of human life, and cultivators vying for supremacy! But it can't project certain places where powerful cultivators reside."
He had made it in an attempt to replicate the Time Mirror, but failed. In the end, Luo Yan had remodeled it into a television.
The Tianxuan Saintess's jade-like hand lingered over the television, as though she were quite taken with it.
"If you would like it, Fellow Daoist..."
Luo Yan was only halfway through his sentence when he saw that the Tianxuan Saintess had already put it into her divine repository.
The Tianxuan Saintess didn't stop there, instead walking straight toward the Homemade Beverage Machine in the corner.
Luo Yan understood. The Saintess had taken a liking to his novel creations. He said, "If you like them, Saintess, I'll have Wei Yi deliver a set to you another day."
The Tianxuan Saintess smiled with city-toppling beauty. "Sorry for the trouble, Fellow Daoist!"
Luo Yan brewed a pot of spirit tea and said, "You seem to know what these things do, Saintess?"
From pretending ignorance at first to walking straight toward them afterward-if this Saintess didn't know what these things did, he'd be damned!
Before you continue