Su Bowen and the ancestor of the Supreme Sword Sect were old acquaintances, and no one knew the other man's temper better than he did.
Before the Supreme Sword Sect's ancestor entered seclusion, his foul temper had been quite infamous. Yet from his current look of fear and trepidation, he was clearly afraid of something.
Could it be that "Hall Master"?
But what was so frightening about a hall master that the Supreme Sword Sect's ancestor had to be this cautious?
In the blink of an eye, countless thoughts flashed through Su Bowen's mind.
The other two factions also wore exceedingly strange expressions at the sight before them.
Although the Eastern Wasteland had produced no cultivators worth mentioning in the past thousand years, the Supreme Sword Sect was a long-established sect. Before withdrawing from the world, it had maintained ties with many sects outside. Even those without such ties knew a thing or two about it.
The people from the Sea Blue Pavilion and Lingye Island also found the Supreme Sword Sect ancestor's attitude exceedingly strange.
"From the looks of it, something really is going on." Lingye Island's leader looked thoughtful. She was a woman with a white veil covering her face, leaving only half of it exposed, but those limpid eyes alone were enough to rob heaven and earth of their splendor.
Her white robes perfectly displayed her exquisite figure, drawing repeated sidelong glances from countless cultivators, who secretly thought that seeing her true face would surely be one of life's great blessings!
Hearing this, the white-robed woman looked thoughtful and directly released her spiritual power, blanketing more than half the Eastern Wasteland.
Without expending much mental effort, the white-robed woman noticed the white jade steles.
"The Eastern Wasteland Heaven's Chosen Ranking, the Eastern Wasteland Faction Rankings... interesting. And all of this came from the Primordial Hall. It seems this so-called Hall Master is the master of the Primordial Hall."
In an instant, the white-robed woman learned a great deal of information, and the corners of her lips could not help curling into a smile.
It was not just the white-robed woman. The people from the Sea Blue Pavilion and the Nine Heavens Pavilion were unwilling to fall behind either. After noticing something was amiss, almost everyone released their spiritual power and thoroughly searched the Eastern Wasteland.
The white jade steles were no secret in the Eastern Wasteland to begin with. Even at ordinary times, many cultivators gathered beside them to wait for updates, so the powerful cultivators soon noticed them.
In particular, according to the Primordial Hall's Eastern Wasteland Faction Rankings, they were actually only ranked somewhere in the teens.
Short Sky Island?
The Valley of Devouring?
Almost none of the major sects had any records of these two places, but aside from those two, they had some impression of a few of the names.
Moreover, the Eastern Wasteland Faction Rankings also listed each faction's strongest member in detail. Clearly, a thorough investigation had been conducted.
And conducting such an investigation and publishing it was by no means easy!
Publishing information about the major factions so brazenly demonstrated absolute confidence in one's own faction, without the slightest concern that the factions on the rankings might come knocking!
This so-called Primordial Hall was very likely above every faction on the rankings!
"Hm?" Surprise appeared on Su Bowen's face.
He discovered that his divine sense had swept across more than half the Eastern Wasteland, actually passing over the locations of Hongmeng Mountain and Primordial City!
Primordial City was indeed a substantial city, but Hongmeng Mountain was nothing more than an empty mountain.
His divine sense swept over it and found absolutely nothing. There was no Primordial Hall, no Hall Master at all.
Having discovered this, Su Bowen could not help laughing aloud. "Your Eastern Wasteland really is interesting. Did you fabricate this Primordial Hall in advance just to fool sects from the outside like ours?"
"What an elaborate show. You even made it look convincing. Your Supreme Sword Sect really has no shame. You didn't even make the top ten on that ranking, and you still dare throw your weight around with me?"
"Enough, enough. Whatever other tricks you have up your sleeves, bring them all out. But no matter how many schemes you have, they are utterly useless before absolute strength."
"Indeed." The Sea Blue Pavilion's leader spoke unhurriedly.
Those who had come from the outside this time were basically all at the peak of the late Saint level. Otherwise, they would not have come to compete for a Saint King's inheritance.
Yet even with their strength, not one of so many people had discovered Short Sky Island or the Valley of Devouring. And that so-called Primordial Hall could not be detected at all!
The leaders of the Sea Blue Pavilion and Lingye Island had originally been pondering what exactly was going on, but after hearing Su Bowen of the Nine Heavens Pavilion say this, they immediately felt it made some sense.
Seeing the leaders before him nod one after another, looking as though they already agreed with Su Bowen's words, the Supreme Ancestor was utterly speechless.
The Supreme Sword Sect's ancestor: "..."
The Supreme Sword Sect disciples: "..."
The cultivators of the Eastern Wasteland: "..."
That makes so much sense that I'm actually speechless for the moment!
With this sort of self-contained reasoning, there really was no persuading them!
The Supreme Sword Sect's ancestor also swept his divine sense toward Hongmeng Mountain. In his perception, the Primordial Hall was clearly visible, so why were Su Bowen and the others all saying they could not detect it?
The Supreme Ancestor's expression turned somewhat strange, but after a little thought, he understood. The Primordial Hall's master must have deliberately concealed his presence, not wanting outsiders to disturb him.
"Is that so?"
Su Bowen was still presenting his well-reasoned analysis when a wickedly alluring voice cut him off.
The void split open, and the sky instantly darkened. Countless streams of black Qi spread out from the void as a black-robed man slowly stepped out.
"You haven't even reached the Saint King level. It's only natural that you can't perceive our existence," the black-robed man said with a smile. "Sorry to disturb you all. I am a disciple of the Valley of Devouring on the Eastern Wasteland Faction Rankings!"
The middle-aged man in black robes spoke with a broad smile. No matter how one looked at him, he seemed anything but serious, yet an extremely powerful presence spread from his body.
Moreover, that pressure easily overshadowed Su Bowen of the Nine Heavens Pavilion.
Su Bowen was at the peak of the late Saint level. For someone to surpass him in strength, there was only one possible level that newcomer could be at... Saint King!
Looking at the black-robed man who had suddenly appeared, Su Bowen's lips twitched.
Were these Eastern Wasteland cultivators deliberately making things difficult for him? He had barely finished saying that the Eastern Wasteland had no Saint Kings when that old fellow from the Supreme Sword Sect appeared to confront him, and then another Saint King popped up to confront him!
No matter what, wasn't this face-slapping coming a little too quickly?
But Su Bowen merely thought these words to himself, inwardly grumbling.
In fact, with the black-robed man's appearance, the expressions of everyone from the Nine Heavens Pavilion, Lingye Island, and the Sea Blue Pavilion, as well as those from the Supreme Sword Sect, all changed.