We leave?
At those words, not only the Qingwei Peak Master and her companions froze, but even the blue-robed, middle-aged King Realm cultivator from Divine Firmament Hall stared at the deputy hall master in disbelief.
He even wondered whether something was wrong with his ears and he had misheard.
"Deputy Hall Master, this is..."
"I said, leave this place with me. Do you not understand human speech? Do I need to repeat myself?" The deputy hall master swept a cold glance over the blue-robed man, then turned and left, showing not the slightest attachment to the spirit fruits on the enormous tree, as though he had never seen them.
"Yes!" The blue-robed man and the other Divine Firmament Hall cultivators had no idea what had happened, and their hearts were filled with confusion. Clearly, after the deputy hall master arrived, the situation here had swung entirely in Divine Firmament Hall's favor. Under such circumstances, why leave?
Confused and bewildered as they were, they did not dare disobey the deputy hall master, nor could they. They could only cast a disgruntled glance at the many spirit fruits on the enormous tree and reluctantly prepare to follow the deputy hall master away.
"What exactly is going on?"
The Qingwei Peak Master and her companions were dumbfounded as well. Although the other side's retreat was a good thing, it was rather inexplicable.
Were they afraid of the Azure Yang Sword Sect?
Impossible. Strong as the Azure Yang Sword Sect was, that strength was limited to the Tangqing Empire. The Qingwei Peak Master did not believe Divine Firmament Hall would fear it.
Even after racking her brains, the Qingwei Peak Master could not understand their reason for retreating.
Until a calm voice sounded beside her.
"Did I say you could leave?"
The Qingwei Peak Master, Ye Han, and the others instantly turned their gazes toward Lin Xuan. He was the one who had spoken!
Ye Han and He Jing nearly cried out, Have you gone mad?
Although they did not know why the other side was retreating, it was an enormous blessing for them. Yet he was stopping them?
Did he think he had lived too long?
"Peak Master Lin, you mustn't..."
The Qingwei Peak Master paled in alarm.
However, something even more shocking awaited them.
As Lin Xuan's words fell, the deputy hall master actually stopped in his tracks...?
"Put down the spirit fruits you're holding, then leave!"
What?
Already feeling utterly stifled, the Divine Firmament Hall cultivators nearly spat out blood.
"Put down the spirit fruits. We're leaving!"
Watching the Divine Firmament Hall cultivators toss down their spirit fruits one after another, the Qingwei Peak Master and her companions were already speechless.
They had actually... obeyed?
This...
One abnormality after another had exceeded the limits of what the Qingwei Peak Master and her companions could comprehend.
Since when had a King Realm Fourth Layer expert become so accommodating?
No, their heads were itching...
After traveling some distance, the deputy hall master of Divine Firmament Hall slowly stopped. By now, they had left the enormous tree's vicinity.
Glancing behind him, he took in all the resentment and confusion on the faces of the blue-robed man and the others.
"Are you very confused? We clearly held an overwhelming advantage, yet we slunk away like that?" the deputy hall master asked.
The blue-robed man and the other Divine Firmament Hall disciples all nodded.
They were more than confused. Even after racking their brains, they could not understand why things had turned out this way.
The deputy hall master raised his chin, signaling for them to look back toward the enormous tree.
From here, they could just see a streak of light rapidly approaching it.
Without a doubt, that's a King Realm cultivator, and someone stronger than me, too. At least King Realm Second Layer! the blue-robed man thought.
Next, he saw that King Realm Second Layer cultivator arrive at the enormous tree, utterly thrilled. Paying no attention whatsoever to the Qingwei Peak Master and her companions, the cultivator reached out to pluck a spirit fruit and examine it, but...
Before he could pluck it, the white-robed young man beside the Qingwei Peak Master made his move.
A vast sword light tore across the sky, and that King Realm Second Layer cultivator, an existence who was countless times stronger than the blue-robed man, fell straight out of the air... The signs of life within him were rapidly fading as well...
One strike, and a King Realm Second Layer cultivator... fell!
"Do you understand now?"
The deputy hall master's calm voice came from behind them.
Having witnessed everything, the Divine Firmament Hall cultivators fell silent. At this moment, they all understood.
A King Realm Second Layer cultivator had taken no more than one strike. What kind of strength was that?
Even their King Realm Fourth Layer deputy hall master could not do that, could he?
"Earlier, I witnessed him slaughter more than twenty King Realm cultivators with a single strike." The deputy hall master's voice sounded again, sending a far deeper chill through their hearts.
More than twenty King Realm cultivators, with one strike...
That was simply... far too terrifying...
At this moment, all confusion vanished from the eyes of the blue-robed man and his companions, along with every trace of... complaint.
They were even immensely grateful that the deputy hall master had taken them away...
Otherwise, they would have met the same end as that fallen King Realm Second Layer cultivator.
Half a day later, the Qingwei Peak Master, Ye Han, and the others watched Lin Xuan's retreating figure, remaining silent for a long time.
Lin Xuan had taken seventy percent of the spirit fruits harvested from the enormous tree, leaving only thirty percent for them, but the Qingwei Peak Master and her companions had no complaints or dissatisfaction whatsoever.
Without Lin Xuan, they probably would not have obtained a single one.
He had left, but the shock he had brought them was engraved upon their hearts, impossible to forget.
The Qingwei Peak Master, in particular, finally understood why that Purple Scorpion Demon King had inexplicably retreated when they first arrived at the entrance to the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm.
She had been deeply puzzled then. She did not believe her strength could frighten off a Demon King. Now, everything could be explained.
So the one that Purple Scorpion Demon King feared... was him...
The struggle between the Holy Son and Holy Maiden is already over.
That was what the Qingwei Peak Master thought.
Having witnessed Lin Xuan's strength, she did not believe the Holy Son had any hope of winning. Back then, the Holy Son had also sent someone to recruit Lin Xuan, only to fail.
As for the Holy Maiden's side, although they had recruited this Starfall Peak Master, they had not believed he could decide anything. Without reaching the King Realm, he ultimately could not play much of a decisive role in this struggle.
Yet who could have imagined that this rather inconspicuous Starfall Peak Master had concealed himself so deeply...
With strength like that, even the Azure Yang Sword Sect's ancestor might not be his match, right?
"Do not mention what happened today to anyone," the Qingwei Peak Master warned Ye Han and the others behind her.
"Yes!"
Their hearts tightened. They only needed to remember today's events, not spread them carelessly. No one knew whether this Starfall Peak Master wanted others to know. If they spread the news and displeased this exalted figure, none of them could withstand his resulting wrath.
After leaving, Lin Xuan resumed his aimless exploration of the mystic realm. He estimated that the large quantity of spirit fruits he had obtained earlier would be enough for him to break through to the King Realm Second Layer, but since he was inside the mystic realm, there was no hurry.
The Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm would only remain open for a few days in total. If he wasted too much time breaking through and missed out on its many treasures, the losses would outweigh the gains.
Over the next few days, Lin Xuan found some things, but they were all fairly ordinary, nowhere near comparable to the spirit spring and spirit fruits he had encountered earlier.
Just as Lin Xuan thought this journey through the mystic realm was more or less over, his Divine Sense detected a place radiating extremely powerful spiritual power!
Without much thought, Lin Xuan rushed straight toward it.
Upon arriving, he discovered that quite a few people had already gathered here. They sat cross-legged in a ring around a withered tree at the center.
The thing radiating those extremely powerful fluctuations of spiritual power was precisely that withered tree at the very center of the crowd...
Lin Xuan marveled inwardly.
This tree was already close to withering away, yet it still radiated such powerful, pure Spiritual Qi. It was hard to imagine what the scene had been like before it withered.
Soon, Lin Xuan also discovered that the closer one went to the inner circle, the purer the Spiritual Qi became. Naturally, however, not just anyone could claim a place there. Almost every person there was a King Realm cultivator.
There was only one exception...
Although she sat in the inner circle, she was not in the King Realm. The presence emanating from her was merely at the Tribulation Realm Ninth Level.
What baffled people, however, was that no one dared target her. Even the King Realm cultivators in the outer circle did not dare so much as glance her way.
This greatly puzzled some cultivators who had just arrived.
However, only those who had witnessed the woman's strength knew how terrifying she was...
Even now, they could not forget the sight of her decisively defeating two King Realm cultivators.
Defeating King Realm cultivators while in the Tribulation Realm-"monstrous" was no longer enough to describe her.
That was also why even King Realm cultivators did not dare target her.
She was a peerless genius, very possibly even someone on the Profound Domain's Mystic Ranking.
Although she had not reached the King Realm, her strength far surpassed that of King Realm cultivators...
Her presence eclipsed those talents from the seven kingdoms who called themselves geniuses, leaving them ashamed of their own inferiority.
Compared to her, did they even deserve to be called talents?
Even the many King Realm cultivators sharing the inner circle were extremely wary of her.
Someone like her could not possibly hail from the Seven Moon-Reflecting Kingdoms, much less have been nurtured by an ordinary faction. A colossal power surely stood behind her.
After sweeping his gaze around, Lin Xuan finally settled his eyes on the woman as well.
Because...
He knew this woman.
She was none other than that "Sister Chu" who had tried to compete with Lin Xuan for the spirit spring when he first entered the mystic realm.
Lin Xuan remembered that a girl in a green dress had been beside her then. Now, however, that girl was nowhere to be seen, leaving her alone.
A trace of amusement crossed his expression, and Lin Xuan walked straight toward her.
Those who saw this froze briefly before sneering repeatedly.
"Here comes another one looking to die."
"Does he think she's easy to bully just because she's in the Tribulation Realm? Doesn't he see that everyone in the inner circle is in the King Realm, with her as the only exception? Several King Realm cultivators in the outer circle only dare watch, without daring to trouble her."
Some mocked him inwardly, even as they began observing a moment of silence for Lin Xuan in their hearts.
Others had tried to seize the woman's place before, including even a King Realm cultivator, but without exception, they had ended up dead or injured...
That King Realm cultivator, in particular, had been defeated by the woman in three strikes and fled with severe injuries. Had he been any later, he probably would have lost his life here.
Because Lin Xuan had yet to fully recover from the injuries caused by the lightning tribulation, his presence was merely comparable to the Tribulation Realm Ninth Level.
Seeing Lin Xuan walk toward the woman in white, many turned their gazes toward him. They looked at him as though he were an idiot, a hint of mockery in their eyes, waiting to watch him make a fool of himself.
When Lin Xuan reached her, Chu Yuechan, who had been cultivating with her eyes closed, slowly opened them, her delicate brows furrowing slightly.
Irritation rose within her. Why is someone else coming to court death?
Yet when she raised her gaze and saw who had come, she froze.
It's him?
How could Chu Yuechan possibly forget Lin Xuan?
To this day, he was the only person who had defeated her within the same realm, and he had done it with just one strike!
The blow this had dealt her was by no means small.
Proud as she was, she had never imagined that one day she would lose to someone in the same realm.
At this moment, Lin Xuan simply looked at her quietly without speaking, but his meaning could not have been clearer.
Move aside.
Just as everyone thought Chu Yuechan would suppress Lin Xuan as she had defeated that King Realm cultivator in three strikes earlier, she turned and left, yielding her own place to Lin Xuan under everyone's utterly astonished gazes...
Those who witnessed this suffered a brief mental shutdown. Their mouths hung slightly open, and they were too shocked to speak.
This was... completely different from what they had imagined!
Since when had Chu Yuechan become so accommodating?
She had not been like this when facing those other intruders who tried to seize her place!
Every last person who had tried to seize her place had met a miserable end. Only that King Realm cultivator had left alive; almost everyone else had fallen here, and even that King Realm senior had fled with severe injuries.
Yet the presence emanating from Lin Xuan was not even at the King Realm...
This was not right!
Everyone was filled with confusion, unable to understand why things had ended this way. They had imagined countless possibilities, but never this one.
As for Lin Xuan, he ignored the strange gazes around him, sat cross-legged, and began circulating the Azure Emperor Scripture. While cultivating, he did not neglect to mend the injuries within his body.
Just like that, an hour passed.
Boom!
The tranquility here was soon shattered by the arrival of a King Realm cultivator.
He was an old man with entirely white hair, his presence far stronger than that of an ordinary King Realm First Layer cultivator.
"It's Elder Ming Gu, the supreme elder of the Holy Sun Empire's Nether Moon Sect!"
Someone cried out, clearly recognizing the old man.
"Rumor has it that his cultivation has reached King Realm Second Layer perfection! He's only a step away from comprehending his third Great Dao and advancing to the King Realm Third Layer!"
Although quite a few King Realm cultivators had gathered here, most were at the King Realm First Layer. The arrival of a King Realm Second Layer cultivator would inevitably cost someone a place in the inner circle. At Elder Ming Gu's arrival, quite a few King Realm cultivators grew uneasy.
Soon, however, they discovered that their worries were somewhat unnecessary.
After arriving, Ming Gu immediately locked his gaze on someone in the inner circle. Without another word, he struck down with his palm!
That person was also an old man, one who looked even older than Ming Gu. He was also one of the few King Realm Second Layer cultivators here!
His cultivation was in no way inferior to Elder Ming Gu's!
"Old bastard, you're courting death!"
The man roared angrily and immediately clashed with Ming Gu.
"That senior is named Cang He. Like Elder Ming Gu, he comes from the Holy Sun Empire. He's the supreme elder of the Yuanming Sect, and the Yuanming Sect and Nether Moon Sect are mortal enemies. Whenever they meet, they fight to the death."
A cultivator from the Holy Sun Empire spoke slowly, explaining to everyone why Ming Gu had attacked Cang He without another word.
Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Most King Realm cultivators in the inner circle were at the First Layer. If Ming Gu targeted them, their places in the inner circle would be lost.
As they watched the pair battle in midair, even the aftershocks alone left their hearts pounding.
"So this is the gap between the King Realm First and Second Layers. At the King Realm, the gap between every stage is enormous," someone sighed.
The King Realm had nine layers, each a world apart.
Although breaking through each stage after reaching the King Realm was as difficult as ascending to heaven, the corresponding increase in strength after a breakthrough was also extremely terrifying.
A King Realm Second Layer cultivator could easily crush several King Realm First Layer cultivators. That was the difference!
Their fierce battle disrupted the Spiritual Qi here, but no one dared speak up to stop them. Neither man was someone they could afford to provoke.
"Can you two fight somewhere else? You're disturbing my cultivation."