Suspected Weapon Master

Crack.

Without another word, Xu Fan crushed Mu Yunyang and Yuan Er to death and began searching their corpses.

Before long, he had stripped the men of every treasure they carried, tossing anything useful into his Storage Bag.

"Three Higher Vehicle martial arts?"

"The Mystic Yang Sect's Profound Yang True Instruction, the Mu Household's Red Fire Long-Traveling Art, and the Lustfire Everlasting Art. I can use them for deductions."

After putting the items in his Storage Bag, he circulated spiritual power in his hand, turning it into spiritual fire that fell upon the three corpses. They vanished completely in the blink of an eye.

He then used the lunar art, the Dark and Bright Moon-Hiding Technique, to erase the traces he had left behind, before riding the wind straight for Yin Mountain Prefecture City.

Less than a quarter of an hour later.

Three figures descended.

Lan Ci of the Clearwater Sect was among them, following beside an old woman.

"Was it Mu Fangjin?"

The old woman glanced around. A powerful Divine Intention had burned a clearing in this region deep within the Yin Mountains.

Even though the "spirit" left behind had been erased, both the earlier display and the lingering traces of Divine Intention here pointed to the Mu Household's Great Grandmaster.

Apart from the Clearwater Sect and the Mystic Yang Sect, only the Mu Household had a Great Grandmaster in Lingnan Circuit.

Although he was only at the first revolution, he still ranked among the Great Grandmasters.

"Who could kill Mu Fangjin? And who would?" The old woman pondered the question from every angle, unable to make sense of it.

Only the Clearwater Sect and the Mystic Yang Sect had multiple Great Grandmasters in Lingnan Circuit, and the imperial court had no need to kill Mu Fangjin either. Who else was there?

A Great Grandmaster was no ordinary person, after all. In any province or circuit, one was a figure of enormous influence.

Their every move drew attention.

If a Great Grandmaster from another faction had come, there was no way Great Qin's Northern Pacification Office and Imperial Astronomical Bureau would have failed to notice.

"Judging by the earlier commotion, Mu Fangjin came in person, only to be killed because he was no match for his opponent."

Tie Shan, the pacification commissioner of Lingnan Circuit, surveyed the surroundings and spoke after a moment's thought:

"Based on what happened before, could this person be Xu Fan?"

Mu Fangjin had locked onto Xu Fan with Thousand-Li Enemy Search and sent his grandson to take his head, hoping to obtain the Emperor Flow Serum and win the Han Household's favor.

But he had ultimately returned in failure.

Now that Mu Fangjin had made another move, he had most likely discovered Xu Fan, because the Three Heroes of the Yin Mountains had fought Xu Fan before.

In the end, only Yuan Er had been seen fleeing Qingzhou and heading for the Mu Household in Bingzhou.

"Impossible!"

"How could it be Xu Fan?"

Lan Ci shuddered and immediately dismissed the idea.

Of those present, she was the only one who had seen Xu Fan with her own eyes, and she was certain he could not possibly possess such strength.

Even after all the uproar before, Xu Fan's strength was at most that of someone who had just entered the Innate realm. How could he kill a Divine Intention Great Grandmaster?

Absolutely impossible!

The talent Xu Fan had displayed back then might have been respectable in a prefecture or county, but that was all.

Yet now the pacification commissioner of Lingnan Circuit, a seventh-revolution Great Grandmaster, was saying that Xu Fan already had the strength to kill a Great Grandmaster?

It was sheer fantasy.

As far as she knew, Xu Fan had only practiced martial arts for about a year. His becoming a Grandmaster had already shocked her, so how could he cross so many realms?

"It's only a guess."

Tie Shan's gaze flickered as he thought of the Five Dragons Cult's Great Grandmaster from before.

At first, he had not known why the Five Dragons Cult had sent someone from Yue State to Qin State. Only later had he learned that one of the Five-Colored Great Dragon Flags in the cult's possession had reacted.

And one of the Five-Colored Great Dragon Flags, a Celestial Person Divine Weapon, had appeared.

If Xu Fan had gained the recognition of a Celestial Person Divine Weapon as its master, it was indeed possible.

Celestial Person Divine Weapons possessed extraordinary, wondrous powers.

Not only did they contain Celestial Person martial arts and the cultivation insights of their successive Weapon Lords, they also came with corresponding Divine Abilities and domains.

If Xu Fan had forcibly awakened the Five-Colored Great Dragon Flag's Divine Ability, killing a first-revolution Great Grandmaster would have been easy.

The Weapon Lords of every generation grew at astonishing speed and possessed terrifying combat strength. They could not be judged by ordinary standards.

Even if Xu Fan was not yet a Great Grandmaster, if he truly possessed a Celestial Person Divine Weapon, he could still have killed one.

The price, however, would not have been small.

Seen in that light, Mu Fangjin casting aside his pride and coming in person made perfect sense.

After offending a future Weapon Lord, he would surely have been unable to eat or sleep in peace.

Mu Fangjin had probably also wanted the Celestial Person martial arts within the Celestial Person Divine Weapon, as well as the Five-Colored Great Dragon Flag.

He truly had overestimated himself.

"Since we arrived too late, let's each investigate on our own."

"Farewell."

Tie Shan spread his Divine Intention over the Yin Mountains, but found nothing. He promptly turned and left.

"Grandmother, did you find any clues?"

Lan Ci was eager to know what she had discovered.

The old woman gave a light tap with the jade dragon-headed staff in her hand. Azure Divine Intention enveloped the two of them, and she looked into the distance and said in a low voice:

"Tie Shan probably suspects that Xu Fan possesses a Celestial Person Divine Weapon."

They were all powerful figures among Great Grandmasters and had access to plenty of information. Several possibilities had already occurred to them.

One was that Xu Fan possessed a Celestial Person Divine Weapon and had forcibly awakened its Divine Ability to kill Mu Fangjin.

Otherwise, it was difficult to explain how Xu Fan's cultivation had advanced so rapidly. It was not as though he cultivated the Wedding Robe Divine Art.

Mu Fangjin personally making a move was an even clearer sign that something was seriously amiss.

"A Celestial Person Divine Weapon?!"

Lan Ci cried out, her delicate face full of disbelief.

At the mention of a Celestial Person Divine Weapon, the image of a Weapon Lord surfaced in her mind.

They were powerful figures who stirred up storms in every era, and every Weapon Lord displayed terrifying combat strength upon appearing.

"Still, the one Xu Fan possesses probably isn't one of the Five-Colored Great Dragon Flags."

The old woman shook her head slightly. She knew where the Five-Colored Great Dragon Flag sought by the Five Dragons Cult was.

"Then how did Xu Fan..."

Lan Ci froze.

If it was not one of the Five-Colored Great Dragon Flags, had another Celestial Person Divine Weapon appeared in Great Qin?

"There are two other possibilities."

The old woman said in a low voice:

"Either Xu Fan possesses another Celestial Person Divine Weapon, or..."

At that thought, she shook her head.

Over countless years, a vanished Celestial Person Divine Weapon had appeared every thousand years. Each weapon master had ridden the tides of the era and left a bold, vivid mark upon it.

The latter possibility was extremely unlikely.

If he truly were a banished immortal reincarnated, he would probably be at the level of a Land Immortal when he appeared.

"We can't rule out the possibility that Mu Yunyang died at the hands of a Great Grandmaster who infiltrated Qin State, either."

After weighing the possibilities, she still believed it more likely that Xu Fan possessed another Celestial Person Divine Weapon.

The other possibilities were all unlikely.

"Whether it is or not, it doesn't matter to you."

"Once we return, you will enter the secret realm and open all one hundred meridians as soon as possible. Cultivate a third Divine Intention, then enter the Great Grandmaster realm and compete for a place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking."

The old woman did not want to say too much, lest she discourage her granddaughter.

Lan Ci had the potential to compete for a place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking. Her future achievements would not stop at Great Grandmaster, and a broader stage awaited her.

"I understand, Grandmother."

Lan Ci took a deep breath.

She also knew there was no use dwelling on these things. Only by focusing on herself would she have a chance to stand higher and reach farther.

Yin Mountain Prefecture City.

Flames soared into the sky above the Han residence. The direct descendants all lay in pools of blood, their eyes still open in death.

No one knew who had wiped out the Han Household. All they knew was that its two Grandmaster experts had been unable to offer any resistance.

No one could believe that someone had dared strike at the Han Household despite knowing that Han Tianling had joined Saber-Nurturing Valley and ranked on the Hidden Dragon Ranking.

Where some grieved, others naturally rejoiced.

The Ye Household, one of Yin Mountain Prefecture's two great Aristocratic Clans, was one example.

The Han Household had previously pressed them so hard they could scarcely breathe. Their businesses everywhere had already begun to shrink, and no one dared offend the Han Household by continuing to do business with them.

Yet, against all expectations, the Han Household was simply gone.

Ye Chengjing was frantic with worry. He sought out his father, his face drawn:

"Father, it's good that the Han Household was wiped out, but Han Tianling is still alive."

"If Han Tianling takes his anger out on the Ye Household, we won't be able to withstand it."