Upon seeing this, He Rui’s expression immediately turned unpleasant, and he had already prepared himself for the worst in his heart.
This great power, now nearly a thousand years old and at the late Unity realm, spoke with a trembling voice:
“Has He An... met with trouble?”
“In reply to Master’s question—everything is fine!”
Yuan Yi, who was kneeling on the ground, quickly said.
Upon hearing this news, He Rui’s expression softened slightly. He leaned back a little into the chair behind him, and his voice steadied as well as he slowly spoke:
“Speak slowly. No need to panic. If something happens, your master will handle it for you.”
Yuan Yi recounted everything that had happened at the Daoyan Arena today to He Rui.
And then, there came that furious roar from just moments ago:
“You useless bastard, how the hell did you handle things!”
“Master, calm your anger!”
“Calm my ass!”
The enraged He Rui continued. This late Unity realm great power slightly composed himself, then let out a long breath:
“That rogue cultivator named Su Hongzhen... is he really that strong?”
“Yes!”
Yuan Yi replied.
“He didn’t even draw his sword, and just relied on his footwork to easily defeat that kid from the Lightning-Severing Sect?”
“Absolutely true!”
“In your opinion, if He An were to fight Su Hongzhen, what would his chances of victory be?”
Faced with the sect master’s question, Yuan Yi fell silent for a moment, then spoke:
“He would inevitably lose.”
No matter how you looked at it, Yuan Yi was still a Spirit Connection realm cultivator.
Whether it was his cultivation realm or his combat experience, he far surpassed those mere Martial Spring realm juniors participating in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.
That included Li Haoran and Su Hongzhen as well.
For Yuan Yi to handle those Martial Spring realm juniors was easier than crushing an ant.
With such insight, he could easily judge that if He An truly stepped onto the arena platform with Su Hongzhen, the outcome was already predetermined.
Faced with Yuan Yi’s answer, He Rui was silent for a moment, then said:
“How much time is left before the next round of the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry begins?”
Upon hearing this, Yuan Yi was momentarily stunned, then replied:
“If it’s about the duel between He An and Su Hongzhen, based on the current progress of the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, at the earliest, it will be tomorrow afternoon; at the latest, the day after tomorrow morning.”
“There’s still time.”
He Rui nodded in the projection:
“I will send someone to deliver something to you. This matter, I’m leaving in your hands.”
“...Disciple obeys.”
Yuan Yi, still kneeling on the ground, took a deep breath first, then very solemnly kowtowed toward the projection.
“You understand your master’s meaning, right?”
He Rui in the projection emphasized again like this.
“Everything I do on Heavenly Summit Mountain is entirely my own independent action. It has nothing to do with anyone from the Sword Sect!”
Yuan Yi said.
He Rui, seated upright in the main hall of the Unmoving Sword Sect, said nothing more. He simply nodded toward Yuan Yi.
Then, in the next instant, the communication jade talisman on the ground, worth fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones, shattered with a bang. The projection floating in mid-air also turned into countless specks of light, slowly dissipating between heaven and earth.
Yuan Yi still knelt on the ground, dazed for a long time.
He knew.
Heavenly Summit Mountain would be his place of death.
...
Pitch black.
Boundless pitch black.
Lost within this pitch black, Chen Yan had no idea how long he had spent here.
Or rather, within this boundless pitch black, there was simply no concept of time at all.
Even Chen Yan’s thoughts seemed to have completely frozen.
Now floating in this boundless pitch black, Chen Yan felt as if he had been abandoned to a corner of the world’s crevice.
Perhaps, just a single breath ago, he had fallen into this pitch black.
Or maybe, he had already been in this boundless pitch black for a hundred thousand years, a million years, or even longer.
That nearly withered eyeball floated silently beside Chen Yan, as if it had been quietly watching him all along.
A stillness that was almost frozen into eternity.
Or rather, this very moment was eternity.
It was either the instant Chen Yan had just fallen into this pitch black, or after a hundred thousand years, a million years, or even billions of years had passed.
This boundless pitch black seemed to be torn open by the outside world.
Eternity was shattered.
The concept of time was introduced into this boundless pitch black.
What tore through this boundless, eternal darkness was a sword intent.
A terrifying sword intent that could effortlessly cut through everything in this world.
With the reemergence of time, Chen Yan also regained the ability to think.
He could feel his martial spring, and he could also feel the spiritual energy surging through his meridians.
Countless cracks began to appear within this boundless pitch black, and the darkness began to shatter piece by piece.
And that withered eyeball that had been floating beside Chen Yan all along had disappeared at some unknown point.
When this boundless pitch black was completely shattered, Chen Yan found himself high up in the sky.
He could see Heavenly Summit Mountain beneath his feet, and he could clearly see Heavenly Summit Palace as well.
However, Chen Yan could not see himself.
Or rather, at this moment, he had no physical body.
He was more like an ethereal and intangible “will” itself.
Standing above all heavens, Chen Yan could see the situation on Heavenly Summit Mountain.
At this very moment, the Daoyan Arena on Heavenly Summit Mountain was hosting the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.
The place was buzzing with noise. Over twenty thousand cultivators from various cultivation sects across Chenping Continent had gathered in the viewing stands.
And in the Daoyan Arena, there were ten massive circular arena platforms.
Wait a moment...
Above all heavens, without a physical form, Chen Yan quickly noticed something strange about Heavenly Summit Mountain at this moment.
Chen Yan was well aware that this Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, held eight thousand years ago and attended by Little Su, was actually on a larger scale compared to those of other eras.
Because that era was still widely recognized as a golden age of cultivation.
Although none of the Five Great Sects had an Ascended Steward back then, even just the Kongshan Sect alone had three Dao Union realm great powers in residence.
Zhou Jinyun, Li Haoran, Su Hongzhen...
The young prodigies of that generation were also countless.
But this Dao Inquiry Assembly of Chenping Continent currently being held on Heavenly Summit Mountain didn’t seem like the one from eight thousand years ago.
It gave Chen Yan a very familiar feeling instead.
Could it be...
An extremely subtle thought arose in his mind. Chen Yan’s gaze turned toward the direction of the viewing stands in the Daoyan Arena.
In a slightly lower position within one of the viewing stands, three chairs were placed.
On those three chairs sat three disciples wearing pure white daoist robes of the Kongshan Sect.
And these three Kongshan Sect disciples were also very familiar to Chen Yan.
From left to right, they were Lin Xinyang from Yuanhua Mountain and Chu Xiyao from Qingchan Peak.
As for the one on the far right—
She was the daughter of the Cloud Prince from Taiyun City, Qingque Kingdom, and the personal disciple of True Dharma Elder Bai Qiming of Qingchan Peak.
Qin Yue.
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