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Mist billowed, and thunder rumbled. Within the boundless Zhujian Valley, an old man hurtled forward at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. The immense sonic boom generated in his wake nearly disturbed every creature and yin ghost in the ghost mist below. Yet the heavy, mountain-like pressure radiating from the old man struck even those yin ghosts, who knew only wanton slaughter, with a flicker of dread. Amidst the howling wind and his disheveled white hair, Luo Zhiyuan flew at top speed with a grim expression. These past few days had not been kind to him. As a Holy Venerable of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and Grand Arbiter of the Luo clan—one of the seven Overseeing Heaven clans—the vast authority in his hands was second to few in the entire world, save for the lofty Pavilion Master. Having occupied such a high station for years, he had not experienced the emotion known as nervousness for a very long time. Yet now, it was genuinely happening. Because not long ago, those useless underlings of his had informed him that Saintess Tianye had gone missing. According to the laws of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, whenever a Venerable traveled alongside a Holy Son or Saintess, they were deemed their Dao protector. Should any mishap occur, regardless of status or cultivation, it would be investigated with utter severity, overseen personally by the Pavilion Master. At that thought, Luo Zhiyuan's wrinkled face turned so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water. All legitimacy of authority within the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion stemmed from the Heaven-Deducing Art, which wielded "Immortal authority" and could deduce heavenly secrets. Yet the Heaven-Deducing Art was an inanimate object with no will of its own. Thus, the Pavilion Master and the Holy Sons and Saintesses who cultivated it naturally became its earthly agents. And this legitimacy had given birth to a distorted hierarchy of power. Regardless of cultivation, age, or background—even if one were formerly a three-year-old beggar by the roadside—once selected as a Holy Son or Saintess, their status immediately superseded any Holy Venerable, making them an agent on equal footing with the Pavilion Master. Though the Holy Sons and Saintesses were candidates for Pavilion Master, the Pavilion Master was not strictly their superior. Rather than a superior, the Pavilion Master was more like a guide to them. Of course, this was merely a matter of status and did not involve practical authority. Yet even without practical authority, the Saintess's standing—equal to that of the Pavilion Master—was not something he, Luo Zhiyuan, a mere Holy Venerable, could bear the burden of offending or failing. The offense of failing to protect and causing the death of a Saintess was equivalent to causing the death of the Pavilion Master. If a true accounting were held, the entire Luo clan might be flayed alive! With myriad thoughts churning, Luo Zhiyuan doubled his speed once more. Saintess Tianye's soul jade tablet had shattered, indicating that she was already in mortal peril. He had to rush there with all haste. Like lightning piercing the gale, covering several li in a single instant. The Saint's all-out flight speed threw the boundless mist into complete turmoil. Yet precisely due to his reckless haste, certain entities in the deepest reaches of Zhujian Valley had their attention drawn to him. Over a dozen ghastly, terrifying auras nearly locked onto him. Fortunately, these entities from the deepest reaches were merely watching for now and took no action to intercept him. Rushing forward at full speed, it took Luo Zhiyuan only fifteen minutes to reach the source of that soul fluctuation. Slowing his pace and hovering in midair, Luo Zhiyuan's solemn gaze swept across the terrain below. The mist, thick as night, posed no hindrance to his vision. Beneath him lay a swamp. Tree branches and leaves, along with myriad corpses, lay submerged in stagnant, millennia-old putrid sludge. Bubbles gurgled to the surface, spewing marsh gas laced with bone-chilling poison. Yet Luo Zhiyuan ignored all of this. His gaze locked almost instantaneously onto the woman below. Delicate and clad in black with plain white silk—who else could it be but the Saintess who had been missing for nearly a ten-day? Slightly relieved, Luo Zhiyuan had just let out a foul breath when he noticed another woman standing beside Tianye. Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be none other than Tianyan, the woman they had been pursuing. Doubt and vigilance rose together, and Luo Zhiyuan's brow, which had just relaxed, furrowed again. His probing technique quietly seeped downward. Saint origin radiated out, and within a few breaths, a strange look entered Luo Zhiyuan's aged eyes. Both were injured, and neither this Tianyan nor the Saintess seemed to have any intention of fighting. The two simply stood quietly atop a poisonous, rotting tree, their gazes fixed quietly in one direction. Furthermore, judging by their intent-soul fluctuations, the two appeared to be conversing via voice transmission. Pondering briefly, Luo Zhiyuan suppressed the killing intent in his heart. The situation here was bizarre. Better not act rashly; he would ask the Saintess for the reason first. With that thought, Luo Zhiyuan appeared before Tianye and Tianyan in a flash. "..." Seeing the old man who suddenly appeared, Tianyan's emotionless golden eyes merely flicked toward him once before returning to where she had been looking. Tianye, on the other hand, glanced back and forth between the old man and Tianyan with great interest. To her disappointment, however, this old fossil surnamed Luo truly seemed blind. Not only did he fail to notice the aura of the Heaven-Deducing Art upon Tianyan, but he even completely overlooked those azure-gold eyes identical to hers. "Saintess." Luo Zhiyuan bowed toward Tianye in accordance with Overseeing Heaven etiquette, then glanced at Tianyan beside her. "And this is?" "Tianyan." A look of boredom appeared on Tianye's alluring, captivating face as she pointed down toward the swamp. "Stop staring. She's the Tianyan we're looking for. You came pretty fast, though. Just in time to go down and help me save someone." "..." Hearing this, Luo Zhiyuan's thoughts turned rapidly. Though he had no idea what had happened during Tianye's ten-day disappearance, he still understood the gist of things. Hesitating slightly, Luo Zhiyuan asked in a low, aged voice, "May I ask the Saintess, is the person to be saved that Jinghe?" "You're pretty clever for an old fossil," Tianye replied with a faint smile. "..." Luo Zhiyuan did not answer immediately. He looked toward the direction Tianyan was facing, his eyes narrowing sharply. Under the Saint's formidable perception, he clearly sensed a colossal cavern space beneath this swamp. Even without looking closely, the terrifying aura within clearly indicated that a Saint Tier yin ghost lurked below. Turning his gaze back with an unchanged expression, Luo Zhiyuan bowed slightly and said, "Saintess, the objective of our journey is merely Tianyan and the Charm God tree seed. Jinghe's life or death is of no consequence." This answer served as a polite refusal to the suggestion of rescue. Tianye was not surprised by this. She stared at Luo Zhiyuan with a slight smile. Luo Zhiyuan looked calm and unyielding, giving not an inch. A Saintess held lofty status, and Venerables would generally avoid offending one, but that was all. As long as it did not involve her life or safety, the Saintess had no authority to directly command a Venerable. "What if I told you the Charm God tree seed is in Jinghe's hands?" Tianye's airy voice drifted over. Luo Zhiyuan's brow furrowed tightly at once, and he made his judgment in a flash: "Then this matter must still be carefully considered from all angles. That ghost willow down below will need time if it wishes to devour the Charm God tree seed—" "There is no time." "Saintess, the ghost willow below is extraordinarily powerful. Luo alone has no absolute certainty of dealing with it." "Except that Jinghe and I have already bound ourselves with the Lock of Shared Life." "..." Luo Zhiyuan froze for a moment. This Saintess was notoriously unpredictable and difficult to please among the circle of Holy Venerables, but he had never imagined she could be absurd to such a degree. "If you don't believe me, feel free to probe my Heavenly Yan divine soul with your saint origin." As if knowing what he was about to say, Tianye offered a dazzling smile. "If you don't hurry, when Jinghe dies, I, your Saintess, will suffer a backlash right under your nose and be reduced to a vegetative state. When the Pavilion Master personally conducts the investigation, I doubt you can stomach the consequences, Venerable Luo." "..." Luo Zhiyuan's eye twitched. Extending his saint origin to sense it briefly, his aged face looked as wretched as if he had swallowed filth. He felt that the Saintess before him strangely resembled a traitor. Upon the origin of Tianye's intent-soul, there was indeed a trace left by someone else. Suppression laced Luo Zhiyuan's angry voice: "Saintess, why would you do such a thing?" "If I hadn't, I probably would have died." Tianye's tone was utterly nonchalant as she pointed at Tianyan, who had remained silent the whole time. "She and her Jinghe are far stronger than I imagined, so I had no choice." "..." After a brief silence, Luo Zhiyuan made up his mind. For a man like him, in urgent matters such as this, there was no hesitation. "Luo understands. Since the Saintess used such a secret art to preserve her life, as your Dao protector, it is naturally my duty to eliminate the danger for you." As he spoke, Luo Zhiyuan slowly raised a hand. Thin arcs of lightning gathered in his palm, and he hurled them downward with force. The electric arcs sank into the soil without kicking up the slightest ripple. Having done this, Luo Zhiyuan looked up at Tianye and said in a low voice, enunciating every word, "However, Luo will report everything that happened here faithfully to the Pavilion Master." Four Holy Sons and Saintesses coexisted in this era. One had perished, leaving three. A lowered evaluation in the eyes of the Pavilion Master meant greater difficulty in succeeding to the position of Pavilion Master. Tianye, however, did not care about this threat in the slightest. If she truly wanted to become Pavilion Master, she needed only to reveal her true talent. With her caliber as "Tianyan," she could claim that seat of power without needing to compete at all. Smiling and nodding, Tianye waved her hand dismissively to urge him on. "I know, I know. Hurry it up, Old Man Luo. Right now, Jinghe could, at any moment—" "Saintess, this cannot be rushed." Luo Zhiyuan spoke almost through gritted teeth. "At the very least, allow Luo to test that beast first." Risking his life against a Saint Tier yin ghost inside Zhujian Valley—if he drew the attention of other entities from the valley's deepest depths, five lives would not be enough to save him. Therefore, he had to strictly keep his qi dynamic within certain bounds. Pondering this, Luo Zhiyuan closed his eyes and began sensing the wisp of lightning he had sent into the depths below. As the minutes and seconds ticked by, the expression on his wrinkled face grew increasingly strange. Until a certain moment, when Luo Zhiyuan suddenly snapped his eyes open, and a look of astonishment broke across his previously placid gaze. Tianye raised an eyebrow at the sight and asked briskly, "Old Man Luo, what did you see?" Hesitating slightly, Luo Zhiyuan raised a hand to rub the space between his brows and murmured via voice transmission, "That ghost willow is acting rather oddly... It seems to be trying to possess the boy." He could not fathom why a Saint Tier ghost willow would think of possessing a human. But just because he didn't understand didn't mean Tianye didn't. The moment she heard those words, a strange gleam suddenly flashed through Tianye's bored golden eyes. Then, imperceptibly, she cast a sidelong glance at the girl beside her. Possession. This entire world was mere nothingness that had passed away ten thousand years ago. Yet if she were to possess this woman here... Could she return to life in another's corpse?