Nonetheless, Qianye was sure that someone was hiding there. It was just that they were highly skilled in concealment, so much so that even his Eye of Truth was rendered ineffective. Qianye had never encountered such a situation all this time. The Eye of Truth would only lose its effect against experts at the level of a heavenly monarch or close.

Qianye broke into a frown and was just about to start searching the surroundings when he sensed something behind him.

He looked back in time to find Li Kuanglan and a middle-aged man with frost clinging to the edges of his hair.

Li Kuanglan said, “This is Luo Bingfeng’s head steward. He insisted on seeing you, so I brought him over.”

That middle-aged man stepped forward with a bow. “This lowly one is Luo Yun, the current head steward of the city lord manor.”

Qianye sized up the man unceremoniously, even using his Eye of Truth in the process. Luo Yun openly accepted the inspection and made no attempt at hiding things. This made Qianye feel bad about pressing the man too hard. “I don’t think there’s anything to discuss between us at this point, that is unless you’re willing to release the prisoner.”

Luo Yun said, “Releasing the prisoner isn’t within the scope of my power, so I cannot give you a reply. I come seeking to trade the art with which you cultivated Venus Dawn.”

“Then there’s no need for further discussions, I refuse.”

Luo Yun replied, “Don’t be in a rush to say no. I brought two cultivation arts with me, please take a look at them and then decide.”

Qianye took the two ancient wooden boxes with a nod. He first opened one of them and found a bright golden leather scroll that read “Dawn of Scarlet Gold”. Opening it, Qianye could sense a wisp of extremely pure origin power that caused his own to surge and swell, eager to fuse together. While he wasn’t paying attention, a plume of scarlet gold flame erupted from his fingertip.

The flame immediately flickered in and out of existence, but Luo Yin saw the entire process. “Sire Qianye is a genius indeed. With such a level of purity means that your future is boundless, absolutely boundless!”

Qianye laughed indifferently. “Since you know about that, I urge you to return Song Zining. If something happens to him, I’ll leave immediately and return ten years later. At that point, this city will cease to exist.”

Luo Yun was neither rushed nor angry. “That’s not my business. You should check the second art and then decide.”

Qianye opened the golden scroll and flipped through it briefly. The exquisiteness of its contents was at the very peak of origin power condensation, and it was already above the Song Clan Ancient Scroll in this regard. The Glory Chapter was rather crude in comparison, and the only reason it could produce purer origin power was because of its ferocity.

Just like refining steel, an ordinary person’s output quality would be limited due to insufficient strength. Meanwhile, a herculean expert’s random hammering could produce a greater effect. This wasn’t related to skill, just a disparity in strength.

Ordinary people could hardly stand the pressure brought about by channeling the Song Clan Ancient Scroll on its own—and that was only because the Mystery Chapter was restraining its counterpart. Even Qianye, in his current state, would explode if he were to cultivate one without the other.

Hence this “Dawn of Scarlet Gold” was actually more valuable than the Song Clan Ancient Scroll. Its inferiority to the Song Clan Ancient Scroll was purely attributed to Qianye’s inhuman constitution.

After flipping through ten pages or so, Qianye was able to make a rough guess. “This must be the madam city lord’s cultivation art, right?”

Luo Yun replied, “Indeed, your eyesight is comparable to a torch. I’m full of admiration.”

Qianye glanced meaningfully at Luo Yun. It would seem he had added the word city lord to the title for a reason.

Qianye put the scroll back into the box, and then opened the next one. There was a dark blue scroll here named the “Mortal Enlightenment”. This one trained the soul and was apparently Luo Bingfeng’s terrifying visual attack secret art.

Mortal Enlightenment was a brilliant art that drew cleverly upon the basics of divination to deliver a killing blow to the target over long ranges. One would need a fairly strong foundation in divination in order to train this secret art. It almost seemed to be tailored for Song Zining.

Just like before, Qianye only looked through a small part of it before closing the tome and handing it back. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll rob these arts and leave?”

Luo Yun wasn’t afraid, though. “If you were such a person, you wouldn’t be risking your life for your brother.”

This Luo Yun understood Qianye rather well. “Go back, I refuse to trade. I’ll attack you the next time we meet.”

Luo Yun was anxious. “How about this, if you’re willing to trade, I’ll give you both arts. How about it?”

Li Kuanglan’s eyes lit up at the handsome offer. Actually, the Mortal Enlightenment could coordinate with many different types of cultivation arts and was extremely suited for the Li family. Every generation of the Lis was proficient in divination. Despite not cultivating it, Li Kuanglan still possessed a fair degree of talent and could learn it fairly quickly.

The Dawn of Scarlet Gold, on the other hand, was a rare primary cultivation art that could produce Venus Dawn. It was definitely not inferior to the arts of the four major clans.

Just these two arts would be enough to support a high-ranking aristocratic family. A two for one trade was an ample expression of their sincerity.

Who would’ve thought Qianye would shake his head. “I won’t trade. We’re enemies when the next time we meet.”

“Why?” Even Li Kuanglan couldn’t help but ask.

“I won’t trade with people who’ve captured my brother.” Qianye’s words blocked out all of Luo Yun’s prepared persuasion scenarios.

“Since that’s the case, then I can only say goodbye. I hope you will show mercy toward ordinary people. After all, they are of no threat to you.”

Qianye sneered. “Remain inside the city to survive. You people spread out a net of cannon fodder around the city and yet want me to show mercy. What a joke! Whoever dares to leave the city should be prepared to forfeit their lives.”

Luo Yun left with a sigh.

After Luo Yun’s departure, Li Kaunglan said with a sigh, “You won’t even trade for that? You sure treat Song Seven well.”

Qianye remained silent. He merely brought Heartgrave out and checked it over in detail, and then walked over in the direction of Tidehark.

“Pressing so close?”

“I fear something will happen to Song Zining if I don’t.”

Li Kuanglan sighed secretly as she watched Qianye disappear into the distance.

At this point, Rui Xiang and Du Yuan were standing atop a distant mountain, observing the area thoroughly. As true experts, their actions were swift, covering several dozen kilometers in the blink of an eye. Currently, they were just about to scan the regions further out.

Rui Xiang looked rather careless, but in truth, he would sweep over every visual field with great caution, lest he suffers a sudden sneak attack. Du Yuan, on the other hand, would check every direction with due seriousness.

“When will we ever catch Qianye this way?” Rui Xiang complained.

Du Yuan replied, “Even if we can’t find him, he will find us. At worst, we’ll just have to wait until he fires.”

Rui Xiang snorted. “One of us might fall once he attacks.”

“If one falls, the other can capture or kill him.”

“I’m the one more likely to die! Commander, you really are good at calculating!” Rui Xiang wasn’t about to act polite. In fact, the two had already turned hostile the moment he was forced out of the city.

“Heh!” Du Yuan didn’t reply.

Rui Xiang felt uneasy because he was quite clear that Qianye would likely choose him out of the two. If he couldn’t block that shot, what was the point even if Du Yuan could kill Qianye later on? He would be dead by that time. Even in the off-chance that he could survive, he would still be gravely injured and forever locked out from the divine champion realm. Neither outcome was acceptable for him.

He subconsciously rubbed the ring on his finger, feeling obviously pained. If worse comes to worst, he would have to use this life-saving treasure.

During this moment of distraction, Rui Xiang felt his chest tighten and was overcome by a stifling sensation. This was a sign that the enemy had locked onto him and that he was in mortal danger!

Who else could it be apart from Qianye?

Rui Xiang hesitated no longer. His long sword escaped its sheath as clouds of black and white clouds spread out to form a defensive net around him.

Du Yuan sensed the change as well. Raising his brows, he plucked the giant shield from his back and planted it to the ground, after which he proceeded to scan the surroundings with eyes like lightning.

As expected, Qianye’s shot was targeted at Rui Xiang, but there was no telling from which direction the threat was coming from. This went to show that Qianye was likely at a very distant range.

A long period of vigil passed by, yet Qianye never fired that shot. The sensation of being locked-on, however, never faded away. Rui Xiang was already sweating after a while, and Du Yuan also didn’t dare stop channeling his origin power, either.

Rui Xiang quickly realized Qianye’s intentions. “That vile little thief!”

From such a long distance, Qianye could’ve aimed without allowing them to sense the action, and then lock on at the last moment before firing. This is a trick even a rank-three sniper could use. The only differentiating factor between an expert sniper and an inferior one was the time they would take to lock-on.

Qianye had already proven himself a master sniper, someone who could lock onto his target at the very last moment and prevent them from reacting. Yet, he was now allowing Rui Xiang to sense his actions, apparently to make the old man expend origin power.

However, Qianye’s shot was simply too fast and too powerful. Even from a thousand meters away, there was still a small chance that Rui Xiang might be shot if he wasn’t careful. Hence, the man had no choice but to keep his guard up, wasting origin power all the while.

Du Yuan wasn’t faring any better. He was also highly vigilant and kept up the origin power barrier at all times.

Pin-pointing Qianye’s location was of the utmost importance at the moment. Even figuring out his general direction would extricate them from this passive predicament.