Back at Tiansang Spirit Palace.

The entrance of the Council Hall in the Inner Yard.

​​

The pagoda tree, as always, was saying leisurely in the breeze, but right underneath it was a densely packed group of people dressed in black. All wore serious expressions on their faces.

Zhao Xidong stood next to the elders as he held the "Spirit Curtain Wheel of the 12 Pearls" in his hand.

The evening sunlight shone on all of them, and that piece of treasure looked rather dilapidated at the moment. Three pearls were dimmed, and there was a massive gash on the bottom piece.

For everyone, this confirmed that the incident in the Tianxuan Gate had actually happened and that there were probably some extraordinary people in there, as the wheel wouldn't have such a gash on it otherwise.

It was a sign that the world was about to collapse.

A man in black stepped forward and bowed. "Sir, the personnel are all accounted for."

Ye Xiaotian hovered midair, yet he was gazing at something far away in the distance.

After hearing the report, he simply nodded, looking completely unfazed.

Zhao Xidong was all flustered, and he wondered why the elders still weren't opening the gate. Then he wondered if they would only do so when the world in there finally collapsed.

He then nudged Elder Qiao with his elbow.

He was a nobody, so it would obviously be better for Elder Qiao to say something instead.

Exasperated, Qiao Qianzhi tilted his head asked, "Should we open the place up?"

Ye Xiaotian slowly shook his head.

"We wait."

The wind blew, and the tree swayed again. None of the men in black below dared to even make a noise.

Paying no mind to the rules, Qiao Qianzhi blurted out, "We wait? Three treasures were taken away in just two days. If we wait any longer, the Tianxuan Gate will really collapse."

If four of the 12 treasures stabilizing the world were lost, the Tianxuan Gate would become extremely unstable, and if the place collapsed, the Inner Yard would be the first to take the brunt, and the incident would probably bring about massive casualties.

Ye Xiaotian's eyes never left the sky as he said, "How are the preparations on the other side?"

"All done," Qiao Qianzhi answered. "Xiao is keeping watch now. If they dare to show up again, we'll absolutely give them their money's worth this time."

"Yeah."

The place fell silent again.

The wait…

Seemed like it would never end.

Crack!

Under everyone's gaze, the protective barrier of the fourth pearl on that Spirit Curtain Wheel of the 12 Pearls broke, causing the pearl to flicker.

Zhao Xidong immediately almost cursed.

This…

Someone found the seal of the fourth treasure stabilizing the world?

He shot a look at Elder Qiao, and his meaning was obvious: are we going to wait any longer?

Qiao Qianzhi didn't ask a question this time. He merely frowned as he looked at the silver-haired figure nearby.

Ye Xiaotian definitely knew how urgent the situation currently was, yet he was still gazing at the sky…

What was he looking at?

The Holy Servant?

"They're here," Ye Xiaotian said all of a sudden, causing all of the law enforcers before the hall to straighten up and wonder if it was time for action.

Zhao Xidong was rather baffled. Why had these people shown before the spy had yet to come out?

These people must not be afraid of death if they dared to come all the way here just to pick up one of their own.

While this was the elders' judgment, Zhao Xidong actually refused to believe any of it. He refused to believe that the one they called the "Holy Servant" would show up.

They were all massively prepared for it, after all, and were just waiting for those people to fall into the trap.

"I'll head out for a bit," Ye Xiaotian quipped, and disappeared from the front of the hall.

Everyone was stunned and then felt relieved.

So, it wasn't the Holy Servant that had shown up, but some kind of reinforcements, then?

…

Compared to the situation in the Inner Yard, where everyone was on edge and things were tense, the Outer Yard looked very lively under the setting sun.

The newly recruited disciples of the spirit palace had apparently gotten used to the place over the past several days. Be it Goose Lake, the woods, the pavilions… everywhere was filled with training future spiritual cultivators.

"Hey, look, someone's flying!"

A shout alerted everyone around, tugging the heartstrings of many. All of them stopped in the middle of their training and curiously looked up.

Any from the Outer Yard capable of flight was considered rare—a handful among thousands—so much so that such people could be counted with just one hand.

"Flying huh… that should be someone at Innate Level, then. Boy, I'm envious. I have yet to even get to level one, man."

"Hehe, shows that you really know nothing. Those at level 10 are actually already capable of flight."

"You kidding me? I've been in class for the past two days, you know."

"Heh, you've been living under a rock, then. Don't you know anything about the legend of the Outer Yard?"

"Huh?"

"Rumor has it that Big Brother Xu of the Outer Yard was able to fly by riding a sword while still at the Acquired Level. He cut someone at Innate Level down and even killed several people with just a sneeze."

"Oh, Big Brother Xu? I've heard of him but… umm, can he still be considered a human?"

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"Well, rumor has it that he has like three heads and six arms... or is it four pairs of wings and two heads?"

"…"

"For real?"

"Sure as h*ll more real than gold."

…

The person who was flying in the air was getting increasingly closer. They soon stopped above the spirit palace, seemingly having trouble getting inside.

Everyone started to feel restless when they saw that there were three people on that cloud instead of just one.

With the exception of that middle-aged man with silver hair who was taking the lead, the man and woman behind him looked as though they were merely several years older than the disciples below.

"Wait, are those two at Innate Level as well?"

"How could that be? Definitely just someone following the elder. How could someone so young already be able to fly?"

"Yeah, if they could fly, what would that make us? Trash?"

Everyone checked their energy reserves, most of them discovering that they didn't even have such a thing to check on yet.

The very next second, they all saw the cloud split into three as the group remained hovering in midair.

Everyone below was speechless.

This was a blow to all of them.

The young man and woman up there were actually already at Innate Level despite being around the same age as those below.

All of them wondered who those three were, given how terrifying their powers seemed to be.

At that moment, a fissure was seen in midair, and a young man with silver hair slowly emerged from it.

"Holy sh**, splitting space?"

"Who is that young man from? Did he like begin training when he was still in the womb?"

"Shut up. That's the dean from the Inner Yard!"

"…"

Ye Xiaotian glanced at the noisy crowd below, then extended his hand to open up the great array of the spirit palace and let the visitors in.

"Well, this is rather awkward, Hallmaster Jiang."

Jiang Bianyan touched his silver hair and said with a beaming smile, "Oh, you're being polite. The spirit palace truly is full of talented people and is very lively. This is a sign of prosperity."

Ye Xiaotian then looked at the young man and woman behind him and said quietly, "As far as capable people are concerned, which cultivation force throughout the continent could compare with the Holy Divine Palace indeed?"

"Hahaha, Palace Lord Ye, you really do flatter us. We're but of the side hall. We're nothing worth mentioning."

"You're being too humble, Hallmaster Jiang. Even those from the side hall are somewhat more powerful than the other forces."

The continuous straightforward compliments caused the young man standing at the back to feel rather proud, and his eyes showed a touch of pride.

It was indeed true that someone the Holy Divine Palace, even just from the side hall, was considerably stronger than those of the other forces found throughout the Shengshen Continent.

The woman was wearing a veil over her face, obscuring her expression, yet one could tell that she was unfazed from the look in her eyes.

Ye Xiaotian nodded inwardly. One was trash, but the other wasn't that bad. The side hall was...

Not bad indeed.

But…

What was he doing bringing two disciples with him?

Did they have a death wish or something?

He looked further behind Hallmaster Jiang, but saw no one else.

"Palace Lord Ye, are we going to talk more inside?" Jiang Bianyan smiled and asked. If anyone else had stayed talking to him at their doorstep, he would have just left a long time ago.

Ye Xiaotian raised his eyebrows and figured that the line meant that no one else would be coming.

"So there are only the three of you, then?"