In the Taiji Palace, Daoist Hua Yang met Xuanfeng again and immediately asked, "Daoist Xuanfeng, I've lingered here for several days, may I ask when Daoist Master will be out of seclusion?"

In the past five days, Daoist Hua Yang came to see Xuanfeng every day, leaving disappointed each time. However, beneath the disappointment, his happiness grew each day.

Because the longer the delay, the higher the chance of something unexpected happening to Qing Yu.

"Daoist, surely you know that when a martial artist enters seclusion, there's never a set time, how could you expect him to emerge at will!" Xuanfeng replied unceremoniously, as if the incessant inquiries over the days had sparked his annoyance.

"But the Daoist Master is not in a death seclusion, why can't he come out for a meeting? Now the tension between the Daoist and Buddhist paths grows by the day, if Daoist Kucha emerges sooner, he can lend a hand to the Daoist path. Surely it mustn't be that..."

Daoist Hua Yang, with hidden intentions, finally voiced the words he had been mulling over for a long time, "Surely, the rumors outside are true?"

In recent days, numerous rumors have suddenly emerged outside. Their implication was nothing but that the Daoist Master Qing Yu was gravely injured, harmed in his foundation, and was in seclusion to heal, unable to show his face.

Logically speaking, such groundless rumors would hardly be believed by anyone, and given it concerned the Supreme Qing Yu, anyone with sense would immediately quash the spread of the rumors.

Yet strangely, despite many attempts to prevent it, the rumors grew more and more rampant, and now nearly the whole worldly society was spreading this news. In a situation of "three people make a tiger," quite a few began to gradually believe in the truth of these rumors.

Presently, there were even those directly questioning Xuanfeng with this talk in the Zhenwu Sect, in this Taiji Palace. Are they truly believing it, or are they probing the situation of Qing Yu?

"Daoist Hua, Yang!" Xuanfeng stared at Daoist Hua Yang, emphasizing each word, "You should know what you're saying; slandering the Daoist Master, your intent is punishable. There's no lack of a place for you among the statues in front of Taiji Square!"

This was already an extremely severe warning, yet Daoist Hua Yang did not retreat a step, staring straight into Xuanfeng's eyes without flinching, "If the rumors are false, I think with the Daoist Master's magnanimity, he wouldn't mind some slight offense from me. I merely wish to see the Daoist Master once, isn't that possible?"

In terms of momentum, Hua Yang in the Divinity Realm was not at all afraid of Xuanfeng. When he truly revealed his aura, Xuanfeng, even in the main hall of Taiji Palace, was hard-pressed to withstand Hua Yang's pressure.

Under the enormous pressure, Xuanfeng was like a lone boat in a colossal storm, swaying, seemingly on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

"The Scroll of Heaven!"

Under the astounding pressure, Xuanfeng activated the "Soldier Armor Martial Scripture," an inexplicable and profound aura enveloped him, bypassing the pressure in an ethereal and real realm, sparing himself from suppression.

"The 'Soldier Armor Martial Scripture,' truly extraordinary!"

A glint of admiration flashed through Hua Yang's eyes for the "Soldier Armor Martial Scripture," reputed to embody the culmination of martial arts from Daoist Master Qing Yu.

Unfortunately, he hadn't come to the Zhenwu Sect in person to attend the Daoist conference, so even having obtained the "Tear Scroll" scripture from other sources, he found it difficult to fully grasp its true meaning.

Even just one scroll of scripture was hard to decipher for someone at the Divinity Realm like him, let alone the other ten scrolls. If he had a complete set of eleven scrolls of the "Soldier Armor Martial Scripture", then dealing with Qing Yu would be much easier.

"Daoist, today I was a bit impatient, please pardon me. I will come back tomorrow to inquire, hoping by then, I can see the Daoist Master and apologize in person."

Having said that, Hua Yang left with a flick of his sleeves, ignoring Xuanfeng's livid expression.

For someone like Xuanfeng, Hua Yang was being courteous by calling him Daoist friend, but would be helpless if he showed no courtesy. After all, the favorable treatment Xuanfeng received was all due to Qing Yu, if one didn't respect Qing Yu, even normal treatment might be absent.

'With Qing Yu's personality, unless he's in a death seclusion, he would have stepped out to reprimand me by now. His absence indicates he indeed cannot make an appearance. Moreover...'

'These past days, even Xuanzhen hasn't been seen.'

As he walked, Hua Yang thought, waves of joy washing over him again and again.

Xuanzhen was one of the few medical saints in the world, also the primary person in charge of affairs under Qing Yu. Generally, when Qing Yu wasn't present or was in seclusion, Xuanzhen would handle sect affairs.

But now, it was Xuanfeng presiding over the affairs, while Xuanzhen had been nowhere to be seen.

Does this suggest Qing Yu's injury necessitates Xuanzhen's constant care?

Thinking of this, Hua Yang couldn't help but smile.

................

"The rumors outside are spreading wider and wider." Xuanzhen whispered.

"If there wasn't someone deliberately stirring the pot, such baseless rumors wouldn't spread so fast. This also indicates..."

Qing Yu revealed a slight smile, "The person pushing this must wield tremendous influence."

If one didn't have influence, how could they make a seemingly unfounded rumor spread so quickly and widely, especially under the proactive interception by forces reliant on Qing Yu.

"Seems I need to cast a big net."

In this world, there are only a few factions with such capability, and none of them are easy to deal with. Hosting them requires the largest of nets.

"Hmm?"

At this moment, Qing Yu uttered a sound of puzzlement, his pupils forming cross-shaped Dao patterns, and the Taiji Eight Trigram Map faintly glowing on his chest.

"Someone is divining me."

In an instant, countless trigram symbols flowed through his eyes, and Qing Yu immediately determined that someone was divining his reality.

"In this era of confused Heavenly Mechanism, someone is using a forbidden technique to divine me? Interesting, truly interesting."

"The upcoming developments, I'm even more looking forward to."

................

Underneath a white jade altar in the Hou Qian Palace, lay nine pairs of corpses, male and female.

Their throats were slit by sharp blades, eyes wide open with unwillingness, allowing their blood to oozed from the wounds, being absorbed into the altar, slowly dyeing the white jade altar blood red.

And atop the altar stood Elder Shiming, donned in a white ritual robe.

With one hand holding a compass, the fingertips of his other hand bleeding, he was continuously forming seals, casting blood-red incantations into the compass.

Meanwhile, the white jade altar beneath him was gradually being stained red, releasing a crimson glow that resonated with the compass likewise slowly covered in blood.

Gradually, the blood light intensified, completely engulfing Elder Shiming's figure, as if the entire altar was a blood-colored sun.

"Swish—"

At the peak of the blood light's brilliance, all the crimson coalesced into a beam, shooting straight into the sky, seemingly connecting with the heavens, filled with a sense of eeriness.

At the other end of the beam was Elder Shiming's forehead. In the state of being connected by the light beam, Elder Shiming's double pupils merged, his eyes flashing with countless images, finally settling on a figure pierced by a black arrow.

"Finally, confirmed..."

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