Li Chengxing frowned slightly, a faint sense of unease stirring in his heart.
The Master’s tone was indeed different from usual. Beneath that cool, aloof voice, there seemed to be a trace of tightly suppressed anger.
He couldn’t help but run through the recent affairs of the Mysterious Bird Guard, trying to pinpoint what might have caused the Master’s displeasure.
“Enough!”
Li Chengxing took a deep breath, pushing aside his doubts, and quickly strode toward the courtyard where Master Lu was secluded in cultivation.
Whatever had angered the Master, he needed to deliver the news to Old Lu as soon as possible.
Just a moment ago, Li Chengxing had noticed, almost inadvertently, that the seal of Heaven and Earth force Lu Xuan had set up had already vanished.
The dissipation of that force could only mean one thing—Lu Xuan had ended his seclusion.
Before long, Li Chengxing arrived quietly outside Lu Xuan’s courtyard.
He stood before the gate, his gaze somber. He chose not to knock.
Instead, he waited silently, his thoughts churning restlessly.
Could that rumor from Wentai Prefecture in the Eastern Domain actually be true?
“If that rumor is real, then this is a very big deal…” Li Chengxing murmured under his breath, a cold gleam flickering in his eyes.
He had heard that rumor from Wentai Prefecture long ago, but had never taken it seriously.
Yet today, the Master’s voice transmission, along with that faintly veiled anger in her tone…
Plus the fact that the Master had ordered him to find Old Lu immediately—all of it pointed to something major about to unfold.
A day later.
Inside the main chamber, Lu Xuan slowly rose to his feet. The aura around him had completely receded, folded inward.
He raised his eyes slightly, his deep gaze piercing through the door as if he could see directly to Li Chengxing waiting outside.
When Li Chengxing had arrived yesterday, Lu Xuan had been in the middle of stabilizing his primordial spirit. Even so, he had sensed the other man’s presence clearly.
He simply hadn’t been able to interrupt his cultivation to respond right away.
A few moments passed. The courtyard gate remained firmly shut, showing no sign of movement.
But just as Li Chengxing stood there waiting, the space behind him…
Suddenly flickered with a barely perceptible purple radiance. The ethereal void seemed to be gently torn open, as if a rift had appeared.
Then, Lu Xuan’s figure materialized silently behind Li Chengxing, like a ghost—noiseless, as though he had been standing there all along.
Lu Xuan’s expression was calm, his eyes deep as an abyss, his aura condensed to its utmost limit.
Though he stood right there, so close, he seemed to have merged completely with the surrounding heaven and earth—no sharp edges, no trace of aggression.
At first glance, Lu Xuan looked like nothing more than the most ordinary passerby on the street.
Ever since he had broken through to the Great Completion stage of the Divine Mansion realm, Lu Xuan had been astonished to discover that the primordial spirit power within his Divine Mansion had reached an unprecedented peak.
This vast and terrifying force of primordial spirit had not only greatly expanded his sensory range, but also allowed him to wield the power of Heaven and Earth with consummate skill.
What’s more, Lu Xuan could now perfectly merge his physical presence into the natural order, as if he had become one with the infinite, boundless world.
Now, unless someone looked directly at him with their own eyes, any martial artist below the Divine Mansion realm would be utterly unable to sense his existence.
Even if Lu Xuan stood just a few steps away, those of lower cultivation would perceive nothing but empty space.
To them, he would be no more than a wisp of invisible wind, or a fleeting shadow of light.
“Old Li!”
Lu Xuan’s voice suddenly rang out, like a thunderclap shattering the silence of the courtyard.
Li Chengxing, who had been standing before the gate, jolted awake. His body trembled slightly as he spun around.
His eyes locked onto Lu Xuan, filled with shock and disbelief.
“No way! Old Lu, you—” Li Chengxing opened his mouth, his voice carrying a faint, nearly imperceptible tremor. “You… when did you come out?”
A storm was raging in his heart. At such close range, I couldn’t even sense his presence.
As a Grandmaster of the Outer Gang at Perfection, with Li Chengxing’s perception, even a master at the early stage of the Divine Mansion realm would have a hard time approaching him undetected.
But Lu Xuan had done it—and so effortlessly, as if he had been standing there all along, and Li Chengxing had simply never noticed.
Lu Xuan gazed at Li Chengxing’s stunned expression. Instead of answering directly, he spoke calmly.
“Old Li, what’s so important that you’d come here early to wait for me?”
Li Chengxing’s expression shifted through several shades of emotion.
He didn’t answer Lu Xuan’s question right away. Instead, he gave a wry smile and said, “Old Lu, don’t tell me you’ve made another breakthrough in your cultivation…”
“I couldn’t even sense you at all.”
Really, comparing yourself to others is just infuriating!
In just over ten days of cultivation, Lu Xuan had encountered no bottlenecks whatsoever. His martial progress advanced like a thousand miles in a single day.
Meanwhile, Li Chengxing’s own cultivation was measured in years, and the gains were minuscule at best.
Such a gap filled Li Chengxing’s heart with an indescribable bitterness, a profound sense of helplessness.
He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Compared to Lu Xuan—that peerless monster—he was simply in a different league.
As that thought took hold, a sudden wave of existential despair washed over him.
It was as if an invisible hand had reached into his chest and thrown his emotions into chaos.
The very next moment, the Gang Yuan within Li Chengxing’s body began to spiral out of control, surging and churning violently.
Just then, Lu Xuan detected the anomaly. His eyes blazed with a dazzling purple light.
His whole demeanor sharpened, and he shouted sternly: “Old Li, your mind is in chaos!”
As he spoke, Lu Xuan released a strand of primordial spirit power from his Divine Mansion, weaving it into his voice. That voice carried an overwhelming, world-shaking force—like the power that had parted heaven and earth themselves.
This immense energy swiftly enveloped the rampaging Gang Yuan within Li Chengxing, layer by layer.
Lu Xuan’s primordial spirit power held it steady, forcibly taming the aberrant energy.
Afterward, Lu Xuan felt a flicker of surprise.
Strange. Why would Old Li suddenly be struck by a heart demon?
Even now, Lu Xuan could still sense the erratic fluctuations within Li Chengxing’s body—his aura was weak, turbulent, extremely unstable.
But the confusion didn’t last long. Lu Xuan soon figured it out.
This was likely the effect of evolving Gang Yuan into a Divine Mansion, of nurturing that elusive divine sense—the boundless power of Heaven and Earth had affected his mind.
After all, Li Chengxing was right at the Perfection stage of Outer Gang, and he was walking the path toward evolving his inner Divine Mansion.
So this was it—when a martial artist at the Outer Gang Perfection stage tried to break through to the Divine Mansion realm, the vast, limitless force of Heaven and Earth would erode their mind.
I see!
No wonder, in the entire Great Xia Dynasty, Outer Gang martial artists were as numerous as stars, while True Persons of the Divine Mansion realm were exceedingly rare.
But for Lu Xuan, this wasn’t a concern. When he deduced cultivation methods through the system panel, the Heaven and Earth force he received was the purest of its kind.
Under such pure energy, there was no risk of it corroding his mind.
Li Chengxing felt his body pinned down by an inexplicable force, unable to move.
In that instant, he woke as if from a dream. A wave of post-crisis terror surged from the depths of his heart, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
He was inwardly grateful. Recalling the fierce power of Heaven and Earth that had seemed ready to devour him whole…
If Lu Xuan hadn’t acted in time to annihilate those terrifying forces…
He would have been overwhelmed, his body destroyed and his soul extinguished.
At the thought, Li Chengxing’s voice trembled slightly: “Old Lu, I…”
Lu Xuan’s expression remained calm. He simply nodded gently, his tone warm as he cut off Li Chengxing’s attempt to continue.
“Mm. Don’t worry about it.”
“Old Li, you still haven’t answered my question.”
Seeing this, Li Chengxing didn’t press further. He quickly composed himself and got straight to the point.
Then, with a hint of mysterious solemnity, he said: “Old Lu, the Master wants to see you.”
The Master?
That mysterious woman from last time?
The Master of the Mysterious Bird Guard—Zi Yao!
She’s in such a hurry to find me—has something major happened again?
Lu Xuan hadn’t forgotten that the last time this Master had sought him out, she had tasked him with handling the chaos in Ming Prefecture.
That had eventually dragged in two primordial spirit projections—one from an old hag of the Pure World White Lotus Sect, and the other from the demon beast Tian Yao Lion Lord.
At the thought, Lu Xuan’s brow furrowed slightly. A flicker of doubt passed through his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.
His expression placid, he said flatly: “I understand.”
Then his eyes narrowed, and his words grew terse, a faint tension gathering around him.
“Where is the Master now?”
“The Mysterious Bird Guard Grand Hall!”
Li Chengxing answered crisply, each word landing with weight, not a single syllable wasted.
The moment he fell silent, Lu Xuan’s body remained perfectly still.
But the space around him suddenly twisted and warped. Dazzling purple light rippled outward like spreading rings on water.
In an instant, Lu Xuan’s presence melded once more with Heaven and Earth, as if they had never been apart.
In midair, a few fallen leaves drifted gently down.
But Lu Xuan’s figure dissolved like a reflection in water or a flower in a mirror—fading without a trace.
Li Chengxing stood dazed, staring at the spot where Lu Xuan had vanished. For a long moment, a swirl of emotions—shock, admiration, and a touch of melancholy—churned within him, refusing to settle.
The Mysterious Bird Guard Grand Hall—Lu Xuan knew where that was.
When he had first entered the capital headquarters of the Mysterious Bird Guard, Mu Yun and Li Chengxing had already shared all the most confidential information with him.
This highly secretive Grand Hall was a restricted area within the headquarters.
Only the Deputy Masters of the Mysterious Bird Guard were permitted entry.
Because the one who dwelled within that hall was the supreme leader of all Mysterious Bird Guards across the Great Xia Dynasty—the Master of the Mysterious Bird Guard.
Outside a towering hall, the walkways were paved entirely with uniform black jade bricks.
Each brick was carved with exquisite, intricate patterns—delicate and complex.
Yet when one looked at the walkway as a whole, these patterns wove together to form the image of a massive black mystic bird.
This bird was so lifelike, wings spread as if about to take flight, exuding a solemn, sacred majesty.
At the entrance of the hall stood five upright women, their postures poised and still.
Each wore a blue-black Mysterious Bird uniform, their light sleeves fluttering gently in the breeze.
Embroidered on those uniforms were the same exquisite black mystic bird motifs, matching the ones on the jade tiles beneath their feet.
These five Yellow-ranked Mysterious Bird Guards had stern expressions and sharp eyes.
They swept their gazes over the surroundings with solemn vigilance, missing not the slightest movement.
Suddenly, a flash of purple light appeared in the void before them.
Then, Lu Xuan’s figure stepped steadily out of the empty space, wisps of purple energy still clinging faintly to his form.
The five women started, their eyes snapping to this unexpected figure. Every muscle tensed, wariness blazing in their eyes.
But when they caught sight of the crimson crystal token hanging at Lu Xuan’s waist…
Their hearts settled, and the tension in their bodies eased.
The last time Lu Xuan had passed through here with the two Deputy Masters, they had already etched his face deeply into their memories.
Among the headquarters, they were among the very few who had actually seen his true appearance.
And so, they quickly confirmed his identity and set aside their guard.
“We pay our respects to Master Lu!”
“Master Lu, the Master instructed us to grant you passage as soon as you arrived.”
The leading woman spoke, then quickly signaled the other four to step aside, clearing a path.
As Lu Xuan stepped into the Mysterious Bird Guard Grand Hall, he was met with a vast, open space—an overwhelming sense of emptiness washing over him.
On both sides of the hall, four massive black pillars rose straight up to the ceiling.
Each pillar was forged from some unknown black crystal, its surface carved with spiraling patterns and flowing mystic bird motifs.
“Master Lu.”
A soft, yet subtly cool voice sounded softly beside his ear.
In the blink of an eye, the light before him seemed to waver, dreamlike and illusory.
A graceful woman approached with light, measured steps.
She wore a purple robe, its stitching fine and meticulous. Every thread and texture concealed a hidden artistry, perfectly outlining her alluring, supple figure.
Her long, cascade-like black hair fell softly, swaying gently with each step, like flowing ink silk that exuded a faint, enchanting fragrance.
As she drew nearer, Lu Xuan could see within her beautiful eyes a faint, crystalline white shimmer, as if veiled in ethereal light.
“Greetings, Master.”
Lu Xuan met her gaze without flinching, his eyes fixed directly on Zi Yao before him.
