Not long after, Mingshi Yin rushed into the forest to cultivate.

…

The next morning.

Before Mingshi Yin was fully awake, he felt someone appear next to him. He jolted awake and sat up immediately. Then, he saw Duanmu Sheng holding the Overlord Spear.

Mingshi Yin said, “Third Senior Brother, you almost scared me to death? Why aren’t you cultivating?”

Duanmu Sheng looked ahead and asked, “Old Fourth, is this really okay?”

“There’s nothing wrong with it. I’ll remind you again that you can’t talk about him here,” Mingshi Yin said.

“You’re really ungrateful! How can you betray your elder?” Duanmu Sheng said as he stabbed the Overlord Spear into the ground.

Boom!

Mingshi Yin pointed at the Crimson Sky Palace, where the Scarlet Emperor was staying, and said, “You have to use your brains, not just brute force. If you want to kill master then you go ahead and speak to the Scarlet Emperor! I won’t stop you!”

Duanmu Sheng wilted immediately. How could he have the courage? Then, he said, “Promise me that he’s fine.”

Upon hearing this, Mingshi Yin looked to the left and right warily after he shushed Duanmu Sheng. Then, he pulled Duanmu Sheng to a corner and said, “I suspect someone has been watching us in the dark. We have to be careful.”

“Do you have so little confidence in master?” Duanmu Sheng asked.

“I don’t doubt master,” Mingshi Yin said with a sigh, “Although master is powerful, there are some things that we have to solve on our own.”

“Really?”

“Third Senior Brother, you’re so smart. How can I deceive you?” Mingshi Yin asked.

“You’re right.”

“…”

Then, Duanmu Sheng scratched his head and said, “No, that’s not right. You’re still deceiving your master and betraying your elder.”

“…”

Mingshi Yin was rendered speechless by Duanmu Sheng.

Duanmu Sheng said, “Master’s cultivation isn’t low. With his strength, it’s very easy for him to gain a foothold in the Great Void. Why don’t we return to master and enjoy our lives together?”

“Third Senior Brother, master’s identity isn’t simple. He has too many enemies in the Great Void,” Mingshi Yin said, “I’m not saying master isn’t capable; I’m saying we might be a burden to him.”

“A burden?” Duanmu Sheng frowned.

“Think about it. Master has so many enemies. Once a fight starts, everyone will shed all pretense of cordiality. If the enemies can’t defeat master, they’ll definitely attack us instead. We’ve already experienced this several times,” Mingshi Yin explained, enlightening Duanmu Sheng.

“You have a point,” Duanmu Sheng said, looking embarrassed.

Mingshi Yi continued to say, “Hence, we have to listen to the Scarlet Emperor. From now on, we won’t acknowledge our master.”

“Won’t acknowledge master?!” Duanmu Sheng’s eyes widened as he stared at Mingshi Yin. “Have you forgotten how you were beaten up back then?”

Mingshi Yin shuddered. Then, he hurriedly explained, “This is part of the plan. We have to protect ourselves first so that we don’t drag master down. Also, be careful of that person called Qi Sheng.”

“Qi Sheng? The commander of Tu Wei Hall?” Duanmu Sheng frowned.

“He’s been here a few times. I saw him,” Mingshi Yin said.

Duanmu Sheng said, “I’ve interacted with him a few times. Based on his words and actions, it doesn’t seem like he harbors ill intentions toward us.”

“He’s pretending! On the surface, it seems like he’s trying to protect us, but who knows what kind of insidious plan he has?” Mingshi Yin said, “Moreover, he’s been hinting, whether intentionally or not, trying to make us think that he’s Old Seventh. I think he’s trying to mislead us!”

Duanmu Sheng’s eyes widened in anger upon hearing this.

Mingshi Yin raised his head and said confidently, “He thought his act was flawless. Alas, he was too obvious!”

Then, Duanmu Sheng asked in a deep voice, “Who is he exactly?”

Mingshi Yin shushed him again before he said in a hushed tone, “I don’t know who he is nor do I know what his purpose is. Let’s just pretend we don’t know anything and watch him act.”

Duanmu Sheng nodded as he said, “Qi Sheng is right.”

“What?”

“He said that you’ll definitely doubt him,” Duanmu Sheng said.

“???”

‘He predicted my prediction?’

Duanmu Sheng said solemnly, “Old Fourth, believe me. He’s really Old Seventh.”

Mingshi Yin felt rather speechless. After a moment, he asked, “Uh, Third Senior Brother, how did you ascertain he’s Old Seventh?”

“Intuition.”

“…”

…

Huantan’s Pillar of Destruction.

“PavilIon Master, we’ve arrived.”

Lu Zhou had led everyone here because this was also one of the locations marked on the simple map. He needed to retrieve what belonged to him.

“Wait here.”

“Understood.”

This was their second time at Huan Tan’s Pillar of Destruction. They could not help but feel emotional when they saw this place again. At this time, their attention was not on the Pillar of Destruction. Instead, they were all looking at the sky above the Pillar of Destruction where Meng Zhang, the Azure Dragon, was.

Just as Lu Zhou drew close to the Pillar of Destruction, two moon-like orbs appeared high in the sky. A shadow could be vaguely seen moving in the black fog.

Lu Zhou hovered in the air and looked up as he said, “Meng Zhang, long time no see. You’re still the same.”

The shadow in the dark fog stopped moving. Then, the moon-like orbs vanished before the shadow twisted in the dark fog. Soon enough, a human figure descended from the dark fog.

“It’s you? You know humans aren’t allowed to approach the Pillar of Destruction,” Meng Zhang said.

“I’m here to retrieve my thing,” Lu Zhou said.

“Your thing?”

“It’s been too long. I can’t remember many things clearly,” Lu Zhou said confidently, “As one of the Four Divinities of Heaven, you’ve existed since ancient times. You should know.”

Meng Zhang said in a low voice, “Human, you overestimate yourself.”

Swoosh!

Meng Zhang flew back into the dark fog and seemed to have reverted to his immense form. Then, he exhaled and a frosty wind swept out as lightning bolts struck down.

The lightning bolts were stronger than before, seemingly capable of splitting heaven and earth.

…

At the same time, the people of the Evil Sky Pavilion who had long been on guard brought out their astrolabes and activated their protective energies. Since they were quite far away, it was not difficult for them to resist the residual power.

…

“Hourglass of Time.” Lu Zhou’s voice was calm.

The Hourglass of Time was imbued with a small amount of the divine Dao power and a large amount of divine power as it quickly froze everything.

Then, Lu Zhou flashed and appeared next to the Pillar of Destruction before he retrieved the Hourglass of Time.

When time resumed, all of Meng Zhang’s attacks missed.

“Hm?” Meng Zhang was puzzled. “You managed to become a supreme being in 100 years?”

“I was just lucky,” Lu Zhou replied indifferently.

Meng Zhang did not continue to attack. With just a move, he was able to determine Lu Zhou’s strength. Following that, he assumed his human form. After a long time, he finally said, “You… finally returned.”

Lu Zhou understood the meaning behind those words. He extended his hand and said, “It belongs to me.”

Meng Zhang was silent. Since his figure was quite translucent, it was rather difficult to see his expression and figure out what he was thinking.

Lu Zhou did not yield. The memory could not be wrong, and the simple map could not be wrong.

After a while, Meng Zhang sighed and said, “You old thing… Meeting you is the greatest misfortune of my life!”

Following that, Meng Zhang moved and an orb of light flew out.

Lu Zhou raised his hand and caught the orb of light. When he took a look, he was shocked.

‘The item was Meng Zhang’s divine soul pearl?!’