"You little rascal, truly cunning!" Yan Fan praised lightly, then spared the boy another glance. His hands rested flat before his knees, his entire posture appearing relaxed and unconstrained. In Zong Shou's eyes, however, he resembled a taut bowstring, poised and ready to unleash force.

"Fairy Taiyuan, how about you grant me a favor? If the Fairy is willing to show some face, my Five Absolutes Manor will certainly offer a great treasure as compensation for the painful sacrifice of your beloved..."

Shui Lingbo let out a cold laugh, lightning briefly flashing between her brows: "Why isn't the one making the painful sacrifice the Manor Lord Yan? If you yield this young fellow to me, my Taiyuan Sect will open our treasury for the Manor Lord to take three treasures. This promise will never be broken!"

Yan Fan’s brow furrowed, and he shook his head: "I cannot yield him. His Highness, the Crown Prince, is the only person in these past thousand years capable of merging the five ultimate techniques of my Five Absolutes Manor into a single furnace. I implore the Fairy to show mercy and restraint!"

"It is I who should ask the Manor Lord to show mercy!" Shui Lingbo said coldly: "This fellow’s Dao of the Sword talent is the only hope for successfully mastering the Grand Heaven Primordial Spirit Sword of my sect! If Lingbo shows restraint now, I will truly have no face to meet the founding Ancestors of my Cangsheng Path! I cannot yield..."

"One says he cannot yield, the other says she cannot yield. Must you and I truly meet on the battlefield?" Yan Fan sighed: "Fairy, you are young, not yet thirty, yet you have already broken open the Nine Meridians Heavenly Wheel, and your Spiritual Magic has achieved the Body Sculpting Realm. Although this is due to obtaining the Martial Saint Golden Pill, this innate talent is truly unmatched in the ten thousand years of our Cloud Realm. However, I, Yan Fan, have not idled away these past centuries either; I am confident that my current cultivation still surpasses the Fairy by several measures!"

Shui Lingbo’s eyebrows lifted sharply, her chin tilted slightly, showing no hint of fear: "Then fight! In any case, I am not afraid, even if this Eastern Lin Cloud Continent is devastated by war and littered with corpses! This is the territory of the Lingyun Sect; how many people die here is irrelevant to either of us..."

Upon hearing this, Yan Fan could only offer a wry smile: "The Fairy has such ruthless intent and poisonous words. These are truly the tactics of the Demonic Sect. Are you not afraid that the Orthodox Sects will stage another encirclement and slaughter after eight thousand years?"

"What does my Cangsheng Path fear? Eight thousand years ago, you could not deal with us, and eight thousand years from now, you will only return in defeat. If the Great Venerable learns of today's events, he will surely praise our sect immensely!" Shui Lingbo abruptly stood up straight, flames swirling around her: "This person, my Taiyuan Sect must have him!"

Zong Shou sat beside the chessboard, his head and face slick with cold sweat. He felt the atmosphere becoming increasingly frigid, the surrounding winds and waves stirring subtly, intense energies clashing. The intent to battle and kill radiating from the two figures grew ever more potent.

Although Chu Xue and Lian Fan could retreat, he was trapped between these two supreme powers, where any movement could trigger unforeseen consequences. Could he barely hold on through this mental confrontation, which felt like a raging storm?

He mused that this was truly a case of 'the city gate catches fire and the fish in the moat suffer.' To become the prized object being fought over was certainly no pleasant experience either.

Yan Fan fell silent for a moment. Though he did not rise, a deep, implicit sword intent began to subtly emanate from his body. His expression was indifferent: "Though I abhor the devastation of living beings, today, even if this thousand-mile radius turns to dust, I absolutely will not allow this child to fall into the hands of your Cangsheng Path!"

He then turned his head toward Zong Shou with a gentle smile: "If Your Highness grows impatient waiting, you may depart first. It is best to leave this place quickly! Once the Fairy and I have settled our outcome, I will naturally seek you out!"

Zong Shou felt as if he had been granted a great reprieve, recognizing the extreme danger of the situation. Daring not to delay another moment, he bowed deeply to both of them and hurried away with Chu Xue and Lian Fan. Before leaving, he did not forget to stick out both palms, wiggling all ten fingers toward Yan Fan behind him.

Lei Dong’s Qi condensed, his heart aching as if it were bleeding. He thought, Who on earth did I invite my uncle here for? In the end, I not only have to give away ten bottles of immortal wine, but I also lost the stone. Truly, losing the wife and the soldiers!

Thinking of the stone, Lei Dong couldn't help but glare angrily at the delicate woman opposite him, his eyes wide open, sending out electric waves demanding, Give me back that stone!

Zhao Yanran couldn't be bothered to respond, her gaze flickering directly to the side.

Lei Dong pressed on, still staring, and let out a cold snort—If you don't return it, don't blame me for speaking out! If that old hag finds out you were the one who let me go, the primary culprit who lured this old man here, do you know the consequences?

This time, Zhao Yanran's eyes sharpened, and she glared back. She also signaled with her eyes: Go ahead and try if you dare?

Lei Dong's momentum faltered. He worried that this madwoman might destroy the stone. After careful consideration, he decided that temporary forbearance was the better part of valor; he wouldn't stoop to her level.

As the two stared daggers at each other, the situation between Yan Fan and Fairy Taiyuan also shifted. Yan Fan suddenly smiled, retracting his murderous intent to battle, and calmly resumed his seat: "Is the Fairy so certain that this child is a candidate for the future Divine Emperor of our Cloud Realm, as foretold in the ancient prophecy of the Three Sages?"

The firelight around Shui Lingbo suddenly dimmed, though her expression still held a trace of coldness: "Whether he is or not, I do not know. I only know that this child's future accomplishments, even if he isn't the chosen candidate, might not be inferior to those heaven's favored elites!"

"Truly, great minds think alike; I hold the same view. However, this Zong Shou is only one person; he cannot possibly be split in two. Must we truly risk another major war involving all the sects over this child?"

Seeing Shui Lingbo's cool, unmoved expression, Yan Fan's gaze gradually turned severe: "Then how about we make a wager? To decide this child's fate..."

Shui Lingbo raised her eyebrows, showing great interest: "That suits me perfectly. What do you wish to wager?"

Again and again and again, when Zong Shou returned riding the thunder-walking spirit bone, making cracking sounds, he found the mist was still dense, though direction was now somewhat discernible. The Wind-Riding Steeds had not fled; both overturned carriages remained stationary.

However, Xuanyuan Yiren and Li Yunniang had still not returned. Just as the three were about to board the carriage, two graceful figures were seen running towards them, one slightly ahead of the other. Zong Shou barely needed to look to know it was Xuanyuan Yiren and Li Yunniang.

When the two women approached, Zong Shou first scrutinized Xuanyuan Yiren, noting she was completely free of dust, indicating she had encountered no danger, which finally set him at ease. He smiled: "Did you find the senior who cast that Mist Spirit Art?"

Xuanyuan Yiren shook her head, vaguely sensing a teasing quality in Zong Shou's words, and immediately shot him a fierce glare. But after their eyes met, for some unknown reason, her face suddenly flushed crimson, and she turned aside.

Li Yunniang, upon hearing the question, frowned, appearing quite annoyed: "We didn't find that senior, but we did run into some trash! Truly disgusting. But that guy probably isn't having a good time right now; he must be in agonizing pain..."

As she spoke the last few sentences, Li Yunniang couldn't help but gesture animatedly, carrying a hint of schadenfreude: "But the person who dug the pit was truly venomous. A sixty-zhang stone pit wasn't enough; he even coated it with butter! Once you fall in, you definitely can't climb out. It was likely the work of the mist caster. Fortunately, Young Miss was alert, or we might have fallen in ourselves..."

"Trash? A sixty-zhang stone pit, butter? Incomprehensible!" Zong Shou was utterly confused, shaking his head slightly before signaling Lian Fan to drive the carriage forward.

This place might turn into a massive battlefield at any moment. The clash between the two strongest experts below the Immortal Martial realm, if they exerted their full power, could annihilate millions of living beings across hundreds of miles in a single breath.

Since Yan Fan had already issued a warning, it was best to leave this area as soon as possible.

Li Yunniang's expression suddenly froze. Compared to the figure before her, wasn't that Zong Ling merely trash?

Who would have known that this Crown Prince of Qiantian Mountain, considered a good-for-nothing who had lost all hope of cultivating martial arts in everyone's eyes, was actually a fierce figure capable of annihilating the treacherous swordsman 'Ren Qianchou,' the 'Ardent Sword' Xie Jun, and the 'Wrathful Sword' Yun Tao in ten short breaths, and severing the heads of ten thousand Blood Slaughter Li Xieling? His Soul Out of Body Realm cultivation was genuine. His Yin Soul could still move freely at the moment of sunrise, making it impossible to discern his true strength. Or perhaps, he had already reached the Night Roaming Realm?

It was even said that their own Young Miss was still completely unaware of this. Li Yunniang couldn't help but look thoughtfully to the side, wondering if Xuanyuan Yiren would blame her when she eventually found out. If she was blamed, Li Yunniang would accept it; after all, the Cold Profound Ancient Pill was only available at Shenxiao Sect. She wondered when the person she notified would send someone to investigate.

Again and again and again, shortly after the two Cloud-Flipping Carriages departed from the great mist area, nearby, inside a massive stone pit, Zong Ling was climbing out of the edge with great difficulty, his face ashen and covered head-to-toe in yellow butter.

As soon as he stood steady, his lower back tightened, and he activated his true power. Immediately, ten living creatures were successively forced out from behind him. Zong Ling abruptly grabbed one, squeezing hard, causing flesh and blood to fly apart. His face, which had been as handsome as jade, was now deathly pale, with a faint murderous aura showing through.

"I swear to repay today's humiliation! Xuanyuan Yiren, and that Zong Shou..." If Xuanyuan Yiren hadn't refused to save him, he would have escaped long ago. If he hadn't been tracking Zong Shou's movements, why would he have suffered this torment? And there was that delightful powder user—the one who conjured the mist and dug the pit. He didn't know their origins and probably couldn't deal with them. Therefore, he hated these two to the very core!

Feng Xiao also crawled out afterward, his complexion equally grim. He tightened his lower back and pulled a muddy loach from his own ear. He then stepped forward: "Young Master, the mist here has dispersed! We should set off immediately to catch up. If we fall too far behind, it will be hard to account to Young Master Zong."

Zong Ling snorted in dissatisfaction: "Catch up with what? Since that person has a Xuanwu Sect expert at the seventh level of the Earth Wheel secretly protecting him, why should we bother?"

"Young Master is mistaken! It is precisely because of that Xuanwu Sect expert that we must follow." Feng Xiao’s expression grew grave: "This person is seriously injured and at his weakest moment. If Young Master Zong is to smoothly take control of Qiantian Mountain, this person must be eliminated!"

Zong Ling’s eyebrows shot up, and he fell into deep thought. Just as his expression began to soften, he heard a loud boom sound erupting dozens of miles away. A bright flash illuminated the sky, followed by a huge cloud of smoke rising. A fierce gale swept outward, completely flattening all the surrounding trees and foliage.

Zong Ling started in alarm and, without hesitation, immediately turned around and leaped back into the deep pit filled with mud and venomous snakes.