Long Tutian nodded. “It is the current Dean of Saint Origin Academy. Several hundred years ago, the Dean also caused quite a stir. However, he seems to have been suppressed. From what I learned from the Canglong Sect Master, the Dean is imprisoned in the fifth layer of the Tianji Demon-Suppressing Pagoda of Tianji Sacred Land.”
“What?” Lin Xiao’s eyes instantly sharpened, a chill involuntarily rising within him.
The Tianji Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, as its name suggested, was a place for imprisoning demonic fiends. It held the most wicked criminals and spirit beasts of the entire continent.
His mother had been branded one of those wicked criminals and was sealed inside the Tianji Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, on the sixth layer no less.
Hearing it mentioned again by Long Tutian, cold fury naturally surged forth.
The Dean of their Saint Origin Academy was also imprisoned there, judged as a great criminal, only one layer above his mother.
Noticing Lin Xiao’s chill, Long Tutian was slightly surprised but did not dwell on it. He continued, “It seems junior brother knows something about the Tianji Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. That pagoda involves far too many complications. Even if we disciples of Saint Origin Academy wished to act, our strength alone is still insufficient to shake it.”
“Moreover, after being imprisoned for over a century, the Dean may already have perished. If he has not, it means he possesses the means to survive inside. In that case, he would not conveniently perish in these exact years. If junior brother has the heart for it, once you step into the Martial Saint realm, we can go challenge the Tianji Demon-Suppressing Pagoda together. How about that?” Long Tutian asked with a smile.
“Senior brother, one day, I will definitely go to the Tianji Demon-Suppressing Pagoda!” Lin Xiao declared with absolute certainty.
He naturally understood the tangled web inside the pagoda. Back then, when they acted against his mother, every overlord force in Central Province had been involved. Moving against the pagoda would surely provoke a united response from all major powers.
But no matter what, he would go there.
He would rescue his mother, and while he was at it, free their Dean as well.
“Ambitious!” Long Tutian praised.
The speed of a Martial Saint was truly terrifying. In less than a day, Lin Xiao had no idea how many tens of thousands of li they had covered. They arrived at a teleportation array, forced their way through, and teleported to another location.
After switching through several more arrays and then flying under Long Tutian’s power, in under three days total, Lin Xiao reached the mountain range entrance to the Domain of Evil, a place that had originally been extremely far away.
At this moment, beyond the boundless expanse of withered trees and plants, strange clouds of every colour constantly shifted in the sky. The heavens wailed, sinister qi surged, and deep ahead lay moonlight and night.
Outside, however, the sun blazed brightly: two realms of day and night, utterly bizarre.
At the periphery of the mountain range, figures continuously flew inward.
Lin Xiao was puzzled. When he destroyed the Ji family’s Thirty-Eighth Division, the news in that city had been that nothing major was happening inside the Domain of Evil.
Why was there such a huge commotion now, with so many people rushing here?
If he was not mistaken, both the Ji family Martial Saint and Long Tutian had been drawn by this disturbance, right?
“Some time ago, the three great powers discovered signs suggesting a massive change might occur in the Domain of Evil, one that would allow even Martial Saints to enter. That is why we came. Because I sensed your direction, I went to find you first!” Long Tutian explained. “It seems in the past few days the signs have become clear, and large numbers have hurried over.”
Lin Xiao understood. He was extremely shocked that Long Tutian could sense his location.
From such an immense distance, even if he had refined true dragon descendant blood, it should not have been detectable, right?
Had Long Tutian merely sensed a general direction, flown toward it, and only truly located him upon drawing near?
Or had Canglong Sect left some mark on him that allowed Long Tutian to find him immediately?
Regardless, being detectable across such a vast distance made Lin Xiao marvel once again at the terrifying methods of a Martial Saint.
This far surpassed Monk Immovable’s spirit beast nose or the Blood Spirit Nose of the Demon Void Sect.
Fortunately, Long Tutian was not an enemy.
In fact, it was precisely because of this that he had survived. Being locatable from afar was not necessarily a bad thing.
“I’ll test it!” Long Tutian shot toward the boundary between the two realms at extreme speed and instantly vanished from Lin Xiao’s sight.
Moments later he returned, swept Lin Xiao up in his aura, and rapidly carried him into the Domain of Evil.
“As expected, Martial Saints can now enter!”
Long Tutian sighed in wonder while speeding deep into the domain with Lin Xiao.
Not long after entering, a shocking scene appeared before Lin Xiao.
Ahead, under a moonlit, cloudless sky, white mist billowed from a circular area several hundred zhang wide high in the void. The mist grew constantly larger, as though something were about to emerge from empty space.
Around it, several thousand cultivators watched intently, among them forces from the three great powers.
Lin Xiao’s gaze swept across them.
On the Canglong Sect side, there were three or four hundred people, mostly unfamiliar faces. Only four figures were somewhat familiar to him: Luo Qianqiu, the one-armed youth Dugu Li, the Second Peak Master, and the Fourth Peak Master.
The three stood among the crowd.
Even Lin Xiao was surprised. The Second and Fourth Peak Masters had actually come.
The Sacred Heaven Sect side was similar, also three or four hundred people. Lin Xiao recognised almost none of them. Evidently the previous expedition had suffered heavy losses and had not returned.
At the very front of the Sacred Heaven Sect group stood an elder in a long white robe. His beard and hair were white, his skin clung tightly to his bones, and he appeared extremely ancient, as though he had lived several hundred years. No aura emanated from him.
Yet instinctively, one felt his divine might was inviolable, as if the slightest movement from that aged body could unleash peerless terror.
“A Martial Saint!” Lin Xiao silently concluded.
The feeling this Sacred Heaven Sect elder gave him was identical to the Ji family Martial Saint: majesty impossible to conceal, inviolable.
This elder was undoubtedly a Martial Saint.
The Sacred Heaven Sect’s supreme force, a Martial Saint, had actually come!
On the other side were the Ji family forces.
The Ji family had clearly sent more people, nearly eight hundred, almost equalling the combined total of Canglong Sect and Sacred Heaven Sect.
Of course, their actual combat strength was another matter.
Among the Ji family crowd, Lin Xiao also spotted a familiar youthful face: Ji Yue, as well as the Ninth-layer Martial Emperor youth who had previously stood with Ji Min and the others outside the ancient temple.
That youth had not entered Evil Valley to hunt him last time and had evidently avoided the strange backlash inside.
As for Ji Yue, he probably had sufficient protective treasures and had not suffered too greatly, allowing him to return this time.
Naturally, no Ji family Martial Saint was present among them.
But Lin Xiao knew one had come; he simply had not arrived yet, slower than Long Tutian.
Besides the three great powers, many experts from other forces stood in scattered groups, all watching the mist-shrouded void.
And just as Lin Xiao’s gaze swept over the crowds, many also noticed him.
Ji Yue was the first to speak coldly, “Lin Xiao!”
