Cheng Lingzhu was speechless.
'Were you serious when you took half a step back?'
"Cough, cough…"
The female disciple named Liang Xia realized that something was wrong. She coughed twice and stepped forward.
"Erm, fellow Daoists, please excuse me. My senior brother, he...His kidneys aren't too healthy, and he had spent a lot of energy chasing the Ghost Mage Sect's elder for the past few days."
As she spoke, she turned around and pinched Zhang Xun's waist.
"Yes, it's like this. I've been a little tired recently."
Zhang Xun cooperated and nodded vigorously.
As a genius of the Sancai Academy, going out concerned the sect's reputation.
He definitely couldn't admit that he was a little frightened just now.
Every thousand years, the Dushi Sword House would send a disciple down the mountain to train.
It was said that if one met a disciple of the Dushi Sword House, they would be beaten up.
This was what his master had told him. His master was a famous scholar in the Archean Eon class. Before he became famous, he was often beaten up, so he wouldn't lie.
Zhang Xun looked at Lu Xuan beside Cheng Lingzhu with sympathy in his eyes.
Lu Xuan looked at Zhang Xun and Liang Xia, and his first reaction was, "How did you know your senior brother has poor kidneys?"
Looking at their actions and eye contact, he immediately understood that the two of them were a pair of Dao companions.
After a few exchanges, Lu Xuan roughly understood the ins and outs of the matter of the Ghost Mage Sect.
Zhang Xun and Liang Xia, the two geniuses of Sancai Academy, had gone down from the mountain to train.
When they passed a certain place, they discovered that a heretic practitioner had caused trouble and destroyed a family of cultivators.
It was a Foundation Building clan, and there wasn't even a Golden Core cultivator in the clan.
The evil cultivators went on a killing spree here, cutting off the heads of all the clansmen.
He probably had a twisted mentality. Before he left, he even chopped off the heads of the children in the family and hung two strings of the heads at the door like lanterns.
Zhang Xun and Liang Xia went berserk. The righteous students of Sancai Academy couldn't just sit by and do nothing.
The two of them followed the traces and found the culprit: the two elders of the Ghost Mage Sect, Life and Death.
Sancai Academy had just fallen from the ranks of top immortal sects thousands of years ago, but it was also a first-rate sect with elders at the Mahayana stage.
It was very reasonable for a peak Golden Core genius from a former top-notch immortal sect or a current first-rate sect to beat up a Nascent Soul elder from a non-ranked sect.
This was the difference between half a catty of gold and eight taels of scrap iron.
However, the two Ghost Mage Sect elders also had their own methods. They escaped from Zhang Xun and Liang Xia, but the couple pursued them relentlessly until they reached the Ghost Mage Sect's encampment.
Before coming here, Zhang Xun and the other two did not know that the Ghost Mage Sect wanted to create another Ancestral Magus.
They thought that killing people as sacrifices was a crime the evil cultivators committed.
As it was more troublesome to explain, Lu Xuan did not mention that he had killed the Ancestral Magus.
He only said that he and Cheng Lingzhu had arrived in time before the Ghost Mage Sect could resurrect the Ancestral Magus.
After a fierce battle, the person who created the crisis was dealt with.
As they were talking, Chu Han ran back from the altar with a tortoise in his arms.
The tortoise had been infected by the power of the Ancestral Mage Bone Plate and had developed some spirituality, so it looked extraordinary.
Lu Xuan reached out to take it, took a look, and frowned.
Cheng Ling was a little curious. She tiptoed and poked her head out to take a look.
"The bone plate on the tortoise's back was embedded by someone." Lu Xuan looked at the dent in the shell. "And it was deliberately worn out. It hasn't been more than ten days."
As soon as he said that, everyone present was stunned.
The Ancestral Mage Bone Slab contained spirituality. Once one obtained a fragment, they would be able to sense the location of the other fragments.
Previously, they had exchanged information and confirmed that the Ghost Mage Sect had gone to Dongping under the guidance of the bone fragment.
However, Lu Xuan's discovery told them that this tortoise had been deliberately thrown into the river to lure the people from the Ghost Mage Sect.
In other words, someone was behind the incident with the Ancestral Magus, using the Ghost Mage Sect to set up a trap.
Perhaps even the Ghost Mage Sect did not know that they were being used.
It made sense. A mere Nascent Soul sect actually wanted to revive an existence like the Ancestral Magus.
If no one was secretly pushing it, it would be too whimsical.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, is that true?"
Zhang Xun's expression turned serious.
The nature of the matter had changed.
If someone was manipulating this matter from behind the scenes, then after the Ghost Mage Sect incident, there would definitely be other conspiracies that had to be investigated clearly.
"I have some experience in appraising artifacts," Lu Xuan said.
In the past, in order to find the method to form the Nascent Soul, he had dug immortal graves and robbed emperor tombs. He had seen too many real things and developed a keen eyesight.
"Since that's the case, we'll report to the elders of the academy and ask them to investigate this matter."
Liang Xia's expression was grave.
The revival of the Ancestral Magus was not a small matter. Such an existence had endless potential, and its upper limit was even more terrifying. Once he was allowed to grow, it would definitely be a great calamity for the Archean Eon World.
Fortunately, Fellow Daoist Lu and Fellow Daoist Cheng stopped him before he could be revived.
Liang Xia felt lucky.
Lu Xuan nodded and took out a few pieces of broken bones from his sleeve, handing them to the two.
This was a fragment of the Ancestral Mage Bone Plate. After using it once, the true spirit within it had disappeared and become an ordinary object.
However, if they handed it over to Sancai Academy, it might help them find the person behind the scenes.
As for the tortoise, it was useless.
Lu Xuan gave it to Chu Han. Although it was a tortoise, it still had spirituality. If it was placed in the palace, it could protect the house.
...
Dongping.
"I'm here to bid farewell to you two Immortal Masters."
In front of the Wangjiang Tower, Chu Han bowed.
Before dawn, Lu Xuan and the others returned to Dongping.
For Chu Han, what happened tonight was too exciting.
"Study hard, train your body, and work hard to be a good king."
Lu Xuan patted his shoulder.
"I won't let you down!" Chu Han bowed again.
He watched as the Crown Prince of Dongping entered the Wangjiang Tower.
There were four people left in the arena: Lu Xuan and Cheng Lingzhu, Zhang Xun and Liang Xia.
The two geniuses from Sancai Academy did not leave immediately.
Zhang Xun cupped his hands.
"Fellow Daoists, recently, the secluded domain of heaven and earth has appeared in the north. I heard that all the immortal sects are sending their geniuses to participate in the grand event."
The appearance of the secluded domain of heaven and earth had caused a huge commotion. He did not plan to hide it from the two of them.
Based on the practice of the Dushi Sword House disciples, they would definitely attend such a big event.
Zhang Xun took the initiative to invite the two of them to go together at this time, also with the intention of closing the good karma.
Only then did Lu Xuan remember that there was such a big event. He had read about it in the newspaper two days ago.
"What do you think, Fellow Daoist Cheng?" Lu Xuan looked at Cheng Lingzhu.
Cheng Lingzhu nodded.
"We'll go together."
The matter of the City of Death had already been resolved, but the doubts in Lu Xuan's heart had yet to be answered. He did not want to return to the Dao Evolution Sect for the time being.
Cheng Lingzhu had come down the mountain to gain experience. She would kill enemies and enter secret realms whenever she encountered them. The more major events and storms she experienced, the better.
Although the exploration of the City of Death was entrusted by the Heavenly Water Temple, there was no need for him to go back and tell the Heavenly Water Temple cultivators that the crisis had been resolved.
After all, in the Evil Buddha Palace, Cheng Lingzhu's sword had slashed down, and the Heavenly Water Temple cultivator's corpse had not even remained. It was impossible to bring his bones back even if they wanted to.
During the few days at Bright Jade Tower, Lu Xuan had already sent a message to the Heavenly Water Temple and explained this matter to them.