395: Chapter 395 Liu Can's Test: That Unfathomable Pressure, Was It Just a Mortal?

The seventh day.

Duanlong Ravine.

On the gravel ground at the bottom of the rift valley, four factions arrived one after another before sunrise.

Tu Lie arrived earliest. He brought twelve people, who stood neatly in two rows on either side. He stood at the very front, wearing a darker robe that was more formal than usual, with a beast bone pendant tucked at his waist, his expression composed.

Halberd Demon Elder arrived second, bringing six people, among whom the female Cultivator with the iron mask followed by his side. After landing, he did not say much, choosing a patch of rocky ground on the west side to stand, his gaze cold as he swept it across the area.

The third to arrive was the person in charge of the southern faction, an old woman wearing a white robe, with a cultivation base at the Middle Stage of Undergoing Tribulation. She was followed by three young Disciples. After landing, she nodded to Tu Lie, which served as a greeting.

Finally, there was Liu Can.

The Withered Vein Immortal walked in from the western entrance of the rift valley. He did not fly but walked on foot. His steps were not fast, treading on the gravel step by step. With each step he took, the small area of the ground his feet touched would turn a shade of grayish-white, as if something had sucked the moisture out of it.

He was followed by four people, one of whom was the Cultivator in Plain Robes who had served wine at the canyon banquet that day.

After entering the rift valley, Liu Can did not rush to take his position but stopped in the central area. He swept his gaze around the surroundings, finally letting it fall in the direction of the southern entrance of the rift valley.

"Not here yet."

Tu Lie glanced in Liu Can's direction without saying a word.

About a quarter of an hour passed.

From the direction of the southern entrance, three figures appeared.

Su Changge walked at the very front, his steps steady and his expression calm. He was still wearing that ordinary robe, not having changed or deliberately groomed himself. The way he walked into the rift valley was completely different from Liu Can; every step Liu Can took carried a sense of presence, whereas Su Changge's steps carried nothing at all, clean as if he were strolling in his own courtyard.

Ye Qingyao was on his left, and Zhao Tian was three steps behind on his right.

During the distance the three of them walked in, everyone present had their eyes fixed on Su Changge.

Most of Tu Lie's twelve trusted aides were seeing this person for the first time. What they saw was a young Cultivator with an exceptionally outstanding appearance, composed in manner and leisurely in gait. There were no fluctuations of aura on him that could be used to judge his level of cultivation; he was so clean that he did not seem like a Cultivator at all.

Halberd Demon Elder sat on a rock, letting his gaze fall on Su Changge. He paused for a moment, then his Divine Sense probed out.

He encountered that "unfathomable" feedback.

His eyelids twitched.

Liu Can was also watching.

His grayish-white pupils stared in the direction Su Changge was walking from. From the first step Su Changge took into the rift valley until now, his Divine Sense had already probed three times, and each time the result obtained was exactly the same as what his trusted aides had reported—nothing could be detected; it was unfathomable, the Dao returning to oneness.

But Liu Can did not come this time just to watch.

He had made preparations.

Su Changge walked to the center of the rift valley and stopped. He stood still, looked around, and swept his gaze over the people of the four factions present.

When his gaze passed over Tu Lie, he nodded slightly.

When it passed over Halberd Demon Elder, he just glanced at him and moved on.

When it passed over the white-robed old woman, he paused for an extra half-breath.

When it passed over Liu Can—

He and Liu Can met eyes.

That pair of cloudy, grayish-white pupils met his gaze. There were many things swirling in Liu Can's eyes: apprehension, scrutiny, and a kind of disbelief seeping from his very bones.

He did not believe that this person, who looked unbelievably young, was truly that unfathomable.

Liu Can's hand moved.

His right hand reached out from his sleeve. That hand with grayish fingertips drew an extremely small symbol in the air. That symbol was not a Spell, but an extremely ancient investigative technique called "Bone-Eroding Truth-Peering," which could penetrate all disguises and act directly upon the target's Origin, feeding back the target's most authentic level of cultivation.

This was one of his trump cards, which he would not use unless absolutely necessary, because the price of using it once was the loss of three hundred years of Lifespan.

But he used it.

He had to know, what exactly this person was.

The gray symbol drifted out from his fingertips, silent and soundless, moving at extreme speed. It crossed the distance of over a dozen zhang in between and landed on Su Changge.

The instant that symbol entered Su Changge's body—

Liu Can's Divine Sense received the feedback.

The feedback was clear.

Extremely clear.

Qi Refining First Layer.

Liu Can's pupils constricted violently.

"Qi Refining First Layer?"

His brain experienced a massive pause at this moment, like a gear that had been running for six hundred years suddenly having a stone jammed into it; all logic chains shattered at this moment.

Qi Refining First Layer.

This unfathomable person.

His cultivation base is Qi Refining First Layer.

His hand began to tremble.

It was not fear.

It was confusion.

He did not know how to understand this information.

Bone-Eroding Truth-Peering could not be wrong. In six hundred years, he had used it four times, and each time it was precise and error-free. The result this time was also clear—Qi Refining First Layer, without a doubt.

But a Mortal at the Qi Refining First Layer had drunk his Withered Vein Poison Pill and was completely unaffected.

A Mortal at the Qi Refining First Layer had an aura that was unfathomable.

A Mortal at the Qi Refining First Layer could casually direct and plan, making someone like Tu Lie, who was at the Late Stage of Undergoing Tribulation, willing to stand behind him.

A Mortal at the Qi Refining First Layer.

"No..."

His brain whirred for three breaths, and then he reached a conclusion that made his scalp tingle.

This is not Qi Refining First Layer.

This is Return to Simplicity.

Legend had it that after cultivation reached a certain extreme, all outward manifestations of cultivation would disappear, magical power would return to the Origin, the Origin would turn into nothingness, and nothingness would return to the Dao. From the outside, one would look just like a Mortal with absolutely no cultivation.

Return to Simplicity.

All Spells return to one.

This person's cultivation was not "so low that it was only Qi Refining First Layer."

It was "so high that it only looked like Qi Refining First Layer."

Liu Can stood on the spot, his entire body's bones feeling as if someone had pulled out the tendons from within. He desperately maintained his standing posture, but his knees were shaking, his hands were shaking, and in his grayish-white pupils, disbelief had already vanished, replaced by a kind of near-desperate awe.

Su Changge stood in the center of the rift valley, and after meeting his gaze for a moment, he withdrew his eyes.

"Did he cast something at me just now?"

"Forget it, who cares."

He turned his head and looked toward the entrance of the passage leading to the Seal deep inside the rift valley, speaking in a voice that was not loud, but under the echo effect of the rift valley, it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Everyone is here."

He paused for a breath.

"Then let us begin."