260: secretly testing

Everyone's expressions shifted, but no one spoke, nor did anyone step forward.

By this point, even the most obtuse could clearly see—you were an existence they could neither fathom nor provoke.

Qin Han's 'three' had yet to leave his lips.

Thud—

Jiang Hao, whose eyelids twitched wildly, finally buckled at the knees and heavily knelt on the ground.

He gritted his teeth, squeezing out three words, one by one, as if laced with blood:

"I—was—wrong!"

You swept a faint glance at him, your heart unmoved by the resentment mixed with humiliation in his eyes.

His regret, his hatred, his schemes, to you, were no different from dust in the wind.

As you turned to leave—

"Young Master, wait!" Venerable Zhiyuan was the first to rise, smiling as he cupped his hands in a bow. "The matter with Miss Lulu was purely a misunderstanding. This old man has only just learned of it, please don't take it to heart."

Prince Ji Kang also chimed in with a smile: "Precisely. It seems Your Excellency is not from the Shattered Star Continent? Since we've met by chance, why not sit down and share a few drinks?"

True Man Yangming stroked his beard and nodded, his tone gentle: "Young Master possesses an extraordinary bearing. To gain another friend is to gain another path to immortality. Why not join us?"

What surprised you was that Jiang Hao even forced a smile: "Brother, we met through a fight, why don't we sit down and chat?"

The four spoke politely, their postures extremely humble, completely different from before.

You had intended to leave, but then a thought struck you—both the peculiarities of Langgan Pavilion and the secret of the human emperors seal they had just discussed piqued your interest.

To uncover these secrets, blending in was the most convenient method at hand.

So, you calmly took a seat.

As soon as you sat down, Qin Han hugged a bottle of spirit wine and gulped it down.

Lulu, who had been standing blankly beside you, suddenly snapped back to her senses.

She suppressed the shock and bewilderment in her heart, subtly moved to your side, lowered her gaze, and carefully poured you wine.

The atmosphere at the banquet seemed to have returned to normal. For a moment, only soft music played and dancers swayed, as if the earlier tension had never occurred.

During the subsequent casual conversation, the few of them didn't even shy away from your presence, continuing their previous topic.

Both the appearance of the Mysterious Immortal Palace and the abstruse refining method of the human emperors seal were naturally mentioned amidst their laughter.

They were also tactful enough to never ask about your origins or background.

From their intentional and unintentional conversations, you also caught a lot of useful information—

For instance, the upcoming 'Mysterious Immortal Palace,' the hidden affairs of Tianyang Star's major forces, and that the refining of the human emperors seal, in addition to requiring Bloodline as a guide, also involved the obscure ancient method of 'Faith Forging Artifacts.'

You knew in your heart—their deliberate revelation of their respective Family's foundations was not out of goodwill, but rather carried a hint of showing off and intimidation.

You also roughly understood—the human emperors seal was merely a special Magic Treasure.

Countless Immortal Dynasties in the Immortal Realm had similar refining methods; this was no secret. The only difficulty lay in gathering the rare refining Materials, which depended entirely on Opportunity.

Not only that, but you also implicitly gathered from their words that they were more or less connected to the major forces of Tianyang Star.

What concerned you the most was the 'Langgan Pavilion' that True Man Yangming seemingly casually brought up.

His words revealed that this pavilion had an unfathomably deep background. Ostensibly, it was a business firm that spread across the Immortal Realm, but secretly, it undertook various bounties, including—assassinations.

It turned out Langgan Pavilion also had two sides, light and dark.

You held your cup silently, a thoughtful look in your eyes.

The casual conversation quickly ended.

They seemed to have become your closest friends overnight, their words warm, their gestures attentive.

You paid no mind to this hypocrisy; in your eyes, they were merely a few sources of information that still held some utility.

The banquet soon concluded, and you took Lulu back to the manor, arranging for her to reside in the side courtyard.

As night deepened, you sat quietly in the wing room with your eyes closed, your mind immersed in the Dao of nature.

Suddenly—

A black-clad, masked figure, like a phantom, burst into the courtyard. Without a word, he raised his hand and launched a string of dark lights at you!

The dark lights split in mid-air, transforming into ten poisonous streaks of light, sealing off all your escape routes, shooting at you from all directions.

The black-clad figure was fully disguised; both his mask and robes were Magical Artifacts that concealed his aura and distorted his appearance.

However, under your Soul Transformation-level Divine Sense, all this was rendered useless—

He was an Early Golden Core Stage Cultivator with an unfamiliar face, but the Evil Qi around him, solid as substance, clearly indicated he was a professional assassin who had long operated in the shadows.

You had long anticipated this.

You knew when this person sneaked out of True Man Yangming's residence.

Not only that, but at the time, within that residence, besides True Man Yangming, there were also Jiang Hao and Venerable Zhiyuan.

The three held a secret meeting and ultimately decided to send someone to "test your depth again."

If your strength was truly lacking, dying here tonight would merely be a common occurrence in the cultivation world.

All of this was laid bare under the shroud of your Divine Sense—although their residence had a concealing Formation, it could only defend against Nascent Soul Divine Sense.

You were indifferent to their actions.

In your eyes, they were already dead men, the only difference being when they would meet their end.

For now, you didn't want to alert the enemy—after all, in a few years, they would all travel to Tianyang Star to explore that mysterious ruin, and that would be the time for reckoning.

The moment the assassin attacked—

You casually raised your hand and pressed down in mid-air.

The surrounding space subtly vibrated, and the ten poisonous streaks of light seemed to hit an invisible barrier, freezing and falling to the ground.

At the same time, a boundless, mountain-like Primordial Spirit power silently enveloped the black-clad figure's head.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, he didn't even have time to scream before his entire body exploded in mid-air, turning into a crimson mist of blood.

The next moment, an invisible Law Power swept over like a tide, devouring and obliterating all the blood mist and remnants.

The courtyard returned to silence, the moonlight as bright as before, as if nothing had ever happened.

You withdrew your hand and continued to meditate with closed eyes, your state of mind completely undisturbed.

In the twelfth year,

Over the past year, you encountered more than a dozen covert probes.

The assailants were all black-clad and masked, generally at the Golden Core Stage, and attacked viciously, yet they all vanished into thin air with a mere flick of your hand.

The forces behind the probes extended far beyond just Jiang Hao, True Man Yangming, and Venerable Zhiyuan.

Prince Ji Kang and Ji Yao, among other factions, had also secretly sent people, and even the three great Nascent Soul Cultivators—Ji Wuya, Old Monster Xinghen, and Old Ancestor Jin Yuan—had successively sent people to 'gauge' your strength.

Interestingly, no matter how much hidden conflict there was, everything remained normal on the surface.

Whenever Jiang Hao and the others gathered at Duyan Tower, they would still enthusiastically invite you.

At the banquet, they exchanged toasts and laughed merrily, as if the black-clad figures who died by your hand had never been associated with them in any way.

You always maintained a calm and composed demeanor, only an occasional cold smile flashing in your eyes when you raised your cup.