444: Chapter 444 Identifying Targets

[Qin Han squatted on your shoulder, munching on something as his eyes darted around, curiously sizing up the group of people in front of him.]

[Meaty's eyes suddenly lit up.]

["Ah!" She widened her eyes, her fatigue vanishing instantly as she leaned forward and reached out to touch him. "You're so cute!"]

[Qin Han's expression darkened, two streams of white Qi snorting from his nostrils, his voice cold as a blade:]

["Don't touch me!"]

[Meaty's hand froze in mid-air. Her lip trembled, and her eyes instantly reddened, tears welling up as she looked as aggrieved as a puppy that had been kicked.]

[Nangong Xueyu quickly pulled her back and whispered:]

["Meaty, you're too bold. How could you offend the Senior's... Senior's..."]

[She didn't know how to address Qin Han, so she just trailed off vaguely.]

[Peak Master Wuji coughed dryly and cupped his hands toward you, a hint of embarrassment on his face:]

["Please forgive us, Senior. This Disciple of mine has been spoiled by me since childhood and lacks manners..."]

[You smiled and waved your hand, reaching out to pat Qin Han's head, your tone gentle:]

["Clumsy, be good. Listen to me, she's a good person."]

[Qin Han huffed and turned his head away, but he didn't say anything else.]

[You turned to Xuanyuan Yao: "How do you plan to take them away?"]

[Xuanyuan Yao's expression was calm; she had clearly thought this through already:]

["Although the relationship between the Heavenly Palace and my Xuanyuan Immortal Clan is mediocre, they wouldn't go so far as to move against me openly. As long as they conceal their auras and disguise themselves as ordinary Cultivators, I can take them through the grand teleportation formation."]

[You nodded.]

[And then—]

[A flash of insight suddenly crossed your mind.]

[Venerable Tianming.]

[He told you to kill Xuanyuan Yao.]

[He told you to kill Yun Xiaozi.]

[Yet these two were exactly the ones you wanted to save.]

[What if he knew all along that you wouldn't kill them?]

[What if he never expected you to kill them in the first place?]

[What if he was just... pushing you toward them?]

[The more you thought about it, the more you felt a chill down your spine.]

[Once you left with Xuanyuan Yao, if you were "happened upon" by people from the Heavenly Palace, what would the result be?]

[Someone who once carried a Demon Seed, mingling with members of the Xuanyuan Immortal Clan.]

[Wouldn't that be catching them red-handed?]

[The Xuanyuan Immortal Clan, colluding with the Demon Realm—they would be unable to defend themselves.]

[This crime was massive enough.]

[Large enough that even a power of the Xuanyuan Immortal Clan's level might not be able to withstand it.]

[You didn't dare to gamble.]

[On second thought—what if you tied yourself to the Heavenly Palace's side and let the Heavenly Palace bear the crime of colluding with the Demon Realm?]

[But unfortunately... you had planted the Demon Seed in the Liu Clan Territory.]

[That place was within the Heavenly Palace's sphere of influence.]

[You wanted to drag the Heavenly Palace down with you?]

[You couldn't.]

[But any of the other four major powers would work.]

[Venerable Tianming's game was bigger than you imagined.]

[He didn't care at all whether you killed Xuanyuan Yao or Yun Xiaozi.]

[What he cared about was where you, as a chess piece, landed.]

[If you landed in the Xuanyuan Immortal Clan, the Xuanyuan Immortal Clan would be doomed.]

[If you landed in the Wuji Immortal Sect, the Wuji Immortal Sect would be doomed.]

[If you landed in the Canglan Holy Land, the Canglan Holy Land would be doomed.]

[If you landed with Yun Xiaozi, could Venerable Cang Xuan still remain the Academy Head?]

[And no matter which faction you landed in, it would be a dead end for you.]

[You were a ticking time bomb.]

[Back then, wasn't the Qin Immortal Clan wiped out using the excuse of colluding with Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons?]

[Thinking about it this way—staying within the Heavenly Palace's sphere of influence might actually allow you to live?]

[You regretted it; if you had known, you would have planted the "Demon Seed" in the territory of one of the other four major powers and then framed the Heavenly Palace.]

[After thinking of this, cold sweat poured down your back.]

["Senior?" Xuanyuan Yao's voice pulled you back to reality.]

[You looked at her and opened your mouth.]

[The words "take me with you" ultimately remained unsaid.]

[You took a deep breath, and your expression returned to calm.]

["In that case, I shall take my leave."]

[Before they could react, you raised your hand and made a slashing motion.]

[A rift opened in the Void Realm.]

[You stepped inside and vanished.]

[The rift slowly closed, leaving Xuanyuan Yao's group standing there in a daze.]

["This Senior... why does he come and go like a ghost?" Nangong Xueyu whispered.]

[Meaty tilted her head. Her face still showed her previous grievance, but her eyes held a bit more curiosity:]

["Sister Nangong, why do you think this Senior has saved us twice? Do we share some fate with him from a past life?"]

[Nangong Xueyu didn't respond.]

[Peak Master Wuji was silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "He left in a hurry; he likely didn't want to involve us."]

[Xuanyuan Yao nodded: "Being with him would actually make us more endangered."]

[She turned around and looked at everyone, her expression turning serious: "Everyone, follow me. Every extra moment we stay here is another moment of danger."]

[Peak Master Wuji nodded and raised his hand. A massive spirit boat appeared floating in the sky, and he called for the Disciples to board.]

[A moment later, the spirit boat took to the sky, turning into a streak of light and disappearing into the vast starry sky.]

[Year 70,]

[After returning to Beidou City, your life returned to its old routine—]

[Your main body used the xuantian treasure mirror to Cultivate.]

[Your Clone continued to be that slacking Law Enforcement Guard, though he now carried a ring—the one from Zhulong.]

[The xuantian treasure mirror worked day and night. Under the hundredfold time difference, your Space Law and Time Law finally ground from Minor Achievement to Major Achievement.]

[For the past few months, you had been repeatedly thinking about the same question—]

[How to break the deadlock?]

[But no matter how much you thought about it until your head nearly split, you still couldn't figure it out.]

[You even suspected that if you dared to step into a teleportation array, the other end might not be where you wanted to go.]

[That old fogey Venerable Tianming might have been waiting for you to leave just to send you where you were supposed to go.]

[You realized you truly had no way out.]

[Leaving the Heavenly Palace was a dead end.]

[Not leaving was waiting for death.]

[As time passed, it was impossible for Venerable Tianming to keep a useless chess piece.]

[Sooner or later, he would discard you with his own hands.]

[Instead of waiting for death, why not...]

[You gritted your teeth.]

[Even if you died, you couldn't let that old fogey have his way.]

[Since you couldn't leave, then you would turn this Heavenly Palace upside down with slaughter.]

[The goal was set; next was choosing whom to strike.]

[The Heavenly Palace was a gathering place for mighty experts, with over a thousand first-rate powers intertwined in a social network as complex as a spiderweb.]

[Killing someone at random was meaningless.]

[You picked two people—Liu Tianci and Liu Suifeng.]

[Liu Suifeng had almost been killed by you on Ziyang Star; by now, his injuries should have healed.]

[Once these two died, the Liu Clan's succession would be severed.]

[As for Liu Qingtian... at the Body Integration Stage, he wasn't someone you could touch right now.]

[Unless—the fourth form of the Immortal Slaying Sword Art, Four Symbols Sealing Heaven.]

[This Divine Ability could completely seal off a portion of the world, with Law restriction, space solidification, and Void Realm blockade.]

[Even a Body Integration Cultivator wouldn't be able to escape easily.]

[However, for now, you were in no rush.]

[First, kill those who can be killed, practice what can be practiced, and learn what can be learned.]