138: Chapter 138 The Survival of the Tianxuan Sect

Liu Yun suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with astonishment.

"You are leaving?"

Xu Jianan nodded: "Yes. This matter was a misunderstanding to begin with. If I stay here, it will only make things difficult for you; it is better to leave early."

"Yun'er, I am leaving." Xu Jianan took a deep breath, turned around, and walked toward the courtyard gate.

"Stop."

Liu Yun's voice came from behind him.

Xu Jianan's footsteps paused, but he did not turn back.

"You won't be able to leave just like that." Liu Yun stood up, walked to his side, took a glistening white token from her embrace, and pressed it into his hand. "This is the pass token for the Tianxuan Sect. Take it, and the mountain-protecting array will not stop you."

Xu Jianan looked down at the token in his hand, secretly delighted.

It worked.

But on the surface, he wore an expression of astonishment.

"Yun'er, you—"

"Enough nonsense." Liu Yun interrupted him, turning her back to him, her voice cold. "While I haven't changed my mind yet, get out."

Xu Jianan looked at Liu Yun and silently apologized in his heart.

He gripped the token tightly, took one last deep look at Liu Yun's back, then turned and strode out of the courtyard.

He could not stay here.

Young Master had shown him great kindness; how could he abandon righteousness for romance?

Saint Lingyuan had met Young Master; she knew Young Master's strength.

Her forcing him to marry Liu Yun was certainly not a whim, but rather an attempt to climb the tree that was Young Master through him.

He could not cause trouble for Young Master.

And he certainly could not let Liu Yun become a sacrifice.

Xu Jianan's figure disappeared outside the courtyard gate, but Liu Yun remained standing in place, her back to the entrance, her shoulders trembling slightly.

She took a deep breath and tilted her head back.

"Revered Master, please forgive this Disciple for being self-willed this one time." She murmured to herself.

She turned around and walked out of the courtyard.

Her steps were steady, her expression calm, but her eyes held a hint of determination.

Passing through quiet courtyards and crossing winding corridors, Liu Yun arrived at the deepest part of the Tianxuan Sect—the Xuanyu Hall where Saint Lingyuan was in seclusion.

The hall was entirely constructed from ten-thousand-year mysterious jade, crystal clear and translucent, resembling a crystal palace.

The hall doors were open, and a faint chill permeated from within, carrying the unique pressure of a powerhouse in the Saint Realm.

Liu Yun took a deep breath and stepped across the threshold.

Deep in the hall, Saint Lingyuan sat cross-legged on an ice platform, her white robes like snow, her dark hair like a waterfall, and a layer of faint white light surrounding her, like a Fairy from the moon palace.

Her eyes were closed, her breathing long and steady, as if she had merged into the entire hall.

"Disciple Liu Yun greets Revered Master." Liu Yun knelt before the ice platform, her forehead touching the ground, her voice respectful.

Saint Lingyuan slowly opened her eyes, those cold, clear eyes falling on Liu Yun without a trace of emotion.

"Xu Jianan has left."

Liu Yun trembled all over, pressing her forehead lower: "It was this Disciple who forced him to leave; he could not bear to make things difficult for this Disciple. This Disciple does not wish to become his Dao Companion, and even less does she wish for Revered Master to, because of me..."

"Because of you, what?" Saint Lingyuan interrupted her, her tone remaining flat.

Liu Yun gritted her teeth and hardened her resolve: "This Disciple knows that Revered Master had this Disciple become a Dao Companion with Xu Jianan for the sake of the Tianxuan Sect. But this Disciple truly cannot comply, and even less wishes to have Revered Master, because of this Disciple..."

"Because of what?" Saint Lingyuan stood up, walked slowly to stand before Liu Yun, and looked down at her. "Do you think I did this solely for the Tianxuan Sect?"

Liu Yun was stunned, raising her head to meet those cold, clear eyes.

"Then Revered Master is..."

Saint Lingyuan did not answer, but turned around to look at the ice wall deep in the hall, which was covered in runes.

"I have cultivated for three thousand years and have been trapped in the Saint Realm for eight hundred years." Her voice remained flat, yet it revealed an unconcealable exhaustion. "The Tianxuan Sect has stood for over ten thousand years, but by my generation, it has reached the end of its rope."

Liu Yun opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found she could not speak at all.

Saint Lingyuan continued: "Three hundred years ago, the Tianxuan Sect still had three Saints. Now, only I remain. If this continues, in less than a thousand years, the Tianxuan Sect will be wiped from the Southern Region."

"Revered Master..." Liu Yun's voice was trembling.

"I have been searching for a chance for a Breakthrough." Saint Lingyuan turned to look at Liu Yun, a gleam flashing in her cold, clear eyes. "Until that day in the Secret Realm, when I met that Senior."

Liu Yun shuddered.

Senior?

To be called Senior by Revered Master, what level of existence could that be?

"That Senior's strength is unfathomable." Saint Lingyuan's tone carried deep awe. "Casually breaking the Ten Thousand Soul Devouring Heaven Array, destroying the sky-filling demonic shadows with a wave of a sleeve, suppressing a saint king weapon with one hand... I have lived for over three thousand years and have never seen such a terrifying existence."

Liu Yun gasped.

Casually breaking a Saint Array? Destroying demonic shadows with a wave of a sleeve? Suppressing a saint king weapon with one hand?

What kind of strength is this?

Great Saint? Or Saint King?

Or even higher?

"That Senior... what is his relationship with Xu Jianan?" Liu Yun's voice was trembling.

Saint Lingyuan looked at her and slowly said: "That Senior is in Guangnan City."

Guangnan City.

Xu Jianan is also in Guangnan City.

Innumerable thoughts flashed through Liu Yun's mind, gradually piecing together a shocking truth.

Xu Jianan knows that Senior and is deeply connected to him.

No wonder.

She had rarely met with Xu Jianan over these past few years, completely unlike before.

She had assumed Xu Jianan was in seclusion cultivating all these years, but now it seems Xu Jianan must have been by that Senior's side, serving him.

She never imagined that the slacker, reeking of alcohol, often with lipstick marks on his face—that old thing—was actually connected to a terrifying existence that could make even Revered Master feel such awe.

"Revered Master, what exactly is that Senior's cultivation level?" Liu Yun raised her head.

Saint Lingyuan was silent for a moment.

Those cold, clear eyes looked toward the ice wall deep in the hall, her gaze profound, as if piercing through the ten-thousand-year mysterious jade to see Guangnan City a thousand miles away.

"I do not know what that Senior's cultivation level is." She slowly said, her voice still flat, yet revealing an unconcealable awe. "But I can be certain that he is absolutely not in the Saint Realm."

Liu Yun, kneeling before the ice platform, trembled all over.

Not in the Saint Realm?

Then what is he?

Great Saint? Or Saint King?

"Revered Master, do you mean..." Liu Yun's voice was trembling.

Saint Lingyuan turned around and looked at her most favored Disciple, a complex look flashing in her eyes.

"You should have heard about what happened in the Eastern Wasteland a few days ago."

Liu Yun's heart skipped a beat.

The Eastern Wasteland.

Tianque Holy Land.

If one were to speak of major events in the Eastern Wasteland recently, none could compare to the destruction of the Tianque Holy Land.

She was naturally aware of this matter.

A dignified top-tier Holy Land in the Eastern Wasteland, with a ten-thousand-year Legacy and a Saint King Realm Old Ancestor guarding it, was reduced to ruins overnight.

Over a dozen Saint Realm powerhouses fell simultaneously; a blood moon hung in the sky, heaven and earth mourned together, and strange phenomena shrouded the entire Eastern Wasteland.

This event had spread throughout the entire Cangxuan Great World, shocking major powers and causing countless Cultivators to discuss it fervently.

"Revered Master, is the matter of the Tianque Holy Land related to that Senior?" Liu Yun's voice was trembling.

Saint Lingyuan did not answer directly, but instead took a Jade Slip from her sleeve and tossed it to Liu Yun.

"This is the recording of the moment the Tianque Holy Land was destroyed."