One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

The encirclement has long been complete.

While they were wallowing in that false world, struggling and fighting desperately, in reality they had long since become fish on a chopping board.

"..."

"..."

The entire gentle slope fell into a deathly silence. Only the suppressed groans of the wounded could be heard.

……

then.

The dense, suffocating wall of people slowly parted in the middle, creating an opening.

A person walked out from inside.

He was a man who looked to be around fifty or sixty years old.

He was slender, wearing a wide, dark black robe with long sleeves, and a dark red silk sash tied around his waist.

His face was not ferocious, nor did he have a fierce expression; in fact, he could be described as refined, with slightly graying temples, regular features, and a scholarly air about him, like that of a schoolteacher.

But the moment he strolled out as if taking a leisurely walk.

The hundreds of black-robed evil cultivators behind him, exuding a bloodthirsty and sinister aura, bowed down in unison, revealing a fanatical reverence.

"metropolitan."

"metropolitan."

……

"..."

"..."

These two words, like a block of ancient ice, crashed into the hearts of every Daoist prodigy on the gentle slope, chilling them to the bone.

Sect Master of Luoyin Sect!

In these 100,000 mountains, the real, largest venomous snake!

And just like that, I stood right in front of them!

……

And a person walked out from beside the middle-aged man.

The man was wearing a very familiar all-black special operations uniform, and his figure was slightly thin.

That face was young, even carrying a hint of childishness.

...Qin Lang.

……

He stood quietly beside the sect leader of the Luoyin Sect, his eyes slightly lowered.

His face was expressionless, devoid of his usual timidity and panic.

……

"..."

"Qin...Qin Lang?"

Ye Cheng stared at that familiar figure, his voice trembling so much it was almost inhuman, his eyes filled with disbelief and a sense of absurdity.

……

The young man did not respond.

He didn't even lift his eyelids, as if he hadn't heard Ye Cheng's call at all.

……

However, the refined and scholarly sect leader of the Luoyin Sect beside him slowly raised his eyelids.

His gaze calmly and indifferently swept over the silent wall of people.

They passed by those dozen or so Daoist prodigies who were covered in wounds, stunned, and whose Dao energy was depleted.

Finally, the prize landed on the young man standing at the very front, the only one who still maintained a composed posture.

……

Jiang Shou was also looking at him.

……

Two pairs of eyes met silently in the dawn mist, which carried a hint of chill.

There was no spark, only a stillness like stagnant water.

……

for a long time.

The sect leader turned his head slightly to Qin Lang beside him, speaking in a calm and gentle tone, as if he were having a casual chat.

……

Elder Li.

"It seems this brat from Shouyi Temple..."

"There is definitely something strange about this."

……

When that calm "Elder Li" fell on the desolate, gentle slope.

"boom!"

Zhang Lingqiu, Ye Cheng, Tao Qingci, and the others felt as if their brains had been struck hard by a massive hammer!

Everyone's mind went completely blank for a moment!

Elder?!

Qin Lang, the rogue cultivator from Yunmeng Mountain who had the lowest cultivation level along the way, was always trembling with fear, and instinctively shrank to the back of the group whenever danger struck...

It was actually a core elder of the Fallen Yin Sect?!

"..."

Amidst the stunned gazes of the crowd.

Qin Lang—or rather, Elder Li of the Luoyin Sect.

He finally slowly raised his head.

On that young, naive face, the timidity and fear that had once been ingrained in him had vanished like sand blown away by the wind.

Instead, there was a condescending, mocking smile, tinged with an eerie and chilling quality.

He ignored the distorted gazes of the Daoist prodigies behind him, their eyes filled with shock and despair. He simply stared with interest at Jiang Shou, who stood at the very front.

"You could tell that the bull-headed Ah Bang was fake..."

Qin Lang spoke slowly, his originally clear but slightly hoarse voice now sounding somewhat ethereal and overlapping, exuding a strange feeling of being neither male nor female.

"That was indeed a hasty mistake." Qin Lang tilted his head slightly, his eyes filled with undisguised confusion. "But how did you know it was me?"

He walked down the gentle slope step by step, his gaze piercing:

"Have we arrived at the abyss canyon of this desolate, deathly place? Or are we in the corpse forest maze on the second level?"

Jiang Shou stood there, silent. Those clear eyes watched him quietly.

"Or...from the moment we entered the mountains?" Qin Lang's voice rose an octave, as if he was determined to extract an answer from Jiang Shou.

"Inside the fire station compound in Qingyan Town?"

Jiang Shou remained silent, simply watching him speculate.

This silence added a hint of surprise and resentment to Qin Lang's eyes.

"Even earlier?"

"..."

"Are you kidding me?!"

Qin Lang shook his head violently, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. The surprise and doubt in his eyes were instantly replaced by extreme arrogance.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"Even if you possess some strange cultivation techniques and unfathomable aura-gazing abilities..." Qin Lang sneered, his tone brimming with absolute arrogance, "my clan's heirloom treasure, the [Mirage Dragon Pearl], can blot out the sky and cover the sun!"

"Let alone you Daoist novices who haven't even grown their feathers yet, even if a Daoist sect leader who has achieved the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, or even a legendary Five Qi Converging to the Origin expert from ancient times, were to come in person, they would never be able to see through my life gate's energy!"

"The Mirage Dragon Ball?!"

Tao Qingci, who had been in a state of extreme shock, suddenly raised her head upon hearing these three words.

A look of horror flashed across the pale face of this pearl who was well-versed in the Maoshan Buddhist canon:

"So...you're not human! You, your true form is a Mirage?!"

"Oh?"

Qin Lang turned his head and looked at Tao Qingci with a hint of mockery.

"Senior Sister Tao... You young people from prestigious sects are quite knowledgeable; you even know about our Mirage Clan?"

"..." Ye Cheng turned his head to look at Tao Qingci with a blank expression.

Tao Qingci bit her lip tightly, her chest heaving violently, and said, word by word:

The "Shangqing Dongyuanlu·Mirage Demon Chapter" states: "Mirage is the demise of a dragon. A dragon that fails to complete its tribulation has its soul not dispersed, but falls into the sea abyss and transforms into a mirage. Mirage can spew mist to form towers, confusing the heavens and the earth, hence the ancients called mirage mist 'illusory heaven'."

"And that [Mirage Dragon Pearl]..."

Tao Qingci's voice began to tremble, "That's the supreme treasure of the Mirage Demon clan! It's said that only Mirage Demons with over a thousand years of cultivation can possibly leave behind this supreme treasure when they fail to ascend to immortality and die!"

"The tattered scroll contained only one sentence describing this bead..."

Tao Qingci swallowed a mouthful of dry saliva:

"He who obtains this pearl can seize a thread between heaven and earth, conceal his own aura, and bewitch the consciousness of the gods in the three realms!"