In the stone room of the Mystic Sky Pavilion, Xiao Chen sat with his legs crossed. “This Illusory Beast is so strange. It must come from a mysterious place. Last time I asked Elder Wu about it, he faltered and didn’t give me any details. It seemed that he was hiding some secrets that could not be revealed!” As Xiao Chen thought of this, a cunning smile flashed through his face.

Elder Wu once mentioned that he wanted Xiao Chen to draw the Illusory Beast out of the stone room. Of course, Xiao Chen had to do so when no one was around. At the moment, there were so many disciples outside. He wanted to see what would happen if he successfully drew the Illusory Beast out right now. Then, if Elder Wu asked Xiao Chen for an explanation, Xiao Chen could explain that it was only an accident.

A sinister smile emerged on Xiao Chen’s lips. He beckoned to the Gollum Beast and said, “Come on, Brother Gollum, come with me. I’ll take you to a fun place…”

“Woo… Gollum?” The Gollum Beast blinked its eyes and then burst into laughter. Finally, it stuck out its tongue, but it seemed to be unwilling to go with Xiao Chen.

“Well…” Xiao Chen kept smiling and walked closer to the Gollum Beast. He patted it on the shoulder and said with a more gentle smile, “Brother Gollum, you don’t want to go with me?”

“Woo…” The Gollum Beast threw itself on Xiao Chen. Its chubby body nearly threw Xiao Chen to the ground. It licked Xiao Chen’s face and then jumped back to the ground.

Xiao Chen smiled and said to the Gollum Beast, “Well, I’ll come back to see you next time I challenge the ranking list.” Then he touched its forehead, turned around, and went out of the stone room. He realized that although this Illusory Beast had intelligence, it would take more time to take it out.

Xiao Chen was surrounded by many disciples once he came out of the stone room. This time, no one would laugh at him by mentioning that he was once beaten by Bai Ling, and no one would taunt him anymore. Even the senior disciples with purple badges, who just gathered here in pursuit of watching the battles as pleasure-seekers, became serious at this moment.

As a newcomer, Xiao Chen entered the top three of the Earth Ranking. His achievements proved that he was stronger and more powerful than everyone here. After one or two years, he would enter the Heaven Ranking. It should be known that the senior brothers listed on the Heaven Ranking seemed like superhuman demi-gods living on a higher plane. Everyone admired and respected them.

“Junior Brother Xiao, congratulations!”

At this time, the senior disciples of the Wind-heeding Pavilion also came up and congratulated Xiao Chen one after another. In recent years, no disciple of the Wind-heeding Pavilion had been able to enter the Earth Ranking. This time, Xiao Chen was considered to be part of the Wind-heeding Pavilion. Meanwhile, Qin Tianyu and some disciples of the Wind-heeding Pavilion were also listed on the Human Ranking. “Is the rise of the Wind-heeding Pavilion coming soon?” Some people in the distance discussed.

It was bustling with noise and excitement in the Mystic Sky Pavilion, while in a valley in the floating island of the Purple Thunder Pavilion, only a constant sound of crashing could be heard. “Poom! Poom!” Under the sunset, the leaves were falling from the trees and the stones splintered. It turned out that a man with disheveled hair was launching attacks at the surrounding vegetation and flowers crazily.

That person was Beigong Qin. His clothes were ragged, his hair was disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like a madman as he launched attacks at random and crushed all the flowers, grass, and trees around him. “Why! Why! Why…”

His voice sounded particularly shrill, full of resentment and unwillingness. At this time, the grudge in his body was the most intense. If he died right now and then his corpse was well preserved, more of the grudge would be absorbed into his corpse and condense into the Heavy Grudge, and it would be possible for him to become a Walking Corpse who carried at least 1,000 years’ worth of Heavy Grudge.

Suddenly, the stern voice of an old man sounded behind Beigong Qin. “Bastard!”

Upon hearing this familiar voice, Beigong Qin was startled. He quickly turned around and said with his head lowered, “Senior Zhong… Zhongli.”

A white-bearded old man in a cyan robe appeared a foot above the ground. Like Evernight, the elder’s face and clothes were also stamped with runes, but his runes were red, which seemed to be weird.

He was Zhongli Zhen, the Zither Spirit inside the strange Jade Zither owned by Beigong Qin.

“Look! Look at yourself!” Zhongli Zhen’s voice was stern. With a flick of his sleeve, a mirror appeared in front of Beigong Qin.

Looking at his own messy hair and bloodshot eyes in the mirror, Beigong Qin lowered his head and said, “I…”

“Tell me, what your name is!” Zhongli Zhen asked seriously.

“Beigong… Beigong Qin…”

“Speak louder!”

With his body trembling slightly, Beigong Qin replied loudly, “Beigong Qin!”

“Very good!” Zhongli Zhen landed on the ground gracefully and walked toward Beigong Qin step by step. He stared at Beigong Qin and said, “You must remember that you are a member of the Beigong Clan! The Beigong Clan once was a clan comparable to the Heaven Realm!”

“Sir, I know I was wrong…”

“Hmph!” Zhongli Zhen flicked his sleeve again. “I’ve assisted the Beigong Clan for a thousand years. Back then, your Lord Ancestor also encountered innumerable setbacks just like you, but he never lost his fighting spirit! I didn’t expect that you would fail to overcome such a small challenge. You’ve really disappointed me so much!”

Beigong Qin still lowered his head and gritted his teeth. Zhongli Zhen snorted in anger and continued, “Your Lord Ancestor was once an ace genius, but it’s a pity that he was so unlucky back then. In order to escape punishment from the Heaven Realm, he had to lead his clansmen to flee to this desolate land. In the end, he died with regrets…”

At this point, Zhongli Zhen glanced at Beigong Qin and added, “At that time, some clans were punished by the Heaven Realm. Half of their clan members were exiled to the Human World while the other half were sealed in the mystic domains. In comparison, the Beigong Clan was very lucky!”

Next, Zhongli Zhen added a blunt warning to Beigong Qin. “So in the future, don’t let me see you looking the way you do today! That person!” Speaking of this, he pointed at Xiao Chen’s name carved onto the light pillar of the Mystic Sky Rankings. “I can defeat him only with 10 percent of my power! But…”

Beigong Qin said in a firm tone, “What I lost should be taken back by myself!”

“Hmph!” Zhongli Zhen swung his sleeves and said, “It’s good that you know it! You will meet many people like Xiao Chen in the future. However, they will be merely stepping stones on your advancement. You are a member of the Beigong Clan! You are responsible for the revitalization of the Beigong Clan, instead of fighting with a small potato all day long!”

“I got it!” Beigong Qin balled his hands into fists to show respect, his voice resounding throughout the valley. He no longer looked as lifeless as before.

“Hmph! It’s good that you understand. Don’t let me down again!” Zhongli Zhen frowned. Then, he looked at the light pillar of the Mystic Sky Rankings and said gloomily, “If necessary, I’ll take action…”

Before he finished his words, there were light footsteps heard from outside the valley. Zhongli Zhen said hurriedly, “Someone is coming. I must go back.” After that, he disappeared and returned to the Jade Zither in the Divine Vessel of Beigong Qin.

“Senior… Senior Brother Beigong…” Two youngsters walked in from outside the valley. They were new disciples of the Purple Thunder Pavilion. Beigong Qin glanced at them and asked coldly, “What’s the matter?”

“Senior Brother Beigong, don’t worry. The First Grandmaster has already sent Senior Brother Mu and Senior Sister Jiang to challenge the ranking list. They’ve entered the Earth Ranking. Next month, we will… will be at least qualified to go to the second district for cultivation.” One of the two youngsters replied with a bit of disappointment.

Beigong Qin clenched his fingers tightly and sneered. He never expected that he would have to reply to these two people who were weaker than him. He looked at the light pillar of the Mystic Sky Rankings. His eyes remained cold, like the cold spring in hell, making everyone who saw him frigid and frightened. He gritted his teeth and said, “Xiao Chen…”

…

The sun was slowly sinking in the west, and night fell. The crowd gathering in the Mystic Sky Pavilion also dispersed. Only Xiao Chen was left behind by Elder Wu. Just like last time, Chu Qi went to the teleportation formation and waited for Xiao Chen quietly.

Xiao Chen followed Elder Wu and walked into the stone room at a leisurely pace.

“Lad, do you remember the promise we made to each other that evening?” Elder Wu blinked his eyes and smiled mischievously.

“What? What promise?” Xiao Chen pretended to be stunned. Suddenly, he felt that Elder Wu was quite similar to Zi Mo. It would be great if he could get some more Mystic Stones from Elder Wu.

Elder Wu looked at Xiao Chen with a smile and said, “So, do you need me to help you remember it?” He rotated his wrists as if he was ready to give someone a beating.

“Uh… I remember all of a sudden, so I won’t trouble you anymore, sir!” Xiao Chen chuckled and continued, “I tried many methods before, but the Gollum Beast was still unwilling to come out with me.”

“Gollum Beast? You call it Gollum Beast?” Elder Wu asked in a daze.

Xiao Chen shrugged his shoulders and threw up his hands. “What else can I do? It always sticks out its tongue and makes strange noises which may be a kind of mysterious language that I don’t understand. So I have no idea whether there is a better name or not.”

Elder Wu was once again stunned. Suddenly, he slapped himself on the forehead and had realized that it was unnecessary to care about the name of that Illusory Beast. Following that, he flew into a rage and stared at Xiao Chen. “Damn you! You said that you were trying to lure him out! Do you know how many disciples were waiting outside just now?”

“How would I know? You didn’t tell me that earlier…” Xiao Chen responded in turn. He looked at Elder Wu with wide, innocent-looking eyes.

“You!” Elder Wu said, pointing at Xiao Chen, “You are really a troublemaker! Fortunately, you didn’t make any trouble this time.”

“Hehe, hehe…!” Xiao Chen grinned slyly and moved closer to Elder Wu. “Sir, I have a question for you. How can I encounter this Illusory Beast in the stone room? As far as I know, except for me, no one has seen it.”

Elder Wu glanced at Xiao Chen and coughed. Stroking his beard with his hand, Elder Wu said, “Perhaps… perhaps this is the fate between you.”

“Fate?” Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes, moved closer to Elder Wu, and said in a low voice, “I heard that 3,000 years ago, the founder of the Cloud Mist Academy left a spiritual beast to guard the Misty Mountain before he ascended. That spiritual beast grew into the Spirit Master. However, the Spirit Master was seriously injured 100 years ago and has been missing until now…”

At this point, Xiao Chen got closer and closer and said in a gloomy voice, “Is that Illusory Beast your Spirit Master?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Elder Wu’s face turned somber and dim. He looked outside in a hurry, lowered his voice, and said, “Our Spirit Master is a Divine Archean Beast. How can it be that stupid beast…”

“Do you mean that Illusory Beast is a child of the Spirit Master?” Xiao Chen covered his mouth with his hand and deliberately put on a surprised expression.

“A child?” Elder Wu glared at him. “It is too ridiculous, lad! Our Spirit Master isn’t female. How can it give birth to a baby?” After finishing his words, Elder Wu also covered his mouth in a hurry. “If the three Saints hear what I said, I’ll be in deep trouble. Spirit Master, please forgive me. Spirit Master, please don’t be angry…”

Elder Wu seemed to be really full of fear, instead of pretending to be frightened. “That strange Illusory Beast may not be the Spirit Master, but they definitely have something to do with each other.” Seeing that, Xiao Chen thought. Then, he continued to ask, “Sir, if someone told you that the Gollum Beast has nothing to do with the Spirit Master, I am sure you wouldn’t believe it, would you? So, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

“Moreover…” Xiao Chen paused for a moment, his expression turning solemn. “I still want to know why is it that I’m the only one who can meet that Illusory Beast.”