Stepping out, Lin Xiao was utterly curious. He knew that this was supposed to be a place near the lake since the elders once mentioned that the three sects were located near their village.

However, this place was quite far from his village, right?

Maybe because it was quite a distance away that the three representative took so much time in the past? He was not totally sure about that.

The small city was truly small and there were only very few people aside from those who wanted to take exam in this place. They were all roaming around as if they wanted to make sure that everyone knew that they owned this place.

It didn't seem to be that good, though.

"Luo Lan."

Hearing his name, Luo Lan turned around in annoyance. His eyes widened when he saw Lin Xiao stood there. More than a year had passed but he could never forget the time when he was staying in that damn village. That was the time when he lost one of his family members due to the unfortunate situation.

The name Lin Xiao might not be that memorable, but he could still remember this troublemaker. In the past, he had beaten Lin Xiao up so badly because he wanted to vent and just wanted to fight.

"You're still alive?" Luo Lan blurted out.

Lin Xiao blinked his eyes. "I'm supposed to be dead?"

It was then Luo Lan realized he had blurted out things that they were not supposed to know. Clicking his tongue, Luo Lan turned around and looked at Lin Xiao. "Aren't you all taken by those people?"

"Who?" Lin Xiao asked slowly.

"Dunno, some expert who are powerful enough to destroy the entire village with just a slap of his hand. I heard that he takes everyone from the village," Luo Lan replied with frown.

He had already departed from that village by tagging along to Liu Gang, but he did hear some things. The people in the village were all taken away because those who wanted to have the inheritance was unable to get it. They were trying to force the people in the village to spit it out.

As for how things progressed afterwards, he didn't know because he didn't follow the news. However, he knew that things didn't end well because there was no news. Even his new master felt that things were a bit suspicious.

Lin Xiao blinked his eyes. "You mean, everyone is gone?"

"Yes."

When?

The question struck in Lin Xiao's throat. He still could remember the day when Shopkeeper Wang, no Elder Wang, came to find him. The look on Elder Wang's face was that of loss. It seemed that before Elder Wang found him, the former had already seen the devastation because of the losses that occurred.

There was no one else in that mountain but him and the other two.

Chills crept out from his back. Even though Lin Xiao had told himself repeatedly that this was a natural course of things, he still felt that everything was going very badly. Because of him…no, because of people's greed, a lot of people died.

"So, how did you escape?" Luo Lan asked.

"I was not in the village," Lin Xiao replied simply. "After I make a mess with Su Hei, I left."

It was a lie, but he was truly not in the village at that time. Though, the direction was not leaving further from the lake but visiting the lake due to his large curiosity that seemed to be overwhelming.

Luo Lan blanked and looked at Lin Xiao before he spat out. "Idiot."

"What are you calling me?" Lin Xiao cracked his fist.

"You're an idiot. Su Hei is just third rate cultivators at best and you're afraid of him? What a wimp."

Lin Xiao arched his eyebrows. Who said that he was afraid of Su Hei? If Su Hei appeared before him again, he would be ready to defeat that man. Come to think about it, more than a year had passed since he last saw those people who were picked into the sects. 

Since that was the case, didn't it mean that they were also growing stronger.

Somehow, Lin Xiao grew a bit excited at the thought. He wanted to challenge them should they meet with each other. He held the confidence that he could win even if he had to fight against them.

"Now that you're here…" Luo Lan trailed his words. However, his body jerked as he punched forward. It has been quite some time since he had the chance to test his power. Since Lin Xiao was here, it would be better for him to use this as test.

On the back, Lin Yun and Wenren Yu were about to step in, but Lin Xiao waved his hand and showed mark that he could handle it. The two of them didn't butt in but watched in surprise. Even under surprise attack Lin Xiao was still able to react so calmly?

Swish!

Lin Xiao swiftly sidestepped. In his eyes, Luo Lan was extremely slow, too slow to contend with him. Because of that, he didn't really need to exert much strength to defeat Luo Lan. Even evading the attack was so easy.

'Body Training Rank 9?'

Last year, Luo Lan was already at Body Training Rank 8 if he was not wrong. After a year's time, Lin Xiao increased by leaps and bounds while Luo Lan was progressing slowly.

If Luo Lan was unable to increase his rank again, the gap between the two of them would only increase and grew further without any chance to salvage it in the slightest bit.

"You…" Luo Lan was stunned. He looked at Lin Xiao with disbelief. "How come you're so fast?"

"I didn't spend the past year doing nothing," Lin Xiao replied with a grin.

The smile on Lin Xiao's face somehow made Luo Lan uncomfortable, yet he couldn't put his finger into it.

It was strange to see someone who used to be far weaker now couldn't even be touched.