Zhao Xidong vowed he would never joke with his boss ever again.

"Did you have to go that bloody far?" he thought. "Who the h*ll just goes about beating up people like that? Cut me some slack, okay?"

​​

He got up and explained, "Actually, I've always thought there was something fishy about her from the first moment I saw her. How do I put this? There's just something about her that just doesn't feel right…

"Hmm, okay, doesn't seem like I'm making much sense." He was flustered and then said all of a sudden, "Well, she looked human..."

Xiao Qixiu's eyebrows twitched like crazy. "Are you saying that… Mo Mo isn't even human?" he thought.

"Do you know what you're talking about here?" Xiao Qixiu's quiet tone belied the anger he was trying to contain.

Zhao Xidong immediately became flustered and said, "No, that's not what I meant. It's, um… well, it's like she looks like common folk because everyone else around her looks like common folk. Get it? That's what I meant."

All four elders were silent. Truth be told, none of them had been in touch much with Mo Mo.

Elder Qiao shook his head. "She's not a spy."

In order to gather intelligence for Xu Xiaoshou, he'd looked into the girl before and found nothing out of place about her.

If there was anything about her that did stand out, then it was her Innate Elemental Power, which was as rare as all possible. In fact, it was so rare that it was like one in a million.

But then again, that was merely a sign that she was a genius, no?

The spirit palace had been around for a long time, and every few years or so, some decent stock would emerge from among the disciples, which was normal.

By this point, Zhao Xidong had run out of things to say. "Well, if it isn't Xu Xiaoshou or Mo Mo, then I couldn't tell you who it is.

"The veterans from the Inner Yard seem to be well-behaved. They've been fellow disciples for so many years, so they're in contact with each other one way or another. Nothing seems to be wrong with any of them."

The elders didn't hold Zhao Xidong's answer against Xu Xiaoshou. They'd only asked out of a whim, after all.

Elder Sang then looked at Ye Xiaotian. "Alright, we've delayed long enough. Use your 'Heaven's Vision,' then."

"Heaven's Vision" was a space-type super ability unique to Ye Xiaotian. It allowed one to view an image at a certain location at a super far distance away.

Yet, Ye Xiaotian didn't agree to it right away. He turned his head to the side and said, "If we were in the same space, using 'Heaven's Vision' would naturally be effortless. But, they're now all in an extradimensional space…

"Do you have any idea how difficult that would be?"

Elder Sang nodded and said, "Just tell us how long you could hold on, then."

"Ten seconds."

"That's your limit?" Elder Sang felt rather doubtful.

"Indeed. 10 seconds is the longest I could get it."

"Hmm… that's short."

Ye Xiaotian was momentarily stunned, and a vein popped out on his forehead as he said, "Old man, do you want me to cut up the space you're currently occupying right now?"

"Hahahahahha…" Qiao Qianzhi burst out laughing, and, wiping his tears away, said, "Alright. Quit it, you two. 10 seconds it is, then."

Ye Xiaotian then asked without looking back, "Are you sure you guys want to look?"

"Duh?" Qiao Qianzhi looked at the spirit wheel on the table. "One of the treasures is already gone. If we delay any longer, we'll lose track of the other one."

Ye Xiaotian smirked. "This is only the first day. Maybe the current situation isn't at its worst yet?"

Everyone was stunned. What he said did make a lot of sense.

Yet… d*mn, he made it sound really scary.

"Oh, don't jinx it!" Qiao Qianzhi was flustered. If anything serious happened to the Tianxuan Gate, he was the one who'd have to take the massive trouble to fix the great array, after all.

Elder Sang knocked his chopsticks against the table as he pondered this. He had to admit that Ye Xiaotian was making a lot of sense.

According to his speculations, Xu Xiaoshou probably wouldn't be able to do much at that point, given that the kid was still too weak… which meant it was indeed possible for two spies to be present in the Tianxuan Gate.

"We can't afford to wait. Let's check it out now. If something happens, all we can do is intervene and send the law enforcers inside."

Ye Xiaotian looked at the others and nodded after seeing that none objected to it.

That was definitely the best they could do at the moment.

"Heaven's Vision!"

He clapped his hands in the air, and countless images immediately flashed before his eyes. He shuddered before long, his forehead breaking out in a sweat.

Swoop!

A screen flickered in that cramped room. Although the image wasn't really clear, they could nonetheless see what was inside.

It was a black gladiatorial arena with reddish-black solidified blood on the ground and eight iron doors at all sides.

The doors were opened, and steel puppets holding blades emerged from within. All of them seemed to emanate killing intent so intense that they almost became solid.

"The Slaughter Ground."

Zhao Xidong was able to tell what place it was, as he was very familiar with it.

A young man with one arm was surrounded by the steel puppets, and he immediately shouted, "Zhou Tianshen? What the h*ll is he doing there?"

A steel puppet emerged, and that one-armed young man dished out a swirling cut with that golden domineering blade in his hand, his killing intent cladding the blade, and he cut the puppet in half from bottom to top right where he stood.

Because of the momentum from the slash, the blade swung right at his own body. If he still had his left arm, he probably would've chopped his left arm off right then and there.

Everyone was shocked, as they all knew that Zhou Tianshen had had both arms intact before.

Judging from the looks of it, they wondered if he'd actually been the one to cut off his own arm.

Elder Sang focused and uttered uncertainly, "Severing Self?"

He suddenly recalled the spiritual technique that the kid had managed to find in some corner of some wall back in the library that day.

"Seems like he really did go about practicing that eerie thing, then."

"Severing Self? What is that?" Zhao Xidong was puzzled. He figured that the name sounded like some spiritual spirit demanding one to self-mutilate.

"You probably know nothing of it. That's something that has to do with some guy back in the previous era. Have you heard of the bigoted one-armed god of blades?"

"No."

"Heh, you know nothing, kid." Elder Sang looked at Ye Xiaotian and said, "Cut it. The kid couldn't be a spy. Next."

Ye Xiaotian struggled as he swiped, changing the image.

"Be quick about it! Just how long do you need to look?"

The glaring weakness of that spiritual technique was that Ye Xiaotian himself was utterly incapable of seeing the image he projected, so it was up to the others watching to give him instructions.

"Next."

Elder Sang knew how hard it was for Ye Xiaotian to hold on, so he no longer went into the details of the images and decided if the image should stay with just a single look.

"Next."

"…"

"Stop!"

Ye Xiaotian stopped right away and looked at the four before him, finding that they all had peculiar looks on their faces.

"What?" He was itching with curiosity.

The image showed the "Senluo Woods," which was one of the 12 secret realms. Ancient trees shot to the heavens, and it looked very lush. The thick spiritual energy of life had practically condensed into mist form. It was so thick that one could sense it despite the spatial barrier.

Yet, what had caused peculiar looks to appear on their faces wasn't this but the little girl wearing green clothing hovering above an ancient well.

Raging spiritual energy of life was sucked into her body, making her look like the eye of a hurricane.

The girl's face was all red, and her pigtails were flailing about. She looked like she was drunk, and she kept foaming at the mouth. "Gujigujiguji~"

"Mu Zixi?" Elder Qiao immediately became elated. "Old Man Sang, your two disciples really are something indeed."

Elder Sang's expression turned glum, as he thought the scene was rather embarrassing.

"Other people get drunk on booze, and you get drunk on lifeforce?" he thought. "Xu Xiaoshou is already as much a walking disaster as one can get. You're his little sister-in-training here studying under the same teacher. Can't you just stop embarrassing me already?"

"Next!" he called.

Ye Xiaotian was about to swipe to the next image, but Xiao Qixiu made him stop. "Hold on!

"She's on top of the 'Ancient Well of Life,' you see. She's probably looking for the 'Spirit Mark of Life,' then?"

Elder Sang's rolled his eyes. "Couldn't you see how drunk she got, eh? What else could she even look for? I'd say she's already doing fine not dropping into the well."

Xiao Qixiu added, "You've got a point."

"Hurry up!" Ye Xiaotian rushed them.

"Next."

The image switched.

A girl holding a sword at the top of the black waterfalls…

"Lei Lei?" Everyone was shocked, unable to believe what they were seeing.

The thing that was embedded at the top of the cliff was none other than the "Black Scabbard," which was one of the 12 treasures stabilizing the realm. So… was she the spy, then?

"Hold on, look at the side!" It was only then that Zhao Xidong noticed the top right of the image.

"A foot?"

"Move the image a bit." Everyone was getting anxious. That could probably be the two spies collaborating with each other.

Ye Xiaotian was unable to hold on any longer, and at the very second that he moved the image, the screen shattered into bits of light.

However, even though the image only lasted for a split second, everyone was able to see who that foot belonged to.

It was a young man who was in his underwear with a shocked look on his face.

"Xu Xiaoshou?"

Everyone looked at Elder Sang. First, there was the girl hovering above an ancient well spitting out lifeforce and getting drunk on it, then there was a young man flying in the sky in his underwear.

"Well, I'll hand it to you, Old Man Sang. You really have an eye… for picking disciples."

Qiao Qianzhi clapped Elder Sang on the shoulder and rubbed whatever dirt he had on his hand off along the way before bursting out laughing.

"Hahahahaha!"

Elder Sang was shaking all over, feeling very p*ssed.

"Why is Xu Xiaoshou at the same place with the spy?" he thought.

"Have I… really miscalculated?"