Xu Xiaoshou ran for several kilometers before he finally stopped.

"Huff. Fortune favors the brave... and those who survive ordeals."

Exposing all the four treasures he possessed to the dean was something that he didn't even want to consider before.

He could only say that situations in this world are fluid and always shifting.

But then again, what just happened turned out to be in his favor.

The dean didn't demand the return of all those things, which meant that he no longer needed to hide any of them.

His stolen goods had just been "laundered," allowing him to wear and use them out in the open without fear from hereon.

"Nice!"

Xu Xiaoshou wore a gleeful smile as he pulled out the fifth-grade spirit sword from his ring again.

He slashed at one of the huge rocks by the roadside with it, and the sword cleaved the rock in half like butter. It was effortless, and the incisions looked incredibly smooth.

"Well, well…"

Xu Xiaoshou was very impressed and immediately took his Hiding Pain out to give it a go at the rock as well. But he found it took more force to achieve the same results.

"Rocks alone will not tell the difference between the two."

Xu Xiaoshou was feeling rather befuddled. While the fifth-grade spirit sword was indeed far superior to his "Hiding Pain," he didn't know this sword intimately, like the back of his hand.

On the other hand, the "Hiding Pain" had been by his side the whole time and felt like an extension of his own body. It appeared to be more suitable to his style of fighting that predominantly used Sword Will.

Yet there was no doubt that he had just gotten himself a magnificent sword. And if he were to sell that sword, it would certainly fetch him an exceptional price.

Fifth-grade…

According to the way grades are categorized, fifth and sixth grades belong to the Master Level. So that would mean this thing here was probably considered the best among Master level spirit weapons.

"Cheng Xingchu is not only a rich kid. He's a rich kid with a lot of stuff to offer. The sword plus the Origin Residence. Well worth it!" Xu Xiaoshou felt very pleased with himself.

He still had no clue if the Abrogated Origin Residence would become a usable treasure, but then again, he had little use of that Spirit Mark of Life, anyway.

So he deemed it was worth a shot, as there was still a chance of successfully reviving the abrogated mark.

Because he possessed Eternal Vitality, he had initially thought of giving the mark to Mu Zixi.

However, he was afraid of spoiling his little sister-in-training.

Xu Xiaoshou could still see that Mu Zixi had developed quite a respectable condition, and the amount of life-force she consumed was unbelievable.

If he were to put it lightly, he would say that Mu Zixi was prone to getting drunk on life-force.

If he were to put it seriously, it'd be that her state of mind could be corrupted by the condition, thus making her a devil in the truest sense.

Furthermore, she could unravel the illusions that Lei Shuangxing used to trap Ye Xiaotian with just a glare. It wasn't something those that were not at the pinnacle of Origin Court could do.

So what's her deal, anyway?

Xu Xiaoshou pondered and was convinced that everything that happened over the past several days was somehow connected in some way.

That lasting memory from his Sense kept playing in his mind repeatedly before it froze on the image of a masked woman whose spiritual powers he could not detect.

The image on her with only those starry eyes just seemed out of place in the larger scheme of things.

"The eyes…"

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils dilated unconsciously. Yet before he could dwell on it further, a rumble not far away drew his attention.

He looked up.

A man and a woman.

"Zhao Qingteng? Lan Xinzi?"

It rather surprised Xu Xiaoshou, and he wondered why those two were approaching him together.

He looked around him and found that he had gotten increasingly far away from the hall before he knew it, coming to somewhere in the forest where there were many places of residence.

That place was not Lan Xinzi's home, which he had seen before. That meant that Zhao Qingteng was staying among those units instead.

But given the situation, he wondered if Lan Xinzi was there looking for him instead.

"Tsk, tsk, I thought you were head over heels for Luo Leilei…"

Xu Xiaoshou felt it was quite odd, yet Zhao Qingteng had a cold, aloof look about him and it was not unusual for him to attract girls to his side, even if the said girl was someone older.

Then again, Xu Xiaoshou wasn't some busybody, so he left right away.

Elder Sang was still waiting for him, after all.

Yet, he stopped midair just when he was about to leave.

"Zhao Shu?"

Xu Xiaoshou raised his eyebrows as soon as that name was uttered.

Since the range of his Sense was extended, he paid little attention to any information that had little to do with himself.

If he were to put his brain to work processing all information received within hundreds of meters radius all the time, it would simply be too exhausting, regardless of how strong his body was. It would just make him irritable all the time as well.

But it wasn't like he simply let all that information slide all the time. Whenever someone brought up anything that had anything to do with him, that would certainly catch his attention.

He focused and his attention zeroed in on the conversation between the two, enabling him to hear every single word said.

…

"If you people from the Zhang family want Xu Xiaoshou dead so much, just go look for him yourself. Why bother looking for me?" Zhao Qingteng's voice was as ice-cold as ever.

"Huh, Zhao Shu got blasted like fireworks, and it does not faze you? He's your cousin, you know." Lan Xinzi snickered mockingly.

"What does that have to do with you?"

"I remember when we were kids, he used to take you to the Zhang family along to play, right? You were still wearing diapers back then."

"…"

The look in Zhao Qingteng's eyes was cold, and enunciating every word, he uttered, "Back then, you didn't dare to talk to me like you do now."

The smile on Lan Xinzi's face froze.

She finally realized that despite being in early Innate levels, he was still the eldest son of the Zhao family.

She, on the other hand, was but a servant of the Zhang family.

"That same old argument again, eh?"

Her fingernails dug into her palm and glared with a sinister look in her eyes. She suddenly lifted her chin and said solemnly, "This is the Tiansang Spirit Palace, not the Tiansang Prefecture!"

"Is that so?" Zhao Qingteng replied, grinning casually. "So, is this why you holed up in the spirit palace for seven years and dared not face the real world then?"

His words cast a chill in the air and he added, "The spirit palace, truth to be told, is little more than a prison to you."

Lan Xinzi's eyes glowered, and she had a menacing scowl on her face.

Zhao Qingteng waved dismissively and continued nonchalantly. "Don't bother looking for me anymore. I know very well why Zhao Shu died in the first place."

"Get a reality check. Some prisons can't be broken into no matter how powerful you have become."

After he spoke, Zhao Qingteng turned around and headed inside his home, leaving Lan Xinzi standing there in a daze.

…

"It's a small world indeed."

Xu Xiaoshou was quite baffled.

He wasn't all that clear about what was going on between the two of them, but he knew they had a score to settle. While he couldn't do anything about all such threats for lack of power and ability, he still needed to attend to this matter, as long as he was sufficiently powerful.

"That, um…"

What he said held Zhao Qingteng back from closing the door behind him. Xu Xiaoshou walked up to him and said, "I'd advise you two to get inside before talking about your business out in the open."

Both of them turned around, surprised by his sudden appearance.

Xu Xiaoshou?

"So, you've heard all that then?" Lan Xinzi taunted, stressing every word she said.

"Do you think I'm deaf or something? You were being exceptionally loud back there."

The two of them said nothing.

: Cursed, Passive Points +2.

Zhao Qingteng's face turned rather ashen. If he had known that Xu Xiaoshou was around, he would have asked Lan Xinzi in before speaking aloud, or at the very least, they could have done so telepathically.

He wondered where that kid had just come up from.

If he were that close, I should've spotted him. If he were further away, then he wouldn't have heard anything.

"You heard it? So what?" Lan Xinzi asked and smirked dismissively, unlike Zhao Qingteng, who was all flustered.

Seeing Xu Xiaoshou, devoid of any background, she seemed to regain her vigor again.

Xu Xiaoshou paused and cut to the chase right away.

"Are you both trying to kill me?"