As soon as he finished speaking, Chi Jia who had been silent all along nodded.

Without saying a word, he left the protection of the formation while dodged the attacks of the stone beasts and then flew upward on his sword toward the narrow strip of sky.

When he reached the black boundary, he paused for a few breaths.

Then he followed the boundary in the direction Xiao Shou had come from.

After quite some time, he finally returned.

During this period, the spirit stones powering the formation disk were exhausted by the stone beasts’ attacks.

And Xiao Shou has been replaced them twice.

At the same time, both sides cautiously probed each other through conversation.

As the newcomer, Xiao Shou naturally became the focus of questioning.

During the exchange, he claimed that he had been traveling with friends, killed a sea beast and was suddenly pulled into this place.

He subtly misled them into thinking that he had only just entered and had fallen directly into this canyon.

Although he did not say it outright, his words strongly implied it.

After Xiao Shou finished speaking, the Gou brothers shared their own origins.

Because of the events at the ancient cultivator’s cave and the protagonist’s strong fortune, Xiao Shou could roughly guess their experiences.

What he had not expected was that the Gou brothers were disciples of the Celestial Truth Sect, specifically from the Heaven Seeker Peak.

The Celestial Truth Sect was no less prestigious than the Heavenly Void Sect.

It was originally a lineage passed down from the immortal realm.

The entire sect cultivated profound Daoist arts and was renowned across the three realms for medicine, divination, and astrology.

However, after suffering heavy losses during the Immortal Demon War and internal disagreements, it split into two sects.

One retained the name Celestial Truth Sect, while the other became the Heaven Seeker Sect, which possessed the Mirror of Heaven.

In the Spirit Realms, the same division existed, forming two separate sects as well.

Only in the Heaven Origin Realm did the Celestial Truth Sect remain unified.

However, Heaven Seeker Peak still maintained independence and did not need to obey the authority or commands of the Celestial Truth Sect’s leader.

It was essentially a one-sect with two-system structure.

In the original story, the Heaven Seeker Peak and Heaven Seeker Sect lineage appeared multiple times and always standing on Xiao Ran’s side alongside Jian Li.

When Xiao Ran became the sect master of the Heavenly Void Sect in the Heaven Origin Realm, when she ascended to the spirit realm and received support several times, and even later during her struggle for the imperial throne against the Shuinan Water Immortal Emperor after ascending to the immortal realm, they were all involved.

Thinking about it this way, it was not surprising for disciples of Heaven Seeker Peak to appear beside Xiao Ran.

The reason they did not appear in the original story was probably because they had been killed off in the ancient cultivator’s cave, either by that unknown Golden Core cultivator or as cannon fodder.

After realizing this, Xiao Shou no longer paid them any attention.

He had never liked this type of scheming, fortune-telling opportunist.

Whenever such characters appeared in novels, he would usually skip past them.

Instead, he turned his attention to Yu Lin and asked, "Fellow Daoist Yu mentioned encountering that strange beast not far outside Black Iron City. If I remember correctly, Black Iron City is quite far from the Heavenly Void Sect, and it should be under the jurisdiction of the Holy Sword Sect. May I ask..."

Before he could finish, Yu Lin sighed.

"Ah, it’s a long story," she said, casting a look of feigned sympathy toward Xiao Ran. "A few days ago, one of my direct senior brothers fell. I was ordered by the peak’s senior brother to investigate. By coincidence, Senior Brother Chi had received the same mission, so we came together. Using the soul lamp, we tracked it to outside Black Iron City, but by then the culprit had already destroyed all traces."

Hearing this, Xiao Shou’s heart tightened. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Yu Lin, Xiao Ran, and that Xiang Yu all shared the same master.

Black Iron City was the closest city to White Silver City and it had no teleportation array.

Not long ago, he had just killed Xiang Yu.

So this... they were investigators.

A wave of guilt and tension surged within him, but his expression remained calm.

He even nodded along as if listening carefully.

Then he said with a sigh, "Fellow Daoist Yu’s master is a Nascent Soul expert and the head of a peak. The Heavenly Void Sect is so powerful. Who would dare to kill one of its direct disciples?"

"It was probably a demonic or evil cultivator," Yu Lin said.

"An ordinary independent cultivator wouldn’t be capable of that. After all, Senior Brother Xiang was quite talented and was on the verge of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage. What a pity..."

Though her words sounded sympathetic, her eyes were filled with undisguised schadenfreude as she looked at Xiao Ran.

Not a demonic cultivator or evil cultivator.

It was upholding justice and eliminating harm... well, not really.

Xiao Shou corrected himself inwardly.

He had not acted out of such noble reasons.

It was simply that he had happened to encounter the situation, someone near him had been a victim, and Xiang Yu had also set his sights on him.

That was why he had killed him.

As this thought flashed through his mind, he suddenly noticed that Xiao Ran who had been cold and expressionless turned pale the moment she heard Xiang Yu’s name.

Her meditation was immediately interrupted on the spot.

With cold eyes, Xiao Ran stared directly at Yu Lin.

What was going on?

In the original story, the relationship between Xiao Ran and Xiang Yu only became intimate during the library arc.

It should still be early.

So why did their relationship already seem so complicated now?

Just as Xiao Shou felt puzzled, Xiao Ran suddenly stood up.

She asked coldly, "Who did you say has fallen?"