Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

Xiren didn't care whether others believed him or not. He explained that he was just trying to give the Colt family a way out, so that Raphael wouldn't get involved in unnecessary trouble because of him.

After speaking, Xilun's gaze swept across the hall seemingly casually.

His gaze swept over the faces that were filled with awe, greed, or suspicion.

Suddenly, his eyelids twitched slightly, and his gaze lingered for half a second on a dark corner at the back of the crowd.

He was a middle-aged man with a bleak face and a sinister look in his eyes.

Dean Schodark.

Xiren clearly remembered how he shot Deford through the heart right in front of this man and took the two precious Tranquil Snow Lotuses right under his nose.

Although he was masked at the time, and the strange field isolated his aura, Xilun would never underestimate the intuition of a grief-stricken second-tier powerhouse.

A murderous intent crept into Xilun's eyes like ink.

He stood there, frantically weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

If you were outside and facing a Tier 2 Ripper at its peak, even if you used all your trump cards, you would probably only be able to barely protect yourself, and there was even a risk of your demise.

But this is a strange realm, an absolute cage that can suppress the life force of a second-tier expert to the peak of the first tier.

More importantly, Dean is now all alone and clearly doesn't recognize himself as the man who killed his son.

If possible, it would be best to let Dean die here. Xiren's eyes flashed wildly in the dim light, like a lone wolf stalking its prey in the night.

Letting him walk out alive would be an unpredictable time bomb for me.

"What's wrong?" Raphael keenly sensed the subtle change in Xilun's aura, a signal of extreme danger that sent a chill down his spine.

Xilun quickly concealed the sharpness in his eyes, shook his head, and perfectly hid his murderous intent beneath a calm mask:

"It's nothing. I've skimmed through the text here, and it is indeed obscure and difficult to understand; it's not something you can decipher in a short time."

I heard you mention earlier that there's a sacred tree behind this main hall; perhaps there's some fortuitous encounter there. I plan to go and take a look.

Seeing that Xilun had changed the subject, Raphael didn't press the matter further and nodded, saying:

"Go and try it. That tree has many fruits and leaves, and I've seen people benefit from it; it has many incredible uses."

However, that sacred tree has a strange temperament; it all depends on fate.

"What did you get?" Siren asked casually.

Raphael gave a wry smile, then casually reached into his robes and took out a withered yellow leaf.

The edges of the leaf were curled and the veins were shriveled; it looked like a fallen leaf that could be found anywhere by the roadside.

"This is all I got. I studied it for a long time, but I can't see any spirituality in it, and I don't know what use it is."

But since it was given by the sacred tree, it must be a treasure.

Xilun leaned closer for a look, and the leaf was indeed extremely ordinary, without any fluctuation of qi or blood, nor any spiritual energy from the mystical side.

But he secretly noted in his heart that every plant and tree in this strange place was eerie, and the more ordinary something seemed, the more extraordinary it often was.

"I'll go take a look too." Xilun didn't linger any longer. He nodded slightly to Lafi, turned around, and walked steadily over the pools of blood on the ground, heading straight for the back door deep inside the main hall.

Only when Xilun's tall, black figure completely disappeared at the end of the corridor did the suffocating sense of oppression in the hall finally collapse.

The long-suppressed discussions suddenly erupted like boiling water.

"Could it be... that he really understood the scriptures on the wall? Otherwise, how could he have shattered the skull of a Hawk family guard with a single punch!"

Some people stared in astonishment at the flamboyant Chinese characters on the wall, their eyes filled with disbelief.

"Impossible!" another nobleman in ornate soft armor immediately retorted loudly, "This must be a lost ancient script."

If it is a family of viscount rank or higher, perhaps there is an extremely ancient library that can preserve a few words, which might be understandable.

But a commoner without even a family crest? Absolutely impossible! This is a barrier of knowledge, not something that can be broken down by brute force!

The people around him nodded in agreement.

Indeed, ordinary people may possess extraordinary comprehension, be able to hone their perseverance in the face of life and death, and even have extraordinary physical talents.

However, knowledge, especially the mystical knowledge that had been monopolized by the nobility for thousands of years, was their greatest constraint.

"Perhaps he just happened to improve his original breathing technique."

Some people looked evasive, forcing themselves to accept this relatively reasonable explanation.

After all, admitting that a commoner had surpassed all the noble prodigies in comprehension was more painful than killing them.

But on the other side of the hall, the group from the Platinum Club looked particularly solemn.

"Has Ross not arrived yet?" A middle-aged man frowned and asked his subordinate in a low voice.

The others shook their heads, their expressions revealing unease.

"It's such a pity that Ross missed out on such an incredible opportunity."

The middle-aged man sighed, his gaze deep. "He separated from the main group from the beginning, and I don't know what he took Rox with him to do."

His second-tier clan uncle also left the group, leaving our Platinum Club without two Extreme Realm warriors in this most crucial area, putting us at a disadvantage in every way.

Meanwhile, in another corner, several remaining elite members of the Shudalk family were sitting together.

An elderly man with a weathered face stood up, dusted off his long robe, and sighed:

"I think we don't need to keep trying to understand it. This thing doesn't belong to us at all, and no one will be able to comprehend its secrets."

Continuing to linger here is just a waste of our remaining time.

"Have all the words been engraved?" He turned to look at the two people beside him.

"It's all been engraved on the booklet, not a single word is wrong." The two men respectfully patted the thick leather booklet in their arms.

The old man nodded slightly: "Let's explore in a different direction. This ancient site is vast, and there may be other hidden opportunities."

After saying that, he turned his gaze to the corner.

There, a person sat cross-legged with lowered eyes, his face as still as a dried corpse that had just crawled out of a grave.

That's Dean.

Dean's cheeks were sunken, his eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was bleak as he suppressed a fury that seemed to be about to burst his chest.

At that moment, he slowly raised his head, staring intently at the back door where Xilun had disappeared, his tightly furrowed brows trembling violently.

He hesitated, that figure from behind, that posture carrying the big gun, that chillingly ruthless pace...

It's so similar! It's frantically overlapping with the demonic figure in my mind who shot his own son through the heart outside the bronze gate!

Although the person was masked, and although he had changed his clothes...

Dean stood up abruptly, his voice hoarse as if two pieces of sandpaper were rubbing together: "I'm going out for a bit."

"Dean!" The old man's expression changed, and he hissed, "Now all the forces are searching for the final opportunity. You're all alone; what if you encounter danger..."

Dean didn't turn his head.

His eyes, like abysses burning with eerie green flames, were fixed on the direction Xilun had left in, as he stepped out of the hall.

At this moment, Xilun had already stepped out of the cold and oppressive atmosphere of the main hall.

The view suddenly opened up before me. The broken walls and ruins began to diminish, replaced by green mountains and clear waters. The air was filled with a very fresh fragrance of grass and trees, and I could faintly hear a few ethereal birdsongs.

Occasionally, two or three figures could be seen rummaging through the ruins in the distance, but they all exercised great restraint and no conflict occurred.

Xilun squinted slightly, discerned the direction, and walked towards the towering sacred tree in the center of the mountain range.

Because the main force had been searching this place for several days, and all valuable resources in the surrounding area had already been looted, the closer one got to the sacred tree, the fewer people there were.

The surrounding streams murmured, and the mountains and forests soared into the clouds. Through the dense foliage, one could see many enormous, strange creatures roaming the deep mountains.

But they all seemed to hold the sacred tree in some kind of awe and dared not approach it easily.

Xilun turned his gaze to the very center.

There, a towering tree, seemingly piercing the sky, was bursting forth with dazzling rays of light, a truly wondrous sight.

Sure enough, anyone who walks here can easily recognize that this is the legendary sacred tree.

The tree canopy was incredibly vibrant, with its lush foliage covering half of the mountainside.

As Xilun approached, he could even see where the precious tree was rooted, with faint crimson lightning flashing in the soil, shimmering and colorful, like a divine miracle.

Xilun observed from afar, then slowed his pace and approached cautiously.

Just then, faint but heavy footsteps sounded on the path behind them, which was covered with fallen leaves.

"rustle……"

Xilun did not turn around. His hearing had already reached an abnormal level thanks to his "far-hearing" talent.

He could clearly tell that the newcomer's breathing was extremely heavy. Although his blood and qi were suppressed, the restrained, viscous feeling was definitely a characteristic of a second-tier expert.

He turned around, his face calm as still water.

A dozen meters away, a middle-aged man holding a bronze spear slowly approached.

It was Dean.

He was like a lion on the verge of exploding in rage, and the murderous aura he had displayed on the snowy mountain a few days ago rose up again, locking onto Xilun.

However, this time, Xilun did not choose to lie low in the shadows.

He stopped and slammed the heavy alloy gun onto the ground with a dull thud.

Then, he crossed his arms and looked coldly at Dean who was approaching. There was no panic in his eyes, only unfathomable depth and calculation.

The wind blew gently through the woods, scattering a few withered yellow leaves that swirled and fell between the two of them.

Dean stopped ten steps away from Xiren.

This is an extremely delicate distance, maintaining sufficient deterrence while leaving room for maneuver.

His bloodshot eyes were fixed on Xilun, his gaze scraping across Xilun's face, body, and weapons like a razor blade.

A moment later, Dean's brow furrowed even more.

Firstly, he was not sure if the young man named Xilun in front of him was really the masked murderer who had snatched the Tranquil Snow Lotus and killed his son outside the Bronze Gate.

After all, the scene was too chaotic at the time, and the other party was masked and their aura was concealed by special means.

Secondly, the strength that Xilun just displayed in the main hall was truly astonishing.

Dean was greatly surprised that he could defeat the Hawk family's elite forces single-handedly against four opponents.

Logically speaking, the person who attacked his son outside the bronze gate, although ruthless, only displayed a mere ordinary first-level extreme power.

and many more!

A thought flashed through Dean's mind, and he began to think quickly.

The person who attacked him unleashed combat power at the first-tier extreme realm without any formation suppression.

In other words, that person could not possibly be a high-level teacher who had infiltrated from outside; they could only be a contestant like them, or a recommender from some powerful organization.

Among these contestants, the one with such superhuman strength and such a ruthless, lone-wolf style is undoubtedly the most suspicious one: Xilun!

Dean opened his chapped lips, pondered for a moment, and, trying to suppress the tremor in his voice, asked coldly:

"Your name is Xilun, right? I saw them all calling you that in the main hall just now."

Xilun nodded slightly, his eyes not even flinching, showing none of the ferocity and panic he displayed when attacking Dean on the snowy mountain a few days ago.

"Is there something you need?" Xilun's voice was devoid of any emotion. "No, I'm leaving now, I'm in a hurry."

Dean chuckled twice, a laugh even more unpleasant than the hooting of an owl:

"Hehe, it's nothing. It's just that seeing you suddenly reminded me of someone familiar. Your figure is very similar to his."

Xilun didn't show even a hint of curiosity, simply giving a faint "Oh," then turning around as if to leave: "If there's nothing else, I'm going."

"Wait!" Dean's anxiety grew as he saw that the other party was completely tight-lipped. He took a step forward abruptly. "I have something else I'd like to ask."

Xiren stopped, turned his head, and glanced at Dean out of the corner of his eye, his tone laced with impatient mockery:

"What benefit do I get from answering your question?"

Dean's face stiffened, his aristocratic pride stung, but he forcibly suppressed his anger and gritted his teeth, saying:

"After we leave this strange place, I can give you some money."

Upon hearing this, Xilun raised an eyebrow, seemingly showing some interest in the suggestion, and nodded, saying, "I'll think about it. Go ahead and ask."

Dean kept a close eye on every micro-expression of Xilen, but to his disappointment, Xilen's expression remained calm and indifferent, as if he were just an irrelevant person haggling over money, without the slightest hint of panic or guilt.

Dean began to weigh the options in his mind. If this person in front of him was truly the murderer, then that person must die!

He must reclaim the Tranquil Snow Lotus and use the head of his enemy to appease the soul of Deford.

The problem is that he is currently under the suppression of the rules of the strange realm, and his blood and qi can only be exerted at the level of the first-order extreme realm.

The fighting prowess that Xilun just displayed was simply that of a monster in human skin.

If a real fight broke out, I'm afraid I wouldn't be a match for the other side.

But if Xilun isn't the murderer, then if he makes a move, he'll be killing the wrong person.

This also presents a huge problem. If the news were to leak out, it would be an unwise move to needlessly provoke a high-ranking knight with unlimited potential and even official backing for the Shudalk family.

Dean weighed the pros and cons and took a deep breath:

"A small question. Where were you a few days ago when the strange phenomena occurred over the Great Snow Mountain? Is there anyone who can testify on your behalf?"

Siren turned around, facing Dean's murderous gaze directly, and calmly replied:

"At first, I trained alone. After the ruins in the Grand Canyon opened, I found a place of opportunity called 'Heavy Water Cloud River,' where I secluded myself for several days to cultivate diligently, and I have only just emerged from seclusion. As for testifying..."

Xilun sneered, "I'm a lone wolf, who do I need to testify for? Anything else? If not, I'm leaving."

Seeing that Xilun's words were watertight and that he was eager to leave again, Dean pondered with an uncertain expression.

No one can testify? That's perfectly normal in Wonderland, but it also means that his suspicion seems to have increased.

But that's not necessarily true. After all, there are indeed great opportunities in Chongshui Yunhe, and many people are in seclusion there.