Everything was going smoothly.
After all, the stationed envoys of Mirage Palace were merely Qi Circulation Realm outer court disciples, so dealing with them was an easy task for Zhou Jinyun.
Weaving Dreams Tower's illusion techniques were far too effective against those with lower cultivation levels.
No wonder the world had grown so resentful of Mirage Palace over the years.
Nearly a year had passed since they left Moxu Mountain and arrived in the surrounding areas of Mirage Palace.
Little Su was now fourteen years old and had grown quite a bit, already looking about as tall as the fifteen-year-old Zhou Jinyun.
But what surprised Zhou Jinyun the most was that Chen Yan had actually grown a bit taller too, and he looked somewhat more mature.
Little Zhou had originally thought Chen Yan was intentionally keeping his appearance as a teenager.
During this nearly year-long period, the relationship between Zhou Jinyun and Little Su had remained somewhat awkward.
Although in her free time, Little Zhou still acted as Little Su's sparring partner and taught him a great deal about the world of cultivation on Chenping Continent.
But aside from that, Little Zhou always seemed to deliberately stay away from Little Su.
Chen Yan felt that Little Zhou was still feeling guilty toward Little Su about what had happened at Moxu Inn on Moxu Mountain a year ago.
She simply didn't know how to face Little Su.
And this chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower had her own pride, especially since she was only fifteen years old.
Getting Zhou Jinyun to bow her head to Su Hongzhen was an extremely difficult task.
Little Su, on the other hand, was still cheerful as ever, as if none of it had bothered him in the slightest.
But Chen Yan knew that Little Su wasn't as carefree as he appeared on the surface.
He was actually a very sensitive person deep down, and his boisterous exterior was just a disguise.
Little Su had probably long since forgiven Little Zhou, or rather, from that day on, he had never blamed her at all.
But with one party constantly running away, their relationship could never truly mend.
As for this, Chen Yan simply chose to ignore it.
What did the affairs of young people have to do with him?
Chen Yan only needed to keep the general direction under control and make sure things didn't spiral out of hand.
Through those stationed envoys of Mirage Palace, Zhou Jinyun had obtained a great deal of information about the people on the list.
Although these stationed envoys were only outer court disciples of Mirage Palace.
They still knew a fair amount about the inner court.
After receiving this information, Chen Yan, Zhou Jinyun, and the others had been staying here, waiting for the right opportunity to capture the people on the list and interrogate them.
Zhou Jinyun had already captured one Martial Spring Realm cultivator from the list.
This Martial Spring Realm cultivator came from Mirage Palace's Ten Directions Tower and had participated in the Moxu Mountain incident a year ago.
Just like Fang Yuan, Zhou Jinyun hadn't gotten any information out of him.
Then, Zhou Jinyun killed him.
After Zhou Jinyun killed that Ten Directions Tower Martial Spring Realm disciple, her first reaction was to check Su Hongzhen's response.
But Su Hongzhen had no reaction at all.
Just like before, when she had killed Fang Yuan right in front of Su Hongzhen.
The disappearance of a Ten Directions Tower Martial Spring Realm disciple naturally drew Mirage Palace's attention.
Ten Directions Tower's Dharma Pavilion had sent out two Qi Sea Realm protectors and several supervisors to investigate alongside Mirage Palace's outer court, but they still found nothing.
After all, with Chen Yan, an upper three realms great power, backing Little Zhou and Little Su and cleaning up after them.
Not a single trace was left behind.
As for what had happened at Moxu Mountain, it had spread throughout Chenping Continent half a year ago.
In a single night, over seventy thousand cultivators from Moxu Mountain had all died mysteriously.
This included even two Passable God Realm cultivators, and none of their bodies showed any external injuries.
The occurrence of such a tragedy had undoubtedly shaken the entire Chenping Continent.
Rumors in the cultivation world said it was the work of some upper three realms great power who practiced evil arts.
Mirage Palace's Supreme Martial Pacification Court had sent a Grand Elder to personally oversee the investigation.
But Chen Yan remembered Zhou Jinyun telling him that Grand Elder Jing Bai was also from the Supreme Martial Pacification Court.
He wondered if that bastard Jing Bai was crying thief while being the thief himself.
...
Lu Kingdom, Luzhou.
Lu Kingdom was also one of the four kingdoms adjacent to Mirage Palace, and Luzhou was a sparsely populated prefecture within Lu Kingdom.
Most importantly, a stationed envoy residence of Mirage Palace was set up here.
Then, Chen Yan used his spiritual sense to cover Luzhou's stationed envoy residence, collecting travel information about the people on the list and looking for opportunities.
To that end, Chen Yan had brought Little Su and Little Zhou here and spent thirty taels of silver to purchase a courtyard in Luzhou.
Of course, those thirty taels of silver were also derived by Chen Yan using the Great Derivation Art.
Inside the courtyard, two figures in gray robes were darting and dodging—Su Hongzhen was sparring with Zhou Jinyun again.
In one year, Little Su's cultivation level had only risen from early Qi Circulation Realm to mid Qi Circulation Realm, nothing more.
Chen Yan wasn't surprised by this at all.
Because compared to raising his realm, what Little Su currently valued more was clearly something else.
Zhou Jinyun's realm advancement, on the other hand, was much faster.
She was already at late Martial Spring Realm.
Although Zhou Jinyun had never left Chen Yan with the impression of being a hardworking cultivator, her cultivation was indeed progressing by leaps and bounds.
Even though their personalities were completely different, Zhou Jinyun's talent for cultivation reminded Chen Yan of someone.
Qin Qingyu of Star Heaven Sect, eight thousand years from now.
Compared to Qin Qingyu, Zhou Jinyun's personality was clearly more detached.
Before participating in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, Qin Qingyu had actually long since been able to break through to the Qi Sea Realm.
But she had been set on winning the champion title of Heavenly Summit Mountain, so she deliberately suppressed her cultivation and never broke through.
Chen Yan still remembered his duel with Qin Qingyu on Heavenly Summit Mountain back then.
He had given it his all at the time, but he just couldn't win.
"Truly the talent for Immortal Ascension."
Chen Yan murmured softly.
But...
He turned his gaze toward the two figures sparring in the courtyard.
Although on the surface, Zhou Jinyun still seemed to have the upper hand.
Chen Yan knew very well that this was only because of Zhou Jinyun's realm advantage.
As early as a year ago, when Zhou Jinyun fought Su Hongzhen, even using her illusion techniques, she could barely gain any advantage.
Let alone now.
If Zhou Jinyun's realm were suppressed to a level similar to Su Hongzhen's, she would have undoubtedly lost long ago.
The talent for Immortal Ascension was certainly formidable.
But some people's talent was beyond even Immortal Ascension.