Who exactly are you, Your Excellency

"Senior Brother, what do we do now..."

"Wait," Su Ji said only a single word.

"Wait?" Su Jiu was a bit puzzled.

"Yes, wait."

Su Ji's gaze swept over the messy ruins that had been reduced to a giant crater, eventually landing deep within the Xiangsi Sect, on those few mist-shrouded, faintly discernible mountain peaks.

The casual expression on his face remained unchanged, but his words made Su Jiu's heart skip a beat.

Su Jiu instantly understood what Su Ji meant.

The death of the Sect Master had caused such a massive commotion; there was absolutely no way to keep it hidden.

Within this Xiangsi Sect, there were bound to be other Golden Core elders holding down the fort.

Only, would those elders, who were usually as elusive as divine dragons, choose to avenge the Sect Master?

Or would they choose to... fight over the newly vacant position of Sect Master?

Or perhaps, would they be like Lin Qingliu, and without hesitation choose to pack the two of them up and hand them over to the Puppet Heaven Holy Land in exchange for their own survival?

"Then..." Su Jiu just started to say something.

But Su Ji waved his hand, interrupting her.

"No rush."

Barely had his voice faded.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several streaks of light in various colors shot into the sky from different directions deep within the Xiangsi Sect.

Those streaks of light paused briefly in mid-air, seemingly communicating with each other, before unanimously speeding toward the direction of the giant crater.

Contained within each streak of light was the powerful oppressive aura of the Golden Core realm.

Five streaks!

A full five streaks!

Su Jiu's expression instantly turned solemn.

She could feel that the auras of these five Golden Core elders were each not much weaker than Lin Qingliu's.

Five Golden Core elders mobilizing at the same time.

Such a lineup could likely easily flatten any second-rate sect within the Great Xia.

Yet Su Ji acted as if nothing was wrong. He even had the leisure to fish out a handful of melon seeds from his storage bag and offer them to Su Jiu.

"Junior Sister, want some?"

Su Jiu: "..."

She looked at the handful of melon seeds in Su Ji's hand, which still carried the scent of spirit stones from the storage bag, and then looked at his face written all over with relaxed coziness. For a moment, she actually didn't know how to react.

She was now beginning to suspect whether Su Ji was truly the reincarnation of some mighty figure, just playing around in the mortal world.

He was simply too carefree.

Besides, who in their right mind would mix melon seeds into a bag of spirit stones?

The situation was absolutely critical, and he still had the mind to snack on melon seeds?

Su Jiu gave him an exasperated eye-roll and didn't take them.

Su Ji didn't mind. He picked one up himself, expertly cracked it open with a crisp snap, popped the seed into his mouth, and casually flicked the shell away.

That demeanor didn't look like he was facing five murderous Golden Core elders; instead, it looked like he was at the entrance of a rural village watching a cricket fight.

Looking at his nonchalant and slacker-like appearance, for some reason, the tension in Su Jiu's heart actually dissipated quite a bit.

She simply followed Su Ji's example and cast her gaze toward those streaks of light drawing ever closer.

Who cares.

Anyway, if the sky fell, this unreliable Senior Brother would be there to hold it up.

In merely a moment's time.

The five streaks of light arrived howling through the air, hovering in the mid-air above the giant crater. They formed a semi-circular formation, faintly surrounding Su Ji and Su Jiu in the center.

The light faded, revealing five figures.

The leader was an old man in a green robe with pure white hair and beard, exuding a transcendent, immortal-like bearing.

Beside him were a voluptuous, scantily clad beautiful woman in a palace dress; a haggard-looking, gloomy middle-aged man in a gray robe; and a burly, fierce-looking one-eyed muscular man.

The last person was a young girl who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen, her hair tied in double buns, wearing a somewhat innocent and naive expression on her face.

The five Golden Core elders each had different expressions.

But as their gazes swept over the bottomless giant crater below, without exception, profound horror surfaced on their faces.

Although they had also felt that world-destroying sword intent from within their respective cave dwellings.

Seeing it with their own eyes was another matter entirely.

The Sect's Grand Hall, gone?

Even the few small hilltops in the back mountain looked as if a layer had been forcefully shaved off by something.

This... just what level of power was this?

Did a Supreme Elder from an outside sect take action?

The gazes of the five eventually fell in unison upon the center of the giant crater, onto those two seemingly unremarkable juniors.

One was the genius disciple who had just recently risen to fame, Su Jiu.

The other...

They didn't recognize him.

A nameless nobody at the first level of the Foundation Establishment realm.

"Su Jiu."

The leading green-robed old man spoke first, his voice hoarse, carrying an unquestionable majesty.

"What happened here?"

"Where is... the Sect Master?"

However, Su Jiu did not answer him.

Seeing Su Jiu remain silent, the leading green-robed elder frowned slightly, and his tone deepened a bit.

"Su Jiu, this old man is asking you a question."

"The Sect Master is highly respected. Now that the Sect's Grand Hall is destroyed and she is nowhere to be seen, as a disciple of the Xiangsi Sect, shouldn't you give an explanation?"

These words sounded like an interrogation, but in reality, it was a probe.

The five of them had rushed over, and their divine senses had already swept through this ruin no less than ten times, yet they hadn't sensed even a trace of Lin Qingliu's aura.

A cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core realm had just evaporated into thin air?

No matter how one thought about it, this matter reeked of something bizarre.

Su Jiu was just about to speak when Su Ji pulled her behind him.

He stuffed the last handful of melon seeds back into his storage bag, clapped his hands, and only then did he slowly raise his head to look at the five people in the sky.

"Who do you think you are?"

"Standing so high up to speak?"

Su Ji sneered. His demeanor completely disregarded the five Golden Core elders in the sky, whose combined ages could span thousands of years.

As soon as these words came out, the entire scene fell dead silent.

The five elders in the sky all froze in unison.

They even suspected if they had misheard.

An ant at the first level of Foundation Establishment actually dared to speak to them like this?

"Insolent!"

That one-eyed muscular man with the most fiery temper instantly flew into a rage. The oppressive aura of the Great Perfection of the Golden Core realm erupted from his body with a boom, crushing toward Su Ji like a massive mountain.

"A mere Foundation Establishment junior dares to bark madly in front of me?!"

"I think you're tired of living!"

The terrifying oppressive aura surged forward like a tidal wave.

But when that aura was still three feet away from Su Ji, it was as if it hit an invisible wall, dissipating silently.

Su Ji remained standing in place, not even a corner of his clothes fluttering.

The seemingly ordinary ancient green sword in his hand let out an almost inaudible, soft hum.

The one-eyed muscular man's pupils shrank abruptly.

For the first time, solemn expressions also surfaced on the faces of the other four elders.

They saw it clearly; that kid hadn't even made a move. It was that sword...

That sword could actually protect its master on its own, easily dissolving the oppressive aura of a Golden Core cultivator?

What grade of magical artifact was this?

"Noisy."

Su Ji cast a somewhat impatient glance over the one-eyed muscular man and shook his head.

"At your age, you still have such a huge temper. No wonder you're still just an elder after hundreds of years."

"You!"

The one-eyed muscular man trembled with anger and was about to strike again.

"Enough."

The leading green-robed elder finally spoke, stopping him.

The elder's gaze landed on Su Ji, seemingly wanting to see completely through him from the inside out.

"Just who exactly are you, sir?"

With this, Su Ji's goal had been achieved.

Ah, cultivators...

The longer they live, the more paranoid they become.