I was kicked to death casually by...

Su Ji sighed softly in his heart.

As expected, it still wouldn't work.

With no ties of kinship or friendship, the fact that the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng was willing to give him a chance was already incredibly rare and valuable.

To think that just a few words could make a True Immortal risk his immense reputation to unhesitatingly help a nobody like him was nothing short of a fool's dream.

But as for dealing with that golden-robed man...

Su Ji had absolutely no confidence in his heart.

For now, he could only wait and see what the 'relic' actually was before making a decision.

Right at this moment.

A figure appeared in the line of sight of the three without any warning.

It was Zhao Wuji.

He had returned.

Zhao Wuji's face was frighteningly gloomy, and the protective spiritual energy around his body was chaotic.

In his eyes burned undisguised fury.

"Zhao Tianyang!"

"You've done very well!"

"You've done really well!"

Sprawled on the ground, Zhao Tianyang's body violently trembled.

"Patriarch... I just heard..."

Although he couldn't directly mention their 'loud conspiracy'.

He could tactfully express that this Pavilion Master had just begun to view Su Hao in a new light.

"Shut up!"

Zhao Wuji didn't give him a chance to explain at all. His figure flickered, appearing in front of Zhao Tianyang like a ghost.

He grabbed Zhao Tianyang by the neck and forcefully lifted him off the ground like a baby chick.

"Crack—"

A crisp sound of bone fracturing rang out.

Zhao Tianyang's neck was mercilessly snapped by Zhao Wuji.

His neck bent at a ninety-degree angle, and his murky eyes instantly went wide.

But this was not fatal.

Zhao Tianyang finally recovered from his daze.

He no longer held onto any shred of hope, leaving only the purest madness.

"Ahhhhhh—!"

Zhao Tianyang let out a shrill roar that scarcely sounded human.

In an instant.

His withered body suddenly expanded at this moment, and an extremely berserk spiritual energy explosively erupted from within him!

Zhao Tianyang looked like a mad demon, his eyes instantly filling with bloodlust!

He was going to die!

And he was going to drag this brat who ruined everything for him down to the grave together!

A desperate, dying strike from a Soul Formation cultivator—how terrifying it was!

The entire edge of the abyss trembled violently under his berserk aura.

Su Ji's expression also finally changed.

He hadn't expected this old thing to be so fierce, wanting to drag someone down with him even in death.

He subconsciously wanted to retreat.

However, a figure was even faster than him.

It was the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng.

He merely, simply raised his hand.

Then, facing the incoming streak of light, he pressed down in the air.

"Buzz—!"

A terrifying power that could not be described with words crashed down.

That space seemed to be tightly gripped by an invisible giant hand.

Zhao Tianyang's berserk figure instantly froze in midair, his crazed expression freezing along with it.

The terrifying energy about to erupt from his body was actually forcefully pressed back into his dantian under the suppression of this power.

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng's hovering hand gently clenched.

"Bang—!"

A muffled explosion.

Zhao Tianyang's withered body, along with the crazed expression on his face, instantly turned into a mist of blood, exploding in midair.

Flesh, bones, soul...

Everything was thoroughly crushed into powder under this grip.

A generation's Soul Formation cultivator was just like that, silently, completely erased from this world.

The edge of the abyss returned to silence.

As if everything that just happened was merely an illusion.

Zhao Wuji's reaction was half a beat slow, and only then did he manage to turn his head to look at the Pavilion Master.

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng did not have much of a change in expression on his face.

"This Venerable has no time to watch your family scandals."

"The environment here is also not suitable for your fighting."

"Let's just leave it at that."

Zhao Wuji opened his mouth, wanting to say something, like "How could you just kill him," or "I haven't asked where the real location is yet."

But when the words reached his lips, he couldn't say a single word.

He looked at the calm and breezy Pavilion Master of Tingfeng, who seemed to have just casually swatted a fly to death, and the thoughts in his heart were instantly extinguished by a chill.

Ask?

How could he ask?

Ask him why he didn't leave anyone alive?

What if he got a reply like "Are you teaching me how to do things?", where would he put this old face of his?

Then again, that old dog Zhao Tianyang had already developed rebellious intentions. Even if he kept him alive, who could guarantee that the so-called "true map" he revealed under severe torture wasn't another, even more ridiculously wrong dead end?

Rather than believing the nonsense of a traitor, it would be safer to explore on his own.

Thoughts spun rapidly in Zhao Wuji's mind, and the astonishment on his face caused by Zhao Tianyang's death was quickly replaced by his usual gloominess.

He respectfully clasped his fist towards the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng.

"Pavilion Master's divine might is unparalleled. It was Wuji's... lack of strict discipline that made you see a joke."

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids, merely waving his hand impatiently.

"Alright, enough with the useless talk."

He shifted his gaze from the abyss churning with baleful aura to the steep and smooth cliff face on one side.

"Since that old dog is dead, there is no way to distinguish the truth or falsehood of the map."

"Let's go take a look at this cliff face first."

As soon as these words came out, a bit of hesitation immediately appeared on Zhao Wuji's face.

"Pavilion Master, this..."

"Su Hao also said earlier that Zhao Tianyang once stated this path is a dead end..."

"A dead end?"

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng finally deigned to cast his gaze back onto Zhao Wuji, his handsome face bearing an undisguised arrogance.

"To you, perhaps it is a dead end."

"To me, not necessarily."

He extended a finger and tapped at the cliff face shrouded in gray mist. His tone was flat, yet it carried an ease born of absolute confidence.

"No matter how powerful Immortal Venerable Haoyue was in life, that was tens of thousands of years ago."

"With the erosion of time and the changing of the world, how much power could possibly remain in the methods she left behind after her fall?"

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng sneered.

"Could they really crush me head-on?"

Hearing this, Zhao Wuji opened his mouth but found himself speechless for a moment.

The logic was sound.

But...

He always felt something wasn't quite right.

Had this Pavilion Master suddenly become a bit too proactive?

From decisively killing Zhao Tianyang without hesitation just now, to taking the initiative to explore this "dead end," the desire for control and decisiveness he displayed made him seem like a completely different person from the one who was casually watching the show earlier.

Suspicions sprouted in Zhao Wuji's heart, but he didn't dare to ask.

He just assumed the Pavilion Master had grown impatient after watching two farces.

After all, the man had a massive faction waiting for him to return and take charge.

If this Pavilion Master really had any bad intentions toward him, why would he go through so many twists and turns?

Just like crushing that old dog Zhao Tianyang to death, attacking him would probably take no effort at all.

Thinking of this, Zhao Wuji forcefully suppressed the unease in his heart.

"The Pavilion Master is right."

He bowed again, his posture humble.

"Then... everything shall be as the Pavilion Master says."

And so, this temporary squad, having just weathered an internal conflict, slowly approached the steep cliff under the leadership of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng.

Su Ji followed at the very rear, his hands tucked away, not saying a single word. He looked like a mere tool with absolutely no presence.

Yet, deep down, he was already blooming with joy.

"Senior Brother, this Pavilion Master of Tingfeng seems even easier to fool than Zhao Tianyang?"

Su Jiu's voice echoed in his mind, carrying a trace of unconcealable amusement.

"It is not that he is easy to fool," Su Ji replied in his mind.

"It is that he is too confident."

"A person who is used to controlling everything, used to crushing his opponents with intelligence and sheer strength, will often overestimate his own judgment."

"Right now, he must think he has me completely figured out, believing that all my trump cards have been laid bare before him."

The corners of Su Ji's mouth curled up into a barely perceptible arc.

"But little does he know, I lied about the most crucial part of the story I just told."

"Where?" Su Jiu's voice was tinged with curiosity.

"I didn't just narrowly lose by a single move to that golden-robed bastard." Su Ji sneered coldly in his heart.

"I was... kicked to death by a casual strike."

Su Jiu, "..."

She felt as if she was struggling to keep up with her senior brother's train of thought.