Chapter 79

After Li Xiao left, he did not return to his residence but instead headed straight for the highest peak within the Liuyun Sect’s territory.

"Whoosh!" Parting the clouds and mist, Li Xiao instantly stood at the foot of the mountain, a fawning smile on his face as he loudly and respectfully said, "Senior Master Ma, your disciple Li Xiao has come to return the Life and Death Realm."

"Huff" As soon as Li Xiao’s words ended, the thick clouds and mist at the mountain’s midsection violently churned, as if a large hand had reached out from within, tearing the mist in two, instantly revealing a wide path.

A black figure darted down the path at lightning speed, reaching Li Xiao in the blink of an eye.

"Disciple Li Xiao greets Senior Brother Wang." Seeing the black-robed elder, Li Xiao immediately bowed respectfully.

"No need for formalities, bring me the Life and Death Realm." The black-robed elder’s face was expressionless, and he coldly extended his right hand.

"This... Senior Brother Wang, the Life and Death Realm is of great importance. I should personally return it to Senior Master Ma. Could you please do me a favor and take me to see him, so I can also greet him?" Li Xiao immediately said with a look of difficulty.

The Life and Death Realm was a magical artifact that Senior Master Ma valued more than his own life. He rarely took it out, and if not for the need to test new disciples and the order of the Liuyun Sect’s leader, he would never have taken it out.

Therefore, Li Xiao did not dare to be negligent. As soon as the third trial ended, he immediately brought the Life and Death Realm back to avoid any accidents, for if something went wrong, even ten heads would not be enough to compensate.

"There’s no need. Master began his closed-door cultivation at noon. Before he entered seclusion, he already gave instructions for you to directly hand over the Life and Death Realm to me." The black-robed elder coldly said.

"Alright then, Senior Brother Wang, please take good care of this item. When Senior Master Ma comes out of seclusion, return it to him as soon as possible to avoid any accidents..." Li Xiao said with a bitter smile.

"Enough, hand it over." Hearing this, Senior Brother Wang’s brows furrowed, and he interrupted Li Xiao impatiently, seemingly annoyed by his verbosity.

"Senior Brother Wang, please." Li Xiao patted his waist storage bag and took out the Life and Death Realm, carefully handing it to Senior Brother Wang.

"Whoosh!" Senior Brother Wang took the Life and Death Realm, said nothing, and immediately turned around, quickly returning to the mid-mountain position. The clouds and mist behind him churned again, forming a massive defensive array.

"What a jerk, I spit!" Li Xiao glared at Senior Brother Wang’s back as it disappeared into the defensive array, cursing silently in his heart. Then, he moved and disappeared from the spot.

Time passed quickly, and it was already three days later.

During these three days, Lu Tianyu and the others stayed in the Liuyun Sect’s guest building, following orders and not leaving easily. Everyone was waiting for news from the sect, to see when the disciple initiation ceremony would be held.

Others might not know who their future master would be, but Lu Tianyu had already learned some information from the leading white-robed disciple, Li Xiang. If nothing unexpected happened, his master was likely to be Zhan Longxing.

Moreover, during this time, Lu Tianyu did not seek out Sima Ye. After the incident in the back mountain, where he had seen her bathing, he feared that meeting her suddenly might make both of them uncomfortable. So, he decided to wait a while, thinking that with time, everyone would gradually forget the incident, making future meetings less awkward.

On this day, Lu Tianyu was sitting in his room, meditating.

"Knock, knock, knock!" The door was suddenly knocked from outside, startling Lu Tianyu out of his meditation.

Since he was currently within the Liuyun Sect, he could receive messages from the sect at any time, so he was only in a semi-meditation state.

A semi-meditation state means that half of his mind was in meditation, while the other half was focused on the outside world, allowing him to be aware of any disturbances without risking a mental breakdown.

Lu Tianyu opened his eyes, quickly leaped out of bed, and rushed to the door, opening it. Seeing who was knocking, he was slightly taken aback.

"Ha ha, Brother Tianyu, didn’t expect it to be me, did you?" Xiaoyu, standing tall and graceful at the door, couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh at Lu Tianyu’s stunned expression. Behind her in the courtyard stood a giant white crane.

"Indeed, I didn’t expect it. Hehe, Xiaoyu, what brings you here?" Lu Tianyu smiled faintly and asked, puzzled.

"It’s not me looking for you, it’s my grandfather looking for you. Come with me quickly." Xiaoyu laughed and immediately pulled Lu Tianyu’s right arm, leading him towards the crane in the courtyard.

"Wait a moment, Xiaoyu, you haven’t told me who your grandfather is yet." Lu Tianyu became even more puzzled and quickly stopped, staring at Xiaoyu.

"My grandfather is the Liuyun Sect senior who supervised the first and second trials. How could you forget him so quickly? My grandfather talks about you all day." Xiaoyu pouted, displeased.

"He’s your grandfather?" Lu Tianyu couldn’t help but inwardly sigh.

"Yes, stop dawdling. My grandfather is waiting for you. Come with me quickly." Xiaoyu immediately increased her grip and pulled Lu Tianyu onto the crane’s back.

"Red, let’s go back." With a command, the giant crane lifted its head and let out a deafening cry, then flapped its wings and soared into the sky, heading straight for Zhan Longxing’s residence.

In less than five minutes, Lu Tianyu and Xiaoyu arrived at the entrance of the Zhan residence.

"Red, go play by yourself. I’ll call you if I need you." Xiaoyu patted the crane’s back, and it nodded its large head, spreading its wings and flying away.

Following Xiaoyu into the Zhan residence, Lu Tianyu soon met Zhan Longxing in the garden at the back.

At this moment, Zhan Longxing had just woken up from a drunken state, still a bit groggy, not fully recovered. He was leaning on a large stone chair in the garden pavilion, eyes closed, resting.

But sensing Lu Tianyu’s arrival, Zhan Longxing’s half-closed eyes suddenly opened, shooting out two beams of dazzling light. He quickly stood up from the stone chair and personally greeted Lu Tianyu at the garden entrance.

This showed how much Zhan Longxing valued Lu Tianyu.

"Grandfather, I’ve brought Brother Tianyu to see you." Xiaoyu, seeing her grandfather, happily stepped forward and held his arm.

"Hehe, thank you, little treasure. You go play for a while. Grandfather has some things to discuss with Little Yu." Zhan Longxing immediately smiled and playfully pinched Xiaoyu’s nose.

"Grandfather, you pinched my nose again. Humph, I won’t talk to you anymore." Xiaoyu, seeing this, was greatly displeased and pouted.

"Mistake, mistake. Grandfather forgot. Xiaoyu, don’t be angry. After Grandfather finishes talking with Little Yu, I’ll have Little Yu play with you, okay?" Zhan Longxing quickly explained.

"Okay, for Brother Tianyu’s sake, I’ll forgive you this time. No more next time. I’ll go now. Finish your talk quickly. I’ll come back to play with Brother Tianyu later." Xiaoyu smiled at Lu Tianyu and quickly left.

"This child..." Zhan Longxing couldn’t help but shake his head with a bitter smile.

Seeing this, Lu Tianyu couldn’t help but think of his grandfather, Lu Bingwei. When he was young, his grandfather had also played and joked with him. But everything changed after Wang Cuimei married into the Lu family.

To this day, his grandfather and over a thousand direct relatives of the Lu family still lay coldly in the mass grave. Thinking of this, Lu Tianyu’s fists clenched tightly, his eyes filled with red hatred.

"Little Yu, Little Yu..." Seeing Lu Tianyu’s sudden change in expression, Zhan Longxing was greatly surprised and immediately raised his voice, calling out loudly.

"Ah? Junior greets Senior." Awakened by Zhan Longxing’s loud call, Lu Tianyu came back to his senses and quickly bowed.

"No need for formalities, Little Yu. What were you thinking just now?" Zhan Longxing immediately probed, a faint suspicion forming in his mind.

"Oh, Senior, I was just thinking about some hateful people and hateful things, which made me lose my composure. Please forgive me, Senior." Lu Tianyu quickly explained.

Hearing this, the smile on Zhan Longxing’s face faded like a receding tide, and his expression became extremely serious. After a moment of thought, he slowly asked, "Little Yu, are you referring to the third trial three days ago?"

Three days ago, Zhan Longxing had heard about Lu Tianyu entering the Life and Death Realm as a real person, but he wasn’t fully aware of the details. Today, he had summoned Lu Tianyu to inquire about it.

"Senior, you already know about what happened three days ago?" Lu Tianyu’s heart stirred, but he didn’t contradict Zhan Longxing. Instead, he asked, wanting to clarify whether this matter had anything to do with Zhan Longxing. After all, the supervisor of the third trial was originally Zhan Longxing, but he happened to be absent that day, and Li Xiao had taken his place. If he didn’t clarify this, he would always have a lingering doubt about Zhan Longxing.

"Yes, I heard some things, but not in detail. Little Yu, can you tell me why you entered the Life and Death Realm as a real person? What exactly happened inside the Life and Death Realm?" Zhan Longxing continued to ask, puzzled.

"Actually, I still don’t understand. It might have been a mistake by Senior Li." Lu Tianyu immediately said calmly.

"Impossible. Li Lao Gui is my junior brother, and he is extremely cautious and careful. There’s no way he would make such a low-level mistake. Little Yu, if you know something, I hope you can tell me. I promise you, whoever wants to harm you, I will not let them off easily." Zhan Longxing immediately said with a stern face.

"Senior Li is your junior brother?" Lu Tianyu’s heart suddenly surged with anger, but he concealed it well, showing no signs.

"Yes, what’s wrong?" Zhan Longxing immediately asked, puzzled.

"Nothing, Senior. I really don’t know what happened that day. And inside the Life and Death Realm, I didn’t encounter any danger. Thank you for your concern, Senior." Lu Tianyu immediately said calmly, knowing that after learning about Zhan Longxing’s relationship with Li Xiao, he couldn’t speak frankly. Who knew if revealing the truth would lead to his own downfall?

This was political acumen and strategy. Although it wasn’t a good thing for Lu Tianyu to have such political acumen and strategy at a young age, it was a necessary survival skill in this world. Otherwise, he would have died countless times in the Lu family in the past.