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nA student who was participating in the competition, looking very pale with blood all drained from his face, said, “Someone is devouring our Immense Righteous Energy. If we didn’t attack, the speed of loss slowed down. The moment we utilized our Immense Righteous Energy, we lost it a lot faster. It was totally out of our control.”

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nInwardly, Zhao Jishan had his own speculation as well. Earlier on, the Immense Righteous Energy in his body had decreased a lot too.

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nThe higher-ups exchanged glances.

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nOne of them said, “Has that Daoist priest from the Supreme Pure Temple turned against us?”

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nZhao Jishan shook his head. “He wouldn’t dare! The Deputy Hall Master of Yama had personally gotten involved. If he changes his mind at the last minute, even with the protection of the Supreme Pure Temple, he will probably die a horrible death.”

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nThe high-level member seemed to recall something belatedly and said again, “I’d almost forgotten about this if we hadn’t brought it up. I didn’t see this guy earlier.”

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n“Could it be that the matter has been exposed? Has he been silenced?” Zhao Jishan asked.

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nFor a moment they all looked grim.

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nAfter a long pause,

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nZhao Jishan looked at one of the scholars and said, “Old Gu, the skills you practiced are rather unique. Take note of the situation in the afternoon’s challenge. Locate the source and think of a way to resolve it.”

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n“All right,” Old Gu agreed.

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n“Send word to Yama and ask them to give us a satisfactory explanation.”

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nIn the afternoon,

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nthe drill ground bustled with activity again.

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nOnly Xiao Ran and Little Zhou were left on the roof.

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nLittle Zhou pursed his lips. “Our Lord is too impatient, isn’t he? In order to get a good seat, he has been standing guard up front since the start of the noon time intermission.”

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nXiao Ran shook his head. “A hundred thousand taels is not a small sum.”

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nLittle Zhou lowered his voice. “I think it’s a lost cause! I’m afraid there’s no chance of him getting back the 100,000 taels of silver.”

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nXiao Ran laughed on hearing his words.

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nThe battle began.

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nAs the people from both sides went onto the arena, the surrounding spectators cheered for the Lunar Reflection Institute.

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nThe scene was very lively.

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nXiao Ran took out the Source Consuming Pearl and began the process of sucking in the Immense Righteous Energy of the Yin Incubation Institute again.

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nIn the midst of the crowd,

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nOld Gu had changed his attire and stood on the periphery. He found a good location so that he could search for the perpetrator responsible for this stealthy covert attack.

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n“Now is the time.”

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nSensing that the Immense Righteous Energy had already begun to leak away, Old Gu activated the Deep Void Energy Attraction Technique. In tandem with his Immense Righteous Energy, he sensed and assessed the surrounding Immense Righteous Energy leaking away.

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nVery soon,

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nhis gaze was locked onto Xiao Ran.

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nFollowing his gaze locking onto himself, Xiao Ran seemed to have sensed his presence as well. “You discovered it so quickly?”

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nHe continued to watch the competition.

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n“Connate Realm? Could the Source Consuming Pearl be on him?” Old Gu thought with a frown.

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nThe Deep Void Energy Attraction Technique had many uses. Other than sensing auras, it could also check one’s skill evolution level.

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nXiao Ran had suppressed his skill evolution level at the Connate Realm. Anyone using special techniques or Spiritual Eyesight type of secret techniques, could see this evolution level he deliberately displayed.

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nOld Gu checked and confirmed again that he was indeed a Connate Realm practitioner, and wasn’t hiding his evolution level.

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nOld Gu sneered silently and issued Xiao Ran a death sentence. It didn’t matter how he obtained the Source Consuming Pearl. He would pay with his life if he dared to use it to absorb their Immense Righteous Energy.

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nAs the three matches ended,

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nnot surprisingly, Lunar Reflection Institute lost again. Three defeats in a row. They suffered a painful drubbing, following the Scholastic Incubation Institute’s footsteps.

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nScowling with a clouded expression, the principal threw down a treasure and left in a huff.

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nOn the other hand, the three students from the Yin Incubation Institute who participated in the competition were in a wretched state. Xiao Ran had sucked away too much this time and crippled their skills.

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nAfter they had gone back, even with the help of treasures, they would no longer be able to practice and evolve their Immense Righteous Energy again.

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nShen Yiming returned with a stony countenance. “I must be really blind to bet my money on them.”

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nLittle Zhou took out a stack of banknotes worth about a thousand taels. “My Lord, do you want me to lend you some money?”

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n“You think I need this from you?” Shen Yiming glared at him fiercely and left in a huff.

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n“Brother Xiao, what’s gotten into our Lord?”

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n“Would you be happy if you lost a large sum of money?” Leaving Little Zhou to digest his words, Xiao Ran left the Lunar Reflection Institute.

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nOn the way back,

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nhe deliberately activated his spiritual soul energy to scout around.

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nThe scholar from the Yin Incubation Institute followed him sneakily. The corners of Xiao Ran’s mouth curled up and he said with a wicked expression, “So you have decided to proactively deliver yourself to me? Then I can dig out the secret from you this time.”

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nHe did not return to his home in Jingwen Square.

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nHe made his way to the moat. It was quiet and quite suitable for burying bodies.

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nWhen he reached his destination, Xiao Ran stopped.

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nThere wasn’t much in the way of human traffic so Old Gu stopped hiding and emerged from somewhere in the back.

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n“How did the Source Consuming Pearl end up in your hands?”

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n“I thought you would stay in the back and keep following me,” Xiao Ran said.

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nOld Gu felt that something was wrong, but the other guy was clearly only at the Connate Realm. He thought he might perhaps be thinking too much.

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n“You discovered my presence a long time ago?”

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n“What do you think?”

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n“You must have some special numinous treasure on you. That’s why you realized that I was following you,” Old Gu said.

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n“Speak! Who is behind all this?”

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nXiao Ran shrugged. “Your luck is really too terrible. Of all people, you had to bump into me the first time you launched your dastardly scheme.”

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n“You think I’ll believe that?”

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n“It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you’re here now,” Xiao Ran said.

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nOld Gu sneered. “You think you can turn the tables around?”

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nSwish!

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nWith his Traversing the Heavens in Twelve Steps, which had reached Genesis level, Xiao Ran re-appeared in front of him in a single step. He was so fast that Old Gu didn’t even have time to react. He grabbed his neck and lifted him off the ground.

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nWild violent spirit energy rushed into his body and ruptured all the meridians in his body.

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n“Ah…” Old Gu’s body was racked with excruciating pain.

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nXiao Ran casually threw him to the ground and asked, “Why did you guys collude with the Yama group and get the Daoist priest from the Supreme Pure Temple to attack?”

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n“W-who exactly are you?”

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n“I’m the one asking the questions, not you.” Xiao Ran stomped on him.

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nThe sheer force of the stomp was more than what he could stomach, and he almost fainted.

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n“Just you wait! We won’t let you off.” Old Gu was also a ruthless person. With that threat, he bit his tongue and committed suicide.

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n“I thought the older they are, the more fearful of death they are?” Xiao Ran was stunned by this turn of events.

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nHe was already gone before he could start torturing him.

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nWith a flick of his fingers,

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nthe Empyrean Conflagration Holy Fire landed on Old Gu’s body and turned his corpse to ashes.

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nThe Golden Tome of Creation flipped open to a random page and displayed two items: 500,000 Mastery points, Thunderfire Golden Essence Pill.

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nHe added the 500,000 Mastery points to the Sanctifying Righteous Treasure Tome.

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nAfter the attributes were refreshed,

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nSanctifying Righteous Treasure Tome: Dominating Refinement

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nHe took out the Thunderfire Golden Essence Pill and used it to strengthen his physical body. When the pill entered his stomach, his physical body advanced another step and it was now comparable to a Level 4 Grand Master.

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nAt a courier station,

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ninside a room,

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nit was already dark and Old Gu hadn’t returned. It was feared that he must have met with some accident.

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nZhao Jishan and the other higher-ups sat in the room with grim stony expressions.

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n“I’m afraid Old Gu won’t be able to come back!”

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nAs he spoke, the others nodded solemnly in agreement.

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n“We can’t hide this matter anymore. If Old Gu doesn’t return by tomorrow morning, we’ll make our move first to gain the upper hand. We’ll pretend to retreat and demand that the Imperial Court give us an explanation. Otherwise, when they come to their senses and realize that we’re missing a person, we will be put on the back foot,” Zhao Jishan said.

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nNone of them had any objections.

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n“What did the guys at Yama say?”

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n“They’re also investigating, but they don’t have any leads either. However, after this incident, I’m afraid that the hidden perpetrators will continue to devour our Immense Righteous Energy tomorrow. If this continues, even if this mission is completed, we will suffer heavy losses,” one of the higher-ups said.

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