"I ran into an acquaintance."
Ling explained softly, a hint of a smile playing in her eyes.
Upon hearing this, all three looked puzzled, not understanding what Zero meant.
Speaking of acquaintances, who would he know in this upper realm...?
Who could possibly be here...?
"Brother Ling, may I ask who this acquaintance you mentioned is...?"
Unable to contain his confusion, Jiang Quan finally asked.
“Xuan Qing, disciple of the Pavilion Master of Qianchen Pavilion and former member of Xuanji Pavilion.”
Zero slowly revealed the identity of that "acquaintance".
"What!?"
Upon hearing this, all three were shocked.
"When the Xuanji Pavilion was in trouble, I heard that everyone in the pavilion disappeared, but now someone has appeared here. It seems the rumors were not true..."
Mei Shiqi muttered something under her breath.
Bi Hui nodded in agreement:
"Yes, it's quite unexpected to encounter someone from the Xuanji Pavilion here. But... Brother Ling, what's this about the 'disciple of the Pavilion Master of Qianchen Pavilion' you mentioned earlier? Could this person be Chen Xin's disciple?"
Hearing this, Zero knew they were unaware of Xuan Qing's identity. He smiled and brushed it off, saying:
"Let's go ask."
As he spoke, he moved forward and walked towards where Xuanqing was.
"Why……"
The three were about to remind Zero to be careful when they saw him walk up to the man and start talking to him.
They shook their heads, exchanged a glance, and followed.
...
"haven't seen you for a long time."
Zero greeted him softly.
Upon hearing the voice, Xuanqing instinctively asked, "Who is it?" and then turned to go in the direction of the sound.
Upon seeing this, a look of shock immediately appeared on his face, which had become mature and resolute after two years of tempering.
"……zero?"
He asked with some suspicion and uncertainty.
"It's me."
Ling smiled and nodded, looking at the young man in front of her who had shed his naivety and arrogance and exuded composure, and replied with a smile.
"Is it really you?! How did you get to the Upper Realm?"
Upon hearing Zero's affirmative answer, Xuan Qing was excited but also showed a hint of doubt.
Ling reached out to flick his head, but Xuan Qing gently dodged it by turning to the side.
He's not the impulsive teenager he used to be...
It seems that Xuanqing has grown a lot in the past two years.
Zero slowly said:
"Two whole years have passed since you left, and there has been no news from you. In addition, things have suddenly become peaceful over there, which has made me uneasy. I guessed that Li Su might have come to the Upper Realm, so I wanted to come up here to take a look and find you as well."
Xuanqing nodded, and then said:
"But how did you find your way here?"
...
Upon hearing this, Zero quickly recounted his group's experiences in a brief manner.
"I see, I didn't expect you to come in directly through the teleportation array..."
Zero and the others nodded, but apart from Zero, the others remained silent and listened quietly.
"But... what are you doing here? Wasn't Qianchen Pavilion closed down?"
After explaining how the four of them had come here, Ling asked Xuanqing a question.
Xuan Qing glanced around a few times, then whispered to Ling:
"There might be eavesdroppers here, follow me."
After he finished speaking, he glanced at the three people on the edge of the zero line. When he saw Mei Shiqi, he frowned slightly, but did not say anything more.
"You all come over here too."
After saying that, he turned and walked to the right, and the four of them naturally followed.
After everyone had entered a room, Xuanqing slowly turned around and pressed a button on the wall.
After a slight rumble as the wall closed, he turned to face the crowd.
"You must be very curious as to why the people from the Thousand Dust Pavilion, which has already been sealed off, would appear here, right?"
"It's actually very simple, because Qianchen Pavilion has not been truly sealed off."
"What's the meaning?"
Is this sealed pavilion fake? Could it be that the struggle between the three sects was also fake?
However, Bi Hui was right about this.
"To put it bluntly, we didn't actually go to war with the three upper sects; it was all a lie."
Xuan Qing dropped a bombshell.
What's going on?
Not only Zero, but the other three were also very surprised, especially Bi Hui.
He suddenly became agitated, stepped forward, grabbed Xuanqing's arm, and asked:
"You're saying there's no war, so the three upper sects are actually safe internally, right!? My elder brother, no, the Daoguang Sect Master, isn't under control, is he!?"
Seeing Bi Hui, who was somewhat out of control, Ling frowned and pulled him back from Xuan Qing's side, saying in a deep voice:
"Calm down first, and listen to what Xuanqing has to say."
Upon hearing Ling's words, Bi Hui finally realized what was happening and whispered an apology to Xuan Qing:
"I'm sorry, I was in a bit of a rush, I was rude just now..."
Xuanqing waved his hand, indicating that it was alright.
Without waiting for anyone to ask, he said:
"In fact, all of this is a scheme by the three upper sects and the Thousand Dust Pavilion."
"One year ago, a huge force suddenly appeared in the Upper Realm. It shocked the Upper Realm with its own power and almost caused turmoil throughout the Upper Realm."
"Later, his forces came to Tianshui City and asked the major sects if they wanted to unite with them to jointly rule the Upper Realm..."
“The major sects would naturally not agree. First of all, they have no such intention, and secondly, it is an outside force that is recruiting them.”
“They naturally wouldn’t agree to this, but smaller forces without a powerful background or support from other forces can’t do as they please.”
"That force that suddenly rose to power in the Upper Realm seems to intend to unify the Upper Realm. It keeps recruiting weak forces, using the promise of unlimited cultivation resources as bait to attract many rogue cultivators to work for it."
"Shortly after that, he set his sights on Tianshui City."
"But he also knew that Tianshui City was not as easy to invade as other cities. It was surrounded by super powers that supported and balanced each other."
“He wanted to defeat them one by one, but he didn’t expect us to be so united. When dealing with outsiders, even forces that usually have some grudges unite. Therefore, he simply cannot succeed.”
"But he clearly won't stop there. Following the principle of 'capture the king first,' he wants to take control of the sect leaders and those in power of the major sects first, and then use them as leverage to control those forces."
After Xuan Qing finished speaking, he paused for a moment, and Bi Hui hurriedly asked:
"So, he succeeded!?"
"I haven't finished speaking yet."
Xuanqing glanced at him and then said:
"People who are also powerful forces in the upper realm will naturally not compromise or submit to foreign forces."
"But as the saying goes, 'You can guard against a thousand things, but it's hard to guard against a traitor within your own sect.' Many disciples of various factions have been attracted by huge profits and betrayed their own sects."
"Only then did we learn what that person was thinking, and only then did we come up with those subsequent plans."
"After dealing with those traitors, the three upper sects, together with several other forces, held a grand meeting."
"During the meeting, the various factions eventually came up with a solution that might temporarily break the current stalemate."
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