Lushan City, Meridian Refining Master Division!

For the past three days, the Meridian Refining Master Division in Lushan City has been extraordinarily busy. The elders in the association were tied up with all sorts of matters. However, in a certain room today, a figure seemed rather restless.

Knock knock!

At a certain moment, there was a knocking sound at the room's door, followed by a voice from outside saying "Chairman," which snapped the elderly figure back to attention.

"Great Elder, come in!"

The person inside the room was naturally Lu Liancheng, the chairman of the Meridian Refining Master Division. Seeing him turn his head toward the door, he said a sentence, and then the door was pushed open from the outside, revealing that it was not latched.

"Great Elder, is there any news?"

Lu Liancheng's eyes flashed with a glimmer of the hidden truth as he asked, but he noticed that the face of the division's Great Elder had turned somewhat strange and puzzled.

"Chairman, I lost track of them!"

At this moment, the Great Elder's expression turned awkward. He continued, "But if I am not mistaken, Elder Wu Jia and Elder Liang Li are probably looking for the whereabouts of Yun Xing!"

"As expected!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Liancheng hit his right fist into his left palm fiercely, his voice filled with resentment: "These two old guys, it seems we should find a chance to knock some sense into them. If this matter gets out, even we might be implicated by the two of them!"

Lu Liancheng felt somewhat indignant, seemingly having deduced from the Great Elder's words the purpose behind Wu Jia and Liang Li seeking Yun Xing. It was very clear that they hadn't given up on the Three-legged Ice Crystal Toad at all.

"Great Elder, hurry and investigate further. We must not let those two old men succeed!"

As if realizing something, Lu Liancheng seemed a bit anxious. He knew that both Wu Jia and Liang Li were Poison Vein Masters. If they were to use their techniques in secret, even as a strong cultivator at the late stage of the Origin Seeking Realm, he would find it extremely troublesome.

"I've already arranged for that, but so much time has passed, I'm afraid..."

The Great Elder did not finish his sentence, but he believed that with the chairman's acumen, he could understand the implication. After all, those two elders were powerhouses in the Origin Seeking Realm.

Coupled with their unexpected Poison Vein techniques, how could a newly risen Peak of Qi Seeking Realm Meridian Refining Master possibly have any chance of survival?

Thud thud thud!

Just as Lu Liancheng was contemplating whether to go out and search himself, he heard a series of hurried footsteps approaching, just from the sound, he knew that something urgent must have happened.

"Fourth Elder, why are you here?"

When a figure flashed at the room's entrance, Lu Liancheng and the Great Elder, both powerful Earth Rank Meridian Refining Masters in soul power, naturally recognized at first glance that it was the Fourth Elder of the division.

"Chairman, Great Elder, something big has happened!"

This Fourth Elder of the Meridian Refining Master Division clearly hadn't heard the previous conversation between the two. He walked briskly inside, even forgetting to salute, then directly unfolded his tightly clenched hands.

"This is... a soul token?!"

As prominent figures of the Lushan City Meridian Refining Master Division, Lu Liancheng and the Great Elder were well-versed and immediately recognized the shattered item in the Fourth Elder's hands as a soul token imbued with a trace of someone's soul power.

Furthermore, they knew that the Fourth Elder was in charge of soul tokens. Upon realizing this possibility, they exchanged glances, seeing a hint of shock in each other's eyes.

"This is... the soul tokens of the Second Elder and the Fourth Elder, they... are dead!"

The face of the Fourth Elder of the division still bore intense horror, seemingly still unable to recover from the shock of learning about this incident earlier. The most crucial point was that in the Lushan City Meridian Refining Master Guild, it had been many years since an elder was killed, this was a provocation to the guild's authority.

"Indeed!"

Upon hearing the Fourth Elder's words, Lu Liancheng and the Great Elder exchanged glances again. Combining with what they had been discussing earlier, a highly inconceivable thought arose in their minds.

"It can't be, can it?"

This thought had just emerged in both their minds and was forcibly dismissed as if to encourage themselves, continuously mumbling "impossible," leaving the Fourth Elder somewhat baffled.

"Yun Xing is only at the Peak of Qi Seeking Realm, there's no way he could be a match for Wu Jia and Liang Li together!"

This is the source of Lu Liancheng's confidence. Even if others did not sense Yun Xiao's true cultivation on that day, he had the Power of Soul at the Earth Rank Middle Level. He could see through Yun Xiao's disguise and perceive his true cultivation during that fleeting moment of his exchange with the Three-legged Ice Crystal Toad.

Because of this, when Lu Liancheng heard that Wu Jia and Liang Li were going to trouble Yun Xiao, he was extremely worried. Even he and the Great Elder believed that Yun Xing was likely headed for disaster.

Who would have thought that the news they were waiting for was not Yun Xing's demise, but rather the death of the two elders of the Lushan City Meridian Refining Master Branch, their soul tokens shattered, meaning a complete destruction of the soul, never to live again.

For some reason, even though Lu Liancheng and the Great Elder couldn't believe that Yun Xing was responsible, a deep sense of unease arose in their hearts.

To say that these two elders' deaths had nothing to do with Yun Xing would be something they wouldn't believe under any circumstance. What they couldn't believe was that Yun Xing, with his Peak of Qi Seeking Realm cultivation, could accomplish such a feat.

This brings up the possibility that Yun Xing had some hidden support, and this supporter must be at least on par with Lu Liancheng in strength; otherwise, it would be impossible to kill Wu Jia and Liang Li.

They always thought Yun Xing was just a sudden emergence of a Meridian Refining Master, but they never expected him to have such a mysterious background. For a while, the three in the room fell into an eerie silence and contemplation.

......

The night passed quickly.

When the next morning arrived, there was no trace of last night's battle in the courtyard where Yun Xiao was. With his methods, disposing of four corpses without leaving a trace was no problem at all.

No one knew that in this unremarkable courtyard, Liu Yu, the Princely Heir of the Liu Family, Elder Liu Gen, and two elders from the Meridian Refining Master Branch had all perished, their bodies completely gone.

Creaaak!

Yun Xiao pushed the door open with a faint smile, showing no trace of the emotion of having just killed four people. After leaving the courtyard, he walked straight toward the Meridian Refining Master Guild.

Today was the day the final advancement spots would be decided in the Lushan City branch, so the city was even livelier than the days before. Even those eliminated did not leave; they all wanted to know who would take those last three spots.

A guard stood at the perimeter of the Meridian Refining Master Guild, and when Yun Xiao presented his entry token, that guard immediately showed unusual respect, even a hint of flattery.

The more than twenty Meridian Refining Masters who passed the first three days of assessment all had a chance to become true disciples of the Refining Cloud Mountain Headquarters. Once someone became a headquarters disciple, even the chairman of the Lushan City branch would fawn over them, let alone these low-level guards.

Led by the guard, Yun Xiao entered the Meridian Refining Master Branch through a specially opened passage. Inside the branch, it was much quieter than outside.

The onlookers were not allowed to enter the main hall of the Meridian Refining Master Branch. Therefore, when Yun Xiao entered the hall, he saw only twenty or so figures, and many of them looked extremely unfamiliar, except for a few.

In truth, due to Yun Xiao's consecutive performances on the first day, he alone occupied three spots. Adding one for the deceased Liu Yu, only seven passed the first-day assessment including him.

The second and third days didn't see any incidents, so twenty-seven were qualified to participate in the final contest on the fourth day.

Of course, apart from the other six from the first day, many of the remaining twenty hadn't met Yun Xing. Even if they had heard about the events of the first day, they wouldn't pay much attention.

Able to break through and claim the last qualification indicated that these Meridian Refining Masters had excellent skills. Among these masters, none lacked pride. To easily concede to one person was something they'd only consider after a competition.

However, some of the masters who had taken part in the first day's assessment felt a chill when seeing the figure in black. Yun Xiao's overwhelming display on that day left a deep impression on them.

As for the others, they merely glanced at Yun Xiao before ignoring him. A guy in his forties or fifties still vying for a spot as a Refining Cloud Mountain disciple would only bring shame, even if he somehow passed.

Upon entering the hall, Yun Xiao also surveyed the twenty-odd people and sensed a powerful and intangible aura from two of them. That seemed to be a sign of having reached the Earth Rank Low Level in soul.

This suggests that those two guys, who didn't look much older than Liu Yu, might have reached the Earth Rank Low Level in Meridian Refining Technique, indicating that Lushan City indeed harbored hidden talents.

Clang!

Soon after, a melodious bell tolled, followed by several figures filing in. They were led by Chairman Lu Liancheng and included many elders of the Meridian Refining Master Branch.

However, what puzzled everyone was that in this lineup of the branch's elders, not only was the Fifth Elder Liang Li missing, but also the Second Elder Wu Jia.

Just as everyone was confused, Yun Xiao suddenly noticed several gazes fixed on him, causing his heart to race.

Yet on the surface, he remained unfazed. He believed he had handled the aftermath cleanly. Even if the Meridian Refining Master Branch wanted to investigate, they wouldn't find anything.