To be fair, both of them were exceptionally talented. Otherwise, Chen Ye wouldn’t have been considered the star pupil of Langya’s principal. But in the presence of these people…

Standing among a group of monsters, the siblings started to feel a bit out of place.

Just then, a long-haired young man named Zhang Huatian calmly walked over. He glanced at Zhang Jifeng and said indifferently,

“Oh, you came too?”

Zhang Jifeng shot him a sidelong glance.

“What, you think you can come but I can’t?”

Both of them hailed from ancient Daoist Lineages—one from Dragon Tiger Mountain, the other from Wudang Mountain. The two lineages were in constant competition, and their disciples were no different.

“Alright, alright, you two are like this every time you meet. Is it really necessary?” Wang Zhiyao said, exasperated. She quickly changed the subject and asked Li Nanguo,

“Principal Li, is anyone else not here yet?”

“Two more…” Li Nanguo said with a smile, though a puzzled look simultaneously appeared on his face. ‘The last two are freshmen. They really shouldn’t be coming on this Taishan trip,’

but the head principal had personally given him the instructions, saying they absolutely must not be neglected…

Li Nanguo had reviewed the two students’ files. The records were extremely sparse, revealing nothing of note, though their attendance rate was practically zero… ‘Probably the scions of some great family?’

As he thought this, he said with a smile,

“They should be arriving soon… Oh, speak of the devil.”

Everyone followed Li Nanguo’s gaze. Zhuge Ke and Zhang Huatian from Dragon Tiger Mountain had no reaction, as they didn’t recognize the two newcomers.

Zhang Jifeng was slightly surprised, but Wang Zhiyao drew in a sharp breath.

Although the events of that night’s banquet had not been revealed to the public, with all the major figures involved remaining tight-lipped, the others here probably had no idea.

But the Wang Family was entrenched in Langya Province, so they were naturally aware of what had happened that night!

“It’s that butcher?” Zhang Jifeng said in surprise. His impression of Lu Xuan was still from the incident in East Sea City, of this same butcher pointing his blade at the Celestial Humans and Earth Immortals in the sky.

Wang Zhiyao opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.

She was the only one present who knew how terrifying that Lu Xuan truly was…

‘He killed an Earth Immortal with a single palm strike!’

‘This behemoth is here too? And he brought the Eldest Princess of Longque Technology?’

Wang Zhiyao shrank back, her face turning pale. Just then, however, the Chen Family Siblings began waving their hands excitedly.

“Over here, over here!”

Lu Xuan led Xiaoyan over with a cheerful smile. He glanced around. ‘Oh, mostly familiar faces, huh?’

He first gave a slight nod to Wang Zhiyao and Zhang Jifeng, then turned to the Chen Family Siblings and smiled.

“I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

“Junior Lu.” Chen Ye’s face broke into her usual hearty grin, and Chen Shu was also all smiles. Seeing someone they knew approach, their taut nerves relaxed a bit.

As Chen Ye greeted Lu Xuan, she asked in amazement,

“And this is…”

She looked at the girl beside Junior Lu, astonished. ‘Can anyone in this world really be this beautiful?’

“This is Yan Jiangxue, my best friend.” Lu Xuan smiled, making the introductions. “These two are Chen Ye and Chen Shu. They were the ones who welcomed me on my first day in Langya City.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Yan Jiangxue said with a polite nod. But they were strangers, and she couldn’t help but appear somewhat cold and detached.

Chen Ye didn’t mind, still smiling heartily, and she also breathed a sigh of relief internally.

‘I thought this Taishan trip would just be me and a few monsters. I was sure it was going to be boring. But now Junior Lu is here. At least he’s a familiar face, and he’s not one of them…’

Just then, Li Nanguo glanced at the time and said with a smile,

“Alright, everyone, on the car. It’s getting late, and Taishan is quite far. We should get going.”

In the Old Calendar Era, before the world had expanded and been revitalized, the distance between Langya City and Taishan was only about two hundred kilometers. But now, the straight-line distance between them exceeded twenty thousand kilometers.

Lu Xuan led Xiaoyan onto the Hovercar, making small talk with the Chen Family Siblings as he went. The reactions of the others varied.

Zhang Huatian, the direct heir of the Dragon Tiger Mountain Immortals, kept staring at Zhang Jifeng, while Zhang Jifeng stared curiously at the “butcher,” Lu Xuan.

Zhuge Ke rested her chin in her hand, sizing everyone up while silently performing a Divination on the auspiciousness of their trip to Taishan. Naturally, she did not recognize Lu Xuan.

As for Wang Zhiyao, she was the most uneasy of all, squirming in her seat. She wanted to go and say hello to Lu Xuan, but she was too afraid.

It would have been one thing not to know. But after learning that he had killed an Earth Immortal with a single palm—and hearing from the elders in her family that he might even be connected to the Sanqing Temple Master who had recently shaken the world—

Wang Zhiyao could no longer bring herself to treat Lu Xuan as a peer.

Before, there had been a gap between them, but it was a gap she could at least see. Now, however…

Watching the Chen Family Siblings chatting and laughing freely with Lu Xuan, Wang Zhiyao couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. ‘Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss…’

The large Hovercar slowly lifted off the ground. Most people in the cabin remained silent; only Lu Xuan and the Chen Family Siblings were making idle chitchat.

As they were talking, Chen Ye suddenly lowered her voice and advised,

“Junior Lu, you must be careful what you say and do on this trip.”

“What?” Lu Xuan was taken aback for a moment.

Beside them, a nervous Chen Shu leaned forward, motioning with his chin toward the four people seated a short distance away who had yet to speak. He also whispered,

“See them? Every single one is a monster-level prodigy, and their backgrounds are terrifyingly powerful. Brother Xiaoluo, whatever you do, don’t say the wrong thing in front of them, lest you cause offense…”

Although his voice was very quiet, the cultivation of the others in the cabin was impressive, so they all heard him perfectly well.

Zhuge Ke and the long-haired Zhang Huatian had no reaction. Zhang Jifeng just shook his head helplessly and muttered to himself, ‘He’s the real butcher here…’

Wang Zhiyao, however, went completely stiff, screaming internally.

‘Monsters?’

‘Who are the real monsters here?!’

At this, Lu Xuan just smiled peacefully and, mimicking the Chen Family Siblings, whispered back,

“Okay, I’ll remember that.”

The Chen Family Siblings both nodded gravely.

“Xiaolu, look outside…” Yan Jiangxue, who had been silent, suddenly said.

Lu Xuan instinctively turned to look. The Hovercar had already reached an extremely high altitude. Looking out the window, he saw a vast, endless sea of clouds below. The radiance of the Great Sun spilled across the rolling expanse, making it sparkle and shimmer.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Gazing at the magnificent vista outside the window, Lu Xuan’s expression gradually grew serene.

“Heaven and Earth…” he murmured to himself, his spirit deeply stirred. The concept of the Unity of Heaven and Man in his mind seemed to become a little clearer.

In a brief moment of tranquility, the Hovercar’s engines surged to maximum power, and it shot forward, bursting through layers of thick, heavy clouds. The resulting shockwaves sent the sea of clouds into a violent, unending churn.

Lu Xuan suddenly closed his eyes.

The sea of clouds lay at his feet, the Great Sun shone from above, and he was situated between heaven and earth.

Between heaven and earth…

His Spiritual Will bloomed with an invisible radiance, and the Supreme Jade Steps between his physical body and his True Spirit began to glow with a profound and mysterious cold light.

Then, suddenly, despite being separated by the Supreme Jade Steps, his physical body and True Spirit seemed to entangle and fuse together.

Lu Xuan came to a realization. He recalled how, when he opened his Acupoint Heaven and Earth, the nascent Little World within his Acupoints resonated with the Great Heaven and Earth outside.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. As his Divine Soul darkened and his physical body trembled, a profound and mysterious entanglement formed between them.

Then, under Lu Xuan’s guidance, this connection, this entanglement, began to resonate with the entire Great Heaven and Earth, just as his Acupoint Heaven and Earth mirrored the world outside.

Everything happened in complete silence.

“The body and soul are heaven and earth; heaven and earth are the body and soul,” Lu Xuan murmured.

“What was that?” the Chen Family Siblings asked curiously from the side.

But he just smiled, shook his head, his gaze profound.

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing.”

As soon as he spoke, something happened outside the window.

To the astonishment and bewilderment of everyone watching, the sea of clouds froze, its rolling stilled. The light of the Great Sun abruptly dimmed, then flared brightly again!

“What… What’s happening?” Zhang Jifeng asked, shocked and confused.

Outside, the once-frozen sea of clouds began to churn again, stacking layer upon layer to form a gigantic staircase.

At the top of the staircase, more thick, heavy clouds gathered, piling together to form a majestic Celestial Gate!

The alternating light of the Great Sun shone upon the Celestial Gate and Celestial Ladder formed from the clouds, creating droplets of brilliant golden divinity, accompanied by the blossoming of illusory Immortal Flowers!

“A celestial phenomenon,” Zhang Huatian said, narrowing his eyes slightly. “A Celestial Gate and a Celestial Ladder… This means someone has entered the realm of the Unity of Heaven and Man. Could it be on one of the mountains down below?”

Lu Xuan calmly opened his eyes.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep