On Mount Fan.
Long Xuan, Lu Rui, Lu Wei, and Guo Gui were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.
They paced back and forth.
When Ling Fan appeared.
They were both surprised and delighted, and quickly surrounded him.
"Old Fan, it's great that you're alright! What happened just now? Did that bastard Gao Gan take you away?"
"Fan Lin, are you okay?"
They shouted in a flurry of questions.
Ling Fan smiled faintly and said, "It's nothing. An Grand Elder from the Qing Xuan Sect took me away, and now he has returned me."
Long Xuan pondered, "This Grand Elder must be an old member of the Qing Xuan Sect from before!"
Ling Fan nodded, "He should be. These people are still lying low, not showing themselves. This Grand Elder is just the tip of the iceberg."
Ling Fan did not want to say more on this matter.
Moreover, Ling Fan would not easily trust this Grand Elder and the Sect Master of Qing Xuan Sect.
He didn't want to be used as a pawn or a tool.
"I need to go into seclusion immediately. You should also try to improve your strength as soon as possible. Before that, you should also lie low for a while. Long Xuan, it's not appropriate for the Qing family to stay in the Qing Xuan Sect. You should find an opportunity to send them away."
Ling Fan said.
He particularly cautioned Long Xuan.
Long Xuan replied, "Alright, I will send them to the Long family for temporary settlement. Even the Qing Xuan Sect would not dare to openly trouble the Long family."
After Long Xuan, Lu Rui, and the others left.
Ling Fan immediately began his seclusion.
He flipped his palm.
A treasure pouch, which showed no particular mystery on its surface, appeared in his hand.
Ling Fan lowered his gaze and pondered for a moment.
His divine sense probed into it.
Soon.
A fragment of some artifact, half the height of a person, appeared before Ling Fan.
Incomplete patterns of an artifact were imprinted on it.
Just the patterns on this single fragment exuded an incredibly profound and deep aura, which surprised even Ling Fan, a seasoned master craftsman.
He carefully examined the fragment.
"This seems to be... a fragment of the base of a seal. This aura is unmistakable! It's the Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal!"
Ling Fan's heart pounded.
A surge of immense joy washed over him.
He hadn't expected the Sect Master of Qing Xuan Sect to give him such a great surprise.
Ling Fan took a deep breath.
He calmed down and smoothed his emotions.
He rubbed the fragment with his palm, feeling its profound mysteries, and his eyes began to gleam.
"It seems this Sect Master of Qing Xuan Sect has been secretly watching me... He likely already knows about my affairs in the underground dragon cave, especially my fusion with the Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal! That's why he specifically gave me this fragment of the Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal."
The more Ling Fan thought about it, the more he felt his guess was correct.
"This seems to be a fragment of the Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal at the Heavenly Venerable Dao Artifact level!"
"No wonder even the Sect Master of Qing Xuan Sect, with his cultivation, could not refine it. Even if he were an Emperor, without the method to forge the Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal, refining a fragment of a Dao Artifact would be as difficult as reaching the heavens."
"And now that I am integrated with a semi-finished Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal, there is a great hope of refining it..."
"Even if I cannot refine it, just comprehending the Heavenly Venerable Dao patterns remaining in this fragment would be enough to expand my Heavenly World by a large margin!"
No sooner said than done.
Ling Fan immediately began to try to comprehend and refine the fragment.
...
While Ling Fan was in seclusion.
The Qing Xuan Sect was not peaceful.
It was as if, beneath its seemingly calm surface, extremely turbulent and dangerous undercurrents were hidden.
Ling Fan had successively defeated a group of Gao family geniuses.
He had even killed Gao Zhenkuai, a seeded disciple ranked tenth, a future candidate for the Heavenly Emperor.
This had caused heavy losses to the Gao family.
And severely damaged their reputation.
Moreover, Ling Fan, the culprit, was openly protected by a powerful Grand Elder, which was also a serious provocation and blow to the Gao family's authority.
Many people then realized.
That the Gao family was not truly able to do whatever they pleased and cover the sky with one hand in the Qing Xuan Sect.
As if to re-consolidate and strengthen the Gao family's prestige.
Soon, a shocking piece of news spread.
The Deputy Sect Master of Qing Xuan Sect.
Gao Gan, the peerless young Heavenly Emperor of the Gao family.
Was about to marry Yan Xi, the Heavenly Maiden of the Tian Yi Sect.
As soon as this news spread.
It immediately shocked the entire Jinzhou.
The Qing Xuan Sect was a great sect in Jinzhou, second only to the Tian Yi Sect.
Now that these two most powerful great sects were to form an alliance through marriage, it naturally caused an earthquake-like ripple throughout Jinzhou.
Moreover.
Besides the marriage itself.
Gao Gan, the young Heavenly Emperor of the Qing Xuan Sect, and Yan Xi, the peerless Heavenly Maiden of the Tian Yi Sect, were both renowned figures in Jinzhou, stirring up trouble.
Both of them had great hope of succeeding the positions of Sect Master and Supreme Being of the Qing Xuan Sect and Tian Yi Sect in the future.
These two were now to be married.
It was hard not to cause a sensation.
Leveraging the momentum of the marriage alliance.
The Gao family's prestige instantly became even more immense.
On that barren peak.
Old Man Gu's wrinkles seemed to deepen.
He shook his head repeatedly.
In the dimensional space deep within the Qing Xuan Sect.
The phantom sitting on the throne also held his forehead with his hand, feeling immense pressure.
The Gao family had now allied with the Tian Yi Sect, and the situation had suddenly worsened, making it even harder to bring them down.
"If that little fellow Fan Lin could completely defeat Gao Gan, and take over my position as Sect Master, and prevent it from falling into Gao Gan's hands, that would be a great help to me!"
"Alas... am I being too harsh on him! He is only a fifth-rank Profound Emperor, while Gao Gan is a seventh-rank Heavenly Emperor. They are worlds apart... In three months, for him to surpass Gao Gan, how difficult it is. I should advance to the Emperor Realm as soon as possible, so that even if the Tian Yi Sect intervenes, I will have the power to resist!"
...
On Ling Fan's Mount Fan.
The news of Gao Gan's marriage to the Heavenly Maiden of the Tian Yi Sect also reached Ling Fan's ears.
"Marriage? Heh heh, the Gao family only knows how to use such tactics!"
"They think they have found a reliable ally, but I fear they are inviting a wolf into their house. The Tian Yi Sect has always wanted to unify Jinzhou. This ambition has been there for countless years. Now that the Gao family has willingly offered the fat of the land, the Qing Xuan Sect, to them, how can they not be happy."
"However, this also serves as a reminder to me."
"I remember the Tian Yi Sect has a quasi-Dao artifact. Once the Gao family reaches an agreement with the Tian Yi Sect and allows Gao Gan to cultivate in it, Gao Gan's cultivation is likely to advance further... If he breaks through to the eighth-rank Heavenly Emperor, it will be very disadvantageous to me!"
"It seems I need to hurry up and improve my strength, defeat Gao Gan before then, or... disrupt their marriage."
Countless thoughts flashed through Ling Fan's mind.
He then looked at the ancient, mysterious, half-person-tall fragment before him.
He had been in seclusion for a full seven days and seven nights this time.
But his gains were meager.
Even though he possessed a semi-finished Supreme Ancestral Dragon Seal, trying to comprehend and refine a fragment of a Dao Artifact was wishful thinking!
"I need to at least reach the sixth-rank Profound Emperor level, or even the half-step Heavenly Emperor level, before I have even a sliver of hope of refining it."
"However..."
"To quickly advance from fifth-rank Profound Emperor to sixth-rank Profound Emperor requires an unimaginable amount of resources and endless support from the origin laws of sixth-rank Profound Emperors! I do have a small Heavenly Dragon Vein, but I am still lacking a large amount of sixth-rank Profound Emperor origins."
Ling Fan was worrying.
When he suddenly remembered that Old Man Gu had given him a treasure map.
He immediately took it out.
This treasure map was made from the skin of some unknown creature. It had endured countless years and had not yet decayed.
Ling Fan's divine sense probed into it.
Soon.
Ling Fan withdrew his divine sense.
A trace of sharpness appeared in his eyes.
"An abandoned outer-heaven continent in the Artifact Continent!"
"The Artifact Continent is a much more powerful region than Jinzhou, and this entire state is famous for artifact refining in the Central Heavenly Realm. Countless Emperor Weapons, and even some Heavenly Venerable Dao Artifacts, have flowed out of the Artifact Continent..."
"This might be my opportunity!"