Elder Tiegu was very concerned about the Speculator that was seized back and added over a dozen seals to it.

Initially, he merely decided to join forces with the Wanhuan Sect people to abduct Feng Jun, not caring much about the Speculator.

However, Feng Jun escaped, and they heavily injured Wan Qing, making this battle quite a loss, as setting up formations costs Spirit Stones.

Still, none of that is important; silencing witnesses is the real deal. True Immortal Jiu Cai and his Nascent Soul Initial Stage disciple knew each other and didn’t guard against each other’s bloodthirsty instincts, resulting in their complete obliteration.

To put it bluntly, True Immortal Jiu Cai was also too self-confident, losing due to his arrogance. He should have been on good terms with the Lingmu Sect during his development in the Yi Yun continent, but aside from planning normal growth, he entertained ideas of killing and stealing treasures, so he aligned himself with Lingmu Sect instead.

He had two nodding acquaintances in the Lingmu Sect, but planned to deepen relations with them after moving to the Lingmu Sect’s territory, proving that his approach was indeed somewhat audacious.

Then, in his inquiries about Feng Jun, he located a Nascent Soul Initial Stage of Lingmu Sect, along with a Nascent Soul High Stage who raised Heavenly Demons.

Technically, including True Immortal Jiu Cai, three men ambushed Feng Jun, totaling seven True Immortals.

However, not all seven participated directly; some were watching, some were obstructing forces.

Elder Tiegu discovered Wan Qing was heavily injured, thus contemplated leaving True Immortal Yi Jue behind as well.

But others objected, since Wan Qing was heavily injured but ultimately didn’t die, and Yi Jue’s fame in Tianqin was too great — this was also in the Lingmu Sect’s territory, causing trouble; if Yi Jue were to die, it would definitely provoke the old fellows of the Lingmu Sect.

All of them prepared themselves to keep it a secret, but no one wanted to face a chase by the Jinwu Sect and Lingmu Sect to the end of the universe because someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut someday.

Moreover, Yi Jue’s response at that time was correct, choosing to defend fully and await aid — people couldn’t succeed hurriedly.

As a side note, it was precisely because Yi Jue didn’t die that True Immortal Jiu Cai relaxed his guard, ending up falling into a trap.

Anyway, Elder Tiegu felt this battle was quite a loss, and then his disciple told him that True Immortal Jiu Cai had the ability to investigate secrets from a distance — they had collaborated more than once before.

Thus, while destroying True Immortal Jiu Cai’s relics, Elder Tiegu found the Speculator interesting and decided not to destroy it but instead returned to the sect headquarters, temporarily covering it with the Lingmu Sect’s essence and began investigating what this object was.

The investigation results delighted him. The Speculator had appeared over ten thousand years ago; it was a portable treasure belonging to a True Sage in Out-Of-Body stage.

That True Sage was an ancestor of a secret realm clan, later vanished, and with him, the Speculator also disappeared.

Elder Tiegu tried to refine the object and discovered it was not simple — this thing couldn’t be refined without three to five years; if it were a True Artifact, it would definitely be a top-grade True Artifact.

However, the object was damaged — visible to the naked eye, implying it had surpassed the True Artifact category; once repaired, it would be at least an Out-Of-Body True Treasure.

Elder Tiegu was basically hopeless about reaching the Out-Of-Body stage but still hoped to possess powerful treasures. Initially, he just wanted to understand the item’s origins; if there were nothing special, he’d destroy it, leaving no chance for Yi Jue and Wan Qing to investigate.

But after discovering the Speculator’s general situation, he’d never destroy it, and therefore used secret methods to seal the item, taking it to the secondary sect to continue refining it after the situation cooled down.

Originally, the item was stored in his secret vault, only changing its location when he planned to lure out Feng Jun as bait, secretly burying it beneath the Spirit Medicine Garden.

On the box of the Speculator, and on the Speculator itself, he left marks; Feng Jun directly took the item to Earth, so he knew something had happened to the Speculator even before hearing of his cave being breached!

Who did it? That didn’t need questioning, definitely Feng Jun... Yi Jue couldn’t possibly!

The Lingmu Sect and Lingmu Sect had been opposing each other for years; True Immortal Yi Jue, though young, was not just the general understanding to Elder Tiegu — he was very aware of her abilities.

Elder Tiegu knew Yi Jue excelled at divining but also understood precisely what aspects she was skilled at; when it came to item divination — especially involving secrets — her ability was significantly lacking!

It was indeed Feng Jun, despite merely being at the Initial Golden Core Stage, who had mysteries surrounding his origins; his divination prowess was astonishing, limits unseen, his baseline included talent in divining Cultivation Techniques, healing, and secrets.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been invited by the Xuanhuang Sect to divine the Heavenly Dao evolution — True Immortal Rongyang kept his promise not leaking any small world information, but he did say, Feng Jun’s divination ability on Heavenly Dao evolution surpassed mine and he knows the Soul Confinement Art.

Elder Tiegu didn’t know how Feng Jun, with his meager Initial Golden Core Stage cultivation level, managed to acquire the Speculator, but to him, nothing surprising happens with the man.

This is a mysterious man who can even enter reality space from the Void — not to mention his deadliest capability of precisely selecting regions.

So when he discovered that the Speculator had lost its signal, the first thing he did was identify the suspect.

However, although he was extremely angry, he knew that the only person aware he possessed the Speculator was his disciple. He couldn’t even complain to anyone, and the frustration was indescribable.

No matter what, he had to find out what was going on, so even deep into the night, he sent a message to the guardians of the forbidden land, asking what had happened.

Just as he sent the message, without waiting for a reply, a warning surged in his heart. He raised his hand to calculate with his fingers and almost spat out a mouthful of blood. "How dare you breach my abode, Feng Jun, you ant... it’s either you or me!"

The distance from here to his abode wasn’t far, just over two hundred thousand miles, but with his cultivation level, sensing the breach was easy.

At that moment, the response from the forbidden land guardians arrived, "Elder, just now, your abode’s wards were attacked, someone intruded and eventually escaped, suspected... suspected to be Feng Jun."

Does it still need to be suspected? Elder Tiegu was really at a loss for words. He forcibly suppressed his anger, "How many were injured this time?"

"This time... no one was injured," the guardians of the forbidden land could feel the Elder’s suppressed anger even across two hundred thousand miles, and cautiously replied, "Our response was a bit slow; after all, it was late night, and we didn’t expect anyone could come in."

The breach of the Elder’s abode and allowing the intruder to escape required accountability, didn’t it?

Elder Tiegu became even more furious, "Not a single injury, and you let him escape?"

You must be quite incompetent to not only let someone sneak in but also allow them to leave without any hindrance—does this qualify as guarding the forbidden land?

"We truly couldn’t stop him," the guardians felt quite helpless; when even True Immortals couldn’t block him, how could we Golden Core disciples be expected to?

The next moment, he thought of something and hesitantly spoke, "However... perhaps he injured someone or damaged a Spirit Lingmu. Should I check again?"

He understood Elder Tiegu’s intentions quite well. If Feng Jun harmed someone unrelated, it would be easier to request intervention from the True Sage, though Feng Jun hadn’t injured anyone today... we could still fabricate something.

This disciple had the capability to manage the forbidden land after the True Immortals left, and could earn the trust of most Golden Core disciples. He wasn’t so malicious as to scheme against fellow disciples, but within the Lingmu Sect... there were many Lingmu plants.

Truth be told, frankly, there were many Lingmu plants whose personalities weren’t very likable, and he had several candidates in mind.

He intended to please the Elder through this, lest he also be slapped and made to bleed internally. However, Elder Tiegu heard him and coldly snorted, "Nonsense, don’t play your little tricks!"

Fabricating injuries, can that be done casually? Can a scene fabricated by a minor Golden Core withstand scrutiny?

Elder Tiegu didn’t think the plan was unsuitable—those lacking resolve couldn’t cultivate successfully. He merely doubted the other’s competence. Had he been at the forbidden land himself, there might have been a slim chance.

But the problem now was, he wasn’t on site, nor could he rush back immediately. Safety being beside the point, even if he returned and someone died at the forbidden land, it couldn’t be explained, especially not with so many witnesses around.

The most critical factor is, if someone dies in the forbidden land, one could rely on the True Sage to punish Feng Jun, but a murder scene fabricated by a mere Golden Core, expecting it to fool the True Sage? He himself wouldn’t dare imagine that!

Yet honestly speaking, Elder Tiegu had indeed entertained some ideas, which is why until now, he asked the more important question, "How did he get in?"

"I really don’t know," the forbidden land guardian was quite distressed, to appear more innocent, he offered up an explanation, "It seems the Combat Lingmu may have adjusted its sensory ability."

This statement hit the nail on the head, Feng Jun moved freely in the forbidden land, aided by the Big Boss cloaking his presence, and the indulgence of the green-clad lady played a big part.

However, his purpose for saying this wasn’t pure; the green-clad lady was a Nascent Soul Tree Demon, and her actions had to be concealed from the Albizia Tree Demon, making her deeds practically undetectable by Golden Core cultivators.

Of course, the disciples of the Lingmu Sect have a greater sense of Lingmu than ordinary cultivators. He dared say this without fearing questions, but ultimately, this was a plea for innocence, not conclusive evidence—though some suspicious evidence existed.

Elder Tiegu coldly retorted, "Just because you didn’t notice, don’t push all the blame onto Lingmu, Friend Liu has contributed to our Lingmu Sect, must you deliberately create conflict?"

Earlier, his handling of the willow tree demon being kidnapped was quite poor, bringing resentment among the Lingmu. Normally he wouldn’t fear this, but recently the Lingmu Sect had been quite harried by Feng Jun, and further conflict would exacerbate the situation.

So regardless of his personal thoughts, willingly or not, he had to stop the blame being placed on Lingmu, because the potential consequences could be too great.

(Updated to, summon monthly votes.)