— A Few Days Later - Yun Estate —

At an estate on a high mountain overlooking the beautiful scenery of a great waterfall and a vast sea of green forest stood the Yun Estate. This was the place Ximen Hao had bought and built for Yun Feng as compensation for all of his past transgressions.

Yun Feng was now living the life of a cultivator who did not need to worry about resources or worldly affairs, as most things were taken care of by his wife, Xiao Mei, and the servants she had personally selected from among those in the estate.

Today, the Yun Estate welcomed two honored guests. The first was his good but eccentric brother, Wei Chen, and the second was the renowned Vice Sect Leader of the Heavenly Sword Sect along with his wife.

Wei Chen had arrived with Dream Butterfly and little Ningning. If they left little Ningning with Mo Xingyao, she would not be able to work, since the child would definitely pester her to play all day. So they had no choice but to bring her along.

Max, of course, served as the little one’s mount. It casually stepped along as it carried her on its back wherever she pleased.

"Whoa! Max! Look! This place has an awesome view!" Little Ningning hopped up and down in excitement on Max’s back, then urged it to run toward the railing to get a better look.

Xiao Mei, who had come with Yun Feng to receive the guests, quickly rushed over and tried to slow Max down, afraid the child might fall.

The view from the estate was indeed stunning, but it was also dangerous. The railing was not very high, and a child with a bit of strength in their legs could easily jump and fall over, straight down toward the waters below the great waterfall.

That risk was even greater with a child sitting on the back of a four-meter-tall Heavenly Fire Wolf running toward the railing.

Seeing little Ningning’s excitement and Xiao Mei’s concern, Wei Chen could not help but think that the girl was already at the Nascent Soul Realm. Even if she fell, she could simply fly back up.

But... he kept that thought to himself.

Besides, Max would never let the little one fall from its back. He was not entirely sure why, but Max seemed to treat her more gently than anyone else, almost as if it were outright spoiling her.

"Ningning, go play with Sister Yuyu. I have some business to discuss with Brother Jian Heng and Uncle Yun Feng," Wei Chen said.

"Uncle!?" Yun Feng was stunned. This guy called him uncle while calling someone clearly much older than him... a brother?

He walked over to little Ningning, putting on the most harmless and gentle expression he could manage. But Max did not cooperate. The moment Yun Feng drew near, it bared its fangs and growled at him.

Yun Feng did not dare to get closer. Of course, he could defend himself, but this dog belonged to his good brother. Kicking it might earn him a slap or two from Wei Chen.

As the saying goes, when beating a dog, one must consider its owner.

"Uh... little Ningning, right? Don’t listen to him. I’m not that old. You can call me brother too."

"Okay! Uncle Yunyun!" little Ningning agreed cheerfully, then ran off toward the courtyard, giggling, leaving Yun Feng’s brow twitching with annoyance.

"My lord, I’ll follow her first. You can talk business with your friend in peace," Dream Butterfly said, then quickly ran after the little one. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Su Yurong smiled and gently bowed toward the group. "I’ll go to the kitchen and prepare for all three of you."

With that, she also walked toward the building not far from the courtyard. The three men found a pavilion near the cliff with a stunning view and sat down to discuss their business.

"Brother Yun, your home is very suitable for sword cultivation. It is high, closer to the heavens, calm, and quiet, with a good location connected to a dragon vein. It seems Ximen Hao was sincere in compensating you," Jian Heng said as he sat down.

"Yes, Elder Brother Jian, that much is true. But I still don’t like that man. He’s the type who won’t do anything unless it benefits him," Yun Feng snorted.

Seeing the two talking like they knew each other well, Wei Chen asked, "You guys seem pretty familiar. Known each other long?"

"Not that long," Jian Heng shook his head.

"Yes, we only had the chance to talk after your engagement ceremony with Lady Mo," Yun Feng added.

"I see." Wei Chen nodded, then took out two stacks of paper and handed one to each of them.

"What’s this?" Jian Heng asked as he took the stack and started reading. It turned out to be a list of questions Wei Chen had prepared.

"Are you planning another public broadcast?" Jian Heng asked, since this was not his first time selecting which questions to answer.

"Public broadcast?" Yun Feng repeated, then thought for a moment before taking out his U-Phone 2. "Oh, you mean the broadcast channel in this thing?"

Wei Chen nodded. "Yeah, but this one’s different. It’s public broadcast. Even people without a U-Phone can watch. Spirit screens will show up in crowded places like city centers and sect grounds."

Jian Heng asked, "What is the topic this time? Is it related to the annihilation of the Heaven’s Spire Sanctuary?"

"Yes." Wei Chen nodded.

Jian Heng simply acknowledged it and continued reviewing the questions, crossing out those that were too foolish or too private to answer.

But Yun Feng tilted his head. "Brother Wei, I get that you’re being merciful and all, but weren’t those people from the Heaven’s Spire Sanctuary your enemies? If you show mercy to the undeserving, they might stab you in the back one day."

Hearing this, Wei Chen chuckled.

"Do I look like a saint to you? No? I don’t care if those bastards at the top live or die. They can go smash their heads into tofu for all I care."

"Then why..." Yun Feng started to ask, but Wei Chen cut him off.

"What I don’t get is why the guy who wiped them out had to take the innocent people nearby with them. That’s more than ten million casualties. That’s not revenge, that’s just messed up."

He started to rant, but quickly calmed himself.

At this point, Jian Heng spoke. "I think I have a reason why he did that, Brother Wei."

"Alright, let’s hear it."

Jian Heng nodded. "In my opinion, the one who destroyed the sect likely did not have enough strength to attack it directly. So he chose to destroy the core array of the secret realm and collapse the entire place instead."

Wei Chen did not immediately respond. Instead, he calmly took out a large sheet of paper with a map drawn on it and placed it on the table.

"Don’t tell me this is..." Jian Heng muttered as he looked at the map. With his experience, he could already guess what it was.

"Yes... it’s as you guessed, Brother Jian. This is the detailed map of the Heaven’s Spire Sanctuary." Wei Chen said, then pointed at the red circle in the middle of the map, where the arrays and paths leading to the core were all guarded by the main hall and the sect leader’s residence.

"As you can see, if someone were able to enter here, it would mean that all of the warriors, and even the sect leader and the sect ancestors in seclusion, would definitely know. Besides, this array is too powerful. People with lower cultivation could only dream of destroying it. I even asked a specialist in artifacts and arrays, and he said that it’s impossible for anyone who hasn’t reached at least Half-Step Great Ascension to destroy it by brute force," Wei Chen explained.

Seeing the map, Yun Feng was stunned. "Where did you get this, Brother Wei? Weren’t the people in the Heaven’s Spire Sanctuary all annihilated?"

"The sect was annihilated, but that doesn’t mean there were no survivors. There must have been some who were outside on the day of the annihilation, and our Brother Wei must have gotten it from them. Besides, even if there were none, I don’t think someone with the power and resources of a young master from a Hidden Ancient Sect would have trouble obtaining it," Jian Heng added, casually teaching the youngest of the group how the world worked.

Wei Chen could not help but thank Jian Heng in his mind. This guy was really helpful. He did not even need to come up with an excuse for where he got it. And honestly, he could not exactly tell them that he got this from the soul of an array master who died that day.

"So... the theory that someone with insufficient strength chose this method because they had no choice does not carry much weight in this context," Wei Chen said.

Jian Heng frowned. "You are saying that someone with enough strength to annihilate the entire sect deliberately chose to do this?"

He asked this, as the vice sect leader of the largest sect in the Azure River Province. Jian Heng was no saint. His hands had long been stained with the blood of his enemies. He did what he had to do, but he always tried his best to avoid killing innocents or causing excessive collateral damage.

As a sword cultivator, he understood that such actions would taint his Sword Dao with the Dao of killing. To keep his sword sharp, he avoided it as much as possible.

"Then the one who did this must have cultivated some demonic method like the Demonic Blood Ocean, or heavily cultivated killing intent," Jian Heng offered his opinion, his mind filled with loath and disdain of he one who did the massacre.