Yin Shen Palace chuckled bitterly, "This is beyond my imagination. The machinations at this level are too high for me to analyze."

Aunt Hong nodded, pondering, and slowly said, "I will report back to Vice Sect Master Yan. The three words ’Faceless Tower’ are already enough."

Yin Shen Palace said, "Therefore, I believe that our journey ahead will not encounter any more assassinations."

"Yet, that’s not acceptable."

Aunt Hong chuckled bitterly, "There’s not much of the journey left. If I leave you here and you get killed, then all my efforts along the way would be in vain."

Yin Shen Palace laughed, "Then... I’ll have to trouble Aunt Hong further. Shall we speed up our pace from now on?"

"Alright."

The journey indeed proceeded without further ambushes, as if the two assassins had already marked an end to the attempts.

"We have arrived."

Yin Shen Palace said, "Ahead is the headquarters of Yixin Sect. Thanks to Aunt Hong’s escort, without which, I might have turned into a pile of bones on this journey."

He bowed deeply, "I’m immensely grateful and hope to repay this kindness someday."

Aunt Hong smiled faintly, "It’s not just me alone."

She waved her hand, and two more figures appeared momentarily in the air before disappearing again.

Yin Shen Palace was startled, having not noticed any of this on the journey.

He quickly expressed his gratitude again.

"You may return now."

Aunt Hong smiled, then her figure blurred and vanished.

Yin Shen Palace gazed at the mountains in the distance, feeling as if the whole journey had been a dream.

He bowed deeply once more, then swiftly flew up, his slender frame darting into the mountain range, heading towards the Yixin Sect headquarters.

Seeing Yin Shen Palace return to the headquarters, Aunt Hong appeared once more.

This time, it truly was a safe delivery to the destination.

She immediately asked, "Did you collect the bodies of those two Faceless envoys?"

"Yes, they have been collected."

"Let’s head back. Keep a close watch along the way, don’t let them thaw. Hmph, Faceless Tower, they must have a bear’s heart and a leopard’s guts."

The three figures disappeared in an instant.

...

On Yin Shen Palace’s return journey.

The entire continent was already in a tumultuous upheaval, a grand feast for all.

On the Guardian Continent’s side: The Wei Wo Zheng Sect provoked a friendly match, intending to outshine us among the younger generation! Insidious and ambitious!

On Wei Wo Zheng Sect’s side: The Guardians issued a challenge, the younger generation... cunning, full of plots! 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Anyway, both sides blamed each other for instigating it, claiming it was the other’s fault.

But the populace didn’t care about that.

The people only knew that an epic battle of geniuses sweeping across the entire continent was about to begin!

Who are the geniuses?

The Cloud Weapon List had been hotly debated among the public for so many years, its heat had somewhat subsided. Now, another clash of young geniuses arose.

Enthusiasts immediately clamored for a new ranking.

They wanted to create a ’Cloud Genius List.’

As soon as this proposal came up, it instantly received widespread support from the public; yes, something like this was intuitive. Rank a thousand names to battle every day, what excitement!

But the Wei Wo Zheng Sect outright refused this proposal, citing it as too childish.

Why should young people be ranked? Let them grow a bit more; or storm the Cloud Weapon List after they’ve matured.

No kidding, within the Wei Wo Zheng Sect over thousands of years, Dongfang Sansan had launched one ranking after another, leading numerous sect experts to be named and executed.

The bitter experience with rankings was such that even several Vice Sect Masters’ eyes went green with envy. Just hearing the word ’ranking’ gave them a headache.

Finally, exerting the full force of the sect to abolish them, how could they repeat such a mistake?

So, they firmly refused.

The general public didn’t have such long memories and didn’t understand why the Wei Wo Zheng Sect refused, but those with high cultivation and longevity, who lived through that era, surely knew what the sect feared?

Soon lots of informed individuals emerged.

They started spreading across the continent, discussing how rankings were back then, how we achieved great victories, how the Wei Wo Zheng Sect struggled, how Ninth lord schemed, and so on...

How they made life utterly chaotic for the Wei Wo Zheng Sect...

The Wei Wo Zheng Sect’s suffering, and how they later used unconventional means to abolish all rankings.

Originally, there were many rankings, like the Cloud Weapon List, Cloud Divine Girl List, Cloud Top Genius List, Cloud Blade List, Cloud Sword Ranking...

In short, there was a ranking for everything you could think of and some you couldn’t.

Now, the Wei Wo Zheng Sect avoids rankings because they’re scared.

Because once a ranking comes out, Dongfang Strategist has too many ways to manipulate it into chaos.

These ancient inside stories spread out, convincingly detailed, instantly stirring the entire Guardian Continent to a frenzy!

Everyone engaged in heated discussions, their morale soared.

So enthusiasts began continuously digging into these matters, and sure enough, they found plenty of records from back then, fueling the excitement even more.

Pushed by this development, the popularity of this young elite friendship battle flared up explosively, sweeping across the entire continent like a raging fire.

Unlike the Guardians.

The enthusiasm of the Wei Wo Zheng Sect’s public plummeted after the exposure of these ancient ranking matters.

It was like, so this is how badly they were beaten...

Now, they don’t even dare to do rankings.

Consequently, many came out to argue, but had limited arguments, as facts were facts. So, many resorted to another method to defend.

"You people nowadays know nothing, do you know the invincible prowess of our sect’s experts back then? At that time, our martial strength absolutely crushed the other side."