"Isn’t that so! Look at that young man—doesn’t he have the makings of an Inner Sect disciple?"

"Master Gudu, which one are you talking about?"

The richly dressed man looked left and right, as if he couldn’t see the person the old Daoist was talking about.

The disciple behind him stepped forward and pointed from afar at someone, speaking to the richly dressed man:

"Senior Brother, Master said it should be this person. He seems to be about to merge himself with the Heavenly Dao of this world."

"Oh..."

The richly dressed man let out a meaningful "oh," then said with a faint smile:

"It’s just merging with the Dao of a small world. Even if he succeeds, his strength will probably still be inferior to our sect’s Core Disciples."

"And with the drawbacks of merging with the Heavenly Dao, this child is ruined no matter how astonishing his talent is!"

The old Daoist smiled faintly:

"That is exactly why I rushed over here. Besides, since there is still Heavenly Dao here, this is the place where our cultivators originated; it should be treated with importance."

"Clean out these heretical Demon Race below, and it will count as a merit for you when we return to the sect."

When the old Daoist said this, he suddenly lifted his right hand slightly, the duster pointing at the large number of Demon Race.

In an instant, the faces of those Demon Emperors all changed.

"Good!"

The richly dressed man bent slightly and cupped his fists, then turned around to give a few instructions.

After a brief moment, someone behind him accepted the order, turned around, and shortly after, over a thousand streaks of resplendent light shot out from the giant wheel.

In an instant, the starry sky was illuminated by over a thousand thick streams of light.

The Demon Race finally couldn’t help but retreat in terror at this moment.

However, such behavior was nothing but a useless gesture to those streams of light.

"Master Gudu, let a few Junior Brothers lead the Outer Sect disciples to clean up these small-fry Demon Race. It can also serve as some training for them."

The richly dressed man’s face held a composed expression, seemingly quite satisfied with his own arrangement.

The old Daoist standing at the head of the giant wheel, however, did not respond.

He stroked the beard on his chin, and without any visible movement, a living person simply disappeared from where he stood.

This action inevitably made the eyelids of that richly dressed man twitch.

Right after, he looked with a trace of jealousy at Yang Yan, who was in the midst of countless Demon Race at their core, yet had remained completely motionless all along.

At this moment, Yang Yan was utterly immersed in the Heavenly Dao Laws, completely unaware of anything happening in the outside world.

Yet just as the radiance on his body flourished, the instant he was about to merge with the Heavenly Dao, his vision suddenly went black, and he lost consciousness in a flash.

At the instant his entire consciousness was shrouded in darkness, the last thought that flashed across Yang Yan’s mind was:

Wasn’t the Heavenly Dao supposed to protect me? Where is the Heavenly Dao!

Little did he know, the Heavenly Dao of the Hidden World was nothing more than a minor Dao.

Back when that old Daoist arrived, the Heavenly Dao had already wanted to abandon him.

After that, with a wave of the old Daoist’s hand, the Heavenly Dao was forcibly made to terminate its connection with Yang Yan.

Down below, hundreds of thousands of Demon Race, pierced by the thousand streams of light, suddenly boiled over like a pot of water brought to a roaring boil!

It turned out that those thousand streams of light were exactly a thousand flying swords!

And on each flying sword, there was a human figure! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

After these people charged straight into the vast horde of Demon Race, they began a one-sided massacre with absolute overwhelming superiority.

Yang Yan had no idea what he experienced afterward.

In his subconscious, he only knew that the Hidden World was done for, completely and utterly done for!

Without him merging with the Heavenly Dao, that group of Demon Race would easily tear apart Ten Swords’ Immortal Slayer Sword Array, then launch a full-scale assault on the Hidden World.

As for the meager forces left to guard the Hidden World, they weren’t even enough to withstand a single charge from the Demon Race army.

Yang Yan had a dream, a long, long dream.

In the dream was his entire life.

At the beginning of the dream, he was still that man who’d taken the high-paying "seeking child" flyer, dressed in outdated clothes.

Though his bearing was unremarkable, the sharpness belonging to a king had always been present in his eyes.

At the very start of the dream, he still encountered Zhou Hanyun, the female lead in that little flyer...

"Chirp, chirp, chirp..."

He seemed to unknowingly sink deeper into the dream, while the chirping of birds by his ears sounded more and more familiar to Yang Yan.

At this moment, a wave of inexplicable dizziness surged through his mind.

Yang Yan, who briefly lost his senses, was startled.

Then, he suddenly snapped his eyes open.

"Huff!"

Like an ordinary person waking from a nightmare, Yang Yan abruptly sat up, sweat pouring off him like rain.

Only after taking a deep breath did he begin to look around.

A simple wooden bed, with a thin quilt covering his body.

Though it looked old, it was very clean.

This was a small wooden hut, not too big or too small, about a little over ten square meters in area.

Besides the wooden bed, the only other furnishing in the room was the cabinet next to the bed.

Judging by its appearance, it should be a cabinet for storing clothes.

Yang Yan patted his own head, which was aching.

Where am I?

Where’s the Demon Race?

What happened to the Hidden World?

And Ao Tian, Ten Swords and the others?

"Creak..."

The wooden door of the hut was suddenly pushed open, and Yang Yan snapped his head up.

A flash of disbelief flitted across his eyes.

Someone had actually gotten so close to him without a sound?!

The one who came in was a youth in gray homespun clothes. He looked only in his teens, slightly chubby, with an honest, simple smile on his face.

"Ah! You’re awake?! That’s great! I’ll go report to the supervisor right away."

Seeing that Yang Yan had woken, the youth cried out in delight and was about to turn and leave.

"Wait."

Yang Yan called out to stop him in shock and suspicion.

"What is it?"

The chubby youth with the simple face turned back, puzzled, and asked.

"Where is this?"

Yang Yan asked.

"Ancient Abyss Sect!"

"Bang!"

The door, which had originally been half-ajar, was suddenly kicked fully open. A young man in blue clothes walked in, with a strand of blue silk embroidered at each cuff.

"Greetings, Senior Brother!"

At the sight of the newcomer, the chubby youth’s plump body trembled, and he hastily bowed in greeting.

The young man in blue snorted coldly and said with disdain:

"This has nothing to do with you anymore. You can leave! Also, this brat doesn’t need you to serve him, nor do we need any of you Named Disciples to serve him, understand?"

The chubby youth didn’t hesitate in the slightest and immediately nodded in response:

"Yes, Senior Brother!"

With that, he gave Yang Yan a complicated look, then slowly backed out.

He didn’t understand: wasn’t this the secular disciple Elder Gudu brought back?

He had originally thought he was only staying temporarily in the Outer Courtyard and that once the disciple recruitment ceremony was over, he would definitely return to Elder Gudu’s side as a Core Disciple.

So why was it that now even an Outer Sect Senior Brother dared to treat him like this?

"And you are?"

Feeling the other party’s hostility, Yang Yan narrowed his eyes slightly and asked.

"Don’t bother asking who I am!"

The young man cut him off before Yang Yan could finish, his face full of contempt and arrogance as he said:

"Since you were brought back by Elder Gudu, you naturally count as a disciple of the sect."

"But Elder Gudu never said he would take you as a disciple, so you can only be considered a Named Disciple."

"Named Disciple?"

Yang Yan’s brow twitched as he asked somewhat doubtfully:

"May I ask, Senior Brother, do you know why I was brought back? And what does ’Named Disciple’ mean?"

The young man in blue said coldly:

"I don’t know why you were brought back. As for a Named Disciple... heh! You’ll find out in the future!"