Published: November 30, -0001
However, Qin Chen felt a sense of confusion in his heart.
If the purpose of those black-clothed individuals was to kill the strong members of their various factions, they should have incited a battle among them. Yet, earlier, Si Tu Zhen and Ling Yuan Nan almost clashed violently, so why did Lu Haoran instead stop both sides from fighting?
What was the reason for this?
If Lu Haoran was not possessed, that would be fine. But if he truly was possessed, leading everyone here and hiding amongst the crowd without making a sound, it certainly meant he had other intentions. Qin Chen had to be extremely cautious.
"I wonder where the big black cat is?"
Qin Chen scanned the surroundings; the various factions were gathered together, and the entire stone cavern was intricate and complex, filled with molten flames and steaming heat, making it impossible to spot the big black cat.
However, Qin Chen had a vague feeling that the big black cat was lurking in the nearby void, monitoring every move in this place.
Lu Haoran was extremely low-key, hiding in the crowd and showing none of the demeanor of a top expert from the Alchemy Pavilion, which made it difficult for Qin Chen to deliberately spy on him for fear of attracting his attention.
"This isn't a solution. It seems I need to find a way to clarify who among those people has been possessed."
Qin Chen calmed his mind, noting that there were more than twenty black-clothed individuals, and now only a few remained. This meant that there were originally twenty black-clothed people mingling among the various factions.
At that time, including Shang Wuji, he had personally killed five of them. Earlier, two possessed individuals had also fallen at the Bloodline Sacred Land. This meant that, at present, seven individuals were known to have fallen.
That left about nineteen remaining. In other places, things might not go smoothly, but overall, the probability of possession under unguarded circumstances was extremely high, unless the other party had a soul treasure like Yue Chaolun, which could only resist the initial possession.
This indicated that, among the various factions, at least ten top experts had been possessed.
"I need to think of a way to clarify exactly who those people are."
Qin Chen pondered, his gaze fixed on the divine tree of rules in the center of the lake, his expression calm.
On that white jade fruit tree in the center of the lake, there were densely packed one hundred and eight fruits. Around the fruits, colorful light flowed, exuding waves of rule aura, but these rule auras had not reached their peak, indicating they were not yet mature.
Once the rule fruits matured, all rule auras would completely retract, and the fruits would fall simultaneously like ripe fruit, leaving none behind. Furthermore, the rule fruit tree had a special property: before the rule fruits matured, any attempt to forcibly pick them would cause the fruits to instantly transform into pure rule power, self-destructing and reintegrating into the world. This was also one of the reasons why everyone remained calm and did not act before the fruits matured.
However, judging by the current situation, the rule fruits were nearing maturity. It was likely that in the short time ahead, once they matured, it would inevitably trigger a great battle.
The strong members of the various factions were all occupying advantageous positions, just waiting for the rule fruits to mature.
Swish!
A group of people emerged again from the passage.
This group had an imposing presence, led by an old man with brown hair who emanated an astonishing aura, holding an ancient formation disk in his hand.
A chilling aura was incredibly repressed on his body, as if he was merging with the heavens and earth, clearly having reached an extraordinary level.
"It’s Old Fei!"
"The top expert of the Instrument Pavilion."
"I was wondering why there were so few experts from the Instrument Pavilion. With their capabilities, they should be most adept at this kind of relic."
Whispers arose as the crowd looked on with eager eyes.