"Mm-hm, I'm sure Brother Kang will become the most formidable elder in the whole Xuandan Sect!" Xiaotaohong said expectantly.

"Haha, of course—no doubt about it!" Kang Zhaoming chuckled.

After leaving the side courtyard of the traveling palace, Tianchan went straight to the Xuandan Sect's inn and sought out the manager on duty that day: "Manager Sun, give me the guest register!"

"Yes, Young Sect Master!" Manager Sun nearly jumped out of his skin. He had never imagined that Tianchan would come to the inn in person. He had no idea what she wanted the register for, but he hurriedly produced it all the same: "Young Sect Master, here it is. Please have a look!"

"Mm. One question—has a man named Zhang Naipao come back to the inn?" Tianchan took the register and asked offhandedly.

"Zhang Naipao? One moment, let me check." Manager Sun swiftly opened the computer and began searching, but soon shook his head. "No. Zhang Naipao has not returned to the inn."

"And Wei Zhao?" Tianchan asked again. Zhang Naipao had only been a lead-in; though she was sure Manager Sun would never gossip or repeat her questions, she could not help feeling a little guilty, like a thief with something to hide.

"Not him either..." Manager Sun shook his head after checking.

"I see. Then never mind." Tianchan waved a hand, signaling that he could get back to his own work. She had known all along that Wei Zhao could not possibly have returned to the inn out of thin air without passing through the teleportation array, but she would not feel at ease unless she asked.

But how would Manager Sun dare busy himself with anything else in Tianchan's presence? He merely stood to one side, cautious and trembling, awaiting the Young Sect Master's next order.

Tianchan held the guest register in her hands and examined it carefully.

She looked first at Wei Zhao. Wei Zhao had arrived at the inn together with Zhao Qitan of the hidden Zhao family—this was noted on the register—while Zhang Naipao had come with Mo Ba and Mo Jiu, fellow members of the Tomorrow After Tomorrow Sect...

Zhao Qitan—Tianchan remembered him as one of the last four trial-takers to pass the Xuandan Sect's trials. Her memory was excellent, so the name came back to her at once. But Mo Ba and Mo Jiu she had no recollection of; she had not seen either name on the list of those who had passed.

"Manager Sun, have you seen Mo Ba and Mo Jiu of the Tomorrow After Tomorrow Sect?" Tianchan asked.

"To answer the Young Sect Master: Mo Ba went with Zhang Naipao to take part in the trials, and neither has returned. As for Mo Jiu, he is lying in his room right now, unconscious, his life or death unknown," Manager Sun said.

"Oh?" Tianchan was slightly taken aback. "Why is Mo Jiu unconscious? What happened to him?"

Manager Sun was quite well informed about Mo Jiu's affair—after all, it had happened right here in the Xuandan Sect's inn, so it had left a deep impression on him: "It was in the dining hall before. Zhang Naipao of the Tomorrow After Tomorrow Sect brought Mo Ba and Mo Jiu to provoke someone, and then that Wei Zhao you mentioned struck Mo Jiu crippled with a single palm. He is still alive only on pills, and has not woken up."

"What? Wei Zhao did that?" Tianchan was stunned. She had never expected such deep enmity between Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao. She knew a little of Wei Zhao's affairs, but not that he was at odds with the Tomorrow After Tomorrow Sect.

"Yes. Wei Zhao is only an expert of the late Earth Rank, yet he managed to wound a mid Heaven Rank expert grievously with one palm—that is rather strange," Manager Sun said. "But for some reason, Zhang Naipao and Mo Ba chose to bide their time and did not press the conflict with Wei Zhao any further. Still, Zhang Naipao did say one thing then: that they would settle it in earnest at the trials!"

"Oh?" Tianchan frowned. Could it be, she wondered, that Wei Zhao ran into Zhang Naipao again in the Five Fiends Wilderness, the two of them fell to fighting, and both perished together? Since Wei Zhao carried a map to the safe zone, and Zhang Naipao carried one as well, their meeting had in fact been inevitable...

At that thought, Tianchan's heart clenched with sudden anxiety, and she began to worry about Wei Zhao. Had she known the two were enemies, she ought to have warned him. Now it seemed her guess was near the mark—the two of them must have fought.

"Manager Sun, which room is this Zhao Qitan staying in? He should know something. I will go and ask him." In truth, Tianchan need not have explained so much. Even if she had said nothing and simply demanded Zhao Qitan, Manager Sun would not have dared ask a single question.

It was only that, when it came to matters concerning Wei Zhao, Tianchan behaved like a foolish young girl, protesting her innocence a little too much. Yet Manager Sun, however bold he might be, would never dare let his thoughts wander—and besides, in his eyes Tianchan was a man. Whether she sought out Zhao Qitan, or Zhang Naipao, or Wei Zhao, there was nothing strange in it at all.

"Let me see... he is upstairs, 307!" Manager Sun said.

"All right, carry on." Tianchan nodded, turned, and went upstairs, and only then did Manager Sun breathe a sigh of relief.

Tianchan came to the door of Zhao Qitan's room and knocked.

"Who is it? One moment!" Zhao Qitan's voice came from within. As a cultivator who had successfully passed the trials, he was waiting in his room for the Xuandan Sect's reward, while those cultivators who had failed to gather spirit herbs but had still made it out through the teleportation array had already returned to their own sects.

But Zhao Qitan had another reason for staying: he was waiting for Wei Zhao. Though it was already the twenty-first day and Wei Zhao had still not returned, Zhao Qitan did not want to give up. He firmly believed that Wei Zhao would surely come back alive.

So when he heard the knock, Zhao Qitan was rather excited, thinking it was Wei Zhao returned—after all, he had only just finished breakfast with Feng Shipian, Ge Xian, and Li Ciba.

None of the four had the heart for anything else; after breakfast they had each returned to their rooms to wait for news of Wei Zhao. That was why Zhao Qitan mistook the knock at this moment.

Zhao Qitan rose and opened the door, then started in surprise—for outside stood a stranger he had never seen before!

A few other cultivators who had also passed the trials were still lodging at the inn, and although Zhao Qitan did not know them well, their faces were familiar. But the person before him was plainly not a cultivator staying at the inn.

"You are?" Zhao Qitan asked, looking at Tianchan with some puzzlement.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Tianchan, the Young Sect Master of the Xuandan Sect." Tianchan introduced herself.

For the fastest updates, read without pop-ups at.