After Ye Guan escaped with the siblings, he turned back to see the stone door closing slowly behind them. The desperate and miserable screams of the people left behind echoed incessantly, painting a haunting scene for those outside.

Those lucky enough to escape were in a state of shock with their faces pale with terror.

All of a sudden, the young woman next to Ye Guan pulled her brother to kneel, and her voice was trembling as she said, "Thank you for saving our lives, young lord!"

The young woman then pressed on her younger brother's head, pushing him down as she said, "Quick, kowtow to him!"

Before the younger brother could kowtow, a gentle breeze of sword intent raised the siblings off the ground.

Ye Guan stared deeply at the young woman in front of him. Her eyes still showed both fear and relief, but she tried her best to appear calm and composed.

Ye Guan smiled and asked, "What's your name?"

"Mu Yunchu," the young woman replied, "and this is my younger brother, Mu Yunzhe."

"You approached me way earlier than the reveal just now. I'm a bit curious as to why you did that."

"Because you looked strong..."

"What made you think that?"

"Most of the people who entered that stone gate were excited, while the rest were anxious. However, you showed neither of those emotions, young lord. You were calm, composed, and confident. Based on that, I guessed that you must be extremely strong. Of course, I couldn't say for sure, but I had no choice but to take a gamble at the time."

Dai Zong and Xin Yu walked over and were surprised to hear Mu Yunchu's words.

Ye Guan was also surprised, not expecting her to be so observant and meticulous.

"Where are you guys from?" Xin Yu asked."

Mu Yunzhe immediately became wary and replied, "We can't tell you. Our grandfather told us that we shouldn't easily reveal our identity outside, as there are many bad people here."

Mu Yunchu quickly pulled Mu Yunzhe behind her, looking a little embarrassed as she said, "My brother and I come from a small clan. Our clan doesn't qualify to stand on even ground with other civilizations. Even if I told you, you couldn't have heard of it."

Xin Yu asked, "Would you be interested in studying at my Supreme Scholar Academy?"

Mu Yunzhe looked puzzled. "What is the Supreme Scholar Academy? Is it—"

Mu Yunchu suddenly kicked her brother's leg, causing him to fall to his knees with a thud. Before he could react, Mu Yunchu grabbed the back of his neck and pushed him down, saying, "Quick, kowtow!"

Mu Yunzhe had no idea what to say.

Ye Guan, Dai Zong, and Xin Yu smiled, shaking their heads.

Clearly, the younger sister was dumber than his older sister. If it weren't for their similar appearance, one would doubt whether they were actually siblings or not.

Xin Yu raised her right hand, and a gentle force lifted the siblings up to their feet. Then, she took out a token and passed it to Mu Yunchu, saying, "Take this token. Activate a month later. If you receive a response, use the teleportation array that it reveals, and it will transport you both to my Supreme Scholar Academy. If there is no response, take the items inside the token and leave this star field. Return to your clan and cultivate well. In time, you will have your own fortune."

Mu Yunchu accepted the token and bowed deeply toward Xin Yu, saying, "I will remember your instructions."

Xin Yu smiled and said, "Go on."

Mu Yunchu hesitated for a moment before looking at Ye Guan and asking, "May I know your name, young lord? I mean no offense. I just wish to remember the name of our benefactor."

Ye Guan said, "Ye Guan."

"Ye Guan!" Mu Yunchu repeated. She silently memorized the name before turning to her younger brother. Just as she was about to kick him in the shin, the young man knelt down on his own volition. It seemed that he had learned his lesson.

Just like that, the two siblings bowed respectfully to Ye Guan before leaving.

Ye Guan suddenly said, "Wait."

Mu Yunchu turned back to look at him.

"Since I already helped you, I might as well go all the way. I'll teach you a cultivation method," Ye Guan said. He pointed forward with two fingers, and a white light melted into Mu Yunchu's forehead.

The white light contained the Universe Beholdment Skill!

Mu Yunchu was about to kneel in gratitude, but a gentle force suppressed her.

Ye Guan then said, "You two should get going now."

Mu Yunchu bowed again and took another look at Ye Guan's face before pulling her younger brother away.

When the siblings disappeared from their line of sight, Xin Yu remarked, "That girl was very perceptive."

Ye Guan nodded. "She has a keen mind and is full of potential. She'll be a good student. The only question is how far she can go in the future."

"Since you appreciate talents like her, why did you not take her as your disciple?"

"I'm not cut out for teaching students."

Xin Yu was about to respond when Dai Zong chimed in, "Look over there."

Ye Guan and Xin Yu turned and saw that the stone gate had turned blood-red in color. No, it wasn't just the stone gate. The entire mountain peak was turning blood-red, and the ground was trembling slightly.

Xin Yu's face darkened. "What are they doing?"

Dai Zong answered, "It seems that the Arcanist Civilization will soon stage a comeback."

The mountain crumbled, and terrifying auras pervaded the air soon afterward.

The entire ruins seemed to become illusory beneath the terrifying auras.

Ye Guan and the others looked into the distance and saw seven blood-red corpses and the mysterious figure slowly walking out of the stone gate.

A massive army of soldiers stood behind the mysterious figure, and every single troop of the army emitted shockingly powerful energy waves.

Xin Yu and Dai Zong's expressions turned heavy.

The mysterious figure looked at them and asked with a smile, "You guys haven't left yet?"

Ye Guan asked, "Did the Tianxing Flame not destroy your entire civilization back then?"

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Our civilization was destroyed, but we were not annihilated," the mysterious figure replied. He then took a step forward and instantly appeared in front of them.

"What happened to that blood-red coffin that I gave to you?" asked the mysterious figure.

"You don't know?" Ye Guan's expression became strange.

The mysterious figure frowned. "What do I

not

know?"

Ye Guan fell silent.

So this bastard has no idea that Uncle has destroyed that blood-red coffin?

"Where is it ?" the mysterious figure asked.

Ye Guan calmly replied, "It swallowed a few powerful individuals before disappearing. If you want, go ahead and look for it."

Xin Yu turned to look at Ye Guan, and she had to admit she was quite surprised.

Weren't swordsmen supposed to be quite straightforward and honest? Why is Young Lord Ye so scheming?

The mysterious figure glanced sideways at Ye Guan. "You're quite the crafty one, but it doesn't matter; it's not important at all…"

With that, he was about to make a move when Ye Guan said, "I'm curious, aren't you afraid that the Tianxing Civilization will discover what you've done? Reviving your civilization and all."

The mysterious figure smiled and said, "The Tianxing Civilization won't pay attention to this universe region anymore."

"Why not?"

"It was all because the Tianxing Civilization had already wreaked havoc here. From our observations, they are not going to come and check on this place for another hundred billion years. In other words, this universe region is the safest universe region throughout the vast expanse."

"I see," Ye Guan murmured.

Xin Yu chimed in, "Those people earlier weren't particularly strong, so why did you devour them?"

The mysterious figure explained, "We did it to obtain their memories and learn the whereabouts of their civilizations."

Xin Yu said, "So you really aren't going to allow the existence of other civilizations."

"Low-tier civilizations exist to be devoured by high-tier civilizations," replied the mysterious figure. Then, he opened his palm, and a bolt of lightning shot toward Ye Guan in the distance.

Ye Guan drew his sword and slashed the lightning bolt.

Schwing!

The lightning bolt shattered. The next moment, the Qingxuan Sword flew toward the mysterious figure.

Schwing!

The sword attack ended up missing, as the mysterious figure was already a thousand meters away.

The mysterious figure glanced at the Qingxuan Sword in Ye Guan's hand and said, "I underestimated your sword a bit."

Ye Guan looked back at the mysterious figure and glanced at the seven blood corpses behind the latter. "Let's go."

With that, the three of them turned around and disappeared into the distant starry sky.

The mysterious figure stared at the three figures and chuckled. He didn't bother chasing them. In his eyes, the people of this universe region were as insignificant as ants. Their actions didn't really matter, as he believed that they'd eventually die, anyway.

Just then, a blood corpse remarked, "That young man isn't simple at all. His sword is special, and it actually poses a threat to us. We should have eliminated him earlier."

The mysterious figure smiled and said, "Old San, your only flaw is being overly cautious. Think about it, what kind of civilizations are in this universe region? They're all low-tier civilizations, and they're like ants compared to us."

"That's the reason we were destroyed," the blood corpse remarked, shaking his head. "We had grossly underestimated the Tianxing Civilization. If we had taken them seriously, even if we couldn't defeat them, we could have escaped…"

The mysterious figure closed his eyes.

"That young man must be killed, but we have our priorities," said the mysterious figure. He opened his palm, and an ancient-looking box appeared. A mysterious ancient character was in the box. The mysterious figure stared deeply at it and muttered, "Our top priority is to let this thing devour the spiritual energy of other civilizations. That way, it'll eventually awaken and grow into an Immortal Dao Tree. This must be done, as this is the foundation of our civilization…"

The blood corpses nodded in agreement.