Xiao Ran’s words made everyone fall silent.

They were not idiots and naturally understood that internal conflict would do them no good at this juncture. The only thing it would accomplish was to provide entertainment for the other groups and at worst, cause the Spirit Treasure Holy Land faction to lose their chance at vying for the upcoming opportunity.

A sea of clouds rose around the peak like burning purple flames. The grand scene felt sacred and filled one with solemness and awe.

Lin Xun, Zhao Jingxuan, and Toady were gathered together on one side of the platform.

Xiao Ran, Yun Che, Gong Yangyu, and the others were also in their own group as they conversed in low voices.

“That fire guy is horrible.”

Toady unhappily grumbled, completely unafraid of being heard by Su Xingfeng.

“Su Xingfeng is acting rather abnormally.”

Lin Xun suddenly transmitted, “Previously, I encountered him and Wen Xiang while chasing enemies in a mountain range. Back then, he did not act so rashly and arrogantly as he did earlier.”

“You suspect that he did it on purpose?”

Zhao Jingxuan’s pupils shrank.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“I believe so. He had clearly attacked with the intent to kill earlier and did not hold anything back. I suspect that he’s trying to gauge my power and intentionally show it to Xiao Ran, Gong Yangyu, and the others.”

As Lin Xun recalled the sneak attack, he could feel that there was something clearly wrong with the whole incident.

No matter how foolish Su Xingfeng was or how much he hated Lin Xun, he should still understand that the big picture was more important when facing so many enemies.

It was obvious that Su Xingfeng wasn’t a fool, but instead a heaven pride with superior talent, intelligence, and cunning.

Hence, it was very odd for him to display such behavior.

Lin Xun had a feeling that something fishy was going on, and Su Xingfeng’s true intention was to let Xiao Ran and the others personally witness his strength!

Toady said in surprise, “If your conjecture is correct, it would mean that Su Xingfeng is trying to rope in Xiao Ran or Gong Yangyu to deal with you?”

“Nope, they have likely already come to some secret agreement. The reason why they were probing Lin Xun’s strength was so they can prepare themselves to eliminate Lin Xun in one fell swoop when the time comes!”

Zhao Jingxuan’s eyes surged with the light of intelligence. As someone from the imperial family, she was naturally all too familiar with various plots and schemes. It was an ability she had cultivated from her environment.

Hence why she immediately detected a hint of a scheme after Lin Xun shared his thoughts and came to her own conclusion.

“Regardless of how you put it, their ultimate goal is to deal with Lin Xun, right?”

Toady angrily said, “Then why are we still staying here? Are we going to help them contest for the opportunity and then be slaughtered like donkeys once we’re no longer useful?”

Soon after, he coughed and hurriedly explained, “This king is not a donkey. Don’t misunderstand, I was only making a comparison.”

Lin Xun rolled his eyes. Toady was still such a joker even at this juncture. His pretty-boy appearance was honestly a stark contrast to his crude mannerisms.

“We are not leaving.”

Zhao Jingxuan took a deep breath, her beautiful face glowing with confidence. “They won’t take action at this juncture because of the upcoming opportunity. In fact, they will fully cooperate in order to borrow our power and obtain the biggest possible benefits.”

After a pause, she continued, “However, since they wish to use us, why don’t we use them as well? After we’ve secured the opportunity, we can attack first instead and burn bridges with them. We also can be the ones who will slaughter the useless donkeys!”

Toady immediately grinned and gave a thumbs-up. “Miss Zhao really knows how to put it. Right, we’ll kill the entire gang of low-life donkeys! Heh heh heh, this king is looking forward to slaughtering them.”

Zhao Jingxuan could not help but roll her eyes. Toady was somehow able to make such a serious problem sound so full of bullshit, and it gave her a headache.

Lin Xun ignored Toady and looked toward Zhao Jingxuan. “Do you…really intend to burn bridges with them?”

It was a very important question!

After all, Zhao Jingxuan was also a Successor of Spirit Treasure Holy Land, and breaking off relations with her fellow disciples had serious repercussions.

Zhao Jingxuan asked instead, “They’re already grinding their knives, so do we just offer them our necks and die?”

As he looked at her pretty, clean, and fair face and her clear and calm eyes, Lin Xun was finally certain that Zhao Jingxuan had made her decision.

“Good, let’s see who will burn the bridges and who will kill the donkey!”

Lin Xun displayed a slight but warm smile.

Toady remarked, “Your smile is ugly.”

Lin Xun forcibly restrained his murderous impulse and looked toward the nearby ancient altar. “You guys mentioned that there are forty-nine altars on the peal. I wonder if there’s a deeper meaning to them. Perhaps their existence might have some relation to the opportunity that is about to appear?”

He walked forward to have a closer look at the altars.

Sure enough, Zhao Jingxuan and Toady were also drawn over.

“When I was here previously with Senior Brother Xiao Ran and the others, we did discuss it. These altars are clearly from the ancient era. Unfortunately, there are almost no clues besides a few dao traces and these mysterious unknown ancient characters.”

Zhao Jingxuan explained.

The ash-gray altar was nine-feet-tall and was covered in patches of moss. It gave off a timeless aura.

The altar seemed ordinary at a glance, but if someone looked closely, they would discover wisps of wondrous dao traces undulations around it that gave it a sensation of solemn sacredness.

“It is the most ordinary of altars, but it becomes completely different after being dyed in a saint’s aura.”

Toady’s eyes glowed as he excitedly stared at every inch of the altar like a hungry wolf that had spotted fat, juicy prey.

“If this king’s guess is correct, this altar was made by a true saint. Only an existence of that level can turn even the most rotten garbage into something spectacular. In the hands of a saint, even the most ordinary of objects will be dyed in a saint’s aura!”

Lin Xun’s heart trembled. He had sensed that the altar was special, but could not say exactly what it was about it. It was only after hearing Toady’s explanation that the revelation dawned upon him.

“I finally believe that you are indeed a descendant of the Three-legged Golden Toad.”

Zhao Jingxuan could not help but feel surprised as she acknowledged Toady’s insights.

“Hmph, this is nothing. The knowledge this king possesses far exceeds the imagination of your most learned scholars.”

Toady immediately turned smug.

This was the side of Toady that Lin Xun was most annoyed by. Hence, he said, “How unfortunate. You know so much, and yet you’ve lost all of your memories. How pitiful.”

Toady’s body turned rigid before he suddenly went crazy, clamoring that he wanted to fight Lin Xun.

In the end, Lin Xun backed down and allowed Toady to calm down.

“What are these symbols?”

Zhao Jingxuan pointed to the center of the altar. A large patch of moss had fallen off from the spot, revealing a row of strange and mysterious characters.

The characters were shaped like dragons sitting there raising their heads and gave off an indescribable sensation of grandeur.

Zhao Jingxuan explained, “Among my senior brothers, Senior Brother Xiao Ran is the most well-versed in ancient texts. However, even he could not recognize these characters and could only predict that they were written by a saint and must have some kind of meaning.”

However, she suddenly realized that Toady wasn’t even listening. He had walked right up to the altar, his golden eyes blazing with intensity as they stared at the mysterious row of words.

He was completely mesmerized.

Lin Xun and Zhao Jingxuan exchanged a look as their hearts shook. They could faintly sense that Toady might have discovered something.

Xiao Ran, Su Xingfeng, and the others were naturally keeping an eye on Lin Xun’s group while they conversed. When they saw Toady’s abnormal reaction, their eyes narrowed slightly as various expressions appeared on their faces.

For the past few days, everyone had also been trying to decipher the strange script on the altars.

It was just too odd for every altar to be inscribed with them, making it impossible to ignore them.

Unfortunately, everyone was still utterly baffled by the unknown characters. They had never seen an ancient language like this before.

This made the Violet Cloud Sacred Mountain become increasingly mysterious in their eyes. Forty-nine mountain paths led to forty-nine ancient altars which had clearly originated from an ancient era. There were wisps of dao traces around the altars and even mysterious ancient words written by a saint.

What did all of this mean?

Was it related to the opportunity they were waiting for?

No one knew!

This was why Violet Cloud Sacred Mountain felt more and more mysterious.

As such, how could Xiao Ran and the others not be shocked by Toady’s abnormal reaction to the words?

Xiao Ran asked, “Who is that Dao Friend? Why have I never heard of him?”

The others shook their heads, including Su Xingfeng, and Wen Xiang. None of them had seen Toady before, let alone knew of his origins.

“I recall that Lin Xun was alone when we first entered the Deva Secret Domain. If so, could the green-robed youth be a ‘local’ of the Deva Secret Domain?”

Xiao Ran speculated.

This caused everyone’s hearts to jump in alarm as they finally began to seriously regard Toady.

“Impossible, all intelligent lifeforms in the Deva Secret Domain possess the terrifying strength of Life Death Stage Kings. Although there are also some powerful savage beasts, it is impossible for them to have intelligence.”

Su Xingfeng shook his head.

Xiao Ran thoughtfully said, “Regardless, it would be a big help to us if he is able to decipher the characters.”

It was at this moment that Toady began to mumble while forgetting to conceal his voice, which immediately drew Xiao Ran’s and the others’ attention.

“Fangchun…Mountain…scam?”

Although it wasn’t a coherent sentence, it made everyone’s hearts shudder violently. Toady could read the mysterious script!