Yun Zhi vaguely remembered that she was worried about the Sect Ancestor's safety while he was out on a mission and specially asked her Junior Brother Lu and Junior Brother Meng, both clever fellows, to secretly assist the Sect Ancestor.

Before they knew it, three days had passed. "How come you two returned safely but the Sect Ancestor has not?"

"What happened?"

The two of them scratched their heads; this matter was truly difficult to explain.

Lu Yang tried to explain the situation as succinctly as possible, "This is what happened. The Sect Ancestor had successfully completed the mission. However, on the way back, he stumbled upon a lead concerning the Ruthless Sect. At that time, the Ruthless Sect was conducting its initiation trial, and he decided to go undercover in the Ruthless Sect, just like we did, to break through them."

"We were worried about the Sect Ancestor's safety, so we also participated in the trial. The trial involved killing the person you are closest to inside an Illusionary Realm. Both Old Meng and I failed, but only the Sect Ancestor succeeded."

Yun Zhi, rarely driven by curiosity, temporarily set aside her concerns about Daoist Xiantian's predicament, "Who did you see in the Illusionary Realm, Junior Brother Lu?"

Meng Jingzhou was also curious about this question, as Lu Yang had been eliminated before him. What kind of enemy, or rather, who was the person he was closest to that he had encountered?

"It was, it was that one person..."

"Who?"

Lu Yang hemmed and hawed, finding it embarrassing to say in front of the person involved.

"Is that even a question? Who else could it be but me, Fairy Eternity!" boasted Fairy Eternity, emerging from her body, proud as she showed off to Yun Zhi.

"Our Immortal Lineage is united as one, with a shared heart and purpose!"

Yun Zhi didn't react, simply uttering, "Continue, Junior Brother Lu."

"After the Sect Ancestor passed the trial, he had just joined the Ruthless Sect when the government office led a raid that took down the stronghold of the Ruthless Sect, capturing all its followers and the newly joined Sect Ancestor as well. Seeing the bad situation, we immediately returned to the sect to report."

"Wait a second. How did the Sect Ancestor pass the trial?" Yun Zhi noticed a logical flaw.

She didn't interact much with the Sect Ancestor, but she knew he was a person of deep sentiments and loyalty. How could he possibly have passed the Ruthless Sect's trial?

Lu Yang, not daring to look directly into Eldest Senior Sister's eyes, stammered, "Well, I saw that the Sect Ancestor really wanted to join the Ruthless Sect, and as you know, Eldest Senior Sister, I am a dutiful child. I try to fulfill the wishes of my elders. So, I asked Fairy Eternity for help to break the Sect Ancestor's mental barrier and made him realize that he was in an illusion."

Yun Zhi looked at Lu Yang, who guiltily lowered his head, then she turned to Fairy Eternity, who was not at all intimidated by Yun Zhi and spoke confidently.

"When the Second-in-command asked for my help, how could I refuse?"

Yun Zhi sighed, then continued, "Then, did the Sect Ancestor not reveal that he was from the Seek Dao Sect, saying instead that he was undercover in the demonic sect?"

The government office surely wouldn't be making arrests including undercover agents.

In fact, as soon as the Sect Ancestor was captured, Lu Yang immediately sent a spiritual message to him, urging him to explain the situation.

"No, he felt it was too embarrassing and didn't want to say that he's from the Seek Dao Sect."

Although Lu Yang didn't think being from the Seek Dao Sect and ending up in jail was a big deal—hadn't their mentor, Daoist Buyu, been in and out of prison seven times, taking it easy and setting several records in the Great Xia jails?

His mentor took pride rather than shame in it, even writing a book about his exploits and becoming a legendary figure in the Great Xia jails—for Daoist Xiantian, it was a hurdle he couldn't mentally overcome.

Yun Zhi was in a dilemma. Naturally, she could speak with the local government office to explain the situation and have them release the Sect Ancestor, but considering the way the Sect Ancestor was acting, it seemed he didn't want his identity as a member of the Seek Dao Sect to be revealed.

"Junior Brother Dai often deals with these kinds of situations. Go and ask him if he has any good suggestions."

"Yes."

Following Yun Zhi's directive, the two of them rushed to the Task Hall to find Dai Bufan.

When Dai Bufan saw Lu Yang and the other, he was taken aback, "Why are you here instead of protecting the Sect Ancestor?"

Having advanced to the Mid-stage of Unification, his state of mind had undergone a change, making it hard for the external world to disturb him. Even upon seeing Lu Yang and the other, he didn't get the same sense of seeing the grim reapers coming for his soul as he used to.

Meng Jingzhou said seriously, "The Dynasty has mobilized its power to protect Ancestor Master, who is now very safe and temporarily doesn't need our protection."

"It was Eldest Senior Sister who sent the two of us to find you for a solution."

"Oh? What happened?" Dai Bufan was interested; he hadn't expected that there was something even Eldest Senior Sister couldn't resolve and needed to seek his wisdom for.

"Ancestor Master wanted to join the Ruthless Sect, and then he was captured by the Dynasty."

"Cough cough——"

Dai Bufan coughed violently, almost coughing up his lungs.

"You two, explain the process in detail."

Lu Yang and his companion recounted most of the events, omitting the affair involving Fairy Eternity.

"So it was just going undercover; you scared me to death." Dai Bufan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Ancestor Master couldn't possibly be so lacking in discernment as to leave Seek Dao Sect and join something like the Ruthless Sect.

"No, going undercover is also very dangerous, is this how you two protect Ancestor Master!?"

Lu Yang and his companion nodded, acknowledging the danger; after all, they had been captured.

"How long will Ancestor Master be detained?" This was Dai Bufan's most pressing concern.

"The government office said that Ancestor Master had just joined the Ruthless Sect, had no criminal record, and his attitude in admitting his wrongdoing was sincere, so a fifteen-day detention would suffice."

"Good, it's only fifteen days." Dai Bufan thought to himself that if it were to be two months or more, he would do whatever it took to rescue Ancestor Master.

"Then you two should either visit the prison more often or stay with Ancestor Master, just ensure that Ancestor Master doesn't suffer any grievances in his cell."

To get Ancestor Master out without revealing his identity, Dai Bufan could only think of having Ancestor Master pretend to be from one of the other four Immortal Sects, claiming he was there to go undercover, though this method was somewhat unscrupulous.

Moreover, Ancestor Master impersonating someone from another sect didn't seem right.

Fifteen days were neither too long nor too short, like Ancestor Master was going to experience mortal life.

"Yes."

...

"Which option should we choose, visiting the prison more often or accompanying Ancestor Master in the jail?"

"I lean towards the second option, it seems more thorough in terms of care."

"How about we first go to the jail to see Ancestor Master's condition before deciding?"

"That's also an option."

The two discussed and sped from Seek Dao Sect all the way to Ye City's jail, carrying two large lunch boxes.

"It should be around here." There were many cells in Ye City, and it was not appropriate to use Spiritual Sense here for fear of arousing suspicion, so the two searched one by one.

Lu Yang heard two people talking not far away.

"I never expected Ancestor Master that you would actually come here to accompany me." The speaker was filled with emotion, joy mingled within his words.

"Neither did I expect that you, as the Sect Leader of our sect, would not flee after making a mistake but voluntarily get locked up here, truly a role model for the sect."

Lu Yang saw Ancestor Master and his own Master locked up together, with the Gold Clan Leader beside them, and fell silent for a long time.

How did these three end up together?