While Young Master Nan's mind was churning, it was exactly what Miao Dingyi worried about—not that he couldn't afford to check Shi Chun's current status through the mirror image, but he didn't want to cause any misunderstandings about his family's relationship with Shi Chun. It was sufficient for his family to pay attention quietly; there was no need for everyone to know, especially since his daughter needed to marry in the future.

Was Young Master Nan's actions deserving of thanks or not?

Miao Yilan also wasn't sure whether to be thankful; she waved her hand indicating it wasn't necessary, and at the same time stood up to give her seat to her elders, honestly walking over to stand by her mother's side.

Regardless of other things, it wasn't a problem for Young Master Nan to cut in line among the various sects paying and queuing; the mirror image on the light screen soon appeared.

However, Young Master Nan and the others initially felt nothing as the scene displayed a canyon with no one in sight, leaving everyone clueless about whose requested scene this was.

Such a scene shifted the atmosphere on-site, everyone staring fixedly at the light screen, wondering what the sudden display of a canyon meant.

It wasn't until the calm canyon scene ended and transitioned to others' scenes that everyone remained unsure of the situation and no one really bothered about it.

Only Young Master Nan, who had been waiting left and right without success, grew somewhat impatient. Soon, the person in charge came back to report, asking, "Young Master Nan, did you see anything?"

Upon hearing this, Young Master Nan snapped, "See what, am I blind?"

Realizing the misunderstanding, the person in charge quickly explained, "No, Young Master Nan, that canyon scene just now, that is where Shi Chun is located."

Upon hearing this, Miao Dingyi and the others all turned to look, each with a face full of questions.

Young Master Nan was also curious, "Where is he?"

The person in charge stuttered a bit, "I asked too, they assume that he is either hiding underground, or… is buried there… They said if there has been no movement for a long time, someone from the West Pole would go to check and confirm."

He wasn't clear about what the exact relationship between Shi Chun and this Young Master Nan was, fearing that bringing bad news would be problematic.

Hearing it might be a burial site, Miao Dingyi's reaction was quite calm, just slightly affected, while Lan Qiaoyan and Miao Yilan were visibly upset, the mother and daughter looking at each other, hesitating to speak.

Young Master Nan immediately turned to look at the trio's reaction, his mind somewhat in turmoil, pondering if this could be related to their future son-in-law. Stirring up such bad news, wasn't this tormenting them, had his good intentions inadvertently caused harm?

With this thought, he immediately turned back and instructed, "Go, cut in the line again, we need the location on the Mountain River Map and in the mirror image, and make it quick."

Having caused such a stir, he had to provide some explanation, otherwise, it would be utterly unkind.

"Got it." The person in charge complied and swiftly left.

Hence, the people at the training field soon saw that desolate canyon again in the mirror image.

"What's going on, why is it this again?"

"Do you think there's a problem with the Heavenly Mirror?"

"Who cares about a broken gully anyway?"

There was a brief stir of noisy discussion in the training field, with some sects, who had spent money and queued for a long time without seeing their own people, also voicing some concerns.

Seeing this scene, Young Master Nan and Miao Dingyi looked again at the "Ultimate Mountain and River Map" where a red dot marked with "Wu Kang Mountain Envoy Four" indicated no movement, as the red dot wasn't blinking.

Along with the quiet, empty canyon showing no signs of life, Young Master Nan felt a bit awkward, wondering if he had prematurely announced a death.

Enshrouded in her cloak, Feng Chi saw the label on the Mountain River Map and knew what "Wu Kang Mountain Envoy Four" referred to, who this Young Master Nan was paying attention to. She turned to look toward the mountains behind, but alas, it was evening and the light was poor, making visibility difficult.

Elder Ke and the others were even more confused, looking around as if trying to read reactions from unknown faces.

"Hey, there's someone from the Heavenly Court."

Suddenly, someone pointed out the figures appearing in the mirror image.

The figures from the Heavenly Court, five warriors in their attire, were seen by Young Master Nan and Miao Dingyi among others on the mountain. They jumped into the canyon and then disappeared from view, because the mirror was not focused on these people from the Heavenly Court.

Clearly, as the person in charge had mentioned earlier, since no one had moved for a long time, the people from the Heavenly Court had gone to the site to verify.

Alive or dead, that was to be determined this moment. Young Master Nan reacted quickly, knowing there might not be much time left for the mirror image. He immediately turned to the person in charge, "Go, money is no object, we need to see the outcome of this scene, quickly, fly there."

The person in charge was nearby, watching the canyon with him, instantly understood the intent, and flashed away.

Miao Dingyi, Lan Qiaoyan, and Miao Yilan all closely monitored the reactions in the canyon.

Soon, Miao Dingyi came to his senses, looked around, and thought to himself how strange it was—why was he so tense? Didn't he know them personally, was he nervous about the bet of one hundred thousand gold? He almost laughed at himself, what was he thinking, expecting that guy to actually win first place?

Turning his head, he saw Young Master Nan's reaction and was momentarily stunned. Why did he also look so anxiously?

"Wu Kang Mountain Envoys four and five, Moon Valley numbers one, two, three, four, and five, are you there!"

The shout suddenly echoed in the canyon. Shi Chun, who had been meditating and refining the demonic flames within his body, opened his eyes at the sound, quickly ended his practice, and grabbed his knife, peering quietly outside the cave.

In another cave, Wu Jinliang also peeked out like a thief. Seeing it was the warriors from the Heavenly Court, he was about to retract his head when someone pointed him out, "You, which sect do you belong to? Come out!"

With no choice, Wu Jinliang reluctantly dragged his large sword out of the cave, shuffling along.

Seeing this, Shi Chun hurriedly scrambled through the opening of the cave and crawled out.

After the two brothers exited the cave, they exchanged glances and walked together towards the five heavenly soldiers in front of them, each holding a knife, with a hidden guard.

As soon as Shi Chun appeared, the Heavenly Mirror at the drill ground immediately switched to the canyon, closely displaying their images, naturally including Wu Jinliang as well.

"Hey, does that broadsword look familiar to you?"

Someone at the drill ground asked.

"It does look familiar."

"Oh, I remember now, aren't these the two guys from the second scene in the mirror? Lined up behind the Su Yuan Sect."

"Right, it's them, all black, as if they crawled out of a charcoal pile."

"The previous one even needed a tall guy supporting him, looking weak like a sickly person, but now he seems pretty spirited. Has he recovered from his injuries?"

"I say, don't you feel like the duration of this segment is a bit too long?"

Seeing the images of Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang in the mirror, stranded and not following the group, hiding in such a canyon, Elder Ke of Wu Kang Mountain found it both unexpected and puzzling. Why had they separated from the Wu Kang Mountain group?

Clad in a cloak, Feng Chi was also surprised to see them. What's going on? What's the situation? The more she thought, the more confused she became.

Lan Qiaoyan and Miao Yilan exchanged a glance at the stands, feeling relieved to see the two were still alive.

Young Master Nan also laughed, turning to Miao Dingyi with a hearty laugh, "Brother Miao, all is well, I knew he wouldn't be in trouble, fortunate people have their own celestial favor, fortunate people have their own celestial favor."

He almost blurted out that he knew your son-in-law would be fine.

Miao Dingyi turned his head towards him, eyes gleaming, wanting to curse, really wanting to ask him, do you even know what you're talking about?

It seemed like he knew what the other was implying, but he had no evidence.

In the canyon, the leading soldier looked at the magic artifact in his hand and asked Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang, "Which sect are you two from?"

Shi Chun replied, "Wu Kang Mountain's."

The leading soldier said, "The tags on your wrist chains, show them."

The two could not refuse and faithfully cooperated, showing their identification tags to him.

"That's fine, it's good to be alive. I must say, you two hid quite off the beaten path, from what we've seen so far, you're the champions at hiding. If there was no barrier, you guys might have sneaked off the field, huh? Planning to stay hidden until the end?" The leading soldier teased.

Shi Chun chuckled dryly, seeing no malice from the other party, he asked in return, "What's all this hurry about for you?"

Another soldier said, "You two haven't moved for so long, we thought you were dead and came to collect your bodies for your sect. Good that you're alive, it saves us some trouble."

So it seemed, Shi Chun and the others breathed a sigh of relief, only to have their hearts tense up again as the other party began to speak.

"Are those from Moon Valley here?" The leading soldier looked at the luminous spots on the magic artifact, then cast a spell, shouting loudly. The sound echoed through the canyon. Seeing no response, he immediately asked the two in front, "Have you seen anyone from Moon Valley?"

Wu Jinliang shook his head, and Shi Chun said no.

"That's odd, they should be right here..." The leading soldier muttered as he looked at the luminous spots on the magic artifact, suddenly remembering something, he looked up at the two of them, sizing them up, then suddenly commanded, "Search the cave."

Immediately, two soldiers darted into the two caves.

Wu Jinliang's face drastically changed, Shi Chun glanced at him, and seeing his reaction, he knew things were bad; the captives were still alive, unhandled.

Soon, from the cave where Wu Jinliang had just lingered, a shout came, "Over here."

People quickly came out, casting a spell to gather the five people together and threw them on the ground. The five from Moon Valley were ragged, covered in blood, and tortured beyond recognition, but obviously still alive.

At the drill ground, Feng Chi, hidden in her cloak, recognized Sun Shigang at a glance, almost stood up in shock, widened her eyes, not understanding the situation.

She had suspected Shi Chun's disappearance had something to do with Sun Shigang, and indeed it was related, but the situation seemed off. How did it seem that it was Sun Shigang and his group who had fallen into the hands of Shi Chun and his companion?

Could it be that Shi Chun and his companion were feigning weakness, possibly using the Demon Skill of Blinding Eyes to suppress their cultivation?

She had considered the effectiveness of the immobilization charm, but felt it shouldn't be so, people from Wu Kang Mountain, like Sun Shigang, would surely be cautious. An immobilization charm is not undefendable, so how could five of them fall into enemy hands at once?

In the stands, three spectators from Moon Valley could no longer hold back and stood up, with a stern-faced woman leading them, closely watching the scene in the mirror.

Elder Ke, sitting upright, also became somewhat uneasy upon seeing this scene in the mirror. Moon Valley was one of the top-ranking sects in Sheng Province, he thought. These two new disciples shouldn't be making such powerful enemies for Wu Kang Mountain, no, they didn't have the strength for that.

In the canyon, just as the leading soldier was about to step forward to check, Shi Chun suddenly stepped sideways and blocked him, calmly asking, "Didn't the Royal Court say that the supervisors wouldn't intervene in the competition between sects? Are you planning to intervene now?"

The leading soldier frowned slightly, "No, that's not the intention. We just want to see whether they are dead or alive. It'd be easier if they were dead, to collect the bodies."

Shi Chun immediately turned and walked up to Sun Shigang, bent down, grabbed the nearly breathless man, swiftly swung his knife, severing Sun Shigang's head, and shoved the spurting bloodied body forward, "So you don't have to come here for nothing!"

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