Chapter 594: Little Receiver Bends Again

"He could sense that too?" Xu Xiaoshou, hidden underground, was astonished. His heart immediately began to pound. In his 'Disappearance' state, it should have been impossible for anyone to detect him. But the masked man's perception... "Was it a delusion?" "No." "Not necessarily." Xu Xiaoshou suddenly recalled the time Shouye had caught up to him, seemingly by tracking Lu Ke's famous sword, Azure Scaled Ridge. But this was different! Back then, he had at least deactivated his 'Disappearance' state. Could this masked man truly sense him just by feeling?

"It must be a delusion," the masked man on the surface muttered, glancing at the two skeptical faces beside him before adding that remark. Then, he directed his gaze towards the direction of the explosion. "Seventh Elder, release the spatial lock. It's time to leave." "Oh," the Storyteller replied, nodding nonchalantly.

Release the spatial lock? Xu Xiaoshou's heart immediately brightened at the words. Indeed! His earlier deduction was correct. This perverse man in red truly was cautious to an extreme degree. Even while meeting the Holy Slave Chief here, he had still, out of caution, sealed off the entire area. This meant that if Xu Xiaoshou had truly taken a step to escape then, he would have only brought about his own demise!

"Snap." After hearing the Storyteller above sharply snap his fingers, the void seemed to tremble. Xu Xiaoshou's mind became alert. Merely lurking and eavesdropping for this short period had nearly depleted his entire stock of elixirs. The 'Disappearance' technique consumed an immense amount of spiritual energy. If the Storyteller didn't lift the Spatial Exile technique soon, Xu Xiaoshou might actually have to self-destruct. In the current situation, there was only one path left.

"One Step to Heaven..." he muttered to himself. Just as his spiritual energy was about to reach its peak, Xu Xiaoshou abruptly suppressed his impulse. Because at that moment, an inadvertent glance at his information panel revealed: "Being watched, Passive Point, +1." "Being framed, Passive Point, +1."

"Watched?" Xu Xiaoshou's first thought was how anyone could be watching him while he was in his 'Disappearance' state. But in the next second, his full attention was drawn to the second message. "Framed..." It took immense effort, almost digging his toes into the ground, for Xu Xiaoshou to barely suppress his urge to step forward. He was dumbfounded. Who else could be here besides the Holy Slave trio? So, being framed meant...

"Tap, tap, tap." He looked up. The three figures above walked past directly overhead, betraying no unusual emotions. Yet, with their perfectly coordinated movements, Xu Xiaoshou used his "Perception" to examine them closely. The slight curve at the Storyteller's lips... Cen Jiaofu's hand casually resting on the small axe at his waist... The masked man's subtly curled ring and pinky fingers... In other words, he was making a sword-finger gesture!

"Damn, these three are putting on a show for me?" Xu Xiaoshou's heart almost leaped out of his throat. His "Perception" extended into the distance. Everything he saw was the familiar landscape of the White Cave. Even the slightest rustle of wind or dance of sand was incredibly realistic. Yet, at this moment, Xu Xiaoshou was absolutely certain. He was still within the ancient book's space! One Step to Heaven. Heaven would collapse!

"Tap." As the three walked directly above Xu Xiaoshou, the masked man paused, sighing in disappointment. "He's not taking the bait, this one." "Heh, it's been a long time since this old man witnessed such an exquisite concealment technique, capable of deceiving even those who've achieved Path Severance," Cen Jiaofu chuckled, pulling out his small axe. "Who could it be?" Only the Storyteller's expression remained completely rigid.

Had it been just a day ago, he would have confidently asserted that anyone capable of hiding here must be at least of the Grand Void level; otherwise, they couldn't have deceived his brother. But now. In the White Cave. There was this young man, possessing a concealment technique that even he couldn't see through. "Wen Ming..." "Hm?" The masked man and Cen Jiaofu turned their heads simultaneously. "Wen Ming." "What do you mean?" Cen Jiaofu stammered, unable to finish his sentence. "Wen Ming!" the Storyteller emphasized. This time, even the masked man understood his implication. "You mean you fought him, and he possesses a concealment technique that even you can't see through?"

"Gulp." The Storyteller swallowed hard. He couldn't fathom what kind of courage 'Little' Wen Ming had, daring to come here. But now... "Yes," the Storyteller nodded lightly, and Cen Jiaofu's entire face changed color. That Wen Ming, with his Innate cultivation, could possess such a concealment technique? "A day apart feels like three autumns; the ancients truly didn't deceive us," the masked man said slowly, extending his hand and patting his palm. His gaze shifted, yet he couldn't discern Wen Ming's location at all. "Come out, stop hiding," he advised after a moment of silence. "You should know I wouldn't harm you, for... various reasons."

Xu Xiaoshou painfully clenched his fists. He knew that because of Elder Sang, the masked man probably wouldn't harm him. But that perverse man... And what if... And if they didn't harm him, what exactly did they want to do with him? All of this was even more agonizing than being injured! "I, Xu Xiaoshou, would die before appearing before you three," he vowed silently.

Just then, the three above simultaneously turned and, as if by prior agreement, cast their gazes downward. Judging by the dilation of their pupils, they weren't just staring at the ground. They were looking at *his* location? Xu Xiaoshou's body tensed. The next second, he felt a crushing pressure from deep within the earth. His mind froze. "Crushing..." "How can 'Disappearance' feel like it's being crushed?" With a difficult shift of his head, Xu Xiaoshou felt fragmented soil being pressed into his ear canal. This real sensation struck him like a bolt of lightning. "My..." He checked his spiritual ocean. It was empty.

"Damn it!" Xu Xiaoshou's mind raced with a thousand curses; he nearly split apart on the spot. Just this moment of distraction, just because he forgot to take another handful of elixirs... His spiritual ocean was depleted. Was the 'Disappearance' technique failing? "Xiao... Wen... Ming—" The Storyteller's lips stretched almost to his earlobes, his smile growing more unrestrained and perverse with each drawn-out syllable.

"Hiss." Xu Xiaoshou shivered, struck speechless. "Being called, Passive Point, +1." "Being startled, Passive Point, +1." "Being watched, Passive Point, +4." "Oh my god..." At that moment, his heart was a tangle of emotions; Xu Xiaoshou had no idea what expression to use to convey the chaotic mess inside him.

A smile emerged in the masked man's cloudy eyes. He raised two fingers. "Boom!" The earth was directly torn apart by an invisible sword intent, a trench roughly a zhang wide splitting open on the spot. Xu Xiaoshou felt completely exposed, as if naked, beneath three piercing gazes. One was perverse. One was from an old man. The last one was from a cripple...

"Hiss!" All his pores tingled; Xu Xiaoshou suddenly discovered a way to instantly reach a state of intense stimulation even without taking elixirs. He instinctively tightened his clothes. His clothes were still there. But the earth, serving as his modest cover, had utterly vanished under the masked man's two fingers! "Heh, heh..." The atmosphere became frozen. For Xu Xiaoshou, it was excruciatingly awkward.

"So you are Wen Ming?" Cen Jiaofu scrutinized the person emerging from underground as if examining a monster, with a gaze of initial recognition. It was as if he intended to pierce through and expose every single pore on the young man's body with his eyes. "Long time no see," the masked man said, a smile appearing in his cloudy eyes as he slowly relaxed his ring and pinky fingers. "If I'm not mistaken, for you, this is our third... hmm, fourth meeting?"

Xu Xiaoshou's mind was instantly jolted awake. Since things had come to this, now that he was exposed, he would no longer dwell on what he had worried about before. Furthermore... "Four?" Xu Xiaoshou's thoughts raced. The first time he met the masked man was by the Great Goose Lake at Tiansang Spirit Palace, where he killed Feng Kong and then stabbed the masked man's heart with Cangku. Just a little. The second meeting was on the back mountain, where, around a bend, he plunged Cangku into the masked man's chest. The third meeting... He couldn't remember! "Did I lose my memory?" Xu Xiaoshou felt that ever since his "Perception" passive skill was activated, his memory was undoubtedly top-tier in the world. But now. Whether due to nervousness or something else, he couldn't recall his third encounter with the masked man. Could the masked man be mistaken? Unlikely. That meant, at some point he hadn't noticed, the masked man and he had met for a third time. Moreover, judging by the masked man's phrase "for you," Xu Xiaoshou himself was aware of the masked man's existence!

"More than that, right?" Xu Xiaoshou shrugged, his posture a little stiff yet also somewhat relieved, as he considered this. "Shouldn't it be the fifth time?" The masked man raised an eyebrow. "If you say five, then it's five!" It wasn't the fifth time! Xu Xiaoshou immediately understood that the masked man had no intention of arguing over this minor detail. And judging by the masked man's micro-expressions, he clearly disagreed with Xu Xiaoshou's assertion. This meant there had only been four meetings. He definitely *had* a third encounter with the masked man. Which one?

Two scenarios flashed through Xu Xiaoshou's mind. One was the carving uncle he'd seen in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion before leaving Tiansang Spirit Palace, when he said goodbye to Elder Sang. The other was the messy uncle, along with the assassin Red Dog, from the Three Incense Sticks incident. Which one? "Five times!" he declared again. "Mm-hmm," the masked man nodded with a smile. Xu Xiaoshou was about to lose it. It wasn't five times! That meant, among those two encounters, only one involved the real masked man? His previous speculation was that the messy uncle was the Holy Slave Chief. But the relationship between the Holy Slave Chief and Elder Sang brought up the carving man in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, who looked very similar to the messy uncle, yet they weren't the same person... How to explain this? And if the messy uncle wasn't the masked man, nor the Eighth Sword Immortal, then what about his *Sword Observation Canon*? And why would the Four Swords have been so maniacally eager to attack someone they'd never met? Which one was the Eighth Sword Immortal?!

"I'm going to explode!" Xu Xiaoshou's temples throbbed; he was getting confused by his own thoughts. As he pondered, his gaze suddenly fixated on the masked man, and Xu Xiaoshou felt several heavy stones in his heart shatter. How foolish! The man was right in front of him; why not just ask directly? "Who are you?" Xu Xiaoshou discarded all other thoughts and got straight to the point. The masked man seemed not at all surprised by the off-topic question, simply replying, "Holy Slave, Chief." "So your surname is Holy Slave, and your given name is Chief?" Xu Xiaoshou clenched his fists, a little nervous. At this, even the two beside him understood Xu Xiaoshou's unspoken meaning.

But a strange situation unfolded. Both the Storyteller and Cen Jiaofu simultaneously took half a step back, and at the same time, looked at the masked man with expressions of great anticipation. The scene remained silent for several breaths. "Heh," the masked man chuckled softly, ignoring the intense gazes of the two beside him, and simply stared at Xu Xiaoshou. "Are you sure you want to know my name?" "I..." Xu Xiaoshou nearly blurted out, "I'm sure." But the words caught in his throat, and he suddenly couldn't speak.

That's right! Did it matter? Did it still matter who the Holy Slave Chief was? If he knew nothing, he could stay away from the eye of the storm. But now that he knew everything, he felt bewildered, helpless, and subject to irresistible external forces. If he were to know just a little more, even a tiny bit... would it be the final straw that broke the camel's back? In this world, some causes and effects, some mysteries, some unspeakable matters, and some unfathomable people existed for a reason. Would knowing too much truly benefit him? Xu Xiaoshou asked himself.

"Name..." He didn't know what he was truly hoping for. Was it the title that had been deified by the world in the past? Or would the other person utter a name he had never heard in his life? He didn't know. But just like the moment a coin is tossed, once he was forced to make a decision, the gears of destiny had already engaged. To know or not to know? Did it matter? Yes, it mattered! But precisely because it mattered so much, Xu Xiaoshou felt he couldn't bear the weight of it.

"Please wait a moment." Xu Xiaoshou covered his forehead with one hand and extended the other, stopping the other person from speaking further. "Let me gather my thoughts..." "You're scared," the masked man said, still smiling. "As an ancient sword cultivator, pressing forward bravely is the right path one should pursue. Yet now, a mere title has overwhelmed you." "No, you're wrong," Xu Xiaoshou flatly denied. "All ancient sword cultivators who pressed forward bravely have, without exception, fallen and been buried, including..." He paused, not finishing that thought, and continued, "What the world believes isn't necessarily accurate." "Furthermore, I am not merely an ancient sword cultivator."

As Xu Xiaoshou spoke, he relaxed his fists, and his tense muscles followed suit. "I have no interest whatsoever in your title or what you Holy Slaves intend to do," he declared. "Even if I was inadvertently dragged into this before, it was solely because Elder Sang—your Holy Slave second-in-command—involved me without my knowledge." "Now!" Xu Xiaoshou grew more agitated as he spoke, but then his momentum faltered.

"I have only one small request..." "No," the masked man shook his head. "Please, just let me go. I'm not worthy, I can't be part of your plans... Huh?" Xu Xiaoshou, halfway through bowing, seemed to finally register the masked man's words. "Cannot." The ringing two-word reply immediately crushed the young man, who was still half-buried, making him unable to straighten up. The scene fell silent again. All sounds faded, leaving only the desolate noise of a world shattering, as if a sacred dawn, born from destruction, was about to arrive.

The masked man raised his head, gazing at the dying White Cave world. "The world is so vast, yet you've come to my side, stood beside me, time and again. Isn't this destiny?" "Destiny is predetermined. Where else could you possibly want to go?"