“What? Ninety-sixth rank on the Monarch Ranking?”
“So he’s Qin Nan? The one whose ranking improved by over seven hundred?”
“Who would have thought he had come to the Desolated Battle Ground too!”
The cultivators on the first-floor were astounded.
They had heard Qin Nan’s name without a doubt.
Besides, although the geniuses of the God Ranking—or even Martial Monarchs—would sometimes come to the Crescent Sun City, most of them only stayed for a brief while, thus the geniuses in the top hundred on the Monarch Ranking were considered celebrities to them.
“Peak Leader Qin Nan, I’ve been looking forward to our meeting. Mind if we have a little chat upstairs?” The voice from the second-floor continued with a hint of confidence.
Qin Nan nodded as he made his way to the second floor.
He was not surprised at the outcome.
Even though it was common for the people in a place like the Crescent Sun City to pick on the weak, the bald man was only a sixth-layer Martial Progenitor. Even if he planned to bully others, it was only reasonable if he picked on those with a weaker cultivation, instead of someone from a Two-Starred Faction who possessed the same cultivation.
Obviously, the bald man was only following someone’s order.
On the second floor, an old man wearing a mink coat greeted Qin Nan with a smile, “Peak Leader Qin Nan, please follow me, my master would like to see you.”
“Your master?” Qin Nan frowned.
The old man possessed a cultivation of the sixth-layer Martial Progenitor Realm, thus the person that he was willing to call master would surely be a great authority of the Blood Scorpion.
He had had no contact with the Blood Scorpion before, why would they want to meet him?
Withholding the doubts in his heart, Qin Nan followed the old man to a room on the third floor.
The floor was over thirty-zhang wide, decorated with strange-looking plants. At its center was an ancient wooden table that appeared to be empty, where a middle-aged man with a pale face and blue eyes was seated.
“Master.”
The old man walked forward and was about to speak when the middle-aged man waved his hand. His blue eyes flickered as he glanced at Qin Nan.
An invisible pressure swept in Qin Nan’s direction.
“Ninth-layer Martial Progenitor, a fourth-grade Tian ranked Martial Spirit, and a pair of water-elemental magical eyes, not bad overall.”
Qin Nan remained calm under the pressure as he thoroughly inspected the middle-aged man with his left eye.
“Peak Leader Qin Nan, I’m Zuo Qiushui, one of the vice-leaders of the Blood Scorpion.” Zuo Qianshui said with a slightly cold expression, “I’m here under the orders of our leader to give you this scroll.”
He then added, “Of course, even if you didn’t come to the inn, we’d send someone after you too.”
“The orders of your leader?”
Qin Nan was stunned as he received the scroll and directed his Divine Sense into it.
Inside the scroll was the map of the Desolated Battle Ground with different kind of markings, highlighting the dangerous forbidden areas and the places with a higher chance of fortunate encounters.
In addition to that, there were lines of information below the map.
“The three Martial Monarchs’ sons—including Huo Wulong—have reached a deal with the Black Dragon and made their way to the middle of the Desolated Battle Ground?
“The half-Martial Monarch of the Misty Immortal Sect, the Old Illusionist, is in the inner sector?
“The thirty-first ranked Qin Hou and the thirty-ninth ranked Nan Gongwei are making their way to the inner sector?”
Qin Nan was even more shocked as he read the information.
Each of the pieces of information given and the markings on the map were extremely valuable, especially the details of the map. It was impossible to have such a great understanding of the Desolated Battle Ground without spending years of effort.
Why would the leader of the Blood Scorpion give him such a valuable scroll?
The fact that the Blood Scorpion and the Black Dragon were able to control the Crescent Sun City for many years indicated how powerful their influence was.
Their leader could be considered a great authority even in the Middle Continent!
Zuo Qiushui said, “Apart from the scroll, our leader also left two messages for you. The first one is: I’ve never forgotten our encounter in the Mystic Spirit Pagoda after all these years in the Middle Continent.”
“I’ve never forgotten our encounter in the Mystic Spirit Pagoda after all these years in the Middle Continent?”
Qin Nan was startled as he repeated the line several times slowly before coming to a realization.
Hadn’t he met Gong Yang for the first time at the Martial Skill Pagoda of the Mystic Spirit Sect?
As for the second part of the line, Gong Yang had arrived at the Middle Continent in advance, thus it implied that despite spending a long time here in the Middle Continent and the difficulties he had gone through, he had never forgotten the friendship with his brother!
Gong Yang was the leader of the Blood Scorpion!
“F**k!”
Qin Nan could not help but curse with excitement.
With his personality, it was incredibly rare to trigger such a reaction from him, but how could he not be happy after learning the whereabouts of his brother after such a long time?
“Where is your leader?” Qin Nan collected his thoughts and blurted out.
Seeing Qin Nan’s reaction, Zuo Qianshui was sure that Qin Nan was indeed an old friend of their leader, thus he said in a calm tone, “The second message was: Now is not the time for our reunion. I’ll show myself when the time is right.”
“Mm? Not the time for our reunion?”
Qin Nan straightened his face.
What did that mean?
Could it be that Gong Yang was in some kind of trouble that was stopping them from meeting?
“It’s fine, there must be a reason why Gong Yang has said so. I’m happy enough to know his whereabouts for now.”
Although being slightly disappointed, Qin Nan soon adjusted his thoughts.
“Oh right, I almost forgot that thing is still in my hands…”
Qin Nan suddenly recalled the Faceless Statue he had found at the Righteous Ancient City that was related to Gong Yang’s succession. He glanced at Zuo Qianshui and brought his fists together, “Vice Leader Zuo, I have something to tell your leader. Is it possible for you to send the message?”
“Send a message for you?”
Vice Leader Zuo frowned.
As a matter of fact, he was not too fond of Qin Nan, as he assumed that his leader was being too friendly to give out such a valuable scroll for free.
The scroll was so precious that even the Black Dragon was trying to steal it from them. A while ago, Huo Wulong and his crew had offered a crazy price for it, but the Blood Scorpion had rejected it straight away.
And now, Qin Nan was asking him to send a message?
Even though Qin Nan was currently ranked ninety-sixth on the Monarch Ranking, Vice Leader Zuo was not even bothered, as he was aware that when the Monarch Horoscope Contest took place, most of the geniuses who were ranked in the top thirty would end up dead, let alone Qin Nan.
Zuo Qianshui suddenly thought of something, causing him to wear a smile, “It won’t be a problem, but I do have something to say. Our leader has always described you as a peerless genius, even more talented than himself.”
After a brief pause, he continued, “I’ve always liked to befriend geniuses, and since I’m older than you, I can consider myself your senior too. As a senior, it’s reasonable for me to give my junior a gift, right? This Three-Formed Gravity Water will do just fine.”
Followed his speech, he suddenly stood up and unleashed a terrifying aura, swinging his left hand, which fired a drop of blue liquid the size of a palm toward Qin Nan rapidly.
The room was instantly filled with the sound of waves, as if it had transformed into an ocean.