"What's going on?"
That was the only reaction that the villagers had when they felt the ground trembling.
All of them thought that it was an earthquake until they saw a beam of light soaring into the sky.
When they saw this beam of light, they immediately recognized it.
While they didn't know what it was, they recognized where it came from.
It was from the pillars that were outside of town, it came from the former entrance of the Hidden Dragon Sect.
They didn't know why these beams suddenly appeared, but they understood that there was only one reason why this beam had appeared.
The Hidden Dragon Sect was back.
Everyone quickly left their homes and what they were doing to run out of town to where the beam of light was. As they ran, they all had excited looks on their faces and not a single person had a look of fear.
That was because the Hidden Dragon Sect was the sacred land of their Holy Dragon Church.
There wasn't a single person that didn't know about the Hidden Dragon Sect in the first place.
There were also Yue Lan's subordinates who left the village with the villagers.
They had been patiently waiting in the village for two days now, waiting for Lin Fan's return.
The village chief had been the only one that knew that the reappearance of the Hidden Dragon Sect was related to Lin Fan, but he hadn't told anyone in the village about this after returning.
The only people that he had told were Yue Lan's subordinates who were also Lin Fan's subordinates.
He knew that it was impossible to hide this matter from them, so he told them about this so they would cause any trouble.
After all, he was also excited about the reappearance of the Hidden Dragon Sect and he didn't want anything to mess this up.
While they weren't that strong, these girls were still cultivators, so the villagers wouldn't be able to do anything to them. If they really wanted to storm to the pillars and try to break into the Hidden Dragon Sect, there was no stopping them.
Whether they would be able to actually break in would be another question, but it would without a doubt cause trouble.
So the village chief wanted to avoid this.
When the villagers arrived at where the pillars were, they were shocked to find that there was a giant gate that was standing there in between the pillars and nothing else.
The gate was just silently standing there without doing a thing, but not a single person dared to move forward towards the gate.
They all watched and waited for a reaction from the gate.
Before long, the gate suddenly opened and there was a burst of light that caused everyone to cover their squinted eyes. As they covered their eyes, the villagers instinctively fell to their knees because this light seemed like holy light to them.
Even Yue Lan's subordinates couldn't help taking a step back, but it was for a different reason.
Since they were cultivators, they were able to sense the waves of spiritual energy that came from the opening of this gate. This was at a level that far surpassed what they could withstand, so it even made it a bit hard for them to breathe.
After that burst of light, it started to dim.
When it had dimmed enough, people could see a few figures walking out through the gate towards them.
Seeing these figures, they immediately bowed their heads even lower as if they were welcoming important people.
When they came closer, everyone was finally able to see the true appearance of these figures.
At the head of this group was Lin Fan.
Behind him was the sect master and the elders of the Hidden Dragon Sect.
When they saw the villagers bowing, they weren't surprised at all and that included Lin Fan.
That was because he knew the true relationship between this village and the Hidden Dragon Sect.
It was all related to the Holy Dragon Church.
The Holy Dragon Church was something that the Hidden Dragon Sect had created and spread through this village. They used it as a form of control over this village, giving them access to their material resources and their human resources.
It was impossible for a sect to exist without the secular world after all, so it was easier to control the sect's link to the secular world, namely this village.
While the villagers had respectful looks on their faces, they couldn't help revealing traces of confusion in their eyes.
After all, they never expected Lin Fan to be with this group.
They all had a deep impression of him after that day when he bought all of their items, so they recognized him with a single look.
They just never thought that this traveler would be so close to the Hidden Dragon Sect.
He was even at the head of this procession of people that were clearly all important people.
Still, no one said a thing and just watched as the situation developed.
After all, they were mortals and they weren't qualified to speak.
Once the group from the Hidden Dragon Sect made their way out, the sect master was the one that came forward.
He looked over the group from the village and asked, "Who is the village chief?"
The village chief quickly came in front of the sect master and bowed down to him with an excited look on his face.
He was one of the few people that were still alive that remembered when the Hidden Dragon Sect was here, so he naturally recognized people from the Hidden Dragon Sect as well.
The village chief was able to recognize this sect master with a single look, but he was also shocked that the sect master looked exactly the same as when he last saw him…that was several decades ago.
He had become a decrepit old man, but this sect master still looked the same as before.
This was the difference between mortals and cultivators.
The lifespan of mortals was just a single breath for these immortal cultivators…
How he was filled with envy at this.
The village chief was close to death, he knew that. So the flames of envy burned even stronger inside of the village chief's heart.
But he knew that even if the flames of envy burned, he wasn't able to do anything.
He was a mortal and they were immortal cultivators.
So he said in a voice filled with respect, "Honourable immortal, I am the village chief of this village."
The sect master looked at him and there was no sign of recognition of this village chief in his eyes.
After all, for a cultivator like him, a mortal like this was just too forgettable.
After giving a nod, the sect master said, "Prepare a feast to welcome the Holy Dragon Saint."
"Holy Dragon Saint?" As soon as this was said, everyone couldn't help repeating it with wide eyes.
This was a name that they were all familiar with since it was listed in the scriptures of the Holy Dragon Church. It was the saint that was the representative of their Holy Dragon God, the one that would deliver his words to them.
It was said that when the saint appeared, he would lead them to prosperity.
So naturally they were filled with joy and excitement when they heard that the Holy Dragon Saint was found.
The village chief couldn't help looking up with an excited look as he asked, "The Holy Dragon Saint has been found? Great immortal, please tell us where he is so we may pay our respects."
The sect master didn't mind that the village chief was so bold in speaking to him.
He just turned to Lin Fan and pointed at him as he said, "This is our Holy Dragon Saint."
Everyone's eyes filled with shock as they followed his hand and looked at Lin Fan. They couldn't believe that this person who had just arrived in their village a few days ago would be the Holy Dragon Saint.
At the same time, Yue Lan's subordinates who had been watching the whole thing couldn't help revealing shocked looks.
They couldn't understand how Lin Fan had suddenly become the Holy Dragon Saint after disappearing for two days.
So they started giving him looks asking for him to explain, but he ignored all of them as he followed the villagers back to the village.
It didn't take long before a festival banquet was prepared by the villagers.
This wasn't the most luxurious banquet, but it was done to the best of their abilities.
Lin Fan didn't mind this and acted like he enjoyed it before saying that he was going to turn in.
At the same time, he summoned Yue Lan's subordinates to his room.
When the sect master and the elders saw this, they didn't find this strange since they knew about their connection to the Love Sect.
Once they were in the room, Lin Fan didn't explain anything. All he said was, "Help me send a message to Yue Lan."
The girls clearly had questions to ask, but he didn't let them ask anything.
After all, this place was still too close to the Hidden Dragon Sect.
He couldn't guarantee that no one was listening, so he didn't want to get careless now.
If it was found out that he wasn't actually the ancestor and the ancestor had been devoured by him, it would be hard to predict how this would all end.
So no matter what, he couldn't let them find out.