The Tragic Fate of Edgar "Third Hawk" Young

That oppressive force was overwhelming, making one feel fear and reverence from the depths of the soul. Ian Song found it strange—back when he faced that Nascent Soul-level demon, the pressure wasn’t nearly this strong. What on earth was in the sky to release such terrifying might?

“B-B-Boss, w-what is that?”

Burt "Bull" Bolton started stammering again.

Ian ignored him, eyes locked on the sky.

Grand Zhou Empire, Imperial Capital.

Emperor Ji Qian, in the midst of reviewing memorials, suddenly looked outside the hall. With a flicker, he appeared outside the palace and gazed up at the sky.

A shadow flashed by.

A golden-robed elder appeared silently at his side.

"Greetings, Grandfather Emperor." Ji Qian bowed respectfully.

The golden-robed elder ignored him, eyes fixed on the sky. Suddenly, his expression grew intensely excited. "This is it, Qian’er—this is the aura of the Divine Temple!"

Ji Qian’s eyes suddenly shone with incomparable brightness.

Great Han Empire, deep within the palace.

Emperor Liu stood together with an elder, both gazing up at the sky.

After a long moment, the elder sighed, "That is the aura of the Divine Temple!"

Great Chu Empire, inner palace.

Emperor Xiang Fei slowly withdrew his gaze from the sky and asked the elder beside him, "Grandfather Emperor, do you know what that is up there?"

The elder also slowly lowered his gaze and murmured, "It’s been a hundred years—the Divine Temple is finally about to descend again!"

Clearheart Holy Land...

Battle-War Holy Land...

Jade Pool Holy Land...

In short, the strange phenomenon in the sky instantly drew the attention of countless top experts.

Clearwind Stronghold.

Ian Song kept staring at the sky, but now his eyes showed a trace of confusion. This was supposed to be a low-level world—so how could something stronger than a Nascent Soul demon beast appear here?

Suddenly...

The dazzling radiance in the sky, which had illuminated the entire continent, began to dim—or rather, it was shrinking. At the same time, the oppressive force enveloping the whole continent faded away.

Seconds later, darkness returned to the land—except for the mysterious object still floating ten thousand meters high, shining like a star.

Suddenly, the unmoving mysterious object began to fall.

Like a meteor streaking through the sky, the star-like object descended in a blaze of light.

Closer and closer, lower and lower.

A look of surprise flashed in Ian Song’s eyes—the star-like object seemed to be heading straight for the Blackwind Mountains.

Emperor of the Grand Zhou Empire.

The elder shouted, “Quick, grandson! Send people immediately—you must find anything related to the Divine Temple!”

The elders in the imperial palaces of the Grand Han and Grand Chu Empires echoed similar orders.

The Three Great Holy Lands.

The three Holy Lords, faces flushed with excitement, summoned their followers and urgently ordered, “Set out for Yuet Province in the Grand Zhou Empire—no matter what, we must seize that object!”

The three great empires, the three holy lands, and even the nine great sects all sprang into action.

Within Yuet Province, countless martial artists rushed toward Peacehold County.

When the object was only a thousand meters above the Blackwind Mountains, Ian Song activated his Clairvoyant Vision.

“Hmm!”

He let out a soft grunt, feeling a stabbing pain in his eyes, as if they’d been scorched by chili water.

Ian Song quickly withdrew his Clairvoyant Vision and activated Radiance of Life to heal his injured eyes.

At last, the object landed deep within the Blackwind Mountains, its radiance fading away.

Even from tens of thousands of meters away, he could still feel its overwhelming pressure. Ian was certain that whatever had fallen from the sky must be something extraordinary.

So, with a flicker, Ian sped toward the spot where the object had fallen.

Once out of sight, he immediately summoned his flying sword and soared into the sky.

A while later.

Ian was the first to arrive near the spot where the object had fallen.

But he sensed nothing unusual. He activated his Clairvoyant Vision again to search the area, but after a quarter of an hour, he found nothing.

"Could it have merged into the ground?"

Ian focused his Clairvoyant Vision on the ground.

Another quarter of an hour passed. Ian’s face showed clear frustration—he’d seen it fall here, so how could it not be here?

"Damn, maybe treasures really do choose their own masters?"

Cursing under his breath, Ian suddenly sensed someone approaching. With a flicker, he shifted his position behind a large boulder hundreds of meters away.

Soon, a group of people arrived, carrying torches.

Looking closely, the leader was Edgar “Third Hawk” Young, whom Ian had dealt with before.

"Right—Third Hawk’s stronghold is nearby. For him to get here in half an hour actually makes sense."

“Keep your eyes peeled! Whoever finds that treasure gets two hundred taels of silver!” Third Hawk shouted.

Two hundred taels was a fortune for these ordinary bandits, so when they heard Third Hawk’s words, their eyes lit up green and they began searching the area with torches.

About seventeen or eighteen minutes later, bandits from another mountain arrived.

The leader of the newcomers exchanged a few words with Third Hawk, then ordered his men to join the search.

As time passed, more and more bandits from neighboring peaks arrived.

Blue Dragon Stronghold was the fourth to arrive, led by Lone-Blade Gideon. Along with him came six other chiefs and his foster son, Gavin Loneblade.

By the end, at least three thousand bandits were searching the area for the fallen object.

But as dawn approached, no one had found the object—there wasn’t even a clue.

Ian shook his head in secret.

Quietly, Ian slipped away. If even his Clairvoyant Vision couldn’t find the object, there was no way these bandits could.

Still, he could foresee that this place would soon become a hotbed of trouble.

Sure enough, just as Ian expected, less than an hour after he left, a large number of martial artists appeared and joined the treasure hunt.

At first most were second- or third-rate fighters, but by noon, many top-tier experts had arrived, and by evening, at least seventy or eighty Innate masters were present.

Moreover, these martial artists were all from around Peacehold County; those farther away were still rushing to join the search.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

By then, at least ten thousand martial artists had come to the Blackwind Mountains searching for the treasure.

They dug everywhere, but still found no trace of the treasure. Some began to suspect that whoever had arrived first must have taken it.

So, everyone started investigating the earliest arrivals.

As a result, Third Hawk suffered misfortune.

He was seized by a group of Innate masters and interrogated together.

Third Hawk was timid by nature. Faced with so many Innate masters, he nearly fainted from fright and repeatedly denied having obtained the treasure, insisting his men could vouch for him.

So, the men who had come with Third Hawk were also captured. After questioning, it was confirmed that Third Hawk had not obtained the treasure.

Still, some remained unconvinced.

A demonic cultivator suggested using Soulsearch on Third Hawk. Under this technique, he could not lie, but the side effect was that the subject would become an idiot afterward.

These powerful martial artists cared nothing for the life or death of a mere bandit chief, so Third Hawk was subjected to Soulsearch.

As a result, Third Hawk became an idiot, and the experts still learned nothing about the treasure.