Wry smiles appeared on the faces of Lin Fan and Ye Qing Huan.

Though it seemed like Ye Qing Huan was the one that caught the attention of this old man now with how he turned to look at her.

She didn’t have anything to hide, so it wasn’t as if she turned away from him staring at her.

Though she was confused why the old man was looking at her like this.

After a long silence, the old man finally said, "You have a strange cultivation technique."

Ye Qing Huan didn’t know what to say in response to this.

It wasn’t as if she could just say anything about her cultivation technique to someone that she didn’t know at all. At the same time, it wasn’t as if she knew what the old man was even referring to.

The cultivation technique that she cultivated was a special one that was passed down through generations of Heavenly Demons and was considered one of the secrets of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

If it wasn’t because the other side was most likely an elder of the Dao Sect, she wouldn’t have believed that he knew anything about her cultivation technique.

After a long silence, the old man finally said, "It doesn’t matter to me if you want to talk to me or not, the only thing that I’m here for is to pass down the inheritance of this place."

The old man turned around and walked over to the bookshelves after saying this.

He didn’t bother explaining what the training dummy in the center of the room was as he went right for the bookshelves.

After making his way over to the bookshelves, the old man said, "This is yours now."

As he said this, he pointed at the bookshelves that were in front of him.

Both Lin Fan and Ye Qing Huan were caught off guard when they heard this, but they still went forward to take a look at the books on the shelves.

Just a single glance was enough to tell them that these were cultivation techniques.

Since they had the permission of the old man, they moved forward to take a closer look at these books.

Once they had a proper look, they were certain of one thing.

These weren’t just any normal cultivation techniques.

These were clearly special cultivation techniques that had been reserved for those that passed the trials of the training hall. These were most likely the cultivation techniques that Xiao Sheng had told them about.

Only when they looked at these cultivation techniques more closely, they found that things weren’t as simple as they previously thought. It seemed that these cultivation techniques were far greater than they initially thought they were.

"Are these really just the cultivation techniques for the inner sect disciples?"

"No, these aren’t that."

Even if Xiao Sheng was missing her memories, that didn’t mean that she would mistake these cultivation techniques. Just a single glance was enough to tell her that these weren’t simple cultivation techniques for inner sect disciples.

Slowly, they turned back to look at the old man.

When the old man saw them looking at him like this, there was a faint smile that appeared on his face before he said, "Since you’ve taken a trial that was harder than the one that you were supposed to take, naturally the reward would be greater."

Lin Fan and Ye Qing Huan weren’t really surprised by this.

If they hadn’t already experienced it, then they might have been surprised.

The only one that really had a strong reaction was Xiao Sheng, but the reaction that she had was different from what one might expect. Instead of feeling surprised by this, there was this bitter feeling that filled her.

After all, it was almost as if there was someone that was directly attacking her with this comment.

She had done something similar before this and it was the reason why she was even following Lin Fan.

So there was this strange feeling that was left in Xiao Sheng’s heart, especially since it was her that had guided them to this place to begin with. If it wasn’t for her, then they never would have taken this path that was harder than the other path.

However, this wasn’t the only thing that the old man seemed to be giving them.

After a while, almost as if he was giving them time to come to terms with what he had just said, the old man floated back over to the training dummy that was in the center of the room.

Putting a hand on the shoulder of the training dummy, he said, "Come and refine this thing. It’ll give you complete control over this training pavilion."

This was directed at Ye Qing Huan who he was looking at.

Ye Qing Huan certainly didn’t expect this kind of reward for passing the trial and there was a part of her that was doubtful of this. But in the end, she still went over to see what was required of her.

It turned out that it was actually quite simple.

This was a normal refinement of the training dummy, which actually served as a kind of puppet. This was a process that Ye Qing Huan was very familiar with since it was something that she had seen happen in the Heavenly Demon Sect before.

It could even be said that the Heavenly Demon Sect knew more about this method than normal cultivators did since there was a part of the Heavenly Demon Sect that specialized in this.

Though the puppets that they used were completely different from this training dummy.

The puppets that they used were more flesh based than this training dummy made of a special alloy.

Since it was a process that Ye Qing Huan was familiar with, it didn’t seem like there was anything that the old man could do to mess with it. Which was why she went along with his instructions and refined the training dummy.

Once it was done, the old man gave a satisfied nod and just floated there as if he was waiting for something. The look on his face was as if he had accomplished what he had set out to do and there was nothing left for him.

It was just like the old man he called Old Duan who had been taking care of the alchemy hall.

But this confused Lin Fan and Ye Qing Huan.

From what they knew about the Dao Sect, it was destroyed in some kind of disaster in the past. Since that was the case, why would they leave all these trials for the people of the future?

It would make sense if they were testing them to see if they could steal their bodies, but that didn’t seem to be the case. It seemed like they were genuinely passing down their techniques to whoever passed their trials.

This just didn’t seem like the right thing for the Dao Sect to do.

"You’re wondering why we’re so willing to pass down our techniques?"

The old man actually hit the nail on the head with these words, but that just made Lin Fan and Ye Qing Huan feel awkward.

It was one thing to think about it, but it was completely different to have it said out loud.

Still, since the old man was willing to talk...

Ye Qing Huan gave a slow nod in response.

"It’s very simple, it’s because we don’t want our legacy to disappear. What should have happened was that the Dao Sect was supposed to be completely wiped out without a trace. If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of us old men, then it might have really happened."

There was this blur that came over the old man, as if there was something that was splitting the old man apart.

It seemed like the old man was also weakened and looked like he was about to disappear because of this.

It was as if he had encroached on something that he shouldn’t have said.

If it wasn’t for the fact that he had been indirect with his words, then he would have been destroyed on the spot by whatever was sealing this information.

"You’re wondering why I told you this?" With a sigh, the old man continued, "I’m not hoping that you will help take revenge for our Dao Sect, but I hope that you will investigate the truth on your own. When the time comes, I hope that you will cause a bit of trouble for these old men."

After saying this, it was as if there was something else that was making him disappear as he started fading faster and faster.

But before disappearing, the old man asked, "What was Old Duan like in his final moments?"

Lin Fan didn’t know what to say at first, but eventually he called out Xiao Sheng and said, "He was happy that he found a place for her."

Xiao Sheng didn’t seem like she wanted to talk about this as she turned her head away.

Only it seemed like the old man was relieved hearing this as he revealed a smile.

As he faded away, he said, "Then please take care of my puppets as well. They’re something that I worked hard to make, so I hope that you can preserve them. Or at the very least, put them to use somewhere else." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He didn’t even give them a chance to respond as he suddenly faded away.

Once this old man faded away, what Lin Fan and Ye Qing Huan acquired was a second base.

After all, Ye Qing Huan was able to control all aspects of this place.