Gu Lingzhi's eyes darkened and she cursed at Pan Liwen internally for making her kneel to him.

Thankfully, her head was lowered and Pan Liwen did not see the rage in her eyes. Otherwise, she would have to use her Teleportation Tablet to escape with her ident.i.ty discovered.

Taking deep breaths in to calm herself down, Gu Lingzhi kneeled before Pan Liwen for a full hour before Pan Yu finally excused her and punished her by forcing her to reflect in the ancestral hall for three days.

It was only three days later that Gu Lingzhi found out how lucky she was to be banished to the ancestral hall. If she had not been punished, the Alliance might have suffered an utter defeat.

The ancestral hall of the North Qiu Kingdom was built above the cultivation rooms for the elders in the Pan Family. As Gu Lingzhi kneeled before the ancestral tablets, she had been focusing her mental strength to connect to the Inheritance s.p.a.ce to update Rong Yuan on matters. She had not told Rong Yuan that she was being punished to kneel before the ancestors, but she only updated him on important things. With Rong Yuan's company, the three days pa.s.sed by quickly and the punishment seemed less harsh.

Three days of hards.h.i.+p pa.s.sed by and by that time, Gu Lingzhi could not feel her legs anymore. With the support of the table and rejecting the offer of help from the guards, Gu Lingzhi struggled to lift herself up. She slowly moved to the shelf where the Pan Family's ancestor tablets were arranged before she sat down with her back against the wall.

She could not stand to look at those names after three days of kneeling before them. They were after all, her enemies.

If it was not for the usefulness of Pan Wen's ident.i.ty, she would not have tolerated what she was put through.

A while later, Gu Lingzhi felt that she had rested enough, her legs were no longer numb and she prepared to stand up and leave. Just then, the sound of footsteps emerged from the door.

“Chief Duke, are we really going to use that?”

It was Pan Liwen's voice and Gu Lingzhi sensed the hint of antic.i.p.ation and excitement behind the voice that just said that.

“Mm.” A low voice replied, “If we don't use it now, are we going to wait until the Alliance comes over?” The sound of something rubbing against a wall echoed through the corridor.

Gu Lingzhi's eyes brightened and she lowered herself down to the ground again before she slowly s.h.i.+fted towards the shelf and hid beneath it. Without a deliberate intention to search the place, even a person standing in front of the shelf would not discover her.

Through a tiny crack in the shelf, Gu Lingzhi spotted the old minister who stood before her. This elder was as skinny as a matchstick and wrinkles lined his face while his skin drooped from both sides of his face. He looked so weak that he could be blown over by a gust of wind. Without the support of Pan Liwen and another minister holding him, Gu Lingzhi was certain the old minister would not be able to support himself.

Although the aura of the old minister made him seem weak and frail, Gu Lingzhi did not look down on him at all.

If the man was addressed as a Chief Duke so respectfully by the second most powerful man in the Royal Family of North Qiu Kingdom, then this must be Pan Luming, who had been born in the same era as Lord Fashen!

What had happened to cause this old minister to appear?

Gu Lingzhi's heart beat wildly against her chest and she wondered if she had missed something out. She took in deep breaths and prayed silently that she would be safe.

Afraid of attracting the attention of the man, Gu Lingzhi did not even dare to look at them. Instead, she used her hearing and senses to understand what the three ministers were doing.

The sc.r.a.ping sound continued for a while longer before Pan Luoming's voice raised again. This time Gu Lingzhi could sense nervousness in his voice, “Grandmaster, I am Pan Luming, the 56745th descendant of the Pan Family and I request your audience. Please help my family.”

Grandmaster?

Gu Lingzhi instantly came to a realization of what they were going to do.

She knew that the Pan Family had always interacted with Pan Luo but she had not expected to see the meeting with her own eyes.

Very quickly, Gu Lingzhi felt the shelf around her getting hotter and hotter. A light white colored ray of light shot out of the shelf and a dominating aura started to flood the room. A thick voice suddenly called, “Oh? What have you guys done again?”

This simple sentence seemed to paralyse those present. The man behind the voice seemed to have so much power, he could look down on everything below him.

Pan Luo!

Without having to think, this name repeated itself in Gu Lingzhi's mind and her eyes filled with unbounded hatred. This was like a curse mark engraved in the soul of every Spirit Tribe member. Regardless of whether they had the actual memories, pure hatred would fill them at the mention of Pan Luo. This was a grudge that could be settled only with blood!

“Calm down!”

Just as Gu Lingzhi was about to let her rashness overcome her, a strong voice barked at her.

“You are not his opponent now. Don't be overcome by your hatred!”

It was Zi Zi!

Just as Pan Luming began to call out Pan Luo, Zi Zi emerged from Fenlan Painting. It was Zi Zi's appearance that barely held Gu Lingzhi back from her suicidal actions.

“…I, what is wrong with me?” Gu Lingzhi was pulled out of her anger and hatred with Zi Zi's call. She stared at Zi Zi with an utterly confused face.

“Why do I hate him so much?” Gu Lingzhi had never seen Pan Luo before and her understanding towards him was only through Liu Yiyan and the ruined souls of the top Martial Artists of the Spirit Tribe. Why did his voice seem to open a hidden door in her that allowed a gush of hatred to flood and overpower her mind?

Zi Zi sighed with exasperation, “That is because you have the blood of the Spirit Tribe's leader in you……”

Because of his mistake in the past, the Leader of the Spirit Tribe harbored great guilt and hatred to himself for causing the fall of the entire tribe. His hatred ran so deep, it caused all the Inheritance s.p.a.ces to be filled with the same emotions. These emotions were typically manageable. However, the moment Pan Luo's aura was encountered, this hatred that originated from years ago would remerge and influence the emotions of the person in the Inheritance s.p.a.ce. Hence, Gu Lingzhi had reacted so violently.

Zi Zi's short explanation snapped Gu Lingzhi back to her senses. It silently huddled within Gu Lingzhi's body and listened to what happened outside.

Since Pan Luo's projection from the Realm of the G.o.ds to the Lower Realm resulted in a lot of pressure in the room, the killing intent of Gu Lingzhi had been masked. Pan Luming continued to beg for Pan Luo's help and the projection of Pan Luo smiled before he retrieved an object and threw it on the ground. This object pa.s.sed through the boundary of the two planes and materialized as a physical object before Pan Luming.

“This sacred weapon is effective in making men out of stone. Use it wisely.”

“Thank you Grandmaster. We will make sure to force the enemies back and control the whole of the Tianyuan Continent for you!” Pan Luming's joy spilled from his voice. White light once again transferred Pan Luo's laughter.

“Although the item is good, it is limited in its use. You don't have to control the Tianyuan Continent, it's a useless piece of land to me. But do your best.” With that, Pan Luo cut off his communication with Tianyuan Continent.

The faces of the men in the room changed.

Evidently, the last sentence said by Pan Luo was a warning.

The war between the True G.o.ds had created much havoc in Tianyuan Continent by changing the natural laws that governed the place. Any Martial Artists that were above the rank of a DemiG.o.d could not descend to the Tianyuan Continent. Hence, Pan Luo gave up on ruling the continent and would only ask for updates about the Spirit Tribe every few hundred years.

Due to their relations.h.i.+p with Pan Luo, the Pan Family benefited greatly and they gradually became stronger in the Tianyuan Continent to the extent that they even had the greed to control the entire continent. On the surface, they used the excuse of unifying the continent so that they could more effectively collect information about the Spirit Tribe. However, they were the only ones who knew that it was just a pretence to cover up their real ambition.

Pan Luo's leaving words showed that he knew what they were planning to do.

“…Grandmaster doesn't seem to pay much attention to the Tianyuan Continent. Does he not care who is the ruler of this place?” How could he not care about their actions?

“How can you guess what the Grandmaster's intentions are?” Pan Luming reprimanded the minister beside him. He bowed towards the ancestral tablet three times before he slowly stood up and sighed, “Why would the Grandmaster care about a tiny Tianyuan Continent? He is not concerned about the continent but he cares about whether we will fulfil his ambitions under his name.”

The minister's face lit up and he understood where he went wrong.

However, at second thought, they realized that Pan Luo could not head to the Lower Realm anymore. The Pan Family was the only family in the entire continent who had connections to Pan Luo. As long as Pan Luo wanted updates on the Spirit Tribe, he had to help the Pan Family. Even if he was not pleased with them, he would not lead them to their demise. Didn't the sacred weapon he gave to them prove this point?

The two men stared with fiery eyes at the object in Pan Luming's hands.

This was an object that looked like a horsetail whisk. The white tail of the object was almost crystal clear. Under the glow of the sun, silver streaks could be seen. They had never seen such a material before. The handle of the horsetail whisk was a light red color that led on to deduce that it was made out of a particular type of wood.

“…He said that this object could make men out of stone. Should we try it?” Pan Liwen stared at Pan Luming eagerly as he suggested.

Pan Luming had wanted to test it out the moment he received the object. As such, his eyes lit up at Pan Liwen's suggestion and he scanned his surroundings quickly before he spotted a stone nearby. With a light wave of his hand, the long tail of the object swept over the stone. All of a sudden, silver light flashed and a man made out of stone walked forward.

The three men beamed for joy and used their spiritual energy to survey the stone man. However, the smiles on their faces instantly disappeared.

“It is only a Martial Student…”

If all of these stone men had such low fighting abilities, what use was there even if they had many of them?