At this moment.
He finally understood.
Why outside earlier.
He had felt two faint presences, one of which belonged to that peculiar old man.
It turned out they were deliberately released.
He just didn't know what this peculiar old man intended.
At this time.
"You've come!"
The peculiar old man suddenly spoke softly.
His voice was very hoarse, as if his throat had been burned by fire, making people uncomfortable to listen to.
"I have come. Good dogs don't block the way, what are you doing here?"
"Boy, I advise you to listen to advice and eat your fill. Tonight is not a good time. If you don't give up now, this old man will personally teach you a lesson."
Zhou Xuan frowned, "What do you mean?"
"No special meaning! The time is not yet right, heavenly secrets cannot be revealed, I will only tell you one thing, breaking the deadlock tonight will only result in a mutual loss."
"Who are you? How do you know what I want to do?"
The old man shook his head, "That's not important. What's important is breaking the deadlock tonight."
"Are you really confident?"
The old man was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I can only tell you that you are destined to fail tonight! And fail completely!"
"I want to know why!"
The old man's hoarse voice sounded again.
"Haha, heavenly secrets cannot be revealed, and this old man doesn't know either. But if you don't stop, tonight is destined to be a tragedy."
Zhou Xuan gritted his teeth. This mysterious person gave him a familiar feeling, as if he knew him, yet was a stranger.
He didn't understand why he felt this way, perhaps it was the powerful aura emanating from the other person that instilled fear in him.
He had a question in his heart: did he have any enmity with this person?
Zhou Xuan took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Since senior says so, I dare not offend."
"But I still want to know, you said breaking the deadlock tonight will only result in mutual loss, what is the explanation?"
The old man chuckled and said, "The heavenly secrets have already appeared, and this old man cannot predict them. As for the explanation, it is up to yourself."
"Hmph! Do you think I won't act just because you don't say anything?" Zhou Xuan snorted coldly. He didn't believe there were any heavenly secrets in this world, and moreover, he was not an ordinary person; his destiny was not to be dictated by others.
The man smiled without speaking, seemingly consenting to Zhou Xuan's actions.
"You are Zhou Xuan?"
"That's right."
The man nodded, "As expected, you are young and promising, but it's a pity your intelligence and talent lead you down a dead end."
"Whether it's a dead end or not, it depends on oneself."
Zhou Xuan smiled confidently and ignored the man.
Seeing Zhou Xuan like this, the old man seemed to recall something.
The old man looked at him, sighed after a long time, "Fine! It's not impossible to tell you. Actually, this old man has some connection with your grandfather. He saved my life back then. If it weren't for that time, I wouldn't be like this now."
"What do you mean?"
"That time, he took away my most important possession..."
The old man slowly said, "Your grandfather was the most formidable expert of our generation.
Dozens of us couldn't defeat him, so he was known as 'Azure Dragon'.
I wasn't Azure Dragon's match back then, but I knew a little about Azure Dragon.
He was once the most dazzling of our generation, but something happened later that struck him.
That's why he became disheartened and eventually walked towards a dead end..."
"What exactly happened?" Zhou Xuan asked urgently.
"That person was none other than your father!"
"What!!"
"Your father obtained the ancient treasure, the Flying Dragon Ring, from somewhere."
"This ring caused bloodshed throughout the martial world."
"The Zhou family quickly became the target of public criticism."
"As expected, not long after, something happened to the Zhou family."
"This incident had a great impact on your grandfather. At his age, encountering such a thing, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he saw his son die before him."
"I couldn't bear to see my old friend in trouble, so I rushed over, and could only find the remains of your father and grandfather; the others were nowhere to be seen."
"My name is Chen Shiming. In the martial world, I have a nickname called 'Chen the Quack Doctor'. I can only say that the person breaking the deadlock this time is only you and me! Don't meddle in other people's affairs, otherwise don't blame me for being heartless!"
Zhou Xuan's heart skipped a beat, "Chen Shiming... You are Chen Shiming? Then what about my mother?"
"Your mother? She is already dead. Back then, she was a fellow disciple of my junior sister, and after being harmed, she was thrown into a mass grave."
"What mass grave? My mother... You collected her remains, right?"
Chen Shiming snorted coldly, "Do you think your mother is not dead? When my junior sister and I went to investigate your mother's body, we found many strange marks. I suspect she died a violent death!"
"That's because her body showed signs of experimentation."
Zhou Xuan's body trembled, "Chen Shiming, tell me the truth. What exactly happened back then? Why did my mother die? And what about my father? Where is he now?"
Chen Shiming sneered, "I'm just telling you the truth. As for where your father is, how would I tell you? Boy, do you want to retrieve the remains of your father and grandfather? If you do, then follow me obediently!"
Zhou Xuan gritted his teeth, filled with anger, but in the end, he did not attack.
Because he knew that what Chen Shiming said was correct.
"Although I don't know who you are, I'll trust you for now."
Chen Shiming quickly flashed and led him down another path.
"From now on, you will enter the laboratory from here, this is the secret passage I opened."
"If you insist on not changing, then you might not even get the remains of your father and grandfather today."
"If you want to collect all the remains of your relatives, then hurry up."
"You are no match for me, nor for those people underground."
"Is that so?"
"Hmph, why would this old man lie?"
"To seek revenge, save humanity, create happiness, and be a hero is not easy."
"Zhou Xuan, if I were you, I would have a foolproof plan before coming."
"But tonight, the alarm has already been sounded."
"Hmph, they have been so arrogant and overbearing for so many years, how many have come to fight them, what are you?"
"You should follow your heart and find the other half of the Flying Dragon Ring before coming here."
Zhou Xuan secretly thought, "Could it be that I need to go to the Dragon Ridge ruins to get the other half of the ring?"
However, the old man seemed to be able to see through his thoughts.
He sneered and pushed Zhou Xuan towards the entrance of a secret passage, and then left on his own.
In his opinion, since he had already made the greatest concession, Zhou Xuan should be content.
He should also know what to do first.
Unfortunately, he underestimated Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan only needed a gentle push, and the secret door was opened, and he swaggered in.
"What is going on?"
Zhou Xuan was filled with doubt and uncertainty.