Seeing that Su Ran didn't say anything, Xiang Nan knew that it wasn't the time to ask more questions. He grabbed Su Ran's arm and said, "Follow me back to the Crystal Palace first!"
After saying that, Xiang Nan pulled Su Ran and ran wildly all the way.
"Is it safe to go back now?" Su Ran is scared again, "They are so divine, they must know that we live in the Crystal Palace."
"Don't worry, the Crystal Palace is the property of the Huangpu Clan. Right now, they still don't dare to touch it," Xiang Nan said.
There was a clear difference between internal strife and external invasion. The Huangpu Aristocrat Clan could fight amongst themselves, but if an outsider wanted to touch the Huangpu Aristocrat Clan, that would be a different situation.
After arriving at the Crystal Palace, Xiang Nan pushed Su Ran into his room and carefully inspected the corridor before following him.
Su Ran rubbed her hands restlessly and kept walking around. Her mind was already in a mess, she didn't know what she was thinking.
"Now!" Xiang Nan grabbed Su Ran's shoulders and said seriously, "Tell me, what exactly is your father's background!"
Su Ran hesitated.
"What secrets are more important than your life? You know, if even you die, the meaning of the secrets themselves will no longer exist!" Xiang Nan said.
"A secret is important because it is in the hands of a small number of people. If no one in the world knows about it, it will be worthless!"
Su Ran gritted her teeth and said, "It's not that I refuse to tell you, but that even I don't know what my father does."
"In my childhood, he has always been very mysterious. All I know is that he has spent decades researching Xuandao puppets."
"But why should I study it? I don't even understand what the meaning is."
"At first, I thought it was just my father's hobby, but now that I've grown up, I realize that things might not be that simple."
"How old are you this year? When was the last time you saw your father? What did he tell you?" Xiang Nan muttered.
"The last time I saw him was when I was six years old," Su Ran recalled. "It's been fourteen years now."
"I remember very clearly that the last thing he said to me was that he wanted me to win the championship of this year's competition."
"This year?" Xiang Nan said seriously, "Are you sure it's not the last one, nor the next one, but this one fourteen years from now?"
Su Ran nodded, "Of course, I remember very clearly that it was this year."
Xiang Nan frowned and said, "This is the last time you saw your father at the age of six. Then how did you survive all these years?"
Su Ran said, "Since the last time I was separated from my father, there was always someone who took care of me. He gave me money, taught me singing, and taught me life experiences."
"I only know that people call him Old Man Tian Ji, but I don't know exactly what his relationship with my father is. Perhaps he's a fellow disciple or something. I don't know much about the world of martial arts."
"Old Man Tian Ji!" Xiang Nan's heart skipped a beat.
That's why! It turned out that the world had misinformed about the relationship between Old Man Tian Ji and Su Ran. Others thought that Old Man Tian Ji and Su Ran were friends.
However, in reality, Old Man Tian Ji seemed to have been entrusted by Su Ran's father to take care of Su Ran. He had played an elder role in Su Ran's life.
"You have to come with me." After thinking for a while, Xiang Nan still felt that it was not safe. He said, "I want to take you out of here. At least leave the Steel Continent. This place is no longer safe for you."
"I told you, I'm not leaving!" Su Ran said seriously.
"You don't want to die?" Xiang Nan asked.
"If I can't fulfill my father's last wish, then I'd rather die!" Su Ran said.
Xiang Nan took a deep look at Su Ran, then spread out a blank sheepskin scroll on the table, and wrote Su Ran's name on the scroll.
Afterwards, he wrote the words "Old Man Tian Ji" and "Su Ran's father", and connected the names of Su Ran and these two people together.
Then, he wrote down the experts he had encountered in the First Grade Hall, and formed a circle around Su Ran's name.
Finally, at the center of the circle, next to Su Ran's name, the words "Grand Competition Champion" were written.
"What are you doing?" Su Ran came over curiously.
Xiang Nan held the brush and pondered while explaining, "I know I'm very smart, but compared to some people with great wisdom, I'm still a bit lacking."
"I have a friend. He is very good at analyzing, and he is good at dissecting the chaotic problems one by one."
"Look, this is you. The others are more or less related to you."
Xiang Nan pointed to the name on the scroll and thought, "If I write all these relationships with a pen, it will be much easier to understand."
"The experts of the First Grade Hall are targeting you. They obviously want to obtain something from you, but they are very clear that they want to kill you, not capture you alive."
"That means they want to take something from you, and you don't need to be alive."
"What kind of thing can survive a person's death?"
Xiang Nan rubbed his chin and looked at Su Ran up and down. "Is there something special about you? Think carefully and don't miss any details."
Su Ran was at a loss for a long time and said, "No, there's nothing strange in my storage ring. If you don't believe me, look."
She poured out everything in her storage ring. Sure enough, there was nothing worth paying attention to. Apart from some gold coins, there were also storage cards, cosmetic boxes, clothes, and the like.
Xiang Nan stared at Su Ran thoughtfully, making Su Ran somewhat uncomfortable.
"If it's not your personal belongings, then it's very likely that it's yours."
Xiang Nan thought for a long time, but he didn't think of an accurate target.
"It can be your blood, heart, or even your soul, or just your flesh and blood."
"But where is the connection between this and the championship?"
Xiang Nan drew three more fifth stage Heaven Scryer golems on the paper and said, "These three are the prizes for the championship. Could it be that these three golems are what the Profound Sky Sect wants?"
"No way. Although these three puppets have a high level of cultivation, they aren't considered treasures to the First Grade Hall. They wouldn't have to pay such a high price to compete for them."
"There must be some details that I've missed out, or that even you and I don't know."
Xiang Nan walked around the room, thinking nonstop.
Time slowly passed. Su Ran covered her stomach and said, "I'm hungry. Can I go down and eat something?"
Su Ran helplessly looked at her and said, "Mortal, alas."
He had no choice but to take her downstairs for dinner.
On the dining table, Su Ran secretly sized up Xiang Nan while eating.
"What are you looking at?" Xiang Nan asked.
Su Ran smiled and said, "I found that you really weren't hired for nothing. You are indeed very powerful."
"I already said that." "It's just that you don't believe me," Xiang Nan said.
"You're in big trouble, you know? You're laughing."
Su Ran did not really care, "What are you afraid of? I have already escaped alive. Are those people who are chasing me very powerful?"
"My relationship in Amethyst City is very strong. Wait until I find some of the city's main personal guards, then I can't do anything to them at this moment."
"You underestimate them too much." Xiang Nan shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Those people are different from the martial artists you understand."
