Chapter 1609: Don’t bother me

With everything recorded, there was a part of Lin Fan that couldn’t help feeling empty.

After all, he wasn’t able to accomplish a single one of his goals in this research lab all because the items that were stored here didn’t have any power.

It felt like there was something at the tip of his fingers that had been taken away from him.

But all that this did was make him even more determined to make things work when he brought these records back to Dungeon City. Even if he had to push those he took in from the technologically advanced continent, he would do it.

Still, it wasn’t as if there was anything that he could do about this now which left that empty feeling inside of him.

So the only thing that he could do was ask the elder, "Where should we go next."

They had already investigated both of the locations that Su Ling had pointed out for them, so it wasn’t as if they knew where to go next.

If they hadn’t met the elder, then they would have had no choice but to return to the law enforcement pavilion to find Su Ling again.

With the added authority that Lin Fan had, it should be possible for him to open up a few more pavilions and take their authorities for himself. It was just that he had no idea which ones he would be able to take the authorities from.

Whoever had designed this place had designed it as a puzzle that followed a specific order. Which was why in the end, he had no choice but to follow the order and find the right way to obtain enough authority.

Seeing Lin Fan take out everything, the elder seemed a bit surprised by how much information Lin Fan had. As an elder that had been in the inner part of the Dao Sect, the things that he knew surpassed all of the other elders that this group had met previously.

It seemed like he knew that it wasn’t normal for Lin Fan to have a map that was this detailed.

But it didn’t really seem to matter to the elder in the end.

He was someone that had plenty of time to think things through and contemplate about the passing of eras. So he was someone that had long accepted that this was a completely different era from the one he was from.

He just looked carefully at the map that Lin Fan placed in front of him.

The expression on his face made it seem like he was thinking deeply about something and in the end, he suddenly raised his hand to point out a spot on the map.

It was just that when Lin Fan saw this, he couldn’t help frowning.

It wasn’t just Lin Fan alone who revealed a frown, the other two also couldn’t help frowning as well.

"What’s wrong?" The elder saw the looks on their faces which made him confused.

"Are you sure that it’s this one?" Lin Fan slowly asked the elder.

The elder couldn’t help finding this even more strange since he could hear the doubt and even suspicion that was in Lin Fan’s voice. It really seemed like he didn’t trust the decision that he made.

However, the elder insisted on this, "This is the best place for you right now. It’ll be the easiest place for you to claim some authority for your token."

"But it’s also the most dangerous place." Xiao Mu was the one that said this.

The elder looked surprised that Xiao Mu would say this, but the main reason that he looked surprised was that he thought that they wouldn’t know about this.

With an awkward look on his face, he scratched his head and said, "It is indeed dangerous, but it shouldn’t be a problem for you." After a pause, he added, "How do you know that it’s dangerous?"

The more that he spoke, the more it seemed like he was leading them into some kind of trap. Which was why they started looking at him with narrowed eyes that were filled with suspicion.

The elder shook his head with a bitter smile before saying, "It is dangerous, but it’s not dangerous for you. Since you already have this authority, it could even be considered the safest place for you. There’s no other place that will allow you to enter this easily."

"What is this place?" Lin Fan asked with the same questioning gaze.

Only this time, it didn’t seem like the elder was willing to answer.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the answer, it was just that he wanted to keep it secret for some reason.

With a sigh, he said, "Just trust me when I say that it’s good for you. Telling you too much won’t actually help you since you’ll have expectations that will twist your thoughts."

No matter how they looked at it, it really seemed like the elder was trying to lead them into some kind of trap.

But in the end, the elder said, "I’ll be going with you, do you really think I’ll risk my own life? I know what you’re thinking, but it’ll really be bad if you have bias when entering this place. This is a place that’s best to enter without knowing a single thing."

"Fine, we’ll go."

The deciding factor was the look that was on Ye Qing Huan’s face.

When Ye Qing Huan heard this, she looked at Lin Fan as if she was saying that this wasn’t necessary. However, Lin Fan just looked back at her as if this was already decided.

Ye Qing Huan had a complicated expression on her face, but she seemed to accept it with a sigh before looking at him with a trace of gratitude in her eyes. But at the same time it looked like she was still blaming him for making this decision.

After all, the reason behind this was all because of the Heavenly Demon, Ye Qing Huan’s master.

This was the pavilion that he had gone to and was most likely trapped in.

Seeing that everything was decided, the elder didn’t bother saying anything else as he directly disappeared.

The way that he had gone back into the token was almost as if he was hiding himself, but there was nothing else that they wanted from him either. So in the end, they let the elder hide inside of the token as they left this lab.

But along the way, Lin Fan suddenly thought of something and called out to the elder.

"He’s acting dead? He’s not saying anything at all? Did he disappear?"

Xiao Mu shook its head as it could still feel the presence of the elder inside of the token, but it seemed like the elder wasn’t planning on coming out to talk to them. In fact, it seemed like the elder was even ignoring Xiao Mu.

Which was why Xiao Mu picked up the token as if it was about to do something.

When Xiao Mu stopped all of a sudden, it seemed like there was finally a reaction from the elder.

"What do you mean don’t bother you?" Xiao Mu seemed angry when it asked this.

Both Lin Fan and Ye Qing Huan were surprised to hear this, but they didn’t say anything as they waited to see what the elder would have to say for himself.

"There’s a reason why you hid yourself in the token when we came out? The lab has that array that helps hide you, but there’s no telling what happens if you reveal yourself outside of the lab. So it’s better for you to remain inside of the token?"

With Xiao Mu transcribing everything, they had a better idea of what the situation with the elder was. But even so, it wasn’t as if the elder couldn’t help them by providing them with information.

It seemed like the elder was just ignoring them because he didn’t want to do anything.

So in the end, Xiao Mu acted as if it was threatening the elder.

Which was why the elder was finally willing to answer the question that Lin Fan had.

"Really, that was the question that you had?"

Lin Fan didn’t say anything when the elder responded like this, he just waited for a proper response to his question.

In the end, the elder had no choice but to answer all of the questions that he asked even though it seemed trivial.

But for Lin Fan’s group, it was anything but that since these were questions that were from a bygone era that surpassed the current era. All of this information was without a doubt useful to them.

At the same time, it gave them a better idea of what the Dao Sect was like in the past.

After asking for a while, there was one more question that Lin Fan had to ask, "What is your name? It’s not as if we can keep addressing you without a name, right?"

The elder didn’t respond at first as if he didn’t want to say this.

But after thinking about it, it seemed like he judged that this wasn’t dangerous enough that it would cause trouble.

"Duan. You can just call me Old Duan."

At the very least, it didn’t seem like this elder was completely shutting himself off from them.

It seemed like this was at least a start, even if it wasn’t much of a first step.

Still, it was better than not knowing a single thing about this elder.