Yu Jun immediately blamed herself, her eyes reddening as tears welled up. “It’s my fault for forgetting that Master is still severely injured and cannot practice inedia,” she said, biting her lip to hold back a sob. “But now, all the silver and food in the sect have been plundered, and those bandits are still lingering at the foot of the mountain. My senior and junior brothers are also injured and unable to go down the mountain…”
She frowned in distress, thinking for a long time before finally seeming to make up her mind, speaking with difficulty, “Fortunately, before my mother passed away, she left me a jade bracelet. If I pawn it, I can exchange it for some silver. I’ll go find my senior brother and ask him to find a way to quietly go down the mountain. If he can bring back some food, Master can rest and recover in peace…”
Seeing her about to turn and leave, Xu Lingguang quickly stood up to stop her, sighing, “Since it’s a keepsake your mother left you, how can you pawn it so easily?”
He had stood up too hastily and was dizzy from hunger, nearly losing his balance. Luckily, Yu Jun steadied him in time. Xu Lingguang gave her a grateful smile and held her arm, saying, “We’re not at that point yet. I see that the eastern mountain slopes are lush with vegetation—there should be plenty of edible things there. Even if we can’t catch pheasants or rabbits, we can dig up wild vegetables or pick wild fruits. We won’t starve.”
Knowing he couldn’t rely on his three disciples, Xu Lingguang resignedly patted Yu Jun’s arm and said, “Don’t worry just yet. Wait for me to change clothes, and I’ll go into the mountains to take a look.”
He had grown up in the mountains since childhood, mischievous and often roaming the hills and rivers. He knew how to identify wild vegetables and could catch birds or rabbits—he would find a way to get food.
On his way to the Qingyu Sect yesterday, he had also observed the surroundings. The area around the Qingyu Sect was abundant with vegetation; even if they had to gnaw on tree roots, they wouldn’t starve.
Xu Lingguang gave Yu Jun a reassuring smile, gathered his courage, and returned to his bedroom with a change of clothes, planning to first change into something more practical and then find some tools to forage for food in the back mountains.
The clothes he was wearing now were not only dirty and torn but also cumbersome with their wide sleeves and heavy fabric, making movement inconvenient.
Yu Jun watched him walk away before summoning a puppet, taking a handkerchief to wipe her hands with disdain. “Did you smell that? He reeks,” she said.
Song Nanchu slid down from the roof beam, his thick serpent tail thumping heavily on the ground. “He’s more resilient than I imagined.”
Yu Jun paused, tilting her head and rolling her eyes thoughtfully before hesitantly saying, “I actually think… he seems a bit different from before.”
What she really wanted to say was that Xu Lingguang didn’t seem to be pretending, but given his scheming nature and her deep dislike for him, she only mentioned it vaguely.
Zhou Fuying, however, paid no attention to such details. Hugging his sword, he gestured with his chin toward the side. “He’s gone out.”
Xu Lingguang changed into clean clothes, hastily tied his long hair into a high ponytail, and headed out with tools he had found in the kitchen.
With no hope of relying on his three disciples, he drank his fill of water to temporarily quiet his growling stomach and strode determinedly toward the lush mountain slopes he remembered.
Without any cultivation, he had no idea that as soon as he left the Qingyu Sect, several shadows silently followed him.
These people came from different backgrounds, but without exception, they were all after the Jade Linzhi on Xu Lingguang’s person.
Earlier, upon receiving news that Xu Lingguang had returned from the dead, they had been half-convinced, half-doubtful. After all, Xu Lingguang’s body had been exposed at the Qingyu Sect for a full day and night after his death, and they had personally verified it. The reason they lingered outside the Qingyu Sect was actually their suspicion that the Jade Linzhi had fallen into the hands of Xu Lingguang’s three young disciples. However, those three, though young, practiced strange and unorthodox cultivation techniques, making them no easier to deal with than Xu Lingguang himself, which was why they hadn’t acted rashly.
Now, with reports from their spies confirming Xu Lingguang’s resurrection, their thoughts immediately turned to the missing Jade Linzhi. In their urgency, they had come to investigate personally.
Only now, seeing Xu Lingguang alive and kicking with their own eyes, did their wavering suspicions finally settle.
—No matter what, capture Xu Lingguang alive first.
Once they had him, they could take their time extracting the whereabouts of the Jade Linzhi.
Several auras clashed and surged in the shadows, but the first to strike was Xielingzi of the Senluo Abyss.
He had lived for over eighteen hundred years but remained stuck at the Spirit Fusion Realm, unable to advance an inch. With his lifespan nearing its end, he had no choice but to personally seize the Jade Linzhi.
A glint flashed in Xielingzi’s eyes as a pair of bronze hooks, reeking of blood, shot toward the vital point of Xu Lingguang’s neck. The ends of the hooks were sharp, covered in barbs, and carved with blood-draining grooves. Once hooked, even if one managed to break free, they would either die or be left half-dead.
Xu Lingguang, holding a bag, was bent over picking goat milk berries.
His luck wasn’t too bad—while digging for wild vegetables, he had stumbled upon a patch of goat milk berries. These wild berries grew in the mountains of his hometown too—sour yet sweet red fruits that tasted good and could fill an empty stomach.
He picked and ate as he went, finally satisfying his growling stomach. Just as he was brimming with determination to venture deeper into the mountains to search for pheasants or rabbits, he suddenly felt a strong palpitation. Instinct drove him to roll sideways, and before he could process what was happening, he saw a rust-red iron hook smash into the tree in front of him, piercing straight through the ancient trunk thicker than his waist.
Xu Lingguang stared at the gaping hole in the tree, froze for a second, then realized—this must be the former owner’s enemies coming for him. Startled like a rabbit, he leaped up and scrambled desperately into the depths of the dense forest.
Xielingzi’s first strike missed, and the bronze hooks flew out again.
Seeing this, the others also summoned their magical treasures and gave chase.
Xu Lingguang only heard the successive sounds of something cutting through the air behind him. He didn’t dare look back, gritting his teeth as he desperately fled toward the densest part of the forest. In his panic to escape, he didn’t notice his speed increasing, his feet almost gliding above the ground.
The three hiding in the shadows, watching the tigers fight, saw this and exchanged knowing looks.
Song Nanchu coiled his massive python body around a towering ancient tree, raising his serpent head to observe the distant battle. He sneered, “He was half-dead earlier, but now he runs fast.”
Yu Jun frowned. “His inner palace is shattered, and his meridians are reversed. In theory, he shouldn’t be able to mobilize spiritual power.”
Zhou Fuying shrugged. “Maybe it’s the effect of the Jade Linzhi? Should we follow?”
“Let’s go take a look. Don’t let those old fools get ahead of us.”
With a flick of his serpent tail, Song Nanchu’s enormous body slid swiftly through the soft, rotting leaves, taking the lead in pursuit.
Xu Lingguang felt his heart pounding more and more fiercely, the immense sound of his heartbeat echoing in his ears as if someone were beating a drum right beside him. The deafening noise made his head spin and his vision blur, while a metallic taste rose in his throat.
But he dared not stop.
Several times, sharp currents of air swept past his face and sides. Had he not reacted quickly, he would have been riddled with holes.
Xu Lingguang imagined that scene and felt his heart nearly leap out of his throat. Disoriented, he could only desperately run toward the densest part of the forest, praying that the thick woods behind him would shield him from pursuit.
Yet, for some reason, as he ran, the sounds of fighting and pursuit behind him suddenly grew faint.
Fearing a trap, he didn’t dare stop. Only after running a great distance farther did he cautiously glance back to confirm—his pursuers had indeed ceased their chase. They stood strangely still on a distant clearing, watching him from afar.
Xu Lingguang hesitated, then halted, gasping for breath in great heaves.
Seeing that they didn’t approach, Xu Lingguang felt a flicker of unease, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the exhilaration of having escaped certain death. He retched a few times, then collapsed weakly to the ground, raising a middle finger toward the distant figures.
Though Xielingzi and the others didn’t understand the gesture’s meaning, the provocation in his eyes was unmistakable.
Xielingzi stroked the bronze hook in his hand and said with ambiguous intent, “You all may proceed first.”
The others, however, were not fooled. Nine Swords Zhenren of the Hidden Edge Sect sneered, “If you lack the courage to set foot in Ailao Mountain, you might as well turn back.”
Xielingzi’s expression shifted slightly, but he showed no anger. Instead, he retorted, “Nine Swords Zhenren speaks boldly. Yet why do you refuse to take even half a step forward?”
Nine Swords Zhenren shot him a cold glance but did not reply, his face instead showing a contemplative expression.
The name Ailao Mountain was a taboo across the entire Shangyang Continent, a place more feared and dreaded than even the Abyssal Lands.
Legend told of the ancient divine races, immensely powerful and perpetually at war. In ancient times, Gonggong and Zhurong clashed, toppling Mount Buzhou, the pillar that supported the Realm of Mountains and Seas, causing the heavens to collapse and the earth to split, leading to the shattering and destruction of that realm.
Even thousands of years later, the mere mention of that great calamity still made people pale.
It was said that the Heavenly Dao, enraged, descended with divine punishment. The once-unrivaled ancient divine races fell, with only a handful surviving, thereafter confined to Ailao Mountain, never to emerge.
Once, a powerful human cultivator, curious about the ancient divine races, grandly assembled over a hundred cultivators to enter Ailao Mountain and investigate. In the blink of an eye, over a hundred corpses were hurled out by a vast, overwhelming force, raining down like a shower of death outside the mountain.
Those waiting outside never even caught a glimpse of the attacker’s true form. In an instant, they had slaughtered over a hundred human cultivators, leaving behind only four words: “Trespassers will die.”
According to eyewitnesses, the aura that emanated from the mountain was vast and ferocious, pressing all the cultivators present to the ground, unable to even lift their heads.
Since then, Ailao Mountain had become a forbidden land that inspired awe and dread. Cultivators would detour even when merely passing by.
Those present exchanged uneasy glances. Some frowned in deep thought, while others felt the urge to retreat.
They had sought the Jade Linzhi to prolong their lives and extend their cultivation paths. But venturing into Ailao Mountain for it might only hasten their deaths.
In the silent tension, someone hesitantly began to back away.
After careful consideration, Xielingzi and Nine Swords Zhenren ultimately could not bear to give up the Jade Linzhi. With renewed vigor, they simultaneously stepped into the territory of Ailao Mountain, each summoning their magical treasures to seize Xu Lingguang—
Xu Lingguang had not expected these people to chase him again. Gritting his teeth against the soreness spreading through his limbs, he struggled to his feet and continued running forward.
However, once his momentum had dissipated, it was difficult to regain it. After just a few steps, he stumbled and fell to the ground, tumbling down the hillside.
Seeing this, Xielingzi and Nine Swords Zhenren grew even more emboldened. While clashing with each other, they each displayed their unique abilities in an attempt to capture Xu Lingguang. Just as the two were locked in fierce combat, an indescribable pressure suddenly descended from the horizon.
By the time they realized what was happening and tried to retreat, they were already forced to prostrate on the ground, unable to move.
Xielingzi, being older, was crushed so forcefully that he coughed up a mouthful of blood. His voice rasped as he muttered, “The rumors… they were actually true.”
Nine Swords Zhenren was not faring much better. Forced to lie prone on the ground, he felt as though his internal organs were being repeatedly crushed by an immense force. If not for clenching his teeth tightly, he too would have spat blood.
Meanwhile, behind them, several cultivators who had hesitated and not set foot into the territory of Ailao Mountain stared in terror at the sun overhead—the once blazing sun was gradually being devoured by a massive shadow. An unseen colossal beast peered down from the clouds, its golden-red vertical pupils cold and ferocious, as if gazing upon mere ants.