That afternoon.
News that Yang Jing would challenge Si Jiawen, Lingxi Peak's Senior Sister, spread throughout Lingxi Peak, then swiftly spread outward through the entire Profound Truth Sect.
Night deepened, and the evening breeze carried a bone-chilling coolness, rustling the island's pines and cypresses.
A waterside lookout on the Outer Island offered especially lovely scenery. Smooth bluestone slabs paved the embankment underfoot, and in the distance lay Hidden Dragon Lake, where the Profound Truth Sect had established itself.
Ripples shimmered across the lake. A cold, full moon hung in the ink-dark sky, its light scattering over the water into countless silver scales. Moonlight and reflected radiance mingled in a scene of tranquil, breathtaking beauty.
Occasionally, disciples passed by in twos and threes, their footsteps faint and their conversations hushed.
The sect had already issued an order: after January, all disciples at the Transforming Strength realm or above had to leave Duck Mountain Island and head to various parts of Jintai Prefecture to hunt down the fiends of the Demon Cult.
The news weighed like a massive boulder on every disciple's heart, burdening them all with immense pressure.
They knew full well that once they left, life and death would hang in the balance. Fellow disciples they saw every day might never be seen again.
For precisely that reason, Duck Mountain Island had recently shed its usual silence of arduous cultivation and remained unusually lively.
Many disciples gathered together to confide their troubles, exchange pointers, or simply walk in one another's company, cherishing this final stretch of peaceful days.
At that moment, Yang Jing and Sun Ningxiang were strolling slowly side by side along the shore.
Moonlight fell gently upon them, as though draping their bodies in a hazy veil of silvery white, stretching their shadows long.
Sun Ningxiang wore a