Hope, Part 2

Moon Empress. In the far north of Great Ling, at Tian Du Mountain.

The vast snowfield covered the earth.

At the very top of the continuous snow-capped mountains, hidden in the gray-black rocky terrain.

There is a cluster of black stone buildings, quietly standing in the mountains, bathed in wind and snow.

The buildings have slightly upturned eaves, pointed black-tiled roofs, and walls covered with large clumps of frost.

From a distance, the buildings look like a cluster of black lotuses vying for attention.

At the heart of that lotus was a nine-story square pavilion.

Most of the pavilion has been frozen and merged with the snow-capped mountain, resembling a relief carved from the stone wall.

This is the Snow Rainbow Pavilion Main Pavilion.

It is also the place with the largest reserve of martial arts manuals in the entire Great Ling.

At this time, the wind and snow intensified, and avalanches even occurred in some parts of the snow-capped mountains.

Animals living in the north have long since found good burrows to hide in and escape the harsh climate.

However, from the Snow Rainbow Pavilion, three people braved the wind and snow and walked lightly and quickly down the mountain along the stone steps that resembled ice sculptures.

On one side of the stone steps is a bottomless Abyss, and on the other side are majestic snow-capped mountains.

The steps leading towards the Abyss were edged with rows of Jingying icicles.

It was as if the water, which had melted and was about to drip, had been frozen and solidified in mid-air again.

Such solidified stone steps should be extremely slippery.

But the three figures that walked out of the Snow Rainbow Pavilion moved as if on flat ground, their steps swift and agile.

All three were wearing black cloaks, which covered even their heads.

The cloak was at least two meters wide, fluttering and rustling in the cold wind, revealing glimpses of the gray-black military leather armor worn by the three men.

But a cloak can only conceal the outline of the body, not the height.

One of the three is over 2.3 meters tall.

The other two are also over two meters tall.

It gives people an extremely imposing and powerful aura.

Click.

Suddenly, the three of them slowed down and stopped on a step, looking down.

Within the sight of the three people.

A chubby figure was walking up the stone steps, step by step, towards the mountain.

The man seemed to have just noticed the three of them, and he looked up, revealing a plump and amiable face.

"Oh my, isn't this Zhou Yan General Zhou? What a coincidence to run into you here."

The newcomer was none other than Yue Dewen, the current Grand Master of the Great Dao Sect Chong Xuan Daoist.

"General Zhou, what important matter are you rushing off to do?" Yue Dewen asked with a smile.

"Yue Sect Leader, it's been many years. You are still as vigorous as ever." One of the three raised his head, lifted his head cloak, and revealed his face.

It was a cold face with a black metal forehead ring.

This person's entire body was unusually large and strong.

Even the proportions of his facial features are much larger than those of an average person.

A pair of clear, black and white eyes stood motionless like a sculpture in the wind and snow, looking down at Yue Dewen.

"General Zhou flatter me. I'm just a little bit better at taking care of myself than most people," Yue Dewen said with a smile.

The two stared at each other for a few breaths.

Zhou Yan was almost twice the size of Yue Dewen, and was standing at an even higher position.

Strangely, when the two confronted each other, their auras seemed to be evenly matched.

"General Zhou not be cultivating in seclusion in the pavilion. He must be going to Citong on orders this time," Yue Dewen suddenly said.

Zhou Yan did not reply.

As a member of the Snow Rainbow Pavilion, he only obeys orders from the Imperial Clan; he doesn't care about any other forces, no matter who they are.

The previous politeness was merely a vestige of respect that was still held for the Second Under Heaven.

But that's all.

After all, he is over ninety years old.

Yue Dewen didn't seem to mind and continued smiling.

"Speaking of which, I also have a clumsy son in my family, who is now in Citong. The old Daoist priest came here this time for him as well."

I believe that what happened in Citong, the princess's disappearance, has absolutely nothing to do with my son.

I urge General Zhou to show leniency when handling this matter.

"I will only act according to the law, and I will have to disappoint Yue Sect Leader," Zhou Yan said in a deep voice.

"Of course, of course. If my son really does something wrong, he will naturally be dealt with impartially."

However, Yue Dewen's smile and gentle demeanor faltered slightly, and a cold glint flashed in his small eyes.

"However, in some situations where General Zhou his own judgment, please be more considerate."

He instantly regained his friendly smile.

"After all, these days, finding a suitable and satisfactory successor is not easy. This old Daoist has been searching for a full twenty years."

"I understand what Yue Sect Leader means." Zhou Yan's pupils contracted slightly. When that gaze swept over him, he felt a needle-like contraction all over his body.

"That's good, that's good~~~" Yue Dewen laughed. "Speaking of which, I believe my son won't get involved in anything. After all, he's still young and innocent. It's normal for kids to be ignorant sometimes. But to say that he could do something big or cause a disaster would be a misrepresentation."

These days, if an adult were to argue with a child over trivial matters, wouldn't that be rather undignified?

He continued upwards, step by step climbing the stairs.

"By the way, I heard that the Right Army Lord of the Snow Rainbow Pavilion has already headed to the Zhen Ding Wang. General Zhou, make sure you don't take the wrong path. Those steps... tsk tsk tsk... too high, too high."

He looked at the bottomless Abyss at the edge of the steps with feigned fear, his tone exaggerated.

The two passed each other by.

Soon, Yue Dewen's figure disappeared at the end of the stone steps, heading towards the Snow Rainbow Pavilion.

Zhou Yan didn't say anything more. She simply put her cloak back on.

"General, what about us?" the adjutant beside him asked in a deep voice.

"Since Master Yue has personally vouched for us, we'll give him face then," he replied in a low voice.

Even with the Daozi incident last time, Yue Dewen didn't protect them as strongly as he did. It seems that the Great Dao Sect is not planning to back down this time.

And that new Daozi is definitely not as simple as the information released on the surface suggests.

Furthermore, the Right Army Lord, Zhen Ding Wang, is only experiencing minor ripples compared to the power struggle between these two important figures.

With the pressure from above relentless, it remains to be seen how Zhen Ding Wang will respond.

*** Yong Xiang's disappearance did not immediately cause a stir.

After all, traveling from Citong back to Great Capital at a leisurely pace would take at least a month. Half a month is far from enough.

However, someone used certain special means to send the information back to Great Capital ahead of time.

After returning to Far Star Residence, Zhang Rongfang did not continue to live there. Instead, he found an abandoned Daoist Temple near Citong, renovated it, and established it as the Main Temple of the Great Dao Sect in Citong.

Externally, after Prefect with the Magistrate and governor, he received funds from the Citong and began hiring craftsmen to build the Dao Palace.

The Rebel Sect gradually subsided, White Ten Sect suffered heavy casualties. The only Archbishop was also frightened by the last siege and fled overseas overnight.

The entire Citong has returned to An Ning, seemingly restored to calm.

But all the top leaders understand that this is just the calm before the storm.

Yong Xiang injury and disappearance will surely provoke the fury of the Ling Ting. Seemingly to avoid trouble, Taijing Zi has also vanished without a trace, whether he escaped or went overseas is unknown.

For a time, Citong also ushered in the best period of public security in its history.

Bite.

Inside the Citong Chen Xiang Temple.

Zhang Rongfang cross-legged in front of the Pill Furnace, his face flushed red from the flames inside.

The Western-style grandfather clock beside them was chiming crisply, indicating that the scheduled time had arrived.

Picking up the spatula, Zhang Rongfang stood up, used a thick, heat-insulating cotton cloth to Unveiling the stove lid, and vigorously stirred the contents of the spatula.

The black, paste-like ointment inside was constantly bubbling with countless tiny bubbles.

Bubbles rise, burst, and splash black liquid in all directions.

The spatula stirred the contents of the pan repeatedly, creating bursts of white steam.

Zhang Rongfang skillfully turned off the fire, lifted the basin, and placed it in the cold water pool.

Hiss.

A plume of white steam rose up.

He scooped up a little bit of the ointment with a wooden spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and then put it in his mouth to taste it.

"It's finally done."

The ointment needed for the third layer of the Golden Toad Skill has finally been made.

With all the medicinal herbs available, he ruined five pots of the brewing process before finally finishing.

In just half a month, Zhang Rongfang had accumulated three Attribute Points, in addition to the three he had previously accumulated.

He now has six points.

This time, he didn't use all his skill points on martial arts.

It wasn't that he was unwilling, but as his health points decreased, he could no longer increase the number of times he could use External Medicine to enhance his martial Super Grade.

Simply put, he relied on his high health points to increase his martial arts potential, which allowed him to advance through External Medicine more than five times.

Otherwise, even if he had Attribute Points, he would face the same awkward situation as before: his physical talent was at its limit, and he couldn't use the Attribute Points to improve his martial arts.

As his life points rapidly increased, Zhang Rongfang had almost forgotten that he used to be of average talent.

In any case, Civilian Skill increase life, and with enough life, the upper limit of martial arts potential can be increased.

However, the Golden Toad Skill's significant weakening of his life force forced him to confront this problem once again.

'We have no choice but to stop practicing martial arts for now and focus all our efforts on improving the Golden Toad Skill!'

That was his decision.

After seven applications of External Medicine, combined with numerous Breaking Limit Skills and Limit State, one can basically fight against Internal Method.

Actually, it's enough for now.

In a monstrous place like Great Capital, this level of strength is naturally nothing.

But this is Citong.

As long as he doesn't cause trouble, everything is peaceful.

More importantly, after opening the Secret Cache, Zhang Rongfang had a growing premonition that the possibility of him breaking away from the Ling Ting was becoming increasingly greater.

Therefore, we must take advantage of this stable time and quickly max out the Golden Toad Skill! "Chen Han, go and get me the smallest balance scale." He turned his head and called out to the other side.

The pills are fine; now it's time to get serious.

"Yes." After resting for a while, Chen Han's strength has returned to normal.

It seems that the damage to the Spirit Thread is not a truly permanent injury.

Zhang Rongfang secretly noted down this pattern, preparing to go back to the Rebel Sect and check their research records.

Of the three Spirit Vein of Princess Yongxiang that were captured earlier, two have now been killed.

There was another one that was also on its last legs.

Over the past two weeks, Zhang Rongfang has also re-verified many of the previous experiments conducted by the Eastern Sect.

Some detailed changes in the Spiritualized Individual have been determined.

'Hopefully the third level will reduce the life cost; this technique is truly inhuman.'

Taking the scale, Zhang Rongfang began to carefully weigh the quantities in order to determine the dosage.