Lin Qingbai, who was caught in a fury, felt as though he had been struck by lightning at that moment!
Lin Jiangye was Lin Qingbai's only son, and he had always showered him with doting affection.
In his plans, by leveraging his identity as the master of the Xinghua Lin Pavilion, he would pull plenty of strings for Lin Jiangye to assist the latter's rapid growth.
Perhaps, a hundred years from now, the title of Lin Family head would fall into Lin Jiangye's hands.
Just when Lin Qingbai pinned high hopes on Lin Jiangye, bad news suddenly arrived.
Lin Jiangye had gone missing!
For a full several days, not the slightest trace of Lin Jiangye had been found!
Lin Qingbai's heart was filled with incomparable anxiety, and he dared not think toward the worst possibilities.
He utilized every connection and resource network he could possibly use, spending a vast number of Spirit Stones to search for the whereabouts of his son.
Unexpectedly, what he heard instead was the news that Lin Jiangye was already dead and his entire body had been burned into a skeleton by Daoist Magic!
Ever since that time, Lin Qingbai's mental state had been somewhat abnormal, and he even embarked on an extreme path.
Yet now, he originally wanted to slay Meng Haoran and Meng Xiaoran with his own hands, never expecting to hear these astonishingly shocking words from Meng Haoran's mouth!
Lin Qingbai stopped in his tracks, slowly turning around. Ignoring Meng Xiaoran rapidly fleeing in the distance, flames seemed to burn within his eyes as he stared fixedly at Meng Haoran standing before the mountain forest and asked, "Meng Haoran, do you have any idea what you are saying?"
Meng Haoran turned his head to look. Meng Xiaoran's figure had already walked far away, and Xiao Ran had also vanished. He felt slightly at ease in his heart, but in order to completely lure Lin Qingbai over, he could only counterask: "Lin Jiangye's skeleton should have been discovered right inside this patch of mountain forest behind me, shouldn't it?"
Creak, creak!
As soon as these words were spoken, Lin Qingbai immediately clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.
"Indeed! It really was you who harmed Lin Jiangye!"
Lin Qingbai raged, "I suspected from the very beginning that the murderer was you!"
Putting on a nonchalant appearance, Meng Haoran sneered, "Whether the murderer is truly me or not—you will know once you come!"
After finishing, Meng Haoran turned and plunged into the mountain forest.
And at this moment, the very last thread of sunlight on the distant horizon was also swallowed up by the earth.
Night finally descended!
"Good brat!"
Lin Qingbai took a step forward carrying boundless hatred and said, "If I catch you, I will surely skin you and pull out your tendons!"
As his voice fell, Lin Qingbai's figure also followed closely behind the darkness, entering the mountain forest together.
Qingyang County Town, Xinghua Meng Pavilion.
Meng Luohai stood in the front hall. Just after sending off a guest, he saw a figure rushing wildly down the distant main street.
Meng Luohai fixed his gaze and discovered that the person was none other than Meng Xiaoran!
At this moment, Meng Xiaoran was already covered in sweat, his expression one of complete terror.
"Not good! Something major has happened!"
Meng Luohai turned and stepped out of the Xinghua Meng Pavilion, arriving by Meng Xiaoran's side in merely a few breaths.
Because Meng Xiaoran had exhausted all his efforts in his panic over Lin Qingbai wanting to slay Meng Haoran, the vital energy of heaven and earth within his Dantian was completely empty at this moment.
The instant he saw Meng Luohai, his footing grew weak and he almost collapsed to the ground.
Fortunately, Meng Luohai grabbed Meng Xiaoran and steadied his figure. After stabilizing him, he asked anxiously, "Xiao Ran, what happened?"
Meng Xiaoran gasped for breath several times in succession and quickly replied, "Lin Qingbai wants to kill Brother Haoran!"
Meng Luohai was shocked. "How can this be?"
Yet he knew that this moment was not the time to dwell on the reasons, but rather to find Meng Haoran as quickly as possible!
Propping Meng Xiaoran against the wall, Meng Luohai turned and ran toward the outside of the town, leaving behind a single sentence.
"Go find Magistrate Song!"
Meanwhile, over in Xinghua Village, within the Meng Family courtyard.
Meng Bohai was instructing a group of younger juniors from the Meng Family in their cultivation when a dark shadow suddenly leaped out from atop the tall courtyard wall of the Meng Family.
After seeing the creature clearly, Meng Bohai smiled softly and said, "Why is this goofy beast not as steady as its master? To think it actually flew in over the top of the wall!"
That dark shadow was precisely the Spirit Beast nurtured by Meng Haoran, the "Thunderfire Tiger", Xiao Ran.
Afterward, Meng Bohai frowned slightly and lowered his voice. "No! Haoran only just left a short while ago, and the sky has already grown dark. Why is only Xiao Ran here?"
With that, Xiao Ran found Meng Bohai with a high degree of spiritual intelligence, reaching his side within a few leaps.
"Roar, roar, roar!"
Xiao Ran's front paws lowered slightly, the fur on its beastly back shining brightly, and the "power of thunder" and "power of fire" upon its body were also faintly glowing.
Seeing this scene, Meng Bohai asked in shock, "Could it be that something happened to Haoran? Did he let Xiao Ran come back to report the news?"
Thinking up to this point, Meng Bohai hesitated no longer. He turned and flew to the gate of the Meng Family courtyard, opened the heavy door with a single hand, and shouted, "Let's go, Xiao Ran, lead the way!"
During this period of time, Xiao Ran had continuously swallowed Spirit Stones and consumed the "Cauldron Liquid" given to it by Meng Haoran, making it exceptionally attuned to human nature at this moment.
Hearing Meng Bohai's call, its four tiger hooves galloped swiftly.
Man and beast vanished into the boundless dark night in the blink of an eye.
The Tianyang Mountain Range possessed an extremely vast area and an incomparably complex terrain.
It was precisely because of this reason that Meng Haoran was able to rely on his sixth-layer Qi Refining Realm cultivation to continuously stretch the distance between himself and Lin Qingbai behind him.
Following closely not far behind Meng Haoran, Lin Qingbai laughed chillingly, "Meng Haoran, judging by your cultivation, you are at most at the Great Accomplishment of Qi Refining. Trying to escape from the hands of a Perfection-stage Qi Refining cultivator like me is simply wishful thinking!"
The Qi Refining Realm was divided into ten layers. According to the power of each cultivation layer, it was broadly categorized into Initial Success, Great Accomplishment, Perfection, and Peak.
Generally speaking, cultivators who reached the Perfection level within the Qi Refining Realm possessed a quantity and quality of heaven and earth vital energy far exceeding that of a Great Accomplishment Qi Refining cultivator by severalfold.
They even exceeded them by more than ten times.
In his heart, Lin Qingbai thought that even if Meng Haoran could temporarily stretch the distance between them by utilizing the terrain of the mountain forest, once the latter's internal vital energy of heaven and earth dried up, that moment would be Meng Haoran's death day!
Therefore, a thrill of wanting to brutally torture Meng Haoran arose in Lin Qingbai's heart at this moment.
Hearing the words of Lin Qingbai behind him, Meng Haoran's youthful pride flared up, and he unyieldingly retorted, "Lin Qingbai, you must want to toy with me in the palm of your hand right now, right? Heh, little do you know that on that day, Lin Jiangye was likewise toyed with in the palm of my hand before dying a most miserable death!"
Just as Meng Haoran's voice faded, a sharp tree branch fiercely thrust forward from behind!
Meng Haoran only managed to execute a sideways dodge, avoiding it by a very narrow margin!
"Good brat! Good brat!"
Lin Qingbai said coldly, "I've decided—if I catch you, I won't kill you. I will imprison you inside the dungeon and make you my plaything for all eternity, using that to pay tribute to my deceased son!"
With a stir in his mind, a porcelain bottle containing "Cauldron Liquid" appeared in Meng Haoran's hand. He hurriedly consumed it, tossed the bottle onto the ground, and continued pressing forward.
Meng Haoran certainly knew the risks of directly consuming "Cauldron Liquid", but time was pressing right now, and he could no longer worry about such things!
"Roar!"
Suddenly, a massive beast roar echoed from the distance!
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