Gathering of Heavenly Prodigies!

At the entrance to Zi Village.

Golden sunlight poured down. Outside the silent village, a female cultivator with long brows, phoenix eyes, a delicate nose, and cherry-red lips paced back and forth as if she would never tire.

Her lovely face was twisted into a savage grimace, her eyes brimming with malice and killing intent. Several long, sword-shaped hairpins in her bun hummed faintly, trying to rouse her, but to no avail.

Ruan Zhi stared into the village, doing everything she could to charge inside, find someone, and then blow herself up! Blow herself up! Blow herself up!

Suddenly, the resentment and hatred enveloping her vanished in an instant.

"I... Why am I here?" Ruan Zhi stopped in confusion. As if waking from a deep dream, she looked around for a moment, then abruptly came to her senses. "Wait, where's Senior Sister Qiao?!"

"And Branch Lord Shi, Senior Sister Zhang, Senior Sister Chu, and Senior Sister Zhong..."

She stared blankly at Zi Village, just a stone's throw away. The small village was utterly quiet. Behind its low courtyard walls hung clothes that had yet to dry completely; toys such as rattles and tangrams lay scattered by the roadside. But not a single person was in sight.

Dead silence.

Ruan Zhi's expression suddenly changed as memories from not long ago flooded into her mind.

Branch Lord Shi, Senior Sister Chu, Senior Sister Zhong, Senior Sister Zhang... They were all dead!!

They had fallen victim to that evil fiend's trick. Then Senior Sister Qiao had told them to leave, but they hadn't even had a chance to think before the fiend bewitched them. They had hunted down Kang Shaoyin of the Innate Religion like mad, each willing to blow themselves up for it...

Ruan Zhi had only just entered the Core Formation