Reunion

Not long after Lin Cheng left.

The Grand Elder of the Jingyun Sect and his party finally arrived.

Lin Cheng had sensed Old Lady Xu and the others approaching, which was why he'd left without worry.

Old Lady Xu and the others had set out several days before Lin Cheng, yet they had still arrived a step behind him.

It was clear how fast he was.

Forget Innate experts—even ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators would be hard-pressed to keep up.

After all, the other Foundation Establishment experts didn't have anything like Lin Cheng's boundless reserves of true qi.

They couldn't possibly sustain high-speed flight for long.

And crossing a forbidden place like the Mist Forest was out of the question.

Unless they were tired of living.

Besides, if Lin Cheng hadn't cleared away the dangers ahead of time,

Old Lady Xu, half-dead as she was, would have been like a lamb walking into a tiger's den—gone in and never coming back.

For starters, the expert from Yin-Yang Valley was an Innate seventh-level cultivator, a top-tier figure who had reached the late stage of the Innate Realm.

He was more than a little stronger than Old Lady Xu, who was only at the fourth level of the Innate Realm.

Hadn't they seen how the Black Qilin, also at the fourth level of the Innate Realm, was still grievously wounded, on the brink of death?

With the Beast Taming Mountain sect just ahead, within sight,

Old Lady Xu stopped first. She swung her cane across the path, blocking the two elders accompanying her. As they looked at her in confusion, her expression gradually grew grave.

She cautiously took a step back and asked,

"Have either of you noticed anything unusual?"

Unusual?

At the Grand Elder's question, the two elders of the Jingyun Sect tensed at once.

One of them concentrated and sensed the area for a moment. After hesitating, he said uncertainly, "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but why does Beast Taming Mountain seem... far too quiet?"

From a distance,

the buildings looked imposing, brimming with a wild air. Their sheer presence made one's heart tremble. It was worthy of one of the Southern Region's Ten Great Sects.

Yet beneath this outward display of strength,

a strange gloom seemed to hang over the place, making them frown.

And it really was far too quiet.

For starters, Beast Taming Mountain was a major sect in the Southern Region, on par with the Jingyun Sect.

It had hundreds, if not thousands, of disciples.

And countless demonic beasts stood guard.

Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't have been this dead silent.

There wasn't a trace of life anywhere. It all felt deeply unsettling.

The other elder began to feel uneasy too. Frowning, he said, "What's going on with Beast Taming Mountain? It feels less like we've come to a thriving great sect and more like we've stumbled into some enormous, abandoned tomb. It's utterly lifeless."

At his words, Old Lady Xu and the other elder suddenly understood.

They realized what had felt so out of place!

Vitality!

Compared to usual, Beast Taming Mountain was missing a certain vitality!

It looked as though the sect had been wiped out.

At the thought, even Old Lady Xu, the founding matriarch of a sect, was startled by the idea that had suddenly sprung into her mind. It seemed absurd.

Yet the scene before them appeared to allow for no other explanation.

A great sect like Beast Taming Mountain couldn't simply relocate on a whim.

Even if a large number of its disciples had been sent out on missions, the place shouldn't have been completely deserted like this.

There wasn't even a single disciple guarding the gate!

And Old Lady Xu and the others hadn't noticed this until now!

"Something's happened to Beast Taming Mountain, and it must be serious. Otherwise, there's no way they wouldn't even have a disciple guarding the gate," the elder who had spoken first said with a sigh, his tone certain.

"Something happened to Beast Taming Mountain..."

Hearing this, the other elder grew anxious and hurriedly said, "The Young Sect Master is still inside Beast Taming Mountain. If our guess is right, isn't he in grave danger right now?!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a deep sense of foreboding.

He immediately charged toward Beast Taming Mountain!

The Young Sect Master was in danger. He had to hurry in and save him!

"I'm saying we should at least test whether that's true. You—"

Ignoring the other elder's attempt to stop him,

test it?

Test what?

There was no time to test anything!

Something was wrong!

"Ah!" Old Lady Xu was taken aback too, but the elder was moving too fast, and the sudden turn of events left her no time to stop him.

She could only watch helplessly as the elder drew closer and closer to Beast Taming Mountain's gate.

He was about to cross the threshold—

Bang!

A deafening crash rang out.

The next moment, a rumble shook the air, and the elder who had rushed forward came flying backward. He was dazed, his vision swimming with stars.

"Ugh, that hurt like hell..."

"Damn it, it's the Sect Protection Array."

The elder rubbed his forehead, the corners of his mouth twitching. He cursed himself for being an idiot. How could he have forgotten something so important? How could a sect like Beast Taming Mountain not have a Sect Protection Array?

Without breaking the array, there was no way in.

As for how Lin Cheng had gotten inside...

As one of the top Foundation Establishment Venerables, with the Eye of Truth-Breaking and the Great Concealment Art—two divine abilities—how could an array of this level possibly stop him?

To Lin Cheng, it wasn't even a spiderweb.

But just because it was useless against Lin Cheng didn't mean it was useless against everyone else.

For example, that hot-tempered elder had just taken a nasty fall.

"Get up already. Look at you, rushing around like that. That's what you get for being reckless!"

His companion hurriedly helped him up and scolded, "It's a good thing nobody's controlling the array. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten off so lightly. We'd all have been dragged into trouble because of you!"

"My fault, my fault."

The hot-tempered elder rubbed his head. No longer in a hurry, he grimaced and said, "Still, that collision did tell us something. Beast Taming Mountain really must be empty. Otherwise, someone would be controlling the Sect Protection Array, the sect's lifeline."

"Let's prepare to break the array by force."

Old Lady Xu stopped the two from bickering and looked up at the sky.

"Understood!"

"Yes!"

The two elders grew solemn as well. If someone had been controlling the array, then even with the Grand Elder—an Innate expert—on their side, they still wouldn't have been able to break the Sect Protection Array.

They might even have been injured by it.

But things were different now.

It was nothing but an empty shell, operating rigidly with only its most basic instincts left. Its flaws were obvious.

Breaking it would only take a little more time.

Just as the group was about to act, another party arrived at Beast Taming Mountain.

Old Lady Xu stopped when she saw them. The two elders grew wary, but when they recognized the newcomers, they couldn't help but stare in astonishment.

One of them cried out on the spot,

"Zhang Feng?!"

"What are you doing here?"

The newcomers were none other than Zhang Feng, Liu Yanran, and the others.

"Thin Elder, Fat Elder! It's really you two—and the Grand Elder!" Zhang Feng was startled, then overjoyed!

He hadn't expected to run into the Grand Elder and her party here.

Along with his surprise, he felt a little shaken.

Once again, he marveled at the strength of a Venerable. Even with the Grand Elder and the others traveling at full speed, it had taken them a full two days to reach Beast Taming Mountain, while the Venerable had brought him here in no more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

The speed didn't seem like much until he compared them.

Compared side by side, it was simply staggering.

The two parties greeted each other, then exchanged a few brief words before turning their attention together to the Sect Protection Array.

With Zhang Feng and the others joining them,

and with several Beast Taming Mountain elites who had once operated the Sect Protection Array among them,

they broke through the array much faster than expected.

What had originally been expected to take several days took less than an hour. A gap was torn open in the array.

The group seized the chance and entered.

At last, they had broken through the array, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The Thin Elder took the opportunity to ask Zhang Feng, "I remember you were still at the sect when we left. How did you suddenly end up here? Did you follow us right after? But we didn't run into you anywhere along the way."

The Fat Elder was just as puzzled.

"It's a long story..." Zhang Feng gave a bitter laugh when someone brought it up.

Then, wearing an utterly hopeless expression, he replied, "It's not what you think. To be honest, you probably won't believe me, but just a few hours ago, I was still at the sect's logistics office. Then..."

Zhang Feng slowly recounted everything.

As expected, the others listened in stunned silence, feeling as though they were hearing a tall tale or dreaming.

Some even suspected that Zhang Feng was deliberately lying to them.