Lake Heart Island

The sky had just begun to brighten.

Thin mist curled through the air as everyone made ready to depart.

Pang Jian, their guide for this journey, had been prepared for some time. Seeing that everyone was ready, he set off toward Wulan Lake, which he had chosen on his own.

After he started moving,

Luo Hongyan stretched lazily and drifted down from the dense branches of an ancient tree. She quickly caught up with him and asked with concern, "Did you rest well last night?"

"Not bad."

Pang Jian didn't mention that He Rong had come by. After greeting her, he continued trudging forward.

Luo Hongyan came over as if nothing were amiss and joined him on the road, chattering away as they went.

As for whether He Rong, Su Yuntian, and the others behind them were keeping up, Luo Hongyan didn't care.

Pang Jian, on the other hand, occasionally glanced back while talking with her. Each time, he saw He Rong and Su Yuntian huddled together, murmuring to each other, their expressions heavy and their brows shadowed with gloom.

Half an hour later, Su Yuntian finally steeled himself and stepped forward. "Miss Ning, please wait a moment."

Luo Hongyan frowned impatiently and turned around, her tone cool. "What is it?"

"Well..."

Su Yuntian cleared his throat. Seeing He Rong keeping silent behind him, he said, "Do you know who killed Ziren?"

"Dark Ghost, a person wearing a golden mask. He died at the bottom of Blackwater Pool. It seemed that the out-of-control Black-White King Python had bitten him to death. I was outside at the time and didn't notice."

Having learned of He Rong and Pang Jian's conversation through "Spirit Sha," Luo Hongyan said the same thing, as if deliberately covering for Pang Jian.

Pang Jian looked at her in surprise.

"He was Dong Qianfeng!"

Su Yuntian's voice was as heavy as his expression. "Little brother Pang Jian saw his face clearly. It was covered in scars. He was Dong Qianfeng, the one expelled by the Blazing Sun Sect!"

Luo Hongyan feigned surprise. "Oh, so it was him."

"Among our generation, his cultivation talent was far greater than mine or He Rong's. Neither of us qualified to be taken in by the Upper Realm, but Dong Qianfeng went to the Blazing Sun Sect long ago."

Su Yuntian grimaced as he revealed the inside story. "I don't know who he offended or what mistake he made in the Blazing Sun Sect, but they mutilated his face and expelled him."

"The Dong Family didn't dare question the Blazing Sun Sect's decision, much less take Dong Qianfeng back. After that, he disappeared without a trace."

"I never imagined he'd return from the Third Realm and end up mixed in with the Dark Ghost."

Su Yuntian explained the situation in detail.

Luo Hongyan's expression remained cold. "He's dead. What's there left to say?"

"He may be dead, but the team the Dong Family sent to explore the Cenji Mountains is led by his adopted son, Dong Tianze!" Su Yuntian's voice trembled.

The moment he mentioned Dong Tianze, fear suddenly filled his eyes. He seemed even more wary of him than of Dong Qianfeng.

"Dong Tianze isn't actually a member of the Dong Family. Dong Qianfeng brought him back from outside and took him as his adopted son."

Su Yuntian drew a deep breath and rubbed his forehead, vexed. "That boy is vicious and bloodthirsty, and he's a fearsome fighter among the Dong Family's younger generation. Word is, he's already begun tempering his bones and cleansing his marrow, and he even turned down the Blazing Sun Sect's recruitment offer."

"The Blazing Sun Sect is the Dong Family's backer. If he dared refuse them, it must be because Dong Qianfeng was expelled."

"Since Dong Qianfeng was a member of the Dark Ghost, could Dong Tianze, who's even more ruthless and powerful than him, have joined them too?"

"If he's allied with the Dark Ghost, then with that little wolf's methods and viciousness, I'm afraid none of our people from the Seven Great Families in the Cenji Mountains will escape."

As Su Yuntian spoke, his daughter Su Meng jumped in fright as well. She clearly knew how terrifying Dong Tianze was.

The retainers of the Su and He Families were just as unnerved by the name Dong Tianze, as if they'd heard the tolling of a death bell.

Luo Hongyan was unconcerned. "Then what are you suggesting?"

"Our two families have decided to leave the Cenji Mountains and report Dong Qianfeng's connection to the Dark Ghost. The Dong Family can keep an eye on that little brat Dong Tianze themselves," Su Yuntian said, his courage failing him.

After speaking, he glanced at Su Meng.

His greatest worry was his daughter, Su Meng.

He wasn't particularly afraid of dying himself, but Su Meng was young and had his highest hopes pinned on her. The Blazing Sun Sect had already taken an interest in her, and soon she'd be able to go cultivate in the Upper Realm.

Su Meng absolutely couldn't come to harm in the Cenji Mountains!

"Suit yourselves."

Luo Hongyan couldn't have cared less. Under Pang Jian's astonished gaze, she walked ahead of him for the first time, seemingly abandoning the Su and He Families.

Her cold attitude secretly irritated Su Yuntian and He Rong, but it also made them quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

The two of them then asked Pang Jian for the quickest route out of the Cenji Mountains and back to the civilized world beyond.

Pang Jian thought it over and was about to tell them when a cry of surprise suddenly rang out in the distance.

Pang Jian stopped paying attention to the two men and shot off like lightning, spear in hand. His speed left Su Yuntian and He Rong staring in stunned disbelief.

The two exchanged a glance. Without a clear route out of the mountains, they had no choice but to follow.

A corpse lay among the weeds, caked with dried blood and reeking horribly. Long hair spilled across the ground. The body seemed to belong to a female cultivator, her clothes patterned with tiny stars.

The corpse looked as if it had been gnawed on by beasts. In its blood-soaked left hand was a white jade hairpin.

A faint glow emanated from the hairpin. Against the cruel, bloody scene, its light seemed so pure and immaculate.

"She's from the Galaxy Alliance!"

When He Rong and Su Yuntian arrived, they needed only to glance at the clothes covering the corpse to identify her.

The Golden Chariot had crashed beside Crescent Moon Lake, and not a single person from the Galaxy Alliance had been seen. It looked like they'd fled from the chariot after it went down.

"No wonder we couldn't find any valuable spiritual materials inside or outside the Golden Chariot," He Rong murmured, stroking his chin.

Su Yuntian looked at the white jade hairpin and thought it would suit his daughter Su Meng once it had been cleaned.

"A low-grade spirit artifact."

Luo Hongyan muttered beside the corpse, then nudged the hand clutching the hairpin with her embroidered shoe.

The white jade hairpin suddenly flared with bright light and shot toward a nearby tree.

It pierced straight through the trunk and fell into the grass beside Su Meng.

After passing through the tree, the bloodstains on the hairpin had miraculously vanished, leaving the jade looking even more exquisite.

Su Meng, who had followed her father over, gazed at the hairpin in the grass with longing.

But she thought of how it had just been stained with blood—and how Luo Hongyan had kicked it away—so she felt too embarrassed to pick it up.

"If you like it, take it. I don't care for it anyway."

Luo Hongyan chuckled, completely unconcerned. "If nothing unexpected happens, we'll find plenty more corpses of Galaxy Alliance cultivators ahead. There should be a few spirit artifacts like this white jade hairpin among them."

Su Yuntian rubbed his hands together, then quickly shot Su Meng a look. "Why don't you thank Sister Ning?"

"Thank you, Sister!"

Knowing what was expected, Su Meng even dropped the "Ning" and happily wrapped the hairpin in a handkerchief, thinking she'd examine its mysteries after cleaning it.

"Brother Su, there's no harm in looking around some more."

He Rong spoke up suddenly.

"Th-That's true." Su Yuntian nodded slightly.

The two men, who had originally been eager to leave the Cenji Mountains, temporarily put that plan aside. They decided to travel a little farther with Pang Jian and Ning Yao to see if they could find anything else.

Pang Jian continued to lead the way.

As they traveled, they came across several more corpses and skeletons of Galaxy Alliance cultivators from the Upper Realm.

At Luo Hongyan's direction, the small belongings on the remains went to the Su and He Families, while she let Pang Jian have the spirit stones that could be used for cultivation.

She kept nothing for herself.

Neither the Su nor the He Family members objected to her way of dividing the spoils. They thought she was secretly in love with Pang Jian, so she kept nothing for herself and secured the spirit stones for him.

Drawn in by the belongings left on the Galaxy Alliance corpses, the two families stopped talking about leaving. The group traveled on in peace.

That day,

Pang Jian emerged from a patch of waist-high grass and suddenly called out, "We're here!"

Once he was clear of the grass, a pale blue lake, far larger than Crescent Moon Lake, filled his view.

The water before him was pale blue, unlike Crescent Moon Lake's white surface. The water itself was different, too.

Wulan Lake's water was salty.

Little fish swam beneath its icy surface, and they tasted delicious.

Thinking of the fish's savory flavor, Pang Jian licked his lips. His stomach had only recently been full, but he was hungry again.

"So this is Wulan Lake?"

Luo Hongyan, the second to reach the shore, immediately brightened. The view before her had taken her by surprise.

In the middle of the pale blue lake stood a strange little island. A low mountain rose on it, covered in flowers and plants vying to outshine one another.

Nowhere else in the Cenji Mountains had flowers and plants grown so densely or bloomed so brilliantly.

The island in the lake had been designated a forbidden zone. Even Pang Jian, who was indifferent to beauty, couldn't help glancing at it whenever he passed by.

It really was beautiful.

"Whoosh!"

As Pang Jian gazed at the familiar island, he suddenly spotted something streaking through the air above its low mountain.

Squinting for a better look, he finally recognized it and said quietly, "The White Tower of the Yin Spirit Temple!"

Of the three strange objects that had fallen from the sky, the Galaxy Alliance's Golden Chariot had crashed, and Blood Moon's Indeterminate Ferry had come to a stop on the ground. Neither was moving anymore.

But the White Tower from the Yin Spirit Temple was still flying—and it was on the island in the lake that Pang Jian's father had designated a forbidden zone.

"What a beautiful island!"

Su Meng stepped out and gazed at Lake Heart Island, with its flowers competing to bloom amid the dreamy expanse of pale blue water. For a moment, she was entranced.

She sighed wistfully. "I never imagined that a place as dreadful as the Cenji Mountains could have such a lovely island."

"It's the Yin Spirit Temple's Heavenly Spirit Pagoda!"

As Su Yuntian and He Rong came over to inspect Lake Heart Island, they also saw the White Tower whizzing through the air.

Luo Hongyan looked at the island, her expression calm and serene, but a strange light shone in her eyes. "The Heavenly Spirit Pagoda is still active, which means there are people on the island right now."

After a brief pause, she furrowed her brows and said, "Although it hasn't shown itself, there must still be a Phoenix Bone buried deep in the ground beneath the island."

She looked at Pang Jian. "You know there must be a fourth Phoenix Bone buried somewhere on Lake Heart Island, don't you?"

Pang Jian nodded slightly.