The desolate mountains stretched endlessly, silent and devoid of human traces. Only the occasional bird taking flight broke the stillness.
Amid the barren mountains stood a peak with half its side sheared away, rising abruptly.
It had also left behind an incomparably steep cliff.
Before the cliff, an ancient ruin stood alone in stark relief.
The ruins had been turned over many times; clearly, quite a few people had searched them before.
A spirit vessel descended from high in the sky, and more than a dozen cultivators stood aboard it.
At their head was Ye Jingcheng. This mountain was none other than Yellow Court Mountain, a barren peak at the border between Xiao Mountain Prefecture and Auspicious Origin Prefecture.
According to Huang Tieyun's introduction, Yellow Court Mountain had once been the spirit mountain of the Yellow Court Sect.
Later, the Yellow Court Sect had been destroyed by an evil cultivator faction. Even its spirit vein had been drained dry by high-grade formations far beyond its capacity to endure, leaving the place completely desolate.
"Looks like quite a few cultivators really did come searching here." Ye Jingcheng glanced at the ruins and saw that even the graded stone materials from the ruined halls had been stripped away.
Not to mention any valuable spirit iron.
"If the Supreme Elder hadn't returned in time, Yellow Sand Mountain might have met the same fate." Huang Tieyun sighed at his side.
His hatred for the Heavenly Sword Sect deepened further.
Ye Jingcheng did not reply. Instead, he drew out a spirit talisman and sent it flying. The talisman circled through the air before descending into a hollow halfway up a nearby mountain.
As the talisman vanished, abundant spiritual light suddenly surged from the hollow, revealing a newly built pavilion.
Quite a few cultivators were already