Black Crow

Song Qinglin was diligently cultivating when he learned the news at the Azure Dragon Hall.

When the message from his father arrived, he stood up instantly. Despite being Mid Qi Condensation cultivator, he swayed and almost lost his balance.

Song Qinglin remained silent for a long time.

He recalled that he had never relaxed for a single day over the years, and he had never gone to brothels or other places, no matter if Song Yan or anyone else invited him.

Everyone thought he was aloof, but only he knew what he wanted. The suppression from his Lineage told him that in this world, strength reigns supreme.

He had no friends, no confidants, and no confidantes in his entire life.

His mother passed away when he was young, and he only had his father.

Now that news of his father's disappearance has reached him, how could he not be furious?

"That bastard Song Yuanshan."

Song Qinglin finally decided to go out and visit the Lin Lineage and the Song Family to see what had happened.

He didn't go to question Song Yuanshan, nor would he report to anyone; he simply got up and left Azure Dragon Hall.

"As the saying goes, many hands make light work. You're investigating the direction the goods went missing, while I'm looking for my father. Although our goals are different, we're heading in the same direction." His voice wasn't loud, but his tone wasn't one of inquiry; it was a statement of a decision he had already made.

After Song Qinglin said "I'm joining you," Ye An and Lin Wanyue did not immediately respond.

Lin Wanyue looked at Ye An, wanting to ask for his opinion.

"Anyway, it's a matter between your two families, I'm fine with anything." Ye An didn't seem to think anything of it; he could see that Song Qinglin was suppressing his anger beneath his calm expression.

It's likely that he doesn't trust the Song Family either, and would rather believe Lin Wanyue than go to his own Lineage.

Lin Wanyue's gaze shifted from Ye An and then returned to Song Qinglin.

Although Song Qinglin was a member of the Song Family, he had always been a loner since childhood. Song Yuanshan's suppression of the other lineage only stopped when he reached the Qi Condensation.

Before they could speak, Song Qinglin revealed what he knew. "The shipment that Song Yuanshan asked my father to deliver was ostensibly 'ordinary goods,' but my father left me a letter before he set off. He said that Song Yuanshan hadn't specified where the goods came from or where they were to be delivered, only instructing my father to follow the route, and that someone would meet him upon arrival."

"This letter is in my father's handwriting. My father wouldn't lie to me. There must be something wrong with that shipment." Song Qinglin's voice suddenly rose as he said this.

After a moment of silence, she spoke in a tone opposite to her previous one, "I just want to find my father's whereabouts, whether he's dead or alive, I just want one result."

Lin Wanyue thought for a moment, and since Song Qinglin's purpose was pure, she directly revealed this news first.

After thinking for a moment, seeing that Ye An did not explicitly refuse, she said, "Okay, but you can't hide your information from us."

Without further ado, the three set off for Black Stone Road.

Black Stone Road is a transport route north of Cangwu Prefectural City. The road surface is paved with black gravel, and low hills and shrubs are on both sides.

The robbery occurred in the middle section, at a bend in the road where the terrain was most concealed. Once the caravan entered that section of the road, it could not see the way it had come from or the way it was going.

The signs of a struggle on the ground have faded, but the general direction can still be discerned.

Song Qinglin squatted down and found that the tire tracks and footprints stopped at the bend, with no trace of them continuing forward or turning around, as if they had vanished into thin air.

Ye An observed the terrain, walking along the path, his eyes scanning back and forth between the ground and the bushes on both sides. Behind a bush, he found several faint drag marks, like the traces of some heavy object being dragged across the ground, and the direction deviated from the main road, leading to a dense forest on the south side of the road.

He didn't speak immediately. He lowered his head and mentally compared the drag marks with the information in the anonymous letter. The letter stated that this incident involved the Heaven Overturning Cult's resource mobilization, located "north of Cangwu Prefectural City," and the Black Stone Road was a branch road north of Cangwu Prefectural City. He glanced again at the direction of the dense forest, then at the drag marks on the ground, and looked up at the two men, saying, "The wheel tracks didn't disappear; they were deliberately erased. The direction the drag marks are pointing is over there; that's where the real destination is."

The three followed the drag marks into the dense forest. After walking for a mile, they found a narrow path covered with bushes and pebbles. The path was much narrower than the Black Stone Road, only wide enough for a single carriage to pass. At the end of the narrow path was an abandoned rest stop, with several pieces of iron scattered on the ground and dark red, dried marks remaining on the stone walls.

"This is very suspicious; there's definitely something wrong if we continue down this path."

"Operating during the day would be too obvious. We're all at the Qi Condensation Realm; at night, our vision wouldn't be significantly obstructed."

"How about we act tonight?"

All three agreed and did not proceed further, retreating from the fork in the road.

They found an inconspicuous house in a nearby village to stay in, and sat inside waiting for nightfall. They occasionally exchanged a few words, but didn't talk much, spending most of their time thinking about their own things.

After night had completely fallen, the three of them got up and headed towards the depths of the dense forest. Instead of following the previous path, they went around to the other side, avoiding the route that might have been noticed during the day.

The three ventured deep into the dense forest and walked for about two miles. After passing through a patch of low bushes, the ground suddenly sank down, forming a natural depression.

There is a hole at the bottom of the depression, surrounded by weeds, and it is almost invisible unless you come here.

The three of them crouched down in the shadows outside the cave entrance, not going in immediately.

They searched the perimeter of the cave and found several sentry posts scattered in the shadows near the entrance. The sentry posts were all at the Body Tempering stage, with a couple of Early-Meridian Opening. They weren't too densely distributed, but their positions were cleverly chosen so that they could look out for each other.

The three of them exchanged a knowing glance without speaking, knowing that dealing with these people would be a piece of cake for them, given their Qi Condensation cultivation.

Ye An did not use the Black Tortoise Mountain-Suppressing Palm, but silently took down the nearest one with a Star-Shattering Finger. Lin Wanyue's sword followed up from the side, and Song Qinglin's fist landed precisely on the sentry's vital points. The three of them did not cooperate perfectly, but they did not make any mistakes.

The sentry posts didn't make much noise, and just when everyone thought the cleanup was over, a guy who hadn't shown his face from beginning to end—actually an ordinary person with no cultivation—shouted loudly.

"There's... an enemy~"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Song Qinglin punched him, piercing through his internal organs.

"We've been exposed." After Lin Wanyue finished speaking, the three of them walked to the cave entrance at the same time.

The entrance to the cave is small, allowing two people to enter side by side.

Light shone through—a faint, dark red light.

At this point, there's no need to gather any more information; the answer is obvious.

The light emitted when the Blood Essence Crystal condenses on the Altar in Falling Stone Village is this color.

"Just like Falling Stone Village."

A faint sound came from inside the cave, and a dark red light flickered on and off.

A figure appeared, with an ordinary face and gray hair, but this was not his true appearance.

Black Crow glanced at the three of them, showing no nervousness but rather excitement. "Three Qi Condensation? Good, very good..."

Song Qinglin took a step forward. "Where is my father?"

Black Crow tilted its head, as if recalling something unimportant. "Your father? Come here, I'll tell you." Then it let out a cackling laugh...