Frostmoon Cold Isle.
Jia Yingxia's pretty face was frosty. She said coldly, "Issue the order: every department is to mobilize all its resources to find Xize. Whatever the cost, find him! Report any news of him to me immediately."
"Yes!" Her subordinate solemnly accepted the order.
In the dim headmaster's office, Jia Yingxia frowned.
Those four notebooks were utterly useless to Xize, so why hadn't he contacted me yet...
What was he trying to do?
Temples of every size dotted the endless mountain peaks of Bitter Solitude Temple. The place was like a paradise beyond the mortal world, untouched by modern society outside, its ancient appearance and customs perfectly preserved. Ordinarily, life here moved slowly, and people lived in peaceful contentment. Today, however, a somber toll suddenly rang out among the mountains, followed by an unbroken chorus of answering bells.
The bells rang without cease, mournful and low.
Every resident nearby paled in alarm. Those bells meant that someone important had died! The Card Adepts of Bitter Solitude Temple were extraordinarily long-lived. Mild-tempered and aloof from worldly strife, they lived the simplest of lives and were deeply loved by the locals. When someone died of old age, the bells instead rang melodiously and joyfully. In Bitter Solitude Temple's teachings, that was a good death.
They had not heard bells so low and sorrowful in a very long time.
Grief filled Bitter Solitude Temple. In the very center of Solitude Hall lay a white-robed corpse.
Xianluo, Bitter Solitude Temple's finest prodigy in nearly fifty years, had died just like that. Tears glimmered on the aged face of its current hall master as well. Xianluo had lived with him since childhood. He had poured immeasurable effort into the young man; they were no different from father and son.
Solitude Hall was silent,