The sky became dusky!

Ou Yangming's yell immediately caused Teng Jiao to spit out a mouthful of essence and blood. Without any hesitation, the man flashed and took flight into the depths of the dense forest.

As soon as the light of Teng Jiao's flight appeared, an invisible wind blew and made the fallen snow on the ground condense into a golden palm. A clear network with connected veined patterns was seen on the palm, and a spiritual Qi reverberated at its periphery. With a concentrated intent, the palm struck Teng Jiao directly and was so fast that it was unavoidable.

"No!" An extremely shrill voice was heard. "If you dare to kill someone from the Teng family, you'll surely die even if you flee to the ends of the world!"

"Hmph, so noisy!" As the big hand pinched, the sky was covered in red. It looked like fiery roses were blooming in the night sky, but it also seemed like charming flowers were blossoming during dawn. Countless drops of blood fell from the sky as though a beautiful lady outlined an exquisite landscape by using the blizzard as a needle and the ground as the cloth.

Sure enough, the snow-covered mountain was a great place to kill someone!

Before long, the man's body was already buried by the snow without a single trace.

This scene seemed to have become a timeless memory to Xue Xuanle and her companions. The giant golden hand, the dripping blood, the sudden attack, and the overbearing voice had frozen.

Xue Xuanle's pupils shrunk inward. She was so shocked that she felt like her heart had stopped beating. 'The Intermediate Spiritualist actually failed to stop that attack. I suppose very few people from the Xue family have such a cultivation base. What exactly is the cultivation base of this senior that secretly attacked?'

Whistling winds were the only sounds that were heard in the universe at the moment. After some time, Xue Haiya was the first to come back to his senses.

He kowtowed at the sky with his hands held in front. "Thanks for your saving grace, senior. There's nothing we can do to repay your kindness."

Xue Xuanle was stunned for a brief moment before she quickly bowed as well. Even Xue Yuan, a wealthy young master who lived a dissipated life, had a stern look on his face. Nonetheless, the night sky was dark, and the winds were the only sounds that could be heard. What other sound was out there? Not to mention not a single person could be seen as if what happened earlier was nothing but a dream.

The sky was pitch-black like a ferocious beast that was widening its large mouth to devour everything in its way. Xue Xuanle and her companions felt like they had just gotten new leases of their lives after the disaster.

"We must hurry to the meeting spot so that we can survive, or the same situation will only happen again. The blizzard's too strong tonight, so let's find shelter first." Xue Haiya brushed the blade of his saber gently and inhaled some cold air. His body quivered as a penetrating chill flowed into his body.

Xue Xuanle breathed in some cold air as well. Earlier on, she felt like she was as tiny as an ant that could be crushed at any time. 'Luckily… Luckily, I survived.'

Ou Yangming stood in the snowfield and sighed. 'What exactly is the spiritual item from the Big Ruins that Teng Jiao mentioned just now? Could it be related to the sudden calling inside my spiritual world?' His eyes shone brighter as he curled his lips into a faint smile. Following that, the young fellow signaled the 3 spirit beasts to back away. The beasts understood him right away, hence they slowly disappeared in the blizzard.

Amidst the blizzard, the goshawk shook off the snow on its wings and asked in confusion, "Why is Master asking us to follow him from afar?"

Big Yellow spent the longest time with humans and experienced the most things, so it answered after some thought, 'You saw what happened just now. Those few humans were probably being hunted down by their enemies because of a spiritual item. If Lil' Ming appears to be too powerful, those people will surely worry if he's approaching them because of the spiritual item. Lil' Ming wants to prevent anything bad from happening, so he decided to appear weak to those people and asked us to follow him secretly."

Multi-armed King Kong nodded as if it was deep in thought. It had become a Venerable One, but it still looked enviously at Big Yellow and lamented, 'Big Yellow's the only one among us that Master regards as a true brother. It would've been great if I descended to the lower realm earlier and met Master.'

The snow was getting heavier without showing any signs of slowing down.

Xue Haiya, Xue Xuanle, and Xue Yuan packed up their things and took a few steps before they halted.

Subtle footsteps were heard in the dark. The 3 of them were frightened due to what they had experienced so far, thus they raised their weapons and looked in the direction of the sound.

A rather thin person was seen walking out of the blizzard. His clothes were incredibly white, and his chin had stubble but was not unappealing to the eye. In fact, the person had nice features that were worth a second look, and his eyes were crystal clear, causing one to have a favorable impression of him. A fine formation board seemed to have been accidentally exposed at his sleeve, but he quickly tucked it back inside.

Xue Xuanle and her companions were startled, but they were relieved when they sensed that the person was only a Rudimentary Spiritualist. After all, Xue Yuan and Xue Xuanle were also Rudimentary Spiritualists, whereas Xue Haiya was an Intermediate Spiritualist. Even though they were slightly injured, they could easily capture the young fellow, who was only a Rudimentary Spiritualist. Needless to say, this was only what they were thinking. If they knew the unimpressive fellow in front of them was actually an Intermediate Spiritualist that had even fooled a Venerable One several times, they would not think like this.

Ou Yangming looked at them for some time before he spoke, "I'm Yu Tianrui. I was resting in the temple just now, but I heard some fighting sounds here and thought that something happened, so I hurried over to take a look. Please don't be offended." He had a gentle look in his eyes, and his voice was pleasing to the ear.

Xue Haiya glanced at Ou Yangming's sleeve but quickly looked away. He was surprised, but it was a fleeting expression in his eyes. He later waved his hand with a smile and responded, "It's fine, it's fine. I'm Xue Haiya. This is Xue Yuan—my little nephew, and this is Xue Xuanle—my naive." He pointed at the young lady and man to introduce them, then he shifted his gaze back to the graceful lady.

After hearing what he said, Xue Yuan turned to look. He scoffed when he realized that the young fellow was only a Rudimentary Spiritualist, then he cupped his hands unwillingly without saying a word. On the contrary, Xue Xuanle bowed and smiled elegantly, making her look like she had everything taken care of. Along with her charming face, even the dark sky became slightly brighter.

Xue Haiyan smiled as he watched, but he secretly cursed at his nephew for misjudging the young fellow, and he was disappointed. Nevertheless, since they were with a stranger, the middle-aged man laughed and mediated the tense atmosphere. "Lil' Yuan has always been like this since young. He doesn't like to talk, but he's easy to get along with." Afterward, he casually asked, "Where are you heading to, Younger Brother Yu?" He had unknowingly gotten closer to the young fellow.

Ou Yangming beamed and did not look like he was scheming anything. He flushed rather embarrassedly, and he replied to the man with a bitter smile, "This is my first time training outside, so I'd like to see more of the world. As for where I'm heading to, I haven't decided yet, so I'll just go with the flow!"

Xue Haiya was elated. 'As expected, he's in his early twenties but has become an Intermediate Spiritualist, and he carries a formation board with him without knowing that he shouldn't reveal his wealth. It's clear that he's from an influential aristocratic family and is out here to train. If we use him well, the Xue family…'

The thought of this made him feel impassioned.

With that, he smiled even more amiably and suggested, "Younger Brother Yu, the mountain's covered with snow, so you'll have a difficult journey ahead. Since you don't know where you're going, why don't we travel together? If anything happens, we can look after one another. What do you think?"

Ou Yangming was delighted as he was worried about finding an excuse to travel with them. Who knew, Xue Haiya proposed it, thus he was going to agree to it.

At the spur of the moment, Xue Yuan shouted coldly, "Big Uncle, what can a little Rudimentary Spiritualist like him do? We can't have a burden like him since we need to…"

"Shut up!" Xue Haiya yelled. Deep down, he even wanted to kill his nephew. As he glared at Xue Yuan, the young man swallowed his argument.

Xue Haiya smiled apologetically and looked earnestly at Ou Yangming. "Younger Brother Yu, what do you think?"

Ou Yangming looked fearfully at Xue Yuan and spoke hesitantly, "That doesn't sound good. It seems like Xue Yuan isn't… Isn't very pleased with me."

The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and cast a cold look at Xue Yuan. "Aren't you… Aren't you going to apologize to your Big Uncle Yu?" He caught his breath and felt rather embarrassed as well. After all, he addressed Ou Yangming as Younger Brother Yu, and since he was Xue Yuan's big uncle, Xue Yuan naturally had to regard Ou Yangming as his big uncle too.

Ou Yangming knew when to stop, hence he quickly shook his head and expressed, "Senior Xue, I'm still young, so how can I be your peer? You can just call me Tianrui."

'This junior's quite considerate,' Xue Haiya lamented. He conveniently said, "Alright, Tianrui, it's a lonely journey, so we can take care of each other if we travel together. What do you think?"

"As long as Brother Xue Yuan doesn't mind, I'd love to join you. Besides, I can gain some knowledge too." Ou Yangming grinned.

"Great, great, great," Xue Haiya uttered thrice before he added, "Let's find a shelter first; we don't need to hurry on with our journey yet."

Soon enough, a bunch of dry firewood was burned in the old temple. Sparks flew from the bonfire from time to time, where loud crackles could be heard. As the fire swayed, flickering light was seen in the temple.

"The weather's really cold!" Xue Haiya exhaled some cold air and retrieved a liquor pouch, which he handed to Ou Yangming. "Tianrui, come—have some liquor to warm yourself."

Ou Yangming accepted it and took a mouthful of the liquor. Concurrently, his spiritual power gushed up from his dantian. He flushed at once and smiled embarrassedly. "Senior Xue, my family doesn't allow me to drink liquor so this is my first time trying. Sure enough, it's hot."

Xue Haiya became more certain that the young fellow was a disciple from an influential clan. Given the fellow's temperament and style of speech, he could not have been brought up by a small aristocratic family.

As such, the middle-aged man became more friendly and laughed. "As long as you drink more liquor, you'll learn to like the heat."

He adjusted the bonfire with a stick and asked casually, "Tianrui, where do you live?"

Ou Yangming shook his head and showed a troubled look on his face. "My family won't let me tell people where I'm from."

Xue Haiya gasped and understood right away. 'Is he from a hidden sect that's even more formidable than an aristocratic family? If not, how can this young fella not have any general knowledge?'

On the other side, Xue Xuanle's slim back view swayed with the fire while she pondered, 'Why is Big Uncle treating him so politely?' She was already paying attention to the young fellow, where she remembered every detail well.

It was worth noting that Xue Xuanle had been prudent since young and could generalize matters through small details. She had a great reputation among the young generation in the Xue family. If her clan had not encountered a disaster this time, she would have had a promising future.

As for Xue Yuan, he scoffed and felt that his big uncle had become much less affectionate toward him, so he started to dislike Ou Yangming even more.