A cold wind blew and lifted Ou Yangming's white clothes.

He focused as his long spear pierced through the air. It first made stone awls emerge to penetrate the single-horned rhinoceros' skin, then it stabbed its heart. Spiritual power exploded violently in the ferocious beast's heart, and it took only a few breaths for its heart and other internal organs to turn into powder.

Amidst the stone awls, the fierce light in the rhinoceros' eyes disappeared, and it no longer made a sound.

Subsequently, the stone awls also fell from the beast's body. Ou Yangming chuckled and let a dagger slide out of his sleeve. It poked the rhinoceros' head right away and took out a blood essence. A penetrating fragrance spread out.

"Its blood was so stinky, but its blood crystal smells so good. The fierce beasts in this forest are really contradictory." Ou Yangming shook his head and put the blood crystal into his interspatial bag.

Big Yellow walked out and wagged its tail. It looked around and asked with a smile, "Lil' Ming, can we go back now? I'm tired of staying here."

Multi-armed King Kong followed behind it quietly and pricked up its ears as it also waited for Ou Yangming's answer.

Ou Yangming could not help but laugh. He responded and said in a low voice, "Let's go another round. It's better to collect more blood essences from top-grade vicious beasts. Besides, only 1 of them was killed in the periphery; there's another one!" It was worth noting that the young fellow had become very picky as he was only interested in top-grade blood crystals and mutated high-rank blood crystals. If the rogue cultivators in Huixun City knew about this, they might even want to cook him and eat him. Before cooking him in the pot, they would also ask, "You have such high standards. Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning?"

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming, who possessed a Thunderbolt-resistant Suit, would not fear Heavenly Thunderbolts at all.

With that, the young fellow and the 2 beasts strolled leisurely in the forest.

It was as though the dangerous and unpredictable Forest of Death was their backyard.

After 10 days, Ou Yangming and his companions finally walked out of the Forest of Death with a full harvest.

Spring had begun, so everything was revived. The sky was blue and the grass was green.

There were green shoots everywhere and when gentle breezes blew, grasses bent over.

Ou Yangming took a deep breath of air with a look of satisfaction on his face. He brushed his fingers across the Water Suspension Tablet, and a hint of wetness immediately gushed into his fingertips. He giggled and strode toward the Beyond Heaven Pavilion.

※※※※

In Donglin City, the Teng family's ancestral residence was situated in a superior location and covered a 5-kilometers range.

Many pavilions towered in the residence. Especially when they were surrounded by mists, the pavilions were faintly discernible as mists were drifting around them. The place was as beautiful as a fairyland. If one looked closely, one could see that white powder was scattered in some extremely hidden corners. They were actually spirit ores that had been crushed into powder, hence the Teng family's ancestral residence was indescribably abundant with spiritual Qi.

Behind the side courtyard, the hard ice on the small lake had melted. Only then did small lotuses reveal their sharp edges, and dragonflies were already standing on them.

A pavilion could be seen by the lake. It looked ordinary, but very few people in the Teng family could enter it.

Red candles were lit up in a circle in the pavilion while wisps of black smoke rose from the heart of the candles. The smoke instantly dissipated when they touched the roof.

In the middle of the pavilion, a black pillar acted as a support. The black dragon on the pillar still had its eyes closed.

From the top to the bottom of the pillar, many soul lamps were lit. The flames were not dim yellow but green like ghost fires burning in a graveyard. 2 incredibly bright soul lamps could be seen at the top of the pillar, such that they were much brighter than all the soul lamps combined. They belonged to Teng Donglin and Teng Xingwen, who were top-grade Spiritualists.

All of a sudden, black clouds lowered outside the pavilion while bolts of lightning moved like dragons and snakes.

The clear sky darkened at once as if a storm was coming.

An elder who was dozing off at the door opened his eyes and asked softly, "This is odd—the sky was so clear before. How did the weather change so quickly?" He shook his head and continued to doze off.

Not long after, drizzles fell from the sky and formed a curtain of rain between Heaven and Earth.

The universe was dark. Numerous towers were in the midst of the misty rain.

Without a break in between, the heavy rain was dense and hurried, causing the elder, who was sitting cross-legged at the door, to be distracted. He vaguely had a bad feeling about this.

It was then when a cold wind blew over and made the black-robed elder feel cold as if he had fallen into an ice cave. As the cold wind blew, one of the soul lamps at the top of the pillar went out without warning. Consequently, the room turned dark because the soul lamp belonged to Teng Donglin.

The black-robed elder felt as if the world was spinning, by which the world had turned black and white.

He did not have any strength left in his body, so he went limp and collapsed on the ground. After some time, a bitter look could be seen on his face as he muttered, "The patriarch's a top-grade Spiritualist so how could anything happen? This is impossible—this is impossible!" The elder looked possessed as he continued to speak, and he was unwilling to believe what happened. After all, the Teng family was overbearing in Donglin City. Otherwise, they would not have ambushed the Xue family for the Self-examination and nearly exterminated them.

Once the news of Teng Donglin's death spread, one could imagine what the Teng family's fate would be.

A tall tree would attract wind, but a fallen tree would attract stronger wind. This was particularly true for an arrogant and despotic aristocratic family that possessed many resources.

Many people were watching in the dark so once there was an opportunity, they would definitely come and attack the Teng family.

After about 8 minutes, Teng Yuan's eyes regained a bit of vigor.

He knew he must remain calm at this time because if he were to be in a mess, everything would be finished. What he needed to do now was to suppress this news and find Teng Xingwen, who would then take charge of the overall situation. Without further ado, the black-robed elder closed the pavilion's door and braved the heavy rain, where he arrived at an elegantly decorated courtyard.

The black-robed elder walked in and knocked on the door heavily. He asked quickly and anxiously, "Is Great Elder Hanyi here?" Teng Hanyi was a great elder of the Teng family's inner sect. He was an Advanced Spiritualist, and he was cautious and meticulous in doing things. Moreover, he had a great reputation among all of the great elders of the inner sect.

Before long, the door creaked open.

Teng Hanyi had obviously just finished his meditation and was pleased. When he saw Teng Yuan's expression, his face changed greatly, and he quickly pulled him in.

After releasing his mental power to inspect his surroundings and confirm that there was nothing strange, he asked in a low voice, "Elder Yuan, what happened?"

Teng Yuan's face turned pale, and his voice was hoarse. "Patriarch's soul lamp just extinguished!"

"What?" Hanyi felt a bang in his head. He staggered and fell on a chair.

Teng Yuan supported him and noted, "Great Elder, the Teng family is in a life-and-death situation, so you must hold on!"

The great elder adjusted his breathing and forced himself to calm down. He stood up and asked in a muffled voice, "How many people are aware now?" As he spoke, he rhythmically tapped the back of his chair with his fingers, and his eyes were filled with killing intent.

"Just you and me?" Teng Yuan answered without thinking. After seeing Teng Hanyi, he felt like he had found his backbone again.

"Hmm?" Teng Hanyi pondered for a moment and uttered, "Let's go—bring me there to take a look."

In the pavilion, the wicks of the soul lamps created sparks from time to time, causing sizzling sounds to be heard.

Teng Hanyi thought for a moment before he said in a deep voice, "This news must not be spread out. Firstly, send a reliable person to inquire about the news and understand the cause and effect of the matter. At the same time, we have to find Big Brother Xingwen to take charge of the overall situation." He left out one thing, which was that he felt uneasy without a top-grade Spiritualist in their clan.

The black-robed elder nodded. The 2 of them had the same thoughts.

Nevertheless, they were faced with another problem. Who was considered reliable and would not spread the news?

The room fell silent as the 2 elders looked at the extinguished soul lamp in a daze.

Outside the windows, a heavy downpour blotted out the sky and covered the sun. It became heavier and seemed like it was not going to stop at all as though it wanted to wash away all the dirt in this mortal world. Meanwhile, the room was filled with green flames and a cold intent.

At the spur of the moment, a sudden clap of thunder struck the elders' hearts. Concurrently, the other soul lamp at the top of the pillar was also extinguished!

The elders felt like the sky had fallen when they saw what happened. If the Teng family was left with only 1 top-grade Spiritualist, they would only need to shrink the range of their influence, let go of some of the lands and shops in their possession, and give away a bit of what they took all these years to have a chance to survive the disaster. However, if both top-grade Spiritualists died, as long as the news spread, the Teng family would certainly be destroyed.

After all, the Teng family had offended too many people over the years. Just Xue Yan alone could make everyone in the clan throw everything away and flee.

Not to mention, there were also other cultivators eyeing the Teng family covetously...

The 2 elders were stunned for a full 10 breaths. Their minds were blank.

After recovering from the shock, they looked at each other and only had thought left in their minds, and that was that the Teng family was finished—completely finished.

Teng Yuan looked bitter, and his voice was like 2 pieces of cracked copper clashing together. "Great Elder Hanyi, what... What should we do now? If the Teng family's 1,000-year-old foundation... Were to be ruined by us, we'd be sinners of the clan!"

Teng Hanyi was also flustered. How could he think of a good idea?

The fall of the Teng family and 2 top-grade Spiritualists was no different from pushing the clan into the abyss.

At this moment, the heavy rain and explosive claps of thunder enveloped Dongling City.

Teng Yuan and Teng Hanyi felt cold without even a bit of warmth in their bodies. They looked out the window and sat there for the whole night.

The next day, the heavy rain stopped. The weather was clear, the wind was gentle, and the sunlight was particularly charming. Even so, Teng Hanyi was listless and dispirited like an eggplant that had been hit in autumn.

When the elders looked at each other again, they saw the bitterness in each other's eyes.

Teng Yuan exhaled a breath of cold air and sighed. "Perhaps our clan did something wrong this time. If we hadn't snuck an attack on the Xue family and declared war to exterminate them, we wouldn't have ended up in this situation." He felt regretful and thought, 'Why didn't I persuade Patriarch back then!'

The great elder waved his hand and responded, "It's too late to talk about this now. Let's think about how to deal with the aftermath first!"

They discussed for half a day in a secret room and finally decided that first, they had to hide the news of the deaths of the Teng family's top-grade Spiritualists. As for how long they could hide it, it would be up to heaven.

At the same time, they would take this time to send away the talented disciples of the family and let them bring along the valuable items in the clan. If any of them could not be stored in interspatial bags, they would rather destroy them than give them to others. As for the Teng family's outer branch, as well as the old, the weak, the women, and the children, they would be used to attract attention. The elders decided that this would be an act of a brave warrior cutting off his wrists. After the Xue family vented their anger on those who were left behind, they would not chase after the rest so quickly, right?

After making their decision, Teng Yuan and Teng Hanyi quickly carried out their plan.

The Teng family was shrouded by a haze...