“So you’re saying that he attacked you first for no reason at all?” Gu Fanming raised a brow. “Are you sure you didn’t do anything?”

Most of the disciples looked questioningly at him, with one disciple asking, “What do you mean by that Elder Gu? We really didn’t do anything. He suddenly attacked Junior Brother Wang here.”

The Junior Brother Wang that the disciple meant was the disgusting man who tried to touch Yun Ling but ended up getting violently flipped over by him. As a result, the fight between Yun Ling and the Riverspan Sect disciples occurred.

Junior Brother Wang pitifully nodded in confirmation.

Gu Fanming snorted at them, “I find it hard to believe that there’s someone out there that would deliberately harm others for no reason at all. It just doesn’t make sense.”

The disciples secretly held him in contempt as they thought in their mind, ‘Aren't you that kind of person?’

“You’ve probably offended him one way or another. If not, then that’s just too unreasonable isn’t it?” Gu Fanming’s eyes squinted as he smiled. “Besides, it doesn’t matter either way. No matter what reason he has, he harmed a good disciple of our sect. It’s just good manners to return the favor isn’t it?”

The disciples knew that Gu Fanming was not the type of person who cared for his fellow disciples. This was merely his excuse to once again torment another poor soul, which in this case, happened to be Yun Ling. You couldn’t trust anything that comes out of his mouth.

Somewhere in their mind though, the Riverspan Sect disciples couldn’t help but pity Yun Ling a little bit. Unbeknownst to him, he caught the interest of someone like Gu Fanming. No matter how exceptional Yun Ling was, he wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Everyone can already envision Yun Ling suffering a miserable end once Gu Fanming takes action against him.

“He’s inside the Thousand Mountain Valley now, right?” Gu Fanming asked.

“He’s the first one to enter the place,” one of the disciples nodded.

“That’s good,” Gu Fanming said pleasantly. “Despite you lot being incompetent, I’ll have to thank you for discovering me this prey. It’s been a while since I’ve last killed somebody.”

The Riverspan Sect disciples shivered at his words.

…

World of Terra

Riverspan Sect Territory - Thousand Mountain Valley

A day had passed since Yun Ling entered the Thousand Mountain Valley, he noticed an incredibly strange event.

The Thousand Mountain Valley was known as the home to many lesser beasts. Even though he was still at the outermost part of the place, it was strange that he had yet to encounter even a single lesser beast. Though most of the unique and powerful lesser beasts could be found in the inner part of the valley and in the mountains, the weaker ones should be staying in the outer part. However, Yun Ling couldn’t see any of those weaker lesser beasts at all. In fact, he couldn’t even feel any life in the area.

The numerous trees and plants within his vision might look like they were full of life. Still, Yun Ling couldn’t help but feel that the place was giving off a sense of desolation. In a place like this, it would be natural to hear the chirping of birds or other sounds you would normally hear in nature. Here? It was eerily silent. He couldn’t feel the wind. He couldn’t feel any life. Everything that gave off an illusion of life in the area was merely that, an illusion. The same for those trees and plants. They look healthy and alive but upon closer inspection, there was no life in them.

He had never heard of something like this happening in the Thousand Mountain Valley before. Had there been a situation like this beforehand, others would surely know of it.

There was one more thing he noticed after entering the Thousand Mountain Valley. He couldn’t feel any spiritual energy in the place at all! Not in his life had he encountered a phenomenon such as this one. Spiritual energy couldn’t be seen by normal means but it was everywhere. Every living being, even objects has spiritual energy inside them. To think that he couldn’t feel a single bit of spiritual energy in the Thousand Mountain Valley, Yun Ling was perplexed.

Spiritual energy was very important for cultivators. Without it, an individual couldn’t cultivate. If an individual couldn’t cultivate, they would remain as a normal human all their life.

Yun Ling took a deep breath and exhaled. He erased all distracting thoughts from his mind as he continued ahead, slowly entering the deeper parts of the valley.

…

World of Terra

Jin Empire’s Capital - Gold Capital

Yun Clan’s Compound

Yue Dongmei’s normally stoic face went grim as she read the letter on her hands. When she finished reading it, she clenched her hands into a fist, unintentionally crumpling the letter in the process. Yue Dongmei sighed after a few seconds as she relaxed her hands, and made a small fire with her supreme art. Then with the fire she just made, she burned the letter into ashes.

‘It’s almost time,’ Yue Dongmei thought as she looked at the sky.

The letter she just read came from none other than her mistress, Yun Xia’s mother. The letter contained very shocking information easily making her lose her composure. Before she read that letter, she already had an idea of what it was gonna be about. Even though she expected it, she still couldn’t help but be surprised when she read it.

After she was done discarding the letter, Yue Dongmei went towards where Yun Xia and the rest of the Yun Clan’s main members were.

When Yun Ling left, it had taken them a considerable amount of effort just to console the little girl. They had done many things they could think of just to cheer her up. It really caused them a headache.

“Grandpa, teach me how to cultivate!” Yun Xia suddenly approached Yun Zhan and said, making the others look at her in surprise.

Yun Zhan looked at his granddaughter curiously, “Why do you want to learn?”

“Because I want to surprise Papa!” Yun Xia said as she let out a bright smile.

The rest of the Yun Clan’s main members chuckled at her.

“Xia’er, cultivation cannot be done on a whim. I cannot teach you how to cultivate yet as that would require a lot of preparation on your part and our part. Wait for a month first; the clan will gather some necessary materials to prepare your body for cultivation,” Yun Zhan kindly told her.

Yun Xia pouted at him.

Then Yun Zhan smiled as he added, “Although I can’t teach you how to cultivate yet, I can teach you the theoretical knowledge behind it. Well? Do you want to learn from grandpa?”

The little girl was initially disappointed but upon hearing that, her eyes immediately glinted, “Hmm! Teach me, grandpa!”

Yue Dongmei smiled as she looked at Yun Xia. In her heart, she couldn’t help but feel sorrowful.

‘Young Miss, I’ve never seen you this happy back at home. I truly wish you could always stay like this,’ Yue Dongmei thought sadly. ‘However, time is running out. Soon, this world will be turned upside down.’