Yun Lang, the disciple of Yun Hantian, the sect leader of the Tianshan Sword Sect, and an outstanding young man among the Tianshan Sword Sect, was killed by Ling Tian's fourth master, Xiang Yuntian.
The key was that this guy died miserably. Imagine a boulder weighing over ten tons falling straight down from a cliff nearly a hundred meters high. The immense impact force was something even a main battle tank couldn't withstand, let alone an ordinary mid-sized bus!
Yun Hantian immediately led his men to the scene of the incident. The scene was horrific. Upon seeing the situation, Yun Hantian felt utterly devastated.
He then led his men to the top of the cliff. Here, Yun Hantian discovered something amiss. The original position of the fallen boulder had been drilled, and explosives were buried inside!
It was obvious that the boulder was blown off. This meant that this incident was not a natural disaster but a man-made catastrophe. Someone had taken action and personally killed Yun Lang!
Compared to the death of Yun Zhan last time, this tragedy involved more deaths, and it occurred closer to the core area of the Tianshan Sword Sect.
Perhaps, next time, Yun Hantian himself would be the one to die.
Soon, something that further enraged Yun Hantian happened. Someone discovered that on a rock face not far from the scene of the crime, a few words were carved: "A debt of blood must be paid with blood, this is just the beginning!"
These characters were carved with a stone, displaying a vigorous and powerful script. However, the content was extremely unsettling.
From these words alone, Yun Hantian firmly believed that the Long family was responsible for this. Only a behemoth like the Long family could achieve killing from a thousand miles away, unseen and unheard!
But he had no idea that this was all the work of Ling Tian's fourth master, Xiang Yuntian. He had been lurking for several days to find such an opportunity to act. Moreover, the deed was done flawlessly and cleanly, and he even framed someone afterward.
If Xiang Yuntian hadn't received news from Ling Tian to temporarily withdraw, he would have likely continued killing until heads rolled.
Now that the fire had been ignited, the Long family and the Tianshan Sword Sect were irreconcilably opposed. There was no need for him to continue his actions; letting these two families fight would result in them tearing each other apart.
...
In the water towns of Jiangnan, it was already late autumn, but the climate here remained pleasant.
There were many pleasure boats on the river. Even though the peak tourist season had passed, there were still quite a few tourists.
In fact, these pleasure boats had been drifting on the water for nearly a thousand years. Over the millennium, much had changed.
On one particularly large and luxuriously decorated pleasure boat, Wang Bingxia was diligently cultivating under the guidance of Aurora.
After this period of interaction, Wang Bingxia, Aurora, and Zhang Caifeng, along with Qiu Hong, had developed a very harmonious relationship, almost like sisters.
These four women, with their distinct personalities and vastly different backgrounds, were tightly bound together by the thread of Ling Tian.
After a period of cultivation, Wang Bingxia was surprised to discover that she had cultivated ice-attribute inner energy, and this inner energy was quite profound. This was undoubtedly due to her special Yin-body constitution.
However, when she parted ways with Ling Tian, he hadn't taught her how to utilize this ice-attribute inner energy.
At this time, Aurora volunteered, sharing her experiences on how to use ice-elemental abilities with Wang Bingxia.
In essence, ice-attribute inner true essence and Aurora's ice-elemental abilities were both forms of energy. The only difference was that one was acquired through cultivation, while the other was innate. In essence, there was no significant difference.
It must be said that Wang Bingxia was very perceptive. Over the past few days, while pondering with Aurora, Wang Bingxia had indeed figured out some things.
For example, Wang Bingxia could now form an ice shell on the surface of her body. This ice shell allowed her to remain unaffected by the cold in extremely frigid environments.
Wang Bingxia could also touch a cup with her hand, causing the water inside to rapidly cool or even freeze.
Although it seemed to have no practical use, Wang Bingxia was still very excited.
In the room next door, Zhang Caifeng was meticulously drawing talismans.
Although Ling Tian had given Zhang Caifeng a picture album containing various talismans, Caifeng still followed Ling Tian's advice to focus on studying a few types of talismans and then drawing them in large quantities to achieve mastery through practice.
Currently, Zhang Caifeng's specialty was the Explosive Fire Talisman, which was immensely powerful yet inexpensive to produce.
Even when facing formidable and tricky enemies, a single talisman could leave them disoriented and battered.
Zhang Caifeng could now draw nearly 10 talismans a day. This efficiency in talisman drawing would make the revered masters of Longhu Mountain feel ashamed.
After all, even when the Taoists and elders of Longhu Mountain were in excellent condition and had good luck, they could only draw three to four fire talismans at most per day.
Furthermore, the fire talismans from Longhu Mountain had a significant gap compared to Ling Tian's fire talismans in terms of the energy they contained, the temperature of the flames, and the blast radius.
It was known that Ling Tian's Explosive Fire Talismans not only benefited from the guidance of the Daoist Immortal Master but also incorporated a great deal of knowledge from the inheritance within the Key of the Spiritual Realm!
This pleasure boat was the property of the Misty Rain Pavilion. After all, in ancient times, pleasure boats were also places of entertainment, and top-tier establishments at that. It wasn't surprising that the Misty Rain Pavilion possessed such facilities.
However, nowadays, no one would go to a pleasure boat for such activities when they could go to a bathhouse.
Ever since Situ Lansheng led people to attack Ling Tian's home, Ling Tian's sixth master, Misty Rain, realized that Wang Family Village might no longer be safe. Therefore, she specifically arranged for Qiu Hong to bring these women here.
The women on this pleasure boat were no ordinary individuals; they were all masters from the Misty Rain Pavilion.
Master Misty Rain also took the time to meet these women a few times, and they had a very pleasant conversation. Master Misty Rain was very satisfied with these young women.
After all, Master Misty Rain treated Ling Tian like her own son, which was akin to a mother-in-law meeting her future daughter-in-law.
As the night grew deep, none of the women were asleep. They had been sleeping late these days because as soon as they lay down, Ling Tian's image would appear in their minds.
Wang Bingxia returned to her room, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. So, Wang Bingxia got up, opened her door, and went out onto the deck of the pleasure boat.
The landscape lights on both banks of the river were brilliantly illuminated, and the pleasure boats on the river were also adorned festively. Looking at it all, Wang Bingxia's eyes welled up with tears.
"Ling Tian, where are you? Do you know how much I miss you..."