The Southern Wilderness, Yingming River Valley.

In a forest outside the river valley, there were many erected steles. Each of these steles were carved with a name, which caused the emotions of Yue Hongyan, Kang Nanhua and Zhao Huan to flow.

They stood in front of the steles silently, not speaking for very long.

Not far away, w.a.n.g Lin, Yang Qing and Zhou Yuncong were standing around. They were also silent as they looked at the graves. At this point, no words were needed.

Although they had already known of the calamity that plagued Yue Hongyan, Kang Nanhua and Zhao Huan in the past, they still felt heavy in their hearts as they looked at the graveyard.

To Yue Hongyan and Zhao Huan, those buried here were their fellow comrades, relatives and partners.

As Yang Qing was reminded of how he erected the graves for those from the Cloud Water Cave, he could not help but feel sorrowful too.

w.a.n.g Lin was silent too. He was reminded of how his hometown folks were ma.s.sacred by the Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. If it was not for the fact that he and Yang Qing fought back, he would probably have to face such a cruel predicament now.

Zhou Yuncong"s stern face turned gentler now. He gazed at the distant skies and seemed a little empty. He was distracted and was thinking of something.

Zhao Huan came to two graves that were beside each other and kneeled down. The people buried here were his parents.

"Sister Hongyan, Elder Kang, thanks for letting my parents rest in peace.

Zhao Huan"s eyes were filled with sorrow. Ever since he became Yue Hongyan"s disciple, he had always called her "Master". All these years, this was his first time calling her "Sister".

Both Yue Hongyan and Kang Nanhua shook their heads. Yue Hongyan gripped her fists hard and shouted word by word, "Zhang, Lie!"

Kang Nanhua"s face was a little pale. His bright eyes stared at the stele in front of him and the radiance in his eyes became dimmer.

After the few of them had visited the graves of those from the Liefeng Covenant, w.a.n.g Lin said, "s.h.i.+ft all these graves to Mount Yujing."

Yue Hongyan fell silent for a moment before she nodded her head, "Okay."

They had already received the news from Luo Qingwu. As they knew that Mount Yujing had revealed itself and descended on the Greater World, they were all shocked.

While Xiao Yan and the rest"s deduction was a little too prudent, it was not without reason. That was why w.a.n.g Lin and the rest decided to return to Mount Yujing quickly.

If it was not because they wanted to visit the graves, w.a.n.g Lin and Yang Qing would have returned immediately upon receiving news from Luo Qingwu.

As they s.h.i.+fted the graves, they even s.h.i.+fted the entire plot of land and the forest. They did not want to damage the graveyard.

As Kang Nanhua extended his hand, his mana was summoned and he kept the entire forest.

After completing this, they quickly returned to Mount Yujing.

But just as they moved, w.a.n.g Lin"s gaze flashed. "What a strong aura of death around." After receiving his warning, everyone"s supernatural awareness extended into the distance. They sensed a strong aura of death consolidating and shooting into the distant sky.

"People have recently died, and there are many of them. It"s like a…ma.s.sacre!" Yang Qing"s brows raised. They looked at one another before breaking through void s.p.a.ce and landed somewhere else instantaneously. They saw a city appearing in front of them, with a strong aura of death.

Although the city was not huge, there were many people. But the once prosperous city was now silent and barren. It was as if all life from the city had disappeared and it had become a dead city. There was a strong ominous feeling.

In the eyes of w.a.n.g Lin and the rest, they could clearly see a black deathly gas rising toward the skies. It gathered without dissipating.

Inside this black gas, there seemed to be countless souls crying for help. Twisted faces were pressed against one another. This scene was shocking.

All life in the city, regardless whether they were humans or animals, had all been eliminated. Nothing was alive in this city.

It"s just that, even without life in this city, there were no corpses either. There was only a layer of white powder visible on the ground. The white powder was everywhere.

Kang Nanhua used his supernatural awareness to scan and he started to look serious, "This white powder is composed of the corpses and spirits of the dead. They all died from poisoning. The poison was extremely lethal. It"s not something that a normal person can bear. Even cultivators with low cultivations will be poisoned."

"That"s why even their corpses cannot remain even after they die."

w.a.n.g Lin and the rest were a little confused. For such a lethal poison, it couldn"t have been controlled by anyone ordinary. If an ordinary person tried to use this poison, he would be poisoned first before he caused any damage.

Thus, it must have been the doing of a cultivator. If it was a cultivator cultivating a poisonous abhijna, he would only cause such a ma.s.sacre for cultivation purposes. But right now, the entire place was poisoned and the poison was not even cleaned up. It seemed like this place was not poisoned because someone was cultivating.

"Don"t tell me all this is because of an accident during the cultivation of a poisonous abhijna?"

Everyone was confused now. They all looked in the direction and saw a few streaks of sword radiances cutting across.

The sword radiances were bright and colorful. They all looked different, but they revealed a similar aura of desolation.

"The Great Barren Sword Sect." w.a.n.g Lin and the rest nodded their heads. A few years ago, the Great Barren Sword Sect had already built up a rather good relations.h.i.+p with the Celestial Sect of Wonders. Both parties interacted on a frequent basis and became familiar with each other.

This is the Southern Wilderness. If they proceed in the western direction, it will be the eastern boundary of the Hengduan Mountains. That is the territory of the Great Barren Sword Sect.

For something like this to happen near their territory, once they discover it, they would naturally send someone to investigate.

But who knew that the situation was more serious than what the bunch of them from the Celestial Sect of Wonders expected.

The cultivator from the Great Barren Sword Sect that led a group over was in the Advanced Stage of the Aurous Core Stage. He was called the Qianyin Priest. As he met w.a.n.g Lin, Yue Hongyan and Kang Nanhua, he greeted them hurriedly. He also greeted Yang Qing, who he had never met before.

He looked at the dead city and sighed, "This is already the fourth case."

w.a.n.g Lin and the rest looked at one another. For the Qianyin Priest to say something like this, it must not have been an accident.

Kang Nanhua, Yue Hongyan, Yang Qing and Zhao Huan creased their brows at the same time. They revealed furious looks.

The perpetrator had ma.s.sacred four cities. The number of people who were killed were countless.

"Where are the other three cities?" w.a.n.g Lin asked. The Qianyin Priest quickly revealed their locations. After the bunch of them from the Celestial Sect of Wonders heard it, their expressions did not change, but they were all spooked.

Along with this dead city under them, the four cities formed a line. The direction in which this line extended was towards that of Mount Kunlun. Although w.a.n.g Lin, Yue Hongyan and Kang Nanhua were all Nascent Soul Stage cultivators and breaking through void s.p.a.ce was not a problem for them, returning to Mount Kunlun in quick time was not possible for them.

The closest route for them to return to the mountain was a straight line, and this straight line was similar to the line formed by the four dead cities.

"It"s targeted towards us?" w.a.n.g Lin and the rest had the same thought.

As they recognized this point, Yue Hongyan looked towards w.a.n.g Lin, "Third Senior, should we investigate?"

w.a.n.g Lin pondered for a moment before shaking his head, "Let"s continue moving forward and not stop."

Yue Hongyan and the rest were a little surprised. Kang Nanhua said, "The perpetrator is trying to bait us into his trap. If we ignore him and continue moving forward, with our pace, we may be able to turn pa.s.siveness into activeness."

"Although we don"t know how big the area the other party has covered, we should just try our best to stay away as far as possible. Once we exit the boundaries that he planned to take action in, he can either give up or pursue us. When that happens, we can control the situation."

Yue Hongyan and Yang Qing nodded their heads, "Since this is the case, we shall follow Third Senior"s plan."

They did not explain much either. After they hinted to the Qianyin Priest about the dangers, they quickly bade goodbye.

But not long after they left, Yang Qing was suddenly struck by lightning. He shouted, Wait!"

w.a.n.g Lin and the rest stopped in their tracks and exited from void s.p.a.ce. They looked at Yang Qing ridiculously. Ever since his cultivation increased gradually, Yang Qing had become more stable as a person. Right now, he seemed a little anxious.

"I…I can feel it. I felt the Grand Moon Primordial Water slightly…" Yang Qing opened his mouth, "The Grand Moon Primordial Water that came from the same source as me!"

Yue Hongyan was confused, "The Grand Moon Primordial Water that came from the same source as you? Didn"t you control that water flow previously?"

Yang Qing shook his head and seemed like he had something that he could not say. He did not explain much and just scanned his surroundings, as he searched furiously.

w.a.n.g Lin looked at Yang Qing and also unleashed his own supernatural awareness, extending it far away. With regards to the Grand Moon Primordial Water that Yang Qing mentioned, he was naturally not as connected to it as Yang Qing. But his supernatural awareness was much stronger than Yang Qing.

Since Yang Qing said that the Grand Moon Primordial Water came from the same source as him, w.a.n.g Lin followed the spiritual energy of Yang Qing"s Grand Moon Primordial Water to locate it.

Very soon, w.a.n.g Lin discovered something. He pointed Yang Qing in the right direction and they quickly confirmed its location.

Everyone followed behind Yang Qing closely. After flying in the sky for a while, Yang Qing slowed down, as he looked at the mountains and rivers in a distance.

At this point, even Zhou Yuncong and Zhao Huan could clearly see a creek between the mountains.

There was a lady in white sitting by the creek. She was in a daze as she stared at the flowing water of the creek.

The lady looked around 20 years old, but she had a look of innocence too, as if she was only 13 or 14 years old

She lowered her head to look at her reflection in the water. Her eyes blinked and felt that she was both familiar and strange to herself.

The lady sighed and turned to her side.

Over there, there was a gra.s.shopper made from leaves, which had already turned yellow. As time pa.s.sed, the leaves had already lost their water content and turned yellow. But because of the brilliant craftsmans.h.i.+p, the gra.s.shopper seemed alive.

The lady stared at the gra.s.shopper and she was in a daze, "Senior Yang…"

She hesitated as she tapped the gra.s.shopper. A streak of light, jade-green water surged out from her finger. The water landed on the gra.s.shopper and the gra.s.shopper turned green again. It was not dyed. Rather, the gra.s.shopper seemed to have gained new life.

As she saw this, the lady smiled and was elated.

Suddenly, she felt a throbbing in her heart. She hesitated as she turned around. She saw a youth in purple standing not far behind her. He wore a complex expression.

There were both shock and delight, but even more desolation and sorrow!