Ling Town.

Early morning. Young Qin Lie blankly got out of bed as the sky had just begun to brighten. After a simple freshening up, he walked directly toward Ling Dining Hall.

The rough linen attired Qin Lie had a slim figure and could be considered delicate. However, his eyes were vacant, without any trace of vigor, causing others to feel as though he had lost his soul.

Along the way, many of Ling Town’s young martial practitioners had also woke up early. Upon seeing young Qin Lie, many of them smiled kindly.

“Good morning Qin Lie!”

Seeing Qin Lie enter, Ling Feng grinned brightly, calling out to him as he waved.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though Qin Lie was not able to hear other people’s voices; his expression was still as blank as before. He passed by Ling Feng without ceasing his footsteps, and continued onward.

“Big Brother Feng, why do you bother talking to a fool? You obviously know that he can’t respond, yet you always greet him everyday in the morning.” A bright yellow attired, well endowed sixteen year old Ling Ying casually commented as she looked at Qin Lie with contempt. She looked rather dainty, and her soft chest that provoked fanciful thoughts stood tall.

After hearing what Ling Ying had said, the expressions of the surrounding youths from Ling Family all went cold, as they grew annoyed.

Ling Ying hmphed. Her pretty face was full of disdain, as she lifted her full chest, turning a blind eye to everyone’s gazes.

Most of those youths were at the fourth or fifth level of Refinement, and were simply regarded as unimportant to her, who had already reached the sixth level of Refinement.

The only one in her eyes was Ling Feng, who had reached the seventh level of Refinement.

Ling Feng slightly frowned, “Little Ying, you haven’t been at Ling Town for that long, which means you have never received any of Qin Lie’s grandfather’s benefaction, so I won’t blame you for having your own views about Qin Lie. However, we children of Ling Family have all been helped out by Grandpa Qin Shan when he was still healthy. Even though Grandpa Qin Shan passed away two years ago, we still remember all the care he showed us in our hearts. On behalf of all of us, I hope you can show Qin Lie the proper respect.”

Ling Yin was momentarily stunned, “His grandpa’s really strong?”

“Grandpa Qin Shan was an Artificer!” Ling Feng softly yelled.

Ling Ying said in deep reverence, “Common, Profound, Earth, Heaven, Divine, with each level again differentiated into seven ranks. What level of an Artificer was he? Has he forged any spirit artifacts for the Ling Family?”

“No.” Ling Feng shook his head, “Grandpa Qin Shan only knew how to repair spirit artifacts below Common Grade Five.”

“Aiyoh, scared me to death. And I wondered how awesome he was, he’s only at that level?” Ling Ying patted her well-endowed chest, evidently making an exaggerated smile.

“To us, that is already really awesome.” Ling Feng’s expression did not waver as he continued in an undercast tone of voice: “Five years ago, when Grandpa Qin Shan came to Ling Town with Qin Lie, he sought our Patriarch and had a discussion about the cost of helping us repair our Common spirit artifacts. He asked for the right to extract ores from all those various mines in Herb Mountain, and for us to allow him and Qin Lie to live in Ling Town.”

“Three years later, Grandpa Qin Shan took Qin Lie back and forth from Ling Town to Herb Mountain’s mines. In that period of time, Grandpa Qin Shan was in charge of repairing every spirit artifact lower than Common Grade Five. As long as its level did not pass Common Grade Five, he was able to completely restore it to its original shape, no matter how severely damaged the spirit artifact, without any trace of it ever having weakened!”

“Poof!”

Firelight ignited on top of Ling Feng’s wrist, and the scarlet bracelet on his wrist suddenly lit up with many colors!

Soon after, that scarlet bracelet miraculously transformed into a glowing hammer. The hammer was only half his arm long, and its entire body was dark red. Clumps of fiery clouds were branded on the spherical part of the hammer like tattoos, and exuded blasts of burning waves of heat.

“My Firecloud Hammer is a Common Grade Two spirit artifact and is my lifeblood. Five years ago in Glacial Mountain Range, an Ice Soul Python blasted a mouthful of cold energy into my body. My Firecloud Hammer helped me withstand the cold energy and had luckily saved me, but it was severely damaged. If not for Grandpa Qin Shan helping me repair my Firecloud Hammer, it’d probably be scrapped a long time ago.”

“There are many of our Ling clansmen whose spirit artifacts had also been severely damaged, but thanks to Grandpa Qin Shan, those damaged spirit artifacts were able to be repaired. Otherwise, our clan would’ve encountered incomparable losses.” Ling Feng lamented as he looked at Qin Lie’s figure from afar.

“But he’s already died from an illness two years ago.” Ling Ying said in astonishment.

“Our Ling Family knows gratitude! Qin Lie is just too pitiful. He was already like this when he came to Ling Town with his grandfather five years ago. When Grandpa Qin Shan was here, there were some who took good care of him, but following Grandpa Qin Shan’s death, in these two years… Sigh.” Ling Feng changed topics, then couldn’t help but sigh.

“Then isn’t Second Miss more pitiful? I heard… that the Patriarch had promised Qin Shan, that Second Miss and Qin Lie would get engaged on Second Miss’ birthday fifteen birthday next month? Since you are a native Ling Town person, can you tell me if such a thing happened?” Ling Ying suddenly lowered her voice and came closer to Ling Feng. She whispered: “Why would the Patriarch agree to Second Miss and Qin Lie’s engagement? Isn’t this just like pushing Second Miss into a pit of fire?”

“Not sure.” Ling Feng was also unclear about that.

To him, even if the Patriarch had made such an agreement with Qin Shan, after Qin Shan’s death, that agreement shouldn’t count anymore.

……

Ling Dining Hall.

Three four-sided wooden tables were put together to form a huge, long rectangular table. Steamed buns, porridge, and various side dishes were arranged upon the tabletop. Ling Family’s Patriarch Ling Chengye sat upright in the head seat. Beside him on each side was his sister-in-law, Du Jiaolan and Third Brother Ling Chengzhi. Next to Du Jiaolan were her two sons, Du Heng and Du Fei. As for the girls beside Ling Chengzhi, they were his eldest brother’s daughters, Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan.

Ling Family had three brothers. The eldest was Ling Chengye, second Ling Chenghui, and the third was Ling Chengzhi. Ten years ago, when Ling Chenghui broke through into the Natal Opening Realm, he underwent a fiendish rebound and died by bodily explosion. His wife Du Jiaolan brought her similarly surnamed two sons, Du Heng and Du Fei, to live in Ling Family, and used Ling Family’s resources to continue cultivating.

Boundless oceans existed within this world named Spirit Realm, and upon these oceans were many continents. On these continents, all sorts of people and races unceasing refine themselves with the spirit energy prevalent everywhere, eternally pursuing the world’s ultimate mysteries.

Here, strong practitioners stood tall like high mountains and peaks, possessed world-shocking apocalyptic spirit artifacts, and some strict martial forces with status covered every remote corner of this world like spiderwebs!

Here, not only did martial practitioners and spirit artifacts have distinct divisions of levels, even clans, sects, and merchant guilds formed intercrossing networks of complex factions. They also had strict social strata.

Spirit Realm’s cultivation of the martial way was divided into ten realms: Refinement, Natal Opening, Manifestation, Netherpassage, Fulfillment, Fragmentation, Nirvana, Imperishable, Void, and Genesis. The basic Refinement Realm was composed of nine levels, while the latter realms were subdivided into small levels of early, mid, and late stages.

Similarly, mystical spirit artifacts and strong artificers also had a distinct division of levels. They were: Common, Profound, Earth, Heaven, and Divine, with each level also possessing seven ranks.

What was even more peculiar was that even those clans and sectoral forces had their own divisions of levels. They were divided into five ranks: Limestone, Black Iron, Copper, Silver, and Gold, and were restricted in layers like a pyramid.

The lowest Limestone rank powers were Spirit Realm’s most basic forces, and their numbers were so many, they were uncountable like specks of sand within a desert. They had no choice but to attach themselves to larger powers, rely on them to survive and cultivate, and allow their dignity to get trampled on.

As for those Gold rank forces at the apex of the pyramid, they were all the most glorious peak existences. Not only did they have access to the strongest martial practitioners in the world, they had the most mystical of spirit artifacts, the widest ore vein territories, the most mysterious of forbidden secret realms, and they even commanded many Silver, Copper, Black Iron, and Limestone ranked forces!

Any order they passed down were capable of changing the color of the world, dye mountains and river into the red of blood, and annihilate millions and millions of living creatures!

And Ling Family, was merely a small clan power that wasn’t even of the Limestone rank. Ling Family and its surrounding small families all attached themselves to Icestone City’s Limestone ranked force, Nebula Pavilion. They had to send enough offerings to Nebula Pavilion every year in order to obtain Nebula Pavilion’s protection, and live in Ling Town.

“Tap, tap!”

The sound of footsteps that came from afar approached. Not long after, Qin Lie’s figure punctually appeared. He mechanically sat in the seat opposite Ling Chengye with a blank expression on his face, then lifted his rice bowl and began to eat.

Over the past five years, Qin Lie always arrived right on time for early morning breakfast. Even though Qin Lie was a fool in the eyes of everyone in Ling Town, his habit of being on time for meals had never changed. For the first three years, it was always Qin Shan who had brought him over. After Qin Shan’s death, Qin Lie came alone, and still maintained this custom.

After eating breakfast everyday, Qin Lie would enter the Herb Mountain behind Ling Town and go into those mines within the mountain. Only until it turned dark would he return to Ling Town before supper. After having the evening meal with the Ling Family, he would return to his residence to rest.

Day after day, year after year, this was how he lived, without any ripple or change in his lifestyle.

It had been five years, yet no one knew what exactly he and his grandfather were doing to spend so much time in Herb Mountain’s mines. Even Patriarch Ling Chengye had always been puzzled.

“Hey!” Du Fei suddenly couldn’t help but sneer. He slanted his eyes and glanced at Qin Lie, then taunted mockingly: “My future Brother-in-law’s table manners aren’t bad. It’s fine even if he gets engaged to Xuanxuan next month. Just pretend that you’re raising an oddly cute obedient dog.”

After he finished speaking, Du Fei laughed weirdly while looking in Ling Xuanxuan’s direction.

Ling Xuanxuan’s delicate body that was wrapped in fiery red leather armor was already beginning to show the first signs of appeal. She had an extremely small elegant face, spirited intelligent eyes, yet her barely fifteen year old self’s reputation was widespread.

“Bang!”

Ling Xuanxuan’s halfway exposed jade white hand heavily slammed on the table. The rice bowl in front of her violently leaped up due to the impact, and the unfinished porridge splashed toward Du Jiaolan’s family of three who were sitting on the opposing side. Even though the three’s reaction speed was extremely fast, they were still splashed into a miserable state by the porridge.

“I’m not going to get engaged to him even if I die!”

Without waiting for Du Jiaolan to get angry, Ling Xuanxuan quickly got up. Not even caring about her father Ling Chengye’s unsightly expression, she charged out of the room like a ball of flame.

After encountering the wooden door, she swung her little hand and an orange colored flame suddenly shot out, splitting the wide wooden door apart. Before the ten or so pieces of broken wood had time to fall on the ground, Ling Xuanxuan’s exquisite figure had already disappeared.

Just as Ling Chengye was prepared to angrily admonish her, he was suddenly stunned in place. He looked at the broken down pieces of wood, then his eyes slightly lit up, as he revealed a thoughtful expression.

“Big Brother! When did Xuanxuan step into the seventh level of Refinement? The emission of spirit energy, this is clearly an indicator of the seventh level of Refinement!” Ling Chengzhi said with uncontained excitement. His entire face was filled with pleasant surprise, “To have stepped into the seventh level of Refinement at fifteen, Xuanxuan’s natural talent is even more shocking than Yushi! At her current rate, she will surely be able to step into the Natal Opening Realm before the age of twenty… In the future, she will definitely be able to receive Nebula Pavilion’s good graces!”

Ling Chengye restrained his inner excitement, coughed lightly, and asked Ling Yushi, “When did Xuanxuan break through?”

Ling Yushi, who donned a long green dress had her dark, long hair spread over her shoulders, the expression on her delicate face was as graceful as an orchid flower. Her skin that was as white as jade and her figure that seemed tall and slender even when sitting down, caused the gaze of Du Heng, who was sitting on the side to heat up, as his gaze wouldn’t even move away from her body for even an inch.

“She just broke through seven days ago. At first, she wanted to immediately rush over and tell daddy this news, but…” Ling Yushi changed topics and sighed lightly: “But two days ago, she unexpectedly heard about daddy already having promised Grandpa Qin Shan that she will be engaged to Qin Lie on her birthday, so…”

Ling Yushi didn’t continue, but Ling Chengye had already guessed the cause with a helpless expression.

“Whoosh!”

Right at this moment, Qin Lie, who acted as though no one else was present and was immersed in eating, suddenly stood up as though he had not heard anyone speaking or clashing. Just like how he had acted in the past, he left after eating his fill.

He headed directly toward the Herb Mountain behind Ling Town.

“Big Brother, I have a few words I want to discuss with you in private.” Ling Chengzhi also suddenly got up and shot his elder brother a meaningful look. After Qin Lie had left, he also left the dining hall.

Ling Chengye followed behind him with a pensive look on his face.

On the rugged uneven mountain path, Ling Chengye and Ling Chengzhi maintained a steady distance from Qin Lie while also walking in the direction of Herb Mountain. The two’s gazes swiftly landed on Qin Lie’s body, as they chatted in a low voice.

“It’s been five years. Since the time Qin Shan had brought Qin Lie over, this grandfather-grandson pair were always in the mines during the day. Big Brother, aren’t you curious about what they were doing in the mines? What they discovered?”

“Of course I’m curious. But I had an agreement with Qin Shan to not charge into the mines without reason. Besides, our Ling Family have already cleared Herb Mountain’s mines for many years, and never found any valuable spirit stones. Else, why would I promise the mines to that grandfather-grandson pair?”

“And what exactly is going on with Xuanxuan and Qin Lie’s engagement? Big Brother, I know you would never sacrifice Xuanxuan’s lifelong happiness, so why?”

“Before Qin Shan passed away, he adamantly wanted me to agree to this matter. On behalf of all the help he gave us these few years, I made the promise with gritted teeth. But it isn’t like how you think it is. He probably wished that Qin Lie would be able to continue being looked after by our Ling Family after he passed away.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is merely an engagement. Qin Lie and Xuanxuan are both fifteen years old. He requested for us to take care of Qin Lie until he turns seventeen. Once Qin Lie turns seventeen, any one of us could break off the engagement. The reason why this engagement exists is because he wanted Qin Lie to have the status of a son-in-law, so that our Ling Family members won’t mess around with him, that’s all.”

“Don’t worry. Xuanxuan has already broken through into the seventh level of Refinement. She will definitely enter Nebula Pavilion in the future. I obviously will not allow Qin Lie to influence her future prospects. When the time comes, I will immediately break off the engagement!”

“So that’s how it is.” Ling Chengzhi nodded. He muttered: “Big Brother, I have something that I’m not sure whether I should say, sigh…”

“If you have something to say, just say it!” Ling Family’s Patriarch shouted with a frown.

“Based on what you have said, the engagement is merely for appearance’s sake. If that’s the case, Xuanxuan doesn’t really have to get engaged to Qin Lie. Isn’t also possible for him to get engaged to Yushi instead? Even though Yushi is two years older than Qin Lie, there should be no harm in that, right?” Ling Chengzhi probed.

Ling Family’s Patriarch’s complexion suddenly darkened.

“Big Brother, since Sister-in-law had passed away much too early, I know that you love Yushi and Xuanxuan both equally. I am also the same.” Ling Chengzhi considered his phrasing, and said sincerely: “However, even an engagement could influence a girl’s reputation. Xuanxuan is only fifteen, but she actually reached the seventh level of Refinement! Even in normal times, you and I could see her talent for cultivation and her comprehension of spirit arts far surpass Yushi’s. Xuanxuan’s future… absolutely cannot be bound. She will become our Ling Family’s true hope!”

When the conversation reached here, Ling Chengzhi’s expression became respectful, “In the future, Xuanxuan will enter an even higher world of martial practitioners, reach a level that we can’t even hope to attain! Under this kind of situation, there is a chance that she could marry into a powerful force whose power we can’t even imagine! However, if she has a past engagement, then she’ll have a stain. This will affect her future prospects…”

“Third Brother, you are becoming more and more pragmatic.” Ling Family’s Patriarch shook his head and sighed, “Allow me some time to think about this. Sigh. With Yushi’s gentle temperament, I know that she will definitely agree to this if I ask her to bear this burden, but I just can’t do this to her…”

“For the clan’s future, and also for Xuanxuan’s future, I ask Big Brother to seriously consider this.” Ling Chengzhi said with persuasion.

Ling Family’s Patriarch remained silent for a long time. After a long while, he finally spoke: “Let’s not talk about this for now. You’ve always been in charge of Herb Mountain and I’ve never asked you about it much. Why are you insisting on taking me to Herb Mountain today?”

“You’ll understand when we get there. I have a faint feeling that this matter may have something to do with Qin Lie.”

Ling Family’s Herb Mountain was an expanded branch of the Arctic Mountain Range and was classified as the outermost region of the Arctic Mountain Range.

Compared to those huge, extremely tall ice mountains, Herb Mountain was extremely unremarkable; its spirit energy was also not considered rich.

Ling Town was exactly at the edge of the Arctic Mountain Range, beneath Herb Mountain.

Even though Herb Mountain’s spirit energy didn’t stand out, the mountain wasn’t quite as cold since it was far enough from the center of the Arctic Mountain Range, thus making it suitable for growing spirit plants.

The spirit plants on Herb Mountain were precisely the main source of income for the Ling Family. The annual offerings Ling Family made to Nebula Pavilion were also mostly spirit plants from Herb Mountain. In these couple of years, Ling Chengzhi was in charge of the planting and picking of spirit plants. Du Jiaolan tried to get a share of the Herb Mountain pie several times, but every one of her plans was destroyed by the Ling Family brothers.

Like chunks of tofu, there were blocks and blocks of medicinal gardens on Herb Mountain. Planted within the medicinal gardens were mostly spirit plants and herbs below Common Grade Three. Even though they weren’t worth much, there were still lots of them.

The Common Grade Three spirit plants among them included the Jade Hand Flower, Cold Containing Grass, and the Serpent Crown Flower, and they were the most important spirit plants grown in the medicinal gardens. These three spirit plants were basic ingredients in refining Spirit Recovering Pills, which Nebula Pavilion greatly demanded every year.

At this moment, Ling Chengye and Ling Chengzhi stood in front of a Jade Hand Flower medicinal garden.

When in full bloom, it looked like a young girl spreading open her palm. Its five slender leaves were like five slim fingers, which was why it was called the Jade Hand Flower. The period between planting and picking the Jade Hand Flower was only around half a year, and it wasn’t really affected by changes in the weather. This made it one of the easiest spirit plants to cultivate.

However, in this current Jade Hand Flower medicinal garden, each and every Jade Hand Flower had yet to bloom; instead, each and every one of them was wilted, causing Ling Chengye’s expression to turn extremely ugly.

“Is it only the Jade Hand Flowers that are like this?” Ling Chengye asked with some hope.

Ling Chengzhi smiled wryly, “The Jade Hand Flowers can be considered good. The Cold Containing Grass and the Serpent Crown Flower medicinal gardens are even more unsightly, they’re even more intensely dried up. I’m afraid that it will be hard for us to gather this year’s payment of medicinal herbs to Nebula Pavilion…”

Ling Chengye’s expression changed, he shouted in an overcast tone of voice: “How exactly did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?!”

“I don’t know how this happened.” Pain spread across Ling Chengzhi’s face as his heart also filled with confusion, “Since Qin Shan died two years ago, the garden’s medicinal herbs yielded less and fewer crops every season. Though each return was bringing in less and less, it was still enough to supply Nebula Pavilion. This is also my fault, I was too busy trying to break through that I didn’t seriously pay attention to it.”

“Once I was aware of this dire situation, I believed that I could still control this. I spent most of my time cultivating and conditioning the spirit herbs, hoping that I could reverse this situation. However, what I didn’t expect was that since three months ago, the medicinal herbs gradually looked more and more wilted by the day. Before I had time to react, large expanses of medicinal herbs inside the medicinal garden had already withered…”

Ling Chengzhi hung his head in dismay, appearing as though he wanted to hit something and cry, but he didn’t dare to avoid his responsibilities.

Ling Chengye’s face collapsed. He was silent for a good while, then suddenly said: “What does the drying up of the herbs in the medicinal garden have to do with Qin Lie? He’s usually deep inside Herb Mountain’s mines, and ought to never have come to the gardens before. He’s able to affect these herbs? Old Three, why do you suspect Qin Lie?”

To him, Qin Lie was only a fool. For a person without a soul, it was absolutely impossible that he could influence Herb Mountain’s yield.

“Since their grandfather-grandson pair entered Herb Mountain’s mines five years ago, I’ve been secretly observing them. Over the past five years, there were very few changes in Herb Mountain, but there was an extremely strange phenomenon…” Ling Chengzhi creased his brows as he pondered while speaking.

“What kind of strange phenomenon?” Ling Chengye was stunned.

“Every time it thunderstormed, the lightning above Herb Mountain’s skies would be extremely condensed. Each lightning strike would hit Herb Mountain’s summit, and that lightning would sometimes come here, even causing me to watch in fear. However, before their grandfather-grandson pair came, no matter how vile the weather, there wouldn’t be that much lightning assembled above Herb Mountain’s skies, nor the phenomenon of lightning directly striking down here!” Ling Chengzhi said with certainty.

“This lightning… has something to do with their grandfather-grandson pair?” Ling Chengye shook his head, feeling as though his younger brother’s speculation didn’t have much of a foundation.

“Big Brother, let me finish.” Ling Chengzhi’s expression gradually turned solemn, “After Qin Shan passed away, this phenomenon became even more apparent! In these past two years, every time there was a thunderstorm, there was even more lightning gathered above Herb Mountain, and it struck Herb Mountain more frequently! Sometimes, I could faintly feel those powerful lightning strikes skirt into the mountain’s cavity…”

Upon hearing this, Ling Chengye finally faced up, and solemnly said: “Continue!”

“I have been guarding Herb Mountain all these years, and every time lightning struck, I was always mindful of the mine caves. I’ve seen Qin Lie walkout from those caves several times with his hair and skin a bit burnt black. I can say with total certainty that it was definitely caused by a lightning strike!” Ling Chengzhi shouted softly, “Due to all the abnormalities in Herb Mountain these past years, I am within reason to suspect that this has something to do with Qin Lie! Big Brother, the medicinal herbs would not wither without cause. I believe that something must have changed within Herb Mountain’s interior to have lead to the withering of the medicinal herbs!”

Ling Chengye deeply frowned. After a long period of silence, he suddenly said: “I promised Qin Shan that I would not enter the mines without reason.”

“Big Brother, if this matter really has something to do with Qin Lie, if you don’t figure this out, I’m afraid that it would be difficult to save those medicinal herbs in the garden. Herb Mountain concerns our Ling Family’s growth. If we keep going on like this, our Ling Family would not be able to gather enough spirit plants as payment, then Nebula Pavilion…” Ling Chengzhi said with immense worry.

Ling Chengye went silent again. After a long while, he took a deep breath. He took out a ghastly demon mask, silently put it on, changed it into a long white robe, and then said shouted lowly: “I will secretly go investigate the mines. You are forbidden to tell anyone about this matter!”

“Rest assured Big Brother, I know what to do.”

……

Like a white specter, Ling Chengye cautiously went to a cave in a remote corner of Herb Mountain. With his hands grabbing onto a hanging vine, he stepped off the boulder, and his silhouette silently floated down like willow leaves, quickly arriving in one of the tunnel entrances of a mountain cave.

Since he had already decided to do this, Ling Chengye no longer hesitated. He directly charged into the mouth of the cave, heading into its depths at high speed.

There were many caves of different sizes at the back of Herb Mountain, and they were all formed by Ling Family members who excavated from different angles. Each and every mountain cave pathway were even all linked together, so as long as one entered one of the caves, it was extremely easy to find a path that leads into the mountain’s belly.

However, not long after Ling Chengye entered the cavern, he suddenly received a huge shock which left him stiff in place.

In his memories, there were at most twenty tunnels inside Herb Mountain. Even though he hadn’t come in here for quite a long while, his memories about the mines were still very clear.

Because when he was young, he was also one of the excavators, so he was extremely familiar with this place.

But right now, he felt as though he had come to the wrong place because the tunnels in this mountain cavity were ten times more than that!

The complexity of those tunnels in front of him intersected and connected like spiderwebs. Ling Chengye was startled at this abnormality, not feeling any familiarity with this place.

“Heavens! How did they do this?” Ling Chengye sucked in a cold breath.

He still remembered back then when several scores of Ling Family members came together. They used three years of time and merely excavated a dozen or so stone tunnels.

Yet this grandfather-grandson pair had actually excavated several hundred stone tunnels in five years of time. This caused Ling Chengye to not dare believe his own eyes.

Several hundred stone tunnels interweaved and connected with the original stone tunnels in a maze-like complexity, similar to the varying strangeness of muscles in the human body.

Ling Chengye forced himself to calm down. He began traveling back and forth through several hundred intersecting stone tunnels, attempting to enter the deepest part of the mountain, seeking Qin Lie’s figure.

An hour later, Ling Family’s Patriarch’s consciousness unexpectedly became muddled, and in a muddled state, he directly appeared in the cavern entrance.

When he regained his senses, his expression became incomparably odd. Not believing what had happened, he once again delved into the mines, resuming his search once more…

In seven consecutive tries, he kept returning to the first tunnel entrance. Ling Chengye gradually began to tire, and his complexion paled somewhat. After checking the color of the sky, he went back up Herb Mountain along the original road in a somewhat distressed manner.

“Big Brother, your complexion does not look well, what happened? Did something happen in there?” Ling Chengzhi nervously asked him when he took down the mask.

With a wave of his hand, Ling Family’s Patriarch signaled for him to not ask questions for the time being. He sat upright without saying a word, then took a Spirit Recovering Pill for his muscle pain and regulated his breathing.

Ling Chengzhi wanted to say something, but stopped and just dazedly stared at him with a belly full of stunned confusion.

The sky gradually darkened. After a period of recovery, Ling Family’s Patriarch’s vigor recovered somewhat. He opened his eyes, and lightly shouted, answering Ling Chengzhi’s previous question: “Don’t ask yet! Now should be around the time Qin Lie exits the caves to return back to Ling Town. I won't make my move against him on the road back and see what exactly is going with him!”

After he finished speaking, Ling Family’s Patriarch wore the ghastly demon mask without waiting for Ling Chengzhi’s input. With a grave expression, he headed toward the mountain path between Herb Mountain and Ling Town to hide.

“Sigh, little sis, come on, I had even told you specifically to talk about your engagement with Qin Lie after breakfast. Yet you just didn’t want to listen. Second Aunt’s entire family was still at the table, you know, so how can it be comfortable for dad to talk about things like that?”

On the mountain path between Ling Town and Herb Mountain, Ling Yushi, who was dressed in emerald green, wrinkled her brows. Her elegant and refined face was filled with rebuke as she softly chided the girl beside her.

The fiery-red leather-armored Ling Xuanxuan was like an ignited gunpowder barrel. She vented her feelings on the rock in front of her as she kicked, shattering it into pieces which flew all over. As her straightened jade leg swung back into place, it brought along a fierce gale. She snorted, “If it weren’t for that Du Fei bastard provoking me, why would I suddenly burst out? Second Aunt? That cheap slut’s not our aunt!”

“Lower your voice, you can’t recklessly speak such drivel!!” Ling Yushi hurriedly berated.

“Drivel? You guys thought I didn’t know?” Ling Xuanxuan narrowed her eyes. She laughed coldly, with a face full of resentment, “That cheap slut married our Second Uncle and stayed at our Ling Town for a mere seven months, yet she gave birth to Du Heng. Two years later, she went back to Nebula Pavilion, and not long after, she gave birth to that bastard Du Fei. Those two surnamed Du are clearly bastards of that elder cousin of hers at Nebula Pavilion, Du Haitian!”

“Who did you hear this from?” Ling Yushi became nervous.

“I heard this from the martial practitioners in our clan who were discussing it in private. You, Daddy, and Third Uncle have always been keeping this from me because you thought I couldn’t restrain my anger and would cause trouble, right?” Ling Xuanxuan’s eyes suddenly turned red as they flooded with uncontrollable tears. She fiercely wiped once, then fumed with gritted teeth, “Second Uncle definitely didn’t die because of some stupid bodily explosion from a fiendish rebound! He was angered to death by that cheap slut’s entire family! Second Uncle loved me the most when I was young, so I will one day avenge Second Uncle!”

“Sigh, so even the martial practitioners in the clan already know about this matter. Looks like a great change shall soon come to our Ling Family.” Ling Yushi was also sad as she faintly sighed. She patted Ling Xuanxuan’s shoulder, then said sincerely, “Du Haitian’s position in Nebula Pavilion is not low, and he is also at a very high realm. It has been said that he is about to break through into the later stages of the Natal Opening Realm. At the moment, our Ling Family cannot afford to offend him…”

“I know that you and Daddy have always been enduring it; I will also endure it too. Once I break into the Natal Opening Realm and also enter Nebula Pavilion, I’ll make him pay this debt!” Ling Xuanxuan said heavily.

“It’s good that you can think this way. As long as we sisters work hard, we’ll have a place in Nebula Pavilion in the future. Second Uncle’s blood debt will definitely be paid!” Ling Yushi nodded as she proceeded to walk in Herb Mountain’s direction, yet she was somewhat pained in her heart.

Even though both she and Ling Xuanxuan were at the seventh level of Refinement, she… was already seventeen years old this year. If she wanted to obtain Nebula Pavilion’s favor, she had to enter the Natal Opening Realm by the age of twenty.

Going from the seventh level of Refinement directly into the Natal Opening Realm in a period of three years, how could that be easy?

Ling Yushi’s eyes were filled with bitterness to the brim, as she also sighed lightly in her heart. Forcing herself to sound cheery, she said: “Dad and Third Uncle are both at Herb Mountain. Talking about this in the dining hall today was not appropriate, so big sis will come with you to find Dad, ask about this matter, and see what exactly is going on with that marriage agreement between you and Qin Lie.”

“In any case, I refuse to be engaged to that fool!” Once Qin Lie was brought up, Ling Xuanxuan’s little face hardened, “I don’t even know what Daddy was thinking. That guy can’t even talk and doesn’t even have a soul. I’ll get bored even if I stay with him for a short period of time, there’s no way I can endure that!”

“I know, I know. big sis obviously isn’t willing to see you be together with him either. Don’t worry, big sis will definitely stand by your side.” Ling Yushi softly laughed and consoled.

The two sisters were like two beautiful mountain demonic foxes as they softly chatted whilst walking in the direction of Herb Mountain.

After walking for a while, just when they were about to go up the mountain, the sisters’ footsteps quickly stopped, as they both looked at Qin Lie, who had exited Herb Mountain’s caves.

The sky gradually darkened, and Qin Lie left the mountain cave like usual.

They were separated by some distance, but he was currently walking toward them, with that usual blank, wooden look on his face. His gaze still had no focus, as though he simply hadn’t seen the two sisters coming over at all.

“Everyday in these five years were all the same, he always runs around in Herb Mountain’s mines, is this fool related to rats?”

Ling Xuanxuan usually turned a blind eye and pretended he was air, so she never had any adverse reactions toward him. However, when she saw Qin Lie today, she steamed with anger, so she naturally couldn’t be friendly.

“Why are you angry at him? He doesn’t know anything. Sigh, he’s just too pitiful. Now that his grandfather’s dead, he’s been passing the rest of his days alone. Our Ling Family only gives him the morning and evening meals, we don’t even pay attention to anything else…”

As she looked at Qin Lie from afar, Ling Yushi sympathized with a gentle shake of her head.

“I, I know that this doesn’t have anything to do with him. It, it’s just that I can’t help but be angry when I see him…” Ling Xuanxuan was at a loss for words. A young fifteen year old girl wasn’t really this malicious at heart, but she just couldn’t accept the facts.

At this moment, a white figure suddenly came over from the forests to the side!

Ling Family’s Patriarch, who wore the ghastly demon mask, suddenly saw that his two daughters were also there, but due to the huge shock he discovered in the mines, he still resolved to test Qin Lie.

Like the embodiment of an evil spirit, Ling Chengye ruthlessly shot towards Qin Lie, who still walked onward with a blank expression, amidst Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan’s surprised cries.

Seeing the white clothed figure charge over, Qin Lie’s expression was still vacant. Even as Ling Chengye swooshed in with his palm towards his chest, he still maintained his mechanical walking pace.

He didn’t stop, his expression didn’t change, and he didn’t even try to block or counter it.

“Bang!”

Ling Chengye’s palm pressed onto Qin Lie’s chest and Qin Lie’s figure was suddenly blasted several steps back. Soon after, he stood up, and blankly looked at the Ling Chengye whom had blocked his path with a puzzled expression, as though he was curious as to why this person had struck him.

This trace of curiosity was only lasted an instant. After that, he started walking again, as though he had already forgotten Ling Chengye’s previous attack, resuming his onward march.

“Who dares to behave so atrociously in our Ling Family’s territory?”

“Masked villain, you won’t escape!”

The two sisters suddenly jumped as their charming faces turned cold. They evenly advanced toward Ling Chengye as two currents of spirit energy that weren’t weak stirred, causing even the wind to howl.

On the mountain path, Ling Chengye’s back faced his two daughters who were not in the know as he stared at Qin Lie with an odd expression…

Even though the fifteen year old Qin Lie’s body looked petite and undernourished, in his palm strike earlier, Qin Lie was merely knocked back a few steps, and didn’t fall to the ground at all.

Even though there wasn’t a single trace of spirit energy in that attack, Ling Chengye knew the power within that strike was enough to cause a martial practitioner at the third level of Refinement to fall, and not be able to stand up for a long while!

According to what he had sensed earlier, Qin Lie’s body didn’t have the distinct protection of a spirit energy barrier on his chest. This meant that there was no spirit energy in Qin Lie’s body, which also meant that he couldn’t be considered a true martial practitioner.

But Qin Lie had withstood the attack without even falling down!

This proved that beneath the idea of the weak looking Qin Lie having a frail body, was an unimaginable sturdy build!

Was it merely his flesh that was strong?

Ling Family’s Patriarch harbored misgivings, but after a moment of hesitation, he suddenly struck yet again!

“Crack-crack-crack!”

The sound of bones cracking came from Ling Chengye’s hand as it suddenly doubled in size!

A layer of thin green mist gradually rose from the hollow of his palm. Following the movement of his figure, that green mist also swayed indeterminately like a clump of burning green flame.

Green Flame Empower, Common Grade Five spirit art. This was a secret art Ling Chengye secretly cultivated and rarely used. Even his two daughters had never seen it before.

Mid stage Natal Opening Realm’s Ling Chengye used spirit energy to combust a green flame in his palm and once again pressed toward Qin Lie’s chest.

“Shameless villain!”

“You dare?!”

Ling Family’s sisters cried in unison, but unfortunately, they were still quite a distance from Ling Chengye yell at him for now.

Ling Chengye did not hesitate at all. His twice enlarged palm that was covered in green mist was already within reach of Qin Lie’s chest. He stared fixedly at Qin Lie, wanting to see an unusual change.

“Boom!”

A current of turbulent spirit energy that was mixed within the green mist entered Qin Lie’s chest. In that instant, streaks of thin, cold, electric light sped through Qin Lie’s vacant eyes which seemed to never change.

At nearly the same time, the rumbling of thunder sounded in Ling Chengye’s mind, catching him off guard.

It was also at this time that the Ling Family sisters finally arrived, with the intent to aggressively put him in his place.

Before Ling Chengye had time to carefully ponder whether the sudden burst of thunder in his mind and the cold electric glint in Qin Lie’s eyes was just him seeing things, he saw his two daughters about to attack him, and could only grudgingly give up and retreat.

Like a wisp of white smoke, he swiftly flickered a few times and then disappeared within the mountain forest.

“Don’t chase!” Ling Yushi’s eyes glistened, as her tender shout stopped Ling Xuanxuan’s movements. She said with a grave look on her pretty face, “Judging by how lightning fast and ghostly this person retreated, he’s definitely not in the Refinement Realm! He’s not someone we’re able to handle by ourselves.”

She crouched down and looked at Qin Lie, who fell on the floor with a dark green handprint at the place where his clothes were blasted open at the chest. She said faintly with knitted brows, “That person is very scary. But how strange, why would he attack a fool? Could it be a previous enemy of Grandpa Qin Shan?”

As she spoke, she stretched out her jade white hand and used her lustrous fingers to lightly touch the place Qin Lie had been injured in. Then, the doubtful expression on her graceful face grew heavier, “That person obviously didn’t use all his strength, barely any spirit energy entered Qin Lie’s chest, and they’ve already begun to gradually dissipate. How odd, if he really wanted to kill Qin Lie, it shouldn’t be like this…”

Previously, Ling Chengye had his back faced to the two sisters when he attacked Qin Lie. The sisters were still some distance away at that time, so they didn’t see any abnormalities from Qin Lie; they didn’t see Qin Lie’s eyes, nor did they hear the explosion of thunder in Ling Chengye’s mind.

“Yushi, Xuanxuan, go carry Qin Lie back. If you have something to say, wait until I’m back with your father to say it!” Ling Chengzhi shouted as he suddenly appeared on Herb Mountain.

“Third Uncle, we…” Ling Xuanxuan began to shout.

“I know, a white-clothed person attacked Qin Lie. We also saw it. Your father is already chasing him. Go bring Qin Lie back first, lest another incident occurs again.” Ling Chengzhi said, playing the cover up.

Once Ling Yushi heard him say that, she didn’t think about it any further. Seeing that Qin Lie had fainted dead away, she couldn’t think of any other ways to move him, so she had no other choice but to bend over and carry Qin Lie on her back, “Ugh, this guy’s really heavy!”

The legs of the elder sister whose figure was slender and beautiful suddenly shook just as she carried Qin Lie on her back, her bright eyes revealing an expression of astonishment.

“Big sis, what nonsense are you saying? This fool is so skinny, how can he make you feel burdened?” Ling Xuanxuan curled her lips, and only thought that her elder sister was joking around.

Ling Yushi didn’t explain. She turned her head to look toward the youth who was lying on her shoulders. After seeing the face which, contrary to expectations, seemed extraordinarily handsome after the eyes were tightly shut, she stared blankly for a long time.

How strange, after this guy closes his eyes, he actually would appear to be so good-looking…

“Daddy had once said, only martial practitioners who have tempered their bodies to an extremely powerful extent, those kind of people who trained their skin, flesh, muscles, veins, connective tissues, bones, and organs to great heights, could be several times heavier than ordinary people even when weak and thin.” Seeing that she did not answer, Ling Xuanxuan continued speaking on her own with disdain: “Him? Tsk! There aren’t even any fluctuations of spirit energy inside him. Even if he is a little heavy, it would be the undigested food he ate, or maybe he is carrying some kind of heavy object on him.”

Ling Yushi, who was staring blankly and had not thought deeply about it at first, suddenly came around to realization after hearing her say these things. As she looked at the youth on her shoulder, and amazed, ambiguous expression slowly surfaced in her crystal clear eyes.