"What is wrong?"
Ling Chuan caught Xie Zhaolin's brief pause immediately, his eyes narrowing as he searched hers for a sign of trouble.
Xie Zhaolin came back to herself and slowly withdrew her gaze from the empty horizon.
"It's nothing."
But her heart was nowhere near as calm as she sounded. Just a moment ago, an inexplicable flutter had swept through her chest, like a pebble tossed into a still lake, spreading a ripple so faint it was almost imperceptible before vanishing just as quickly as it had arrived. It wasn't a danger warning. It felt more like… something deeply connected to her had undergone a violent spatial level change, triggering a faint resonance she couldn't quite grasp with her mind.
A Golden Core cultivator had already brushed against the Laws of Heaven and Earth. Their spiritual perception far surpassed that of ordinary people, and toward people or matters with deep karmic entanglement, they could sometimes produce an obscure, elusive sense. This was what cultivators called a sudden intuition or a spiritual premonition.
Most of the time, it was vague, sometimes even an illusion, but she had always trusted her instincts. It didn't have a clear beginning or end, yet she couldn't ignore it.
"Yu Xiaotang?"
That name surfaced in her mind almost instantly. Only that deeply entangled nemesis, carrying something as bizarre as the Xi Tong, could possibly trigger such a vague sensation across such a vast distance. Had she gained another opportunity? Or had she touched something truly dangerous? Or maybe she had stumbled into a certain death situation, causing her aura to fluctuate violently?
Xie Zhaolin's mind raced through the possibilities, yet none of them settled into clarity. She hated this feeling of being out of control and unable to predict the future, especially when it involved Yu Xiaotang.
"Tsk. Annoying."
She snorted inwardly and pressed the anomaly down for now. No matter what her rival was plotting, strengthening herself and finding clues about the Tianxu Palace inheritance were the most urgent matters at hand.
"There's still no news from Elder Han Ling and Junior Brother Xin," Ling Chuan said after ending another attempt at communication. He put away the message jade with a grim expression, worry etched between his brows as he looked at the dense mist.
Ever since they had split up to break through the encirclement, he had lost stable contact with the Northern Ice Palace team. He could only receive extremely vague, intermittent signals now and then, with no way to confirm their location or their safety. This secret realm's isolation power was strong. The communication range and stability were both severely reduced. On top of that, someone was likely interfering on purpose, naturally referring to the enemy forces hunting them down.
Xie Zhaolin neither agreed nor disagreed with his assessment. She didn't care about the lives of the other Northern Ice Palace members, but his condition and mood affected their cooperation.
"This place isn't suitable for staying long," she said calmly. "Since we can't find Yu Xiaotang for now and you can't reach your fellow disciples, we might as well deal with what is in front of us. This area is dangerous, but beast materials, spirit herbs, ore veins, and even possible ancient cultivator ruins are all resources. Only by improving our strength can we deal with what comes next."
"I understand," Ling Chuan nodded.
Over the next few days, the two of them launched into efficient hunting and exploration. Xie Zhaolin's movement was bizarre and fluid, her attacks vicious and precise. She knew the weaknesses of all kinds of beasts inside out and often killed with a single strike of her spiritual power.
Ling Chuan's sword arts were sharp and decisive. His ice attribute techniques had extra suppression against yin-aligned beasts, and his defenses were solid. Together, one focused on offense while the other supported and control the flow of the battle. Their efficiency was frighteningly high.
In just a few short days, they hunted more than thirty Golden Core stage beasts, gathered several fairly rare spirit herbs, and even discovered a small cluster of precious Xuanyin Crystal Sand hidden within a narrow rock crevice. It counted as a decent gain for their efforts.
Yet news about the Hehuan Sect sank like a stone into the sea, without even a ripple to show for it. Xie Zhaolin had secretly contacted Yingsha and the others as well, but they had come up empty-handed. Yu Xiaotang and her subordinates seemed to have vanished completely from the secret realm.
Yingsha's repeated failures, without even catching a glimpse of their target, dealt a heavy internal blow to that organization. It was said they had already activated some of their trump card tracking treasures, yet there was still no trace at all. It was as if those people had evaporated from the secret realm entirely.
This abnormal calm only heightened her vigilance. She knew Yu Xiaotang too well. That woman was never the type to sit around waiting for death or to fade quietly into obscurity. Such complete silence meant one of two things. Either she was hiding somewhere extremely safe, licking her wounds and gathering strength, or… she was secretly carrying out something even more dangerous and covert.
In the blink of an eye, another month passed amid slaughter and exploration. That day, the light on the message jade in Ling Chuan's hand finally changed. He focused and connected to the signal at once. Moments later, relief flashed through his eyes, only to be quickly replaced by a heavier sorrow and grief.
"We found Elder Han Ji and the others," Ling Chuan said as he put the jade away, his voice low and strained. "They have set up a temporary base near the Cold Iron Forest, about sixteen hundred li northeast of our current position. But…" He paused, his gaze dropping to the ground. "The situation… isn't good. Losses were severe during the breakout. More than half of the Golden Core disciples died. Junior Brother Xin… has also fallen. Elder Han Ji killed two enemy Nascent Soul cultivators, but he was badly injured himself and is currently in seclusion to heal. Another Martial Uncle Han Yu is temporarily in charge of the survivors."
Ling Chuan's fingers tightened around the jade until his knuckles were white. He had been mentally prepared for this possibility, but hearing the confirmation still sent a sharp ache through his chest. Every disciple the Northern Ice Palace had sent into this secret realm was an elite of the sect. With losses this heavy, how were they supposed to explain it to the sect when they returned?
"My condolences," Xie Zhaolin said flatly, without much comfort in her tone. "Now that you have found your fellow disciples, what are your plans?"
"The elders want me to join them as soon as possible," Ling Chuan said, looking at her with a questioning tone in his voice. "They need manpower, and they're also worried about my safety. Would you… be willing to come along with me?"
Xie Zhaolin's heart leapt uncontrollably at that moment. Just as she had expected, the Northern Ice Palace had suffered a devastating blow, with enormous losses. Even the Nascent Soul elder guarding the path was seriously injured.
This was the perfect opportunity she had been waiting for. A weakened Northern Ice Palace team, desperate for outside help and possibly unstable internally, was far easier to infiltrate than a complete, tightly guarded force. It would also make it much easier for her to access the core secrets about the Tianxu Palace inheritance that were normally heavily protected by their layers of security.
Yet her expression didn't change at all. Even her eyes showed not the slightest ripple of emotion. She didn't answer Ling Chuan's invitation right away. Instead, she fell silent for a moment, her gaze seeming to rest on the rolling gray mist in the distance. Her fingers unconsciously rubbed the bracelet on her wrist, as if she were carefully weighing the pros and cons of such a commitment.
Seeing this, Ling Chuan's heart sank slightly. "Was this… a refusal?"