It all happened very quickly.

Just a moment ago, she had been hearing the shouts and curses coming from an alley on the side of the street.

The next moment, He Qingling's vision suddenly went dark, and when she regained her senses, all she could hear was the sound of wind rushing past her ears.

She felt herself moving through the air at incredible speed.

Tucked under someone's arm.

He Qingling tried to resist, but she found herself completely unable to move.

The true qi in her qi sea and meridians seemed to be completely locked down.

He Qingling was well aware that she was a Qi Sea Realm cultivator, and could even be counted among the strongest few Qi Sea Realm cultivators on the entire Chenping Continent.

Yet here she was, being treated like this...

This could only prove that the other party's cultivation was at least a full major realm above her own.

Perhaps even more than that.

He Qingling suddenly thought of something.

First, there was what she had long heard from her seniors—the news that Liang Qianbo of Wind Ravine Valley, one of the Three Heroes of Spirit Connection on Du Cang Mountain, had been ambushed and killed.

Then, there was what had just happened at the branch of the Yulai Pavilion.

Originally, He Qingling had been listening to the storyteller recount the tale of how the Falling Star Realman, Su Hongzhen, had made his mark at the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry eight thousand years ago.

She had no idea how many times she had heard this story. She even believed that if she were to step onto that stage herself and narrate the tale of Su Hongzhen's triumph at Heavenly Summit Mountain, she would be no worse than the storyteller.

But this time, He Qingling listened more carefully than she ever had before.

Because she had been pondering a single question the entire time.

That question was, within the story the storyteller had been narrating—the tale of Su Hongzhen's victory at Heavenly Summit Mountain—

Just how much of it was true, and how much of it was false.

When He Qingling looked at everything the storyteller had said with suspicion and scrutiny, she found that doubts were indeed surfacing one after another.

And it was at that moment that He Qingling suddenly overheard the discussion of the cultivators at the neighboring table.

"I heard Bai Jinye's injuries are pretty severe. It'll be hard for him to make any progress in his cultivation within the next two years. He'll probably get left behind by Fairy Chu or that Li Dog and the others."

"Still, that's better than Liang Qianbo's fate. He lost his life, after all. I'd originally hoped that one day I'd witness Liang Qianbo ascend to immortality!"

"Witness my ass. Do you even think you'll live past three hundred years old, and you're fantasizing about witnessing someone ascend to immortality? Hah."

"You never know. What if I manage to break through to the Qi Sea Realm?"

"Then you wouldn't be stuck at early Martial Spring Realm for eighty years like you are now... Why are you so bullish on Liang Qianbo anyway?"

"Because we share the same surname, Liang. I'm the kind of person who's always had affection for my own main branch."

"Oh, give it a rest. Speaking of which, who the hell would dare to lay a hand on the Guardians of the Dao of Du Cang Mountain? This is practically slapping Du Cang Mountain in the face!"

"Who knows..."

He Qingling absorbed every word of the neighboring table's conversation into her ears.

Bai Jinye, the foremost of the Three Heroes of Spirit Connection on Du Cang Mountain, had been attacked?

If Liang Qianbo's death had still allowed He Qingling to harbor some hope of coincidence, then Bai Jinye's attack truly made her begin to fully believe—

Someone was provoking and targeting Du Cang Mountain.

How could anyone have such audacity, to oppose the Five Great Sects and the seven Immortal Ascension cultivators of the Chenping Continent?

But then again, it was true.

After all, the world was vast, and all sorts of extraordinary people existed.

Just as He Qingling was sinking into thought, Lin Fan returned to the main hall and brought her along, preparing to leave Huangquan City and head toward the Liaolong Ferry.

And then, just like this, she was suddenly snatched away on the streets of Huangquan City.

He Qingling's mind raced at lightning speed, searching for any possible way to escape.

But it was simply impossible.

After all, the person currently controlling her had a cultivation a full major realm above her own.

A Passable God Realm cultivator, while not having any significant increase in the sheer volume of true qi in their qi sea compared to a Qi Sea Realm cultivator—

The change in the intensity of their spiritual sense alone was enough to make a Passable God Realm cultivator's strength over ten times that of a Qi Sea Realm cultivator.

Plop!

After a few breaths, He Qingling was suddenly slammed heavily onto the ground.

The sound of flowing river water came from not far away.

He Qingling knew this was outside the city walls of Huangquan City.

When she had traveled from the Liaolong Ferry to Huangquan City, she had passed by this tributary of the Mei River, called the Small Spring River.

"This little girl should be He Qingling of the Xuan Sheng Sect. Senior, please take a look."

From above her came the voice of a man that sounded relatively young.

It should be the cultivator who had abducted her here.

Following that, the sound of footsteps approached in He Qingling's direction.

Then, a searing pain shot through He Qingling's scalp, because her hair had been grabbed by someone's hand and yanked upward.

What came into her view was the face of a middle-aged man with a curled mustache, looking somewhat shifty-eyed and cunning.

The shifty-eyed middle-aged man first stared at He Qingling's face for a moment, then, as if lost in recollection, closed his small, bean-like eyes.

Finally, he nodded.

"It's her."

Speaking in a gruff, muffled voice, the shifty-eyed middle-aged man released He Qingling's hair:

"Do it."

Then, this shifty-eyed middle-aged man turned around and walked several steps into the distance.

"Yes, Senior!"

The relatively young man's voice that had come from above He Qingling earlier spoke up.

Then came the sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath.

An unprecedented sense of crisis swept through He Qingling's heart. She knew that someone was about to deliver a killing blow against her.

The sound of the blade cutting through the air reached her ears.

Then, a brilliant flash of light blazed past.

"Ah!"

The young man's scream of agony rang out, followed by the sounds of a body crashing to the ground and metal striking stone.

"This is..."

The shifty-eyed middle-aged man turned around, pondered for a brief moment, then continued:

"I see, I see... After all, she's the daughter of the Xuan Sheng Sect's sect leader. How could she not have a contingency plan?"

That was right.

As the daughter of He Chengjie, and also the most talented disciple Xuan Sheng Sect had seen in a thousand years, He Qingling was deeply beloved by her grandmaster, Liu Puzhong.

In order to ensure He Qingling's safety, Liu Puzhong had gifted her a protective talisman, capable of blocking, and even countering, a full-force strike from a Passable God Realm cultivator.

And this seemingly ordinary little item was actually quite extraordinary.

To forge a talisman like this, Liu Puzhong had spent over eighty thousand high-grade spirit stones.

One could say the cost was exorbitantly high—it might have even been more economical to simply assign two Passable God Realm cultivators to guard He Qingling's side at all times.

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