When I came to, my body felt weak, and I couldn't muster even a shred of spiritual energy...
I surveyed my surroundings. The dimly lit room was silent, and I couldn't tell if I was still within the Water Moon Sect.
"Holy Maiden, we meet again."
My eyes widened in shock. I would never forget that voice, the man who had humiliated me at the gates of the Water Moon Sect.
"Li Nan!"
Li Nan chuckled, appearing before me. I suddenly understood everything, clenching my teeth in anger as I glared at him.
"What did you do to Xiao Lan? Xiao Lan would never betray me. You had better tell me the truth!"
Li Nan didn't rush to answer. He walked up to me, lifted my face with his hand, and looked down at me from above.
"How I took your little maid doesn't matter. What matters is that you're now mine."
"I don't want to hear your nonsense. Where's Xiao Lan? I want to see Xiao Lan!" Even now, I couldn't believe that Xiao Lan would betray me. Yes! It must be that Li Nan had schemed something, not what Xiao Lan truly wanted...
"Miss..." In the dim light, Xiao Lan slowly emerged, her expression complex...
"Miss, my body and soul now belong to Mr. Li Nan. He has agreed to take me as his concubine... It was Mr. Li Nan who showed me the joy of being a woman... Miss, please give up your resistance. Xiao Lan doesn't want to see you suffer..." After speaking, Xiao Lan seemed unable to look at me anymore and turned away slightly.
My mind went blank, and a dull pain gripped my heart. Two tears trickled down my cheeks... For the first time in my life, I felt what it meant to have a broken heart... Not even when my father died in battle did I feel this way...
"Xiao Lan... Is this the path you've chosen?"
Xiao Lan trembled slightly upon hearing this, clenching her fists tightly… She did not answer me…
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes tightly.
"Holy Maiden, don't worry about your maid. Soon we will be husband and wife, and you will be my Li Nan's legitimate wife. This isn't such a bad thing for you."
Li Nan chuckled lewdly, his cunning eyes gleaming with a hint of triumph.
I opened my eyes slightly, my face expressionless, and stared at Li Nan as I spoke each word carefully:
"Li Nan, you should feel honored. You are the first person I, Fang Ling, have ever wanted to kill so badly."
Upon hearing this, Li Nan seemed to have heard some unbelievable nonsense, bursting into laughter.
"Hahahaha, Holy Maiden, on what grounds do you say that? You are now a lamb led to slaughter, poisoned with our secret bone-dissolving powder. Even a Golden Core cultivator would be powerless, as weak as an ordinary mortal. I advise you to surrender and suffer less."
Upon hearing this, I no longer felt like responding. I took a deep breath and waited in silence.
Seeing this, Li Nan's expression grew serious, as if he sensed something amiss.
"Quick! Protect me and these two little whores and get us out of here!" Li Nan, who had always been quick on his feet, immediately summoned a group of guards.
"Who dares to harm the daughter of this Daoist's old friend!!!!"
A deafening, authoritative voice rang out! Li Nan's expression changed drastically. He didn't bother with the people behind him, pulled out a spirit talisman, and tried to activate his spiritual energy to escape.
A flash of a blade appeared, and Li Nan's hands were severed. He let out a agonizing scream and collapsed to the ground. The guards behind him scattered in all directions...
"Fools! A bunch of fools! The Li family raised you all for nothing! Come back immediately! Save Me, and I will reward you with ten thousand taels of silver!"
Li Nan, consumed by rage, shouted angrily. However, the guards had long since grown tired of Li Nan, who had mistreated countless innocent women. Had it not been for the Li family's power, they would have left long ago. Now, facing a life-threatening situation, who would care about Li Nan?
However, the power of a Golden Core cultivator was not something ordinary mortals could withstand. As the Dao Mountain cultivator waved his hand, a golden chain shot out, binding all the fleeing guards together.
Dao Shan transformed into a streak of light and appeared beside me. His brows furrowed deeply as he placed his large hand on my shoulder, examining me carefully. He then took a pill from his storage pouch and fed it to me.
In the brief time it took for these few words to be spoken, such a major upheaval occurred, leaving Li Nan seemingly unable to accept it. His eyes fixed on Dao Shan, his body trembling slightly from fear, and his lower body was covered in damp stains.
Dao Shan seemed furious. The daughter of an old friend had nearly been defiled. If he had arrived a moment later... the consequences would have been unimaginable!
Then, Dao Shan's expression turned ruthless, intending to slash Li Nan and his group with a single stroke… but I interrupted him.
"Uncle Dao Shan... may I handle this man?" Feeling my body gradually recover and my spiritual energy able to flow once more, I stared intently at Li Nan, speaking each word slowly and clearly.
Dao Shan paused upon hearing this, gave me a deep look, nodded slightly, put away his magical artifact, and stepped aside to sit cross-legged with his eyes closed, cultivating his spirit...
With a flick of my divine sense, the Beauty Sword appeared in my jade-like hand. I slowly approached Li Nan, who had already had both hands severed...
"This... Holy Maiden, it was my ignorance and momentary evil intent. You see, you're unharmed. Please spare my life, and I will surely repay you greatly in the future!"
Li Nan's smile looked forced. Though once handsome, his face was now grotesquely distorted from excessive indulgence, and his strained smile made him look worse than if he were crying.
I remained expressionless, my mind calm as I looked at Li Nan, as if I were not looking at a person... but... a corpse. The Beauty Sword flickered lightly, its sharp blade severing Li Nan's left leg.
"Ah!!"
Li Nan screamed in agony, ignoring the blood flowing freely, and struggled to kick backward with his remaining leg...
"You worthless little slut! The Li family won't let you off the hook! Hahahaha! With such a seductive appearance, you'll eventually end up moaning and writhing in pleasure under some man's body! As a woman, this is your inescapable fate!"
Li Nan seemed to have lost all control, no longer struggling as he uttered obscene words.
I silently watched the man before me. With another flick of my jade-like hand, Li Nan's right leg was severed.
Li Nan could no longer speak. His bloodshot eyes, red with blood, stared fixedly at me. With a final agonized laugh, he fainted.
A flash of sword light, and Li Nan's head was severed. Thus... Li Nan was dead.
It was my first time killing someone, yet I felt nothing, only an overwhelming sense of heartbreak, as the pain of being betrayed by someone I trusted most filled my heart and mind…
Dao Shan, standing nearby, sighed deeply. As cultivators, killing was an inevitable part of their path.
Xiao Lan glanced at Li Nan's lifeless body, then closed her eyes tightly, clenching her fists so hard that her fingertips pierced her flesh, dripping blood without even noticing.
She opened her eyes, a fleeting glimpse of resolve and reluctance flashing across them, her body trembling slightly as two tears rolled down her cheeks…
She gently stepped forward, her footsteps as steady as ever, as if afraid to disturb me…
She trembled as she cradled my sorrowful face in her hands and gently wiped away my tears…
"Miss... it was Xiao Lan who betrayed you... it was Xiao Lan who foolishly believed what Li Nan said... Xiao Lan's heart has never changed; Xiao Lan only wants to stay by your side forever, to serve you forever...
But my abilities do not permit it… Reality tells me that we will eventually part ways, even if it means being separated by life and death…
Xiao Lan cannot accept this future... Xiao Lan only wants... to follow you until the end of time..."
I looked at her with a complex expression, at this companion I had trusted most since childhood…
My mind seemed to flash back to the first time I met Xiao Lan, her clumsy and carefree demeanor...
Though she was always clumsy and scolded by her mother countless times, I still cherished every moment spent with her…
"Miss… I'm sorry…"
Xiao Lan looked guilty and sad, as if there were a thousand words she wanted to say to me, but in the end, she could only utter a single "I'm sorry"…
After speaking, Xiao Lan raised the dagger and slashed it across her snow-white neck, looking at me with regret as she slowly collapsed…
Even in death, Xiao Lan's eyes, filled with admiration, remained fixed on me...
A flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and a heavy rain began to fall. The water spirit energy filled the air, gradually gathering around me and forming a massive whirlpool of water spirit energy...
I felt an overwhelming sorrow in my heart. I clenched the Beauty Sword tightly in my hand, biting my lower lip to prevent myself from crying out...
What I did not know was... the sea of water spirit energy within my dantian was slowly mutating. A terrifyingly cold aura emerged within my dantian, and the vast sea of water spirit energy gradually turned a deeper shade of blue, eventually solidifying into a world of ice...
My body emitted an icy aura of coldness, spreading outward from my feet and eventually covering an area of dozens of miles, turning everything into a world of ice... And... it seemed to be continuing to spread further and further!
The sky, which had been filled with thunder and lightning, suddenly changed from rain to heavy snow...
The nearby Dao Mountain, seeing this, his pupils contracted sharply, and he stood up excitedly, muttering to himself:
"Extreme cold and frost, this... a once-in-a-thousand-years Celestial Pole Ice Constitution!"
The icy spiritual energy emanating from my body grew increasingly frigid, and within hundreds of meters around me, the air was filled with an icy mist so cold it could freeze the soul. Even Dao Shan, who was as powerful as a Golden Core Realm cultivator, could barely endure it, clenching his fingers into a spell seal as a protective barrier materialized around him.
The vast ice-spirit energy contracted tightly within my dantian. Even the energy that leaked out caused terrifying changes in the outside world! Finally, the ice-spirit energy condensed tightly, forming a deep blue light sphere within my dantian, illuminating the endless ice within...
I felt my mind grow dizzy, and the world went black as I fainted...
Dao Shan, who was nearby, immediately rushed forward, embraced me, and swiftly flew toward the sect. However, just as they had flown a short distance, he turned back, his expression complex, and carefully placed the small blue figure's remains into his storage pouch before resuming his flight toward the sect...
…
Within the Water Moon Sect, an odd occurrence took place...
In the Xuantian Continent, which had never seen rain or snow for years, a heavy snowfall suddenly began within the Water Moon Sect...
The snow fell with unprecedented intensity, and within half a day, the entire Water Moon Sect was transformed into a world of pristine white snow...
Out of desperation, many disciples rushed out to clear the important pathways, but within half a day, the snow had accumulated again, forming thick layers...
It wasn't until four days later that the snow began to ease, though it continued to fall lightly...
Within the Holy Maiden's Cave... The biting cold of the Ice Spirit Qi raged around the surroundings...
The Sect Master furrowed his brows, staring intently at Fang Ling lying on the bed. Dao Shan, standing beside him, also frowned deeply, dared not speak...
"The birth of the Heavenly Extreme Ice is naturally a good thing, but why has she been unconscious for so long?"
The sect master looked at Fang Ling, but his question was directed at Dao Shan beside him.
Dao Shan then recounted everything that had happened that day to the Sect Master.
"The Li family..." The sect master narrowed his eyes, suddenly emanating a dangerous aura...
"I have personally witnessed the birth of a Heavenly Spirit Root before, but even among Heavenly Spirit Roots, I have never seen one that caused such celestial anomalies." The sect master spoke without emotion.
"Stay here and wait. I will explain the deaths of the two inner disciples to Yan Lai True Immortal. Now, I must go to the Li family to handle some matters..."
With that, the sect master turned into a gray mist and vanished... One could imagine... From this night onward, the entire Li family might cease to exist...
Dao Shan, upon hearing this, sat cross-legged beside him and closed his eyes to meditate...