Ye Qin plummeted down to the mountainside of Cangmang Ridge. He retrieved his Black Cloud Obstruction artifact, tapped his toes lightly against the stony ground, and instantly slipped into a thicket of nearby jungle. Then, threading his way through the dense undergrowth and deadwood, he sprinted toward the nearest ravine, several hundred zhang deep, which he had spotted earlier, and leaped down into it.

Whoosh!

Innumerable screeching cries echoed from above. Two massive, fully grown Three-Azure Birds swooped down, their huge shadows, trailing a foul wind, engulfing the dense jungle. They flapped their wings violently, whipping up gusts of razor-sharp wind blades. In the blink of an eye, the hundreds of zhang of thick jungle were utterly devastated by the chaotic blades, carving deep gashes several zhang long into the rocks, leaving the area bare and offering no place to hide.

Ye Qin had already landed in the deep ravine, melting into a shadowy corner among the jumbled stones, suppressing his aura to evade the fierce, searching gaze of the Three-Azure Birds. Soon after, a flock of Danqing Birds descended, fussing over the spot where he had landed, searching for his energy signature and tracks.

After tormenting the area for a long time without finding Ye Qin, the flock of Three-Azure Birds finally soared back into the clouds.

Occasionally, several Three-Azure Birds would fly past overhead, scanning the skies above the ravine for any sign of the invading "enemy."

Ye Qin looked up at the cloud cover crowning the peak, feeling a knot of frustration in his chest. He realized that the summit of this mountain was home to several nests of wild Danqing Birds; he could see them darting in and out of the mountain mist and clouds constantly.

As the sky gradually darkened, Cangmang Ridge finally fell silent; the area around the ridge was dead quiet. Occasionally, sharp, violent roars would erupt from the distant peaks—monstrous beasts fighting among the ranges—before sinking back into silence. Only then did Ye Qin cautiously emerge from the chaotic rocks of the ravine and carefully examine the map scroll of Cangmang Ridge.

Cangmang Ridge spanned over a thousand li in area, featuring several main peaks. Various demonic avians occupied the skies, including the wild Danqing Birds he had encountered—they were merely one type among many. To fly away on a sword above the ridge, he would first have to ask those demonic birds for permission.

Ye Qin considered how he might escape for a while, then shook his head.

Although he hadn't witnessed the confrontation between the Lingquan Sect cultivators and the Danqing Birds, he had heard the cultivators' screams perfectly clearly. Then, the Lingquan Sect cultivators vanished without a trace in an extremely short time. If twenty-odd cultivators from the Lingquan Sect, possessing their level of strength, had met such a disastrous end, there was no way he could expect to gain any advantage against these Danqing Birds.

The only viable method was to avoid the sky and travel by land to exit Cangmang Ridge. However, leaving by ground was not necessarily easy either; the mountain forests of Cangmang Ridge were also infested with demonic beasts. One careless encounter with a high-level beast could bring enormous trouble.

Ye Qin glanced at the sky; it was already late night.

Venturing out to travel through the beast-infested mountains haphazardly was extremely perilous. He couldn't help but offer a wry smile, begrudgingly finding a clean patch of grass near the bamboo groves in the ravine, sitting cross-legged, and contemplating his next move.

Ye Qin was not entirely eager to return to Lingwu City. Even if he did go back, he would inevitably be assigned another near-certain-death mission. Although his current strength ranked among the top for cultivators of the same tier, encountering just a few more formidable opponents in combat would still be a struggle, leaving him constantly at risk of death and demise.

Since he was already trapped here and couldn't leave this dangerous place anytime soon, he wasn't in a rush to depart.

Ye Qin tucked away the map scroll, felt his storage pouch, and pulled out two jade slips: one was black, containing the Yin Profound Great Art, and the other was a purple ancient jade slip detailing the Purple Sword Arts.

After a moment's hesitation, he sent his consciousness into the jade slip containing the Yin Profound Great Art.

He had only managed to refine one fire-element Nascent Soul artifact. Refining the four auxiliary artifacts—wood, water, earth, and metal—required by the Purple Sword Arts was still too difficult. Just collecting a single drop of Primal Essence required significant effort, and it would take at least a year to refine a single Nascent Soul artifact.

The Yin Profound Great Art, however, was comparatively simpler. He possessed the skeletal remains of a Corroding Bone Crocodile, which he could use with the Bone Refining Art within the text to directly forge a sixth-tier skeleton. Once refined, it could be used immediately, greatly boosting his self-preservation capabilities.

Of the two small teams of Qingdan Sect cultivators sent on the surprise attack in Lingwu City, only Shen Bao and Bie Shi ultimately managed to escape. Zhang Bao's survival was purely down to sheer, unexpected luck; the Lingquan Sect cultivators had pursued the other high-level cultivators, while his cultivation was nearly the lowest among the group, allowing him to narrowly escape disaster.

As for Bie Shi, he had been severely injured and stayed behind in a small thicket to rest, missing the subsequent fighting. Thus, he was not discovered by the Lingquan Sect cultivators and managed to flee back from the Cold Lake Forest in a wretched state. The two happened to meet halfway, recounted what had happened, and sighed deeply. They had no idea of Ye Qin’s fate, believing only the two of them had escaped.

After returning wretchedly to Lingwu City, the pair immediately reported the outcome of the surprise attack mission to Elder Yan, who was in charge of deployments.

"Senior Brother Yan, after we entered the Cold Lake Forest, we were ambushed by the Foundation Establishment cultivators from Wan Yue Lake, who outnumbered us several times over. All our junior brothers died horribly! Only Junior Brother Shen and I survived dozens of life-or-death battles, slaying several enemies, by sheer fortune. We failed to protect our fellow junior brothers; please mete out punishment!"

Bie Shi’s entire body was blackened. In front of Elder Yan and the assembled Qingdan cultivators, he cried out in feigned, heart-wrenching grief. Yet, inwardly, he secretly rejoiced at his own escape. Having lived for over a hundred years, he was long accustomed to life and death, feeling no true sorrow for the passing of his sect-mates. However, he felt a slight regret that Ye Qin hadn't made it out, as Ye Qin had once saved his life.

Inside the pavilion hall at the temporary Qingdan Sect outpost, dozens of Qingdan cultivators looked grim, sighing, sharing a collective sense of doom. Perhaps the next to perish would be them.

Elder Yan’s face was ashen.

Of the ten Foundation Establishment cultivators dispatched, eight had been wiped out in one go. Although these Foundation Establishment cultivators held low status in the Qingdan Sect and were sent to the front lines first, they were still a decent fighting force. Losing them like this made it difficult for him to account for the loss to the Sect Master and the Ancestors.

But what could he say?

Bie Shi was already severely injured; even if healed, he would be half-crippled and wouldn't live many years. Shen Bao looked meek and submissive, head bowed, daring not utter a word. Could he criticize them for poor combat performance?

Elder Yan shook his head, arranging for several high-cultivation sect members to expel the corpse poison from Bie Shi's body, then excused himself to report the matter to Ancestor Huangfu and Ancestor Chen Min, who were stationed there.

Whether to dispatch more disciples to the Cold Lake Forest needed careful consideration.

Unnoticed by them, Huangfu Bing'er of the Profound Emperor Sect was standing by the railing on the third floor of the pavilion, having heard Bie Shi’s report perfectly clearly. The beautiful features beneath her veil instantly turned ashen, and her delicate body trembled slightly.

Junior Brother Ye hasn't returned?! What happened to him?

Her heart was thrown into chaos.

A moment later, Huangfu Bing'er suppressed the turmoil in her heart, turned, and returned to the inner chamber on the third floor to meet her father, Huangfu Rui, and Martial Uncle Chen Min.

After Elder Yan reported to Ancestor Huangfu and Ancestor Chen Min, he was just about to take his leave when he saw Huangfu Bing'er walking in. Her expression seemed unusually icy, slightly agitated. He was slightly surprised; he had never seen Martial Sister Huangfu wear such an expression before. He dared not dwell on it, offered her a slight bow, and withdrew.

"Bing'er, what is it?" Huangfu Rui was standing, hands clasped behind his back, examining a map of the Lingwu Mountain Range spread on the table. He looked at Huangfu Bing'er with gentle eyes, sensing her unease, and asked calmly.

"Father, your daughter wishes to lead a team to the Cold Lake Forest to carry out an attack mission," Huangfu Bing'er said plainly after executing a slight curtsy.

"Is it because of him?" Huangfu Rui pondered for a moment, then inquired, "You carry the Blood-Tethered Soul Imprint; even from thousands of li away, you can sense his life or death. Is he dead?"

"No," Huangfu Bing'er shook her head. "The Blood-Tethered Soul Imprint only reveals life or death, but not whether he is in peril. My sensation is very faint; he should still be within the Lingwu Mountain Range and has not yet returned. Your daughter worries..."

"As long as he isn't dead, that's enough. The war is currently tense; we cannot spare enough personnel for the Cold Lake Forest. The rest depends on his own fortune. If he cannot even handle such a small matter, how is he qualified to be the son-in-law of the Huangfu family? Bing'er, you will lead a team to Guiyi Prefecture in the Linju Kingdom. There is a wealthy secular family there named Wei. The Wei clan are descendants of an elder of our sect from a thousand years ago; only their secular bloodline remains. I worry the enemy cultivators might uncover their identity and bring about the calamity of clan extermination. Go escort a direct descendant of the Wei family to our sect's mountain gate, preserving a bloodline for them. This matter is of far-reaching importance and even more crucial; you must lead the escort yourself and not delay."

Huangfu Rui cut her off with a faint tone.

Huangfu Bing'er stared blankly at her father, her eyes flushing red, biting her delicate crimson lip until it nearly drew blood. Perhaps, in her father's eyes, the sect would always be more important than her, or her mother.

"Yes, your daughter will attend to this matter immediately!"

Ultimately, she gave a slight bow and turned to leave, but a single tear slipped silently down her cheek.

Lingwu Mountain Range, Cangmang Ridge.

Half a month later.

In the deep ravine, a young cultivator in a white robe, unremarkable in appearance, sat cross-legged on a small clearing. Before him were piled dozens of the skeletal remains of unknown demonic beasts, stacked like firewood, burning and emitting wisps of flame.

However, these flames were not Yang fire; they were wisps of eerie, chilling phosphorescent fire—or rather, Yin fire. These Yin flames possessed absolutely no warmth; instead, reaching out a hand towards them brought a bone-chilling cold.

Beside the skeletal 'firewood' stood a massive, several-zhang-long crocodile skeleton. The ivory bones gleamed with a dark luster, faintly visible traces of corpse poison energy swirling around them.

This scene looked exceptionally bizarre in the pitch-black, silent expanse of Cangmang Ridge.

If any cultivator from the Lingwu Realm witnessed this, they would likely gasp, thinking a wicked cultivator was practicing dark, venomous arts here.

Ye Qin couldn't afford to care about appearances. For the past several days, he had attempted to leave Cangmang Ridge numerous times, but he couldn't even venture out of this small ravine, which spanned only a few li. Demonic beasts surrounded him everywhere, forcing him to huddle in this cramped space, unable to move. To maximize his chances of survival in Cangmang Ridge, he had to cultivate the Skeleton Art. (To be continued)