One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Wangjia Village is nestled deep within the folds of the southwestern mountains. From satellite maps, it appears as an inconspicuous little spot, enveloped by layers of dark green mountains, like a forgotten island in a corner of the world.

But when you get really close, you'll find that the "tranquility" here has a deliberately eerie quality.

It's too quiet.

It wasn't the serene stillness that one should have at night, but rather a...dead silence. There were no chirping insects, no croaking frogs, no hooting owls, and even the rustling of the wind through the leaves seemed extremely faint, as if deliberately suppressed by some invisible force.

Nie Lingfeng, with Chen Duo in tow, stopped on an unnamed hill about three miles from Wangjia Village. The hilltop offered a panoramic view of the entire village.

It was late at night, and the moonlight was obscured by thick clouds, with only a few scattered starlight barely penetrating the gaps and casting a faint glow. But Wangjia Village was lit up—not with the warm, homey yellow light of ordinary homes, but with a pale, cold light, like moonlight, or the halo of some kind of large, cold light.

The light source comes from the tallest and oldest building in the center of the village—the Wang Family Ancestral Hall.

The entire ancestral hall was bathed in a soft white light, within which faint ink-like patterns flowed, as if someone had unfurled a traditional Chinese ink painting in the night sky, the ink slowly spreading and diffusing on the rice paper. The light was not dazzling, even somewhat hazy, but it covered a vast area, almost encompassing most of the village. In the area bathed in light, everything seemed somewhat unreal, like looking at the world through frosted glass.

The houses with their blue tiles and white walls are scattered in a well-organized manner, unfolding layer upon layer along the mountainside. The village path, paved with bluestone slabs, meanders like a snake, stretching from the foot of the mountain all the way to the entrance of the ancestral hall. At this moment, the village path is deserted, but every so often, a white lantern can be seen hanging under the eaves, with the black character "王" (king) written on it, swaying slightly in the night breeze and casting flickering shadows.

"There's a formation." Nie Lingfeng crouched behind a protruding rock and said in a low voice, "And... it's very strong. It's not an ordinary protective formation, it's the kind of large formation that can change the world and form its own domain."

Chen Duo stood beside him, still clutching the half-person-sized panda plush toy. One of the toy's ears was slightly flattened from her grip, and the fur was a bit matted, but she held it tightly. Hearing Nie Lingfeng's words, she raised her head, her emerald eyes quietly gazing at the eerie white light emanating from the direction of the ancestral hall in the distance. Her face was expressionless, but Nie Lingfeng could sense that her hand, which wasn't holding the toy, was clenched slightly at her side, her knuckles turning white.

"I'll go scout things out," Nie Lingfeng turned to look at her, his voice even softer. "You stay here and don't let anyone find you. There should be sentries around here, but I didn't sense any living beings on my way here... that's strange. Anyway, stay hidden and don't move."

He paused, then added, "If I don't return within half an hour—that is, an hour—or if you hear any loud noise or see that layer of white light suddenly brighten or become chaotic, leave immediately. Don't look back. Go down the mountain along the path we came from, find a car in town, and go directly to Longhu Mountain. Remember how to get there?"

Chen Duo nodded, her voice soft but clear: "I remember. Go down the mountain, turn left, cross the bridge, walk straight for three kilometers to the town, take the bus to the county seat, then transfer to a train to Jiangxi, and then..."

"That's enough, that's enough." Nie Lingfeng chuckled and ruffled her hair. "I'm relieved that you remember it so clearly. But I hope we won't need this backup plan."

Chen Duo looked at him, her emerald eyes reflecting the white light of the ancestral hall in the distance, and also his face. She didn't speak, but there was a very faint, almost imperceptible resistance in her eyes—not fear, but... not wanting him to go on an adventure alone.

But in the end, she nodded and whispered, "Mmm."

Nie Lingfeng ruffled her hair again, then took a deep breath, his figure swayed, and like a wisp of smoke merging into the night wind, he silently disappeared from behind the rocks.

Instead of charging directly towards the village, he zigzagged along the shadow of the mountain ridge. He used the "Wind God Leg" technique to its fullest extent, each step as light as a feather, landing silently without even crushing a single withered leaf.

He carefully observed the woods, fields, and streams he passed along the way.

Sure enough, there was a problem.

On several old trees at the edge of the forest, hung some almost invisible transparent threads, with tiny copper bells tied to them—not ordinary copper bells, but bells engraved with fine runes. Once touched, they did not produce a crisp ringing sound, but a high-frequency vibration that could directly stimulate the soul, which could be "seen" by people within a mile radius.

Buried in the soil along the edge of the field was a jade talisman the size of a palm, also engraved with runes and emitting a faint "qi" fluctuation. This was likely a trigger-activated alarm talisman, which would activate immediately if someone stepped on it or if the "qi" fluctuation became abnormal.

On the surface of the stream, a few seemingly ordinary fallen leaves floated, but Nie Lingfeng keenly noticed that the positions of those leaves were too regular and the edges were too neat—they were fake, some kind of disguised detector.

What's more troublesome is that at several key intersections and high points, the ground is covered with intricate runic patterns drawn with a special, almost transparent pigment. These patterns are almost invisible to the naked eye, but in Nie Lingfeng's perception, honed by the Ice Heart Technique, they are as clear as fireflies in the dark. The patterns are connected by thin "Qi" lines, forming a vast early warning network covering the entire area outside the village.

"Heavily guarded," Nie Lingfeng thought with a cold smile, but his movements became even more cautious. He was like a nimble cat navigating a minefield, every step precisely calculated to avoid all visible and invisible traps.

Ten minutes later, he reached the stone wall on the outskirts of the village.

The wall, made of bluestone and about two and a half meters high, was covered with dense ivy and moss, giving it an ancient and weathered appearance. But Nie Lingfeng could sense that the wall itself was part of the great formation that enveloped the entire village.

The direction of the ivy—which vine wrapped around the left three times, which one drooped a foot to the right; the distribution of the moss—which patch was darker, which was lighter; even the cracks in the bluestone on the wall—which crack was wider, which crack was narrower—all subtly formed a mysterious, three-dimensional array of runes.

This did not grow naturally; it is the result of deliberate pruning, guidance, and maintenance by several generations.

"Using villages as battle formations and walls as symbols... The Wang family has put a lot of thought into this over the past few hundred years," Nie Lingfeng thought to himself.

He didn't climb over the wall—climbing over the wall would definitely trigger the array's alarm. He went around to the side of the village and found a slightly higher earthen slope with an old locust tree growing on it, its branches and leaves dense, making it an excellent observation point.

He silently climbed the tree, lay down on a thick branch more than five meters above the ground, parted the leaves in front of him, and carefully observed the situation inside the village.

The village was quiet, but there were quite a few "people".

In his perception, there were at least a hundred fluctuations of "Qi," like sparse starlight in the night sky, scattered throughout the village. Some were in the light—like the black-clad men patrolling the village roads, two in each group, their steps synchronized, their eyes alert, each holding a specially made long stick, its shaft engraved with runes. Some were in the shadows—like the figures hiding under eaves, behind walls, and even in the treetops, motionless, their breathing extremely light, like patient hunters. And some… were sitting cross-legged in those seemingly ordinary houses, motionless, as if in meditation, or perhaps waiting for some command.

The strongest "Qi" fluctuations come from the ancestral hall.

Around the ancestral hall, at least thirty experts had gathered. Their Qi auras, like clusters of burning flames, were particularly striking to Nie Lingfeng's senses. Among them, three auras were especially powerful, like three erupting volcanoes, scorching, violent, and full of oppressive force—stronger than Ghost Hand, Blood Blade, and Shadow One, whom he had killed in the southwest, combined.

"It should be an elder of the Wang family, or even... Wang Ai himself." Nie Lingfeng's eyes were solemn.

He squinted, carefully observing the structure of the ancestral hall and its surroundings.

The ancestral hall is a typical Ming and Qing dynasty building, with three courtyards, flying eaves and brackets, and blue bricks and gray tiles, looking solemn and dignified. But at this moment, the entire building is completely shrouded in a layer of pale white light curtain, about three feet thick, in which ink colors can be seen flowing, swirling and changing, like a three-dimensional, living ink painting slowly unfolding in the night sky.

The painting contains mountains—ink-colored mountain ranges undulating, shrouded in mist; water—black streams meandering, rippling; trees—a forest composed of varying shades of ink, branches and leaves swaying; and even… there are human figures—very faint, almost transparent ink figures moving, patrolling, and guarding in the painting.

"The Divine Coating Array..." Nie Lingfeng's heart sank as he recalled the information Xu Si had previously revealed.

The Wang family's "Divine Path" martial arts, besides using pens as weapons and bringing objects to life through drawing, also has a more profound and terrifying application—using heaven and earth as paper, "qi" as ink, and divine thought as a brush to set up a large array covering a region. Within the array's range, the caster is a "god," able to freely change the rules, manipulate the environment, and even... decide life and death.

The light curtain enveloping the ancestral hall is clearly a manifestation of the "Divine Painted Array." Moreover, judging from its scale, aura, and the complexity of the ink color changes, it is definitely the Wang family's trump card for protecting the clan, which is now being activated at full power without reservation.

Forcing your way in would be very troublesome.

But what Nie Lingfeng cared about even more was the area behind the ancestral hall that had been isolated.

The area was about half the size of a basketball court, surrounded by a low stone wall with no doors, only a small window. The Qi fluctuations within the area were very weak, almost imperceptible, but Nie Lingfeng keenly noticed that the ground color was off—it was darker than the surrounding ground, as if it had been recently disturbed, and the soil texture looked very loose.

The air was still filled with a very faint, slightly fishy-sweet smell, like the aftertaste of some kind of medicine or spice burning. The smell was peculiar; Nie Lingfeng had never smelled it before, but he instinctively felt disgusted—like rotting flowers, or cloyingly sweet blood.

"Something's fishy." Alarm bells rang in his mind.

Such places are either prisons where important figures are held, or... places where some kind of forbidden ritual or experiment is conducted.

Considering the Wang family's style of doing things and Wang Ai's obsessive pursuit of "immortality" and "power," Nie Lingfeng leans more towards the latter.

Just as he was intently observing that area, suddenly—

A sudden, intense heart palpitation struck without warning!

The hairs on my body stood on end instantly! The muscles in my back tensed instantly! My heart felt like it was being gripped by an invisible hand, it clenched sharply, and then started pounding wildly!

There was no murderous intent, no hostility, and not even any fluctuation of "qi".

But Nie Lingfeng knew—danger! Extreme danger! Like walking barefoot on the edge of a red-hot blade, like having your neck pressed against the fangs of a venomous snake, like standing on the edge of a precipice, one more step forward and it would be utter destruction!

The feeling came suddenly and went quickly, lasting less than two seconds.

But Nie Lingfeng's back was already soaked with cold sweat.

He wasn't sure where this feeling came from. Perhaps it was the beast-like intuition brought by the blood of the Qilin, perhaps it was the keen perception of the "power" of heaven and earth after cultivating the Wuqiu Yijue, or perhaps... some kind of higher-level warning involving fate or cause and effect.

In short, he believed it.

Tonight, we can't go any further.

3

Without hesitation, Nie Lingfeng slid down from the tree, his figure transforming into a pale blue shadow as he retreated at an even faster pace than he had come. He didn't take the original route, but instead chose a more concealed, yet more circuitous, path, like a true gust of wind, silently disappearing from the village under the cover of night and the woods.

Five minutes later, he returned to the small hill three miles away.

Chen Duo was still waiting behind the rock, clutching her panda plushie, like a quiet sculpture. When she saw Nie Lingfeng emerge from the night, her eyes lit up, but she didn't speak, just quietly watched him.

Nie Lingfeng revealed himself, his expression somewhat solemn, and his breathing slightly rapid—not from exhaustion, but from the lingering effects of the palpitations he had just experienced.

"How is it?" Chen Duo asked softly.

"Not good." Nie Lingfeng shook his head, sat down beside her, and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "The formation is very powerful; it's the Wang family's 'Divine Array,' covering the entire ancestral hall. Forcing our way in would be very troublesome. There are many experts; there are at least thirty around the ancestral hall alone, three of whom are particularly strong, possibly elders or even Wang Ai herself. Moreover..."

He paused, then looked at Chen Duo: "There's a secluded area behind the ancestral hall. I can't see through it, but it feels very unsettling. Just now, while I was observing it, I suddenly had a... extremely dangerous feeling, like I would die if I took another step forward."

Chen Duo frowned slightly. She thought for a moment and asked, "More dangerous than Biyou Village?"

"It's different," Nie Lingfeng said. "Biyou Village's mechanisms and magical artifacts are powerful, but those things are traceable and can be broken. The Wang family's... is an array, a domain, it's going against the rules on someone else's territory. Moreover, I always feel that they have other trump cards that they haven't revealed yet."

Chen Duo was silent for a moment, then said, "Then... shall we come again tomorrow?"

"Okay." Nie Lingfeng nodded, stood up, and brushed the grass clippings off his clothes. "Let's retreat for tonight. Let's go back and make a good plan, and tomorrow... we'll deal with it all at once."

Chen Duo also stood up, holding the doll, and followed behind him.

The two turned around and walked back along the mountain path they had come from. The night was deep, and the mountain path was rugged, but both of them walked steadily.

After walking for about a mile, when they came to a relatively flat clearing in the woods, Chen Duo suddenly exclaimed "Huh?", stopped, squatted down, and looked into the grass.

Nie Lingfeng turned around and saw her extending her right index finger, carefully poking at a toad crouching in the grass, one poke at a time.

The toad was yellowish-brown all over, with bumps of all sizes on its back. It had a pair of dull eyes and squatted there motionless, letting Chen Duo poke its forehead with her fingertip without even blinking.

Nie Lingfeng: "..."

This scene seems familiar.

He recalled that in Biyou Village, Feng Baobao squatted on the edge of the field, poking frogs with a twig for half an hour at a time, and solemnly said that "poking frogs can calm the mind."

"Did Bao'er teach you that?" Nie Lingfeng walked over, squatted down, and looked at the toad with a face that seemed to say, "Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?"

Chen Duo nodded, her finger still poking lightly but earnestly: "She said that when your mind is in turmoil, you should find a frog and poke it. As you poke it, your mind will calm down."

"..." Nie Lingfeng was speechless, but looking at Chen Duo's serious expression, he found it a little funny. "So, are you quiet now?"

"It's quiet now," Chen Duo said, then added, "It's not afraid of me."

Nie Lingfeng's heart skipped a beat.

Yes, this toad isn't afraid of Chen Duo.