A master of both medicine and martial arts, he picked up a beautiful CEO as his wife.

"At the very end of Tingxue Town is the ancient path leading up the mountain."

The ancient road was paved with bluestones, worn smooth by hundreds of footsteps, with a few withered grasses sprouting from between the stones.

In the past, when my fellow disciples went down the mountain to buy vegetables, they would carry their loads back and forth along this ancient path, laughing and chatting non-stop, their voices carrying far and wide. But now, the ancient path is so quiet that only the sound of the wind can be heard.

The three of them continued up the ancient path, and the feeling of oppression grew stronger. The lush forests on both sides became somewhat desolate and bleak.

Shen Yu's face grew increasingly grim.

Ye Feng discovered that he hadn't encountered anything along the way—no birds, no rabbits. The mountain was alive, but all the living things had hidden themselves away. It was as if even the birds and beasts could smell the ominous aura emanating from the mountain and had all fled. This deathly silence was more frightening than witnessing the clash of swords.

"No," Shen Yu suddenly stopped at a fork in the mountain halfway up, "There's a 'maze array' set up by our sect here, protecting the other end of the path. If an ordinary person goes in, they'll be trapped in circles, unable to go down or up. But now..."

He reached out and poked at the air in front of him, and his expression changed instantly.

"The formation has been broken."

Ye Feng's heart sank.

He remembered this formation. Back then, his master had led him there for an entire day, teaching him stroke by stroke how to identify the formation's key points and footings. His master called it a maze formation, the gate to Nirvana Mountain. It wasn't about guarding a single flower or blade of grass, but about guarding the root within the mountain that couldn't be known by outsiders. Now, that gate had been kicked open, and the root within the mountain was probably already wide open.

The Mystery Array is the first layer of protection for Nirvana Mountain, personally set up by the master. It's impossible for ordinary experts to break it. The fact that this array has been broken indicates one thing.

Someone forced their way in.

Or rather, their cultivation level is unfathomably high!

There are probably only a handful of people in this world who can break through the maze personally set up by their master.

Ye Feng clenched his fists. With the merging of his meridians, his true energy had become even purer, and it was now surging within his meridians, ready to be unleashed.

The three of them walked quickly forward and then uphill. After passing a small ridge, the gate of Nirvana Mountain came into view.

But when they looked at Ye Feng and Shen Yu, they were stunned.

The solemn and ancient mountain gate I remembered, the one with its thriving incense offerings, is now completely dilapidated.

The plaque bearing the words "Nirvana" hung crookedly, torn in two by a large charred scorch mark. On the stone steps at the entrance, broken swords were stained with dark blood, along with some banners belonging to strangers.

Ye Feng remembered that the two characters "Nirvana" were written by his master. Every first and fifteenth of the lunar month, his master would lead his disciples to burn incense under this plaque, pay homage to the mountain gate, and pray to the covenant that had been passed down for generations.

Now, the word "Nirvana" has been cut in two, and the charred scar that split open looks like a hideous wound that stings Ye Feng's eyes.

The dark bloodstains had long since dried and turned black, seeping into the cracks of the bluestone, and could no longer be washed away. Ye Feng dared not imagine whose blood it was, nor could he imagine how cruel the fierce battle that had turned the entire mountain gate into its current state must have been.

What's even more alarming is that the entire mountain gate is devoid of any human presence. In the past, there were morning bells and evening drums every day, but Nirvana Mountain, where the fellow disciples were, now seemed like a desolate, empty mountain.

"Master..." Shen Yu's voice trembled slightly, "Where...where have all my junior brothers gone?"

Ye Feng had never heard Shen Yu, who was usually as steady as a mountain, tremble like this before. Shen Yu had stayed on the mountain for many years and had developed a deeper bond with his fellow disciples. The scene before him was like watching his own home being burned to ashes.

Ye Feng didn't speak. He quickly took a few steps, squatted down, and pulled out a corner of the array flag. His fingertips felt cool.

The dark gray color was hard to describe, and the strange and unfamiliar patterns on the flag were neither from any hidden sect in the Central Plains nor from ordinary battle flags.

Ye Feng brought the flag closer to his face for a closer look. He could only feel a sticky and cold aura entwined with strands of silk floating out. He had never seen the pattern on the flag before, but the wisps of sinister energy swirling around it reminded him of someone, something that Cheng Jiuyuan had once mentioned, something hidden even deeper than Dongyang.

Cheng Jiuyuan's warning from that night still echoed in his ears. Those things, hidden so deep, were never known to anyone unless they smelled the scent of that thousand-year-old pure yin, at which point they would crawl out.

And now they've climbed up.

"Nirvana Mountain is surrounded." Ye Feng slowly straightened up, his body as cold as ice. "Master... is gone."

Only then did he understand why every word in his master's pigeon letter urged him to return to the mountain to repair his meridians and cure his death calamity.

Ye Feng still carried that letter with him. It didn't explain anything, just repeatedly telling him to come back quickly. The handwriting was messy, the words rushed, nothing like his master's usual neat and steady handwriting. At the time, Ye Feng thought his master was urging him to return to the mountain to repair his meridians and heal his life-threatening calamity. He hadn't realized that, despite his anxiety, a catastrophe was imminent.

The changes at the mountain gate are not an exaggeration.

While he was putting out fires in Dongyang, a disaster was happening at his sect's mountain where he had grown up.

A sense of regret for arriving too late, a sense of anxiety for arriving too late, gripped his heart!

"If I had seen through the scheme of our master sooner, if I had set off for the north sooner..." If that had happened, "would I have been able to protect my master and my fellow disciples before the mountain gate was breached?"

Every "what if" that appeared now became a thorn in Ye Feng's heart, causing him to cough uncontrollably from the pain!

"Senior brother," Ye Feng suppressed his excitement, "Let's go."

Just as the three people were about to enter the dilapidated mountain gate, a group of people slowly emerged from the shadows inside the gate!

The leader was dressed in a dark, close-fitting outfit, and appeared to be in his forties. He had a cold face and a tall, upright posture. But what was most terrifying was the aura he exuded! It was understated yet as deep and cold as an icy pool.

Ye Feng's eyes narrowed slightly.

The opponent's cultivation level is actually no less than Cheng Jiuyuan's?

Who is Cheng Jiuyuan? He is a person with unfathomable strength, capable of easily putting Ye Feng, who is only at the early stage of the Meridian Integration Realm, into a dangerous situation!

But the one before them exuded an aura that was even more subdued, colder, and more unfathomable.

Ye Feng felt as if he were standing beside an abyss! Below was nothing but darkness!

"Two!" The man in the black, close-fitting clothes stood with his hands behind his back. "Are you old acquaintances from Nirvana Mountain, returning home?"