After descending the mountain, my aloof fiancée became completely devoted to me.

As night falls, neon lights illuminate the city streets.

After seeing Su Qingyue off, Lin Ping drove back to a star-rated hotel in the city center. Just as he opened the door to his suite, a slender and delicate figure suddenly rushed towards him.

Ake trembled all over, burying herself tightly in Lin Ping's arms. Her warm tears instantly soaked his clothes, and her sobs were broken and desperate.

"Ping-ge...you're finally back..."

Her shoulders heaved violently, her clear eyes were red from crying, and her eyelashes were wet and stuck to her eyelids. She looked pitiful, completely lacking her usual liveliness and agility.

Lin Ping raised his hand and steadily supported her back. His fingertips touched the girl's cold, trembling skin, and his expression instantly turned cold.

While he was working to resolve the crisis at the welfare home in southern Xinjiang, a sudden change occurred at home.

"Don't cry, what happened?" Lin Ping's voice was calm and composed, suppressing all his anger, as he gently comforted him.

Ake clung tightly to his clothes, refusing to lift her head, her voice choked with sobs, "I... I just went downstairs to buy some late-night snacks, only for a little over ten minutes... When I came back, the room was a complete mess, and Sister Adai, Sister Alu, and Sister Xiaohan were all gone!"

As soon as those words were spoken, the air inside the suite instantly plummeted to freezing point.

Ake looked up, sobbing, her eyes blurry with tears, filled with fear and self-blame: "I didn't see clearly."

A cold glint flashed in Lin Ping's eyes, but his face remained calm and expressionless.

He knew perfectly well that the kidnappers were not acting randomly.

Given the methods employed by Xiaoyuer's forces, it's impossible for them to overlook Ake, who was out on the move, if they wanted to eliminate the threat completely.

Leaving her behind was a deliberate arrangement from beginning to end, solely to have her deliver a message to him; it was a blatant provocation and scheme by the villain.

"Don't be afraid, it's not your fault." Lin Ping gently wiped away the tears on her cheeks, his movements tender, but his tone was icy cold. "Tell me, what did the person who captured you look like?"

Ake nodded vigorously, trying to steady her trembling voice, and carefully recalled: "The leader was a woman, not very old, dressed in all black, with particularly fierce eyebrows and eyes that were both cold and crazy. Her subordinates all wore badges with black patterns, and their movements were swift and efficient, unlike ordinary people at all."

A woman in black, wearing a black badge.

The clues matched up, and it turned out to be Xiaoyuer's men.

At this moment, Ake suddenly remembered something, hurriedly took out a folded black letter from her pocket, and handed it to Lin Ping: "Sir, they left this for you when they left."

Lin Ping unfolded the letter; it contained only a few words, the handwriting flamboyant and arrogant, carrying an extreme sense of mockery and threat—

[Abandon the child, the key to victory, for the sake of a precious daughter. On this old vantage point in Nanshan, hurry to the game; a moment's delay will cost three lives.]

A short sentence, every word of which is piercing to the heart.

Lin Ping slightly tightened his fingertips, and the letter was instantly shattered into fine powder by an invisible internal force, which then scattered in the wind.

"Stay in the hotel, lock the doors and windows, and don't open the door for anyone. Wait for me to come back."

After leaving a word of advice, Lin Ping turned and left, disappearing into the end of the hotel corridor in a flash.

Lingyun Mountain in the southern border region, a remote and desolate ridge on the outskirts of the city, is the core area where the foreign forces and remnants of the Blood Shadow Pavilion laid out the earth vein array during the day.

The night wind howled, the wild grass grew to waist height, and a chilling wind swept through the mountains. The array patterns on the ground faintly glowed with a dark red light, and a malevolent aura filled the sky.

Adele, Alu, and Zhu Xiaohan were tightly bound to the stone pillar at the center of the formation by thick, black ropes, which made their skin turn red.

The three women's mouths were all gagged with strips of cloth, their hair was disheveled, their eyes were full of anxiety, and they struggled incessantly, but they could not break free from the specially made binding ropes.

In front of the stone pillar, Xiaoyuer sat lazily on a stone chair, his black clothes fluttering in the wind, a smug and arrogant smile on his lips, casually playing with the black jade pendant between his fingers.

The sound of steady footsteps broke the deathly silence of the mountains.

Lin Ping walked slowly into the formation, his posture upright, without any fierce aura around him. He looked like an ordinary person on a journey, perfectly concealing his master-level cultivation.

"You arrived quite quickly." Xiaoyuer raised his eyes, his eyes filled with the arrogance of victory in his grasp, and sneered, "I spent months setting up the earth vein sacrifice array, thinking that pure child spirits were the best array base. Only today do I realize that I was narrow-minded."

She pointed at the three women struggling on the stone pillar, her tone becoming increasingly mocking and sinister: "The saintess from Lingyun Mountain, beauties imbued with spiritual energy, how can ordinary children compare in terms of the purity of their spiritual energy and the enhancement of their array core? Using them as sacrifices to break the array and cripple your martial arts foundation will only have a better effect!"

When Ade and the other two saw Lin Ping arrive, their eyes lit up instantly, but they hurriedly shook their heads frantically, their eyes filled with anxiety, fearing that Lin Ping had fallen into a trap.

Lin Ping raised his eyes, his expression calm, his voice cold: "They are innocent people, and have nothing to do with our grudges."

"Innocent?" Little Fish suddenly burst into laughter, a shrill and maniacal laugh, his eyes blazing with malice. "Lin Ping, you've protected children all over the southern border, putting on the act of a saint with a heart for all living beings! Since you favor protecting others, then I'll destroy all your weaknesses!"

"You cherish them like treasures? Today I will use their lives to ruin your opportunities and cut off your path forward!"

Before he finished speaking, Xiaoyuer raised his hand and waved it. The red light at the center of the array suddenly surged, and the black ropes binding the three women tightened instantly. Waves of corrosive power drilled into the three women's bodies, causing their bodies to spasm slightly and their faces to show pain.

"Let them go!" Lin Ping's eyes darkened slightly.

"Let them go? Sure." Xiaoyuer leaned forward, her gaze fixed on Lin Ping, her tone laced with malicious provocation. "Cripple your martial arts cultivation, kneel before me and admit your mistakes, and I'll let them go immediately. Otherwise, within three breaths, the array's power will devour their bodies, causing their souls to dissipate!"

"three!"

"two!"

The sound of Xiaoyuer counting down was icy cold, and the murderous aura in the formation grew increasingly fierce.

On the stone pillar, Zhu Xiaohan's eyes were red, she shook her head desperately, and sobbed, signaling to Lin Ping that he should never compromise.

Adele and Alou gritted their teeth, enduring the excruciating pain, and looked at Lin Ping with unwavering eyes.

Just as the word "one" was about to be uttered.

hum-

A deep, resounding boom echoed through the mountains.

Lin Ping, who originally appeared ordinary and harmless, suddenly unleashed a torrent of golden spiritual energy.

The restrained aura of a grandmaster suddenly exploded, a gale swept across the entire Lingyun Mountain, and the red light of the array patterns on the ground instantly dimmed and shattered.

Little Fish's pupils suddenly contracted, his face filled with astonishment, and he abruptly stood up: "Impossible! Your cultivation level..."

She couldn't detect any of Lin Ping's true strength at all, and always thought he was just an ordinary grandmaster. Only now did she realize that she had been kept in the dark from beginning to end! This was his act of playing dumb to deceive others!

Lin Ping's figure flashed, his afterimage sweeping through the air at an extreme speed.

Before Xiaoyuer could react, a hand had already precisely gripped her wrist, tightening its grip suddenly.

Click!

A sharp, piercing sound of bones cracking rang out.

"Ah!" Little Fish cried out in pain, his face turning deathly pale instantly.

"I will settle my scores personally." Lin Ping looked down at her, his eyes cold and indifferent. "You are not worthy to use innocent women as pawns."

With a slight pressure from his fingertips, Xiaoyuer's entire arm was completely dislocated. The excruciating pain left her weak and unable to maintain her arrogant demeanor any longer.

Upon seeing this, dozens of black-clad henchmen lying in ambush nearby drew their swords and charged forward, their murderous aura overwhelming.

Lin Ping turned and spun around, casually flicking out several streams of spiritual energy.

Bang bang bang!

Dozens of people couldn't even get close to him; they were all sent flying and crashed to the ground, spitting blood and completely losing their fighting ability.

The whole thing took no more than two seconds—a crushing, annihilation victory.

The stark contrast and the blatant slap in the face left Xiaoyuer completely stunned, his eyes filled with disbelief and horror.

Lin Ping raised his hand and waved it lightly, sending out several streams of gentle spiritual energy that instantly shattered the black ropes binding the three women and tore off the cloth strips sealing their mouths.

With the restraints removed, the three women instantly collapsed, exhausted.