Why did you provoke that old man? He's a reincarnation of a deity!

That evening, Xiao Nian first sent Shen Dazhuang back to Mizhou City.

Jiang Wangshu led the several hundred men out of the southern foothills of the Taihang Mountains and parted ways at a dilapidated post station beside the official road.

Xiao Nian rode the black cloud towards the direction of Qing Shi Ridge, while Jiang Wangshu led his men towards the north of the river.

The Autumn Equinox is tomorrow.

For the past two weeks, the events deep in the Taihang Mountains have gone completely unnoticed by the outside world.

However, the Great Xia Kingdom suffered a devastating defeat that shook its very foundations. In the Battle of the Yellow Sea during the First Sino-Japanese War, the main force of the Great Xia navy clashed head-on with the combined fleet of Japanese pirates. The Great Xia lost seven ships and nearly two thousand officers and soldiers.

When the news reached Kyoto, the entire court fell silent, while the common people were filled with panic.

In the teahouse, some people were saying, "What will we do when the foreigners come?", some were cursing, "Those people in the imperial court are all useless.", and some were discussing how much land the Great Xia was going to cede and how much money it would have to pay in compensation this time.

On the surface, Mizhou City was relatively calm, but there were three times more yamen runners patrolling the streets than usual, and the city gates were inspected more strictly than ever before.

As Xiao Nian rode the Black Cloud through the official road outside Mizhou City, turning onto a mountain road leading to Qingshi Ridge, the autumn sunset was just falling on the ridgeline.

Xiao Nian looked up and sighed deeply: After Ye Xunmei and Shi Junhao got together, he sat cross-legged at the thousand-meter waterfall in Qing Shi Ridge for nearly a month, but still couldn't come to a conclusion.

When Ye Jingtang found him, it took several days of persuasion to finally help him emerge from his despair.

Xiao Nian looked at his wrinkled hands and shook her head self-deprecatingly:

Even the saddest things become normal after a long time.

Qing Shi Ridge is not high. Halfway up the mountain, there is a gray stone pavilion called "Wind and Rain Pavilion". The pillars of the pavilion are covered with withered vines, the edges of the stone table have been weathered and peeled off, and the crooked character "Xiao" is carved on the side of the pillar.

He carved it with Ye Jingtang when he was fourteen years old, shortly after he came here. Back then, Ye really treated him like a son, and Ye sincerely wanted Xiao Nian to become his son-in-law.

Xiao Nian descended from the dark cloud, preparing to slowly walk up this path and take a look at the way she came.

After walking for nearly half an hour, Xiao Nian arrived at the pavilion, where someone was already waiting...

A middle-aged man in a dark gray robe stood in the pavilion, his back to him.

The man was tall and thin, with a straight back, his hands behind his back, and a few strands of white hair at his temples.

Hearing the sound of the cane, he turned around.

Xiao Nian saw Ye Jingtang's face.

More than a decade had passed, and his square face had become more wrinkled, his temples were white, and he had grown a short beard. His eye sockets were much deeper than he remembered, but the familiar composure in his eyes was still there.

Ye Jingtang stared at the white-haired old man with a cane in front of him, his eyes lingering on Xiao Nian's face for a long time, his expression full of disbelief, and asked in a hoarse voice, "You...are you really Xiao Nian?"

Xiao Nian stood on the steps outside the stone pavilion, much shorter than him, her hunched back casting a long shadow in the setting sun.

"Uncle Ye, it's me. How have you been lately?"

Ye Jingtang's eyes instantly reddened. He took two steps forward and reached out to grab Xiao Nian's shoulder.

He stared at Xiao Nian's face, looking at it again and again, until finally he let out a breath:

"How come you look older than me? And this... isn't your body!"

"It's a long story." Xiao Nian slapped his hand away, walked into the stone pavilion, and sat down at the stone table. "Please sit."

Ye Jingtang took two deep breaths to calm down and sat down opposite him.

"I only knew you might still be alive after hearing Tianming say the line 'Dragon's palm reflects the Milky Way, Xiao family accompanies Yehe,' but after hearing his description of you, I didn't dare to acknowledge you directly, so I arranged to meet here."

"Do you know that the Li family is currently trying to matchmake your Tianming? Are you even aware of this?"

"I know. I sent my second son to get close to the Li family to investigate something."

Ye Jingtang's expression didn't change much; this was Xiao Nianyao's expression.

"What is it?"

"The real reason you died in the Kunlun Mountains."

Xiao Nian remained silent for a while.

Ye Jingtang continued, "After your accident, I had someone investigate for half a year. The official story was that you failed to break through to the Limit Break Martial Emperor realm and died in Kunlun, but I don't believe it."

"You broke through to the cultivation limit at twenty-five, a feat unmatched in the Great Xia Dynasty for hundreds of years. How could you suddenly die in a place like that? Later, I found out that before you entered Kunlun Mountain, the Li family sent people to inquire about your whereabouts from the hunters at the foot of the mountain. Isn't that a coincidence? No sooner had you entered the mountain than a group of people dressed in foreign attire followed you in."

He paused. "The Li family wasn't the mastermind, but they definitely knew. That's why I had my second son approach that girl from the Li family—not to arrange a marriage, but to gather evidence."

Xiao Nian stared at the crooked mark on the stone table and remained silent for a long time before speaking.

"That day when I went into the mountains, I was indeed surrounded. There were seventeen people in total, all of them experts from beyond the borders. Among them were three magicians, some Japanese pirates, and the rest were..."

Xiao Nian paused, "People from the Zhenxuan Division."

Ye Jingtang frowned.

"So, the Great Xia Dynasty did indeed participate."

The Zhenxuan Division is a ghostly government office established during the Qianlong era of the Great Xia Dynasty! The emperor of Great Xia knew that this land had fallen behind the outside world. In order to prevent others from rebelling, he ostensibly closed the country off from the outside world, but secretly sent his own Xia people to learn cultivation methods.

This organization previously specialized in suppressing virtuous individuals who aspired to cultivate themselves or showed signs of rebellion against the Xia dynasty, eradicating the ancient Taoist traditions of the Han people, and collecting and controlling all books, artifacts, and talents related to [magic]!

It can be said to be a poisoned blade stuck in the hearts of all people, a training hound raised by the Xia royal family!

"And then?" Ye Jingtang asked.

"They were all killed; not a single one made it down the mountain alive," Xiao Nian said with a smile.

"It's good that you're alright now, even though you look so old."

Xiao Nian shook his head. He couldn't explain that Xiao Nian had actually died in Kunlun Mountain before, with his meridians severed and his dantian ruptured. It was only after being saved by the Kunlun Immortal that he became the Azure Sky Emperor and roamed the universe for a hundred years.

"Actually, I'm already dead."

"Huh? Then?" Ye Jingtang asked.

"My death was mainly caused by the Qi-restoring pill. To be precise, it was a Qi-restoring pill with something added on it," Xiao Nian explained.

"A Qi-restoring pill?"

"I met Xunmei before I entered Kunlun Mountain. She gave me a bottle of Qi-restoring pills, saying it was a new formula she learned beyond the borders, three times stronger than those from Great Xia. I took them, and they did indeed restore my Qi quickly. But there was a problem with the ingredients; the medicinal effect wore off quickly after taking them, and they also carried a hidden force that subtly blocked my meridians."

"Later, I encountered battles, which depleted my energy quickly, so I naturally ate a lot. After eating, my meridians were blocked by 70%. Then I encountered the things on Mount Kunlun..."

"I could only utilize 30% of my Breakthrough Realm cultivation, and in the end, I died a miserable death."

Upon hearing this, Ye Jingtang gripped the fabric on his knee with his right hand.

His voice was low and deep: "Are you sure that medicine was given by Xunmei?"

"I received it from her hands myself."

Ye Jingtang closed his eyes.

He opened his eyes after a long while, the bloodshot veins clearly visible: "If it's confirmed that she did it, I will kill her with my own hands."