The Immortal Clan begins with deductive intelligence.

With a splash, Xu Changqing lifted a clump of dark, mushy mud out of the water.

With a slight shake, the object in his hand was cleaned.

With the faint light of the water-repelling talisman, Xu Changqing finally saw what was in his hand.

This is a broken jade bottle, no bigger than the palm of your hand.

The neck of the bottle was broken in half, and the bottle body was covered with fine cracks.

The originally lustrous jade has been stained with an indelible grayish-brown color due to years of soaking in mud.

It looks so bad that no one would bother to pick it up if it were thrown on the street.

Xu Changqing emerged from the water and returned to the ice surface.

He brought the other half of the bottleneck close to his eyes and peered inside.

At the bottom of the bottle, a single drop of milky white liquid lay quietly.

The drop of liquid rolled back and forth in the broken bottle, yet it didn't pick up any of the dirt from the bottle; instead, it emitted a pure, ethereal light.

Xu Changqing leaned closer and took a sniff.

It has no fragrance, no taste at all.

But as soon as he inhaled that breath, the spiritual energy within his body began to circulate automatically.

"What a treasure."

Xu Changqing's earlier disdain vanished, and he put it into his storage bag.

After doing all this, he used his spiritual power to evaporate the moisture from his body.

This trip was worthwhile.

With this item, along with the purple-veined golden peach, the Xu family's foundation was beginning to take shape.

"Next, we'll learn how to use this thing."

Xu Changqing stood up and patted the ice crystals off his buttocks.

I'll take this jade liquid one drop every five days and see how it goes.

Just then, a red light suddenly streaked across the distant horizon.

The red light flew extremely fast, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, heading straight towards this direction.

Xu Changqing's expression hardened, and he found a secluded spot to shrink into, concealing his aura.

"boom!"

The red light struck the ice surface less than fifty feet away from Xu Changqing.

"Click."

The thick ice layer was smashed into a large crater, and ice shards flew everywhere, stirring up a white mist of snow.

The light faded, revealing a human figure.

The man was in a terrible state; his blue robe was torn to shreds and covered in dried, purplish-black blood. His hair was disheveled, and he was panting heavily, his chest heaving violently with each breath, clearly exhausted.

Xu Changqing huddled in the shadows behind the withered willow tree, holding his breath, suppressing the light of the concealing talisman on his body to the extreme.

It's the middle of the night, and I've just finished digging for treasure when this happens. I don't know if it's good luck or bad luck.

Xu Changqing recognized the man's tattered robe, though it was dirty, because he recognized the silver water ripple pattern embroidered on the collar.

Inner disciple of the Qinghe Sword Sect?

Before the man could get up, three more streaks of azure sword light fell from mid-air.

They landed in the east, south, and west directions respectively, completely surrounding the person in the middle.

The three who arrived were also dressed in green robes, but their clothes were clean and tidy, and the long swords in their hands gleamed coldly in the night.

Xu Changqing could see clearly that the leader was a tall female cultivator, but her pretty face was deathly pale, and her hand holding the sword was trembling slightly.

The injured man on the ground stopped running and simply sat cross-legged in the pile of broken ice. He wiped the blood from his face, looked up at the female cultivator, and his expression was frighteningly indifferent.

"Can't run anymore?"

The female cultivator took a step forward, pointing the tip of her sword at the person on the ground, her voice hoarse and choked with sobs.

"Senior Brother Wan, why did you stop? Keep running!"

"You falsely accused Junior Brother Li of stealing a sect treasure, causing him to have his cultivation crippled and be expelled from the sect... I just thought you were confused for a moment..."

"But while Master was in seclusion healing his injuries, you secretly plotted against him, betraying your master and destroying your ancestors..."

As the female cultivator spoke, large tears streamed down her face, falling onto the ice.

"After so many years of friendship, your master has treated you well, and so have we. And you're willing to abandon all humanity for a mere cultivation manual?"

Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Wan on the ground showed no remorse or attempt to defend himself; instead, he merely gave a mocking smile.

"Junior Sister Liu, you are still too naive."

He propped himself up on his knees, his body swaying slightly.

"When the great principles clash, what room is there for sentimentality?"

Xu Changqing, listening from afar, clicked his tongue in amazement.

What a dramatic scene of brothers killing each other!

It seems that life inside the Qinghe Sword Sect is not much cleaner than life in this swamp.

Xu Changqing quietly placed his hand on the storage bag, ready to make a run for it at any moment.

This involves internal strife within the sect; anyone who gets involved in such muddy waters is doomed.

"Wan Huaiyi..."

Upon hearing these cold-blooded words, the last glimmer of hope on Liu Jiangjiang's face was completely shattered.

"you……"

"He's no longer my senior brother!"

She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and each word seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth.

"Since you remain stubbornly unrepentant, there's no need for me to say anything more."

Wan Huaiyi remained calm, even leisurely straightening his tattered sleeves.

"Junior sister, stop talking nonsense and draw your sword."

Wan Huaiyi was confident that even though he was seriously injured, he was not someone that a few cats could easily take advantage of.

Liu Jiangjiang's eyes hardened, and the long sword in his hand shone with a brilliant blue light.

"Gentlemen, form ranks! Slay the traitors!"

At her command, three longswords, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, attacked from the top, middle, and bottom, aiming directly at Wan Huaiyi, who was standing in the pile of broken ice.

The sword flashed, its momentum was astonishing.

When Wan Huaiyi saw the three swords thrusting towards him, he not only did not retreat, but instead took a step forward.

This step was so large that the ice beneath his feet shattered with a "crack".

He twisted his body strangely, narrowly avoiding the swords of the two male disciples on his left and right. As for the sword that Liu Jiangjiang thrust at him head-on, he didn't even dodge it.

"Pfft."

The longsword pierced his left shoulder, spraying a cloud of blood.

Before Liu Jiangjiang could withdraw his sword, he saw a slight smile appear on Wan Huaiyi's pale face.

He raised his right hand, not to draw his sword, but to slap Liu Jiangjiang's wrist.

This palm strike looked light and airy, but it actually contained a lot of yin and soft spiritual power that he had accumulated over a long period of time.

Clang.

Liu Jiangjiang felt a sharp pain in his wrist, and half of his body went numb. The longsword slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

Taking advantage of the situation, Wan Huaiyi lunged forward, shoving his shoulder into Liu Jiangjiang's chest, sending her flying three zhang away. She crashed heavily onto the ice and couldn't get up for a long time.

"Senior Sister!"

Upon seeing this, the remaining two male disciples panicked, and their previously well-coordinated sword formation instantly fell apart.

Don't get distracted.

Wan Huaiyi pulled out the long sword stuck in his shoulder, ignoring that it was the weapon that had just stabbed him, and gripped it with such speed that it left afterimages.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two muffled thuds.

Instead of using the blade to cut, he used the thick spine of the sword to strike the necks of the two male disciples hard.

The two disciples didn't even utter a sound; their eyes rolled back, and they fell straight down into the icy, bone-chilling mud.

Xu Changqing's eyelids twitched as he watched.

Cruel person.

Wan Huaiyi is far superior to these three greenhorns in both cunning and methods.

If it were me...

In a short while, the center of the battlefield fell silent.

Only the cold wind howled.

Liu Jiangjiang struggled to get up, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, only to see his two junior brothers lying on the ground, their eyes filled with despair.

"You...you killed them?"

Wan Huaiyi casually tossed the long sword in his hand, and the sword stuck in the ice, still swaying slightly.