Chapter 27

"Shattered Ice Manor! It's actually Shattered Ice Manor!"

Qin Lie's brows furrowed deeply, his mood extremely heavy. Seeing the people from Shattered Ice Manor appear, his last bit of doubt was resolved.

The Feng family and Shattered Ice Manor had colluded, naturally not fearing retaliation from the Star Cloud Pavilion. After the deed was done, the Feng family could join Shattered Ice Manor and completely break away from the Star Cloud Pavilion.

Perhaps, the Feng family and Shattered Ice Manor had been secretly in contact for a long time, just hiding it well.

A mine of Flame Yang Jade was simply too valuable, making the Feng family unable to hold back. They were willing to expose themselves directly to help Shattered Ice Manor seize the mine!

A series of thoughts flashed through his mind, and Qin Lie rushed towards the canyon at the fastest speed. Listening to the howling wind in his ears, he became unusually calm.

Like the Star Cloud Pavilion, the martial artists of Shattered Ice Manor were also composed of Hall Masters, Elders, and Manor Lords.

Generally, Hall Masters were appointed from those at the early stage of the Kaiyuan Realm, Elders were all at the middle stage of the Kaiyuan Realm, and under one Elder, there were often two or three Hall Masters.

This time, the Elder who came from Shattered Ice Manor would definitely bring his Hall Masters along, plus fifty to sixty martial artists at the Body Tempering Realm. Even without the Feng family's help, they were enough to crush the Ling family, Gao family, and Liu Yan completely!

From the posture of Shattered Ice Manor, it was clear that they were determined to get the Flame Yang Jade mine and would not allow any news to leak.

This meant that once they came, there would be a bloody massacre, and no one would be allowed to escape!

Even if the Ling family, Gao family, and Liu Yan joined forces, they had no chance of winning. The only way to snatch a glimmer of hope was to escape the canyon before the martial artists of Shattered Ice Manor arrived!

On the way, Qin Lie's mind was working at high speed. At the moment of life and death, he was not going to continue pretending to be crazy. He needed to do his best to deal with this disaster.

He secretly smiled bitterly. If he could have guessed that the Feng family's reinforcements were from Shattered Ice Manor, he definitely wouldn't have taken the risk. He would have notified Ling Yushi to take the Ling family and escape two days ago.

Unfortunately, human plans often fall short of divine will. Not only were the strong ones from Shattered Ice Manor coming, but they were led by an Elder, which immediately put them in a desperate situation.

In the canyon, the martial artists of the Feng family, Ling family, and Gao family were in three different directions. Under the night sky, everyone was sound asleep.

This place was relatively remote, and no spirit beasts had appeared, so no one was on watch at night. They only set up some traps nearby as a precaution.

Skillfully avoiding the positions with traps, Qin Lie arrived at the Ling family's tent area. The Ling family martial artists were two to a tent, except for himself, who had a separate tent.

The other Ling family martial artists' tents were all together, but Ling Yushi and Ling Ying, being women, had their tents a bit further away from the others.

He quietly approached the tent where Ling Yushi and Ling Ying were, making a slight noise...

"Who is it?"

Ling Yushi called out alertly, tugging at Ling Ying inside the tent. Both were wearing thin cotton clothes, their eyes still sleepy as they poked their heads out.

When they saw Qin Lie, they both suddenly froze, their beautiful eyes simultaneously shining with a strange light of surprise!

Under the night sky, Qin Lie stood alone outside the tent, gesturing for them to be quiet, indicating they should not make a sound.

His eyes, which had always seemed empty and lost, were now clear and bright, shining like cold stars under the moonlight. This contrasted with his already handsome face, making him appear exceptionally handsome and somewhat eerie, which left Ling Yushi and Ling Ying with a sense of unreality.

"I must still be dreaming..." Ling Ying murmured, rubbing her eyes, trying to wake up.

Ling Yushi had long guessed that Qin Lie was not ordinary. After a brief moment of shock, she quickly calmed down, her beautiful eyes sparkling as she smiled gently, "What do you want at this hour of the night?"

"Let me in, and I'll explain." Qin Lie looked around, seeing that everyone was still asleep, and said in a low, serious voice, "The martial artists from Shattered Ice Manor will be here in less than half an hour. If we don't act quickly, all the Ling family members in the valley will be killed."

Upon hearing this, Ling Yushi's face turned pale, and Ling Ying covered her mouth in surprise, finally fully awake.

She looked at Qin Lie as if he were a monster. At this moment, Qin Lie seemed so unfamiliar to her, like a completely different person from the Qin Lie she knew before.

"Come in!" Ling Yushi made a quick decision, pulling Qin Lie in and closing the tent. She asked urgently, "What's going on?"

Inside the tent, she and Ling Ying leaned against each other, their hair disheveled, their eyes full of great confusion.

"Gaoyuan, who was supposed to return to the Gao family to report, was killed long ago. I found his body by chance. If I'm not mistaken, it was done by the Feng family member who left. The Flame Yang Jade is too precious, and the Feng family must have betrayed you. I just saw fifty to sixty martial artists from Shattered Ice Manor slowly approaching, led by an Elder..."

Qin Lie explained quickly, ignoring their shocked expressions, and then said, "Time is running out. We need to retreat immediately, or none of us will survive when the martial artists from Shattered Ice Manor arrive."

Ling Ying was still in a state of strong shock. Qin Lie's sudden speech left her in a daze, unable to immediately calm down and think about the whole situation.

Ling Yushi had long guessed that Qin Lie was extraordinary. Now, she had adjusted her state. After Qin Lie finished speaking, she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave, her eyes filled with fear and shock. She asked urgently, "Is there any concrete evidence that the Feng family is behind this?"

Qin Lie shook his head.

"Without concrete evidence, we can't expose the Feng family now. If we speak rashly, the Feng family might turn the tables on us, making the Gao family and Liu Yan suspect us." Ling Yushi was in a panic, feeling that every second brought them closer to death. She said sharply, "What do you think we should do?"

"If you don't want the Ling family to be completely wiped out, we need to evacuate immediately! If you're afraid the Feng family, Gao family, and Liu Yan will suspect us, we can be flexible... just say I went missing in the canyon ahead, and have the Ling family set out to look for me!" Qin Lie did not hide his intentions, saying decisively, "The way back has already been taken over by Shattered Ice Manor. We can only cross the canyon and head deeper into the Extreme Cold Mountains!"

The Silver-Winged Demon Wolf would return to the Heavenly Wolf Mountain from deep within the Extreme Cold Mountains. If they headed that way, they had a good chance of encountering the Silver-Winged Demon Wolf.

This was exactly what he needed.

"Shouldn't we notify the Gao family and Liu Yan?" Ling Ying finally came to her senses, looking at Qin Lie with wide eyes, as if she were seeing him for the first time. "If your guess is correct, not notifying the Gao family and Liu Yan means they will be doomed."

"Even if we notify them, they might not believe us, and it could alert the Feng family, possibly implicating us and preventing us from immediately leaving the canyon." Qin Lie frowned, his voice low. "Besides, with them as a rear guard, our chances of survival are greater. At least, they can delay the pursuit of Shattered Ice Manor..."

"Really ruthless!"

Ling Yushi and Ling Ying felt a chill at his words, their gazes toward Qin Lie becoming strange.

"Qin Lie, you need to head deeper into the Extreme Cold Mountains now. Once you leave, I'll wake up Ling Feng and the others and have them set out to find you!" Ling Yushi bit her lip, knowing that in a critical moment, she couldn't hesitate. As she spoke, she took out paper and a pen and began writing quickly.

"Okay." Qin Lie nodded, not hesitating, and lifted the curtain to go out.

"Miss, you're so bad, deceiving all of us!" Ling Ying called out, her eyes shining. "When Qin Lie's eyes have spirit, he seems like a completely different person, not only extremely handsome, but also, very, very..."

"What?" Ling Yushi looked at her impatiently.

"Very charming!" Ling Ying finally found the right word, saying coyly, "How can this be? He's only fifteen years old!"

"Brat! With such a crisis at hand, you still have the heart to think about this?" Ling Yushi glared at her, giving her a few instructions before leaving the tent to wake up Ling Feng, Ling Xin, and the others, saying that Qin Lie was missing and asking them to help her look for him.

Ling Xin and the others were sleeping soundly and were very unhappy when they were woken up. Upon hearing that they had to search for Qin Lie, the "fool," in the middle of the night, they all complained bitterly, their tempers flaring. If not for Ling Yushi's face, they would have cursed out loud.

The commotion also woke up Liu Yan, Gao Yu, and Feng Yi. After understanding the situation, they all cursed the "fool" for deserving to die and told them to be quiet and not disturb others' sleep.

"Let's go, and take your weapons just in case." Ling Yushi instructed, ignoring the sighs of the clan members, leading the way into the depths of the canyon.

Everyone, though reluctantly, followed, gradually leaving the campsite.

"Follow Ling Ying and leave as quickly as possible!" After putting some distance between them and the Gao and Feng families, Ling Yushi's face became serious, and she ordered sternly.

"Miss, what's going on?" Ling Feng was the first to realize something was wrong.

"Don't ask so many questions. Ling Feng, take them and Ling Ying and do your best to escape deep into the Extreme Cold Mountains!" Ling Yushi ordered.

"Ling Brother, quickly bring the people over, I'll explain later!" Ling Ying waved her hand.

Ling Feng and Ling Xin, along with the other Ling family members, looked suspicious but followed the order and quickly left the canyon.

Ling Yushi stayed behind. After they had left for some time, she took out a bow and arrow she had prepared and shot an arrow at Liu Yan's tent. The arrow had a short note attached.

"Whoosh!"

The sound of the arrow breaking through the air came, and Liu Yan, who was not fully asleep, suddenly changed his expression and quickly opened the tent to step out.

"Thud!"

The arrow landed in front of his tent.

Liu Yan's face turned cold, then he noticed the note on the arrow and immediately picked it up to read. After just one glance, Liu Yan's face turned pale, and he called out in a low voice, "Gao Yu!"

Gao Yu's tent was nearby, and he immediately came over, his eyes cold as he asked, "I heard the sound of an arrow. Who shot it?"

"Liu Brother, what's going on over there?" Feng Yi, who was farther away, heard the sound of the arrow but was not sure, so he called out.

"Nothing, the Ling family woke me up, and I can't fall back asleep, so I got up to move around a bit."

Liu Yan responded with a strange look, gesturing to Gao Yu. The two of them entered the tent, and Liu Yan handed the note from Ling Yushi to Gao Yu.

"Gao Yuan is dead. The Feng family has colluded with Shattered Ice Manor to plot the Flame Yang Jade mine. The people from Shattered Ice Manor are led by an Elder and are on