Chapter 55

In the pitch-black stone house without any lights, Qin Lie curled up, hugging his knees and缩在墙角，木然看着前方发呆。

The tables and chairs inside the stone house were wiped spotlessly clean, and it seemed that the sound of muttering still came from the washroom. It was as if one could still see the graceful figures moving around in the room...

Scenes of the two of them being alone together repeatedly played in his mind, becoming clearer and clearer.

But she was leaving...

Qin Lie clutched his chest, feeling that there were still many things he had not had the chance to say, and he did not know how to start. His heart ached.

"Bang!"

The door was forcefully broken, and one after another, figures rushed in, each holding a jar of wine.

—It was Ling Feng, Ling Xin, Ling Xiao, and Ling Ying.

"Qin Lie, let's drink!" Ling Xin slammed down two jars of wine, tore off the oilcloth seal, filled a large bowl, and walked over to Qin Lie, handing him the bowl and said, "Come, drink!"

"Drink, drink!" Ling Feng and Ling Xiao shouted together.

Even Ling Ying came over to persuade Qin Lie to drink. These people all had solemn expressions, not saying a single word of comfort, but only showing their attitude through their actions.

Qin Lie felt a slight warmth in his heart, reached out to take the wine bowl, and drank it down in one go.

The fiery wine entered his stomach, burning his chest, and the pain in his heart seemed to lessen. This made him instantly lose himself, snatching the wine bowls from Ling Feng, Ling Xiao, and Ling Ying, ignoring their surprise, and drinking recklessly.

Ling Feng and the others, with red eyes, did not speak, only helping to pour him more wine.

"Drink, you all drink, drink with me until we are thoroughly drunk!" Qin Lie growled.

"Alright! Let's all drink, until we are completely drunk!" Ling Xin roared.

Everyone then drank freely, shouting and howling in the stone house.

All the Ling family members could hear the shouting in the middle of the night, but everyone could understand. After hearing the roars, they only shook their heads and sighed, thinking: Let them be.

They were all drunk all night.

The next day, when Qin Lie opened his eyes, he found the sun high in the sky, and it was already noon.

Inside the stone house, Ling Feng, Ling Xin, and the others were sprawled all over the place, on the table, under the table, under the bed, and in the corner. Ling Ying was also lying on his stone bed, her clothes disheveled, with saliva at the corner of her mouth, sleeping soundly.

These companions who had been through life and death with him on Tianlang Mountain came to stay up all night with him when he was at his lowest, hoping to ease his pain.

Qin Lie felt grateful. He did not wake anyone but took out the remaining spirit pills and carefully placed them in Ling Feng, Ling Xin, and Ling Xiao's bodies.

These spirit pills were collected from the bodies of the dead in the Shuibing Manor by Tu Ze and others when he first entered the Extreme Cold Mountain Range. He had given some as a dowry to Ling Yushi, and the rest he took out today...

Looking at them deeply, Qin Lie silently said goodbye and walked out of the stone house, heading to the town.

Soon, he learned from a member of the Ling family that Ling Chengye had announced the annulment of his engagement to Ling Yushi last night. This morning, before dawn, Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan had left with the Seven Slaughter Valley's carriage, leaving the Ling family town.

"Seven Slaughter Valley... I will go there one day."

Qin Lie whispered softly, and under the scorching sun, he headed straight for the direction of Medicine Mountain.

Inside the cave of Medicine Mountain.

He loosely packed his belongings, wrapping the wooden carving, Star Cloud Token, fire crystal stone, and some scattered materials into a cloth bag.

Holding the cloth bag, he looked at a protruding stone behind a stone pillar with a complex expression. After a while, he said, "It's time to leave..."

He pressed the protruding stone down and resolutely left the cave, coming to the foot of Medicine Mountain.

A long time ago, his grandfather had said that the protruding stone was the central hub of the strange array in Medicine Mountain, which could erase all traces inside and destroy everything.

He had already firmly laid the foundation for his Thunderbolt Strike cultivation, and even without the internal environment, he could continue to cultivate.

Half a year ago, he could have left the constraints of Medicine Mountain and gone to the Star Cloud Pavilion to cultivate, but he chose to stay in Medicine Mountain and the Ling family town.

Now, the person who had made him willing to stay had left first, and he no longer had any reason to stay.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Suddenly, a shocking explosion sound came from inside Medicine Mountain, and the entire mountain seemed to tremble violently.

Qin Lie stood at the foot of the mountain, silently watching for a while, listening to the rumbling explosion sounds, and finally looked at the direction of the Ling family town, then stepped towards Ice Rock City.

Half an hour later.

Ling Chengye, his brothers, and the elder Ling Kang'an, came to the foot of Medicine Mountain in a hurry. They entered different caves from different directions and found that all the cave passages were blocked by rocks.

Even Medicine Mountain seemed to have shrunk, as if it had sunk.

"Until now, I still don't know what is hidden inside Medicine Mountain, and I probably won't be able to figure it out in the future," Ling Chengye sighed.

"He should have gone to the Star Cloud Pavilion," Ling Chengzhi said.

Ling Chengye frowned, "We have wronged Qin Lie. I didn't keep the agreement and annulled the engagement a year early. Sigh, I don't know why, but I feel like I did something wrong..."

Elder Ling Kang'an looked into the distance and said, "Chengye, you didn't do anything wrong. Don't blame yourself too much. As long as Xuanxuan and Yushi are in the Seven Slaughter Valley, the Ling family will surely have a great day in the future! They are the direct disciples of Old Lady Jiu, and in the future, they will have a broader horizon. Yushi... will definitely find a better young man. We should be happy for them."

"I hope so," Ling Chengye sighed.

In the evening.

Ling Feng, Ling Xin, Ling Xiao, and Ling Ying slowly woke up and learned that the internal caves of Medicine Mountain had been destroyed and blocked, and Qin Lie had disappeared without a trace.

When they moved, they found the additional spirit pills in their clothes, which made them feel a mix of emotions.

They naturally understood that Qin Lie had left, left the Ling family town, and gone to Ice Rock City.

"The eldest and second miss have left, and Qin Lie has left too. Only we are still in the Ling family town," Ling Xiao said with a dejected look, looking at the evening sky. "Sigh, everything happened too quickly. A few days ago, everyone was fine, but because of the Seven Slaughter Valley, our lives have changed completely."

"Water flows downhill, and people strive for higher places. This is an eternal truth. If we want to catch up with them, we must work hard and cultivate diligently. Otherwise, we will only fall further behind!" Ling Feng said sternly.

"Alright!" Everyone responded with determined expressions.

...

Six days later, a slender figure stood at the south gate of Ice Rock City.

The young man held a cloth bag, looking weary from the journey. He looked up at the towering and magnificent stone wall, seeing the guards at both ends of the stone gate, and murmured, "Ice Rock City, finally arrived at Ice Rock City."

Ice Rock City is divided into the North City and the South City. The North City is where the Shuibing Manor is located, and all affairs are managed by the Shuibing Manor. Most of the residents are people from the Shuibing Manor.

Similarly, the South City is the headquarters of the Star Cloud Pavilion, and everything is managed by the Star Cloud Pavilion.

The residents of the South City are mostly the families of Star Cloud Pavilion warriors and some ordinary people who lean towards the Star Cloud Pavilion.

The two forces coexist in the same city but are always at odds, having been in open and covert conflicts for many years, with no clear winner. The enmity between them has only deepened.

To the south of the South City is the direction of the Extreme Cold Mountain Range, where many small forces, such as the Ling family, Gao family, and Du family, belong to the territory of the Star Cloud Pavilion.

To the north of the North City is the territory of the Shuibing Manor, also scattered with many small forces.

After the Feng family betrayed the Star Cloud Pavilion, they moved to the territory to the north of the North City.

The vassal forces of the Shuibing Manor and the Star Cloud Pavilion are separated by Ice Rock City.

Both the Shuibing Manor and the Star Cloud Pavilion have families and relatives, including wives, children, and parents, who are either ordinary people or low-level warriors without the qualifications to cultivate in the Shuibing Manor or the Star Cloud Pavilion.

These people live in the North City and the South City of Ice Rock City. When the warriors of the Shuibing Manor and the Star Cloud Pavilion have no tasks and are not cultivating within their respective forces, they often leave to spend time with their families and children in the North City and the South City.

Between the North City and the South City is a spirit material commercial street, which acts as a dividing line between the two cities.

Due to the hostility between the Shuibing Manor and the Star Cloud Pavilion, there are often intense disputes, so generally, the ordinary people and warriors of the Shuibing Manor in the North City do not easily enter the South City, and the ordinary people and warriors of the Star Cloud Pavilion in the South City rarely go to the North City.

However, the spirit material commercial street between the two cities is very lively, with warriors from both the Shuibing Manor and the Star Cloud Pavilion often appearing there.

On this street, there are many shops selling spirit materials, medicines, herbs, and spirit tools. Some of these shops have astonishing backgrounds, being branches of powerful forces that even the Shuibing Manor and the Star Cloud Pavilion dare not provoke.

Therefore, although the two sides are in constant conflict, they have an unspoken agreement not to engage in violence on this street.

Qin Lie entered the South City of Ice Rock City through the south gate. Instead of immediately holding the Star Cloud Token and heading to the headquarters of the Star Cloud Pavilion, he went towards the spirit material commercial street.

Once he entered the Star Cloud Pavilion, he would become a core member. He could use the resources of the Star Cloud Pavilion for cultivation, use contribution points to access special cultivation rooms to enhance his cultivation, use contribution points to read books on martial arts, and attend lectures by warriors on the understanding of cultivation realms...

This was what Ling Feng and the others dreamed of, his purpose for coming to the Star Cloud Pavilion, and what he looked forward to.

However, once he entered the Star Cloud Pavilion and became a core member, he might be assigned tasks, which would take away his freedom.

Now, he had not yet recovered from Ling Yushi's departure, and his heart... could not calm down.

Moreover, he wanted more time to truly master the drawing of the spirit array diagrams and did not need the cultivation resources of the Star Cloud Pavilion in the short term.

So he decided to delay for a while, waiting until he calmed down and truly mastered the drawing of the spirit array diagrams in his mind before entering the Star Cloud Pavilion.

He stayed at an inn near the spirit material commercial street in the South City, locked himself in the room, and continued to practice drawing the spirit array diagrams.

He still had twenty-four spirit boards left. With the experience of successfully drawing the spirit array diagram once, he gradually gained confidence.

Taking out a spirit board, he calmed down, focused his mind on the board, and began to practice drawing.

He soon found that drawing the spirit array diagram allowed him to escape from the pain of Ling Yushi's departure. Being fully focused and serious could make him temporarily ignore everything.

So he threw himself into it.

He began to enjoy this tedious and extremely difficult practice.

...