Wen Ruyan added, "However, if she is still within my sect, we can still find her using this talisman. It will just require Uncle Tao to patrol the area. The talisman can only capture her when she is within 500 li of it."

Five hundred li is a considerable distance in the eyes of ordinary people, but to these great cultivators, it's just a matter of traveling back and forth several times in the blink of an eye. Tao Anbo said, "It's alright. I'll use this talisman to search the mountain gate more carefully so that we can be sure if she's still inside our mountain gate."

"Thank you for your trouble, Uncle-Master." Wen Ruyan said, bowing respectfully.

Tao Anbo had already vanished without a trace in a flash.

Seeing him leave, Wen Ruyan turned and looked down at the bottom of Hopeless Cliff. After a moment, she raised the corner of her mouth and sneered, then took out another talisman and threw it off Hopeless Cliff.

Chu Nian wondered what kind of talisman this treacherous woman had thrown, and what her intentions were. Out of curiosity, she used her spatial artifact to leap off the Cliff of No Return.

Just as the talisman entered the miasma layer, she used her magic to probe it and then stored it inside her own aura.

Preliminary assessment suggests this is a spatial talisman, of similar level to the one Tao Anbo took earlier.

Spatial talismans are mostly used to temporarily store special spiritual medicines and items, but the storage time cannot be too long, otherwise the spiritual energy will dissipate.

Compared to spatial storage artifacts, this kind of talisman is not very useful; its only advantage is its ease of activation. A Nascent Soul cultivator like Wen Ruyan, at the peak of the Mahayana stage, can activate such a spatial talisman, allowing it to store far more items than a Nascent Soul level spatial artifact.

Chu Nian wondered if Wen Ruyan had too many talismans of this level or what, that she was so bored as to throw this one down to the bottom of Hopeless Cliff. Wouldn't that render the talisman useless? It was, after all, a Mahayana-level talisman, which could fetch a very high price in the market.

The talisman still carries Wen Ruyan's spiritual energy fluctuations; it has been recognized by Wen Ruyan as its master, and others cannot easily activate it. However, having already entered Chu Nian's Soul Ruins, it is very easy for Chu Nian to control it.

This talisman had already been thrown off Hopeless Cliff by Wen Ruyan. Under normal circumstances, a talisman of this level would not be able to block the miasma of Hopeless Cliff at all, and would be dissolved after entering the miasma layer.

Therefore, Wen Ruyan was not surprised that she lost her spiritual connection with the talisman. She looked at the thick layers of miasma, sneered, and turned to leave.

Inside the ruins, Chu Nian erased Wen Ruyan's spiritual consciousness, transferred the talisman to another person, and probed it with his own spiritual consciousness. He found nothing inside except for two humanoid objects.

Humanoid objects?

Chu Nian was horrified.

She quickly cast a spell to release the two humanoid objects.

This spatial talisman is just an ordinary storage space and cannot hold living beings. If a living person is put inside, they will perish within two hours.

One of these two humanoid objects was very familiar to Chu Nian; it was Xiao Huan, also known as Ru Yin in Hua Tianling's words, who was now dead beyond any doubt. Just as Chu Nian had suspected, this girl was probably silenced by Wen Ruyan; or perhaps because the power of the Demon Heaven Palm Talisman was too great and crippled Hua Tianling, she was killed by Wen Ruyan in a fit of rage.

The other one left Chu Nian completely bewildered.

A five- or six-year-old child, extremely beautiful, with rosy cheeks, and particularly endearing.

He must be asleep. He was probably only recently taken into this talisman by Wen Ruyan, so he's still alive. Moreover, the golden lock on the child's chest is a Mahayana-level magic treasure that automatically protects its owner, causing the child to be enveloped in a kind of magical energy, which prevented him from being harmed by the spatial laws of the spatial talisman.

The child has already reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Judging from his young age, he already possesses magical treasures, so he must have an extraordinary background and be quite knowledgeable. He should know what those spatial talismans are. Even with magical treasures protecting him, he couldn't possibly survive for long after being taken inside. How can he still sleep? How can he be so carefree?

Chu Nian was bewildered because she felt the child looked strangely familiar. The more she looked, the more familiar he seemed.

However, after searching through the original owner's memories for a long time, she couldn't recall ever seeing such an adorable little cultivator.

Chu Nian had actually remembered the junior brother that Hua Tianling had mentioned before: the son of Lin Zhao and Li Jueyin.

Unexpectedly, Wen Ruyan actually stored it in a spatial talisman. Moreover, she threw the talisman off Hopeless Cliff, naturally intending to immediately and completely destroy the evidence against these two humanoid objects.

This child is protected by a magical artifact, and it would take some time for the spatial laws within the spatial talisman to kill him. Moreover, if this talisman were to fall into the hands of a powerful Mahayana cultivator and discover the two corpses inside, the consequences would be unimaginable.

This Wen Ruyan is really ruthless; she can bring herself to harm a five or six-year-old child.

Chu Nian stared at the child again, scrutinizing him closely. The more she looked, the more familiar he seemed. In a daze, she realized that the child was Lin Zhao's son. So, could he also... have the surname Lin?

Surname Lin?! Chu Nian was shocked by what she had just thought of and couldn't believe it for a moment, but after looking at the child more closely, the face was indeed... extremely similar.

No wonder she felt the child looked very familiar at first glance.

Chu Nian was worried that Tao Anbo would take the talisman Wen Ruyan gave him to Chimiao Peak and discover that she had talked with Hua Tianling there, so she activated her spatial magic artifact and quickly left Wuwang Cliff, heading in the direction Tao Anbo had gone.

However, her strength was still inferior to Tao Anbo's, so tracking him down would not be easy. Chu Nian thought for a moment, then left the Nebula Sect, only to appear and stop on an uninhabited mountain peak near the sect's gate.

Sure enough, Tao Anbo quickly tracked them down. Not only that, he also sent messages to the other Dao Venerables, still intending for the five of them to attack together.

However, it would take a while for the remaining four Dao Venerables to arrive. Seeing Tao Anbo arrive, Chu Nian spoke before he could make any move: "Lin Jingting is in my hands."

Tao Anbo paused for a moment, then exclaimed in horror, "Little Lin really was kidnapped by you. You she-devil, you even kidnapped a child..."

Chu Nian thought to herself: That child really is Jing Ting. She didn't have time to chat with him and interrupted him directly, saying, "Hand over the talisman that Wen Ruyan gave you just now, or I can't guarantee that the child will still be alive."

"How do you know that Junior Nephew Wen gave me Zhang..." Tao Anbo asked, but before he could finish, Chu Nian opened her palm and a child was lying on her back in her arms, seemingly fast asleep.

Tao Anbo recognized the child as Lin Zhao's son at a glance, and his breath caught in his throat.

"Hand over that tracking talisman, or I'll kill this child immediately," Chu Nian threatened coldly.

Meanwhile, inside her ruins, Lin Jingting had already woken up, looking at everything displayed outside with some astonishment.