Xuantian Sect, Council Hall.

Three incense burners had burned out, yet the hall remained eerily silent. Zhao Xuan sat at the head of the table, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the armrest, his knuckles turning white, his face even more ashen than the ice outside the hall.

"Say it again?" Zhao Xuan's voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded, as he stared at the kneeling messenger below, his eyes bloodshot.

The messenger trembled violently, his head buried in the ground, almost hitting the bricks: "Reporting...Reporting to the Sect Master, the elite troops led by the young master...are...all wiped out..."

"Whoosh—!"

The elders in the hall could no longer contain themselves and stood up one after another, their faces filled with disbelief.

"Impossible! Those were our Xuantian Sect's most prized elite troops, with five Transcending Tribulation seniors in command! How could they all be wiped out?"

"Even if we encountered the main force of the Three Saints Sect of the Central Region, we might not have suffered such a crushing defeat! Could Xiao Chen, a mere early-stage Void Refinement cultivator, possibly turn the tide?"

"That's a tribulation cultivator! A powerful being capable of triggering a heavenly tribulation! Even the top sects in the Central Region might not be able to kill five tribulation cultivators in one go!"

The murmurs surged like a tide, but were quickly suppressed by Zhao Xuan's icy gaze.

"Where is the Tribulation Transcending Ancestor?" Zhao Xuan stared intently at the messenger cultivator and asked, enunciating each word clearly.

The messenger's voice was choked with sobs: "Senior...Du Jie...has also...fallen..."

"Bang!"

Zhao Xuan slammed his hand on the armrest, instantly shattering the hard jade railing and sending fragments flying. His chest heaved violently, his eyes filled with unfathomable despair and rage—five Transcending Tribulation cultivators and dozens of high-level cultivators—this was almost half of the Xuan Tian Sect's resources! After this battle, the Xuan Tian Sect was severely weakened, and it seemed it might not even be able to retain its position as the number one sect in the Northern Region!

"Where is Zhao Feng?" Zhao Xuan's voice held a final glimmer of hope.

"Young Master...Young Master...he escaped using a teleportation talisman and is on his way back to the sect."

Zhao Xuan closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, his gaze filled with a cold, resolute determination. So what if he escaped? Could Zhao Feng possibly compensate for the loss of elite troops and Transcending Tribulation seniors?

"Step down." Zhao Xuan waved his hand, his voice utterly exhausted.

The monks, as if granted a pardon, scrambled out of the main hall.

The hall fell silent once more. The elders stared at Zhao Xuan on the main seat, not daring to breathe.

"Now that we've already torn off all pretense, there's no turning back." Zhao Xuan spoke slowly, his voice eerily calm. "Pass on my order: issue the highest bounty—"

"Anyone who takes Xiao Chen's head may enter the Xuan Tian Sect's treasury and choose any five treasures!"

These words shocked the entire hall!

The Xuantian Sect has a history spanning thousands of years, and its treasury contains countless treasures, ranging from top-grade magic weapons to ancient elixirs, from lost cultivation techniques to rare and precious materials. Five treasures alone are enough to drive any cultivator mad!

"Sect Master! This...isn't this too risky?" an elder exclaimed urgently. "The treasure vault is the foundation of our sect..."

"Foundation?" Zhao Xuan sneered. "He can barely save his own life, what does he care about his foundation? If Xiao Chen doesn't die, my Xuantian Sect will be devoured by him bit by bit sooner or later! Trading five treasures for his life is worth it!"

A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes: "I refuse to believe that a great reward will not deter brave men! Among the cultivators of the four regions, there will always be someone who dares to lay a hand on Xiao Chen for the sake of the treasure!"

The bounty notice spread rapidly throughout the four regions, instantly causing a huge uproar. Countless cultivators' eyes were once again focused on the blue-robed figure from the Southern Region—killing him would grant them a meteoric rise to power and the five supreme treasures of the Xuan Tian Sect!

Cultivators in the Central Region, Northern Region, Western Region, and even the most remote Southern Region began to eagerly search for Xiao Chen's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, at the Qingyun Sect.

Lin Zhou led Shi Tou to a clearing on the west side of the sect. In the center of the clearing stood a lone thatched hut, its roof leaking cracks and grass growing in the corners, looking as if it could collapse at any moment.

"Stone, you'll live here from now on." Lin Zhou pointed to the thatched hut, his tone as casual as if he were saying, "The weather's nice today."

Shi Tou blinked, looked at the dilapidated thatched hut, then at the neat courtyard where his eldest brother Xiao Chen lived, and the elegant pavilion of his second sister Jiang Li, scratched his head, but didn't say anything, just replied in a simple and honest voice: "Okay."

He had just come out of the stone and had no concept of where to live. As long as he could stay with his master, he was fine with living anywhere.

"Oh, right," Lin Zhou seemed to remember something, "didn't I pass on the 'Nine Netherworld Burning Heaven Technique' to you? How's your cultivation going?"

When the cultivation method was mentioned, a look of confusion appeared on Stone's face: "Master, the cultivation method you taught... seems a bit strange."

"What's strange about it?"

“When I’m practicing, I always feel cold all over, like ice worms crawling in my bones.” Shi Tou frowned and gestured. “Moreover… I feel like this technique can only be practiced in a very hot place. The hotter it is, the more the coldness can be suppressed.”

Lin Zhou stroked his chin: "An extremely hot place? That's interesting."

The "Nine Netherworld Burning Heaven Technique" was something he casually deduced from the demonic aura within the stone's body, granting it extremely powerful body-refining abilities. He never expected it to have such intricacies. The Qingyun Sect is blessed with beautiful mountains and clear waters, abundant in spiritual energy, but as for an "extremely hot place," it truly doesn't exist.

He walked around the yard twice, and his gaze suddenly fell on a chick digging in the dirt in the corner of the yard.

The chick was golden all over, with fluffy feathers, and looked no different from an ordinary free-range chicken. It was the one he had casually picked up from a secret realm. After raising it for a while, apart from growing a bit faster, he couldn't see anything special about it. But Lin Zhou vaguely sensed that the chick contained an extremely yang aura, though it hadn't awakened yet.

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