85. The Natural Barrier (Thirteen)

◎The spiritual vein is being blown up! The spiritual vein is being blown up!◎

Lou Tinglan stared at her silently, seemingly trying to discern how much of her words were genuine and how much were a cover-up for ulterior motives. In the end, however, he did not ask any further questions and simply nodded.

"good."

He then transformed back into his wooden form, his aloof and distant demeanor vanishing. As always, he brushed against the hem of her skirt and left with her.

Ran Qinghe glanced at it, said nothing, and quickened her pace.

When the two left the Crimson Maple Sect, they did not board the immortal boat with the Crimson Maple emblem, but instead boarded a small, inconspicuous immortal boat. Although the immortal boat was small, it was extremely fast.

Lou Tinglan kept her eyes down, her gaze fixed on the wooden floor inside the boat. Ran Qinghe, on the other hand, kept staring at the rapidly receding clouds outside the porthole, her expression somewhat tense.

Silence fermented within the cramped flying boat. Lou Tinglan remained crouched beside her, as if any further away, she would lose all sense of her presence.

Finally, Ran Qinghe broke the silence first: "You didn't even ask me where I wanted to go, and you just followed me like this?"

"If I were to commit murder and arson, wouldn't the Immortal Lord's illustrious reputation be tarnished for no reason?"

Ran Qinghe had expected him to press for details about their destination, but to her surprise, this man's ability to grasp the essentials was always questionable. Instead, he asked, "Who do you want to kill, and where do you plan to set fire?"

Ran Qinghe replied with amusement, "I didn't plan to kill anyone."

Then, she turned her face away, her expression becoming calm.

However, arson is a different story.

The view outside the porthole shifted between black and white several times before the flying boat finally came to a stop in a secluded mountain hollow on the outskirts of the Mortal Valley.

Ran Qinghe concealed the flying boat and said to Lou Tinglan, "Follow me. If we lose our way, neither of us wants to go through that again, right?"

She navigated the intersections with practiced ease, then followed a path half-covered by weeds, and soon approached the settlement in the valley.

Before long, the sound of children shouting came from ahead. Ran Qinghe stopped, her cold expression softening slightly.

On the open ground in front of her, several children were arguing about the order in which they should inhale and exhale spiritual energy. These were the children she had casually taught when she stopped by Ye Buchen's place.

"Senior Sister Ran!" Despite not having seen her for a long time, some sharp-eyed children immediately spotted her, exclaimed in surprise, and swarmed around her.

"Senior sister, you're back!"

"Senior sister, where did Master Ye go? Some people say he's missing, but I don't believe it. He must have gone on a long trip, right?"

"Senior sister, my mother keeps asking when Master Ye will be back."

Ran Qinghe beckoned the children to gather closer and lowered her voice:

"I'm also looking for your Master Ye, so I came back this time because I need your help with something."

The children immediately became serious, as if they had received some great mission.

"We're willing to do anything as long as Master Ye can come back."

Ran Qinghe said seriously, "Listen carefully, something bad might happen recently. There might be big trouble at Qingxiao Sect."

The children stared wide-eyed. For them, descendants of cultivators struggling at the bottom, the Azure Sky Immortal Sect was an unattainable behemoth, a heavy shadow weighing on their hearts.

"Senior sister, what's going on?" an older boy asked nervously.

"I'm not entirely sure what it is."

"But one thing is certain: the impact will be wide-ranging, and may even affect the Mortal Valley. So, you need to help spread the news quietly."

"There have been unusual movements in Qingxiao recently. All cultivators should stay indoors as much as possible, minimize going out, and especially avoid approaching Qingxiao territory. Understand?"

The children seemed to understand, but seeing Ran Qinghe's serious expression, they all nodded vigorously.

"Remember, pass it on 'quietly,' like whispering a secret, to your parents and neighbors. But don't say it was me who told you, just say... um, say you overheard some wise people talking about it, understand?"

"I know!" Ran Qinghe patted the children on the shoulders, and the children immediately scattered and ran in different directions in the valley.

Lou Tinglan saw everything. Her methods weren't particularly sophisticated, even somewhat crude, but in the information-isolated and anxious Mortal Valley, rumors "heard" by children often spread faster and were more easily believed.

Especially when these rumors subtly resonate with their underlying fears.

"Why let them spread rumors?" Lou Tinglan really couldn't understand her intentions.

Ran Qinghe turned around, her face showing a calm, almost indifferent expression.

"It's not a rumor, but a warning. I'm just informing them in advance about what might happen so they can be prepared and avoid being caught in the crossfire."

"Maybe?" Lou Tinglan caught the word. "What are you going to do?"

Ran Qinghe did not answer directly, but simply said, "Just follow me."

She went straight back the way she came, boarded the flying boat again, and the flying boat turned around and flew towards the more abundant and magnificent spiritual energy of the Azure Sky.

Lou Tinglan's heart sank. This trip was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but a long-planned one.

The flying boat landed on a mountain range near the outer edge of Qingxiao, a place with rugged rocks and few people.

Before disembarking from the flying boat, Ran Qinghe suddenly sighed, as if she felt that everything had settled down.

"Lou Tinglan, if it weren't for the restrictions of the Heart-to-Heart Technique, I wouldn't have involved you. However, you cannot stop me from doing what I'm about to do, nor can you participate in it."

Lou Tinglan's heart skipped a beat, but it was because she was completely unprepared for the attack that she was caught off guard.

As soon as she finished speaking, Ran Qinghe made her move!

Several golden threads of spiritual energy shot out from her fingertips as if they were alive, quickly wrapping around Lou Tinglan's wrists, ankles, and even waist.

This is clearly... the golden net of discipline in the Disciplinary Hall!

"Ran Qinghe!"

As if sensing something, he tried to break free, but the golden net remained motionless, instead tightening its grip and binding him firmly in place, unable to move.

"Why?"

"I told you, you can't stop me." Ran Qinghe avoided his gaze, her tone firm. "If I manage to escape, I'll take you away; if not..."

"I will take back the binding net. At that time, you can go back to the Discipline Hall or go wherever you want, but just don't get involved again."

She took out a stack of talismans from her storage bag. They were hundreds of yellow talismans covered with explosive runes, and even some rare mountain-breaking talismans.

Lou Tinglan instantly understood. It turned out that she and those Feifeng disciples had been researching this all these days.

"It's Sect Leader Lin, isn't it?"

"The Azure Sky Spiritual Vein has far-reaching connections. If it is lost, not only will Azure Sky be damaged, but the balance of spiritual energy in the surrounding areas will be broken, and even the Discipline Hall will be affected..."

"I know." Ran Qinghe gave him one last look, her eyes filled with a complex and unfathomable mix of determination, apology, and, above all, a chilling sense of desperation. "So, you'd better pretend you know nothing. Today's events have nothing to do with you."

After saying that, she didn't linger. She turned and headed into the depths of the mountains, quickly disappearing into the dense forest.

Lou Tinglan stood still, channeling her spiritual power to break through the restraints time and time again, but each time her spiritual power flowed, it was firmly suppressed.

He sealed the Tranquility Sword in the Discipline Hall to create the illusion of seclusion. Without the Tranquility Sword, no one but Ran Qinghe could break free of this binding golden net.

*

Ran Qinghe checked the map Lin Ge had given her again, confirming its accuracy, before continuing her stealth journey.

The map precisely marked several relatively independent spiritual vein nodes on the outskirts of Qingxiao. She concealed her aura and quickly scattered explosive talismans one by one at the key locations. Then, she arranged the mountain-breaking talismans one by one in the center of the talisman array.

She quietly looked at everything before her, and a vague sense of peace settled over her.

"boom--"

"boom--"

"Boom!"

As she channeled her spiritual energy, a deep and terrifying roar, like muffled thunder, rolled in, causing the ground beneath her feet to tremble violently.

Immediately afterwards, a visible surge of spiritual energy spread outwards from the Mountain-Breaking Talisman, causing rocks to crumble, trees to break, and the previously stable spiritual veins to rupture instantly, with overflowing spiritual energy surging in all directions.

Ran Qinghe's pupils contracted, and she suddenly realized that she had forgotten something. She was born with a spiritual body, and in such a situation, she would definitely be blown away by the spiritual power and die!

Even though she reacted in time, she was still shaken so badly that her blood churned and a metallic taste rose in her throat.

She forced herself to suppress her emotions, her gaze fixed intently on the direction of the explosion.

Strangely, the common knowledge in the cultivation world is that pure spiritual energy rises and impure energy sinks. With such a violent tremor of the spiritual veins, the spiritual energy should have soared into the sky, but at this moment it is slowly spreading out.

The spirit-gathering array she had prepared in advance was completely useless; the spiritual energy leaked out and naturally ended up in the mortal valley.

There was no time to think it through; this surge of spiritual energy must have already alerted Qingxiao. Without hesitation, she immediately headed in the opposite direction from Lou Tinglan.

However, she underestimated the reaction speed of Qingxiao and the Discipline Hall, as well as the seriousness of destroying the spiritual vein.

Just as she had rushed out less than ten miles, several powerful spiritual auras arrived from the distant sky behind her.

Immediately afterwards, a cold divine sense instantly covered more than ten miles, sweeping across like a net covering the sky and the earth.

"Who dares to destroy dozens of spiritual veins of my Azure Sky Sect!"

It was the sound of a thousand bells!

Ran Qinghe's heart tightened, and she pushed her speed to the limit, but the divine senses locking onto her were like a bone-deep infection, and there was more than one.

This time, she probably won't be able to escape.

But strangely, at this moment of despair, what flashed through her mind was Lou Tinglan's eyes, which were now filled with shock and anger.

He was tied up there by her, so he should be... safe, right?

As she was lost in thought, a very familiar fluctuation of spiritual energy struck first, trapping her in the shadows, and then cast a concealment talisman.

With a loud "boom," another collision of spiritual energy occurred.

Lou Tinglan staggered and stood in front of the three people, "Tinglan greets Sect Leader Qian, Hall Master, and Second Elder."

His blue robe was stained with blood, his black hair was disheveled, and his face was as pale as paper. That attack must have exhausted all his spiritual power.

"Tinglan, it's you! Do you know what you're doing?"

"This is utterly lawless! You've destroyed my Azure Sky Spirit Vein, are you trying to defy the heavens?"

Ran Qinghe heard Lou Tinglan's weak voice:

"Reporting to Sect Leader Qian, this disciple has already broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm. However, during the breakthrough, I unintentionally damaged the Azure Sky Spirit Vein. I beg the Sect Leader to punish me."