Chapter 848

"It's not him," Ning Yuzhou stated. "Aside from the Qian Lin guards and our master, no one else knows where we come from. But these people got to Dongling before we did, which means they already knew about our background."

Chapter 352

If it wasn't Daoyan Zhenjun, who held the deepest grudge against them, could it be someone who had visited Dongling before?

The year they married, the Lintai Hunt Valley opened, and coincidentally, the Holy Martial Hall arrived in Dongling seeking the Chosen One. Back then, many foreign cultivators sneaked into Dongling, including members of the Dark Hall, who aimed to sabotage the Holy Martial Hall's mission and killed numerous Dongling cultivators.

Later, the Holy Martial Hall took Ning Zhezhou with them, and those who had infiltrated Dongling left as well.

They didn't know at the time how many had infiltrated or how many had successfully left.

This highlights Dongling's weakness—enemies infiltrated their base, yet they didn't even know how many there were, and could only watch helplessly as they came and went as they pleased.

"A lot of people left back then," Wen Qiao said, her soft voice tinged with coldness.

Wen Tuti nodded, agreeing with her sister's speculation. "After we reached the Central Continent, sister changed her name, but you didn't, Brother Ning. Anyone who had visited Dongling before could easily find out the names of the Ning clan's disciples from the Dongling royal family. Plus, Brother Ning's name is very similar to Ning Zhezhou's. If someone knew about Ning Zhezhou, they'd definitely link it to Dongling."

After their explanation, Shi Wuming had put the pieces together.

He asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why would the person behind all this look into your info? Could they be trying to kill you?"

Hu Shuangyan quickly added, "Those people said the Guiyuan Pavilion's mission didn't involve killing—just confirming whether you were in Dongling."

"It's more likely about confirming whether we've returned to Dongling," Ning Yuzhou stated firmly.

Everyone looked at him, unsure what he was thinking.

Ning Yuzhou said, "We don't have enough info right now. All these are possibilities, and there's even another one—it could be the people who killed my parents-in-law."

Wen Qiao was taken aback, lost in thought for a moment.

To her, parents were just a word. She'd been without them since birth, growing up alone and isolated, with no real idea of what parents were. Maybe it was also because her weak body had drained too much of her energy, leaving her no room to grieve over her lack of parents.

Suddenly, a warm hand took hold of hers.

Wen Qiao snapped out of her thoughts to find Ning Yuzhou's concerned eyes on her.

She paused for a moment, then quickly smiled and said, "I'm okay." Since she'd never had them, losing them didn't matter to her. She really didn't care about not having parents.

But if the chance arose, she'd still avenge her parents, to repay the debt of bringing her into this world.

Wen Tuti said cautiously, "If it really is the person who killed sister's parents, I'll definitely help her get revenge."

"I'll help too," Shi Wuming quickly added, his face full of concern. "Don't be sad, little sister Qiao. I'm an orphan too. Besides my master, I've got no family in this world."

Wen Qiao's eyes showed a hint of a smile as she said, "Then thank you all."

After chatting for a while, Ning Yuzhou finally said to them, "Since the other party issued the mission through the Guiyuan Pavilion, they must be very concerned about us, and there will definitely be follow-ups. Wen Tuti, you stay here and have the young beasts around Lintai Mountain help keep an eye out."

Foreign cultivators wanting to reach Dongling would need to cross Cangwu Mountain and Lintai Mountain, where there are many young beasts, making it easy to investigate.

Wen Tuti immediately said, "Alright, I won't go back to the royal city with you. I'll stay here at Lintai Mountain."

Shi Wuming was somewhat torn. He wanted to go to the royal city with Wen Qiao and Ning Yuzhou to see where they grew up, but he also wanted to see Wen Tuti dominate Cangwu Mountain.

"Wen Guangun will come with me," Wen Tuti said, bringing along the lazy Wen Guangun. "Brother Shi, you should go with sister and the others."

Shi Wuming felt a bit put out. "Big brother Wen, are you looking down on me?"

"You just figured that out?"

Shi Wuming wouldn't let it go, bugging Wen Tuti to take it back and admit he was the best.

After the two of them left, still bickering and laughing, Ning Yuzhou instructed Hu Shuangyan and his brother to take care of those men.

Once he got the order, Hu Shuangyan didn’t hold back and handled them as the situation required.

These outlaws, who saw human life as cheap, would only lead to more deaths down the line and might even bring trouble to Dongling. After all, they could handle themselves, and those guys couldn’t touch them. Once they escaped, they’d take it out on innocent folks.

Dongling was home to mostly low-level cultivators and regular folks. They shouldn’t suffer because of those scumbags' thirst for revenge.

---

The next day, the cultivators who’d been training at Lintai Hunt Valley packed up and moved out.

Normally, they’d have stuck around for a few days, but with Wen Qiao and Ning Yuzhou’s return, and other families picking up on the Ning clan’s hints about the purpose of their return, who could stick around? One by one, they couldn’t wait to get back to their families.

Ning Yuzhou and Wen Qiao headed back in a carriage pulled by a young beast.

Shi Wuming followed them and also rode in the beast-drawn carriage.

He looked around and couldn’t help but say, "This beast’s moving pretty slow. How long till we get to the imperial city?"

"It’s not too far, maybe five or six days."

After sitting for a while, Shi Wuming couldn’t stand watching the lovey-dovey couple across from him, so he finally ran out and flew on his sword. Due to his speed, he was gone in a flash.

The low-level cultivators from Dongling, riding on the backs of beasts, let out gasps of awe, then looked at the elders who were flying on their swords.

Only cultivators at the Yuanwu Realm could sword-fly. Most of the cultivators present were below the Yuanwu Realm, and there were only a few at the Yuanwu Realm. Even those who could sword-fly didn’t move very fast.

A Ning clan elder accompanying them couldn’t help but ask Emperor Chenghao, "Jichen, do you know how strong that young master Shi is?"