After receiving protection from Gu Qinghe’s technique, the three of them flew back up the slope of the first mountain range.

As they neared the summit, specifically toward a white walled palace, Gu Qinghe instinctively looked to the side and raised his hand.

BLAST!

Another explosion occurred. Yan Ran and Liu Xi were startled and immediately went on high alert. Gu Qinghe was completely unaffected, but the force of the sudden attack surprised him.

"A rogue cultivator and two women from the Qingshui Sect."

"Your cultivation is too low to be here. I suggest you leave immediately—"

Before the man could finish his sentence, Gu Qinghe pointed his right index finger forward. He attacked the man without warning, just as they had done moments ago.

The man fell from his flying sword and lay on the snow covered ground with no physical wounds at all.

His two companions turned toward Gu Qinghe. "What have you done, you bastard?!"

Gu Qinghe’s hand remained extended, his palm opening after being clenched. Above his palm, a red lightning needle appeared and hovered.

It clearly was not an ordinary technique. That red lightning needle attack was the cause of death for their friend, who was an Early Core Formation cultivator.

"That needle... could it be a soul attack?!" they exclaimed in shock.

Yan Ran and Liu Xi also could not hide their surprise. A soul attack was the most fatal technique a cultivator could use.

Only those with high soul power could use such a technique. Otherwise, the soul attack technique would actually backfire on the user.

Gu Qinghe had released a soul attack and killed the man without harming his physical body. There were no signs that Gu Qinghe experienced any backlash after using the technique.

Seeing this, Yan Ran and Liu Xi suspected that Gu Qinghe’s soul power was much higher than they had imagined. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I can release it one more time. Do you want to try it?" Gu Qinghe challenged.

"COURTING DEATH!" one of the men shouted, flying toward Gu Qinghe while swinging his sword.

With a pointing gesture, he launched the red lightning needle at high speed, hitting the man’s forehead.

The needle traveled quickly through his body and destroyed the soul core inside the man’s dantian.

He coughed up blood and stopped his attack, falling dead instantly with wide eyes. Realizing both of his friends were dead made the last man panic.

The man chose to fly away and escape, but Gu Qinghe did not let that happen.

Instead of using a soul attack, Gu Qinghe formed hand seals and summoned a golden bell from the sky to trap the man.

The golden bell successfully caught him. He tried to fight back using his attack techniques, but Gu Qinghe was no fool.

Finished with the golden bell technique, he formed more hand seals and directed his golden qi forward. Five runes appeared surrounding the bell, causing the man’s attacks to stop.

"Senior! Forgive me, I have been reckless."

"Please don’t kill me!" the man begged, bowing low.

Gu Qinghe looked coldly at him. "You deserve to die."

His hand moved to point at the man, with golden qi glowing at his fingertip. From within the magic runes, thousands of golden swords shot out and passed through the walls of the bell easily.

The man tried to defend himself, opening hand seals and summoning his defensive technique. However, Gu Qinghe did not like long, drawn out battles.

He joined all the golden swords together in the sky to form one massive golden sword. With a finger movement pointing at the man, he launched the giant sword at his enemy.

An energy collision occurred between Gu Qinghe’s giant golden sword and the man’s defensive wall. However, Gu Qinghe’s sword technique proved to be stronger and more effective.

The defensive wall shattered and exploded, and the man’s body was pierced by Gu Qinghe’s golden sword. Within seconds, the man died helplessly.

Gu Qinghe waved his hand, making the sword and the golden bell disappear since the battle was over. He glanced back; Yan Ran and Liu Xi were still staring at Gu Qinghe’s power with shocked faces.

In their opinion, Xiao Mei was truly lucky to be under the protection of the Gu Clan.

"Let’s go!" Gu Qinghe said firmly and flatly.

Yan Ran and Liu Xi nodded. The three of them flew away from the forest where the fight had taken place, heading toward the mountain peak.

The two women offered to fly in front, guarding Gu Qinghe’s left and right sides. The young man remained silent; if they did this voluntarily, he would not refuse them.

For three hours they flew up from the mountain valley until the white walled palace at the peak of the first mountain became clearer.

Not many cultivators could reach this height if they did not have the ability to suppress the turbulence of the yin element.

Fortunately for Yan Ran and Liu Xi, they met Gu Qinghe who was willing to help them.

Their flying swords stopped. The three of them landed on the cold, snow covered ground.

After a three hour journey, they finally arrived at the peak and stood right in front of the palace gates which were already open.

Someone had already been to this place.

Gu Qinghe was the first to step inside, passing through the palace gates and arriving at the front courtyard. His hand was raised to chest level, and golden qi glowed at his fingertip.

He activated his cultivation vision and saw the conditions around the palace. Besides the altar in the front courtyard, there were many artifacts stored in every room of the palace.

There were five rooms in total: two small rooms, two medium rooms, and one large room. Although items were stored in those five rooms, only two rooms were open, and those were the small ones.

Gu Qinghe stepped forward, and his foot accidentally stepped on the circular altar floor which immediately activated a special formation.

His head bowed, his eyes reading the characters and patterns of the formation. It was an incomplete formation.

So that’s how it is.

"What is happening, Senior?" Yan Ran asked.

"You two, step into the center of that formation," Gu Qinghe requested.

Yan Ran and Liu Xi looked at each other, then nodded after reaching an agreement. Both stood on the white formation, which was the size of the altar floor and was rotating clockwise.

"What should we do?" Yan Ran asked.

"Can either of you complete the formation?"

Neither Yan Ran nor Liu Xi understood the complex patterns and ancient characters in a formation. Gu Qinghe sighed softly.

"Never mind."

His hands formed complex seals, then he directed his golden qi orb exactly to the center of the formation. A bright white light shone from the formation, a sign that its structure was now perfect.

"That is a teleportation formation. You will be sent directly to the second mountain region," Gu Qinghe stated.

Yan Ran and Liu Xi smiled widely, pressing their hands together and bowing their heads. "Thank you very much for your help, Senior."

Gu Qinghe remained silent and only responded with a brief nod. Before long, the formation sent Yan Ran and Liu Xi to another place, leaving Gu Qinghe alone in the palace.

His eyes glowed gold again as he walked toward the largest palace room. When he arrived in front of the door, he was surprised to find another formation acting as a seal to lock the room.

Curiosity rose in his heart.

What exactly is stored inside this room that had to be sealed using a formation?