She knew that the treasured sword Mei Yinxue had received from his adoptive father had been stolen by the extremely jealous Gu Youlan.
She was also aware of the incident not long ago when Gu Youlan used the sword to try to trap Mei Yinxue, but instead, it backfired, leading to her own death.
All one could say was that fate makes fools of us all!
Of the four sisters—Mei Lan and Zhu Ju—only she and Mei Yinxue were still alive. The other two, unable to let go of their grudge against Mei Yinxue, had ultimately died by her hand as well.
This left her feeling a deep sense of melancholy.
If she had not let go of her resentment against Mei Yinxue, the best outcome would probably have been killing Mei Yinxue and then being pursued and killed by Mu Jinyu!
"Let's go,"
Mei Yinxue, carrying the Blood-Drinking Sword, said to Xiang Mantang.
"Okay." Xiang Mantang nodded and then turned to Wu Shisan and Mu Hongchen beside him. "Look after the Dragon King Hall. If there's anything urgent that I haven't managed to handle, consult each other and take care of it. For routine matters, wait till I return."
"Yes!" Mu Hongchen and Wu Shisan both nodded in agreement.
Xiang Mantang naturally hadn't planned to take Wu Shisan and Mu Hongchen to Kunlun Ruins to trouble the Tianhe Sword Sect.
The reason they had appeared on the drill field was solely because so many top-grade assassins had shown up; they came to check on the situation.
In the end, they would have to stay back to guard the Dragon King Hall.
Xiang Mantang couldn't possibly bring all of the Dragon King Hall's top fighters to the Kunlun Ruins. If something unexpected happened during the trip, wouldn't the Dragon King Hall be left entirely defenseless!
Shortly thereafter, a group boarded a private jet and flew toward Kunlun Mountain.
Sitting next to Xiang Mantang was Jian Ruyan. She could feel Xiang Mantang trembling slightly as they got closer to Kunlun Mountain and knew he was still troubled by the events of that day. She reached out and held his hand.
Xiang Mantang shuddered slightly when Jian Ruyan's small hand gripped his, then he turned his pale face to look at her.
Jian Ruyan said nothing, only gazing at Xiang Mantang with her clear, glassy eyes, quietly shaking her head.
Xiang Mantang remained silent, but his quivering body gradually stabilized.
Later, he was about to let go of Jian Ruyan's hand but noticed it was quite cold. After a moment's consideration, he decided not to release it.
The rest of the journey passed in silence.
A few hours later,
they finally arrived at the outskirts of Kunlun Mountain.
"Follow me,"
By then, Xiang Mantang had already let go of Jian Ruyan's hand, stepping ahead to lead them toward the direction of Kunlun Ruins.
An hour or so later,
Xiang Mantang led them to the place where he had ambushed Chen Wudao last time.
This was the entrance to Kunlun Ruins.
The area was seldom visited by anyone, but to prevent just anyone from accidentally stumbling into Kunlun Ruins, a formation was set up here. Normally, even if someone managed to find their way here, without knowing the specific method to enter, they simply could not access Kunlun Ruins.
As a former Beidou Tianshu, Xiang Mantang naturally knew how to enter Kunlun Ruins.
After some manipulation,
the very center of that clearing began to slowly distort and swirl, eventually transforming into a curtain of light rippling like water.
"Let's go,"
Once Xiang Mantang saw the light curtain appear, confirming everyone could now enter Kunlun Ruins, he stepped forward, walking into the light curtain.
The others saw Xiang Mantang's hand stretch into the light curtain, immediately getting twisted out of sight, followed by his half body, and finally, the whole person disappeared before their eyes.
To those inexperienced with such phenomena, this was somewhat baffling, but Jian Ruyan didn't hesitate and was the second to walk toward the light curtain.
After her, the vengeance-driven Mei Yinxue followed suit and entered.
Eventually, Zeus, San Liu, Nameless, and Zhu Yeqing exchanged looks and followed in as well.
Once they all had entered, the land became much quieter.
The light curtain in the void slowly spun for about three minutes, then gradually began to disappear into the void.
Meanwhile,
after stepping out from the light curtain, Xiang Mantang and his companions were greeted by a much broader world.
Before them lay a wilderness where the grass, dense as swords, bristled with a sharp sword Qi.
"Screech!"
A cry of a bird echoed as an eagle, towering three meters high, fiercely dived from the sky, swooping down toward Xiang Mantang and his companions!
"Swoosh!"
Jian Ruyan's eyes grew cold in an instant; she unsheathed her sword, and with a flash of sword light that vanished as quickly as it appeared, feathers flew and blood rained down!
The group stared at the twitching eagle on the ground, their eyes filled with an unusual mix of awe and trepidation.
What seemed to be an ordinary eagle actually possessed such immensity, and the force of its attack suggested the strength of someone at the peak of Mingjin.
If ordinary people were to come here, they'd hardly make it far before being hunted down by the seemingly random animals!
"Tianhe Sword Sect!"
Xiang Mantang didn't even glance at the eagle's corpse nearby but stood still, recalling the map of Kunlun Ruins and the location of the Tianhe Sword Sect.
After comparing the surroundings, Xiang Mantang then said to everyone, "Let's go this way."
After walking for more than three hours, San Liu couldn't help but ask, "Cousin, how much further?"
"Almost there, about half an hour more," Xiang Mantang replied, though not entirely sure himself.
After all, it was also his first time in the Kunlun Ruins, a world independent from Earth.
"Another half hour!"
San Liu felt somewhat dejected as they had constantly encountered various ferocious beasts during the past three hours of their journey.
Such ferocious animals like tigers, leopards, and wolves, which outside of zoos are seldom seen.
And the beasts here were far larger in size compared to those in the outside world.
A tiger outdoors would typically measure between one and a half to two and a half meters long, but here, tigers could grow over three, nearly four meters long.
Truly terrifying!
Half an hour later, amid the slightly complaining tone of San Liu,
"We've arrived!"
Xiang Mantang suddenly stopped and announced.
Everyone immediately became spirited and looked ahead.
In the distance, they saw a mountain range soaring into the sky, with myriad waterfalls like reversed galaxies and spiritual energy swirling around. Cranes circled in the sky, and many pavilions and towers adorned each peak, all shimmering gold and exuding an aura of immortality!
"Is this the Tianhe Sword Sect? It looks quite grand!"
San Liu, with a hint of envy in his eyes, softly said as he looked at the undulating mountain range.
"Come on, we're almost there."
Xiang Mantang stepped forward again and proceeded.
Having seen the mountaintop, it was naturally not far off.
But as the saying goes, "distant mountains are deceptive to the view," it looked close but still took them almost another half an hour to finally stand before the mountain range.
There were no disciples guarding the gate of the Tianhe Sword Sect; it seemed as though anyone could enter.
"How do we get in?" asked San Liu.
He knew that things were definitely not going to be easy. The gate to Tianhe Sword Sect must be tough to penetrate.
"Simple!"
Xiang Mantang let out a light chuckle, his eyes twinkling with a cold glint. He then motioned for everyone to step back and slowly raised his hand.
As Xiang Mantang's hand rose, the extremely rich spiritual energy of the Kunlun Ruins stirred according to his movements.
"Ha!"
Once Xiang Mantang felt the energy accumulation was adequate, he cried out lightly and fiercely struck forward!
"Boom!!"
Under the watchful eyes of San Liu and the others, it was as if an immense invisible palm had fiercely struck the air in front of them!
What astonished them even more was that as the Giant Elemental Qi Palm hit the air, a loud, bell-like sound resonated there.
Afterward, ripples of golden waves appeared before their eyes.
Finally, everyone clearly saw that there was a giant golden formation, large as a sea bowl, that utterly sealed off the mountain range!