For some unknown reason, Yan Tianhen’s heart was very calm. His subconscious told him that if he wanted to find Lin Xuanzhi, he should walk towards the east, and he would surely find him.
At the same time, he had a sense of panic and crisis — that feeling told him that as long as he left the Tomb of Youshan right now, he would never be able to enter again.
Therefore, he did not dare to gamble and was not willing to gamble.
His subconscious feelings had always been very accurate.
Yan Tianhen didn’t tell anyone about this matter. Although they were friends that went through life and death together, he could not drag innocent people into everything.
Coming with him to search for the blood cypress sap was already because of these people’s goodness.
“Chirp–” The master of the bird nest who was squeezed into one corner of the bird’s nest gave a cry of uneasiness and Yan Tianhen looked towards it. Suddenly, he saw a group of troops in the distance, hands raising torches burning with green light and dragging heavy armor along the mountain road.
Yin Nian grabbed the beak of the stupid bird that was ready to call out a second sound, and held it tightly, he also quickly extinguished some fluorescence scattered from Taotian’s fingertips, he did not dare make any mistakes.
What is that?
Everyone had an expression of confusion on their face.
Although the distance was huge they could still see the soldiers dragging their weapons, fully armored, like soldiers going to battle. Some of them were infantry, some cavalry, some with red tasselled spears, and some carried swords. The personal mounts of these cavalrymen all had different styles, and most of them had godly pedigree. However, what made it feel strange was that although their pace was neat and consistent, rhythmic and powerful, every single step they took made no sound, and they never left any footprints on the ground, as if they were drifting past.
Yan Tianhen narrowed his eyes. From the mirror that Yin Nian took out, he could clearly see the solemn expression of these soldiers and their eyes filled with unswerving determination.
Yan Tianhen suddenly had wet eyes, but he didn’t know where this sudden feeling came from. This group of silent soldiers walked on for four hours before the tail could be seen. There was a thick fog, and their line of sight became completely blocked. By the time the fog dispersed, there was no trace of the soldiers anymore.
Yan Tianhen asked, “What is this?”
Yin Chongyue pondered for a moment and said, “I’ve heard of Yin soldiers, but if they are merely Yin soldiers, they should only have residual souls, but the aura they give off doesn’t feel like they’re pure souls, so I can’t tell their identities.”
Yin Chongyue frowned and said, “If you continue to stay here, you are going to kill yourself. To be honest, your strength is the weakest among us now. If there are any accidents, you will die here. Why do you have to be so stubborn and court death?”
Yan Tianhen, however, smiled and said, “Senior Yin, although love makes people blind, but with my temper, have I ever done anything to bring about my destruction?”
Yin Chongyue froze. He stared at Yan Tianhen for a moment and said, “What are you hiding?”
Yan Tianhen avoided answering, saying, “Senior Yin, when you go out, tell my father and dad that I will come back one day.”
Yin Chongyue’s face changed, and just as he wanted to speak, he suddenly felt dizzy. He looked at Yan Tianhen, who had a guilty face, in disbelief, and fell back in the nest.
Yin Nian widened his eyes and said, “Ah Hen, why do you need to do this?”
Yan Tianhen lowered his eyes and said coldly, “Because he blocked my way, no one can stop what I’m going to do next. If you want to stop me, I can also put you down.”
Lin Xuanzhi entrusted Yin Chongyue with protecting Yan Tianhen, so no matter what, he wouldn’t let Yan Tianhen leave. Therefore, Yan Tianhen had to make Yin Chongyue lose consciousness first, then find a way to get out.
There was a kind of incapacitating medicine, which was non-toxic and tasteless. It was only useful for ghost cultivators, but it had no effect on human beings. Most of the medicinal pills Yan Tianhen studied were tricky and unusual. Unexpectedly he also refined a bottle of this occasionally, but it was actually useful today.
Yan Tianhen’s words completely angered Yin Nian, who was already on the verge of being angry and violent. He immediately jumped up and shouted, “You are a person who is simply unable to recognize people’s good intentions, and bite the hands that feed you.”
Yan Tianhen calmly said, “I am just this kind of a person.”
“Ah Bai, Hu Po.” Yan Tianhen shouted, and two white tigers who recovered their vigorous figures stood by Yan Tianhen, one on either side, staring eagerly at Yin Nian.
Yin Nian was shocked, and immediately drew out a long sword in defense.
Bai Yanqiu saw their state, and his expression was unpredictable. Before the two sides really fought, he stopped Yin Nian’s actions. Bai Yanqiu looked at Yan Tianhen and said, “It seems that Junior Martial Brother Yan has actually made up his mind and has a plan.”
Yan Tianhen nodded and said, “Thank you for your previous kindness. I also hope Senior Martial Brother Bai can request a leave of absence from the Academy for me.”
Bai Yanqiu faintly said, “Since you are so determined, I won’t stand in your way, Junior Martial Brother Yin. Let’s not stand in his way.”
“But–”
“Everyone has their own path.” Bai Yanqiu said, “We can give him advice, but we can’t force him to do anything he is unwilling to do in the name of kindness.”
Yin Nian stayed still for a while, and after a few moments, he suddenly put the sword away and turned away.
Yan Tianhen cupped his hands in thanks to Bai Yanqiu. After that, he looked up at the big bird that had been hiding in a corner of the bird’s nest from the beginning and was teased and bullied by Ah Bai and Hu Po the entire time. He said, “I’ll have to trouble you to send them out. Many thanks.”
Under Yin Nian’s shocked gaze, the big bird flapped its wings twice, stood up, then picked Yin Nian up and threw him onto its back.
Bai Yanqiu gazed deeply at Yan Tianhen, picked up Yin Chongyue who was lying in the bird’s nest and couldn’t feel anything around him, and landed on the back of the big bird.
“Farewell,” Bai Yanqiu said.
The big bird spread its wings, and a bright and clear bird song echoed in the valley. The colorful feathers looked very beautiful under the dim light, like the most beautiful existence in the Tomb of Youshan.
“This is a wild bird.” A young man with a beautiful appearance and pure white robe landed barefoot beside Yan Tianhen. He looked at the five-colored bird that made all the birds in the air escape, and continued, “That is one of the very few beasts left behind from the ancient period of time when the gods were sealed.”
Yan Tianhen withdrew his eyes and looked askance at this clearly familiar, but especially unfamiliar face from the corner of his eyes, and asked, “Should I call you Yin Changge, or should I call you Young Master Rong?”
Yin Changge smiled. His smile was less dull than before and instead, had more of a haughty expression — the look of a prince of a Divine Clan who grew up with respect and support.
“It’s just a name. Does it matter what you call me?” Yin Changge said, “However, my original name is Rong Zhishui, courtesy name Mijin. If you want to address me as Zhishui or Mijin that’s okay too.”
“Let’s just call you Young Master Rong.” Yan Tianhen also had a detached smile. His aura was impressive.
Yin Changge– no, the beloved young master of the Rong family, Rong Zhishui, looked at Yan Tianhen and said, “I know that you are very angry at me right now, and think that I have had ulterior motives from beginning to end, but I’ve never once thought about harming you.”
Yan Tianhen looked at him coldly and said, “I treated you as a friend, helped you out, and stood up for you, but you — you deliberately approached me as if you were ignorant of the world, pretending to be innocent and weak, no matter what your intentions are, you can’t change the fact that you lied to me.”
Rong Zhishui rubbed his nose slightly awkwardly. His slightly long and thick eyelashes dropped, avoiding Yan Tianhen’s sharp gaze. “If I could, I also don’t want to use a false identity to cutivate in Myriad Dao Academy. You should also know that the Rong family will not allow any disciple of Rong family to have anything to do with Myriad Dao Academy because of my rebellious uncle, Rong Chaoxi, but I didn’t want to stay in this boring place year after year, so I had to change my name then sneak into Myriad Dao Academy.”
Yan Tianhen said with a cold face, “Your cultivation is so high. In fact, even without Shen Congrong, you could still have killed those who wanted to bully you in the evil spirit array back then, couldn’t you?”
Rong Zhishui nodded and said, “I was already going to act, but who knew that Shen Congrong would fall from the sky and deal with those guys for me.”
When he finished speaking, he saw Yan Tianhen’s expression and quickly took the initiative to explain, “I am sincere about Shen Congrong. Although I have concealed my identity, I have never been deceptive when it came to his feelings.”
Rong Zhisui paused and said, “Since I was a child, I have inherited the divine power from the Rong bloodline, so since childhood, I was the only one who was able to freely enter and leave the Tomb of Youshan. Although my family respects me, they are also afraid of me and alienated me. They felt that I was born to be the guardian of this soil and did not need anyone to protect me. The elders in my family were also extremely strict and demanding with me. That day in the evil spirit array, that was the first time in my life that someone protected me, and there’s also you — you saw that I was poor, ignorant, and troublesome, but you were still willing to be friends with me. I am very grateful to you.”
Yan Tianhen snorted. “Is this how you show your gratitude? From the start, you placed chess pieces beside me, and along the path they led me all the way here. Rong Zhisui, right now it’s just you and me, and I am no match for you. What plan did you have in mind? You might as well be straightforward.”
Rong Zhisui blinked his eyes and asked, “You knew everything?”
Yan Tianhen said, “The head of the Rong family is the Spirit Emperor. The inheritance of the Rong family is the ability to control all the plants and flowers in the world, understand the sounds of nature, and make them available to you to use. That peach tree spirit has been guiding us all the way. If you say that he was not specially arranged by you, I definity won’t believe it.”
At this point, Rong Zhishui had no need to hide anymore.
Rong Zhisui nodded and said, “Taotian was indeed instructed by me to join your team, but I just wanted him to help you from the side. In the Tomb of Youshan there are illusion arrays everywhere, and the terrain changes three times a day. If I didn’t communicate with Taotian and have him tell you where to go, even if you wanted to get here, I don’t know how many detours you would have taken.”
Rong Zhisui sighed with some disappointment and said, “I originally wanted to help you get the blood cypress tree sap, but I didn’t expect you to disturb the sleep of that powerful person in the Tomb of Youshan. Since the matter has already developed to this stage, I can only help you up to here.”