A black shadow appeared behind Chu Lingwei and the others just as they left, gazing thoughtfully at the blood on the ground.
“Is anyone following us?” Chu Lingwei looked behind her, a wall of ice blocking their retreat.
“No.”
Huan Mao shook his head. Their surroundings were clear, indicating they had truly shaken off all pursuers this time.
“Now we can finally have some peace,” Chu Lingwei sighed. Regardless of why these people were following her, she just wanted to find her father as soon as possible.
“Weiwei, why are they following us? Just as Mei Ji said, do they really dare to oppose the Cultivation Academy?” Feng Ming crouched beside Huan Mao, feeling that Mei Ji’s words were correct.
“We’ll talk about these things later.”
Chu Lingwei took out a tracking talisman. Since entering Bing Ji Cliff, she had lost count of how many tracking talismans she had used, but none had yielded any news.
The absence of news from the tracking talisman meant either her father was truly not here, or he had destroyed it.
Chu Lingwei hoped for the latter. If so, her father was at least alive.
“Weiwei, it’s no use. We’ve entered the inner region of Bing Ji Cliff now, and the tracking talismans can’t fly far,” Huan Mao said, watching Chu Lingwei continuously injecting spiritual power into the talisman, and warned her.
This not only wasted spiritual power but could also alert enemies.
It was a pity he couldn’t use tracking talismans himself; otherwise, he would do this for Weiwei.
“How will we know if we don’t try.” Chu Lingwei’s current approach was a carpet search.
“Careful.”
Just then, Feng Ming cried out. The flying artifact they were riding was attacked and overturned, falling downwards.
Chu Lingwei summoned her Ice Jade Cold Frost Sword, stepped on it, and caught Feng Ming and the others, while storing the flying artifact into her storage pouch.
“They were clearly right here just now.” After they stabilized, the area was still frozen, with nothing visible, not even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation.
“It should be a spirit beast.”
If it were a cultivator, Chu Lingwei would have sensed it immediately. Only certain spirit beasts had abilities to conceal their spiritual energy.
Chu Lingwei carefully sensed the surrounding wind currents. If they appeared here, there would definitely be traces.
Suddenly, a snowflake swayed back and forth with the wind and rain. Chu Lingwei let out a soft hum. What a snowflake dancing in the wind! A wave of spiritual energy shot towards it.
As the spiritual energy touched the snowflake, it exploded with a bang, like being hit by artillery fire.
This was Bing Ji Cliff, filled with countless snowflakes. Even the slightest sound could trigger an avalanche.
In an instant, Chu Lingwei’s surroundings seemed to ignite, ice shards flying, snowflakes swirling, and snow mountains collapsing towards them.
“Not good, we need to leave quickly.”
Seeing this scene, Chu Lingwei inwardly cursed. Flying upwards was now impossible. She quickly gathered the two small beasts into her spirit beast pouch, stepped onto her flying sword, and sped away from the area.
Just as she was about to escape, an ice shard flew towards her face from ahead. Chu Lingwei dodged, and a snow mountain beside her collapsed towards her.
Chu Lingwei frantically searched for an escape route, saw a small cave beside her, and jumped in directly.
After jumping in, Chu Lingwei realized it wasn’t a cave, but a breach leading to an underground river. The moment her feet touched an ice spike, the ground above her pressed down.
This underground river was not deep and could not withstand the collapse of several snow mountains. It would soon become solid ground.
“Weiwei, quickly enter the space!” Feng Ming, inside the spirit beast pouch, saw Chu Lingwei’s predicament and cried out. If Weiwei didn't enter the space soon, she would really be crushed to death.
“Weiwei, let’s enter the space first. When things calm down, we can figure out how to get out,” Huan Mao was also anxious. There was no escape route here.
Chu Lingwei was unwilling. She wanted to escape using her own abilities; she didn’t want to rely on the space for everything.
The space was her last resort, and she didn't want to depend on it all the time.
Suddenly, Chu Lingwei heard the sound of flowing water. As the pressure from above bore down, Chu Lingwei sent a surge of spiritual energy towards the river.
A hidden river appeared before Chu Lingwei’s eyes.
Without a second thought, Chu Lingwei jumped in, urging her spiritual power and swimming downwards rapidly with the current.
As Chu Lingwei had expected, not all areas collapsed. The rumbling behind her did not stop Chu Lingwei from slowly flowing downwards.
“Weiwei, are you alright?” Feng Ming’s eyes were red. Why was Weiwei so strong-willed? She had almost been crushed to death just now.
Chu Lingwei gasped for air. Her current state didn't look like she was alright at all; she was almost frozen to death.
“Weiwei, can you hear me?” Feng Ming, not hearing Chu Lingwei’s reply, raised her voice, almost deafening Chu Lingwei’s ears.
“It’s nothing, I’m just a bit cold right now.” Chu Lingwei was still in the water, flowing downwards.
“Weiwei, you really scared me to death just now,” Feng Ming cried upon hearing Chu Lingwei’s voice, “Why didn’t you enter the space?”
“Alright, stop crying.”
Chu Lingwei found a water bag from the space, climbed into it herself, and used her spiritual power to dry the water and ice off her body, which made her feel better.
Lying in the water bag, she urged it to flow downstream.
There was no exit here, so now they could only see where this hidden river led.
Chu Lingwei lay in the water bag. Feng Ming and Huan Mao immediately jumped out and used their spiritual power to bring warmth to Chu Lingwei.
“Alright, conserve your spiritual power. We will surely need it later.” Chu Lingwei asked them to stop, and then, recalling how she had been ambushed, she couldn’t help but wonder, “Do you know what attacked me?”
Even after jumping into the hole, Chu Lingwei had not clearly seen what had ambushed her.
“I saw it clearly. It was something white, but it didn't seem like a snake.” Feng Ming shuddered, recalling a pair of white eyes in the white snow. “I don’t know what it was.”
“I didn’t see anything,” Huan Mao shook his head. He had been too worried about Weiwei to see anything.
“A white spirit beast, with white eyes.” Chu Lingwei tried to recreate its appearance in her mind, but couldn’t figure out what kind of spirit beast it was.
Feng Ming herself hadn’t seen it clearly, only catching a glimpse of a head, a pair of eyes, and a tail before it disappeared, making it impossible to identify.
“Don’t worry, Weiwei. When I become stronger, I will definitely come back for revenge,” Feng Ming snorted, vowing to return and trample underfoot whatever had harmed Weiwei.