At some unknown point, a man and two women emerged from the snow-covered woods.
One of the women, dressed in a loose white robe with a small a bag with a strap slung at her hip, shaded her eyes with a hand to peer at the lone city ahead.
When she caught sight of Prince Qian leisurely playing his instrument on the wall, she wrinkled her nose and let out a cold snort.
With a single leap, she landed on the cabin of the spirit ark, sat down on the edge, and began to dangle her feet, mischievously tapping the wooden planks beneath her.
The two-meter-tall man with them was bare-chested, unafraid of the winter cold. He rubbed his bald head, then slung an arm around the 1.8-meter-tall woman beside him. With his free hand, he shot Prince Qian on the wall a thumbs-up... then slowly turned it upside down.
Grinning wide enough to reveal a set of bright white teeth, he stood on the other side of the spirit ark with the woman, who could only roll her eyes.
Suddenly, thunderclouds gathered in the distance. Everyone on the spirit ark turned in unison to look.
A young Daoist with the transcendent air of an immortal arrived, riding a cloud. In his hand, a black cube rotated, constantly shifting into various shapes.
He first smiled and nodded toward the onlookers on the spirit ark, then brought his cloud to a halt as the thunderclouds drew near the city.
"Rumble! Rumble!"
The thunder was incessant. Within the city, the very air and the falling snow seemed to freeze solid under the immense pressure.
The sky grew progressively darker, only to be suddenly filled with color. Three lotus platforms, each blooming with a brilliant white light, had appeared in the air!
On the lotus platforms sat three strange Daoists. The one in the center was clearly very young, yet he held his hands together as if in prayer, a look of profound compassion on his face. Behind him floated a massive yellow talisman as tall as a man. He must have noticed the zither before Prince Qian on the city wall, for he frowned slightly. Then, with a casual wave of his hand, a zither of his own appeared before him.
The Daoist to the left was standing. It was unclear what had happened on their journey, but he was covered in wounds with his hair in disarray—a truly wretched sight. As soon as he spotted the white-robed woman sitting on the spirit ark, he cried out and rushed toward her.
It was only after she rolled her eyes and a few vines descended upon him, channeling a green light into his body, that he finally seemed at ease.
He then took a tortoise shell from his storage ring and strapped it to his back.
The third Daoist was stranger still. He sat in meditation upon his lotus platform, his entire body bound in layers of chains. The moment he saw the city, his eyes flashed with a cold light. He leaped to his feet and vanished on the spot. All that could be heard was the sound of shattering metal as chain fragments scattered in all directions, whistling through the air.
"Boom! Boom!"
The sound of spiritual energy colliding echoed from behind them.
After only a moment, the man who had been bound by chains reappeared. He was now holding two daggers, and the blood on their blades had already congealed.
A moment later, the wind and snow behind him were blasted away by an unseen force.
A longsword pierced a figure in the distance, which then dissolved into a sky-filling spray of blood. The bloodstained sword flew through the air and plunged into the snow, where it immediately absorbed all the blood from its blade.
A moment later, a figure appeared. Her armor was half-shattered, and the red robe worn over it was tattered and scorched. Her long hair was in disarray, and her right sleeve was soaked in blood that dripped steadily from her bracer, down the back of her hand.
She glanced at the assembled figures around the spirit ark, then resolutely walked forward, gripped the longsword, and stood beside the ark with her teeth clenched.
In this pale, white world, a splash of red suddenly appeared.
"Rumble! Rumble!"
A single red leaf drifted toward the city. As it neared the walls, it grew larger and larger, transforming into a heaven-reaching ancient tree!
The ancient tree landed, kicking up a cloud of snow. A serene young man lay resting within its canopy. But entwined all around its branches... were corpses! The corpses of people from the Duravia Trade Prefecture!
At that moment, a series of chaotic auras erupted from within the city. The tree's appearance had clearly disturbed the hearts of the cultivators hidden inside.
Twang!
Atop the city wall, Prince Qian abruptly stopped playing his zither. He frowned, his gaze fixed on the ancient tree.
Blood flowed continuously from the corpses of the Duravia Trade Prefecture people into the ancient tree. Vein-like patterns, resembling human blood vessels, emerged on its branches and trunk as its aura grew steadily stronger.
The aura of the young man in the center of its canopy was strengthening as well!
But this was not what truly struck fear into Prince Qian.
He shot to his feet.
Within the body of that ancient tree, he sensed... a familiar aura!
For tens of thousands of years, Eternal Sun Prefecture had always held the upper hand over the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
After Prince Qian arrived in Duravia, he had to be exceedingly respectful toward a group of suddenly ascendant young experts. It was not until forty years ago that he finally dared to kill them. Only then, with them gone, did he dare to harbor designs on Eternal Sun Prefecture.
It was all because of... one person!
"Tian Xing! How can he still be alive? Aren't they afraid?"
Before he knew it, Prince Qian's eyes were wide as he stared deathly at the Li family members gathered around the spirit ark.
But then, Prince Qian's jaw clenched. On the thick branches of the great tree, a series of familiar figures had appeared: the Boss of Skynet, Dongfang Xuan, Gu Yinming...
The leaves of the Old Tree rustled in the wind and snow. Dongfang Xuan looked toward Li Dalong on the spirit ark behind her.
"Family Head Li," she asked, "is everyone here? This is a Rank 4 spiritual formation. How are we supposed to break through it?"