A single corpse had set two powerful factions at odds, with anger boiling over and killing intent filling the air.

  After listening to both sides, Zuo Tianzheng couldn't help but feel that the situation was more complicated than he had anticipated.

  "Nonsense! My older brother is kind-hearted, how could he possibly do something like this!"

  Long Tianya roared in anger. "You killed my brother and then framed him!"

  "I see now, the people of the Taibai Martial Hall have no shame whatsoever!"

  Han sneered coldly. "You can check the injuries on my second senior brother."

  "Come, look for traces of Tenglong Martial Hall's martial arts or the residual true qi from Long Tianfu!"

  These things, under normal circumstances, could not be forged.

  Long Tianfu had used all his methods to quickly kill Shen Long, leaving plenty of signs on Shen Long's body.

  Zuo Tianzheng turned to Shen Long and asked, "Why did Long Tianfu want to kill you?"

  "I found a Bone Strengthening Tree, and Long Tianfu wanted to kill me to take it for himself." Shen Long presented the Bone Strengthening Tree for everyone to see.

  It was a small tree, about half a meter tall, radiating with spiritual energy.

  Although it was not a rare treasure, it was a relatively ordinary bone-strengthening herb—valuable enough for most martial artists to consider it a priceless treasure.

  "You, at the beginning of the Organ Realm, managed to find such a treasure?" Long Tianya's face grew cold.

  "Perhaps my brother discovered it first. Your greed drove you to try and take it, only to end up being pursued, right?!"

  Shen Long laughed bitterly. "At the beginning of the Organ Realm, how could I possibly want to take something from that old dog who has reached the peak of the Organ Realm?"

  Long Tianya's face darkened, about to erupt once more.

  Zuo Tianzheng shot him a cold glance. "Quiet."

  Long Tianchong suddenly spoke, his voice filled with sorrow. "Master Zuo, I just want justice for my brother!"

  Zuo Tianzheng pondered for a moment, then turned to Shen Long. "Come with me to the town guard office. I'll get to the bottom of this myself."

  "No need for an investigation," a voice suddenly rang out from the void.

  "The people of Tenglong Martial Hall coveted the treasure, harmed their companions, and deserve to die."

  "If there is still doubt, let the Taibai disciple Shen Long voluntarily cooperate. I will use my Taoist techniques to project his memories, revealing whether they are true or false."

  "Shen Long, do you agree?"

  "I agree." Shen Long quickly replied. "The District Governor can come now to retrieve my memories!"

  The voice belonged to Lu Qingmo.

  To view another's memories, one of two methods could be used: forcibly extracting the soul, a cruel technique meant for enemies, or having the person voluntarily cooperate with a special Taoist technique, which could project specific memories without causing harm.

  A talisman floated from the distance and landed on Shen Long's forehead. In front of him, images began to appear out of thin air.

  The scene showed Shen Long discovering the Bone Strengthening Tree, then being ambushed suddenly and fleeing.

  The projection ended there, and no further details about Shen Long's communication with Han and the others appeared.

  "Master Zuo, do we need further investigation?"

  Zuo Tianzheng stood silent for a moment, then shook his head.

  "Since we are both part of the Black Cloud Martial Guard, Long Tianfu's actions are punishable by death. There is no fault with Taibai."

  "Taibai's three members can leave now."

  "Master Zuo, your insight is sharp."

  Lu Qingmo's voice rang out again. "Also, Master Zuo, the people you sent into Black Mountain have been there nearly three days. If they haven't found what they're looking for by now, they probably won't."

  "The town of Black Cloud is short on manpower. We cannot afford to delay any longer."

  "Lu District Governor is right." Zuo Tianzheng nodded.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "My orders were to search for three days. Tonight, everyone will start returning to ensure the stability of Black Cloud."

  Han and his companions left without delay, not staying any longer.

  The members of Tenglong Martial Hall clenched their fists, eager to act, especially Long Tianya.

  However, seeing Zuo Tianzheng's cold expression, he gritted his teeth and restrained himself.

  Long Tianya had interacted with Zuo Tianzheng enough times recently to understand his temperament.

  If he defied him again, there would be dire consequences.

  After Han and his companions had walked a distance, Zuo Tianzheng slowly turned around and gazed in the direction of Black Cloud Town.

  "Lu Qingmo..."

  Zuo Tianzheng suddenly called out. "Long Hall Master."

  "Give your brother a proper burial."

  "I will compensate you with a Bone Strengthening Herb. Do not speak of tonight's events."

  "I don't want to see Black Cloud in chaos. I hope you understand my meaning."

  Zuo Tianzheng's eyes were icy, and he showed no remorse for Long Tianfu's death.

  After a long silence, Long Tianchong quietly responded, his eyes still filled with bloodlust.

  "Hatred... Hatred... Hatred!"

  Back in Black Cloud Town, Han and his companions helped Shen Long back to the martial hall, and Bai Ruoyue went to fetch Shen Yu.

  Han asked with concern, "Are you alright, Second Senior Brother?"

  Shen Long smiled faintly. "You and the Senior Sister arrived just in time. I'm fine, just need a few days to rest."

  "Luckily, Little Junior Brother, you gave me those talismans beforehand. Otherwise, I might have really perished in Black Mountain today."

  “That old dog... I never thought he'd dare to act this recklessly,” Han muttered, shaking his head. "Being deep in the Black Mountain really does loosen some of the chains people carry."

  "You’ve really gotten strong, Junior Brother!" Shen Long said, suddenly full of excitement. "Not even someone at the pinnacle of the Vitality realm could withstand your sword. With this power, you’re unmatched in the entire Black Cloud Town."

  Han smiled humbly. "It’s mostly because Long Tianfu has become weak."

  As the two conversed, Shen Yu and Zhang Yuantao entered the room.

  After a brief exchange of concern, they finally relaxed.

  "The people from the Tenglong Martial Arts Academy are truly despicable!" Shen Yu said, furious.

  "I know Long Tianfu. He’s always been less gifted than his younger brother. His vitality has already started to decline," Zhang Yuantao added. "He must’ve attacked Junior Brother Shen to try and harness the power of that spiritual plant, hoping it would help him break through to the Bone Refining realm."

  Although Long Tianfu had reached the peak of the Vitality realm, not everyone could easily break through to the next level. If one lacked the right talent, foundation, or physical condition, even if they saw the barrier, they wouldn’t be able to break through. They would have to rely on external aids.

  "Shen Long should stay at the martial academy to recover, just in case the Tenglong Martial Arts Academy tries anything underhanded," Zhang Yuantao suggested.

  Bai Ruoyue returned after fetching some healing medicines from her father. "With Long Tianfu dead, the Tenglong Martial Arts Academy will hate us even more. They won't just let this go."

  "In Black Cloud Town, they won’t dare to act openly," Zhang Yuantao said. "But we still need to stay cautious."

  Although the conflict with the Tenglong Martial Arts Academy had deepened their enmity, no one seemed overly concerned or regretful. Some people were simply impossible to befriend.

  The animosity between Taibai and Tenglong wasn’t something new. Even without today's incident, if they had met in the wilderness, it’s highly likely that swords would’ve been drawn.

  The interests, positions, and grudges from the previous generation ensured that the two sides would always be enemies. In the past, much of their enmity had been suppressed. Today, it had come to the surface, more intense than ever.

  After staying for a while at the martial academy, Han made his way back to the Peach Grove.

  "Aunt Mo, thank you for your help today," Han said sincerely.

  "It was just telling the truth," Lu Qingmo shook her head. "I couldn’t stand watching Zuo Tianzheng’s behavior any longer."

  "Several night-roaming and Vitality realm demons managed to hold back so many cultivators of Black Cloud Town for almost three days. If we hadn't lost those people during the last incident with the Impermanence Yama domain, we would have been able to detect the Impermanence Hall’s people much sooner."

  Lu Qingmo changed the topic, then complimented Han, "After breaking through, your strength has greatly improved. If you had a sufficiently safe environment for your physical body, your spiritual cultivation alone would make it hard for anyone to harm you."

  Han shook his head. "A sufficiently safe physical environment is something I can only hope for."

  "Aunt Mo, how do high-level cultivators solve the problem of their physical bodies being vulnerable during battle?"

  "If it’s a true cultivator, once they reach the Yin God realm, they can manifest a secondary body. This allows their Yin God to surround their physical body, turning the Yin God into their 'body.'"

  "In that case, unless someone breaks their Yin God, their physical body remains safe from harm."

  "..."

  That was indeed a good solution.

  But unfortunately, Han couldn’t use it.

  "If two souls are cultivated together, once they reach the Manifested Saint realm, they can split off a fragment of their soul to temporarily control their physical body," Lu Qingmo continued. "It’s similar to when you encountered the Soul Demon possessing someone. The difference is, this technique allows the soul to possess itself."

  "That fragment of the soul can still wield part of the physical body’s strength to ensure safety, but it’s only for self-preservation. The split soul is weaker, and if used against an enemy of the same level, it can be easily targeted."

  This solution was also great, but Han couldn’t use it either, since he wasn’t yet in the Manifested Saint realm.

  Lu Qingmo continued, "There’s one more method that allows the body to be completely safe while the soul leaves. It involves a special spatial item that can hold living creatures, which the soul can carry with them."

  "However, such spatial items are incredibly rare and precious."

  Essentially, during a fight, the person could store their body in a special spatial pouch, and unless they were defeated, their body would remain safe. In the event of danger, they could immediately retract their body and release it after the battle.

  But Han didn’t have such a space tool.

  Ordinary spatial pouches couldn’t hold living bodies.

  Han sighed, "These three methods are all great, but I can’t use any of them."

  Maybe when I extract Tree Brother later, I’ll see if it can provide a space for living beings.

  As dawn broke, the searchers sent into Black Mountain started to return one by one, including Su Chang'an and his companion.

  "We didn’t find the demon cultivators Zuo Tianzheng mentioned," He Feng said, shaking his head. "On our way back, I asked some of the others, but no one made any significant discoveries."

  "Wasn’t that just a waste of manpower?" Bai Ruoyue remarked. "Black Mountain is so vast, and without any specific tracking methods, the chances of finding the demon cultivators were slim to begin with."

  "Who knows what Zuo Tianzheng was thinking," He Feng replied.

  Not long after, Han felt something new in his soul realm, and a smile spread across his face.

  My little brother has arrived.