The Way of The Dao

"There are quite a few people!"

Mio Yidan's shocked voice quickly rang out.

After walking for a while longer, Ling Tian, Shang Moyu and the others had arrived at the small abandoned and destroyed village. People of different ages were quickly arriving at this place, meeting up with their other fellows or looking for some specific place.

However, they soon realized that their illusions might be destined not to be fulfilled, as they could sense powerful auras belonging to the foundation establishment state and even some golden core stages.

"It's normal to have people in these kinds of places. Once the news about some spiritual treasure or an inheritance of some expert spreads, everyone will come to try their luck... even the great experts would not pass up these opportunities."

Ling Tian nodded reassuringly to the stunned Mio Yidan, unable to help but pat her small head before pausing and smiling somewhat helplessly, withdrawing his hand.

The tendency Ling Tian had for stroking and patting the heads of his little female disciples seemed to have become a habit, as it was first with Lan Yin and Qing Sha, followed by Xuan Li and Lang Qingzu not too long ago, and now Mio Yidan with her childish and still innocent behavior reminded Ling Tian about his little female disciples and unconsciously patting her head.

Mio Yidan froze when she felt Ling Tian's hand pat her head, feeling somewhat strange and weird at the same time as it was the first time, with many mixed feelings. But the next moment she couldn't help but blush, feeling her little heart beating furiously as shyness came over her.

"It seems that up ahead they are meeting. Let's go see." Shang Moyu quickly noticed the commotion up ahead, so he turned to look at the others.

"Alright!"

"Let's go!"

Chang Yi and the others nodded without hesitation. Even though it seemed impossible to succeed in having the spiritual treasures of this place with so many people, they still didn't want to give up.

"You guys go, I have some business to attend to..."

Ling Tian stopped and he gazed in a certain direction.

"Huh?"

Shang Moyu and the others were surprised to hear Ling Tian, stopping their steps instantly.

"It's okay, senior brother Ling! Thank you for everything!"

However, Shang Moyu quickly cupped his fists and waved goodbye to Ling Tian, showing him respect with a hint of thanks.

The others also bid farewell to Ling Tian. Ling Tian's company was pleasant and lifted their spirits, but they still remembered their main mission.

Ling Tian would probably also try to find his friends or sect fellows.

Mio Yidan looked at Ling Tian somewhat reluctantly before following beside Chang Yi and walking with the others, turning her head from time to time to look at Ling Tian.

Ling Tian watched them leave quietly, waving his hand slightly before looking in the same direction as a few moments ago.

"This kid is already half step from reaching the golden core..." Ling Tian whispered lightly before disappearing without leaving a trace behind.

Moving through space, Ling Tian controlled the space principle with ease, advancing dozens of meters in moments.

He quickly arrived at a distant mountain range that was full of dry trees and stopped, standing in the middle of the undergrowth and dry trees. His spirit sense silently spread out and covered the whole place.

The place was a few kilometers away from the center of commotion and gathering of the people who came for the treasures of the immortal goddess of life, so it was somewhat quiet in the place.

"Interesting..." Ling Tian smiled slightly as he found a somewhat large group, specifically a young man of about 16 years old.

The aura this young boy exuded was clearly lower than his true cultivation level, concealing his power and displaying a cultivation at the foundation establishment early stage. The strongest of the group was a cultivator at the early golden core stage.

The group quickly stopped when they reached what looked like a long and deep abyss that prevented them from moving forward. The other higher mountain was dozens of meters away, so it could not be crossed directly.

It could only be crossed by flying sword or flying themselves, or at worst go back and go around the entire mountain range, which would take a long time.

However, an energy soon flowed from the young boy that Ling Tian watched, which energy flowed out of a small crystal and the next moment was directed towards the rock wall of the other mountain, causing an invisible barrier to ripple and disappear soon after, with a cave appearing before everyone's eyes.

An old and ancient bridge appeared in front of everyone, connecting the edge of the mountain where they were to the new cave formed in the other mountain's wall.

"A secret entrance..." Ling Tian blinked slightly before frowning as he felt a slight shake in his consciousness sea.

Ling Tian moved his spirit and entered into his consciousness sea.

In Ling Tian's consciousness sea, the pagoda of Luo Hongmeng that had been silent all this time briefly trembled, a faint energy surged out of it and quickly flowed out of Ling Tian's consciousness sea.

Ling Tian noticed that the faint energy was heading in a certain direction, surprisingly heading towards the dark abyss below the cave and bridge that had appeared.

Ling Tian's spirit sense extended and he discovered that the abyss seemed to be more than a kilometer deep, and at the bottom was a formation array concealing a secret entrance, which seemed to react to sensing the energy coming from the Luo Hongmeng's pagoda.

Ling Tian smiled, knowing that this was Luo Hongmeng's help for him to find the exact location of where her home and the entire sect was.

"Arhg! Damn!"

"Kill him and take the map he has!"

"Don't let him escape!"

Suddenly, the commotion attracted Ling Tian's attention again, raising his eyebrows slightly before shaking his head, letting out a tired sigh.

The large group the young boy was in had become chaotic, with almost everyone pointing their swords and spears at him and another girl standing next to him.

The auras from the chi gathering middle stage to the foundation establishment stage were united and locked these two people together, even slight faint murderous intentions could be felt.

"You really want to burn the bridge after crossing!" The boy shouted furiously, as he looked straight at the other man who had the highest cultivation in the place: golden core early stage.

"Hahaha! Don't take it the wrong way! It's simply a small fee for escorting you here!" The golden core cultivator sneered and added, "If you don't want to die, then hand over the map you have! If you do, I'll let the two of you go alive!"

The boy gritted his teeth and glared with murderous intent at the golden core cultivator. His hand squeezed the little girl's hand next to him, covering her with his aura to protect her, since she didn't have a cultivation base and might die if he didn't protect her.

Although he had a cultivation base half step from reaching the golden core realm and could fight on equal footing with a true golden core expert, he was not alone and there were many enemies, so he did not want to risk the girl's life with him.

"Sister, do you trust me?" The boy looked at the girl next to him, asking her in a low voice.

The girl looked at him and without hesitation she nodded firmly.

He only had one chance to escape from this place with his sister, but he had to be close to the golden core cultivator in order to do so.

"Hey! What do you mean by this, senior brother?!"

At once, another girl's voice was heard, attracting the attention of the boy and the girl beside him.

The young girl who looked to be about 16 years old as well, with a heroic yet firm and powerful spirit, as well as a pretty countenance and graceful posture, had a dazed expression and she quickly stared in disbelief and somewhat angrily at her martial brother.

"Keep quiet! This is a matter between men! Women must remain silent!" The golden core cultivator yelled grimly as he walked to the boy, he expelled his aura gradually wanting to crush him.

"No! They were the ones who found the map and I was the one who convinced them to allow all of us to come, since we didn't know how dangerous it would be!" The 16 year old girl still shook her head and stood between the boy and her senior martial brother, finally expelling her aura.

The aura that this 16-year-old girl expelled belonged to that of a cultivator at the foundation establishment peak stage. But the aura she expelled was somewhat more powerful than expected, quickly reaching the boundary of the golden core stage.

Everyone else was stunned as they sensed this martial sister's aura, as well as the golden core cultivator, sensing a slight threat from this girls who is much younger than him.

When had this junior martial sister become so strong?

Wasn't she just a cultivator in the foundation establishment early stage?

How is it that she can give him a small death threat?

But it's useless, as long as she didn't reach the golden core stage she would remain below him.

"Get out of my way!" The golden core cultivator shouted darkly. His aura flowed stronger, suppressing his martial sister.

The others had enclosed them in a circle to prevent them from escaping, forcing them with their auras to move towards the edge where the abyss was. While at the same time they watched with various expressions full of delight and derision.

"No!" The 16-year-old girl yelled stubbornly as she tried to resist the overwhelming pressure from her senior martial brother, "They promised me that we could have the half if we just went along with them, so you don't have to do this!"

"Are you stupid? How can you let a couple of mere ants have half of the whole treasure while we are more than them and stronger? If you don't get out of my way I won't hesitate to kill you even though we are from the same sect!" The golden core cultivator coldly glared with murderous intent at his junior martial sister, "Besides, it's most likely the legacy of the immortal goddess of life! If we can get it before everyone else and make it ours, then our cultivation will skyrocket tremendously and we'll be stronger!"

The 16-year-old girl was stunned to see her senior brother's expression, realizing that he would really kill her if she didn't move, expressing his greed and cruelty. She looked back at the pair of siblings with whom she got along very well and who had saved her from death more than once, but smiled somewhat sadly at them, moving her lips silently and expressing forgiveness.

"I always had a suspicion that you weren't the respectable, ideal senior brother everyone said you were in the sect!" The girl gritted her teeth and expelled her aura with all her energies, quickly surpassing the golden core's aura and rivaling her senior brother's aura a bit.

The senior brother gritted his teeth as the threat of danger and death intensified further, realizing that this girl younger than him had the power to kill him.

"I have only respected and followed you all this time because my master asked me to! And I've even helped you in giving you the spiritual treasures I've obtained sometimes to make you stronger!"

"But now I confirmed what kind of man you are! And you are nothing but trash!"

"If you want to kill them, then you will have to kill me and step over my corpse!"