Han Ze had his back to Shen Qing and stopped his departing steps.
But in the end, he said nothing and left Shen Qing's spiritual sea.
Not long after Han Ze left, Shen Qing woke up from her slumber. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Hong Chaoyang's enlarged face.
Seeing Shen Qing awake, Hong Chaoyang showed a surprised expression and quickly shouted to those behind him, "She's awake! Shen Qing's awake! Come quickly!"
The first one to rush over was Li Xian. He looked at Shen Qing with concern, but his expression was a bit strange.
Shen Qing propped herself up and got up from the ground. There was no sign of Han Ze around, and the boundless ice and snow had melted with his departure.
The clothes of Hong Chaoyang and the other two were still dripping wet, and they carried a chill with them. When Shen Qing got closer to them, a wave of coldness hit her.
Xue Ling pulled Hong Chaoyang aside and asked him to help dry her cassock.
Shen Qing looked at Li Xian's lowered eyes and asked in confusion, "What's wrong with you?"
Li Xian shook his head and didn't say a word. He only asked Shen Qing back, "What did Han Ze do to you?"
Shen Qing caught her breath. She remembered the scenes Han Ze had shown her just now. The overwhelming redness made her seem to smell the strong scent of blood. A strong feeling of nausea welled up, and Shen Qing suddenly pushed Li Xian away and retched.
Li Xian quickly patted Shen Qing on the back to help her relieve the discomfort. He also took out some sweet and sour dried fruits from his storage bag and stuffed them into Shen Qing's mouth.
But even the sweet and sour taste couldn't suppress the overwhelming nausea.
She had witnessed with her own eyes how the Dragon Clan was persecuted by the Human and Demon Clans. They were immobile and could only watch helplessly as the flesh on their bodies was peeled off bit by bit.
They wailed in pain and even hoped to die quickly.
But the abusers grinned hideously, with their hands covered in fresh blood as they disemboweled and skinned the Dragons.
The moment she saw those scenes, Shen Qing almost wanted to submit to Han Ze and tell him that she would avenge the Dragon Clan and make the Human and Demon Clans pay the price.
Even now, Shen Qing's inner beliefs had wavered a bit.
But this slight wavering also made her feel confused.
Han Ze never showed any real evidence to prove her identity in the end. Shen Qing was still not sure whether she was really a member of the Dragon Clan.
Moreover, all those scenes from that year were just Han Ze's one - sided story. Only Han Ze himself knew how much of it was true and how much was false.
The chaotic thoughts made Shen Qing's temples throb. The strong uneasiness made her suddenly not know how to face Li Xian, or how to face the friends and elders in the sect.
"Li Xian, let me be alone for a while."
The hand that Li Xian had been gently patting Shen Qing's back with paused. He stood up with a tense face. "Okay, I also want to be alone. These days... let's calm down for a while."
Shen Qing felt guilty and didn't notice the other emotions in Li Xian's tone at all.
Not far away, although Xue Ling was with Hong Chaoyang, her eyes had been on Shen Qing and Li Xian.
After seeing them part on bad terms, Xue Ling sighed. She felt that these two were like the male and female leads in those sadistic novels. They would eventually go their separate ways because of a conflict.
But with her around, the sad scenes in those novels would never happen. So Xue Ling heavily patted Hong Chaoyang on the shoulder and said seriously, "Hong Chaoyang, it seems that our task will be arduous from now on."
Hong Chaoyang held the cassock in a daze and didn't know why Xue Ling had suddenly become so enthusiastic.
But thinking about the matters in the mortal world, Hong Chaoyang naturally thought that Xue Ling was talking about the matter of the Ling Family. So he also nodded heavily. "Don't worry, we will definitely solve the matter of the Ling Family well!"
After saying that, Hong Chaoyang tightly clenched his fist and raised it, then nodded seriously at her.
Xue Ling looked speechless and secretly cursed Hong Chaoyang for being a blockhead.
It seemed that from now on, she would have to rely on herself to reconcile the two of them on this journey.
So Xue Ling's look at Hong Chaoyang became pitying. "Silly kid, go play by yourself."
Hong Chaoyang widened his eyes. He felt that there was a hidden meaning in Xue Ling's words, but he didn't know what was wrong.
The matter of the Ling Family was urgent, so Shen Qing could only grit her teeth and muster her spirits.
Not even a few moments after Han Ze left, the four of them passed through the fog of the divine platform, crossed Kunlun Mountain, and arrived in the mortal world.
Because they didn't want to be recognized as cultivators, the four of them changed into the cotton and linen clothes worn by ordinary people. Their hair was only decorated with wooden hairpins.
The closer they got to Kunlun Mountain, the more desolate the area became. To save some time on the journey, the four of them flew with their swords for a while.
Xue Ling didn't have a sword, so she stayed with Li Xian and let Chen Xi carry them.
Actually, Xue Ling's alms bowl could be enlarged, but she always felt it was a bit strange to fly alone in the alms bowl, so she hugged Li Xian and refused to let go.
When they were approaching the town, they landed on an uninhabited hillside and then walked there. Then they went to a store and bought a map to confirm the location of Guangfu.
The people in the town were highly vigilant towards the four people who suddenly appeared.
They had been so frightened by the demons recently that they were on edge. The sudden appearance of several new faces in the town made them look at Shen Qing and her group with obvious hostility.
Hong Chaoyang had never seen such looks before. He was a bit scared and tugged at Shen Qing's sleeve. "Shen Qing... I'm a bit scared. Let's leave here quickly. The looks of those commoners seem like they want to eat us up."
There was no spiritual energy in the mortal world. If cultivators wanted to cast spells, they would have to consume the spiritual energy stored in their bodies. Once it was used up, there would be none left. So cultivators who came to the mortal world would avoid using spells if possible, or they would rely on pills.
Actually, if a fight broke out, the bodies of cultivators tempered by the heavenly thunder were not afraid of those villagers. Hong Chaoyang was just scared because he had never seen the looks of malice and fear in the commoners' eyes.
Shen Qing noticed the scrutinizing looks of the commoners around and knew that this was not a place to stay for long. So she nodded and walked out of the town.
But when passing by the town's yamen, Shen Qing saw the public notice board outside.
A piece of information on the public notice board caught the attention of the four of them. It was about the Ling Family in Guangfu.
The notice stated how the Ling Family had exploited the commoners to amass wealth. In order to gain more love from the people and attempt to seize the throne, they had deliberately released demons, harming the commoners.
To quell the public's anger, all 230 members of the Ling Family had been imprisoned and would be burned to sacrifice to the heavens on a chosen day.
However, there were still some non - core members of the Ling Family on the run. So there was also a wanted notice beside this announcement, listing a series of names of the Ling Family members.
Shen Qing's face darkened. Everything written here had completely erased all the achievements of the Ling Family.
Each and every item listed described the Ling Family as an evil and heinous family.
Shen Qing also understood why the commoners were looking at them so strangely.
The four of them, in terms of appearance, temperament, and behavior, were obviously different from ordinary commoners. Although they were wearing ordinary clothes, their every move revealed their identities.
If they were the commoners, they would also wonder whether they were members of the Ling Family who had deliberately dressed up as ordinary people to avoid being hunted.