"I will definitely be back!"
In the late afternoon, Luo Changqing flew down to the foot of Wanxuan Mountain.
"In that case, it is time for me to go home..."
Luo Changqing took a deep breath, feeling quite refreshed.
Having spent three years cultivating in the Immortal Maiden Sect, times had changed, and he was no longer the reckless wastrel he used to be. He wondered how the Luo Family was doing.
For the sake of his fiancée, Chu Tingting, he had willingly endured three years of trials. She must surely be waiting for his return, right?
"Look! Someone is coming down the mountain!"
"It must be the Saintess! Su Yanran is the Saintess of the Divine Sword Sect. If we can catch her eye, all of us will rise to greatness!"
"..."
Just as Luo Changqing emerged from the mountain range, a crowd rushed toward him.
The leading woman wore a white Daoist robe. Her fair, delicate face possessed a natural dignity and elegance, making her quite striking.
Luo Changqing looked closely, and a warm current immediately surged through his heart.
This person was none other than his fiancée, Chu Tingting!
Could it be that she had come here specifically to wait for him?
"Tingting, how long have you been waiting for me here?"
Luo Changqing did not hesitate any longer, walking with a smile toward Chu Tingting. "After three years of training in the Immortal Maiden Sect, I rejected countless temptations, just for—"
"Luo Changqing? Why are you still alive?"
Upon seeing him, a flash of shock and panic crossed the depths of Chu Tingting's eyes, and she asked with a trace of anxiety, "Have you seen the Saintess?"
"I have. She has already left the Immortal Maiden Sect."
Luo Changqing frowned, a lingering displeasure stirring in his heart. "Weren't you here specifically to look for me?"
"Look for you? You think you're worthy?"
Beside her, Chu Tingting's mother, Chen Xiulian, let out a sneer. "Our Chu Family is a prominent local clan. If we can catch the eye of the Saintess of the Divine Sword Sect, we will soar to the skies! As for you?"
Chu Tingting's mother looked Luo Changqing up and down, crossing her arms with utter disdain. "You are completely unworthy of my daughter! Still having daydreams, are you?"
Luo Changqing stared in disbelief. "Back then, for Tingting's sake, I went into this barren land alone and trained in the Immortal Maiden Sect for three years. What does all that count for?"
"Changqing, back then it was just a joke. I never expected you to actually take it seriously!"
Chu Tingting furrowed her brows slightly and said indifferently, "Besides, I never forced you. It was purely your own wishful thinking!"
"Wishful thinking?"
Hearing this, Luo Changqing fell silent for a moment before letting out a cold laugh. "Such fine wishful thinking! I, Luo Changqing, will remember this lesson! But... your Chu Family will definitely regret this!"
"Regret?"
Chu Tingting's mother laughed aloud, as if she had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. "You still don't know, do you? Over the past three years, the Luo Family is no longer what it used to be! Even if you didn't die on Wanxuan Mountain, you're nothing more than a street rat now! You are simply unworthy of my daughter!"
"What!"
Luo Changqing's expression shifted. He swept his gaze across the expressions on Chu Tingting and the others, and his heart filled with mounting astonishment.
One had to know that the Luo Family was considered a top-tier influential clan in the region. Back then, the Chu Family had been desperate to forge a marital alliance with them, and precisely because of that, he had become infatuated with Chu Tingting, even willing to abandon everything to enter Wanxuan Mountain...
"Enough, we still need to pay our respects to the Saintess, don't waste time."
A trace of contempt flashed across Chu Tingting's face as she casually tossed a storage bag onto the ground. "Luo Changqing, although it was your own wishful thinking before, I am willing to give you a bit of compensation. Here are a thousand Spirit Stones, which should be enough for you to miserably scrape by for the rest of your life!"
"A thousand Spirit Stones?"
Luo Changqing's gaze fell upon the storage bag on the ground, his expression cold. "My three years of trials are only worth a thousand Spirit Stones? Heh!"
One had to know that just healing Su Yanran previously had yielded a full million Spirit Stones, not to mention the countless rare treasures!
"Otherwise what?"
Chu Tingting sneered, her expression laced with disgust. "Don't be greedy. This is merely charity from me to you. Do you really think you are still the young master of the Luo Family?"
"Hum!"
The next moment, a graceful figure swept over from afar, drawing everyone's gaze.
"How my Brother Changqing is treated is not your Chu Family's place to interfere!"
A long green dress set off a sexy and alluring figure. As the dust settled, it revealed a delicate and breathtakingly beautiful face—except that pair of icy, beautiful eyes carried an extreme chill. "No matter how fallen the Luo Family is, it has nothing to do with your Chu Family!"
"What are you acting so arrogant for?"
Chu Tingting looked at the newcomer and scoffed. "Who doesn't know that ever since the four Spirit King Realm powerhouses of the Luo Family perished, the Luo Family exists only in name? The Lingyang Sect has already put out word: if the Luo Family refuses to submit, they will face complete annihilation before long!"
On the path of cultivation, realms are clearly defined. Practitioners are sequentially divided into Spirit Apprentice, Spirit Master, Spirit King, Spirit Emperor, Spirit Emperor, Spirit Saint, and Spirit Venerable... with each realm divided into nine grades!
As for more specific occupational realms, such as alchemists, beast tamers, and healers, they were simply divided into nine grades!
"Our Chu Family has no time to waste words with a dying clan!"
With that, Chu Tingting led her clansmen and vanished into the distance as streaks of light!
"You are..."
Luo Changqing examined the person before him for a moment before finally speaking with tentative doubt: "Ye Wanling?"
She was the little girl adopted by the Luo Family who used to tag along behind him all day. He never expected that in the span of a mere three years, she would have grown into a poised and stunning young woman.
"Brother Changqing!"
The frost-covered face of Ye Wanling melted like snow and spring returning the very instant she looked at Luo Changqing. Tears overflowed from her eyes, and turning into a blur, she threw herself directly into Luo Changqing's embrace. "I knew you wouldn't die!"
"I'm fine."
With soft jade in his arms and a fragrant breeze washing over him, Luo Changqing clearly had no mind for such things at the moment. He gently rested his hands on Ye Wanling's shoulders and looked straight into her tear-filled eyes. "What on earth happened to the Luo Family? What actually took place?"
"The men of the Luo Family... have all fallen!"
Tears streamed down Ye Wanling's face. Gazing at Luo Changqing's anxious expression, she choked back her sobs and wept as she spoke, "Ever since you left, Luo Family cultivators kept being assassinated outside. Your father and brothers were all ambushed and killed by unknown forces! Because of this, the Luo Family completely collapsed!"
"The Lingyang Sect, the overlord faction of that region, also seized the opportunity to try and swallow up our Luo Family! Over the past three years, Luo Family members have been dying and getting injured left and right!"
"Today, only Grandmother and I are left in the Luo Family..."
"What!"
Luo Changqing was struck completely dumb on the spot!
An extreme fury nearly drowned out his reason!
"I, Luo Changqing, swear that no matter who the murderers are, no matter what faction they belong to! I will make them... pay with blood!"
His gums bleeding, Luo Changqing took Ye Wanling's hand and transformed into a streak of light, heading straight for the Luo Estate. "Wanling, let's go home!"