Chapter 307: Destination

Zheng Yi reached out and pointed toward the dense forest.

"My lord, look in this direction."

She walked up a few steps, pointed in the air, and along the outlines of the trees and stones ahead, drew a pattern.

"This is the clue Xue Bangzhu left behind."

She turned to Li Miao and said.

"The trees here are basically all Chinese scholar trees, except for these few arborvitae, whose bark color is slightly different. If seen by others, they would likely feel it's ordinary, but in the eyes of Penglai people, it is extremely conspicuous."

"Because the paths formed by these trees overlap, they are exactly the true energy circulation paths of our Penglai Ear Technique. And these stones, if one stands at the correct angle, correspond exactly to the major acupoints that need to be tempered by this technique."

"Only one meridian is missing."

Zheng Yi walked a few steps to the side, stood still, squinted, gestured, and pointed forward.

"It is in this direction, my lord."

"Xue Bangzhu deliberately did not point out this meridian; she wanted to use this missing meridian to indicate the direction, leading us to move forward in this direction."

"The clue she left behind should be in this direction."

Li Miao nodded.

Although Xue Bangzhu couldn't be considered a clever person, she had spent several years pondering, and sure enough, she had figured out a method that only Penglai people could understand.

"No-Trace" had been monitoring her, so she couldn't leave clues openly, or they would soon be discovered. But trees in this mountain forest were everywhere; if she casually scattered some seeds, "No-Trace" would have no way of noticing.

Once these trees grew, and she found an opportunity to cut down the trees of the same species, it would be a clue that was obvious to Penglai people and completely hidden to others.

Coupled with those stones representing the positions of the major acupoints, Penglai people would be absolutely certain at a glance that this was a message left by a fellow disciple.

Xue Bangzhu endured the excruciating pain and lived here for seven years; she must have wanted to stretch the process of leaving the clues as long as possible, so as not to let "No-Trace" notice anything wrong.

By the time these trees had grown well and the stones had been moved to the correct positions and tamped down day by day, she then moved away from this uninhabited mountain forest.

Li Miao shook his head and glanced at Xue Hanmeng.

"When parents love their children, they plan for them deeply."

"It's a pity that she raised an idiot who recognizes the thief as their father; it really wasn't worth it."

After saying this, Li Miao walked with Zheng Yi in the direction indicated by the clues.

Xue Hanmeng, however, didn't move, standing in place and looking blankly at Zheng Yi, her lips trembling, her face pale.

"How... how could she understand the clues left by mother... mother said these clues could only be understood by Penglai disciples!"

"If she really is a Penglai disciple, why would she attack uncle..."

"No, Yingzhou and Penglai are of the same origin; over these years, Yingzhou has been hunting down Penglai disciples, it's possible some cultivation methods have fallen into their hands!"

She shook her head fiercely and gritted her teeth, chasing after the two.

But as time passed, her expression became increasingly ugly.

Xue Bangzhu hadn't just set up this one clue. She had also considered that Yingzhou might have obtained Penglai cultivation methods, so she had set up four or five similar checkpoints.

Ear technique, light-body technique, internal energy, palm technique, sword technique.

These clues only indicated the direction, without marking the distance, and another clue could appear at any time in between, changing the direction of travel.

Moreover, the basis for these clues was not the main part of Penglai cultivation methods, but rather randomly extracted parts from minute details. Even if one obtained the secret manual, without having practiced it personally for several years, it was impossible to see the clues at a glance.

And these clues involved almost every cultivation method in the Penglai inheritance; if one lacked even one, it was absolutely impossible to reach the destination.

Only a direct descendant of Penglai like Zheng Yi could discover Xue Bangzhu's hints.

And as Zheng Yi broke through the barriers one after another with ease, Xue Hanmeng's expression became increasingly ugly, her gaze constantly wandering between Zheng Yi and "No-Trace," who was being carried by Li Miao.

She did trust "uncle," but she would absolutely never doubt her mother.

Xue Bangzhu hadn't died in front of her, but had left alone and disappeared. It was "uncle" who found her, informed her of her mother's death, told her who to seek revenge from, and had taken meticulous care of her for several years, which was why she trusted "uncle" so much.

But she also clearly remembered that before Xue Bangzhu left, she had solemnly told her not to tell anyone about the clues she left behind. If one day someone found the clues without hints, she must unconditionally trust that person.

It was precisely because she kept Xue Bangzhu's instructions in her heart that no matter how "uncle" probed over these years, she hadn't told "uncle" about this matter.

But now, the "fellow disciple" her mother had instructed her to "unconditionally trust" had turned her uncle into a bloody gourd and was carrying him in their hand.

What this represented, Xue Hanmeng didn't dare to think.

She could only lower her head, blankly following behind Li Miao and Zheng Yi, silently praying that they wouldn't reach the destination—if they reached the destination, it would mean they were right, and it would mean she really was a fool who "recognized the thief as her father."

It would mean... what Zheng Yi said when she cursed her, that skeleton lying on the table in the righteous manor, already rotted beyond recognition, was her mother.

She didn't dare to admit this.

Just thinking about this possibility, regret and anger almost forced her true energy out of her dantian and shattered her brain.

But facts would not change because of her thoughts.

After only a stick of incense, Zheng Yi stopped, her gaze fixed on the mountain wall to the front left, and after a long while, she came back to her senses and sighed.

"It is here, my lord."

She pointed to the stone wall and sighed.

"The patterns on this stone wall faintly match the artistic conception of our Penglai sword technique; they are naturally formed, and I don't know how Xue Bangzhu found this place."

"This is the reason she moved here; from the very beginning, she was prepared to hide the clues here."

Li Miao turned to look at Xue Hanmeng, who had been silent for a long time, smiled, walked up to her, and waved his hand in front of her.

"Stupid?"

"Why, knowing what kind of thing you are, unable to face the truth, gone mad?"

Li Miao raised his hand and threw "No-Trace" in front of Xue Hanmeng.

"Here, didn't you always want to save him? Give him back to you, treat his wounds."

Xue Hanmeng didn't move.

Li Miao reached out and gripped her face, forcing her head up.

"You have two choices now."

"Either, I will send you both on your way right now."

"I am not a Penglai disciple; what you said and did tonight is enough to make me dislike you. I won't give an idiot a second chance."

"Or—"

Li Miao flicked his hand and threw her in front of the stone wall.

"You can also ignore your 'uncle' first and take out what your mother left behind."

"Then I will tell you how much you have made your mother unable to close her eyes in death all these years."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 308 =====