The first ray of dawn seeped through the window screen, illuminating the cramped space of the small attic.
Bookshelves lined every wall of the attic, neatly filled with various mediums for recording knowledge.
From jade slips, stone carvings, to bamboo slats, and paper...
In the center of the attic stood a soft, small bed.
A girl lay on the bed, clutching a book in her hand, but a faint dark circle had formed around her eyes.
Cao Yi had been bewildered all night.
She had a good talent for cultivation; although she couldn't be called a favored daughter of heaven, she was stronger than the so-called geniuses in the eyes of ordinary people.
However, she rarely went out in daily life. Compared to fighting and killing, she preferred to stay in this attic, accompanied by the sea of books.
But last night, she had muddled through a significant event.
With a man she had just met, in a dimly lit grove, they dug a hole and worked hard for nearly half an hour.
While bending over to shovel soil, she kept looking around, fearing being discovered.
After all, doing such a thing in the middle of the night was really indecent.
What was buried was a cultivator at the fifth-order Ascension Realm, a super-strong being at the same level as the current emperor of the Great Flame Country...
Well, at least in her view, the Ascension Realm was already very strong, a realm she had never dared to hope for in her life.
But such a strong person was lightly punched in the heart by that young man with a hint of ruffian's smile, without even a will, no, not even a decent tombstone.
There was only a low mound of earth.
But for some reason, thinking of that small grave mound, which she had built up with her own shovel, gave her an inexplicable sense of excitement...
Cao Yi closed the book in her hand.
After a night of careful search, she had understood from a book in the library what a "medicine person" was.
And she also knew that the medicine person came from the Heavenly Cold Palace.
A sacred place of cultivation that countless people flock to.
Cao Yi stuffed the book recording the general information of the forbidden technique into the bookshelf in the corner of the room.
She pursed her lips, hesitated again and again, and finally decided to forcibly dispel her drowsiness and refresh herself to go downstairs.
The attic has three floors, the first floor is a living room and a practice room, and the second floor is a few small rooms for receiving guests.
Su Huai was settled there.
As soon as she went downstairs, Cao Yi saw Su Huai lying in front of the table, carefully dealing with a handful of white flowers that had been picked from the woods last night.
"What are you doing with these things?"
"Just ordinary wildflowers, not worth any money."
Su Huai looked up and, seeing it was Cao Yi, smiled at her: "For you, they are indeed wildflowers that can be seen everywhere,
but for some people, they are a pleasant surprise that can make one happy just by seeing them from afar..."
Cao Yi also smiled and did not refute.
She sat opposite Su Huai, looking at this young man who could smash someone's skull with a punch, watching him carefully wipe the stains on the petals and branches with a cotton cloth, and then insert them into a vase filled with spiritual liquid.
The warm sunlight sprinkled on his face, his eyes were serious and focused, giving a person a sense of happiness of peaceful years.
After tidying up the last white flower in his hand, Su Huai put it on the table, then braced his knees with both hands, looked up at Cao Yi.
"Go ahead, what do you want to ask me?"
Cao Yi was stunned, then lowered her head and said softly: "It's still about last night, about that medicine person..."
"Is there a problem with that medicine person?"
"No, it's not him who has a problem, but the Heavenly Cold Palace. I heard him say that he is a deacon of the Heavenly Cold Palace, secretly protecting Yan Shu under the orders of a certain peak master."
"Also..."
Cao Yi took a stealthy glance at Su Huai, saw that he was staring at her intently, and had to purse her lips, and say everything in her heart:
"Also heard you mention the name of the Heavenly Cold Palace..."
"So I want to ask, you clearly know there is a problem with the Heavenly Cold Palace, why don't you inform other cultivation forces."
"Instead, let the Heavenly Cold Palace maintain its hypocritical facade, let it continue to accept disciples in the realm of immortals..."
Su Huai nodded: "So it's this question?"
"Yes, I don't mean to question you, but you know everything, but you didn't even warn Yan Shu and Situ Zhiruo, I think you must have some plan..."
"You're wrong, I have no plan at all."
Cao Yi was stunned.
Su Huai looked directly into his eyes. "Do you think I'm a bit ruthless?"
"No..."
"Don't deny it, you are a normal person, so it is right for you to think I am ruthless."
"After all, I know that the Heavenly Cold Palace is a den of evil, yet I can still watch countless young men and women with dreams in their hearts, like Situ Zhiruo, regard it as a sacred place, and then with longing for the future, they rush in one after another to die."
"I seem to be indeed a selfish and ruthless person."
"But Cao Yi, people are often powerless in many situations. Before having enough status and reputation, no one will believe what you say or what you do.
Individually, humans are indeed very intelligent, but when they come together and involve their future and prospects, they become stupid and stubborn.
They will carry a kind of paranoia, thinking that the dreams in their hearts and the paths they choose are above all.
And regard all those who question them as heretics."
Situ Zhiruo lowered her head and pondered over Su Huai's words carefully.
Then she heard Su Huai continue to say:
"I once had a friend who, after accidentally learning the secrets of the Heavenly Cold Palace, had exactly the same thoughts as you in his heart.
He was full of enthusiasm and wanted to be a savior.
He ran to the imperial capital of the Great Flame Country and told others about it, but others looked at him with disgust and warned him not to talk nonsense and bewitch the public, otherwise they would personally break his legs and hang his corpse on the city gate of the imperial city.
He knew that he was insignificant and powerless, so he found the elders of other immortal domains who were recruiting disciples.
That elder was indeed a good person, who did not believe it rashly but reported it to the sect truthfully...
That righteous force could not tolerate any impurities and immediately organized people secretly, infiltrated the Heavenly Cold Palace for investigation.
At this point, it was the best effort my friend could do.
But the result was not ideal..."
Su Huai turned his head and looked at the street view outside the attic. As the sun rose, the small vendors were the first to pour into the streets, occupying the positions with the largest flow of people.
The noise was incessant, full of the breath of life.
Su Huai's voice was still even, without any waves.
"Heavenly Cold Palace has been able to deceive the entire immortal domain for so many years, how could it easily reveal its tracks and be found out?
The spies sent out by that righteous force found nothing, so this matter could only be let go.
They did not make things difficult for my friend, but just crossed out his name from the test list of new disciples of the sect.
Later, my friend was included in the blacklist by all sects and became disheartened.
Soon after, a group of extremely vicious mountain bandits led by cultivators suddenly appeared in the immortal domain.
They plundered a large number of towns and villages in a certain area, and those towns and villages could not resist such plundering at all. There was not a single survivor in the plundered towns and villages, and the means were extremely cruel.
Everyone, regardless of men, women, old or young, all had their ears and tongues cut off and their eyes gouged out.
Even if they died, they could only be a lonely and disabled person who could not see, hear, or speak.
And among those towns and villages that were massacred, there just happened to be one where my friend had initially discovered the secrets of the Heavenly Cold Palace..."