Chapter 108: Finally Arriving at Fenglan

"Shanshan, my granddaughter! This is..." Hu Zhenyuan looked at the clothes-less Hu Cuishan, a sinister premonition gripping his heart.

Hu Batian’s expression was incredibly grim. As he cradled his beloved daughter, he felt a deep sense of shame regarding her conduct. He had long observed her spoiled and arrogant behavior, yet he had done nothing to curb it. This was largely because his father, Hu Zhenyuan, doted on her excessively and forbade anyone from interfering, which had fostered her willful and overbearing nature, ultimately bringing disgrace upon their family.

However, regardless of her flaws, she was his daughter, carrying the bloodline of the Hu family. Thus, he had always turned a blind eye to her transgressions. After all, this territory spanning thousands of miles belonged to Flame Island; with his backing, who would dare utter a word of dissent? To do so would be to court death.

"Tianba, it seems Shanshan and her group encountered a formidable enemy. The opponent’s methods were exceptionally sophisticated. Although Yinting was severely wounded, it should not have cost him his life. I just examined him and discovered that his soul appeared to have been instantly extinguished, which is why he died!"

Hu Zhenyuan’s face was grave as he addressed Hu Batian. "Batian, this matter must be investigated thoroughly. We must not let this person leave the Azure Sea and Jade Heavens. Otherwise, the prestige of Flame Island will become a laughingstock. Two elders have fallen in succession; if this spreads, it will jeopardize our next phase of planning. Do you understand?"

"Rest assured, Father. I will certainly investigate this and capture the culprit to be displayed in public, thereby restoring the honor of Flame Island!" Hu Batian’s voice was steady and powerful, his aura as a supreme master of the Transcendent Realm surging forth.

"Good..." Hu Zhenyuan was highly satisfied with his son. Within five years, Hu Batian was expected to ascend to the Sainthood. Once that happened, Flame Island would rise to become a top-tier power, and the plan they had been preparing for years would be within reach.

"Father, let us first take Cuishan back to be revived so we can understand exactly what happened. For a team like theirs to be wiped out in one stroke—the fact that they spared Cuishan suggests there is a deeper intent behind it."

"Let’s go!" Hu Zhenyuan flicked his sleeve, his aged face dark. With a flicker of his figure, he vanished into the sky, appearing hundreds of meters away before disappearing as a mere speck in the distance.

Hu Batian looked down at his naked daughter in his arms with icy detachment. Had it not been for his father’s doting, he would have killed this shameless daughter with a single palm strike. He was well aware of her licentious habits, but with his father present, he could only refrain from acting. Had they not arrived early and prevented anyone else from discovering her, the scandal of the Flame Island Master’s daughter being stripped bare and abandoned in this vast, snowy wilderness would have been far more than just a loss of face.

Glaring fiercely at Hu Cuishan, he surged with spiritual light and ascended into the sky, flying toward Flame Island. Shortly after they departed, a large group of people from Flame Island arrived to collect the bodies of the two elders and the strange bird for burial.

It was not until the next day that Hu Cuishan regained consciousness. Upon seeing her grandfather and father, she burst into agonizing sobs, acting out in a pathetic display of despair.

Her dramatics deeply distressed Hu Zhenyuan, but they only infuriated Hu Batian. Ignoring his father’s restraint, he stepped forward and struck Hu Cuishan twice, leaving her stunned and trembling in terror before her father.

Seeing that his son was truly enraged, and knowing his granddaughter’s behavior was indeed excessive, Hu Zhenyuan stepped aside. He instructed Hu Cuishan to explain everything clearly to Hu Batian and then departed.

Seeing her grandfather leave—the one who doted on her most—Hu Cuishan felt a chill in her heart. Facing her father alone, she was terrified, yet she recounted the events from start to finish. In her narrative, she inevitably embellished the truth, framing Leng Tian as the "Formless Shadow Demon."

Her words caused Hu Batian’s expression to darken. "Formless Shadow Demon?" he repeated to himself, his thick brows suddenly arching before he turned and strode away.

He subsequently ordered an artist to draw a portrait of Leng Tian based on her description, which was distributed to all powers across the Azure Sea and Jade Heavens. He spread the claim that Leng Tian was the Formless Shadow Demon, prompting various maritime powers to send envoys to Flame Island to verify the truth.

Upon learning that the witness was the daughter of the Flame Island Master herself, they returned to report to their respective leaders. Within a few short days, Leng Tian’s portrait was plastered across the entire region. It became common knowledge that a human male, suspected of being a disguised Formless Shadow Demon, was wantonly devouring the souls of both humans and demons.

Consequently, Leng Tian became the most infamous figure in the Azure Sea and Jade Heavens overnight. People drastically reduced their travels, fearing they would encounter the Shadow Demon and suffer the fate of having their souls consumed. If even two elders of Flame Island could not escape, those with lower cultivation were certain to die.

The leaders of the major factions unanimously decided that, at all costs, they would capture and imprison Leng Tian, awaiting the moment when their supreme experts, currently in seclusion, could emerge to destroy him.

Meanwhile, the protagonist of this turmoil was riding a giant dragon. After three days of flying eastward, his gaze was drawn to a crystalline, shimmering blue island of vast proportions.

To be precise, it was not an island, but rather a massive blue mountain rising from the vast sea. "Is this Fenglan?"

Leng Tian stood upon the back of Max. As they drew closer, the deep blue island became clear in his vision. His three-colored eyes flickered, allowing him to see the true nature of the island.

The "blue" color was actually caused by small, translucent blue flowers covering the entire land, each encased in a thin layer of crystalline ice, giving it a mysterious, glittering appearance from afar.

Leng Tian stopped a mile from Fenglan Island and had Max land. He summoned Judah, who had been hiding in his brow, and retracted Max into the Purgatory.

Judah immediately turned void-like, cloaking Leng Tian within space as they flew toward the island. Moments later, they hovered above it. As Leng Tian surveyed the entire island, he couldn't help but gasp.

From a distance, it appeared covered in beautiful blue flowers. But up close, the reality was different: beneath those flowers lay layers upon layers of bleached bones—human, demonic, and even the skeletons of colossal beasts. Beneath the bones flowed rotting flesh mixed with blood, still pulsating and squirming, a sight that made Leng Tian feel nauseated.

"Boss, are you sure the Divine Spring is here? This looks like a death zone!" Judah’s perception was sharper than Leng Tian’s; as a Formless Shadow Demon, none could rival its sensitivity to powerful energy.

"Also, Boss, I keep feeling an immense danger on this island, as if an ancient beast is sleeping here. If awakened, it would be a catastrophe. However, this energy feels very unstable!"

Judah frowned as he spoke. "Yes, I sense it too, but it is very faint. Perhaps it is merely the resentment of these bones," Leng Tian replied, commanding Judah to descend toward a palace ruin littered with debris. Upon landing, he clearly sensed the aura of divine laws, faint yet sharp.

"Boss, a great battle occurred here. Look at those mountains; they were clearly shattered. I can clearly sense the residual power of laws in the fractures, and it’s of the Water element!"

Leng Tian had already observed that the small mountains had been forcibly pulverized. The ruins proved that a battle of epic proportions had taken place here, and both combatants were at the Divine level!

"I just don't know where the Azure Sea Divine Spring is hidden," Leng Tian thought, stepping deeper into the ruins, guided by the faint energy fluctuations he sensed ahead.

As he ventured deeper, he found numerous human skeletons and rusted weapons. Unlike other areas, there were no demonic remains here. Among the bones, he discovered a man who had died recently; his chest had been pierced by a bloody hole, and his broken sword lay with a fragment embedded in his leg.

"It seems someone has arrived before me. They killed to keep the secret, so they must know the location of the Divine Spring! Heh... since I am here, I won't let you have it all!"

A cold sneer played on Leng Tian’s lips. He had to obtain the Divine Spring. If he could claim it all, his cultivation would skyrocket, and even Huo Wu and the others would have a chance to reach the Profound Realm. His pace quickened.

Soon, Leng Tian reached the center of the ruins. He narrowed his eyes at the group ahead. "So, it’s them..."

In the center of the ruins, over a dozen people had arrived, split into two camps. From their backs, Leng Tian recognized Li Tianzheng and Wang Mang, along with two other Profound Realm experts.

Through a gap, Leng Tian saw five figures standing opposite them—four men and one woman. The woman was Zhuang Jinlian, the manager of Barbarian City, and the man beside her was the handsome youth he had seen at the Abyss of the Yuan-devouring Insects. The other three men, though ordinary in appearance, exuded powerful auras of the peak Profound Realm. All five watched Li Tianzheng’s group with extreme vigilance.

Leng Tian’s eyes shifted to the spear in Li Tianzheng’s hand, blood still staining its tip. It seemed the man he had found outside had died by that very spear.