Bounty

Heavenly Treasure Secret Realm, by the edge of the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Pool.

The aura around Bai Ruoxi erupted like a volcano.

Her cold and stunning face was covered in frost, and deep within her eyes lay surging grief and monstrous killing intent.

"Xiaolan..." Her slender fingers dug deep into her palms; blood seeped out but was instantly frozen by the cold Qi.

The thread of Divine Thought connected to her Lifebound Treasure had been extinguished, bringing not only the stabbing pain to her Divine Soul but also the pain of severing Bloodline kinship.

She closed her eyes, and her Divine Sense poured out like mercury.

She recalled the information Bai Xiaolan had previously sent her.

Ambushing a Nascent Soul; how could her sister, a dignified Late Stage Soul Transformation, possibly fail?

"Loose Cultivator... seizing an Opportunity... protected by a rare treasure..." Bai Ruoxi's vermilion lips parted slightly, repeating these keywords.

Her voice was so cold it could freeze a Soul. "Liu Ying... you actually dared to conceal key information!"

She instantly understood Liu Ying's petty schemes.

The intelligence was absolutely wrong; Chen Yuan could never be a mere Nascent Soul, and he was definitely not some Loose Cultivator.

How could a Loose Cultivator be a Disciple on her Guanghan Immortal Palace's heavenly ladder ranking?

Liu Ying had deliberately defined the target as a Loose Cultivator with no background, which allowed her fellow Disciples to attack without scruples and avoided concerns about the opponent possibly coming from a major Sect.

But this small calculation had cost her sister her life!

Although she could not precisely locate the palace where the battle took place, Bai Ruoxi's Divine Sense still captured a faint fluctuation coming from that direction.

"Chen Yuan... no matter who you are, which Sect you come from, or what secrets you carry... I, Bai Ruoxi, swear here that I will make you pay with blood, ensure your Divine Soul is annihilated, and see that you never reincarnate!"

She snapped her eyes open, her gaze filled with absolute, emotionless coldness.

She took out a special, completely transparent communication talisman refined from ice crystals; this was a treasure used by Guanghan Immortal Palace Disciples in the Secret Realm for emergency contact, capable of transmitting messages to fellow Disciples simultaneously.

Bai Ruoxi imprinted her Divine Sense into it, the content concise and filled with killing intent:

"Bounty Order: Kill the Loose Cultivator Chen Yuan! This person killed my sister, and I, as a Great Cultivator, am irreconcilable with him. Anyone who provides his accurate whereabouts and assists me in locking onto him will be rewarded with a Heaven Rank Cultivation Technique and ten thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones!"

"Anyone who can severely injure him or assist me in capturing and killing him will be rewarded with one Medium Grade Heaven Rank protective Magic Treasure, and may make one request of me, Bai Ruoxi, that does not violate morality!"

"For the one who brings me his head, in addition to the above rewards, I am willing to offer my own lifebound Heaven Rank long spear, 'Frost Silence', as payment!"

"This bounty is effective within the Secret Realm. After leaving the Secret Realm, I, Bai Ruoxi, and the Bai family of the Guanghan Immortal Palace will continue to pursue him relentlessly! Seeing this order is like seeing me!"

Finally, she used her Divine Sense to etch the portrait of Chen Yuan that Bai Xiaolan had sent back into the communication talisman and transmitted it to the Guanghan Immortal Palace Disciples who had entered the Secret Realm.

"Go!"

The ice communication talisman instantly turned into dozens of invisible cold lights, shooting toward various directions in the Secret Realm.

The news was like a giant boulder thrown into a calm lake, quickly creating massive waves among the Guanghan Immortal Palace Disciples who had entered the Secret Realm.

"Senior Sister Bai's lifebound Magic Treasure 'Frost Silence' has been offered?! That is a Heaven Rank treasure!"

"Chen Yuan? A Loose Cultivator? How bold must this person be to dare to kill Senior Sister Bai Xiaolan."

Some female Disciples who had received Liu Ying's voice message kept gasping in shock.

"Killing a Late Stage Soul Transformation in an instant... is this really something a Nascent Soul can do? Senior Sister Bai Xiaolan was actually..."

This Liu Ying was too insidious. Chen Yuan was clearly not an ordinary Nascent Soul Disciple; he was definitely not as simple as a Loose Cultivator.

Fortunately, they hadn't gone.

The content of the bounty order began to spread at an astonishing speed; not only did the Guanghan Immortal Palace Disciples act upon hearing the news.

Some other forces' Cultivators who were on good terms with the Guanghan Immortal Palace or coveted the astonishing rewards also received the news.

They began to intentionally or unintentionally search for the tracks of a Loose Cultivator named "Chen Yuan".

One day later, in another ruin.

Qin Shuhan, Ye Baixi, Shen Nianchu, and Lin Xue sat around a campfire in the center of the ruins' main hall.

Among them, Ye Baixi and Shen Nianchu had obtained significant Opportunities, and Shen Nianchu even showed faint signs of a Breakthrough from the Nascent Soul stage.

Suddenly, Qin Shuhan sensed a Jade Slip in her storage ring vibrating continuously.

She took out the Jade Slip; it was dark red with a special mark carved with the character "Song". Her eyes narrowed, and she was reluctant to pick it up—it was Song Shiwei's communication Jade Slip.

Before long, she still grasped the Jade Slip in her hand.

She understood Song Shiwei; if it wasn't something important, she wouldn't have sent her a message.

The moment she held the Jade Slip, a voice transmission entered her mind.

"Qin Shuhan, your Junior Martial Brother has been put on a bounty by Bai Ruoxi, who is ranked thirteenth on the Guanghan Immortal Palace's heavenly ladder ranking. Now, whether it's Loose Cultivators or other forces outside, everyone is looking for Chen Yuan. It is said that Chen Yuan killed her sister."

"What?" Qin Shuhan stood up abruptly from the ground.

This scene naturally drew the attention of Ye Baixi and the others.

"Bai Ruoxi? That Bai Ruoxi at the Nascent Soul Perfection Stage?"

"That's right, it's her. Her sister, Bai Xiaolan, was a Late Stage Soul Transformation."

"Slander!" Qin Shuhan retorted loudly, "Junior Martial Brother is only at the Late Nascent Soul stage, how could he cross realms to kill a Late Stage Soul Transformation like Bai Xiaolan? This matter is definitely a frame-up by other forces."

Qin Shuhan's voice echoed in the empty ruins' main hall, filled with anger.

"Whatever the truth is, we have to find Chen Yuan first."

Having said that, Song Shiwei had already cut off the voice transmission.

Ye Baixi and Lin Xue heard the words "Junior Martial Brother" and "slander" and hurriedly asked for details.

Qin Shuhan didn't want to make the two worry, but she knew that paper couldn't wrap up fire; the outside world was probably already aware of it, and there was no point in hiding it now.

She immediately told the three of them the content of Song Shiwei's message word for word.

Upon hearing this, Lin Xue and Ye Baixi's pretty faces instantly turned pale.

"Brother Chen Yuan killed a Late Stage Soul Transformation? How is that possible!" Ye Baixi stood up abruptly, her petite body trembling slightly with excitement.

Her lively eyes were filled with anxiety, "Brother is only at the Late Nascent Soul stage! There must be a mistake, or someone is framing him!"

Lin Xue bit her lower lip tightly, her face full of worry. She grabbed Ye Baixi's hand: "Sister Baixi, Senior Sister Shu Han, the most important thing now is to find Senior Brother Chen Yuan. Those people outside only care about the bounty and won't listen to our explanations. His current situation must be extremely dangerous."

Shen Nianchu also looked solemn: "Bai Ruoxi is ranked thirteenth on the heavenly ladder ranking and is a Core Disciple of this generation of the Guanghan Immortal Palace. The bounty she issued has huge influence. Let alone Loose Cultivators, I am afraid some Disciples within the Sect will also be tempted. Junior Brother Chen Yuan... is in big trouble."

Qin Shuhan forced herself to calm down. She took a deep breath, cold light flickering in her eyes:

"Whether it's a misunderstanding or not, and regardless of how Chen Yuan did it, the fact is that he has become a target of public criticism. We must find him before anyone else does!"