503: Chapter 503 A Glimmer of Hope: Charge Towards Pengcheng!

Lin Wan's gaze shifted from the two piles of soul tablet fragments before her, moving inch by inch onto Zhang Ningshuang's face.

"Peng City..."

Her lips quivered as she spat out those two words.

Her voice was still hollow, like wind passing through dry bones, but it was no longer pure, dead silence.

It was as if at the very bottom of a ten-thousand-fathom abyss, a crack the width of a hair suddenly split open, and light leaked in.

Zhang Ningshuang thought her desperate pleas had worked, and immediately, like a drowning person grasping at driftwood, she couldn't wait to pour out everything in her heart.

"Yes, yes, yes! It's Peng City! Peng City of the West Qingyou Continent!"

"A sudden command came down from the Lingbao Trading Firm headquarters. I don't know how, but that small branch in Peng City is actually going to have an immortal body marrow core for auction this time!"

"The starting price is three million high-grade immortal stones. It's obscenely expensive, but this is the only chance!"

"Junior Sister, I've been stuck at the Third Heaven of the Heavenly Immortal realm for a full eight hundred years! My Lifespan is almost exhausted! With just one immortal body marrow core, I can break through and extend my life!"

She spoke incoherently, but that longing and desire to survive—every word was true.

immortal body marrow core.

Lingbao Trading Firm.

Three million.

These words smashed into Lin Wan's ears like stones thrown into cotton—without any echo.

In her mind, only two words remained.

Peng City.

She remembered it very clearly.

Peng City was the first stop for many Lower Realm ascendants arriving in the Immortal Realm, which included many of the Xuantian Immortal Sect's Lower Realm planes.

Between these two things...

Is it a coincidence?

Lin Wan did not believe in coincidences.

She had lived for thousands of years and had seen too many things that seemed like coincidences.

Behind every coincidence, there stands a hidden hand that doesn't want to be seen.

A dead end.

A dead end with no clues, no direction, and that even the Sect didn't bother to care about.

Now, a variable had suddenly emerged.

Just this one.

Peng City.

Deep in Lin Wan's chest, that heart which had stopped beating for seven days suddenly twitched.

Once.

Twice.

Not because of being alive.

But because of hatred.

That hatred, which had been pressed into dead ash by seven days and seven nights of sitting in silence, began to grow hot again under the stimulation of the words "Peng City," like a spark buried under the embers.

She looked at Zhang Ningshuang, who was about to kneel before her.

On that face so gentle it was almost weak, a trace of—thought—emerged.

This expression would have been perfectly normal on the Lin Wan of seven days ago.

But on the face of a woman who had sat in silence for seven days and looked like a dead person, it made one's back go cold more than any Killing Intent.

"Senior Sister Zhang," she spoke.

Her voice was very light, but it no longer drifted; every word had a point of impact, like a needle piercing through cloth.

"Three million high-grade immortal stones, I will lend them to you."

"...Huh?!"

Zhang Ningshuang's head buzzed, thinking she was hallucinating.

She had prepared everything—kowtowing, signing a contract, using her Immortal Cave as collateral—and yet... she just agreed?

"Junior Sister Lin! Are you... are you serious?"

"But there is one condition."

Lin Wan interrupted her and looked up.

Those eyes, which had regained their focus, quietly looked at Zhang Ningshuang.

There was no Killing Intent, no pressure.

There was even a hint of a gentle smile.

But all the hairs on Zhang Ningshuang's body stood on end with a "shua."

She couldn't say why.

She just instinctively felt danger, as if she were being watched by something.

That thing wasn't in the shadows; it was right in front of her, smiling at her.

"Wh... what condition?"

"From now until we return from Peng City."

Lin Wan's voice was deliberate, clear as if carving a monument.

"You and Senior Sister Zhao Qingyi must completely follow my arrangements."

"Whatever I say, you do."

"Don't ask why."

"Can you do it?"

Zhang Ningshuang froze on the spot.

She looked at the Lin Wan before her—still the same face, still the same eyes, even the same tone of voice that made one feel as if they were in a spring breeze.

But the whole person seemed to have changed their bones.

The old Lin Wan was like water, flowing wherever it was poured.

The current Lin Wan was like a nail, drawing blood wherever it was struck.

Zhang Ningshuang's mind spun three times rapidly.

Reason told her this matter was strange.

But her Lifespan told her—you have no choice.

She hesitated for less than a second.

"I can do it!"

She nodded like a pile driver.

"Forget following arrangements, even if you ask me to walk through fire and water, I wouldn't even blink!"

"Good."

Lin Wan nodded.

On her cheeks, those two sweet dimples that had disappeared for a full seven days emerged once more.

That smile was very beautiful.

So beautiful that Zhang Ningshuang felt even more panicked.

"Get up."

Lin Wan stood up, her joints cracking—her body, having sat in silence for seven days, was as stiff as an old tree stump.

She walked to an inconspicuous cabinet in the corner of the grand hall, and with a wave of her sleeve, the Restriction silently dissipated.

She took out a Storage Ring from inside and tossed it over casually.

"Five million high-grade immortal stones, take them."

"The extra two million is for travel expenses."

The ring drew an arc in the air, and Zhang Ningshuang scrambled to catch it.

Sending her Divine Thought inside, her brain "cracked" and crashed on the spot.

That wasn't Immortal Stones; that was a mountain.

A mountain of high-grade immortal stones, radiating a blinding light, a golden mountain enough to make all the True Disciples of the Inner Sect combined feel ashamed...

Five million high-grade immortal stones.

She had sold all her assets, run herself ragged, and borrowed from all her fellow disciples just to scrape together two million.

Yet Lin Wan had tossed her five million as if throwing away a handkerchief.

For the first time in her life, Zhang Ningshuang truly understood what a Golden Immortal's Personal Disciple meant.

What class suppression meant.

"What are you dazing for?"

Lin Wan's voice came over, as light as if she were saying the weather was nice today.

"Go call Senior Sister Zhao."

"We leave immediately."

"To Peng City."

Zhang Ningshuang woke up as if from a dream, clutching the ring, and rushed out, stumbling and running.

In the grand hall, Lin Wan was once again alone.

It was extremely quiet.

So quiet that the sound of withered petals falling from the branches could be heard.

Rustle. Rustle.

Like a silent black snow falling.

Lin Wan slowly walked back to the jade table.

She reached out her fingers and very, very gently gathered the two piles of soul tablet fragments together, placing them into an exquisite jade box.

The movement was extremely gentle, like tucking in the covers for a sleeping infant.

She pressed the jade box against her chest, lowered her head, and her cheek gently rubbed against the cool jade surface.

"Yu'er."

"Brother."

Her voice was as sweet as honey, as soft as cotton, her dimples deep, her smile bright.

"Don't be in a hurry."

"I'm taking you home."

She paused.

Her smile did not change.

Not one bit.

But from those sweet dimples, something overflowed that made the entire Hundred Flowers Peak tremble silently.

"Those who block the way..."

"Not one shall be left."

"---"

Footsteps.

Hurried, panting footsteps.

Zhang Ningshuang rushed back, leading someone.

Zhao Qingyi.

With a cultivation of the Fifth Heaven of the Heavenly Immortal realm, she was another True Disciple in the Xuantian Immortal Sect's Inner Sect. Her face was cold and elegant, her aura sharp; she was clearly not a character to be trifled with.

As soon as she stepped into the grand hall, her gaze swept around—the floor covered in black petals, the empty flower stands, the withered Spiritual Plants.

Then, she saw Lin Wan.

That "Fairy of Hundred Flowers" was standing in the center of the hall smiling at her, a gentle smile with sweet dimples.

But the hairs on the back of Zhao Qingyi's neck instantly stood up.

She had known Lin Wan for many years.

She had never felt this kind of thing from her before.

She couldn't say what it was, but it just made one instinctively want to take a step back.

"Junior Sister Lin, you—"

"Senior Sister Zhao, we'll talk on the way."

Lin Wan smiled and interrupted her, turning to walk out of the hall.

Her pace was neither fast nor slow, her skirt dragging across the floor full of black petals with a rustling sound.

"We're going to Peng City."

"To seek an Opportunity."

Her voice was extremely soft, like a spring breeze brushing against the face.

But Zhao Qingyi always felt that knives were hidden within this spring breeze.

"---"

The three of them were silent all the way.

Passing through several Restrictions of the Inner Sect, they arrived at the Xuantian Immortal Sect's Teleportation Hall.

After paying a teleportation fee that would make an ordinary Inner Sect Disciple vomit blood on the spot.

The three of them stepped onto the teleportation formation leading to Peng City.

The Formation roared, and light flared up.

At the final moment before the spatial power enveloped the three of them, Zhao Qingyi looked back once.

She saw Lin Wan standing half a step behind her.

Her white dress was elegant, her smile tranquil.

She was no different from the kind-hearted, easily bullied "Fairy of Hundred Flowers" in her memory.

But her eyes.

Those beautiful eyes that always held a hint of a smile.

They were empty.

Not hollow.

But deep.

So deep that the bottom could not be seen.

So deep that the things contained within, if released, could burn the entire Peng City to ashes.

Zhao Qingyi looked away.

She suddenly had a very strong premonition that this trip to Peng City...

Was definitely not as simple as "seeking an Opportunity."

The light of the teleportation formation swallowed everything.

Three figures disappeared within the radiance.

Next stop.

Peng City.