“Li Yun?”

Haidong Sheng scrutinized Li Hengsheng, his gaze filled with suspicion.

“Where are you from?”

Hearing Haidong Sheng’s question, Li Hengsheng’s heart skipped a beat. If he couldn’t explain his origins, things would undoubtedly become troublesome.

His lie would be exposed.

But Li Hengsheng had never been to Yunhuang before, so how could he know where he came from?

“What? You don’t even know where you’re from?” Not just Haidong Sheng, but the surrounding Ghost Clan soldiers also frowned, and someone even drew their sword from their waist, ready to subdue Li Hengsheng at the first sign of trouble.

“I come from the Long Night Ancient Nation.”

Li Hengsheng gritted his teeth and blurted out a name he rarely knew.

If they kept pressing him, Li Hengsheng really wouldn’t know what to do but to fight his way out and escape.

Who would have thought that upon mentioning he was from the Long Night Ancient Nation, the Ghost Clan soldiers burst into laughter.

“So that’s it. No wonder you were reluctant to say. Ha ha, the once-famed Long Night Ancient Nation was obliterated overnight by the Longevity Sect. Even that peerless genius Chu Changkong from your nation is now missing. To be reduced to such a state by a mere Longevity Sect, and still call yourselves an ancient nation, is utterly disgraceful.”

“Even people from the Long Night Ancient Nation have fallen to our Yegui City? Truly laughable. Once, your nation was invincible.”

Faced with everyone’s mockery, Li Hengsheng said nothing, but he felt relieved inside.

Being ridiculed, Li Hengsheng stood silently.

At this moment, a Ghost Clan soldier said to Haidong Sheng, “Lord Hai, we’ve interrogated everyone in the cells, but we haven’t found anyone called Li Hengsheng. It seems he’s not in our Yegui City.”

Hearing this, Li Hengsheng’s heart jolted—they were actually looking for him.

“Let’s try our luck.” Another Ghost Clan soldier chuckled, “After all, the Cangyuan Realm Master has issued a wanted order. This Li Hengsheng can be exchanged for a Painting Treasure of the Immortal level. If he really appears in our Yegui City, wouldn’t you make a fortune, Lord Hai?”

Haidong Sheng didn’t say anything, his gaze still fixed on the four people before him, then he slowly said, “Keep those from the cells and these four here for now. Have them stay and work as slaves in the mansion. In a few days, Li Hengsheng’s portrait will arrive here, and we’ll see if any of them match.”

“Perhaps someone among them is lying, making up a name to deceive me. We’ll see after we have the portrait.”

Haidong Sheng instructed.

“Yes.”

The soldiers all complied.

But Li Hengsheng’s heart tightened again. His portrait would be arriving here soon?

What should he do?

If it really arrived, wouldn’t he be exposed quickly?

No, he must leave this place as soon as possible.

Leave this Yegui City.

Find a safe place.

“Take them away!”

At this moment, many soldiers came forward to take the people away.

After leaving the dungeon and walking for who knows how long, they arrived at a row of dilapidated houses, and Li Hengsheng was pushed inside.

“Work starts early tomorrow morning. You’re in charge of feeding the horses. If you don’t get up, watch out for the whip.”

A Ghost Clan soldier told Li Hengsheng.

Li Hengsheng didn’t make a sound. The musty smell in the dilapidated house was overwhelming, and everything was in shambles, hardly a place for humans to live.

The place he stayed at Dao Mountain Ancient Land’s Peak of Ten Thousand Slaughters was a hundred times better than this.

The quilt on the bed smelled awful and felt damp to the touch.

Li Hengsheng looked out the window and saw many Ghost Clan soldiers patrolling outside.

Watching them.

As if afraid they would escape.

Li Hengsheng knew he was going to be trapped here. What he needed to do now was to quickly heal his injuries and then escape before his portrait arrived, otherwise, he would be easily caught.

Just as Li Hengsheng was about to heal, a voice came from outside: “You’re staying here too, get in!”

With that, a figure was pushed in.

And fell to the ground with a thud.

“Ouch.”

Suppressing the urge to curse, the person rubbed their injured leg. When they looked up and saw Li Hengsheng, they exclaimed in surprise, “Li Yun? So you’re staying here too, what a coincidence!”

“Huang Li?”

Seeing Huang Li come in, Li Hengsheng was puzzled, “How did you get here? You don’t meet their selection criteria, shouldn’t you have been released?”

“Hmph.”

Huang Li got up, helplessly saying, “I barely made it to Yegui City and have nowhere else to go. I heard that General Dekang’s mansion needed human slaves, so I stayed to earn a living and some wages. But I didn’t expect to end up sharing a room with you.”

“That really is a coincidence.”

Li Hengsheng nodded.

“I just don’t know who they’re looking for. Seems like someone named Li Hengsheng. Who is that person, and why so important?” Huang Li muttered.

“I don’t know.” Li Hengsheng shook his head.

“We have to work early tomorrow, you know that, right? It’s not easy for our human race here. There’s too much work to do every day, and the wages are pitifully low. But it’s not easy for us to return to human territory.”

Huang Li rambled on.

“How difficult is it?”

Li Hengsheng was curious about this matter.

If he escaped Yegui City, where could he go?

“How difficult?”

Huang Li laughed, “It’s practically impossible, right? Unless you’re a powerhouse like the Great Martial Sect or a terrestrial immortal, if you leave Yegui City, you won’t get far before encountering the bloodthirsty Ghost Clan’s Blood Ghost Tribe, who will then drain you dry.”

“Yunhuang is full of danger. Even if you’re just in the Postnatal Realm, let alone the Prenatal, you wouldn’t dare to stroll around. Without the protection of our Yegui City’s Lord, it’s very difficult for the human race to survive here.”

Hearing Huang Li’s words, Li Hengsheng had a rough idea.

Yunhuang was filled with the Ghost Clan, and escaping to the Eastern Desolate Land seemed unrealistic. If he didn’t leave, once his portrait reached Yegui City, he would likely be captured and sent to Yue Hanjun, where death wouldn’t come easy.

No matter what, he had to heal first.

Li Hengsheng hummed in agreement, then ignored Huang Li and sat on the bed to heal.

Until evening, when the Ghost Clan brought them food.

The food was terrible, with steamed buns made of some unknown material that were as hard as rocks and had a rancid taste. Li Hengsheng nearly vomited after one bite, but there was no choice—there was nothing else to eat.

Huang Li, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the meal, leaving Li Hengsheng speechless.

How could anyone stomach such food?

Finally, when midnight came.

Li Hengsheng felt his injuries had mostly healed.

His strength had also recovered about eighty percent.

Unfortunately, his Chasing Immortal Spear was nowhere to be found.

The only consolation for Li Hengsheng was the hidden Acceptance of Rings on his finger, given to him by Li Changqing when he arrived at the White Snake Path, and he was told that if anything happened to him, to open one of the boxes inside.

Li Hengsheng had not forgotten, although his father died before his eyes, he was still full of hope as he took out a blue box from the Acceptance of Rings.

Gently opening the box.

In the moonlight, Li Hengsheng saw a treasure inside the box.

It was a wooden carving.

Seeing the carving, Li Hengsheng’s eyes moistened, for he understood everything at that moment.

Why his path of cultivation had suddenly become so smooth.

From a menial disciple at the Peak of Ten Thousand Slaughters to Mu Haifeng’s direct disciple, the wooden carvings of Wu Daozi, the phoenix carving that saved his life—where did all these come from? Now, seeing this carving, Li Hengsheng had his answer.

Li Changqing, the Qinglian Sword Sovereign.

For his sake, he didn’t hesitate to offend Guanglan Palace, battle the Great Martial Sect of the Su Family, and later gave him so much dragon blood essence.

This was his father’s love.

Otherwise, why would he receive such favor?

Why enjoy the treatment of a crown prince at the Changqing Trading Company?

Now everything was clear.

Li Hengsheng took the item from the box, finding the carving a bit odd.

It looked like a lotus on top, but more like a lampstand at the bottom.

Exquisitely carved.

And the wood felt extraordinary.

When Li Hengsheng focused on it, he was shocked to open his eyes. From his feeling, he knew the name of this treasure.

“Treasure Lotus Lamp?”

Not only that, but Li Hengsheng also felt a familiar aura within the Treasure Lotus Lamp—it was his father’s.

A trace of Li Changqing’s aura was hidden in the Treasure Lotus Lamp.

Li Hengsheng tried to communicate with this aura, but no matter how he tried, there was no response.

It seemed he must activate the Treasure Lotus Lamp to possibly communicate with Li Changqing.

But Li Hengsheng was helpless; he was only at the Great Perfection of the Postnatal Realm. To activate a Painting Treasure, he needed to reach the Prenatal Realm and have Prenatal True Essence.

Li Hengsheng carefully placed the Treasure Lotus Lamp back into the box and then back into the Acceptance of Rings, preserving it well.

Li Hengsheng believed his father wouldn’t die so easily. Perhaps this Treasure Lotus Lamp was the key to his father’s revival.

In Tianhai City.

Yue Hanjun woke up from his cultivation, but his eyes revealed a terrifying malevolence.

“Damn it…”

Yue Hanjun had been desperately trying to break through to the realm of Great Freedom, but no matter what, he couldn’t make the breakthrough.

Eventually, Yue Hanjun realized after several days that one of his Seven Spirits was missing!

Li Changqing had hidden one spirit!

“Damn Li Changqing, clearly dead, but where did he hide that spirit?” Yue Hanjun couldn’t figure it out.

Now he had gathered the Three Souls, and six of the Seven Spirits had returned. The remaining one spirit couldn’t possibly survive, and what was more incredible was that he couldn’t sense the existence of his last spirit at all.

This made Yue Hanjun even more baffled.

He had gathered the Three Souls and Six Spirits, and with his own peak-level Divine Soul, he still couldn’t find where his last spirit was.

Yue Hanjun was mystified.

Yue Hanjun even asked Yue Zhiming to use heaven-defying methods to search for his last spirit through the power of causality.

But Yue Zhiming, a terrestrial immortal with not much life left, overexerted three years of his lifespan to use heaven-defying methods, only to find that Yue Hanjun’s last spirit seemed to be shielded by something, making it impossible to find.

What kind of treasure could do this?

Yue Hanjun suspected Li Changqing had a Painting Treasure of the Immortal level; otherwise, how could it be that he couldn’t sense his last spirit?

The more this happened, the angrier Yue Hanjun became.

According to his plan, after merging with Li Changqing, he should have stepped into the realm of Great Freedom and become the new Painting Immortal!

With the King’s Brush in hand, he could become one of the top powerhouses in the Cangyuan Realm.

Controlling the Cangyuan Seal, then capturing Li Hengsheng to get the news of the Boundary Pearl, and finally obtaining two treasures to break through to immortality.

To achieve true immortality.

Invincible in the world.

But the first step was thwarted by Li Changqing.

His plans, plotted for so many years, were not going smoothly from the start. How could Yue Hanjun not be furious?

Meanwhile, all forces were frantically searching for Li Hengsheng’s whereabouts.

A Painting Treasure of the Immortal level—who wouldn’t want it?

And at this moment, Li Hengsheng was hiding his identity and feeding horses in Yegui City.

Always watched by others.

And Li Hengsheng always felt that Haidong Sheng was suspicious of him, so there were particularly many people watching him.

After several days, Li Hengsheng made no moves, obediently doing his duties, while also learning everything about Yegui City.

The city’s Lord was not in the city at the moment.

And General Dekang was also absent, which is why Haidong Sheng was so arrogant in capturing humans as slaves.

Currently, there was only one acting official in the city.

But this acting official was a mysterious person, unseen by anyone.

Li Hengsheng also learned about the nearby situation. The closest city to Yegui City was five thousand miles away, and more importantly, the journey was extremely dangerous.

If he really escaped, he wouldn’t be able to make it back to the Eastern Desolate Land alive.

One day.

A blue bird descended upon the Lord’s mansion.

A Ghost Clan soldier took a scroll from the bird’s hand and turned to leave.

But behind the Ghost Clan soldier, a figure appeared.

“Acting official, my lord.”

The Ghost Clan soldier quickly spoke.

“What’s in your hand?” The acting official asked with a smile.

“My lord, this is the portrait of Li Hengsheng, whom the Cangyuan Realm Master has put a bounty on,” the Ghost Clan soldier replied.

“Oh?”

The acting official extended his hand, “Let me see it.”