Chapter 108: The Stone Coffin Teleportation Array

“Speak up, and you’ll suffer less,” Yu Youwei said calmly. Her long, dark lashes drooped, shading her deep, chilling eyes. If it hadn’t been her who came today, any other scion of the Yu family would have been doomed.

“I... just kill me!” the man rasped hoarsely, his voice rough and barely intelligible.

“I promise you’ll endure pain for eighty-one days without dying. You’ll have to suffer it slowly,” Yu Youwei said, a faint smile flickering at the corner of her lips before vanishing.

“I’m a guest official of the Wu family, ordered to—ordered to...” The man with the cracked voice gasped for breath, then reluctantly revealed what he knew.

As expected, a large force of Wu family experts had launched an attack. The Dongling Yu family, like the imperial capital’s Yu mansion, had been overwhelmingly slaughtered. The difference was that the imperial capital had no outside interference, whereas local powers in Dongling had taken advantage of the situation to press their advantage.

However, more than half of the Wu family’s scions had been killed by evil cultivators they provoked, and those local forces had suffered collateral damage. The Wu family’s main branch had withdrawn from Dongling, leaving only their cadet branches and guest officials to take turns watching the Yu family. For days now, the Yu family estate had been deserted, and no thieves dared to show themselves.

Inside Anqing Hall, there was a spirit-gathering formation. When it was the cracked-voice man’s shift, he would hide inside the hall to cultivate. Yu Youwei arrived just as he finished his session.

“Done talking. Please, just give me a quick death!” he wheezed, desperation flooding his eyes. Death had become a luxury beyond his reach.

Yu Youwei ignored him and started searching the rooms on either side.

No survivors remained in Anqing Hall. In an east wing chamber, she found a passageway. The middle section had collapsed but was broken through again. The exit led to a tomb on the ancestral mountain outside Dongling City.

Upon entering the tomb, she noticed a squirrel atop the stone coffin in the center. The tiny black eyes darted at her entrance, and it tossed a pinecone her way before darting away.

Approaching the coffin, Yu Youwei saw that the lid was damaged in the center—the squirrel had slipped through this hole. She raised her palm and pushed the coffin lid aside, revealing an empty interior. Not a single squirrel hair remained.

Without hesitation, she leapt into the coffin. A rippling wave of invisible energy spread beneath her feet; her vision darkened briefly before brightening again. Her feet now touched soft, damp grass.

“It’s a teleportation formation. Looks like some of the Yu family managed to escape,” Yu Youwei murmured with a hint of hope. Around her stretched a fiery-red maple forest—surely the Maple Mountains outside Jiangning Prefecture.

Upon arriving in Jiangning Prefecture, she had met Ning Mofei’s elder sister and others at Maple Evening Pavilion, nestled at the foot of these very mountains. She remembered the mountain ablaze with crimson leaves mirrored by the sunset sky, and the roar of a cascading waterfall sounding like the earth cracking. Now, no water could be heard; they must be far from the pavilion.

“Let the little hawk scout for anyone nearby,” Yu Youwei said.

The little white bear gave a lazy grunt but said nothing to the hawk. When the little thunder hawk was released from the beast-taming talisman, it shot into the sky like a slender bolt of lightning.

“Can it see clearly from so high up?” she asked.

A cold snort came from the white bear within the talisman, ready to mock her. Suddenly, it seemed to realize something and leapt upward in the confined space before falling back down. With a humanlike gesture, it patted its chest with a bear paw and exclaimed, “You scared me! Good thing I’m still inside the talisman. Hey, stop standing there! There’s a powerful enemy chasing us—hide quickly!”

This cowardly little bear might be hopeless in a fight but was expert at running for its life, Yu Youwei thought wryly. With a flash, she vanished deeper into the maple forest.

The little thunder hawk dove sharply, veering not far from Yu Youwei before flying straight ahead, leading her into a valley filled with oddly shaped stones.

The stones took myriad forms—clusters like mushrooms, towering like swords pointing skyward, or resembling monkeys clutching peaches—an endless variety. Were it not for the urgency of the moment, Yu Youwei would have marveled at nature’s artistry.

Shortly after Yu Youwei disappeared among the stones, a group arrived at the valley’s entrance, accompanied by a pale cloud eagle soaring above.

“Are you sure the Yu family girl who came with Wen Shaokun was just here?” the scar-faced elder questioned suspiciously.

The young man beside him nodded confidently. “The pale cloud eagle wouldn’t be mistaken.”

“Search inside!” the scarred elder barked, leading the charge into the valley.

Hearing voices outside, Yu Youwei’s heart sank. She hadn’t expected the Wu family to arrive so swiftly. Wen Shaokun, who remained with the Yu family, was likely already captured. Given his status as Wen family’s young master, the Wu family would probably imprison rather than kill him. She thought silently and followed the little thunder hawk swiftly deeper into the valley.

The hawk led her to a hidden cave cloaked by vines. The pale cloud eagle spotted her and let out a piercing cry before diving down. The alert little thunder hawk charged upward to intercept, launching a fierce attack. Though small, its feathers shimmered brightly as it unleashed volley after volley of fine lightning bolts, matching the larger pale cloud eagle in ferocity.

The scar-faced elder’s roar echoed through the stone forest, “Idiot! It’s attacking prey, not people! Can’t tell the difference? Catch that little thunder hawk for me!”

Yu Youwei had already entered the cave but, upon hearing this, turned to support the hawk. The little white bear advised, “The little thunder hawk is smarter than you. Don’t go interfering!”

Stung by the bear’s words, a flicker of embarrassment and resentment passed through Yu Youwei’s deep eyes. She retorted sullenly, “If I don’t interfere, you’d die, wouldn’t you?”

“Death? No chance. But my mouth does get itchy,” the bear replied honestly, a mischievous smile betraying its inner delight.

“Forget it, no use arguing. Who would’ve thought my luck would be so good as to find such a rare beast companion for free?” Yu Youwei thought gleefully, emphasizing the last words in her mind.

The little white bear rolled its eyes in frustration. Yu Youwei’s pride was a thorn in its side. It recalled how, in a moment of greed, it had foolishly signed a lifelong servitude contract to the divine white bear—and that contract was unbreakable, even by death. Now it had to protect her by all means, a thought that made it grind its teeth in fury even in dreams.

Outside the cave, light footsteps as soft as a civet’s approached. From Yu Youwei’s vantage point, she glimpsed a figure more ape-like than human, a jagged scar like a centipede snaking across his face. He glanced toward the cave entrance, sending a chill through her heart; a heavy aura of killing intent radiated from him.

This man was clearly a veteran of living on the edge, his murderous aura deeply ingrained in his bones, triggering a powerful sense of danger that made every hair on her body stand on end. Her hand trembled as it gripped the Azure Frost sword, yet her eyes shone with fierce determination.