After resting for two days at the inn and fully recovering his energy and mana, Zhang Ling left, intending to explore the Immortal City once more and gather some materials with wind and thunder attributes.
These two types of materials were abundant here, and he also visited various bookstores to examine some ancient books, collecting several wind and thunder attribute pill formulas.
Whenever he arrived at an Immortal City, Zhang, the old nun, would collect these things from the markets. Although most were useless, they could be helpful, and one never knew when they might come in handy.
After wandering for several hours, it was afternoon. The clouds above Wind and Thunder City were sparse, and standing in the east of the city, one could see the red afterglow of the setting sun in the west, a pleasant sight.
Such a scene was rare here, and many people looked up to admire it. After watching the scenery for a while, Zhang Ling strolled back to the inn, planning to rest for another night before leaving the next day to return to his cave and cultivate the Yang attribute Thunder Light Spell.
A quarter of an hour later, he returned to the inn, but at the entrance, a black-clad, short-haired woman stopped him.
As he was about to enter the inn, the woman directly transmitted a sentence to him, causing Zhang Ling to pause and turn to look at her.
The woman appeared to be in her early twenties, tall and with a hint of heroism, but Zhang Ling was sure he had never met her before.
"Senior Zhang, if you are interested, please come with me. She is waiting for you."
Zhang Ling's face showed a strange expression as he looked at the woman. He could tell at a glance that she was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. The woman's transmission was simply three words: "Ding Ruozhao."
Indeed, it was the name Ding Ruozhao. He was very familiar with those three words. After a moment of silence, he asked, "What is your relationship with her?"
As he spoke, Zhang Ling mobilized a portion of his divine sense, directly pressing down on the short-haired woman, his eyes flashing with spiritual light. This was a slight trick; if she lied, he would immediately know.
Under the powerful pressure of his divine sense, the short-haired woman's face changed, and a layer of cold sweat appeared on her back. Although that senior had already instructed her, she inevitably showed panic in the face of a high-level cultivator.
However, the short-haired woman instantly smiled and said calmly, "Replying to Senior, I am Ruozhao's niece."
Zhang Ling's mind did not relax, and he constantly watched the woman's expression, but he did not find anything unusual. She was not lying.
At the same time, he had a guess in his mind and immediately asked, "Are you also a member of the Qing Lei Sect's Ding family?"
"Yes, this junior is from a collateral branch of the Ding family."
"Alright, lead the way then."
Confirming this, Zhang Ling couldn't help but feel strange. Ding Ruozhao and Ye Zimei had previously said they were rogue cultivators; it seemed they were lying.
He wondered if the woman was looking for him here because of the young man he had encountered in the mountains a few days ago.
He still had some doubts about how she knew he was here. Zhang Ling always had a special feeling about Ding Ruozhao and decided to meet her.
Following the short-haired woman, he went to another street. Soon, they entered a pavilion called Fengyun Pavilion.
The short-haired woman led him to a room on the third floor and knocked on the door.
With a creak, the door opened.
The interior was decorated elegantly, seemingly a quiet room. Behind a circular screen was a round table, and sitting there was a woman in white, none other than Ding Ruozhao.
As the door opened, Ding Ruozhao turned her head towards the door, her eyes instantly landing on Zhang Ling.
Zhang Ling stood at the door, looking at the woman inside. Compared to when he had seen her before, Ding Ruozhao was now wearing a black dress, her hair styled into a bun, giving her a more gentle and beautiful appearance.
For a moment, the room was silent, and neither of them spoke. After several breaths, the short-haired woman who had led Zhang Ling here broke the silence.
The short-haired woman flashed to Ding Ruozhao's side, smiling and saying, "Aunt Ruozhao, this senior is the person you are looking for. I didn't bring the wrong person, did I?"
Looking at her elder, the short-haired woman speculated about the relationship between the two, sensing that her aunt seemed to have a close relationship with this Senior Zhang.
"This Fellow Daoist Zhang is my old friend. Ying'er, you can return to the family first. I have some words to say with this old friend."
Ding Ruozhao glanced at Zhang Ling, retracted her gaze, stood up, and with a flip of her hand, produced a jade bottle, tossing it to the short-haired woman.
"Thank you, Aunt."
The short-haired woman took the jade bottle, looked at Zhang Ling again, and slowly walked towards the door. As she left the room, Ding Ruozhao said again, "Ying'er, today's matter..."
"Hehe, Aunt, don't worry, Yingying won't be gossiping."
After the short-haired woman left, Zhang Ling slowly walked into the room. As soon as he entered, Ding Ruozhao immediately closed the door.
With a flash, Zhang Ling sat down at the table and spoke first, "I wonder why the Fairy is looking for me."
"After not seeing you for decades, I didn't expect your cultivation to have increased so much." Ding Ruozhao did not answer his question but instead said something unrelated.
"Hasn't the Fairy also broken through to the late stage of the Golden Core realm? I can't catch up." Zhang Ling smiled wryly, feeling inexplicably agitated, and frowned as he asked again, "You didn't seek me out just to reminisce, did you?"
Seeing Zhang Ling's rather indifferent expression, Ding Ruozhao couldn't help but roll her eyes, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. At the same time, she thought of some things about Zhang Ling.
The scene fell silent, and then Ding Ruozhao flipped her hand, and a thunder pearl appeared on the table.
Seeing this object, Zhang Ling's heart sank. The thunder pearl was identical to the one found in the storage bag of the young cultivator a few days ago.
He immediately realized that the woman was looking for him, possibly related to the Ding family disciple who had been killed before.
Now Zhang Ling naturally knew that Ding Ruozhao was a Golden Core cultivator from the Qing Lei Sect's Ding family.
However, it seemed impossible that she was doing this for a low-level disciple. Moreover, that young man had betrayed the sect. He didn't believe Ding Ruozhao still didn't know that the disciple had betrayed the family and sect.
Zhang Ling's mind raced as he thought about the matter.
But his face showed no expression, just a calm glance at the thunder pearl on the table, without saying a word.
"This treasure is a formation tool refined by the Qing Lei Sect, distributed to disciples half a month ago. Several members of my Ding family were also assigned this item. But one of them betrayed the sect and family a few days ago, trying to escape with this treasure. After that, the disciple died. According to the sect's soul lamp, his death has been confirmed. Even the two fellow disciples who pursued him were left without a trace."
Ding Ruozhao paused, looked at him, and seeing that his expression hadn't changed at all, continued, "That day, I happened to be in the sect and investigated the matter after learning about it. The traitor and the two disciples died at the same time, most likely killed by a high-level cultivator with a single blow."
""Is that so?" Zhang Ling said calmly, without any expression.
But he felt even stranger. Judging by the situation, the woman was really looking for him because of this matter, but the thunder pearl had already been destroyed.
He hadn't left any traces at the time. How did she find him? He had this question in his mind.
He then heard Ding Ruozhao say again,
"The Qing Lei Sect's higher-ups attach great importance to this matter, holding my Ding family accountable. This thunder pearl is something my Ding family has spent considerable resources to re-refine in the past ten days. It's just that it still lacks a refiner."
As Ding Ruozhao spoke, the thunder pearl slid from her hand across the table towards Zhang Ling.
This made Zhang Ling frown. "What does the Fairy mean by this? Surely you don't want me to refine this thunder pearl."
Ding Ruozhao looked at him and nodded.
"Hehe, I have no interest in joining any family or sect. If the Fairy has nothing else, then Zhang will not keep you company."
Zhang Ling sneered, stood up directly, and was about to walk out. Although this woman had an intimate relationship with him, he would not be threatened by her.
He hadn't expected his second meeting with her to be like this. He felt a sense of discomfort in his heart.
As he was about to reach the door, he felt a stream of spiritual power shooting towards him from behind.
Zhang Ling's heart sank, and with a flash, he turned around. But the imagined attack did not arrive. Instead, a ball of white spiritual light was floating in mid-air, a zhang away from him, fixed in place.
The white light was very small, only the size of a fingernail. This little bit of spiritual light was obviously not for attacking.
Even if he didn't use spiritual power, this little bit of spiritual light wouldn't pose any danger if it hit him.
The tiny white light suddenly lit up with a yellow glimmer, then instantly turned into a strand of earthy-yellow spiritual light.
With a sweep of his divine sense, Zhang Ling was immediately shocked.
He felt extremely familiar with this strand of spiritual light. He couldn't help but flick his finger, and an identical strand of yellow light shot out from his fingertip.
With a flash of yellow light, the two strands of light intertwined, then merged directly together, turning into a larger ball of yellow light.
Watching the two strands of spiritual light merge, Zhang Ling frowned and summoned the spiritual light into his palm. He continuously sensed the ball of light.
This was a ball of earth spiritual power transformed into spiritual light. The one he had just released was naturally the spiritual power he had cultivated. But the yellow light manifested by the white light released by Ding Ruozhao was also a strand of earth spiritual power.
This was not surprising. For high-level cultivators, it was not difficult to transform a strand of spiritual power's attribute in an instant.
The five elements of spiritual power were the most basic, and different attributes of spiritual power such as wind and thunder were also transformed from the five elements. The mutual transformation of spiritual power occurred constantly between heaven and earth.
Ding Ruozhao had the cultivation of the late stage of the Golden Core realm, and she could easily do this.
What shocked Zhang Ling was that the earth spiritual power transformed by this woman was not pure spiritual power but a strand of spiritual power condensed within a cultivator's body.
This kind of spiritual power that had been refined by cultivators, demonic beasts, or other living beings carried their respective auras. It was easy to identify, which was why cultivators could find other cultivators based on spiritual power traces.
Tracking spells were used to track other people's auras.
The earth spiritual power transformed by the white light did not carry Ding Ruozhao's aura under Zhang Ling's senses. Instead, it carried his own aura.
In other words, the earth spiritual power transformed by the white light was a strand of spiritual power he had cultivated himself.
How was this possible?
Zhang Ling was somewhat shocked. Other cultivators could not imitate his aura. He could not imitate other people's auras either.
Even if they had the same spiritual root attributes and cultivated the same cultivation technique, the spiritual power they condensed would carry their respective auras. It was impossible for them to be exactly the same.
Cultivators could use secret techniques to hide their cultivation and shield their own aura. But it was basically impossible to change their own aura.
Unless they directly dissolved their cultivation and re-cultivated another cultivation technique. Or abandoned their current body and occupied someone else's body. Only then would it be possible to change their own aura.
Of course, some special treasures could do this, but just now, Ding Ruozhao had only released a wisp of spiritual light and transformed it into the spiritual power he cultivated. This was absolutely impossible.
Even experts at the Nascent Soul level could not do this.
Zhang Ling gripped his hand, and the ball of spiritual light in his hand was instantly crushed, turning into specks of yellow light that dissipated. He stared at Ding Ruozhao with a gloomy face and asked.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"You must have noticed that the spiritual light just now was the spiritual power you cultivated yourself. This is a wisp of spiritual power that I gathered in the Wind and Thunder Mountains using a secret method. If I'm not mistaken, you are the one who killed the cultivator who betrayed the Ding family, right?" Ding Ruozhao replied calmly.
These words made Zhang Ling frown, wondering if such a secret method existed. Although he had stayed in the Wind and Thunder Mountains for more than a month, he had only encountered the three disciples of the Qing Lei Sect for a short quarter of an hour. Afterwards, he had even directly bombarded the area, so he shouldn't have left any traces.
Unless the woman's search range was not limited to that valley, but also included the mountain stream where the thunder pearl was destroyed.
Even so, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack to sense traces of his activity in the Wind and Thunder Mountains.
When a cultivator uses spiritual power, they leave faint traces of spiritual power, but these traces dissipate in a short half-breath. Even the traces of spiritual power produced by powerful spells do not last long.
Basically, all auras will dissipate after half an hour. Even if some spiritual energy fluctuations are retained, they will turn into pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth. If one wants to find the caster, they can only rely on luck.
Even if this woman found some traces in the Wind and Thunder Mountains, she could at most confirm that he had been to the Wind and Thunder Mountains. How could she be so sure that he had killed those three low-level cultivators? And even collect and preserve a wisp of his aura.
"Hmph, so what if I killed them? Do you want to fight me?" Although Zhang Ling couldn't figure it out, he didn't have a good expression and snorted coldly.
This woman had the strength of the late stage of the Golden Core realm, but he wasn't afraid.
This time, he not only brought the Corpse Bear but also the Twin-Tailed Cat and fifty to sixty thousand Earth Spirit Bees. He had the power to fight against a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.
Even if he couldn't win, he could easily escape.
He had learned about this Wind and Thunder City before. Although some high-level cultivators were gathered in the city, their numbers were not large. Even the city lord was only a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator.
At worst, he would immediately flee this place and leave the sphere of influence of the Qing Lei Sect.
