Li Lan pulled out from Ding Hao’s grasp angrily and told him what had happened that day in detail.
Ding Hao was amazed.
He didn’t expect that Li Lan would encounter anything like that. It was somewhat different from what he had imagined.
He remembered that Evil Moon, the Fat Cat, had said that Li Lan was dangerously obsessive; it seemed that the Fat Cat didn’t joke at all. If the Sage Battlefield had not collapsed and destroyed the ancient westbound road, Li Lan would have not been able to escape. Or he wouldn’t have been able to walk out of the ancient westbound road in his lifetime.
After that, Ding Hao felt a little hesitant.
Li Lan had just woken up and was still a little weak. Ding Hao didn’t know if he should tell him what had happened in the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect—especially the deaths of Li Jianyi and Luo Lan. He would be devastated.
“You look hesitant. Do you want to tell me about the deaths of the head and Peak Master Luo?” Li Lan looked at Ding Hao quietly, as if he wasn’t sad at all.
Ding Hao was stunned. “You… you knew already?”
Li Lan slowly stood up and walked to the door, facing the sun. He looked confused but strangely calm.
“I learned about this not long after the Zero Thought Sect saved me and brought me to the Ice Peak, just by listening to their discussions. Although I couldn’t wake up at that time, I was still conscious about what happened around me… You should already know that the sect head and Peak Master Luo were my parents. Unfortunately, they had fallen out over something and stopped seeing each other for a long time.”
It was the first time that Ding Hao had heard of this.
It suddenly dawned on him. He finally understood what had long puzzled him.
No wonder the name Li Lan was a little feminine. It turned out that Li Jianyi and Luo Lan each had picked a character from their names and came up with this name for their child. It was not difficult to guess that the head of the sect and Peak Master Luo must have been in love.
“Senior Brother Li Lan, don’t be sad. In the end, the sect head and the Peak Master Luo resolved their misunderstanding…” Wang Xiaoqi comforted him. He was also there at that time and witnessed everything on that bloody night. Finally, Li Jianyi and Luo Lan turned into a rain of light and disappeared together. They got back together before they passed away.
After hearing this, Li Lan stood quietly at the door and remained silent.
After a long while, he turned around in tears.
After all, he was just a teenager. No matter how strong, calm, or wise he was, he was still weak in the face of death. From then on, his parents would be forever gone. The great sadness in the world would be the loss of your loved ones.
A beautiful white woman, who was invisible to Ding Hao and the others, stood quietly beside Li Lan, like a ghost. Her face was blurred, like a Gemini constellation.
Only Li Lan could notice the phantom.
She followed Li Lan out of the ancient westbound road to the real world.
Seeing Li Lan’s weak side for the first time, Ding Hao and the others were somewhat at a loss.
The young man with willow-shaped eyebrows, who had always been calm, was also fragile inside. He had endured too much. His thin body kept trembling as if he would break down at any time, but he remained upright.
After a long while…
Li Lan wiped the tears on his face and his expression became calm again. He gritted his teeth and said word by word, “I must take revenge. I must make those people pay ten thousand times!”
Ding Hao nodded.
However, he soon thought of another thing. After hesitating for a moment, Ding Hao felt that he should tell Li Lan first, so he said, “About Senior Brother Tang Folei…”
Li Lan said quietly, “You don’t have to say anything. I know what happened,”
“Ah?” Ding Hao was stunned. “What do you know?”
Li Lan looked at Ding Hao and said, “Not many people know what happened between my father, mother, and Uncle Tang, so they will misunderstand. But I know that Uncle Tang would never do such a thing. He would never betray the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. If he did that, he must have done it for a reason.”
Ding Hao was stunned for a moment, but he nodded in the end.
He indeed overthought a little. Li Lan was hardly a nobody. Although he wasn’t as strong as him, he was sensitive and observant, definitely not inferior to Ji Yingqi. He was able to find clues from the evidence and deduce the truth himself without the need for explanations.
Ding Hao was relieved.
After he learned the truth, it was his biggest worry, whether he would be able to convince Li Lan to accept all this.
It seemed that he had been a little bit too concerned.
Unfortunately, the truth was still extremely cruel for Li Lan.
With Li Lan’s support, it would be much easier to restore Tang Folei’s reputation in the future. Ding Hao was confident that he could persuade everyone that Tang Folei was far from an unforgivable traitor, but a real hero who had saved the sect.
While they were talking, footsteps could be heard from outside.
It was Wang Juefeng, the cynical man, and other high-level masters of the sect who went to see Li Lan.
After all, Li Lan was the head’s blood relative and his only remaining descendant in the world. Because of his special identity, he was not someone to be overlooked by the sect.
Seeing that Li Lan had awakened, everyone was overjoyed.
After offering some condolences, Ding Hao and the others got up to leave.
However, before they left, Wang Juefeng took out a letter from his storage ring and whispered in Li Lan’s ear. Li Lan held the letter tightly in his hands as if he had obtained the most precious thing in the world.
Ding Hao was sunk in thought.
After the initial chaos, the restoration of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect proceeded in an orderly manner.
Because of the sacrifice of the three giants, the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect had been preserved to the greatest extent. There were geniuses in all aspects. After setting the general direction, Ding Hao could delegate the tasks to the capable ones, not needing to worry too much.
However, in many people’s eyes, Ding Hao was the best candidate to become the new head of the sect—in fact, many people had already regarded Ding Hao as the head. All he needed was a formal ceremony.
Ding Hao was noncommittal about it.
There were still a lot of things awaiting him.
The most important of all was to refine pills for Ximen Qianxue and Wang Juefeng.
Ding Hao collected a large number of magic materials and precious medicines from the Divine Herb Garden and obtained all the ingredients needed. After consulting with the Saber Master and the Sword Master about how to refine the Mysterious Elixir of Magic Horns, Ding Hao set out to make the pills.
This process took him three days and three nights.
In the end, he obtained six Mysterious Elixirs of Magic Horns.
Ding Hao also added an Orchid of Fate into other ingredients and made 108 Regeneration Pills, which could cure broken hands and feet. At the moment, Wang Juefeng was not the only sect member with such injuries. The 108 Regeneration Pills could help many people recover and become strong warriors again.
For Ding Hao, those three days and nights had consumed a lot of his energy.
After giving Wang Juefeng the Regeneration Pills, Ding Hao took out some magic materials and precious medicines he had collected from the Sage Battlefield and distributed them to the disciples of the Magical Herb Pharmacy.
Those disciples were former alchemists of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. Although their ranks were not high, their skills were solid. Ding Hao gave them some prescriptions and refinement tips; he asked them to make various magic medicines and elixirs for the injured sect disciples.
After all, Ding Hao’s strength alone was limited. He couldn’t cure everyone.
Therefore, he hoped to train a group of high-level pharmacists to serve the whole sect.
Of course, this was just the initial form of the plan. If it was truly carried out, it would still take too much time to adjust.
After doing all this, Ding Hao returned to his room and had a good sleep.
After the bitter battles in the Sage Battlefield and the sad news when returning to the Snow Province, Ding Hao was a little tired because of the great joys and sorrows. However capable he was, he was still a human. The death of his old friends was a heavy blow to him.
He had a deep sleep.
By the time he woke up, it was already the next morning.
It was at this time that Ren Xiaoyao and the others had finally returned from the Mirror Lake.
At the same time, Yin Zuimo, the head of the Heavenly Sound Valley, also came with Ximen Qianxue, Huang Rong, and the other wives and children of the Swordsmanship-seeking Villa.
As the parties were gathered, Ding Hao, Wang Juefeng, and the others had to spend some time to entertain Yin Zuimo and his retinue.
Those survivors of the great plight were crying and laughing. They were extremely excited after seeing the sect’s fast recovery. The Swordsmanship-seeking Sect, which had suffered great losses, was welcoming good news one after another.
“Man, you must avenge my father!” Huang Rong rushed into Ding Hao’s arms and cried.
With her wits and courage, she had confronted the danger and rescued more than a hundred women and children from the encirclement of the Demon Clan and the other major forces. She had not shed a tear, even when she saw her father self-detonating in the sky. But the moment when she saw Ding Hao, she finally couldn’t help but openly cry.
It seemed that she wanted to vent all the grievances and fear that had been suppressed in her heart.
Huang Rong sobbed her heart out.
The other people who had escaped from the Swordsmanship-seeking Villa also were all teary-eyed.
That night, the light shining on the Swordsmanship-seeking Mountain Villa was as bright as a meteor, eternal and sorrowful. It symbolized the most unswerving loyalty and the longest separation in the world. They could never forget the pride and the broken hearts at that moment.
Ding Hao patted Huang Rong’s back gently.
“Don’t worry. The Demon Clan that participated in the siege of the Swordsmanship-seeking Villa, whether they are from the Demon God Palace or the Heaven Hall, each of their members will be held accountable. No one will be exempt. Trust me. I will soon make them pay a thousand fold.”
