Meanwhile, at the gate of Wanshan City.
A young girl in a red dress was walking into the city, looking travel-worn.
She had exquisite features and a fiery figure; the long red dress complemented her snow-white skin, causing many passersby to look back at her repeatedly.
However, at this moment, her clear and beautiful eyes held a trace of fatigue and a hidden sharpness that did not match her age.
It was as if she had experienced too many things that ordinary people could not imagine.
Her name was Liu Ruyan, and she hailed from a cultivation Family in a place called Qingyang City on the Southern Border.
The Family Liu Ruyan belonged to was once one of the prominent families in Qingyang City.
Nevertheless, the highest cultivation level within the clan was only at the Nascent Soul Stage.
At this moment, no one knew that this excessively young body carried a Soul that had lived through three lifetimes.
In her first life, the Liu Family was weak, and the Lin Family, also one of the three major families, proposed an engagement as a reason for an alliance.
Forced by their predicament, the Family could only agree.
Back then, she had already joined the Southern Region's first-rate Sect, the "Flowing Cloud Sword Sect." Relying on her status as an Outer Sect Disciple, she eventually managed to break off the engagement.
But who could have imagined that the youth she had rejected, Lin Fan, would soon after somehow luck into becoming a Disciple of a Mahayana Stage Cultivator?
Furthermore, in just a few short decades, he became a Nascent Soul Cultivator. The Lin Family rose because of him, enjoying boundless glory.
Because of her breaking the engagement back then, the Liu Family suffered heavy suppression and quickly declined. She also suffered endless ridicule and died in depression.
It wasn't until she was on her deathbed that she learned Lin Fan's Master came from a place called Yaochi Immortal Palace and was an Outer Sect Elders there.
In her second life, she was reborn with her memories and had learned to be smarter.
She still joined the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect, but she didn't immediately choose to break the engagement, nor did she make an enemy of the Lin Family.
She looked after her Family while cultivating diligently. In just twenty years, she reached the Golden Core Stage and became an Inner Sect Disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect.
At that time, Lin Fan was still the same Lin Fan, and his cultivation was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Just as she was almost doubting if her memory was wrong, Lin Fan ran into big trouble during an outdoor trial, and his entire Family was wiped out overnight.
And she herself perished decades later while attempting a Breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Stage!
Now, this was her third life.
She did not join the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect like she did in her previous two lives!
She wanted to find the Yaochi Immortal Palace that had changed Lin Fan's fate in her first life's memories.
According to some vague memories from her first life, it seemed Lin Fan only met his Master while traveling to the Wan Jue Mountain Range for a trial.
And Wanshan City was the final supply point before entering the Myriad Absolute Mountains.
"Yaochi Immortal Palace... will it be here?"
Liu Ruyan gazed at the rolling mountain range in the distance, her eyes showing a mix of confusion and determination.
"If I get the chance, I must find the Yaochi Immortal Palace and join it! Even if I only become an Outer Sect Disciple..."
She touched the few Spirit Stone in her Storage Pouch, took a deep breath, and walked toward the city.
She needed information—any abnormal information about this mountain range, any clues related to the word "Yaochi."
She first went to the liveliest tavern in the city, ordered a pot of tea, and sat by the window.
Several Cultivator at the neighboring table were discussing something heatedly, and she listened in quietly.
"Did you hear? That pillar of light that shot into the sky a few days ago—it's said that many great experts were alarmed!"
A burly man said.
A thin, small Cultivator beside him chimed in:
"More than that, even the monks from the Western Regions have come! I saw a monk enter the city with my own eyes yesterday."
Liu Ruyan's heart stirred. She picked up the teapot and walked over to that table.
"Brothers, this little girl is a newcomer. I just heard you mention a pillar of light; has some Secret Realm appeared?"
Seeing her extraordinary appearance, the burly man became a bit more welcoming:
"Is the lady from out of town? No wonder you don't know."
"A few days ago, a crack suddenly opened in the sky a hundred miles outside the city. Golden light shone everywhere, and it's said there was even immortal music drifting about."
"The strangest thing is that after the golden light dissipated, a mountain peak that was originally there actually vanished into thin air!"
"A mountain peak vanished?"
Liu Ruyan showed a surprised expression at the right moment.
"How is that possible?"
"It's absolutely true!"
The thin Cultivator lowered his voice.
"Now all the various factions are looking into it."
"Some say a rare treasure has appeared, others say it's an ancient Secret Realm, and some even say a great expert has made a Breakthrough, but..."
"But what?" Liu Ruyan pressed.
"But these things have nothing to do with us Loose Cultivator."
The burly man sighed.
"Now that mountain range has been blockaded by the major factions; not even a fly can get in."
Liu Ruyan's beautiful brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.
"An anomaly? A vanishing mountain peak?"
"This seemed to differ somewhat from the information in her memory."
She remembered that in her first life, before and after Lin Fan's rise, she hadn't heard of any earth-shattering events occurring.
"Could it be... that in this life, because of her Rebirth, some unknown variables have been created?"
She quietly settled the bill and headed toward a place called 'Baixiao Pavilion' that sold information in the city.
The interior of Baixiao Pavilion was simply furnished, with only an old man napping behind the counter.
Liu Ruyan gently tapped on the counter:
"Old gentleman, I'd like to ask about a place."
The old man lazily looked up: "What place?"
"Yaochi."
Liu Ruyan stared closely at the old man's expression.
The old man frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head:
"Never heard of it. Is it a newly discovered Secret Realm in the Southern Region?"
Liu Ruyan didn't give up and continued to ask:
"Then have you heard of a Sect named 'Yaochi'? Or any place related to those two words?"
The old man shook his head again:
"Young lady, I have been running this information business in Wanshan City for thirty years. I know every even slightly famous power in the Southern Region like the back of my hand."
"This 'Yaochi' is indeed unheard of."
She left Baixiao Pavilion and visited several more teahouses and markets, but she found nothing.
The two words "Yaochi" seemed to have never appeared in this world.
"Could it be... I remembered wrong? Or, is the Yaochi Immortal Palace not in the Southern Region at all?"
She rubbed her temples, feeling a deep sense of powerlessness.
The memories of two lifetimes now seemed so unreliable.
"No, it's impossible to be wrong!"
She suddenly stood up, her gaze becoming firm again.
"Back then, Lin Fan set out from Qingyang City and rose after coming to the vicinity of Wanshan City for a trial!"
"The key must be within this mountain range!"
She decided to personally enter the outskirts of the mountain range tomorrow to investigate.
Even if the hope was slim, it was better than just waiting.