Ding Hao nodded in satisfaction with the result.

40 Out of the 340 bones in his body had been integrated with the Jade in Stone. If he could find the remaining 15 types of Jade in Stone, he could transform himself into an immortal being.

However, this sort of opportunity was simply too rare.

Ding Hao was not sure whether he could collect all seventeen types of Jade in Stone.

After adapting to the new power, Ding Hao did not rush to leave. Instead, he began to consult the Saber Master and the Sword Master about the Fake God’s characters.

He wanted to transform all the stone puppets in this quiet place and add them to the defense system of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect as the final touches to it. When it was done, he could set his heart at rest and leave Snow Province for the Southern Land to find his sister Ding Ke’er.

He retrieved from his storage space a giant stone puppet at the Peak of the Martial King realm.

He decided to start with the simple ones.

Since Ding Hao had already obtained the divine power of the golden light, which was equivalent to lighting up the divine fire, he would not be attacked by the stone puppets. They stood still like dead objects. This allowed him to observe the Fake God’s characters on their chests closely. With the explanations of the Saber Master and the Sword Master, he was able to decipher the meaning.

The Fake God characters on these low-grade puppet stone men were just basic ones.

However, it took Ding Hao two hours to thoroughly digest the information and understand the meaning.

Symbols almost as profound as God’s characters were indeed extremely cryptic.

Then, Ding Hao tried to make some changes according to the ideas of the Saber Master and the Sword Master to bring the stone puppets under his command.

It was a rather difficult process.

In the blink of an eye, half a day passed. Under Ding Hao’s feet was a pile of gravel—three low-grade stone puppets were ruined due to the failed experiment. Because the Fake God characters on their chests were destroyed, they lost their intelligence and became a pile of debris.

“I must have used the wrong method…”

Ding Hao muttered to himself, racking his brains.

A terrible storm swept the whole Snow Province without warning.

It had been the most shocking news that the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect had no sooner became number one in Snow Province than it was destroyed by the Tranquility Academy and its allies. Everyone was anxious as chaos broke out. Many people believed that the era of the Tranquility Academy ruling over the Human Clan in Snow Province had inevitably arrived.

In fact, it had been the case for a long time.

After making a name by destroying the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect, the Tranquility Academy was almost invincible in the entire Snow Province. No one in the Human Clan could compete with it. All the sects, large and small, had to submit to this overlord.

Just as everything was in favor of Tranquility Academy, a drastic change occurred because of several young people.

First, it was said that Ding Hao, the Saber and Sword Addict of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect, appeared in the Mirror Lake and defeated Lu Xiongfei, the former top human master in Snow Province. When many people thought that it was a fabrication, more incredible news came out—

In the battle of the Heavenly Sound Valley, a youth who claimed to be a nominal disciple of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect defeated Fang Xiao’an, the head of the Tranquility Academy, in two moves.

And then there was even more shocking news—

Ding Hao, the Saber and Sword Addict, carrying one sword, restored the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect alone.

Pieces of news, like world-shaking thunders, astonished all the martial arts masters in Snow Province.

People reacted differently to this.

Some people turned up their noses at it, for the news was too sensational to be true.

“Nonsense! No matter how capable Ding Hao is, he is just a junior disciple of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. How can he rival with Lu Xiongfei, the former top martial artist in Snow Province?”

“It’s impossible. People are being overexaggerating. It’s even more ridiculous to claim that the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect was restored by one person using simply a sword. After all, rumor had it that stationed on the Swordsmanship-seeking Mountain were not only the elites from the Tranquility Academy, the Falling Star Sect, and other sects had stationed on the Swordsmanship-seeking Mountain, but also the superiors from super sects outside the Snow Province. How many lives should Ding Hao have to survive?”

“Hehe, I guess it’s made up by those struggling Swordsmanship-seeking Sect disciples who had escaped. They must have lost their minds for being too eager to rebuild the sect!”

“Hahaha, the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect has been destroyed, losing all its former glory. From now on, it has no chance to rise again. These rumors are their last attempts, aren’t they? Haha, how pitiful. They can only rely on such self-deception as final struggles.”

“As for that Zhang Fan, I’ve never heard of him. Killing Head Fang Xiao’an with his saber in two moves? Hahaha, only an idiot would say something like that!”

However, some people swore to have witnessed everything with their own eyes—

“What do you know? I was there to witness the battle of the War God Square by Mirror Lake. I saw with my own eyes that Lu Xiongfei couldn’t even resist one move and was completely overpowered by Ding Hao. If you don’t believe me, you can check the ice crystal pillar that sealed Lu Xiongfei on the War God Square, which was now soaring into the sky like a high-rise pinnacle…”

“How narrow-minded of you. Ding Hao got out of the Sage Battlefield with incredible luck. Now he is powerful beyond measure. It’s said that he had killed the Demon Royal on the battlefield and defeated the Martial Emperor… I’m afraid that he is without rival across the entire Snow Province!”

“Yes, I saw it with my own eyes that day. In the blink of an eye, Ding Hao sealed off the War God Square with endless divine light. Even the Mysterious Frost Holy Guards couldn’t break through the defense. It was miraculous…”

“I don’t know how insanely powerful Ding Hao is, but I know that the guy named Zhang Fan is definitely a freak. When they sieged the Heavenly Sound Valley, our Golden Dragon Gang also watched the battle from a distance. I saw Zhang Fan swing his saber and defeat Fang Xiao’an with two moves. Do you know that as the head of the Tranquility Academy, Fang Xiao’an didn’t even dare to take another hit? He turned and fled. That saber smashed a mountain, leaving on the ground a bottomless crack hundreds of meters long…”

“Hehe, let’s wait and see. The show has just begun. Snow Province is going to be turned upside down!”

For a while, all kinds of rumors flew around the Snow Province, making it difficult to distinguish between the truth and falsehood. The more widely-spread the news was, the more ridiculous it became.

Some masters even traveled to the Swordsmanship-seeking Mountain out of curiosity, intending to verify the news, but they could only see a golden silver mist covering the whole mountain gate in the distance. Majestic power kept pouring out from it, so they couldn’t see clearly what was going on inside.

Those who had the guts to visit the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect had also returned empty-handed.

The mountain gate of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect had been blocked. A giant stone tablet appeared at the side of the Sword-cleansing Pond at the foot of the mountain, with two words written on it—

Closed.

The Swordsmanship-seeking Sect had closed down the mountain.

No one knew what exactly had happened inside the mountain gate.

Some people turned to other sects to inquire, but returned with shock—

Most sects, which had participated in the destruction of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect more than a month ago, chose to close the mountain gate. Even the Tranquility Academy also closed the gate of the academy, declining all guests. Some had climbed the plateau and found from the distance that the Tranquility Academy was heavily-guarded as if it was preparing itself against a formidable enemy. The atmosphere was tense.

As all kinds of rumors were spreading, many people felt that something was wrong.

At present, Snow Province seemed extremely peaceful, but under this suffocating silence, there was a terrifying flow of currents. Once it broke out, it would definitely bring a world-shaking change.

Many well-informed people sensed danger and started to act cautiously.

More and more masters rushed to the War God Square by Mirror Lake to look at the ice crystal column that was said to imprison Lu Xiongfei.

However, the War God Square was sealed by Mysterious Frost Holy Guards. The powerful inscription formation was glowing, isolating everything inside. No one could break in to see what was going on.

This made it even harder to distinguish facts from rumors.

An extremely strange atmosphere prevailed in Snow Province.

At this time, it was widespread that the Saint Son of Falling Star Sect had come back alive from the Sage Battlefield—in fact, there was no need to spread the news because the young expert appeared in the Mirror Lake in a high-profile way.

On the first day of returning to Snow Province, he challenged several long-renowned senior superiors in Mirror Lake. He defeated all his opponents with one move, showing incredible strength as if he had changed into another person.

“From now on, Snow Province will be the domain of our Young Master. Those who submit will prosper, and those who resist shall perish!”

An old servant following the Saint Son of Falling Star announced in a sinister tone.

He was an old man with snow-white hair that almost dragged to the ground, who carried with him a murderous aura. His strength was unfathomable. Because of disagreement, he brutally killed more than a dozen martial artists of Snow Province, leaving with these threats.

There were four old servants by the side of the Saint Son of Falling Star, all of whom had mysterious origins and the look of gods of death.

The Saint Son of Falling Star stood by the Mirror Lake and said provocatively, “From now on, all the sects of the Human Clan in the Snow Province will follow the lead of the Falling Star Sect. Tranquility Academy and Swordsmanship-seeking Sect will be our stepping stones!”

In the past, he followed Tranquility Academy like a vassal. But now, after the adventures, he stopped taking Tranquility Academy seriously, showing ambition to replace it.

He had intended to go to the Swordsmanship-seeking Villa to slaughter with full confidence and make a name for himself.

He didn’t know that the Swordsmanship-seeking Villa had been destroyed by the demon clan.

When the Saint Son of Falling Star was ready to go to the manor by Mirror Lake where the Tranquility Academy was stationed to show off his strength, he was surprised to find that there were no masters in the whole manor. For some reason, the Tranquility Academy had withdrawn all the masters a few days ago, leaving only a dozen ordinary people to clean up.