Mysterious Visitor

You scratched your head and thought for a while.

You looked at the boy and asked, "Kid, how old were you this year?"

The boy was terrified and stammered, "I-I was... six..."

"Oh, sixty-six. You didn't look your age."

Crack—

The boy's head shot into the air and landed at the girl's feet.

"Ah!"

The girl recoiled in fright.

"Kid, then how old were you this year?" you asked the girl.

The girl fought to suppress the terror in her heart, doing her utmost not to stammer. "I was... eight this year..."

"Oh, eighteen wasn't that young either."

Clang—

The girl's soft sobbing came to an abrupt end.

Her headless corpse collapsed to the ground.

You sheathed the Minghong Saber and walked out of the main hall.

If you cut the grass without pulling out the roots, it would only bring endless disaster upon yourself.

Since they had grown up in the Zhang Family, whether willingly or unwillingly, they must have enjoyed the benefits brought by the Lineage. They had to be prepared to bear the consequences.

You strode into the front courtyard, where Zhang Family members lay everywhere.

They all slept peacefully.

You headed toward the Zhang Family's front gate.

But the instant you looked up, your eyelids twitched.

Someone was still standing not far ahead.

She wore the coarse hemp clothes of a Zhang Family maidservant, her expression cold and detached.

Wan Qingluan!

Why was she here?

Your heart tightened as you wondered whether Wan Qingluan might be a member of the Zhang Family...

You had just slaughtered the entire Zhang Family.

If Wan Qingluan wanted to kill you, there was no way you could survive.

No!

It suddenly occurred to you: with Wan Qingluan's strength, why would she serve as a maid in some insignificant Zhang Family?

You were utterly confused, while your vigilance rose to its peak.

While thoughts raced through your mind, Wan Qingluan across from you remained perfectly calm.

"Young Master He, how old were you this year?"

A trace of amusement entered Wan Qingluan's usually icy voice.

That amusement carried a chilling edge.

Your heart skipped a beat. You could sense her sincere killing intent.

Looks like I'm really done for this time.

But then a thought suddenly struck you. I've got a simulator. What the hell am I afraid of?

Your tension dissipated, and an easy smile appeared on your face. "Heroine Wan, I'm still young. I just started kindergarten this year."

Seeing your attitude, the smile instead vanished from Wan Qingluan's face.

Her delicate brows drew together slightly, and confusion filled her beautiful eyes.

Wan Qingluan studied you twice. "Young Master He, you are quite interesting."

You gave a dry laugh. "Heroine Wan, you're pretty inexplicable yourself."

Wan Qingluan said nothing more. She turned and walked directly out of the Zhang Family estate.

You hurried after her and only breathed a sigh of relief when you saw that Wan Qingluan had truly left.

"How was that woman like a ghost? She was everywhere," you muttered under your breath.

You did not understand why Wan Qingluan had been serving as a maid in the Zhang Family.

Nor did you understand why she had not killed you. You had clearly felt her killing intent just now.

You would not believe it was because your flirtatious good looks had conquered her.

You knew you had a bit of good looks.

But you were nowhere near stunning enough to make someone lay down their butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot.

You could not understand any of that woman's behavior.

Nor did you want to understand it. You only wanted to stay as far away from her as possible.

Though you were already living in seclusion within Black Dragon Forest, you felt that you had not gone deep enough.

You intended to relocate farther into Black Dragon Forest. Unless absolutely necessary, you would never come out again.

You quickly looted the Zhang Family from top to bottom.

The Zhang Family had occupied Xuan City for many years. As expected, their foundations were substantial.

You seized more than seven hundred thousand taels of silver and over ninety thousand taels of gold.

Six Skin Tempering Realm cultivation arts and one Bone Tempering Realm cultivation art.

However, they were all merely second- and third-rate arts.

Now that you cultivated top-tier arts, such low-grade cultivation arts could no longer excite you.

You casually tossed those cultivation arts into your storage space.

You also put quite a few house deeds and land deeds into your storage space. You would not sell off those assets for cash now; it would be too easy to expose yourself.

It would not be too late to deal with them after the storm had passed.

After finishing up, you set the sprawling Zhang Family estate ablaze with a single torch.

When the local people saw the Zhang Family destroyed, every one of them clapped and cheered.

By then, you were already on the road back to Black Dragon Forest.

A month later, you finally reached Changfeng City, the city closest to Black Dragon Forest.

After traveling continuously, you planned to rest for a night, then head straight into Black Dragon Forest the next day to relocate.

You did not return to the little courtyard where you had lived years ago. That place had already been exposed; perhaps other Extinction Sect members had plowed through it several times by now.

You found an inn and settled in.

That night, you sat on the bed cultivating.

Someone silently arrived outside your door.

That person said softly, "Young Master He, please open the door. I have something to give you."

You had never heard that person's voice before.

The Minghong Saber suddenly appeared in your hand. "Just leave the delivery outside the door."

"Please forgive me, Young Master He, but I was instructed that I must personally deliver it into your hands."

You briefly sensed the cultivation of the person outside. As expected, it was as deep as an abyss and unfathomable.

But the other party did not force their way in, and you relaxed slightly.

You rose and went to the window, ready to flee at any moment.

You threw out a chopstick, knocking open the door bolt.

The door was gently pushed open.

A middle-aged man entered politely and placed a small box on the table.

"Young Master He, I have delivered the item. Farewell."

The man showed no hesitation whatsoever and immediately withdrew from the room.

He even politely closed the door behind him.

You looked at the door, then at the box, thoroughly baffled.

Only after placing the box in your storage space did you dare open it.

That was to prevent poisonous gas or something similar from spraying out when you opened it.

When the box was opened, there was nothing unusual inside. It contained two cultivation arts and a letter.

You opened the envelope and took a look.

It was unexpectedly a letter from Miao Liwu.

The letter said that he was deeply grateful that, over the past dozen or so years, you had often looked after his parents.

He also thanked you for setting him upon the path of the Martial Path back then.

Miao Liwu said that you had left in great haste back then. He guessed that you had encountered some trouble and did not wish to implicate his family, so you had been forced to leave.

Miao Liwu told you that if you truly encountered a problem you could not handle, you absolutely had to go to the Sword Establishment Sect to find him.

You could have the person who had just delivered the items escort you to the Sword Establishment Sect. That person's strength could be trusted without question, and so could his loyalty.

That person would stay in the room next to yours tonight.

If you were not in danger, there was no need to mind him. He would leave on his own the next day.

Furthermore, the two cultivation arts here were to repay your kindness.

One was the sect-protecting Divine Organs Realm cultivation art, the Desolate Heaven Saber Art. The other was the Ninefold Profound Art.

Miao Liwu had taken the Desolate Heaven Saber Art from the Sword Establishment Sect with the sect master's approval.

You could cultivate it without worry. You would not have to fear being accused of secretly learning a sect cultivation art and hunted down for it.

The Ninefold Profound Art was a cultivation art created by Miao Liwu himself. He was the only person who knew it, and it was one of the major pillars of his strength. He asked that you not pass it on to others.

The Ninefold Profound Art could condense True Qi. In theory, the True Qi of every major realm could be condensed nine times.

But nine condensations were only theoretical; Miao Liwu himself had not condensed it nine times.

Miao Liwu had only condensed his True Qi six or seven times in each realm.

That had already made Miao Liwu absolutely invincible among Martial Path practitioners of the same rank.

He could even easily escape alive from someone two major realms above him.

There were two reasons Miao Liwu had not condensed it nine times.

The first was that it became extremely difficult later on and consumed a great deal of time.

The second was that Miao Liwu's Martial Path talent was simply too high.

Even if he did not deliberately advance his realm and focused solely on cultivating the Ninefold Profound Art, his realm would still rise rapidly.

Before he could condense it nine times, he would already have stepped into the next major realm.

You considered the contents of the letter.

You realized that neither of those two problems was a problem for you.

The first problem was the lengthy time needed for condensation.

You had the simulator. Time was no obstacle to you at all; the advantage was yours.

The second problem was realms advancing on their own.

In that regard, too, it was your strong suit.

Because when it came to talent, compared to Miao Liwu, you were simply trash.

Automatic advancement?

It did not exist.

As long as you stopped taking medicine, you could even keep your cultivation completely motionless.

You had all the time in the world to condense True Qi.

In this regard, even if Miao Liwu rode a horse, he could not catch up to you.

You felt that you had already surpassed Miao Liwu by far.

You finished reading the letter.

Your heart was somewhat moved.

Miao Liwu had considered everything for you with great thoroughness.

Back then, you had only looked after Wei Xia and Miao Jiayao because you considered them friends.

Later, when you taught Miao Liwu to read and left him cultivation arts and a long spear, it had only been because you liked the sensible boy.

You had never expected that an accidental angel investment would yield returns countless times over.

But then you thought of another very serious problem.

"Wasn't I supposed to be hiding in seclusion all this time? Why did it feel like everyone in the world could find me?"