Departure

Wan Qingluan carefully sensed your body.

Then she said in surprise, "Husband, your true qi has already liquefied?!"

Wan Qingluan naturally knew that true qi only liquefied at the Essence Refinement Realm.

She stared at you blankly, not knowing what to say.

In Wan Qingluan's eyes, the fact that your true qi had liquefied during the Bone Tempering Realm was utterly shocking.

Yet you had only reached the Bone Tempering Peak Stage in your eighties, which left her deeply puzzled.

For a moment, she did not know whether to call you a genius or useless.

After completing nine rounds of condensation, your True Qi Release could already break through the defenses of an Early Bone Tempering Realm martial artist.

Moreover, its range had increased to five zhang.

The power of that True Qi Release alone was something only Essence Refining Peak martial artists could achieve.

Your solidified true qi was so dense it had become viscous, and your actual combat strength was terrifyingly powerful.

Even ordinary Divine Organs Peak Stage martial artists two major realms above you could be easily handled by you.

And this condensation had brought you another enormous benefit.

Your Martial Path talent had strengthened once more.

During the next simulation, your realm would advance even faster.

"Husband, join our Extinction Sect!" Wan Qingluan brought up the matter again.

"Qingluan, why do you always want me to join the Extinction Sect?" you asked in puzzlement as you cultivated in the courtyard.

Wan Qingluan had brought up joining the Extinction Sect many times over the past few years.

You had begun to suspect that the Extinction Sect had some recruitment KPI to fulfill.

Wan Qingluan's eyes smiled as she crouched down and leaned against your shoulder.

"Because, Husband, you truly suit the Extinction Sect."

You turned your head slightly, and your faces were very close.

"Why?"

"The Extinction Sect's cultivation arts advocate following one's heart. They emphasize unblocked thoughts; the clearer one's state of mind, the faster one advances."

You pulled Wan Qingluan into your embrace. "You mean my state of mind fits those conditions you mentioned?"

"I have never seen anyone whose state of mind fits them better than yours."

The more Wan Qingluan understood you, the more she felt that you were playing through the mortal world.

You did not think of yourself as having such a mentality.

Instead, you felt that you were quite cautious.

But because you knew you were in a simulation,

you unconsciously revealed an air of detachment from worldly things, smiling as you watched the winds and clouds roll by.

Wan Qingluan, who was skilled at reading expressions and observing others, naturally saw it clearly.

"What can I gain by joining the Extinction Sect?"

"A sect-protecting cultivation art."

"I'll join. I absolutely must join!" You feared Wan Qingluan would change her mind.

If Wan Qingluan had said earlier that joining came with a sect-protecting cultivation art, you would have agreed long ago.

The moment your words fell, Wan Qingluan stuffed the cultivation art directly into your arms.

"Heavenly Desire Formless Art."

You held the cultivation art in a daze. "You're just giving me a sect-protecting cultivation art that easily?"

"Of course. You agreed to join the Extinction Sect, so I gave you the cultivation art."

"Does everyone get one when they join?"

"That depends on the inviter's mood."

"The inviter? You—uh... our Extinction Sect uses referrals?"

"Sometimes."

"That was a fine answer. It was the same as saying nothing."

You understood as well. As for the Extinction Sect's affairs, if you asked, the answer was simply: do as one pleased.

"Where is our Extinction Sect's headquarters?" you asked.

"There is no headquarters."

"Then where do I go to complete onboarding?"

"There are no such procedures. You are already a member of the Extinction Sect."

You became increasingly confused.

Was the Extinction Sect's way of doing things really this wild? It had nothing at all.

"Then how do I prove that I belong to the Extinction Sect?"

Wan Qingluan smiled mysteriously. "You'll find out later."

Fine, fine, fine. After all that, it still amounted to saying nothing.

You did not press further. In any case, the Heavenly Desire Formless Art was already in your hands.

Nothing else mattered.

The Heavenly Desire Formless Art could be cultivated directly to the Dragon Transformation Realm. It was exceedingly powerful.

The Heavenly Desire Formless Art's greatest characteristic was that it allowed its practitioner to freely alter the nature of their true qi.

This allowed them to counter their opponent in battle.

For example, when facing a sinister and evil opponent, one could use masculine, vigorous true qi.

When facing an opponent whose attacks were explosive and fierce, one could use vast and boundless true qi.

A month later, Wan Qingluan left.

Wan Qingluan said that she was close to finding her own path to the Grandmaster Realm.

You and she had been a true husband and wife for four years.

There were no shallow feelings between you.

But you knew that you would ultimately part ways.

When all was said and done, this was merely a play.

Wan Qingluan left decisively.

That night, the two of you entwined yourselves until death.

But the next morning, Wan Qingluan lifted her skirt and refused to recognize you.

After Wan Qingluan left, you deliberately rested for half a day without cultivating.

To commemorate your dead love.

Wan Qingluan left you one thousand Inner Divinity Pills, along with a jade pendant.

She said that this jade pendant was proof of identity for the Extinction Sect's core members.

If you needed the Extinction Sect's help,

take the jade pendant to the Dragon Gate Inn in the northern Azure Mesa Desert and find the innkeeper.

You put away the jade pendant, with no intention of going to the Dragon Gate Inn.

You immersed yourself in cultivation once again.

A month later,

your Aura Concealment Art had reached the perfected realm.

Even martial artists four realms above you could not see through your cultivation.

"Skin Tempering Realm, Bone Tempering Realm, Marrow Washing Realm, Divine Organs Realm, Essence Refinement Realm, Dragon Transformation Realm, Grandmaster Realm, Apex Grandmaster."

"That means even Dragon Transformation martial artists can't see through my cultivation!"

If Wan Qingluan, at the Dragon Transformation Peak Stage, were still here, she would no longer be able to sense your cultivation.

Once you advanced to the Marrow Washing Realm, even Grandmasters would be unable to discern your cultivation.

You began cultivating the Heavenly Desire Formless Art.

You discovered in surprise that your cultivation speed was extremely fast.

"Looks like Qingluan was right. My state of mind truly suits the Extinction Sect's cultivation arts."

That day, you were cultivating.

A group of people came to your door.

The jade-faced young master at their head said to the seven or eight people behind him, "He is He Yu of the Extinction Sect. Hack him to death!"

You had joined the Extinction Sect only two months ago. Strictly speaking, you had not even passed probation yet.

You had not even had time to do anything bad.

Yet merely because you had joined the Extinction Sect, someone wanted to hack you to death.

Is this the power of reputation? you thought helplessly.

You looked over the vicious-looking group.

The strongest among them was the jade-faced young master at their head, who was at the Marrow Washing Peak Stage.

The others were all in the Bone Tempering Realm.

To you, this lineup had come purely to deliver their heads.

"Esteemed heroes, have you mistaken me for someone else?" You intended to probe their background.

"There's no way we got the wrong person!"

The jade-faced young master directly produced a high-definition, uncensored portrait of you.

Your mighty body trembled. The person in the painting looked exactly like you.

You had not expected these people's intelligence work to be so thorough.

"He Yu, you have nothing to say now, do you? Die!"

The jade-faced young master shot toward you like an arrow.

The seven or eight people behind him all cheered and shouted encouragement.

"Look! Young Master Yuan is making his move!!"

Clang—

"Not good! Young Master Yuan is dead!!"

You hacked that jade-faced young master into seven or eight pieces with a single slash.

The other seven or eight people wet themselves on the spot in fright.

You restrained them and asked where they had obtained your portrait.

Only then did you learn that the Extinction Sect had a custom.

As long as someone was a core member of the Extinction Sect, the Extinction Sect would publicize information related to that member.

You were speechless to the extreme. "Are they afraid their people aren't dying fast enough?"

You felt that the Extinction Sect's upper ranks definitely had something wrong with their heads.

They did things with far too little order—too freely, too happily.

And because the Extinction Sect's core members were basically all at the Dragon Transformation Realm or above,

there had never been a bone tempering martial artist like you.

That was why these people had dared to come directly to your door.

After all, one picked the soft persimmon to squeeze.

But they had not expected you to be a small iron plate too, one that would sprain their feet if kicked.

In a few swift strokes, you hacked all seven or eight of them down.

After quickly looting the corpses, you found only some Silver Notes and low-grade cultivation arts.

"Damn it, they're even poorer than me!"

You burned down the small courtyard where you had lived for several years and quickly left.

You headed north the entire way.

At the northernmost edge of the Great Qian Empire lay the desolate, uninhabited Azure Mesa Desert.

You planned to hide there until the end of your days.