Bai Tianhong's Death

"Fire Spirit Flower."

Seeing the simulation's contents, Wang Ping's eyes lit up.

This Fire Spirit Flower was a rare Spirit Herb, worth a fortune.

As long as he knew where the Fire Spirit Flower was, he could harvest it whenever he wanted in the future.

A Supreme Elder of the Sword Spirit Sect had discovered the Fire Spirit Flower while traveling through the depths of Blackwind Forest. However, as a supreme treasure medicine among Fourth Grade Treasure Medicines, the Fire Spirit Flower was naturally guarded by a beast. Its guardian was an Eighth Grade Beast, the Fiery Patterned Demonic Tiger, whose cultivation was enough to rival a human Spirit Origin Realm Eighth Layer cultivator. Its terrifying strength was not something that Supreme Elder could handle, which was why he revealed the news and wished to invite the Sword Spirit Sect's other experts to join forces against the Fiery Patterned Demonic Tiger.

In the end, you told the Sword Spirit Sect's Supreme Elders that whoever could help you obtain the Fire Spirit Flower, as long as they could provide the materials, you would refine a batch of Fourth Grade Pills for them free of charge. This moved all the Supreme Elders.

Next, the Sword Spirit Sect's experts set out together, taking you to Blackwind Forest to deal with the Fiery Patterned Demonic Tiger. Bai Tianhong was among them. At this point, his cultivation had already reached the Spirit Origin Realm Fourth Layer, making him immensely powerful.

After you arrived at the deepest part of Blackwind Forest, the Sword Spirit Sect's Supreme Elders lured the Fiery Patterned Demonic Tiger away and began a fierce battle. Everything within several kilometers was caught in the aftermath and razed flat. Seizing the opportunity, you plucked the Fire Spirit Flower and were overjoyed, preparing to leave.

However, storms came from a clear sky. What no one had expected was for another beast to arrive from afar. It was a Seventh Grade Beast—the Twin-Tailed Serpent Tiger. Though this beast was not as formidable as the Fiery Patterned Demonic Tiger, it could likewise rival a human Spirit Origin Realm Eighth Layer expert.

Although your cultivation had now reached the Half-Step Spirit Origin Realm, and you had cultivated an Earth Grade Cultivation Method and martial arts while also comprehending Sword Intent, dealing with a weakened Silver Moon Wolf was one thing. Facing a Twin-Tailed Serpent Tiger at full strength was nothing but a fool's dream.

In the end, only after a brutal battle did the Sword Spirit Sect's Supreme Elders barely manage to kill the two beasts. Bai Tianhong fell in this battle, as did one Supreme Elder, while you yourself were gravely wounded and on the verge of death.

Though they had successfully slain the two powerful beasts, no one could feel happy. A sword-dao prodigy rarely seen in the Central Plains once in a thousand years had fallen just like that, nearly driving them mad.

After all, had Bai Tianhong not died, they believed he could certainly have broken through to the legendary Transcendent Realm, allowing Transcendent Realm experts—absent for five hundred years—to reappear in the world and restoring the Sword Spirit Sect to the glory it had enjoyed a thousand years ago.

Alas, such a heaven-shaking genius was gone just like that. However, seeing how severely wounded you were, the Supreme Elders could only stabilize your injuries first, preserve your life, and take you out of Blackwind Forest.

Bai Tianhong's death shook the entire world. Many major powers in the Central Plains breathed sighs of relief, even taking some pleasure in his misfortune. Bai Tianhong's existence had truly been a thorn in the side of every faction. As for you, you could not accept that you had held everyone back in that battle and caused Bai Tianhong to die protecting you. You began to sink into despondency, drinking all day as inner demons continuously arose.

"This..."

Wang Ping stared at this development, completely caught off guard.

He truly had not expected that, in this simulation, he would become close friends with Bai Tianhong—and that Bai Tianhong would die to save him.

"Bai Tianhong... he truly deserves respect."

Wang Ping gazed at the screen and murmured to himself.

"Besides, judging from the simulation so far, not everyone in the Sword Spirit Sect is evil. Perhaps only the Sword Spirit Sect Leader knows about the Chi Clan. After all, his wife was the Li Family Old Ancestor's daughter, so she surely would only have told him this secret. Even if the Sword Spirit Sect Leader used the Sword Spirit Sect's influence to search for people, he likely did not reveal the secret."

Thinking of something else, Wang Ping fell into slight contemplation.

If that was truly the case, there would be far fewer people he needed to deal with in the future.

Then Wang Ping shook his head and continued staring at the screen, wanting to see what would happen next.

As Wang Ping watched, more words continued to appear on the screen.

In your despondency, you went to find the people of Chi Village, wanting to see how they were doing.

After Chi Feng saw you like this, he asked what had happened, and you chose to answer. Then Chi Feng repeated the words you had once spoken, making you regain a little clarity. Indeed, in a Xianxia World, once one cultivated to the utmost extreme, the possibility of resurrecting someone was great. For this reason, you swore that you would surely reach the Martial Dao Peak and revive Bai Tianhong.

You stopped wallowing in despair and began cultivating desperately.

In the year 497 of the Great Xia Calendar, Great Xia's internal turmoil grew ever more horrifying. The Imperial Army and the Feudal Lords all suffered devastating losses, corpses lay everywhere across the country, and it could be called a living hell. Chu Kingdom, which bordered Xia Kingdom, wished to send troops to conquer Xia Kingdom and annex it.

However, Zhao Kingdom, which bordered Chu Kingdom, did not want Chu Kingdom to annex Xia Kingdom and strengthen itself. Thus, it dispatched a large army to station along the border, leaving Chu Kingdom no choice but to abandon the idea and likewise deploy troops in its border cities to guard against a sudden invasion by Zhao Kingdom.

At the end of the year 499 of the Great Xia Calendar, your cultivation finally advanced further, and you successfully broke through to the Spirit Origin Realm. That same year, the Great Xia Royal Family was overthrown, and the Feudal Lords began a civil war in their bid for the throne. The various Feudal Lords fought one another, and the common people suffered miserably.

In the year 500 of the Great Xia Calendar, because Bai Tianhong had died, no overwhelmingly powerful force capable of completely overturning the balance of war emerged. The weaker Feudal Lords were eliminated, while the stronger ones were relatively evenly matched. In the end, all the Feudal Lords chose to establish their own states. Great Xia split into five kingdoms, and the people remained impoverished as corpses covered the land.

That same year, you went down the mountain again to visit the people of Chi Village. However, you discovered that every single one of them had mysteriously vanished.