After three years of cultivation, Murong had finally stabilized her cultivation. Under the constant scouring of energy, her body had gradually become capable of withstanding greater output as well.
For those three years, she had harbored a single obsession: killing those people. That obsession had already taken root deep within her bones. If she did not kill the murderers who had massacred the Murong Family, she would only sink deeper and deeper into it.
At three years old, Murong had already learned to think and comprehend the myriad facets of life. In the identity of a three-year-old child, she constantly interacted with others and learned about everything in the world.
Even when she had still been an infant, she had secretly observed society and gained a certain understanding of some phenomena.
A person like that was no longer merely a genius child prodigy. She was practically a monster.
Through her interactions with society, Murong encountered all kinds of people. Some treated her well; seeing that she was a child, they would deliberately greet her, show particular concern for her, and buy her food.
Others wore one face before her and another behind her back, intending to trick her away. In the end, she went with those people, and then... those people never appeared again.
Some despised her, while others ignored her. In any case, by the age of three, she had already experienced all the flavors of life, gradually forming her own worldview in the process.
Of course, her original goal had been to find the murderers who slaughtered the Murong Family. Thus, she had not idled away her time while mingling with society. Instead, she devoted most of her energy to finding the culprits.
Once, she came across a battle over treasure. A Qingyun Sect disciple and a Rogue Cultivator were fighting over a Thousand-Year Fire Ganoderma.
Murong happened to be passing by during the fight. Seeing that he was about to lose, the Rogue Cultivator caught sight of Murong from the corner of his eye and immediately rushed toward her, intending to take her hostage and use her to threaten the Qingyun Sect disciple.
After all, the Qingyun Sect disciple claimed to be from a righteous and prestigious sect and would not harm the innocent.
But the Rogue Cultivator had clearly placed too much faith in so-called righteous and prestigious sects. Seeing him charge toward Murong, the Qingyun Sect disciple grinned. He had seized his chance.
He immediately slashed out a fierce sword radiance.
Sensing a terrifying surge of energy behind him, the Rogue Cultivator turned back and saw a cyan sword radiance flying straight at his face. Terrified, he desperately tried to dodge.
But the sword radiance was too fast. One of his arms was severed.
Yet that sword radiance did not dissipate. It flew straight toward Murong.
Murong gently raised her eyes. With a boom, the sword radiance exploded one meter away from her.
"What?" the Qingyun Sect disciple cried out in shock.
He quickly realized that there was only one possibility for a little girl to appear alone in such a desolate wilderness—she was... an expert.
He made a swift decision and immediately fled.
Murong merely reached into the air, and an illusory spear condensed from energy appeared above his head.
The Qingyun Sect disciple looked up in terror. As the spear descended, he left behind only a shrill scream.
"Ah..."
The Rogue Cultivator's legs went weak at the sight. He begged, "P-please, spare my—"
Pfft!
Before he could finish, an energy spike pierced through his throat. His mouth opened and closed as blood gushed out. He could not utter another word.
Murong walked past him expressionlessly, not even sparing him a glance.
The Rogue Cultivator silently collapsed to the ground. As the spike vanished, blood continued to pour out. If one looked closely, his body could still be seen twitching slightly before finally falling still, his eyes unable to close in death.
Murong flicked her sleeve, and the Ring of Holding on the Rogue Cultivator's hand flew into hers. Then she went to the Qingyun Sect disciple's corpse and lightly raised her hand. His Ring of Holding flew into her hand as well.
She had long grown accustomed to such things. Incidentally, she had already collected many Rings of Holding, all obtained from killing people. In other words, she had already killed many people.
Murong habitually inspected the Rings of Holding. This time, she found an unexpected delight.
Inside the Qingyun Sect disciple's Ring of Holding, she found a silver mask identical in design to the golden mask Wu Tianming had worn back then.
Over the years, rumors of the Three-Color Mask Gang had continued to spread. According to the rumors, they were a cruel, bloodthirsty gang whose members wore black iron, silver, and gold masks.
They took pleasure in slaughtering entire Lineages. Their actions followed no pattern, yet time and again they evaded the investigations of various sects, remaining free and unpunished.
With this silver mask, Murong could finally lock onto her target.
The Qingyun Sect was one of the three great righteous sects. Its upper ranks had certainly been involved; otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to evade every investigation. If even the higher-ups were involved, then many disciples must surely have belonged to the Three-Color Mask Gang as well.
Murong took the Qingyun Sect disciple's corpse and went directly to the Qingyun Sect.
But when she arrived, they only admitted that the corpse belonged to a Qingyun Sect disciple and refused to acknowledge anything about the mask. Not only that, they bit back at her, claiming that she had killed a Qingyun Sect disciple and was now trying to slander the Qingyun Sect.
Murong had expected this long ago. She had never thought the Qingyun Sect would admit it so readily.
A trace of scarlet flashed through her eyes. With a point of her slender finger, the disciple shouting the loudest had his head exploded.
She had been observing the expressions of those disciples all along. This person's demeanor had been the most unusual, and he had been far too agitated.
With a light raise of her hand, the dead disciple's Ring of Holding flew into her hand. She opened it before everyone, and sure enough, there was a silver mask inside.
Then she threw a silver mask before the crowd, swept her gaze over them expressionlessly, and slowly said, "Hand over those with masks. Otherwise, once tomorrow passes, I will regard the Qingyun Sect as my enemy and wipe out your entire sect."
As she spoke, killing intent burst forth from her body, filling the Qingyun Sect's great hall with a grim and murderous aura.
After saying that, Murong drifted away. The people of the Qingyun Sect wanted to stop her, but unfortunately, none of the Qingyun Sect's Divine Realm experts were present. With their strength, it was simply impossible for them to keep Murong behind.
After leaving, Murong actually returned in secret. She said she was giving the Qingyun Sect one day, but she knew they would never give her an explanation.
The reason she had issued such a grand warning was to flush out more hidden members of the Three-Color Mask Gang, making them more convenient for her to kill.
When she had killed someone just now, she had already placed a mark on one of the disciples. Like the disciple she had killed, this disciple had been shouting the loudest.
She could basically conclude that those who shouted the loudest were all members of the Three-Color Mask Gang.
Thus, she deduced that after she stirred up such a commotion, the Three-Color Mask Gang would certainly gather in secret to discuss matters. When that happened, she would strike, capture them, interrogate them, and obtain information about the others.
For a three-year-old child to possess such thoughts was extremely terrifying.
(Zhou Hao, who was listening to Murong tell the story, glanced at the calm and unruffled Murong and secretly sighed. A three-year-old Empress... terrifying beyond measure.)
As night fell, Murong silently infiltrated the Qingyun Sect. Following the mark, she found the disciple bearing it and quietly crept close to listen.
Sure enough, the people with him were all members of the Three-Color Mask Gang. They were discussing the little girl from that afternoon, who was naturally Murong.
Murong listened for a while. Seeing that there was no useful information, she directly made her move and captured all five of them.
Afterward, she took them to a relatively secluded corner, set up a soundproof formation, and prepared to begin the interrogation...
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