One streak of white light was the fastest. It paused overhead, then suddenly slid down like a falling star.
The white-robed young man was the first to land. In an instant, he stared in shock at the headless corpse lying in the pool of blood.
The clothing was familiar—luxurious gauze and red fabric covering only the chest, waist, and hips, revealing a seductive figure.
Just seeing that breathtakingly beautiful body caused a woman's face and enchanting smile to surface in Xu Chenguang's mind.
"Impossible. This is impossible!"
Xu Chenguang had already guessed the identity of the dead woman, but he was so frightened that he staggered back several steps.
"Senior Brother Xu, huh...? A man and a woman are dead? This woman..."
Afterward, a woman landed. The instant she saw the corpses, her eyes widened in shock. She could not help walking over and turning over the head lying nearby, its hair spread messily across the ground. "Liu Mei!"
"Liu Mei is dead..."
The three of them landed one after another, immediately thrown into confusion and panic.
Xu Chenguang, the one with the greatest authority in their group, had always admired Liu Mei.
The moment he heard that Liu Mei had also entered the secret realm, he had risked flying through the air without hesitation to search for her.
When he sensed the commotion here, he had also entertained the thought of taking advantage of the situation.
Who could have expected him to see this?
If some other disciple had died, it would have been one thing.
But it had been Liu Mei.
That woman's methods were far from ordinary. Among the outer disciples, her strength placed her in the top fifteen. In a secret realm like this, although she could not absolutely crush the demonic creatures and savage beasts within, she could still advance or retreat with ease.
If she faced human cultivators, her odds of victory would be even greater. Her peerless beauty alone could bewitch cultivators—even Foundation Establishment cultivators.
"These traces were clearly left by a human."
"But the secret realm is full of Golden Light Sect disciples. They actually dared to kill Liu Mei!"
"Senior Brother, I must avenge Senior Sister Liu!"
"That culprit is truly cold-blooded and heartless. He could even ruthlessly destroy a flower as beautiful as Senior Sister Liu Mei!"
"The culprit can't have gone far."
The four of them came to their senses and all looked at Xu Chenguang.
"Leave. Now! Pretend we were never here!"
Xu Chenguang suddenly snapped awake. He shot into the air like a madman and fled into the distance.
"Pretend we were never here? Senior Brother Xu, with your strength and ours, even if a Foundation Establishment cultivator came, they would still have to give us some consideration!"
The others did not understand, but they quickly followed.
Xu Chenguang ranked fifth among the outer disciples and was also the direct grandson of an outer sect elder. His strength and background were both extraordinary. He could act with impunity among the outer disciples and was considered a reserve candidate for the elite inner sect.
They had never seen Xu Chenguang panic like this before. It was as if being one step too slow would cost him his life.
"Idiots, don't you ever think about the rumors surrounding Liu Mei?
"I'll tell you. An old Golden Core Ancestor from the inner sect has taken a liking to her. Once she reaches Foundation Establishment and joins the inner sect, he will accept her as a personal disciple."
After fleeing ten miles, Xu Chenguang hurriedly landed, realizing that flying through the air was far too conspicuous.
He quickly concealed himself in the forest.
"I've heard similar rumors, but they say she possesses the Primal Yin Physique, so a powerful figure is nurturing her before using Essence Absorption..." the red-clothed woman said hesitantly.
The other three cultivators nodded. Liu Mei was a legendary figure among this generation of outer disciples, and her reputation for beauty had spread far and wide. She was a poisonous flower herself. Those whose strength was close to hers kept their distance after learning certain rumors about her.
"Heh heh, those Ancestors care about their faces too. Saying they'll accept her as a personal disciple is naturally just something for public consumption.
"But regardless of the purpose, Liu Mei is of vital importance.
"Her death will definitely alarm a Golden Core Ancestor.
"Experts at that level possess profound and wondrous methods.
"If we linger at the scene, or if word even reaches the sect, do you think the Ancestor will kindly question us with gentle methods, or... directly obtain the answer he wants through the Soul Searching Technique?
"Forget about us. I'm afraid every disciple who entered the secret realm this time will have to be buried alongside Liu Mei!
"The farther away we hide, the better."
Xu Chenguang explained the reason in a low voice, his tone trembling.
The four of them were so frightened that their faces turned deathly pale.
Even Xu Chenguang himself could not guarantee that he would escape being implicated.
"No matter who killed Liu Mei, it isn't our place to interfere. But at the very least, we have to hide farther away and hope the Ancestor finds the culprit first. Otherwise, the few of us will suffer as well!"
The night was deep and still.
Su Hao crawled out of a deep pit filled with nearby dead leaves.
The situation had been urgent at the time, and he had been unable to flee far. He had simply hidden in the nearby pit piled high with dead leaves.
For nearly half a day, he had used Hidden Kill and the Breath Concealment Technique with all his might to hide himself. No one had noticed him.
At first, several groups of cultivators arrived at the scene one after another, only to flee in alarm.
No one dared interfere in the matter, and even fewer had thought of taking Liu Mei's storage bag.
Even a smart person knew that Liu Mei's storage bag must contain plenty of treasures!
Su Hao's heart had raced several times. While hiding, he had repeatedly felt inexplicably uneasy, faintly sensing that he was being watched, like a startled bird.
This panic had already affected the effectiveness of his concealment.
If those deliberately searching for the culprit had been there, this fearful state of mind might have caused him to reveal a flaw.
Fortunately, every one of those people was worried about being implicated. They had been too busy fleeing for their lives to track the culprit.
"Sigh... It seems I really caused a huge disaster this time. I've even started frightening myself now.
"That fleeting sensation of being watched should have been an illusion.
"If someone had truly discovered me, could they have pretended not to see me?
"They want to capture me. Doing so would earn them tremendous merit."
Su Hao searched Liu Mei's body and took out her storage bag. His mind had already calmed considerably.
He simply assumed that his panic had come from his fear of Liu Mei's backing and influence—that he had frightened himself.
He abandoned the idea of using Corpse Dissolving Water to deal with the corpse.
In any case, the corpse had already been discovered. Perhaps someone would court trouble and become the scapegoat.
Who could say?
Su Hao quickly fled the area. "I can't stay in the Golden Light Sect any longer. If I go back, I'll just be throwing myself into a trap. It'll be hard to survive.
"Fleeing the Golden Light Sect at least leaves me a glimmer of hope.
"Sigh, I shouldn't have coveted Lin Zhi Shan's legacy and Heavenly Medicine Mountain.
"If I had taken advantage of Liu Mei's injuries while she was in seclusion and fled the sect directly, perhaps that would have been the better choice. At least things hadn't reached the point of mutual annihilation then. She wouldn't have spent so much time hunting me down."
He had studied the map long ago and knew how to leave the Golden Light Sect's territory.
The Golden Light Sect had quite a few hostile forces. On the territory of any one of them, people from the Golden Light Sect would absolutely not be allowed to run wild.
The journey was simply too far. It was hard to say whether he would escape the territory of the Golden Light Sect and its affiliated forces first, or whether the Golden Light Sect would find him first.
Over the course of two days, Su Hao killed quite a few savage beasts and several cultivators who had failed to recognize the danger before finally locating the secret realm's exit.
As long as he bypassed the Blood Soul Secret Realm's territory and then continued north, avoiding the domains of powerful savage beasts, there would not be too much danger along the way.
"Seeing how hurriedly you're rushing to leave the secret realm, you don't plan to return to the Golden Light Sect, do you?"
Just as Su Hao was about to take flight, a voice rang out. The distant voice seemed to carry the power to seal and bind, causing Su Hao to freeze on the spot, unable to move.
A Taoist nun wearing a plain white robe stood quietly beneath a tree ahead. Her features were delicate and beautiful, her bearing elegant, and she exuded a noble air untouched by worldly dust.
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