Overlord Saber

After confirming that his brain could not be used, Chen Luo began examining the traces left on the corpse.

This was the craft of a corpse burier that Third Uncle had taught him. It allowed him to discern many details from a corpse—for instance, how the person had been killed, roughly what level the killer's strength had been, and what martial arts the killer specialized in.

The craft of a corpse burier was considered a lowly trade, and few people usually thought highly of it. But every profession had its own unique strengths. Chen Laosan had been a corpse burier for most of his life. Though he knew no martial arts, few in Qingya County could surpass him when it came to studying corpses. Chen Luo had also buried corpses alongside Third Uncle for several years, and had already long ago learned all of his family craft.

Killed with a single slash. Pure brute force alone could not achieve this.

Chen Luo inspected the wound and spotted a few clues at the fracture point.

The killer's Internal Qi had been exceedingly dense. Combined with a heavy blade, it had been nearly unstoppable. If he encountered such an enemy, he absolutely could not confront them head-on.

After passing this pile of corpses, Chen Luo walked farther ahead.

He drew closer and closer to the river. Just as he was about to reach the riverbank, Chen Luo discovered another corpse. This one was in an even worse state, with only its lower half remaining. The wound had also been inflicted by a heavy blade, but this time the attacker had swept sideways, leaving only the lower half of the body.

The portion above the waist had likely fallen into the river and been washed away.

"Even Dark Iron Armor can be cut through?"

Chen Luo stopped, his expression turning slightly grave.

Though only the lower half of the corpse remained, the armor it wore was still there. Even General Fan, whom Chen Luo had encountered in the courtyard that day, could not compare to the armor on this dead man. Such fine armor had been severed at the waist. One could well imagine how terrifying the strength behind that strike had been.

Chen Luo broke off a piece of iron and tried crushing it with his hand.

After infusing it with Internal Qi and using his full strength, he had only managed to leave a mark on the metal sheet. To cut it in two with a single stroke like the attacker had, he still could not do it at his current initial Bone Forging level.

This discovery made Chen Luo even more vigilant.

The Fierce Person lurking in the dark was even more brutal than he had expected. And those who had surrounded and killed this Fierce Person were clearly soldiers.

Someone else has also set their sights on the spirit mine!

Chen Luo tossed the iron sheet by the roadside, then vanished into the darkness with a leap.

He had already investigated the location of the mine over the past few days.

Very few people had been involved in this matter at the start. He had only found the place by using General Fan's brain to scout the way. Normally, no third person besides him should have known about it. Yet the matter had still been exposed. That proved that, besides General Fan, someone else had secretly developed designs on that spirit mine.

And that person had even deceived General Fan's watchers.

Sure enough, he was not the only one unwilling to remain ordinary. Even with Prince Ning's name hanging overhead, it still could not stop the ambition in human nature.

After crossing the river, Chen Luo continued moving forward, though he slowed down considerably.

Now that he had detected such an expert lurking in the dark, no amount of caution was excessive.

Not long after he had just walked on, he heard the sounds of fighting again. This time, they were incomparably clear. Judging by the distance, they could not be more than five hundred meters away.

Chen Luo glanced at a crooked neck tree in the mountain hollow ahead, then lightly leaped onto it.

Like a night hawk, he blended perfectly into the darkness.

Looking down along the branches, he saw a low valley below. A group of people were fighting there. Numerous torches dropped by the dead had rolled aside, setting the withered trees and carriages ablaze. The firelight illuminated a large area.

"A caravan?"

Chen Luo's eyes flickered.

He had not expected the caravan to have gone ahead of him.

Thinking of the time he had delayed by the river and the distance he had covered while detouring in secret, it made sense. After all, the caravan had traveled in a straight line.

One side was all dressed in coarse cloth robes, while the other was entirely caravan guards. The armored soldiers he had expected had not appeared. He did not know whether they had already been slaughtered. The two sides were locked in battle, fighting so fiercely that neither could gain the upper hand.

At the center stood a burly Strongman holding a Golden Silk Great Ring Saber. Within three meters of him, not a living person remained. No one from the caravan dared approach him anymore. They could only watch helplessly as the man hefted his golden saber and walked step by step toward the carriage they were protecting.

The night wind blew.

With a bang, the carriage exploded. A figure inside shot out like an arrow loosed from the bow, stabbing toward the Strongman's throat.

"Good!"

The man struck later yet arrived first. He swung the Golden Silk Great Ring Saber across before him, perfectly blocking the thrust.

The two men's Internal Qi exploded in midair. The violent gale made the surrounding flames crackle, and large swathes of wild grass fell like wheat. Some of the weaker caravan guards were sent flying outright, while the mountain bandits with the man scattered away, avoiding the area where the two fought.

"So strong!"

The violent gale swept all the way to the edge region. Even Chen Luo, hidden atop the tree, felt the pressure.

With Internal Qi this terrifying, even ten of him combined would not be their match.

The two men below clearly came from extraordinary backgrounds and were peerless geniuses who had practiced martial arts since childhood. Even Crippled Ma at his peak probably would not have been qualified to challenge them, because they were not on the same level.

"With this degree of condensed Internal Qi, they are probably no longer in the Bone Forging Realm."

After only a moment's thought, Chen Luo guessed the realms of the two men below.

They had to be Grandmasters beyond Bone Forging!

Crippled Ma had once mentioned the Grandmaster realm, but he himself had never seen anyone at that level. When describing it, he had mostly spoken in a speculative tone. Thus, Chen Luo had never possessed any intuitive understanding of it. But now, with a single glance, he confirmed the two men's realms.

Because the Bone Forging Realm could absolutely not attain such might.

During the brief moment Chen Luo spent thinking, the two below had already truly clashed.

Sword light and saber light flashed without end. The sword moves were swift as startling thunder, while the saber's force was Immovable as a Mountain. Both of their martial moves were incomparably exquisite. Even at Chen Luo's level, he could barely understand thirty percent of them, let alone anyone else.

After a head-on exchange, the Sword-Wielding Man flew backward and finally landed atop an overturned carriage. In contrast, the Blade-Wielding Strongman stood in the original spot like a Sky God, not moving in the slightest.

The gap between the two was obvious at a glance.

"You've got some skills. I'll give you a chance—hand over the item, and I'll spare your life."

The Strongman grinned, looking utterly certain of victory.

"Who dies is still hard to say."

The Sword-Wielding Man took a pill from his robes and swallowed it.

After the pill entered his stomach, the fluctuating aura around him gradually stabilized again.

"You don't know when you're being shown respect."

The Blade-Wielding Strongman's expression darkened. He raised the great saber in his hand, its tip pointing directly at the Sword-Wielding Man opposite him.

"You aren't still thinking about those guards hiding in the dark, are you? Let me tell you for free: those lackeys you're waiting for were already long ago chopped to pieces by me!!"

His words boomed like thunder. As his voice fell, the Strongman's figure was already upon him.

As though he had teleported, by the time the Sword-Wielding Man reacted, the Strongman had already reached above his head.

Both arms raised high, the Golden Silk Great Ring Saber gleamed beneath the night sky, illuminated by the firelight.

Might Cleave Mount Hua!!

The Sword-Wielding Man's face changed drastically. Instinctively, he tried to flee, but it was too late.

The Strongman's saber was just like the man himself.

Incomparably domineering.