Killing the Man, Breaking the Heart!

Inside the coffin, a black figure was still madly devouring Flame Snake Consort's blood and vitality.

The once alluring Flame Snake Consort was now like a candle guttering in the wind, her blood and vitality exhausted, her body shriveled.

Gulping sounds of blood and vitality being swallowed came from within the black shadow, mingled with a faint, sinister chuckle.

The black shadow was immersed in the pleasure of consuming blood and vitality. Moreover, Xia Wuji had scaled the cliff too swiftly and without making a sound, so the shadow still had not noticed that Xia Wuji had arrived beside the coffin.

At a glance, he saw a rotting corpse lying in the coffin, emitting a piercing stench. Yet as the black shadow devoured blood and vitality, the decayed body slowly began to show a faint trace of life!

Xia Wuji snorted coldly. The sole drop of True Essence within his body instantly erupted in full!

Sword Essence surged wildly!

The Jinghong Sword in his hand slashed down fiercely!

True Sun Swordplay, Three Suns Opening!

This was the strongest killing move of True Sun Swordplay. Harnessing the power of flame and combining it with fierce Sword Essence, it condensed three blazing suns!

But Xia Wuji lacked sufficient strength at the moment. After executing this move, he could only condense a single blazing sun.

That blazing sun hung at the tip of Xia Wuji's sword!

Flames blazed, sword light dazzled!

Firelight and sword light intertwined in a brilliant spectacle, radiating a vast and majestic force!

This supremely hard and yang sword strike cleaved toward the coffin. The sword-qi sun fell into the decayed body within, which had been gradually regaining vitality.

"Boom!"

The coffin instantly exploded, shattering into pieces!

The corpse inside also broke apart, then was reduced to ashes in the raging flames!

"Ah!"

A shrill scream rang out from the black shadow.

This black shadow was merely a wisp of remnant soul!

Core Formation Realm martial artists could indeed begin to wield the power of the soul.

But the physical body was the root!

His body had already decayed, and he had been seizing the blood and vitality of others through his remnant soul to restore it.

But once his body was completely destroyed, this wisp of remnant soul became like duckweed with no roots.

"Aaargh!"

An incomparably furious roar erupted from the shadow's remnant soul.

"You dare ruin my plans... I will kill you!"

The black shadow's remnant soul lunged at Xia Wuji.

Not a trace of panic appeared on Xia Wuji's face. This remnant soul had lost the foundation of its body and was nothing to fear. With a casual sweep of his sword, scorching sword qi split the remnant soul in two and directly incinerated most of it!

Xia Wuji leaped from the cliff face. Reaching out with one hand, he seized a fragment of the remnant soul in his grasp.

Though he was in midair, gusts of wind surged beneath his feet, and he landed steadily. He could not yet fly through the air, but achieving such a state through a few small tricks posed no difficulty at all.

"Y-Young Master..."

"Save... save me..."

Having had a great deal of her blood and vitality devoured, then falling directly from high above, Flame Snake Consort lay sprawled on the ground, crawling toward Xia Wuji with difficulty.

She was truly in a miserable state.

Her once fair and voluptuous body now resembled a piece of dead wood.

Who knew how many bones had been broken in her fall.

"As long as Young Master saves me... my body will be yours... Whatever Young Master wants me to do, I will do it..."

"Young Master, I know many tricks... I guarantee I can serve Young Master to satisfaction..."

Struggling painfully, Flame Snake Consort continued crawling toward Xia Wuji.

All of a sudden, her voice became ethereal and hollow, while a faint glimmer appeared in her eyes.

"Young Master, save me, quickly save me!"

She used the last of her strength to cast Enchanting Illusion!

So long as Xia Wuji came close.

She could unleash a final strike and kill Xia Wuji.

Her enchanting technique was extremely effective. Even Sea of Qi Realm experts had fallen into her hands before.

Xia Wuji took the initiative to walk toward Flame Snake Consort.

Flame Snake Consort finally saw hope!

If she killed Xia Wuji, she would be the only one left alive here!

Then everything here would belong to her alone!

When Xia Wuji's feet came to stand beside her head, she strained to lift her head, wanting to look into Xia Wuji's eyes and unleash the killing move of Enchanting Illusion.

"Bang!"

Xia Wuji raised his foot and stomped down hard.

Flame Snake Consort had only lifted her head halfway when Xia Wuji's foot crushed it back into the ground!

Her head exploded beneath his foot!

Flame Snake Consort's body twitched a few times before she breathed her last.

To Xia Wuji, an Enchanting Illusion of this level was nothing more than child's play. How could it possibly affect him in the slightest?

Xia Wuji efficiently gathered the spoils.

A small quantity of mid-grade treasure pills.

Several Yuan Crystals that contained little remaining energy.

A first-rank low-grade spirit sword surging with fiendish aura!

And a piece of beast hide.

There were also several treasure artifacts that Xia Wuji did not care for at all. Previously, he had needed to use other treasure artifacts for smelting in order to repair the Jinghong Sword.

But now that the Jinghong Sword had returned to the ranks of supreme-grade treasure swords, it no longer needed further repairs. If he wanted to raise its grade, using these low-tier treasure artifacts as materials would be utterly meaningless.

The gains from this trip were less than Xia Wuji had expected, but they were still understandable.

After all, these people had expended a great deal of resources forcibly excavating this tomb, leaving them with few reserves.

And the fellow buried here, who had secretly cultivated fiendish arts in hopes of devouring blood and vitality to regain life, had already been in dire straits to begin with.

Xia Wuji looked at the first-rank low-grade spirit sword brimming with demonic aura. With this, at least his efforts had not been wasted.

After purging the demonic aura and devouring this sword, it should allow the Sword Seed to advance to a new level.

As for that piece of beast hide...

Xia Wuji held the beast hide in his hand and rubbed it with his fingertips. Immediately afterward, lines emerged across its surface, eventually forming a map.

However, the map was only one corner, not a complete piece.

Then Xia Wuji spread open his palm.

In his palm, that wisp of black remnant soul twisted ceaselessly, trying to break free.

Xia Wuji snorted coldly. In an instant, Sword Essence filled the space between his fingers, subjecting the remnant soul to pain and torment like death by a thousand cuts!

"Spare me, Young Master..."

"Please calm your anger, Young Master..."

The remnant soul let out miserable shrieks.

Xia Wuji said flatly, "Whatever I ask, you will answer."

"Yes..."

A moment later, Xia Wuji had learned the whole truth.

This man did indeed have an alias, Mortal World Sword Master, but he was not a true Core Formation Realm cultivator. He had merely condensed a False Core.

Above the True Essence Realm were the Sea of Qi Realm, Primal Energy Realm, and Core Formation Realm.

A so-called False Core was the state of Primal Energy Realm perfection, with one foot already across the threshold of the Core Formation Realm.

Back then, while traveling abroad, he had obtained this piece of beast hide through a fortuitous chance. Before he could even figure out what it was, it brought disaster upon him, and he eventually fled to the Monster Suppression Mountain Range.

But he had suffered grave injuries and did not have long to live, so he thought of a fiendish secret art he had acquired in the past.

Thus, he set up this tomb here and cultivated the fiendish secret art. Now that he had finally gained confidence in reclaiming life, he released some of his aura and lured Flame Snake Consort and the others into the trap.

According to his original plan, the formation in the inner tomb would stop Flame Snake Consort and the others, who would then attract even more martial artists.

He intended to feast on a grand scale!

But in the end...

Xia Wuji's appearance had completely reduced his plans to nothing.

"Your body has already decayed. Even if you succeeded in seizing the blood and vitality of human martial artists and restored it to life, that body would still be useless."

"Such a method is truly the lowest of the low."

"Over these past decades, if you had completely abandoned your body and focused on tempering your soul, you might well be capable of using the Possession Art by now. Which of these people's bodies is not better than your decayed corpse?"

Xia Wuji said.

Mortal World Sword Master's remnant soul was instantly struck with awe.

Possession?

For someone like him, that was a secret technique found only in legends!

"Young Master, you know the Possession Art?" Mortal World Sword Master's remnant soul asked excitedly.

"What difficulty is there in a mere Possession Art?" Xia Wuji's tone was utterly indifferent.

Mortal World Sword Master's remnant soul grew even more excited. "I beg Young Master to grant me the Possession Art. Once I successfully possess a new body, I will be utterly devoted to you, Young Master. I will serve you like an ox or horse... I will climb mountains of blades and plunge into seas of fire for you!"

Xia Wuji frowned slightly. "Have you misunderstood something?"

"I told you all this only because I found your methods too pathetic, too unbearable to behold."

"What qualifications do you have to serve at my side?"

As the words fell, he clenched his hand. Sword Essence erupted, completely pulverizing Mortal World Sword Master's remnant soul.

"Calculating the time..."

"Once I turn all these gains into strength, that Crimson Jade Blood Ginseng should be ripe as well."