The entrance leading to the bottom of West Lake Prison was hidden behind an artificial hill. There was a small opening in the hill, so dark inside that one could not see one's own hand. After taking only a glance, you strode in.
At first, the passage was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person. After walking several dozen steps, you found a stone staircase leading straight toward West Lake. After another several hundred steps, you finally reached a huge stone chamber.
The stone chamber was firmly blocked by a heavy iron door. There was a hole slightly larger than a human head in the door, through which one could see the empty, damp interior of the chamber, along with the thick stench permeating it.
You were not surprised in the slightest. After all, Ren Woxing had been imprisoned here for more than ten years.
For over a decade, he had eaten, drunk, relieved himself, and slept in the same place. Even though deaf-mute servants cleaned it regularly, how could the smell not build up over time in this nearly sealed space?
It was no wonder that after escaping, Ren Woxing had acted like a lunatic and slaughtered people everywhere. He had truly been cooped up too long.
After surveying the situation inside the stone chamber, you used the four keys searched from the four manor masters to open the door.
As the door opened, Ren Woxing, locked inside an iron cage at the center of the stone chamber, immediately looked over.
The door had not been opened for a very long time, and he had not smelled such fresh air in just as long.
In your eyes, Ren Woxing was a complete demon. The reason the Sun Moon Holy Cult was called a demonic cult by the righteous path was ninety-nine percent because of him.
Therefore, after opening the stone door, you did not hesitate in the slightest and charged straight at Ren Woxing.
Although Ren Woxing had been imprisoned for more than ten years, his strength had not declined at all. It was even greater than before, and he had actually reached the mid-stage of the Innate Realm.
With his strange Star Absorbing Great Method, he was not afraid even when facing a peak late-stage Innate Realm expert like you.
Unfortunately, Ren Woxing's strength was already inferior to yours, and both his hands and feet were now locked in black iron. With his movements restricted, he was even less of a match for you.
Thus, after exchanging fewer than thirty moves, you struck Ren Woxing with twelve consecutive sword blows, each one cutting deep enough to expose bone.
Your Purple Cloud True Qi continued to gather around the wounds, causing the blood to flow without stopping. Ren Woxing's face visibly paled, and as he lost too much blood, his attacks and evasive movements grew slower and slower.
Finally, on the forty-second move, Ren Woxing was too weak to struggle any longer. You successfully sealed the meridians throughout his body, turning him into a lamb awaiting slaughter in your hands.
Half a day later, you drove a carriage away from Plum Manor alone, heading toward Mount Hua.
Half a day earlier, after subduing Ren Woxing, you examined the area and discovered that he had carved his own Star Absorbing Great Method onto the cage. However, you knew that the Star Absorbing Great Method recorded there was incomplete, lacking the most crucial method for neutralizing foreign true qi within the body.
Your Purple Cloud Divine Skill also had the ability to neutralize foreign true qi, so you no longer bothered keeping Ren Woxing, who was still chattering incessantly. With a single slash, you cut off the head of this former leader of the demonic cult.
Afterward, you first copied down the formula for the Star Absorbing Great Method, then destroyed the writing on the cage.
Finally, you could not be bothered to deal with the corpse. After looting all the valuables in Plum Manor and loading them onto the carriage, you drove away.
The carriage was filled with goods worth tens of thousands of taels. That was even after leaving behind many items that were too large to carry.
Unfortunately, the simulated version of you could not use the Storage Space. Otherwise, why would you have gone through so much trouble?
However, you did not need so much money yourself. Your Mount Hua Sect needed it, and your parents needed it too. Besides, these were the demonic cult's assets. If you did not take them, someone else would.
A day later, in Hangzhou Prefecture, you sold all the antiques, calligraphy, and paintings on the carriage, obtaining a total of forty-three thousand taels in banknotes.
Naturally, this differed somewhat from the true value of those antiques, calligraphy, and paintings, but you did not care.
Hangzhou was more than a thousand kilometers from Mount Hua. Traveling by carriage would take at least a month, and you had no time to waste.
After exchanging all the valuable goods for banknotes, you traveled light and returned to Mount Hua in only five days.
That was despite taking your time and sightseeing along the way. Otherwise, you would have returned even faster.
After returning to Mount Hua, you handed forty thousand taels in banknotes to your master, Yue Buqun, and told him that the banknotes had been looted from the demonic cult.
Your master was delighted by this.
However, you did not mention Ren Woxing. It was enough for you alone to know about this matter; it was unsuitable to spread it everywhere.
After all, Ren Woxing still had a daughter who was the demonic cult's Holy Maiden. She had a large group of strange unorthodox allies under her command, including the Six Immortals of Peach Valley, the Five Poisons Sect, the Yellow River Patriarch, and many others.
If she found out that you had killed Ren Woxing, then you, your parents, and everyone in the Mount Hua Sect would probably never have another peaceful day.
Therefore, you decided to bury this secret in your heart forever.
As for the remaining three thousand taels in banknotes, they naturally went to your parents.
After returning to Mount Hua, you learned that your senior brother, Linghu Chong, had actually befriended Qu Yang, an elder of the demonic cult, during this outing. Your master had punished him by sending him to Siguo Cliff to face the wall and reflect for a year.
This reminded you that your senior brother, Linghu Chong, had learned the Dugu Nine Swords during that very year of facing the wall.
Among all the martial arts in the world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, the one you wanted most was undoubtedly the Dugu Nine Swords.
Given your current age and cultivation realm, you felt that if Feng Qingyang appeared, the chances of him choosing to teach you the Dugu Nine Swords might even be greater than his chances of teaching your senior brother, Linghu Chong.
"Dugu Nine Swords... I wonder if the simulated version of me can obtain it..."
As he watched the content that had just appeared on the screen before him, Zheng Qian's eyes shone brightly, and his face filled with anticipation.
The only top-tier martial arts in the entire world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer were the Sunflower Manual and the Dugu Nine Swords. You definitely would not practice the Sunflower Manual, leaving only the Dugu Nine Swords, which could break every technique under heaven.
You now had a great chance of obtaining it. How could you not be tempted?
With a plan in mind, you began appearing frequently at Siguo Cliff from the next day onward.
Sometimes you studied the Star Absorbing Great Method; other times you drank and exchanged sword moves with your senior brother, Linghu Chong, discussing life. Your days were peaceful and fulfilling.
The reason you studied the Star Absorbing Great Method was not because you intended to practice it. You wanted to combine it with the Purple Cloud Divine Skill and the supreme-yang internal energy from the Evil Warding Sword Manual.
You would then create a superior-grade Innate Realm cultivation method that combined the strengths of all three.
However, the supreme-yang internal energy in the Evil Warding Sword Manual was merely a fragment of the Sunflower Manual, and its grade was only low-grade Innate Realm. The Purple Cloud Divine Skill and the Star Absorbing Great Method were somewhat higher, but they were only mid-grade Innate Realm.
Creating a superior-grade Innate Realm cultivation method centered on these three was undoubtedly extremely difficult.
But you had plenty of time.
Before you continue