The Prime Suspect

Mention of A Jian San instantly changed the mood in the room.

He was a truly terrifying figure.

A Jian San came from the Devil Race.

Note that he was from the Devil Race, not the Devil Sect. He belonged to a Foreign Race.

A Jian San's talent for the sword was unparalleled in the world. The Hell Sword Intent he had comprehended struck terror into everyone's heart, and countless experts had fallen beneath it.

A Jian San's appearance on the scene had caused seven out of ten of the great sects in the world to wither. The remaining three had deliberately stayed out of his way.

"Rumor had it that after A Jian San was defeated by Master Ye Chuan, he knew he would die of his grievous injuries. Before his death, he found a treasured site and buried himself there."

"Buried alongside him was the sword inheritance that had once looked down upon all beneath Heaven."

"For hundreds of years, this had driven every member of the Earth Gate to search the world for his tomb. The powerful figures of the world had also flocked to the task, secretly investigating its whereabouts."

"Even to this day, they haven't given up."

The Great Elder sighed. He had been young back then and had witnessed the brilliance of that battle.

A Jian San's Hell Sword was so powerful that it was astonishing, beyond all comprehension.

If not for the previous Sect Master, Ye Chuan, emerging out of nowhere, the entire Human World would have been crushed beneath A Jian San's heel.

Sect Master Luo Jiang let out a wistful sigh. "A Jian San may have seemed to lose that battle, but in truth, Master Ye Chuan didn't win without suffering a price."

By then, Ye Chuan had reached the pinnacle of cultivation, with a lifespan so vast it was beyond imagination.

Yet a hundred years after A Jian San's death, Ye Chuan passed away as well.

He had sustained hidden injuries in that battle.

Before he passed away, Ye Chuan had admitted this himself.

Ye Chuan's mastery of the Sacred Sword Art had surpassed that of the Founding Patriarch. For that very reason, he understood better than anyone how powerful this sword art was.

A complicated expression appeared on the Second Elder's face. "Master's greatest regret before his death was that he had never managed to penetrate the mysteries of the Sacred Sword Art. I clearly remember that before he underwent Dao Transformation, he took our hands and told us we had to find someone worthy to inherit the art."

"I'll never forget the longing in his eyes for the Sacred Sword Art's ultimate meaning."

At that, the image of a young man appeared in everyone's mind at the same time.

He had once held out hope.

What a shame he had failed to live up to it.

Sect Master Luo Jiang said coldly, "Pass on my order. Find the young man from the Great Barren Forest at all costs. If possible, take him in as a disciple."

"When his cultivation is sufficient, I'll personally teach him the Sacred Sword Art."

The elders immediately perked up. "The Sect Master is wise!"

"Destructive Sword Intent is one of the strongest sword intents in terms of Killing Power. With that young man's talent, I'm sure he can make the Sacred Sword Art shine."

"Indeed. Even if he can't fully comprehend it, he should at least be no weaker than Master Ye Chuan."

The elders were grinning from ear to ear.

Sword intent was tied to many things: a person's heart of the Dao, the sword techniques they cultivated, their temperament, their insight, their opportunities, and more.

Comprehending sword intent required all these factors to come together. It couldn't be forced; one could only wait for the right moment.

Even an ordinary sword intent could transform a sword cultivator from head to toe.

Destructive Sword Intent was one of the strongest sword intents in terms of Killing Power.

Anyone who comprehended this kind of sword intent would crush everyone else at the same level.

Anyone capable of comprehending Destructive Sword Intent was sure to be among the world's top talents.

The elders believed that someone like that had a very good chance of mastering the Sacred Sword Art.

Down the mountain, Li Ye put on the Shapeshifter Mask, changed his clothes, and hid along the road everyone had to take to descend.

To his surprise, Wei Bo was the first to come down.

Li Ye didn't have to wait long before his target appeared.

Wei Bo was alone, walking in a hurry. He didn't notice Li Ye hiding in the grass by the roadside.

"He didn't go with his colleagues. Instead, he couldn't wait to come down alone?"

Li Ye furrowed his brow, becoming more and more convinced that something was wrong with Wei Bo.

So he followed him without making a sound.

With the Night Roaming God's extraordinary legwork and a body tempered to the Fourteenth Layer of Body Tempering, following someone was no difficult task for Li Ye.

Whoosh!

Wei Bo was highly skilled. He leaped swiftly, bounding away like a hare taking flight or a falcon swooping down, and quickly disappeared into the night.

With every leap, he soared more than thirty zhang. A single somersault carried him a hundred or two hundred meters.

His movement technique was exceptionally refined.

But Li Ye managed to keep a steady distance behind him the whole time without being discovered.

Before long, the two arrived, one behind the other, in an alley in northern Licheng City.

Hidden around a corner, Li Ye watched Wei Bo knock on the door of a house.

The house wasn't large, just an ordinary middle-class residence. But in the northern district, where every inch of land was worth a fortune, it must have cost a pretty penny.

Knock, knock, knock!

The sound of knocking rang out especially sharply in the stillness of the night.

"Could this be their meeting place?"

"Pretty well hidden."

Li Ye thought.

Creak!

The door opened, and out came... an old maid.

"You're back, Master."

"Madam has given birth. It's a boy, and both mother and child are safe."

"Congratulations, Master!"

The old maid excitedly delivered the news to Wei Bo at the door.

Li Ye walked down the street, looking thoroughly dejected.

As it turned out, Wei Bo had been preoccupied because his wife was about to give birth, and he had rushed down the mountain as soon as his work was done.

That ruled out Wei Bo, leaving Old Man Yang, who delivered the meals, as the prime suspect.

So Li Ye took advantage of the night and returned to the Corpse Refining Courtyard, finding the room where Old Man Yang lived.

He saw that the other man was working by candlelight, going over a ledger.

Once he was done, he blew out the candle and went to sleep.

Li Ye wanted to sneak in, knock the man out, and search the room.

But he was worried that Old Man Yang might be more than he seemed, and that barging in would alert him.

"Forget it. I'll investigate them one by one."

"There are still more than two hours until dawn. Once Daily Divination refreshes, I'll divine Old Man Yang first."

Li Ye thought to himself.

If Old Man Yang was involved, Li Ye could come back in the second half of the night, capture him, and interrogate him.

Daily Divination couldn't directly divine Heavenly Secrets related to Li Ye.

For example, that afternoon, he had tried to divine who had poisoned him, and the skill had failed.

But if he changed his approach and divined Old Man Yang's life story instead, the skill wouldn't fail.

Li Ye could afford to wait a couple of hours. After returning to his room, he sat cross-legged.

Then he took out a Mid-grade Spirit Stone and used the breathing technique of the Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art to absorb the Spiritual Qi within it.

Hum!

The next moment, wisps of faint Spiritual Qi were drawn out by Li Ye. They seeped into his palm, flowed along his meridians into his body, and then spread throughout his limbs and bones.

The Nine Heavens Crimson Thunder Art consisted of six incantations and six movements.

The incantations paired with the movements to produce a stream of body-tempering energy.

But Li Ye had already mastered the art, reaching the point where his strength followed his will.

Even without the movements, he could still activate the breathing technique.

In the blink of an eye, two hours passed, and dawn was near.

Li Ye opened his eyes and discovered that he had absorbed only a tenth of the Spirit Stone. It still contained a great deal of Spiritual Qi.

That tenth had increased Li Ye's strength by five hundred jin.

"Five hundred jin?"

"Then one Mid-grade Spirit Stone can give me five thousand jin of strength."

"And I have thirty-three Spirit Stones. If I refine them all, I'll gain more than a hundred thousand jin of strength."

"Not bad, not bad!"

Li Ye felt a little thrill of excitement.

His current strength was sixty-three thousand five hundred jin.

The requirement for breaking through to the Fifteenth Layer of Body Tempering should be eighty thousand jin.

Absorbing these thirty-three Spirit Stones should be just about enough to let him reach the Sixteenth Layer of Body Tempering.

If he also absorbed the Medicinal Power of the Golden Ginseng...

Li Ye thought he could break through at least to the twentieth layer of Body Tempering.

Or... the Qi Gathering Stage, if he could break through.

Li Ye checked the sky.

It was dawn.

Daily Divination had refreshed.

So Li Ye silently recited the incantation in his mind.

Hum!

The next moment, his Mental Magnetic Field shifted. He felt as if he had become one with Heaven and Earth Myriad Things.

The Heavenly Secrets surrounding Old Man Yang surfaced in his mind one by one...