The Situation Spiraled Out of Control, the Dagger Revealed

The outskirts of the Blazing Wasteland, the Great Rift of Perched Phoenix Mountain.

Frost fell as bears climbed trees; the forest stood empty as deer drank from the stream.

Gongcheng Tiansheng sat cross-legged on a jagged boulder. He spat blood twice in succession before finally stopping his Nascent Soul from nearly running wild.

Veins bulged across his face like writhing earthworms, then gradually faded and disappeared.

"Phew—"

Only after a long while did he let out a long breath of murky air, black mingling with red.

"That little brat Zhuge Wuwei. No wonder he so recklessly tried to divine my secrets. He thought he had me figured out, set a trap, and invited an ancient powerhouse to protect him."

"And that old bastard Zhuge Chunqiu—such an upright, honorable man all his life, yet he actually has a sneaky little son like that?"

"Sure enough, the closer you get to success, the greater the risks!"

"That cost me nearly a year of hard cultivation! Still, I should be able to reap the harvest soon."

"First, let's see what's going on."

Gongcheng Tiansheng pondered, then raised his head. His eyes seemed to grow exceptionally deep.

The next moment, wisps of purple-black qi rose above his head like clouds and mist.

Before long, the qi gathered together and took the shape of a little boy who looked about three or four years old.

The little boy wore a purple-black bib, upon which ancient runes continually flowed, releasing waves of mysterious qi.

After he appeared, his body seemed to crack apart. The purple-black color covering him began to separate into clearly distinct hues.

Gradually, purple and black each claimed half his body, and the two colors continued to seep into one another.

Soon, when the purple and black merged again, the little boy began to float above Gongcheng Tiansheng's head and sat cross-legged in the same pose.

Then wisps of black qi rose from the little boy's head, gradually condensing into an even smaller, pitch-black infant.

This black infant was a real baby, only about a foot long, with a head no bigger than a cup's mouth.

The infant's eyes were still shut, yet his entire body was covered in wrinkles, making him look like a little old man. It was rather uncanny.

"Mysterious Qi Movement."

Suddenly, Gongcheng Tiansheng softly spoke four words.

As soon as he said them, the black infant opened his eyes.

They were eyes stained with blood.

Blood-red.

Those eyes contained a series of terrifying, mysterious changes in qi.

The instant the infant opened his eyes, a white bear climbing a tree in the distance abruptly froze. Its flesh and blood quickly withered, and it fell from the tree, crumbling into a heap of bones and bone dust.

The deer drinking below in the gorge suddenly convulsed as well. It rapidly became skin and bones, then weathered away, leaving a scatter of white bones across the ground.

Even the clear stream turned dark and murky in an instant.

The birds, beasts, insects, and fish that had been calling fell silent.

In that moment, it seemed as if every sound had vanished from heaven and earth.

At the same time, rapidly shifting scenes seemed to appear in the black infant's eyes.

But the scenes were not clear. On the contrary, they were exceptionally indistinct.

Gongcheng Tiansheng tried to sense them carefully, but still could not clearly make out what was happening in those scenes. He immediately stopped the technique.

"At a time like this, that sneaky little bastard suddenly tries to divine my secrets, and even deliberately lets me notice. Such a direct provocation must have some deeper purpose!"

"I've long heard this man is exceptionally capable, but I never took it seriously. Now it seems he may have gotten his hands on an extraordinary treasure—quite possibly the highest-grade sacred artifact! Otherwise, why would he dare do this?"

"No, his purpose must be more than provocation. He's testing me, too. On one hand, he's testing my abilities; on the other, he's probably probing my injuries."

"Looks like he's managed to uncover some of my secrets. He knows I'm volatile, violent, and bloodthirsty, liable to explode at the slightest provocation!"

"But that's only the image I maintain on the outside. Take this time, for example. If I hadn't made a tentative move and held back, that guardian powerhouse might have grievously wounded my infant soul with nothing more than a glance. Then my Dao injuries would have flared up at once, and I really would have been wiped out on the spot!"

"Thankfully, I only used my infant soul to draw out and split off a wisp of killing-soul qi."

"So, on one hand, I have to carry out the plan more cautiously. On the other, I'll let that batch of soul-fodder I've been raising continue to grow for a while. They can go ahead and probe the way for me, too."

After withdrawing his infant soul, Gongcheng Tiansheng's expression grew extremely grave.

Earlier, he had used his special "Mysterious Qi Movement" talent and the soul arts of his twin infant souls to look back through his memories. Yet the scene had appeared blurred!

This was utterly beyond his expectations!

That was precisely why he was so wary of Zhuge Wuwei.

The other man's actual cultivation realm was indeed far below his.

But at the Infant Transformation Realm, the difference in actual combat strength was no longer especially astonishing.

What was more, cultivators of the Heavenly Secrets lineage became terrifyingly powerful once they reached the Infant Transformation Realm!

But at the same time, his own Dao injuries had yet to heal. After condensing twin infant souls, his infant soul had become unstable, greatly diminishing his strength.

Zhuge Wuwei's sudden attempt to divine his secrets was obviously an open and aboveboard test!

And that old bastard Zhuge Chunqiu was no fool, either. Those father and son were probably cooking up some underhanded trick to ambush him!

At the thought, Gongcheng Tiansheng's heart tightened. Like a sudden intuition, it brought to mind the faint sense of danger that had inexplicably come over him while cultivating earlier.

That faint sense of danger came from the ability of his "Mysterious Qi Movement" talent to sense the will of heaven and man. This innate gift had helped him survive more than ten life-or-death tribulations!

Many people thought that he had become an unrivaled powerhouse at the ninth level of the Infant Transformation Realm despite being only a little over three thousand years old because of his heaven-defying talent and physique!

That was indeed true!

But there were plenty of prodigies with even greater talent who worked even harder than he did, yet they had died in droves at the Infant Transformation Realm, the Nascent Soul Realm, or even the Golden Core Realm!

The fundamental reason was his keen sense of danger!

Even if he felt only the slightest hint of danger or the faintest pang of unease, he would never act rashly.

Only the living had a future.

Once you were dead, no matter how dazzling or peerless you had been, you were nothing more than a mound of yellow earth offered up to the heavens!

So, after turning it over in his mind again and again, Gongcheng Tiansheng made a decision: first, he would help his two "disciples" improve their cultivation and give them some benefits, so they would work even harder to "grow."

Then, he would take a look at the strange woman in the "crystal blood coffin" and see what was going on. If there was an opportunity, he would seize it outright.

If not, he would further catalyze the Bloodline Power in her body!

Then he would refine and absorb her soul!

Once he had done all that, he would flee—no, he would return to the "deathtrap cave abode" he had prepared long ago and enter secluded cultivation!

He would lay low for a while, then come back out!

No matter how cleverly you schemed, if this old man refused to play along, surely you couldn't still get the better of him, right?

After Su Li finished speaking, Zhuge Wuwei and Hua Yunxiao were directly stunned!

Both of their bodies were trembling slightly!

It wasn't that they couldn't control their bodies. Rather, this information was like a sudden thunderclap from a clear sky, shaking them to their very souls!

Although Zhuge Wuwei and Hua Yunxiao had already had a faint suspicion before Su Li spoke—after all, whether it was Washing Ancestral Bones or the claim that their ancestor had become a scourge, Su Li had already been hinting at something—the words had still struck like a bolt from the blue.

More importantly, the claim that their ancestor had become a scourge had come two days ago!

But their ancestor Hua Lingshang had awakened the evening before yesterday!

There were two possible explanations for this kind of awakening. One was that, after the soul weakened and fell into dormancy, the body remained powerful enough to be nourished by a potent spirit vein. Then, through some mysterious coincidence, it sensed a certain Dao Mark, causing the soul to awaken and undergo an entirely new transformation. This was a positive kind of revival.

The second possibility was that the soul weakened and gradually died, but the body was so powerful that it continued living. Then the powerful body absorbed all kinds of negative energy and the unyielding obsessions and resentments of dying powerhouses, forming an entirely new, independent soul!

In extreme cases, this soul could even regain all the memories of its former self and believe it was the original person!

The second possibility was more likely, relatively speaking. After all, once a cultivator reached the Infant Transformation Realm, their body had practically achieved immortality. Unless it was forcibly destroyed, the body's terrifying vitality would often give rise to all sorts of Demonic Beasts.

The so-called "Puppet Death Warriors" were similar to this kind of existence, but they were artificially created.

Those born naturally from heaven and earth, however, were true calamities!

Their bodies had been nourished for countless years by the various laws and Dao Marks of the earth, while their souls had become utterly dark and demonic. Their potential could be drawn out to one hundred percent, or even a thousand percent!

Forget fighting one at the same level—even cultivators three or five small realms above it could be killed in an instant!

Fight it?

Don't even think about it. Three or five dozen cultivators at the same level wouldn't be enough to beat one!

It was a completely different order of magnitude!

Even more terrifyingly, even if its body were destroyed, it wouldn't die!

Its body was like a cage: while it restricted the full display of its power, it also protected its demonic soul from being depleted too quickly, allowing the soul and body to continue transforming together!

And once it lost its body, it would become a vengeful ghost of the Infant Transformation Realm. It could no longer grow stronger, but it could rule over a domain of ghosts, impossible to kill or destroy!

Only overwhelming power—enough to suppress it completely—could seal it with unparalleled thunder, heavenly fire, or an ultimate countering divine art, and destroy it in one strike!

Otherwise, if it escaped and went into hiding, then took over a body compatible with its demonic soul, it would take only a few years for another peerless fiend to emerge!

So, if such a thing truly awakened and fully emerged into the world, everywhere it went would become a land of apocalyptic destruction!

Why had the Hua Clan been utterly destroyed?

Back then, it had been a demonic soul...

At that thought, Zhuge Wuwei and Hua Yunxiao exchanged a glance, their faces already deathly pale.

Su Li felt angry, sorrowful, and regretful all at once. From "Gongcheng Tiansheng's" thoughts, he had learned a great deal of important information!

This information included not only that Gongcheng Tiansheng's cunning, tentative attack had nearly backfired, but also that he had decided to refine the "female corpse" and was preparing to flee.

That female corpse was his mother, Mu Qingya. Of course he was furious.

Although his mother had already passed away by the time he could remember anything, so he didn't feel deeply attached to her, she was still his mother!

But anger wouldn't help. He was trapped here and had to raise his strength as quickly as possible. At the very least, he needed to get a golden Latent Dragon Pill to improve his vital essence, spirit, and soul!

Otherwise, these old monsters were all scheming and ruthless. He would be at a severe disadvantage trying to deal with them, and it would be extremely difficult.

Moreover, Su Li had now confirmed that the Five Emperors Ancient Coin combined with divination using his "Heavenly Secrets Value" could indeed counteract the "coveting" brought on by divination.

But this was an extremely passive ability.

Perhaps, if Gongcheng Tiansheng had really attacked with all his strength just now, the Five Emperors Ancient Coin might actually have "passively defended" and killed him!

What Su Li regretted was that this had been beyond his control. If the Five Emperors Ancient Coin hadn't "defended," Hua Yunxiao and Zhuge Wuwei might already be dead.

But it was just as possible that the defense would fail.

Earlier, Gongcheng Tiansheng had only made a tentative counterattack. Though he had been startled into retreating, the Five Emperors Ancient Coin had also developed a few tiny cracks.

This method clearly couldn't be used many times. Otherwise, the Five Emperors Ancient Coin might not withstand more than a few uses before shattering completely.

Gongcheng Tiansheng was crafty and far too cautious. Though he had temporarily backed off, which seemed like a good thing, it actually left Hua Yunxiao, Zhuge Wuwei, and even Yun Yifan unable to divine the danger or sense it. That meant they had no reason to worry about what might happen next!

So the problem now was this: what would Zhuge Wuwei and Hua Yunxiao choose to do?

Would they do everything they could to kill Hua Lingshang, or suppress him and take the Five Emperors Ancient Coin from him?

From what had happened earlier, Su Li already knew Zhuge Wuwei coveted the Five Emperors Ancient Coin and had grown suspicious of the strange phenomenon, too.

As Su Li pondered, he thought for a moment, then opened the Life Archives of Zhuge Wuwei and Hua Yunxiao to check their current thoughts.

Perhaps because their minds had been thrown into complete disarray, Su Li saw their thoughts in great detail this time!

Then Su Li was truly shaken.

Zhuge Wuwei and Hua Yunxiao's thoughts were now entirely focused elsewhere, not on him at all. They were caught in a state of shock, fear, and helpless confusion!

"I just said it offhandedly. Don't tell me Hua Lingshang really is a demonic soul that's revived?!"

"If that's true, then that's just absurd!"

"And if it is true... then this is a really serious matter!"

Su Li felt that this was no simple matter!

Then he carefully examined Hua Yunxiao's face. The horizontal bone shadow between his brows still protruded clearly, as if it were about to burst his head open.

Su Li looked at Zhuge Wuwei as well.

A faint wisp of black qi hovered above Zhuge Wuwei's head. It remained hidden, seemingly concealed beneath a layer of unknown mist, impossible to make out clearly.

Su Li suddenly felt deeply unsettled.

It was a feeling of unease that came from the depths of his soul, more intense than any peril he had ever faced before.

Just then, Su Li suddenly noticed that all the current information on Zhuge Wuwei and Hua Yunxiao's Life Archives had turned into question marks.

"Master Su, how about this? Come with me and Imperial Lord Yunxiao to meet my father, Zhuge Chunqiu. Then we'll go together to the Hua Clan and meet Senior Hua Lingshang."

As Zhuge Wuwei spoke, he fixed his gaze directly on Su Li.

An invisible pressure immediately bore down on him.

Su Li could no longer move.

"Wanli Holy Land?"

Su Li's heart sank. Things were slipping beyond his control.

"Some people are always going to die."

Zhuge Wuwei calmly glanced at Hua Ziyan, Mu Yuxi, and the others outside. His eyes were cold and heartless.

The muscles in Hua Yunxiao's face twitched. He pleaded, "Take Ziyan with us."

Zhuge Wuwei pondered for a long moment, then said, "Ten breaths. Take care of everything. We leave at once!"

At that moment, Su Li looked at Yun Qingxuan with a cold gaze.

Yun Qingxuan wasn't affected by any of the shielding formations. She had heard everything the three men had said.

Now, hesitation clearly showed in her eyes.