Stride into the Wilderness!

Sun Yu shook his hand.

Dark red blood crusts on the back of his hand fluttered down, striking the shattered stones.

He bent down and thrust both hands into Withered Sword Daoist's tattered Daoist robe.

Tearing apart several layers of bloodstained cloth.

Sun Yu felt a palm-sized leather pouch, its texture extraordinarily tough.

He tore off the pouch and pulled open its drawstring.

He tipped it into his palm.

"Clatter."

Dozens of thumb-sized, crystalline stones rolled onto the ground.

Spirit Stones.

They held an incomparably pure essence of heaven and earth within them.

Sun Yu grabbed a handful, sensing the faint fluctuations inside the Spirit Stones, then stuffed them straight into his clothes.

There were several medicine bottles in the pouch as well. Without even looking at them, he put them away together with the rest.

At last.

He drew out an ancient tome, neither silk nor cloth, between two fingers.

Its material resembled mutton-fat jade, its surface gleaming with an exceptionally warm jade luster.

Sun Yu opened the cover.

Heavenly Sword Marrow Cleansing Scripture.

A secret of the Heavenly Sword Sect never passed on to outsiders.

The core cultivation method for the second stage of the Innate Realm—the Marrow Exchange Realm!

Sun Yu's pupils contracted slightly as his gaze swept across the opening lines of the general outline.

Cleanse the blood into lead and mercury; exchange the marrow and forge a golden body.

This cultivation method called for drawing incomparably sharp Sword Qi into one's bones, stripping away the marrow of the mortal body bit by bit and replacing it with Sword Marrow capable of bearing Innate Astral Qi.

It was exceedingly painful, exceedingly tyrannical.

Yet a cold smile curled across Sun Yu's lips.

So long as it was a cultivation method, once it fell into his hands, there would be no threshold.

Silver light rippled across his retina.

[Technique: Heavenly Sword Marrow Cleansing Scripture (Innate Grade/Not Yet Initiated)]

The entry took shape.

Sun Yu closed the jade tome and tucked it close against his body.

This trip to the prefecture city had not only earned him top-grade Qi and Blood Pills and an Innate Body Technique; now, he had even obtained the cultivation method for the Marrow Exchange Realm.

He had returned laden with treasure.

Sun Yu straightened up.

He paid no heed to the corpses strewn across the ground.

Internal Breath burst from beneath his feet.

"Whoosh!"

His body shot into the air, turning into an afterimage and vanishing from the spot in an instant.

Heavenly Sword Sect, Soul Tablet Hall.

Deep within the grand hall, rows upon rows of bronze racks stretched all the way to the ceiling.

The racks were filled with jade soul tablets of every size.

The disciple on duty sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, his head bobbing as he dozed.

"Kacha!"

An exceptionally crisp crack suddenly exploded through the hall.

The duty disciple jolted awake.

He raised his head and followed the sound.

His gaze locked onto the very top level of the bronze racks.

There rested the Life Soul Tablets of the Heavenly Sword Sect's twelve outer sect elders.

The tablet belonging to the Outer Sect Grand Elder, Withered Sword Daoist, had completely exploded into a pile of white jade dust!

"The Grand Elder... has fallen?!"

The disciple's face turned deathly pale as he scrambled and rolled out of the hall.

"Something's happened! The Grand Elder's Soul Tablet has shattered!"

The shrill cry tore through the tranquility of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Half an incense stick later.

Heavenly Sword Sect's main hall.

Sect Master Chu Tianhong sat upright upon the Purple Gold Python Skin Chair.

He wore a Golden Thread Sword Robe, his face expressionless.

Not a trace of his vital energy leaked from within, yet his entire being radiated a sharpness capable of slicing space apart.

Fetal Transformation Realm!

Below the hall stood more than a dozen elders, their faces twisted with fury.

"Senior Brother Withered Sword was a Blood Washing Realm grandmaster. How could he possibly have died at the hands of some rogue cultivator who had only just emerged?!"

"Just who is that little bastard Sun Yu?"

"Liu Xuan is dead, Wild Thunder has been crippled, and now even Senior Brother Withered Sword has fallen! This is a slap in the Heavenly Sword Sect's face!"

Chu Tianhong said nothing.

He raised his right hand, then suddenly clenched his five fingers.

Bang!

The right armrest of the Purple Gold Python Skin Chair instantly turned to powder.

The main hall fell deathly silent.

Chu Tianhong rose to his feet.

"Issue the Blood Crimson Hunt Order."

His voice was frigid, like a blade pulled from an ice cave.

"Put Sun Yu on the wanted list throughout the entire prefecture."

"Anyone who provides clues will be rewarded one hundred High-Grade Spirit Stones and one Mysterious Grade Weapon."

"Whoever brings me his head, I will personally accept him as an Inner Sect True Disciple and reward him with the Heavenly Sword Marrow Cleansing Scripture!"

Several elders caught their breath.

The Blood Crimson Hunt Order!

The Heavenly Sword Sect had not issued such a highest-level warrant in ten years.

This was not merely a bounty—it was pressure brought to bear upon every force in the entire Wind Snow Prefecture!

"By your command!"

The elders clasped their fists in unison, turned, and strode out of the main hall.

At daybreak.

The prefecture was shaken.

Tens of thousands of blood-red wanted posters bearing Sun Yu's likeness were plastered across the streets and alleys of the prefecture.

Teahouses, taverns, black markets, and every major martial hall.

Everyone was discussing that name.

"He pulled up the One Hundred Thousand Jin Sea-Suppressing Iron Anchor with one hand!"

"He smashed Longwind City's number one genius to pieces with a single slap!"

"He publicly killed the Heavenly Sword Sect's Outer Sect Grand Elder!"

One terrifying feat after another spread alongside the wanted posters.

The moment those aristocratic clan heads in the prefecture, who had once held their heads high, received the intelligence, every one of them broke out in a cold sweat.

"Pass down the order! No member of the family is allowed to leave home for the next three months!"

"Seal the gates shut! Whoever dares provoke that murderous god will be struck from the family register!"

"That brat is a madman who does not care whether he lives or dies. No matter how high the Heavenly Sword Sect's bounty is, you still need to be alive to claim it!"

Overnight, the noble clans throughout the prefecture became like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, shutting their doors and turning away visitors.

Sun Yu's name had utterly become a taboo.

Three hundred li outside the prefecture city.

Within an extremely concealed abandoned kiln cave.

Sun Yu had changed into a clean set of black clothes.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, a sheepskin map of the prefecture spread before him.

His finger slowly traced across the map.

He had learned of the Blood Crimson Hunt Order half a day ago.

The Heavenly Sword Sect had mobilized in full force; even their Fetal Transformation Realm sect master had spoken.

Eyes and ears throughout the entire Prefecture City were searching for him.

Under such circumstances, hiding near the Prefecture City would only mean being worn down to death sooner or later by those omnipresent assassins and sect disciples.

With his current strength, he could kill Blood Washing Realm cultivators, but against a Fetal Transformation Realm opponent, he stood no chance at all.

He had to leave.

Sun Yu's gaze moved beyond the Prefecture City.

His finger traced along the edge of the map, sliding steadily westward.

Crossing range after range of mountains, passing through countless regions marked with signs of danger.

At last, his finger stabbed heavily into a vast section painted pitch-black.

Blood Sea Devil Abyss.

Three thousand li from the Prefecture City.

The map bore only four words for this place: Living beings keep out.

This was the most terrifying forbidden land in all of Great Wind Snow State.

There was no spiritual energy within, only incomparably violent blood baleful energy and hordes of high-ranking demons.

Even old monsters of the Fetal Transformation Realm did not dare venture lightly into the inner reaches of the Devil Abyss.

A forbidden land. A land of death.

Yet to Sun Yu, it was the best place to break the deadlock.

No matter how arrogant the Heavenly Sword Sect was, they would not dare send a large number of disciples into the Blood Sea Devil Abyss to die.

"We're going there."

Sun Yu put away the map.

He grabbed the refined iron knife hilt lying beside him.

The blade had already broken.

Sun Yu clenched his five fingers.

"Crack."

He crushed the hilt in his grip, scattering iron filings across the ground.

He no longer needed it.

Supreme Dao Divine Ability, Cold Iron Demonic Body.

His hands, his body—they were the deadliest weapons.

Sun Yu rose to his feet.

He walked out of the kiln cave.

He fixed his sights on the west.

The great tendons in his legs suddenly tightened, and Internal Breath burst forth from the Bubbling Spring Acupoints in the soles of his feet.

Boom!

The ground exploded into a shallow crater.

Sun Yu became a streak of black light and shot forward in an instant.

He made no effort to conceal his tracks.

He did not sneak about or hide from place to place.

He pushed the Swimming Dragon Steps to their limit. Every step carried him more than ten zhang.

When mountains stood in his way, he crossed them. When rivers blocked him, he leaped over them.

The bandits, demonic beasts, and even a few Rogue Cultivators foolish enough to covet the bounty who stood in his path—

All were smashed into bursting clouds of blood mist.

He advanced in a straight line.

To his demonic body, which never knew fatigue, the three-thousand-li journey was merely a thoroughly exhilarating warm-up.