As Wu Dao crushed the Huanglong Mark.
Somewhere in Guangqing Prefecture.
A vast sea of clouds churned, and countless peaks towered into the sky.
At the highest point among the towering mountains.
Fuguang Mountain!
Seven-colored radiance coiled around it like ribbons.
The rumbling morning bells rang out, stirring the soul.
White cranes danced in the sky, spirit beasts roamed the earth, and the sound of chanting drifted faintly through the air.
Huanglong Temple, renowned throughout Guangqing Prefecture for its Immortal Dao, stood atop this blessed land of celestial beings.
During the morning lessons.
Deep within the temple.
An old Taoist with white hair and the face of a youth sat cross-legged. He was lean, dressed in a golden Huanglong Daoist robe.
At a certain moment.
As if sensing something, the Taoist abruptly awoke from meditation and opened his eyes, his face filled with grief and fury.
"Wretch! How dare you deceive my Huanglong Temple!"
Not long after his voice fell.
The bells atop the mountain rang out in a great peal, echoing across the sea of clouds.
After five consecutive tolls.
All the elite disciples who had been attending morning lessons at Huanglong Temple—the direct disciples, Second Generation Disciples, and Third Generation Disciples—gathered inside the Patriarch Hall.
"Little Eight has perished in the Dao. The Dao Candle in the Hall of Immortals has gone out. He met his end in Canyun Mountain, in the Black Stone Desert, but the culprit is extremely cunning and left no traces."
On the raised dais in the Patriarch Hall.
Huanglong Daoist sat on a meditation cushion. He spoke briefly, then continued before the disciples could vent their shock and fury. "Guangfa, Guangshen, Guangli, the three of you will descend the mountain at once and visit Canyun Mountain. Find out what kind of monster did this!
"I have not entered the world in many years.
"Do not think my Huanglong Temple has fallen into decline!"
"Rest assured, Master. We watched Little Eight grow up. We will avenge him!"
On the meditation cushions along the second tier of steps.
Three middle-aged Taoists with extraordinary bearing and otherworldly air, dressed in yellow robes, rose to their feet and bowed as they accepted the order.
The Third Generation Disciples wore gray robes, the Second Generation Disciples wore yellow, and the direct disciples wore silver.
Their different robes represented their different levels of cultivation.
The Second Generation Disciples in yellow robes.
They were Immortal Cultivators of the Dao Fire Realm.
They had already shed their mortal forms and kindled the Dao Fire of the spirit and soul in their Purple Mansions!
Those who had kindled the Dao Fire once.
Their mortal bodies transformed into Spirit Bodies, and their spirits underwent a metamorphosis. They could manipulate objects and perceive the yin and yang, discern the subtle workings of heaven and earth, and use the Innate Spiritual Qi within their Purple Mansions to craft simple Yellow-Grade Talismans.
The Object Manipulation and Talisman Control technique that had cost Mao Ba dearly to master came easily to those at this level.
Those who had kindled the Dao Fire twice.
Like Guangshen, Guangfa, and Guangli, who had just stepped forward.
The Purple Mansion Dao Fire had already flowed throughout their bodies, illuminating them inside and out. They could briefly connect with the motley spiritual energies between heaven and earth to craft Silver-Grade Talismans and Treasure Tools, refine pills, set up arrays...
Although their physical bodies were inferior to those of Martial Dao cultivators.
They were far quicker than Martial Dao cultivators at communing with and wielding the energies of heaven and earth, and their methods were varied and inscrutable.
In a real fight to the death, Martial Dao cultivators at the same level, relying solely on brute strength and Blood Qi, would indeed find it difficult to contend with them.
The path of Martial Dao.
Only after completing the Third Rebirth.
Could the spirit and soul grow strong enough to commune with heaven and earth.
Only then could they build a bridge between the outer world and the Qi Sea Dantian, absorb Origin Qi and store it in the dantian, break free from the constraints of Blood Qi, and wield the power of heaven and earth to attack.
One could imagine.
Just how formidable those who had kindled the Dao Fire twice were within Guangqing Prefecture. Even Transformative Force martial artists who had completed the Third Rebirth had to show them respect.
Not to mention.
Guangshen and the other two were among the best even within the Second Generation Disciples.
And yet these three "powerful" cultivators.
Had descended the mountain just for the sake of one Mao Ba.
That showed just how fiercely Huanglong Temple protected its own.
One could imagine.
If Wu Dao had been careless for even a moment and failed to promptly deal with the Huanglong Mark—or if he had been softhearted and left behind a Root of Disaster.
He would have stirred up a hornet's nest, one that had a tracking device on him. For a long time to come, he would have faced open attacks and hidden schemes, with no way to guard against them.
Fortunately.
Wu Dao was cautious enough, and ruthless enough.
He had killed, burned, and destroyed every trace!
No matter how furious Guangshen and the other two were, all they would find was scorched earth.
Even if the Immortal Dao had unfathomable methods.
Even if it had other unknown means of identifying the culprit, Wu Dao figured it would be impossible to pull that off in the short term.
Because when he brought his foot down.
He had done more than crush Mao Ba's head!
After reaching Subtle Mastery.
His senses could perceive yin and yang.
His control over Mental Armor had also advanced to a higher level.
When in direct contact.
He could completely grind away an enemy's spiritual consciousness—in other words, their so-called soul!
He simply couldn't believe it.
That a mere Immortal Dao cultivator from Guangqing Prefecture could have the ability to obtain information from a man who had been "killed in body and soul," dead beyond all doubt!
As it turned out.
Wu Dao's guess had been right.
Half a day after he left Canyun Mountain.
The three of them—Guangfa, Guangshen, and Guangli—arrived at Canyun Mountain, seething with fury.
When they saw the barren, scorched earth halfway up the mountain, their faces instantly turned as ugly as if they had eaten shit!
In particular.
When the three of them used Mao Ba's Life Lamp in Huanglong Temple to commune with his soul, they discovered that Mao Ba had no soul left at all!
The spiritual souls of Immortal Cultivators.
Compared with those of cultivators on other paths, were exceptionally tenacious.
When left undisturbed, they could linger in the world for a short time after death without dissipating. The Immortal Dao had methods to gather souls and observe their final moments.
But Mao Ba had been burned to ash, his body and soul destroyed!
Just what kind of grudge could have led to this?
They couldn't understand it at all.
Mao Ba had only been away from the mountain for half a month. How had he managed to provoke such a ruthless enemy and meet such a miserable end?
"The culprit was most likely a Martial Dao cultivator. Judging by the traces left behind, he was at least a master who had completed the Second Rebirth, and his Hard Qigong was astonishingly powerful. He had entered at least the first gate of Hard Qigong: the Blood Qi Furnace."
Among the three, Guangshen was the most meticulous. He quickly inferred the culprit's strength from the blackened crater around them, which looked as if it had been devastated by a rampaging tyrannosaur and struck by a meteorite.
At last.
He raised his unusually long white eyebrows and said,
"However, though a martial artist who has completed the Second Rebirth possesses Mental Armor, it only protects the body. Except against creatures like evil spirits that are made purely of souls, they cannot directly attack an enemy's spirit and soul."
"Subtle Mastery!"
Guangfa, who was rather portly and broad-faced, narrowed his eyes. "If a martial artist has reached Subtle Mastery, he can wield Martial Dao Will to destroy an enemy's soul through direct contact, even without completing the Third Rebirth!"
"Second Rebirth, the first gate of Hard Qigong, Subtle Mastery..."
Guangyuan, who had something of a scholar's air, chewed over the information and gave a cold snort. "A person like that wouldn't be an unknown in Guangqing Prefecture!
"Even the wisest can make a misstep!
"This fellow was as ruthless and cautious as they come, but he can never hide his own characteristics. That's the biggest flaw of all!"
One had to admit.
The saying, "Never think you're the only clever one and everyone else is a fool," was absolutely true.
Wu Dao had been cautious enough. He had destroyed the body and left no evidence behind.
Yet Guangshen and the other two.
Had still quickly pieced together a general profile of Wu Dao, the culprit, from a few scattered clues—and they were nearly right.
But.
Wu Dao had expected all of this.
He wasn't too worried.
With only a vague description.
In the vast Guangqing Prefecture, people who fit it were rare but far from unique. They couldn't possibly find him, Wu Dao, in a short time.
Not to mention.
Wu Dao now followed the Stealing Heaven's Secret System. He didn't even have a dantian; strictly speaking, he was a Body Cultivator, not even a martial artist.
The one who killed Mao Ba was the martial artist Wu Dao.
What did the Heaven Stealer Wu Dao have to do with him?
Most importantly.
The Stealing Heavenly Secrets Breathing Technique and the special nature of the Attribute Panel gave him a way to rapidly increase his strength.
By the time Guangshen and the others really found Wu Dao, he would surely have grown stronger still. When that time came, who killed whom would be anyone's guess.
Before you continue