Page 5

He had not made the matter public. Ever since the sect leader had been seriously injured and entered seclusion ten years ago, the situation in the Tianyan Sect had grown complicated, and even the young sect leader's mishap had become something that needed to be carefully concealed.

And now, the motionless Myriad Phenomena Disc also meant that Ling Hezhou's nascent soul spirit had not lasted long enough for them to arrive.

Such was the cultivation world, where the law of the jungle was carried out to its fullest extent.

Ling Tian remained fairly composed, even though Ling Hezhou was a junior brother he had watched grow up. He said, "Even if we can't find his nascent soul spirit, we must find his body. I want to know who killed him."

A great immortal sect like theirs naturally possessed secret treasures that could reconstruct the scenes before a cultivator's death.

Although Ling Hezhou was new to the world, he had carried plenty of spiritual treasures and magical artifacts, including more than one protective artifact. Nor had he been going somewhere dangerous like the Northern Wasteland or Myriad Firmament Continent. How could the entire party have been wiped out, leaving only Ling Hezhou?

The news of Ling Hezhou's death left all the disciples aboard the Flying Boat somewhat dispirited. Finally, a day later, they reached Eastern Mirror Continent.

It took another half day to reach the place where Ling Hezhou had died.

They had come prepared to find that wild beasts had devoured every last scrap of the party's bodies. They had not expected to find burial mounds and grave markers here. The markers were crude, made of wood, but the names were written clearly on them.

One disciple said in surprise, "Someone put up grave markers for them."

Ling Tian said nothing. He took out a secret treasure and tossed it toward the place where the lingering traces of blood were strongest.

Soon, a scene appeared in the air. Details Ling Hezhou and the others had failed to see were exceptionally clear now. The masked man in black had not even lifted a finger. Mist around him condensed into a string of rune-like shapes that shot toward Ling Hezhou and the others at tremendous speed, sinking into their bodies like drops of water merging into the sea. Then they died in all manner of ways.

Throughout the process, none of them showed any sign of pain. They simply died, in an utterly ordinary and utterly ignominious fashion.

There had been no fighting, no clash of spiritual power. In fact, when Ling Hezhou and the others saw the man, most had not even reacted. They had been busy with their own affairs, some adjusting their scabbards, others chatting and laughing, only to become a ground full of dismembered corpses the next second.

Although Ling Hezhou's spiritual root was mediocre and his cultivation had been built up entirely with precious natural resources, his reactions were much faster than the others'. But under the suppression of absolute power, even the fastest reaction was a futile struggle. Thus, he had barely raised his sword before following his fellow disciples to their deaths.

From beginning to end, the man in the ghost mask had never personally struck. He stepped through the remains shrouded in bloody mist and stood there quietly for a while before leaving.

The scene was so shocking that everyone involuntarily sucked in a breath. "What kind of bizarre spell is that? I've never heard of anything like it."

"Is this man a demonic cultivator? But I didn't sense any demonic energy from him."

"It wasn't demonic energy, or spiritual power either. There were no fluctuations of spiritual power."

"Senior Brother Mo died so horribly. That hateful bastard! They had no feud with him. Why be so vicious? Didn't he see their disciple robes? How dare he slaughter disciples of our Tianyan Sect for no reason? Despicable!"

Ling Tian recorded the scene in an Image-Retaining Pearl, his expression grave. Just as Ling Hezhou had sensed, he too could tell that the ghost-masked man's cultivation was not particularly high, only around the sixth stage of the Golden Core Realm. Yet the methods he displayed were stranger and more unpredictable than even those of the Nascent Soul Realm. He had slaughtered six Golden Core Realm cultivators the instant they met. That strength clearly exceeded the Golden Core Realm.

Moreover, the killing method the man had displayed concerned him greatly. Those black runes gave him a deeply ominous feeling.

Since embarking on the path of cultivation, Ling Tian had grown accustomed to partings. Even though the one who had died this time was Ling Hezhou, whom he treated as his own younger brother, he showed no grief. He continued issuing orders calmly. "Dig up the remains of Junior Brother Mo and the others. Take them back to the Tianyan Sect."

Ling Hezhou's death could no longer be concealed. He wanted that man dead.

Ling Hezhou groggily regained consciousness. After a moment of dazed confusion, he realized in astonishment that he was actually still conscious.

That man hadn't killed him?

He looked around. He was no longer inside the Soul-Guarding Pearl, but in a lamp.

Soon, he discovered that he was not the only nascent soul spirit in the lamp. Several others bobbed in the blood-red lamp oil.

"Oh, you're awake." A voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. Ling Hezhou turned to look and saw an exceptionally handsome man who looked very familiar. He could not help swallowing before asking hesitantly, "Are you Senior Brother Qingming?"

The man was not surprised. Smiling, he said, "Yes, that's me. What a coincidence. You still remember me."

Ling Hezhou said, "How could I forget? Senior Brother Qingming, you won first place in last year's Immortal Alliance Grand Tournament!"

His voice was full of shock. "I remember you were already in the Nascent Soul Realm, Senior Brother Qingming. How did you end up here too?"

Qingming's smile faded. He sighed. "It's a long story. I was seriously injured, and that fiend took advantage. What a waste of my exceedingly rare, supreme-grade spiritual root. But for a Golden Core Realm cultivator like you to catch his eye too, your luck really is as good as ever."

Only after hearing this did Ling Hezhou notice that every nascent soul spirit in the pool of blood glowed with golden light. The light sank into their abdominal dantians and circulated on its own. Clearly, they were all nascent soul bodies.

Ling Hezhou: "..."

He asked incredulously, "Isn't that fiend only in the Golden Core Realm? How could he capture so many nascent souls?"

His tone practically said, "How are you all so useless?" It drew furious looks from the other nascent soul bodies.

Qingming covered his mouth and said with a chuckle, "That fiend has no honor. He ambushes people. Who could guard against that?"

Ling Hezhou said no more on that subject, only asking quietly, "Why is that fiend capturing so many nascent soul spirits?"

Qingming shared what he knew. "He seems to use them for cultivation."

Ling Hezhou was stunned. "Cultivating with cultivators' nascent soul spirits? I've never heard of such a thing. Even demonic cultivators don't have a cultivation method like that."

Qingming shrugged. "That, I don't know. This fiend picks one nascent soul spirit to take out each day. He's already taken three."

Ling Hezhou choked up a little and wailed, "What do I do? I don't want to die!"

He thought of Chi Yu and felt miserable. Chi Yu had died because of him. He did not believe the fiend would have spared Chi Yu.

Had he known this would happen, he should never have asked Chi Yu for help. Chi Yu was only a mortal, yet he had died because of him.

Chi Yu had died once, and the age on his panel had jumped from seventeen back to sixteen.

Chi Yu suddenly realized that he only had eighteen lives. After reverting to sixteen, he had also grown a little shorter. Fortunately, the enchanted clothing he had bought at the Jinxiu Pavilion automatically adjusted to the wearer's height and figure, so it still fit perfectly despite his loss of height.

His original plan to go to Xie Xiyi's immortal sect, the Five Aggregates Sect, steadily cultivate, and win Xie Xiyi over had fallen through. Chi Yu could only change his plans.

Calling it a plan was generous. In truth, he was out of tricks.

Chi Yu looked at the panel. After a thorough beating had made it drop a stack of chemistry exam papers the day before yesterday, he had understood: the system was like an old television. Give it a few knocks and it would still work, but he could not ask too much more of it. It was not some overpowered protagonist system, after all.

So Chi Yu gave it another thorough beating and got a feature that could update Xie Xiyi's coordinates at any time.

It also dropped a feature that let him check Xie Xiyi's affection for him. The current affection value was zero.

Chi Yu paid no attention to that. It meant little to him right now.

Although returning to fifteen had not affected his memories, it had a considerable physiological effect. Rationally, he knew that working hard at cultivation was what mattered now, but emotionally, he felt a very strange impulse.

And he could not resist this physiological change, so he headed toward Xie Xiyi.

Xie Xiyi was very far away. Chi Yu could not use the various flying artifacts Ling Hezhou had left him. The first level of qi refining was simply too low a cultivation level. Strictly speaking, he had not even crossed the threshold of cultivation; he could only be considered a little healthier than a mortal.

So Chi Yu could only travel on his own two legs-don't ask whether he could take a carriage. In the cultivation world, people used spirit beasts as mounts, and this sort of spirit beast simply could not be found in a little frontier town like this. He could not rent one even if he wanted to.

Chi Yu traveled practically day and night. In the end, he spotted a rich fellow setting out and talked his way into a ride on his spirit beast mount. Only then did he manage to reach Xie Xiyi's coordinates within two days.

Xie Xiyi's coordinates lay deep in a beautiful mountain landscape. The instant Chi Yu stepped into the area, he noticed something wrong-it was too quiet, so quiet that he could not hear even a single insect.

He lowered his head and saw vast, dark masses of ants crawling outward. Ants in the cultivation world were much larger and had very sharp mouthparts, so they were probably carnivorous. Yet even with Chi Yu standing right in front of them, they ignored him, fleeing and relocating in a blind panic.

Chi Yu's heart pounded so hard it almost leaped into his throat, yet he actually did not feel very frightened.

He strode into the woods.

He brought up the panel. The map became highly detailed, marking the distance between him and Xie Xiyi, along with the quickest route between them.

A forest this dense would normally have been full of wild beasts, but now it was utterly silent. If not for the lush branches and vibrant greenery, anyone would have thought it a land of death.

The distance between them shrank steadily.

When he was a little over a thousand meters away, Chi Yu suddenly stopped. He saw a jade-white sword suspended in the air.

Chi Yu's eyes widened. Before he could react, the jade-white spine sword flew toward him.

Chi Yu closed his eyes in resignation, certain he was about to die.

Yet all he felt was a slight coolness against his face.

His eyes snapped open. The sword was gently rubbing his cheek with its craggy hilt.

Chi Yu: "?"

A trace of doubt appeared in his eyes. He tentatively reached out to grasp the sword. It did not struggle, docilely allowing him to take it in hand.

Chi Yu was utterly stunned. Weren't spiritual swords supposed to acknowledge their masters? Could Xie Xiyi's sword really let someone else take it so easily?

How can you lead a team when everyone's pulling in different directions.jpg

Xie Xiyi, your sword has betrayed you!