This was the first time Fang Hong had ever killed a person.
Strangely, his heart remained as still as unruffled water.
Perhaps killing so many demon wolves in that cave had unknowingly built up a considerable amount of ferocity within him. Killing the Ghost King Sect cultivator this time felt much like killing a demonic beast.
He calmly removed the storage pouch from the Ghost King Sect cultivator's body, finished mining the remaining Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals on the mountaintop, and only then drifted away.
Heavy snow swirled down, soon burying the Ghost King Sect cultivator's remains.
Fang Hong rode his escape light through the wind and snow. The candle flame in his Fate Mirror still blazed high; clearly, those Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals had not been the true source of great fortune.
As he traveled, he broke the restriction on the storage pouch in his hand and inspected his gains.
Apart from a dozen or so Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals and roughly a hundred spirit stones, it contained some first-tier talismans and pills produced by the Yunchuan Fang Household, along with a Cloud-Patterned Black Iron Flying Knife. They were probably Fang Li's belongings.
There was also a mourning staff steeped in sinister ghostly energy, clearly a Ghost King Sect magical artifact.
The cold within this secret realm was astonishing. Among the two hundred-odd people sent in this time, some were bound to lack enough talismans and pills to withstand it for long. If their luck was worse still and they failed to find a hundred Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals in time, they could only freeze to death here.
Thus, someone was bound to risk killing others for their treasures.
As for the treasure tree the Ghost King Sect cultivator had mentioned, Fang Hong paid it no mind, treating it as nothing more than a pretext to approach him and launch a surprise attack.
Even if he truly missed the chance to learn that treasure tree's whereabouts, it did not matter. With his Fate Mirror talent, he only needed to head toward great fortune, and the result should not be too far off.
Deep within the secret realm lay a rift valley, its cliffs on both sides covered in ice.
Two female cultivators in pale yellow dresses, with slender, graceful figures and soft, alluring demeanors, were flying through the valley against the wind and snow.
Both women were enveloped in a hazy layer of fiery light, which flickered unsteadily beneath the surrounding cold's assault.
"This wretched secret realm. All we've run into along the way are demonic beasts, not a single male cultivator..." one woman complained with a frown. "There were clearly so many male cultivators in the hall earlier."
"What kind of entrance test is this? Shouldn't a test for us female cultivators of the Wonderful Sound Pavilion take place between the sheets?"
The more she spoke, the angrier she became.
The other woman surveyed their surroundings as she said, "Stop complaining. We have few Scarlet Fire Pills left. Finding Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals as soon as possible would be more practical."
"Wasn't I hoping to find a male cultivator and ask him for help? With our seductive arts, wouldn't handling a mere mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator be as easy as reaching out and grabbing him?"
The woman in front pictured it with a giggle.
The other female cultivator glanced at her. "Everyone in this secret realm can barely fend for themselves now. With life and death at stake, who would let beauty lead them astray?"
"Not necessarily. I saw plenty of aristocratic clan scions in the hall. They certainly wouldn't lack treasures. They'd only need to give us a few for protection, and we wouldn't have to struggle so hard... Oh! There are Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals over there!"
As they spoke, both noticed several enormous blocks of ice jutting up in the distance and were immediately overjoyed.
They hurried over, lowered their escape lights, and each pulled a hairpin from her hair. Casting spells to send them out, they began piercing the enormous blocks of ice.
Just then, something suddenly changed!
Several dark green demon vines shot out of thin air. Like nimble snakes, they silently coiled around the two women.
"Ah!"
The women screamed together, but it was too late.
The dark green demon vines crept up their long, slender legs, deftly winding around and tightening over their smooth, delicate waists, proud breasts, and fair necks!
In mere moments, the women were bound tightly from head to toe.
They struggled and begged for mercy repeatedly, their delicate cries unceasing, but it did them no good.
Countless sharp thorns silently sprouted from the demon vines, piercing the women's protective spiritual light in an instant.
The women felt their bodies go numb. First, poison invaded them, leaving them aching, numb, and powerless; then they felt the demon vines ravenously devouring their vital blood.
The next moment, several strange flowers slowly bloomed on the vines, looking exceptionally bewitching and uncanny.
In less than an incense stick's worth of time, the women had become desiccated corpses. The cold then ate into them, frost gathering until they resembled two skeletons of ice and snow.
The demon vines slowly released the women, then vanished into thin air.
At the edge of the rift valley, Su Yao stood amid the wind and snow in a white dress. Its hem fluttered in the wind, outlining her shapely, long legs.
Her search for Ice-Soul Mystic Crystals had brought her here, just in time to witness what had happened in the valley.
"A top-grade first-tier invisibility talisman..."
Her dark brows drew together slightly as she hesitated over whether to seize those enormous blocks of ice at the bottom of the valley.
The demon vines' master was protected by an invisibility talisman. Not only did it conceal their form, but even their aura and fluctuations of magical power were difficult to detect.
A direct magical confrontation would put her at a severe disadvantage, but bombarding a wide area with several lightning spells should force them to reveal themselves...
Suddenly, her expression shifted. A three-petaled plum blossom spirit pattern appeared between her smooth, fair brows, instantly lending her exquisite, coldly beautiful face a touch of sanctity and elegance.
She seemed to sense something and turned to look into the distance, her beautiful eyes shining.
"The Ice-Soul Treasure Tree..."
She murmured to herself and moved. Countless petals seemed to surround her as she rose silently into the air and flew straight toward the distant sky.
Fang Hong arrived before a mountain a thousand zhang tall.
The cold here was even fiercer than below. The spiritual energy within his previous protective talisman had already been exhausted, so he replaced it with a fresh one.
He flew to the summit and saw a treasure tree growing beside the sheer cliff ahead. Its old trunk was thick, its gnarled branches twisted and coiled. The trunk and branches were translucent as jade, while ice crystals adorned its crown, making it magnificent beyond compare.
Three brilliantly glowing fruits hung from its branches. They looked only fist-sized, with auspicious light suffusing their interiors. Even from afar, he could smell an extraordinary fragrance that refreshed his heart and soul.
He came beneath the tree, and the candle flame in the Fate Mirror within his sea of consciousness immediately blazed brightly.
But when he rose to pick the three spirit fruits, his fingers closed on empty air!
All three spirit fruits seemed like phantoms, without any substance.
"What... is this playing me?"
With a peculiar expression, Fang Hong studied the treasure tree carefully and tried several more times, failing every time.
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he circled the treasure tree several times, at a loss for what to do.
Just then, a speck of light appeared amid the wind-driven snow, drawing closer from afar.
His expression sharpened. Holding an Immobilization Talisman and a flying sword ready in his hand, he looked up.
The ball of spiritual light rapidly approached, growing larger before descending from the sky. Its radiance flashed and faded, revealing a coldly beautiful female cultivator with a graceful, shapely figure.
It was none other than Su Yao.
"It's you!"
Once Su Yao saw that the person beneath the tree was Fang Hong, she reined in her killing intent, and regret appeared on her face.
She had arrived one step too late.
Fang Hong looked at the plum blossom mark between Su Yao's brows, his gaze turning slightly peculiar.
If someone else were here, would she have killed them for their treasure just now? How did I fail to notice before that this woman was so ruthless...?
Smiling, he said to Su Yao, "Little Sister Yao, there's something strange about this treasure tree. The spirit fruits on it seem both real and illusory. They're difficult to touch and impossible to pick."
Su Yao glanced at the treasure tree's spirit fruits without finding anything odd. "These Ice Soul Spirit Fruits aren't ripe yet. In a few more days, once they ripen, they can be picked."
Before you continue