The instant the blood arrow shot forth, dazzling sword light enveloped the gloomy man's entire field of vision.
As the light faded, the gloomy man felt the world spinning. A headless body was toppling helplessly toward the ground.
After dealing with the gloomy man, under Bai Yi's Divine Sense, the Heart-Questioning Sword swept up the Bone Staff and the coffin.
"Just a First-Tier Inferior-Grade Demonic Artifact?"
Feeling the aura of the coffin artifact in his hand, Bai Yi was somewhat disappointed.
From its earlier transformation, he had thought it was an extraordinary Demonic Artifact. He had never expected it to be merely an ordinary artifact of the Yinshan Sect, specially made to store zombies.
"An estate left behind by a Foundation Establishment-stage demonic cultivator."
Bai Yi lowered his head in thought, recalling what the gloomy man had said.
Just as that demonic cultivator had understood Bai Yi wouldn't spare his life, Bai Yi wouldn't believe everything the man had said.
To lure him in, and given that the demonic cultivator had appeared here,
there was at least an eighty-percent chance that the claim in his first sentence-that an estate belonging to a Foundation Establishment-stage demonic cultivator lay here-was true.
However, the identity and cultivation of the leader he mentioned afterward, as well as the number of demonic cultivators accompanying him, had probably been concealed.
The Secret Realm was sealed off from the outside world. The only way to contact the Secret Realm management office was to wait for the Secret Realm to open again. That meant he could only watch the opportunity slip away.
"I'll go, but not like this."
Bai Yi silently recited to himself: a Sword Cultivator sought straightness through bends; he naturally had to contend with the world and with others.
He glanced down at the gloomy man's gray robe, already slashed open, then raised his wrist and scanned it with his Terminal.
[Scan complete]
[Simulating appearance]
As the Terminal chimed, Bai Yi's Dao Robe changed again. Moments later, it formed an identical gray robe that covered his figure.
After pulling up the hood, he recalled what he had learned from the gloomy man: those people who hid from place to place had all been gathered together sporadically this time, and they had little contact with one another.
But to be safe, he still didn't plan to show his face.
Once he had done all this, Bai Yi returned to the corpses of Guo Lin and the other two.
After that battle, the three of them had probably stayed behind to rest for a day before happening to encounter the gloomy man.
Though the zombies had devoured all their Essence Blood and flesh, Bai Yi could still see deep longing on Guo Lin's face.
The middle-aged man and woman beside him had still been touching fingertips when they died.
"May you rest in peace beneath the earth."
Bai Yi silently murmured. The Heart-Questioning Sword carved out two deep pits, just as before. After covering the three bodies with a burst of palm force, he headed toward Huanggu Peak.
Four days later
On the plain east of the Blue Mountain Range, a tall mountain rose abruptly from the flat ground, like a massive stone pillar.
Water flowed around its edges, groves dotted the landscape, and the calls of birds and cries of apes rang without end.
As the tallest peak on the eastern side of the Blue Mountain Range, Huangshi Peak was rich in spiritual herbs and mineral deposits. It had long been a favored treasure-hunting spot for Rogue Cultivators in the eastern part of the Blue Mountain Secret Realm.
And in recent days,
the news that an estate belonging to a Foundation Establishment cultivator lay hidden on Huangshi Peak had brought numerous Rogue Cultivators from the eastern part of the Secret Realm flocking there.
"Brother Cheng, I heard this Foundation Establishment cultivator's estate has remained here for countless years, carried along with the Secret Realm."
"If we can get even one or two resources, we might break through to Foundation Establishment. Even if not, we should at least be able to reach Late Qi Refining."
A group of Rogue Cultivators gazed up at Huangshi Peak in the distance, entertaining a few extravagant hopes.
For Rogue Cultivators like them, the cultivation resources the Immortal Alliance handed out by the tens of thousands were simply too much to sustain over the long term.
That was why, despite knowing the Secret Realm was dangerous, those among them who still had ambitions for cultivation kept roaming the Secret Realms between cities.
"We Rogue Cultivators don't have the talent or resources of Academy Dao Students."
"All we have are our lives and our brothers."
"If I really reach Late Qi Refining, I, Lin Cheng, will naturally look after my brothers."
At the front of the group, a burly man with an exposed mechanical exoskeleton on his right arm chimed in. The others immediately burst into laughter.
Though Rogue Cultivators often schemed against one another, people who stayed in the same group for a long time were practically as close as brothers.
Rustle~
Leaves trembled a hundred meters away. The previously laughing group instantly went on high alert. Spiritual Power surged, talismans appeared in their hands, and five or six Magnetic Rifles immediately aimed at the shaking leaves.
Several Unmanned Aerial Vehicles overhead turned their cameras and scanned the surroundings.
A figure in a gray robe with a hood over his head slowly emerged between the treetops.
With his face hidden, Bai Yi's gaze swept over the Rogue Cultivators. He turned and walked toward the foot of Huangshi Peak.
"Hoo~"
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles' physical cameras kept scanning until Bai Yi disappeared from sight. Only then did the group of Rogue Cultivators let out a breath of relief.
"No technological equipment, and he doesn't seem to have any cybernetic implants either."
"He's probably an Academy Dao Student from the Dao Cultivation System. Just don't know what tier of Academy he's from."
Two men in the group, both with artificial eyes, spoke with admiration and envy.
The Dao Cultivation System...
Among Rogue Cultivators in Third-Level Cities, it was practically a vanishing term.
The Dao Cultivation System pursued enlightenment and a return to truth, seeking to transcend the self. Within the Immortal Alliance, it was a path only available to Academy Dao Students, Lineage families, and others with exceptional talent or abundant resources.
Unlike Rogue Cultivators like them, who had to pursue combat strength, these people treated the Qi Refining Stage as no more than a foundation-laying phase.
Whether at a First-Rate, Second-Rate, or even Third-Rate Private Sect, Dao Students had only one goal: Foundation Establishment.
Only beyond Foundation Establishment could one be called an immortal cultivator.
"Don't even think about it. If someone dares to travel alone in the Secret Realm, he's at least a Dao Student nearing graduation from a Third-Rate Academy."
"That's someone we can't compare to."
Lin Cheng patted the young man beside him, who was just one step short of Advanced Dao Studies.
He had cultivated for nearly fifty years and was at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining. Among Dao Students who had graduated from a Third-Rate Sect, that was only above average.
"The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles didn't detect him. He must be carrying a device with a Signal-Blocking Function."
"Let's go. This Foundation Establishment cultivator's estate probably won't be easy to enter."
At the foot of Huangshi Peak
Bai Yi knew nothing of the Rogue Cultivators' musings behind him. At the foot of Huangshi Peak, where people had been scarce before, crowds were now appearing from time to time.
After hearing the news about the estate of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, many Rogue Cultivator groups and lone Rogue Cultivators were arriving at the foot of Huangshi Peak from all directions.
Everyone who came here only grew more solemn when they saw the scene, but not one person turned back.
Even if they had only the slimmest hope, they still wanted to risk one more try for cultivation resources.
"Just as I thought. That demonic cultivator's story had problems."
From a shady corner, Bai Yi scanned the growing number of Rogue Cultivators, his heart tightening.
There were already more than a hundred Rogue Cultivators here. Given the methods of those demonic cultivators, those men had spread the news and lured so many people here...
Just as he was pondering this, a tremor suddenly came from beneath his feet.
A ray of light rose from halfway up Huangshi Peak, then faded away.
"World-Shocking Treasure Light!"
"It must be that Foundation Establishment cultivator's estate!"
In the crowd, a young woman in a gray robe shouted excitedly, then rode a streak of spiritual light toward the mountainside.
Seeing this, the Rogue Cultivators around her, who had come for the estate in the first place, still had their doubts. But they had no time to think it over; they all hurried toward the mountainside.
Before you continue