Inside a Yuelai Inn below Golden Mountain Temple, a longsword lay on a small table near the window. Beside it sat a man in a long white robe, with high brows and striking eyes and a black ring on his right hand. He stared at the food before him without taking a single bite.
The man picked up his cup and took a sip of wine. "Uncle Fu, is the Sword God's inheritance you mentioned really beneath Golden Mountain Temple?"
"Of course. A thousand years ago, before Golden Mountain Temple was built, this was where the Sword God's coffin lay. Knowing that old ghost's temperament, he would definitely have left an inheritance." The ring gave off a green light, but the voice sounded very weak.
"But Golden Mountain Temple is heavily guarded, with experts as numerous as clouds. How am I supposed to get in?"
Uncle Fu, inside the ring, did not answer. Teleporting with Zhao Li last time had already consumed a great deal of his mental power. He was now so weak that even speaking a sentence required a long rest, and he had no way to help Zhao Li.
Zhao Li narrowed his eyes, a trace of surprise flashing through them. A bloody smell drifted through the doors and windows, coming from the direction of Golden Mountain Temple. Although this Yuelai Inn stood below Golden Mountain Temple, it was still over a dozen li away. For the smell of blood to reach here, something momentous must have happened at the temple.
He picked up his longsword and vanished from the inn in an instant. Seeing the guest disappear, the waiter was just about to shout for the innkeeper when he spotted a silver ingot on the table where Zhao Li had been sitting. He scurried over eagerly and picked it up.
Zhao Li sped toward Golden Mountain Temple. Figures thronged the way, and even Martial Emperor Realm cultivators were flying toward the temple. The smell of blood was so strong that even ordinary people could smell it. Countless figures rushed toward Golden Mountain Temple from every direction. Even some ordinary people behind them were running toward the temple.
The crowd hurried to Golden Mountain Temple's mountain gate and saw two corpses lying on either side. Their heads had been severed from their bodies, clearly cut apart with a single saber stroke.
Someone cried out in shock, "These two were both reception monks of Golden Mountain Temple, with cultivation at least at the Martial King level. Yet they died right at the mountain gate. What on earth happened to Golden Mountain Temple?"
Smelling the increasingly heavy stench of blood drifting from within, the crowd had no time to say anything else and stepped through the mountain gate together.
The moment they entered, the thick stench of blood struck them in the face as though it had substance. Corpses covering the mountainside filled their vision, with mutilated remains strewn everywhere. Little rivers of blood even flowed across the ground. It was like walking into hell.
"Ugh... urgh!"
"Ugh... urgh!"
Some female cultivators immediately crouched down and began dry-heaving. As they retched, they suddenly screamed. A lone eyeball lay right where they had been vomiting.
Although the cultivation world was cruel to begin with, seeing something so bloody all at once was still hard to bear. Even some battle-hardened Martial Emperor experts frowned deeply. Golden Mountain Temple's condition was simply too horrific.
"Who had such gall to come to Golden Mountain Temple and kill people? Aren't they afraid Holy Monk Wufa will kill-ah, how is this possible?" A Martial King Realm expert had been about to say something, but suddenly stopped, pointing in one direction with a trembling finger.
Everyone looked where he pointed. A two-meter-tall monk knelt amid the ruins. There was a round hole where his heart had been. His eyes had yet to close and were filled with hatred, but there was no life left in him.
Cries of shock immediately rang out all around. "How is this possible? Who could have killed Holy Monk Wufa?"
"Even Holy Monk Wufa was killed. Could Golden Mountain Temple have been slaughtered to the last person?"
"Impossible. Even if Holy Monk Wufa is dead, there's still Holy Monk Wuwo. He's on the Heaven Ranking, a Martial Emperor Realm expert. Just who had such gall?"
Exclamations of astonishment rang out without end. Everyone was shaken by Wufa's death. After all, Wufa was the second-ranked expert on the Earth Ranking and was very likely to break through to the Martial Emperor Realm within ten years. Yet now someone had gouged out his heart, and he had died inside Golden Mountain Temple.
Several Martial Emperors were the first to regain their composure and slowly walked deeper into Golden Mountain Temple. Zhao Li followed them. Corpses lay everywhere along the way, including many eminent monks renowned in the outside world, such as Holy Monk Wukong, tenth on the Earth Ranking, Holy Monk Wuxuan, seventeenth on the Earth Ranking, and Master Liaofan, third on the Human Ranking.
Just as they reached the entrance to the main hall, the Martial Emperors ahead suddenly stopped, trembling all over. Zhao Li followed their gazes, and even he began trembling in fright. In the direction they were looking stood a huge stone stele, about ten meters tall. Holy Monk Wuwo, known as a Heaven Ranking expert at the Martial Emperor Realm, had been pinned to it with a sword, his entire body covered in blood, no breath remaining.
Several large, blood-red characters were written on the stele: "By the Sect Leader's command, first slaughter Golden Mountain Temple." In the lower right corner were several smaller characters: "Erected by Liansheng of the Demon Sect."
"It was the Demon Sect! It really was the Demon Sect! How dare they? How could they slaughter Golden Mountain Temple? Aren't they afraid of retaliation from the righteous path?"
"Exactly. Does the Demon Sect really think they're invincible under heaven?"
One of the Martial Emperors cupped his hands toward the others. "Everyone, I must return to my sect at once to report this news. I will take my leave."
With that, he turned and sped out of Golden Mountain Temple. The other Martial Emperors also swiftly left. This news had to be spread as soon as possible.
By evening, Golden Mountain Temple was deserted, with only the lingering stench of blood remaining.
A figure appeared atop the main hall, a longsword on his back. "Uncle Fu, are you sure the Sword God's inheritance is down below?"
"Don't worry, Zhao Li. I can already smell him. Crush the bead in your hand, and you'll be able to enter his tomb."
Hearing this, Zhao Li crushed the bead in his hand. Faint spatial fluctuations surrounded him. He looked toward Holy Monk Wuwo on the nearby stone stele, a jumble of all five flavors in his heart.
Not long ago, he had still been wondering how to enter Golden Mountain Temple, even considering how to lure Holy Monk Wuwo away so he could sneak in unnoticed. He had never expected that, in less than half a day, he would enter Golden Mountain Temple openly, but the price was the destruction of the entire temple.
Before Zhao Li could think any further, space formed a vortex and swallowed him directly. The vortex slowly settled, and every trace vanished.
Not long after Zhao Li disappeared, a faint sound came from beneath a collapsed side hall nearby. It grew louder and louder until the rubble was finally pushed aside, and two figures crawled out. One was a monk dressed in monastic robes, and the other was a woman wearing a blue shirt.
The woman's face was covered in tear tracks, and she kept weeping. The robed monk beside her also wore a sorrowful expression, but he still spoke to console her. "Benefactor, please restrain your grief."
Hearing him, the woman stopped crying and looked at the monk. "Master Liaoyu, everyone is dead. My senior brother is dead too. Why did this happen?"
"This poor monk does not know why either. But the fiends of the Demon Sect slaughtered my Golden Mountain Temple. One day, this poor monk will have his revenge."
"Master Liaoyu, I'm going back to the Great Yu Dynasty to find my master. Will you come with me?"
"No. This poor monk must bury everyone in the temple. Afterward, I will wander the world and cultivate means to vanquish demons."