The Ultimate Realm killing move-Wind Falls Silent, Leaving No Trace.
The saber sliced through the air without making a sound.
The ninth-layer internal force the old man took such pride in was nothing before that invisible saber light.
A fine line of blood appeared across the old man's throat. His eyes widened, and both hands clamped desperately around his neck.
It was useless.
Not only his windpipe had been severed, but his thick carotid arteries as well. Dark red blood gushed wildly through his fingers.
The old man toppled backward, stiff as a board, his eyes still wide in death.
Dead silence fell over the woods.
The surviving Demon Suppression Guard's legs went weak, and he collapsed into the muddy water. A strong stench of urine rose from his crotch.
Su Yu shook the blood droplets off his black-and-gold saber, his cold gaze sweeping over the terrified Demon Suppression Guard.
"Go back and tell Lin Xiao."
"The Liu Family colluded with the Demon God Cult and attempted to ambush and kill the special envoy."
"Liu Ying committed treason. I executed her on the spot."
"Y-yes... yes..."
The man scrambled out of the dense woods on all fours, wishing his parents had given him two more legs. He did not even dare look back.
Su Yu turned around.
Amid the ruined temple, Yue Rao had already straightened up.
The fatal wound on her neck had closed completely, a layer of pale red new flesh replacing the torn, exposed tissue.
The pill the old man had thrown her had not only saved her life, but also undone the seal inside her.
Extremely dense blood Qi surged out of her body. The wave of force instantly shattered the rotting leaves on the ground.
The peak of the Mortal Realm Ninth Layer!
She was only half a step away from forming a Qi vortex and entering the Spirit Realm.
Tang Shan staggered back several steps. Only after his back slammed into a dead tree trunk did he barely manage to steady himself.
He could not withstand the pressure of that unleashed blood Qi. This woman had been pretending all along!
Yue Rao tore off her dust-covered, tattered outer garment, exposing broad stretches of snowy skin to the cold, clammy air.
She no longer tried to appear seductive. Pure malice showed in her eyes.
"That old man was trash, but he still forced you to use your full strength."
Yue Rao tapped the ground with her toes, her body floating lightly into the air. Nauseating purple-black poison Qi curled around her fingertips.
"Defeating the ninth layer from the eighth-you really are a monster."
"But I refuse to believe your blood Qi hasn't run dry!"
The instant her words fell, Yue Rao vanished from where she stood.
Swish!
A pale purple afterimage streaked through the air, a good deal faster than the hunchbacked old man had been.
This was an unrestrained, full-power burst from the peak of the ninth layer.
The next instant.
A palm wreathed in purple-black poison Qi appeared silently behind Su Yu's head.
The Ghost Shadow Sect's secret supreme technique, the Bone-Eroding Soft Palm. A touch rotted flesh and dissolved bones into liquid.
Tang Shan had no time to shout a warning. The poisonous palm was only three inches from Su Yu's scalp.
Without turning his head, Su Yu stamped his right foot down, cracking the bluestone slab beneath him.
His major-accomplishment Prison-Suppressing Demon-Subduing Art circulated at full speed, turning the blood Qi inside him into a fiercely burning furnace.
He drew his right arm back. His powerful muscle fibers swelled instantly, ripping apart the fabric of his sleeve.
Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist!
Violence taken to its extreme needed no aiming.
He turned.
He punched.
Fist and poisonous palm collided in midair without any flourish.
Boom!
A dull sonic blast thundered out, and the wave of force uprooted the surrounding bushes.
The smugness on Yue Rao's face froze instantly.
A destructive force of incomprehensible purity tore through her protective Spiritual Qi like a gale sweeping through rotten wood.
Crack!
A scalp-prickling sound of splintering bone rang out. Yue Rao's right forearm folded into a horrifying ninety-degree angle.
Her scream was forcibly trapped in her throat as she flew backward faster than she had come.
She slammed into one of the ruined temple's remaining support pillars. The stone pillar collapsed with a crash, burying her beneath broken bricks and shattered tiles.
One move.
Crushed beneath absolute physical might, this so-called ninth-layer peak had not lasted even a single exchange.
The sword in Tang Shan's hand fell to the ground with a clang.
The broken bricks were pushed aside.
Yue Rao crawled out, coughing blood. Her right arm hung limply from her shoulder, pale bone shards piercing her skin.
The way she looked at Su Yu had completely changed, as though she were looking at an indescribably terrifying demon god.
The force of that punch had been even more terrifying than what he had used against the old man!
This monster had no period of weakness at all!
Saber in hand, Su Yu stepped over the rubble toward her.
"Stay back!"
Yue Rao's composure broke completely. She shrieked and shrank backward. Seduction had been useless, playing dead had been useless, and a direct clash had only ended with her being crushed by a single punch.
Every trump card she possessed had been smashed to pieces.
"I know where the Ghost Shadow Sect's treasury is!"
"There's countless gold and silver inside, and over a hundred high-level martial arts manuals!"
"Spare me, and I'll take you there!"
Su Yu stopped in front of Yue Rao.
He raised his foot and planted it precisely on her left kneecap.
He pressed down hard.
Crunch.
Her kneecap was crushed into fragments, and another piercing scream rang through Black Wind Valley.
"I don't like running around the map hunting for treasure."
Su Yu's voice was flat.
He raised the black-and-gold saber high.
The sharp blade reflected Yue Rao's horribly contorted face. She felt the very real shadow of death.
The madman before her had no taboos. He did not even want to hear another word of nonsense!
"I swear!"
Yue Rao roared with all her remaining strength.
"I swear on my heart demon that I won't breathe a word of what happened today!"
"I have a Spirit Realm Spirit Refinement cultivation art!"
Ring.
The blade stopped an inch before Yue Rao's nose. A few severed strands of hair drifted to the ground.
Su Yu lowered his gaze.
A Spirit Refinement cultivation art.
After reaching the Mortal Realm Ninth Layer, martial artists needed to practice a Spirit Realm cultivation art to break through. These arts fell into three categories—Body Refinement, Qi Refinement, and Spirit Refinement—which also corresponded to the paths martial artists would follow in their subsequent cultivation.
Of these, Spirit Refinement arts were the most mysterious and scarce. They were usually held by the greatest aristocratic families and never circulated on the market.
"Hand it over."
Yue Rao did not dare hesitate.
With her still-functional left hand, she shakily drew a green jade slip, still warm from her body, out of her undergarment.
A faint, obscure glimmer of Spiritual Qi flowed over the jade slip's surface. Su Yu reached out and took it.
An icy system notification immediately sounded in his mind.
[Spirit Realm Spirit Refinement cultivation art detected: Spirit-Seizing Art] [Grade: Spirit Realm, low grade]
It was genuine.
Su Yu tucked the jade slip into his robes.
Yue Rao let out a heavy breath of relief, thinking she had finally bought her life with her trump card.
"I promise I'll go far away. What happened today, I..."
Slash!
Black-and-gold saber light poured down, and a head shot into the sky.
Blood spurted more than two meters high from the severed neck, staining the surviving Buddha statue beside her crimson.
Yue Rao's head rolled far across the ground, her face still carrying the relief of having escaped death, mixed with shock.
Su Yu flicked his wrist, shaking the blood off the blade, then sheathed his saber.
"Oaths are something only the dead can keep one hundred percent."
Pleasant system notifications sounded in succession in his mind.
[Killed Yue Rao, peak of the Mortal Realm Ninth Layer. Slaughter Points gained: 100]
The ambush in the wilderness had come to a definitive end.
Su Yu turned toward Tang Shan, who was still standing in a daze.
"Go harvest the Bone Demon materials."
"Clean up the battlefield!"
Tang Shan gave a violent start.
The awe in his eyes as he looked at Su Yu instantly reached its utmost limit.
He had taken the cultivation art, then killed her to silence her!
Ruthless, decisive, without the slightest hesitation or delay!
"Yes! Brother Su!"
Even the way he addressed him had changed without his realizing it.
In a world where human lives were worth no more than weeds, following someone this ruthless offered a better chance of survival.
Sword in hand, Tang Shan hurried over and began efficiently dismembering the two enormous Bone Demon corpses.
Su Yu walked over to a clean bluestone step and sat down.
He sank his awareness into his mind, and the system panel unfolded before his eyes.
Including his previous balance, the number in the Slaughter Points field had reached an extraordinarily substantial sum.
[Current Slaughter Points: 410]
This was a vast reserve of resources, enough to bring about a qualitative transformation in him.
Su Yu looked at the number on the panel, then fixed his gaze on the cultivation arts section.
"Next, it's time to improve across the board."