The Abandoned Residence
As Shentu Hao was about to leave, his attention was suddenly caught by the blood-red wheel of light behind Pang Yue. At that instant, he also caught sight of Zhou Wuchou from the True Sun Sect...
His attack came with the force of thunder, so swift it was almost unimaginable.
Ye Xue and the other three had no time to react.
Even Meng Zitao, who was always the most adept at preserving his own life, was half a beat too slow this time and failed to bring out his Earth-Rending Golden Light Talisman.
At the bow of the boat, Pang Yue stood firm. The moment the blade light closed in on him, a gray-white stone axe suddenly appeared before him.
The terrifying blade strike crashed down on the stone axe, which quivered ever so slightly, instantly shattering the blade light into countless streams of fire.
In the next instant.
A massive gray-white axe shadow erupted forth!
The phantom edge of the axe swept across Shentu Hao’s body in the blink of an eye, cleaving this once arrogant direct disciple of the Mystic Gate into two!
Their exchange was faster than lightning.
In the space of a finger snap, victory and defeat were decided.
Life and death in a single moment.
Everyone present stared at the scene in stunned disbelief.
The very Shentu Hao who had just dominated the five great direct disciples of the Demon Talisman Sect and slain one of them—was he really struck down by a single axe?
The crowd waited a few breaths longer, but Shentu Hao made no further move. Only then did they accept that what they had just seen was indeed real.
Pang Yue still stood at the bow, his spiritual power completely drained by the Primordial Yang Axe. At this moment, even a mere Qi-Refining cultivator could seriously injure him.
He looked at Shentu Hao’s corpse, his expression shifting slightly.
Then, before their eyes, Shentu Hao’s bisected body caught fire without wind, quickly turning to ash and vanishing from sight.
A strange ripple spread outward into the distance.
The third-rank artifact, the Sharktooth Fiery Blade, also trembled violently, tore open the void, and shot off into the distance.
Ye Xue and the others recovered themselves and tried to intercept it, but it was too late.
“The art of death substitution, is it?”
Only Pang Yue, his face grave, gazed at where Shentu Hao had vanished.
In his spiritual perception, Shentu Hao was not dead.
He had used a supreme secret art to escape death.
A vague intuition told him that somewhere else in this secret realm, Shentu Hao had survived in some mysterious fashion.
“It must be that legendary supreme body refinement technique...”
Pang Yue turned the thought over in his mind, faintly grasping the crux of it.
If he encountered Shentu Hao again, he feared it would not be so easy to deal with him.
Meng Zitao deftly flew out, retrieved Shentu Hao’s storage pouch, and presented it to Pang Yue.
He said nothing, but the admiration on his face was unmistakable.
“Stand guard for me.”
Pang Yue gave a brief instruction, then immediately took out a Heavenly Dust Pill and sat down to restore his spiritual power.
...
“Did you see that artifact’s phantom just now... did you get a clear look?”
Beneath the towering cliff, the stunningly beautiful cultivators Luo Qingyuan and Ye Xue stood side by side.
Ye Xue cast a deep, lingering gaze at Pang Yue, who was still seated in meditation recovering his power in the distance. “How could I have been mistaken? It must have been a fourth-rank artifact. Otherwise, how could it have broken through Shentu Hao’s defense?”
Luo Qingyuan sighed softly, “I invited him in on a whim, and never expected such an outcome... A fourth-rank artifact—those can only be forged by masters at the Nascent Soul stage.”
In theory, if a dozen generations of Golden Core cultivators were to sincerely refine an artifact over ten thousand years, they might manage to create a fourth-rank one.
But... the price would be enormous.
This shows just how precious high-rank artifacts are!
Even Golden Core masters would stake their lives for a fourth- or fifth-rank artifact.
“I heard he’s from the Xu family. Who could have imagined that, aside from Xu Wentian, the Xu family had produced such a figure too.”
“It’s just a pity—he may not be able to keep that artifact.”
Ye Xue spoke coolly.
Luo Qingyuan shook her head. “That may not be certain. If he becomes a direct disciple...”
Beneath the cliff, the Demon Talisman Sect disciples were abuzz, their conversation revolving almost entirely around Pang Yue.
...
Deep within the Primeval Secret Realm, inside a certain mountain cave.
A brazier stood on the ground, its flames flickering uncertainly.
Suddenly, the fire leapt up, violently surging skyward with a crackling roar.
Within the flames, a cluster of spiritual light appeared!
First, countless white powders formed a skeleton, then dark red and green veins wound ever thicker around the bones...
A tall humanoid figure began to take shape.
Countless motes of spiritual light formed organs, muscles, and skin.
In a moment.
Shentu Hao, his body reconstituted, stepped out of the brazier.
His aura was so weak that he seemed even less than a newly initiated Foundation Establishment cultivator.
The wavering fire cast deep shadows on his face, making his expression all the more sullen.
...
Within an ancient cave-dwelling.
The five from Profound Mystery Island were gathered, laying down an array around a stone coffin.
Linghu Ming produced a piece of purple-gold kasaya, and addressed a tall man in blue robes beside him, “Brother Lu, the array is ready. We can begin at any time... Is the ancient Buddhist treasure really inside this coffin?”
The blue-robed man frowned. “For some reason, I feel a foreboding in my heart... Brother Linghu, but it’s too late for regrets—we have no other choice.”
Linghu Ming nodded. “Perhaps the high-level artifact has a spirit, which is disturbing our spiritual awareness?”
The blue-robed man shook his head and waved his hand. “There’s no use overthinking. Let’s begin. The glacial tide of the Heaven’s End Icefield is approaching, and we have little time left.”
...
Beneath the cliff.
Ye Xue announced the mission for the assembled Demon Talisman Sect disciples.
A thousand years ago, disciples of the Demon Talisman Sect discovered the ruins of the Nine Nether Demon Sect within the Heaven’s End Icefield.
The Nine Nether Demon Sect was a great demon sect of ancient times, still recorded and remembered in the present cultivation world.
At its height, the sect boasted thirteen Nascent Soul masters and was renowned throughout the land.
But with the passage of time, the Nine Nether Demon Sect could not escape decline and was gradually lost to the river of history.
Within the cliff before them lay one of the sect’s ancient ruins, which contained one of its four great inheritances—the “Ten Directions Frozen Demon Path!”
According to deductions by the sect’s Golden Core elders, this was a complete Nascent Soul-level inheritance, of immense significance to the Demon Talisman Sect, and especially to the Hall of the Ice Demon.
The Hall Master of the Ice Demon had personally initiated this mission, sending his personal disciple Ye Xue to lead cultivators from all five halls.
At present.
Thirty-nine disciples had safely reached the cliff.
Their sole task: upon entering the ruins, use every possible method, exhaust every possible means, to obtain the inheritance of the “Ten Directions Frozen Demon Path.”
“Our predecessors have searched through many cycles of the Primeval Secret Realm and finally discovered the way to open these ruins.”
“Of all the other great powers who have come here, every last one has been eliminated by our sect—including Shentu Hao of the True Sun Sect!”
“Thus, up to now, no one but our sect’s cultivators knows of this place.”
Ye Xue’s voice was clear and measured as she spoke.
“Everyone, follow me.”
With that, she raised a small flag and struck it against the cliff. Spiritual light rippled out, and a passageway opened.
Beyond the passage, clouds of multicolored mist encircled the scene, faintly revealing a celestial mountain and pavilions beyond.
Ye Xue took the lead, ascending in flight into the passageway.
The others followed in quick succession.