Chapter 1179: Slaying Heart Ancient Realm

"How did he die?" Xue Xue Xue Xue Xue Shilou wondered, puzzled. The Carefree Wanderer was famed throughout the far north for his footwork—his Carefree Step was unfathomable and unmatched in the world. Defeating him was nearly impossible; killing him was even harder.

I haven't yet grasped the supreme sword technique from the harrowing method, so how did the Carefree Wanderer die right at his own doorstep?

With the Carefree Wanderer dead, the position of chief among the Spirit Transformation stage cultivators in the far north now falls to me.

Passing the second trial was utterly bewildering.

"I don't know." Earlier, Lu Yang had been cultivating in his room and hadn't noticed any outside disturbance.

Lu Yang turned to ask the Immortal Maiden in his mental space.

"Immortal Maiden, do you know how the Carefree Wanderer died?"

"Suicide." The Immortal Maiden stated firmly.

Lu Yang gazed at the Carefree Wanderer, whose body bore not a single uninjured spot, and fell into deep thought.

"Fellow Daoist Xue, lend a hand—let's bury the Carefree Wanderer properly."

"Ah, oh."

Lu Yang and Xue Xue Xue Xue Xue Shilou lifted the Carefree Wanderer's corpse and carried it to the tree by Lu Yang's room door.

Conveniently, beneath that tree lay the corpse of Luo Shi, a Foundation Establishment assassin from the Ghost Slaying Alliance. Luo Shi, upon learning his body would now rest alongside that of the former peak Spirit Transformation stage Carefree Wanderer, would surely die content.

"Old Lu, did something happen out there……"

Meng Jingzhou stepped out of his room, seeing Lu Yang and Xue Xue Xue Xue Xue Shilou carrying an unfamiliar corpse, one in front and one behind.

"I saw nothing—I'm heading back."

"Cut the nonsense—come help."

"Tsk."

Meng Jingzhou had no choice but to pick up the Carefree Wanderer's right arm and place it on the corpse.

Lu Yang produced three iron shovels, one each, and began digging.

Meng Jingzhou and Xue Xue Xue Xue Xue Shilou had never done such rough work; their movements were somewhat clumsy, whereas Lu Yang's actions were practiced by comparison.

Xue Xue Xue Xue Xue Shilou pondered: Could this be the true purpose of the iron shovel? Had my earlier contemplations been misguided?

Since I've already passed the second trial, I must now devote myself fully to comprehending a technique uniquely my own.

"I was wondering why this tree by your gate grows so lush—turns out it's well-fed." Meng Jingzhou spoke while digging the grave, adding, "This method is rather unique, not easy to imitate."

Deputy City Lord Ma heard the subordinate's report, his face dark enough to drip water, frightening the subordinate into holding his breath.

"Any Spirit Transformation stage cultivator who escaped my grasp must be the Carefree Wanderer!"

"Still no trace of that scoundrel? Damn it—let him get away!"

The Carefree Wanderer's threatening words before his departure echoed in his mind; he couldn't remain vigilant against him forever. Deputy City Lord Ma slammed the table in fury: "Find him—even if I have to dig three feet deep, I want him out!"

Mu Xue City sealed its gates for ten days, conducting a citywide search for the Carefree Wanderer—found nothing.

Clearly, the soldiers of Mu Xue City had not strictly enforced Deputy City Lord Ma's order; they had not dug three feet deep.

……

Wan Hun Cliff.

A rope was tied to a boulder, dangling to the cliff's base. Su Yuan gripped the rope nervously, awaiting movement from the other end.

Suddenly the rope trembled; Su Yuan focused his spirit and hastily pulled it up.

Su Yuan, judging by the rope's sway, felt the person at the other end climbing up with great speed.

A figure flashed past, tumbled several times in midair, and landed steadily.

It was Fang Zhi Ge!

"Three days—you finally came up. If you hadn't, I'd have gone to Lu Lao Shi for help. Zhi Ge, how was it? Any gains?"

The usually stern Fang Zhi Ge rare-ly showed a cheerful smile: "I passed!"

"That's wonderful!"

Hearing Fang Zhi Ge's reply, Su Yuan couldn't help but recall recent events.

The voice within his body told him that by devouring the Ghost Slaying Alliance leader's soul, he had learned of an ancient secret realm named the Slaying Heart Ancient Realm.

The Slaying Heart Ancient Realm was the opportunity that enabled the Ghost Slaying Alliance leader's early rise; he passed its first trial and obtained the fragmented Slaying Heart Scripture, thus becoming the feared assassin.

He fled to Mu Xue City, also intending to rise again by passing the realm's subsequent trials.

And the Slaying Heart Ancient Realm lies at the deepest part of Wan Hun Cliff.

However, to enter the Slaying Heart Ancient Realm, one must possess the Slaying Heart. That voice had repeatedly tempted Su Yuan to kill, but he firmly refused each time.

Left with no choice, the voice resorted to second best: have Su Yuan contact Fang Zhi Ge, who possesses the Slaying Heart and thus qualifies to enter the Slaying Heart Ancient Realm, with profits split fifty-fifty afterward.

Fang Zhi Ge and Su Yuan discussed at length, made thorough preparations, and then set out to storm Wan Hun Cliff.

The voice could tell Fang Zhi Ge was a Qi Cultivation Grand Perfection cultivator; should Fang Zhi Ge gain benefits and then turn hostile, the voice could conveniently claim to be saving Su Yuan as an excuse to seize control of the body.

Fang Zhi Ge had no intention of turning hostile; per agreement, he listed his gains from the Slaying Heart Ancient Realm.

"The Slaying Heart Ancient Realm should be the遗迹 of an ancient assassin grandmaster, with no descendants or inheritors—he set up the secret realm hoping to pass on her legacy."

"The ancient realm has three trials total; I was fortunate enough to pass all three."

Fang Zhi Ge spoke lightly, but Su Yuan could see fear in his eyes as he said this—clearly, the three trials were not easy to pass.

"This Slaying Heart Scripture is mine to cultivate—I won't give it to you."

Fang Zhi Ge produced an ancient scripture, also the cultivation method of that ancient assassin.

"Good."

"Since the Slaying Heart Scripture is mine, these spirit stones and techniques—you get sixty percent."

"Actually, I also obtained something from the ancient realm—I don't know what it is, and the inheritance memories say nothing about it."

"What is it?"

Fang Zhi Ge unwrapped the bundle on his back: a long, three-foot ice coffin.

Su Yuan only then noticed that Fang Zhige was still carrying a bundle, even though he hadn't been carrying one when he went down.

"This ice chest can't be put into a storage ring, and it's also sealed—I don't know how to open it."

"But from the inherited memory I received, what's inside the ice chest seems to be something very important to the owner of the ancient realm."

"Do you know what this is?" Su Yuan asked the voice inside him.

That voice fell into rare silence; he didn't know what was inside, but he felt embarrassed to say so.

"Teacher Lu seems to have seen a lot of things—why not go back and ask Teacher Lu?"

"Come on, we happen to have a parent-teacher meeting—we two mustn't be late." Fang Zhige also trusted Teacher Lu very much.

……

Facing the joint forces of the Jiuyou Sect and the Yaoyang Sect, the members of the Wuqing Sect were either captured or had their souls searched directly, with extremely high efficiency.

Three Tribulation Transcendence stage powerhouses from the two sects sat together, sharing the intelligence they had gathered.

The sect leader Chi of the Yaoyang Sect bared his teeth, not knowing whether he was crying or laughing: "The situation is more troublesome than we imagined—I didn't expect the leader of the Wuqing Sect to really be in the far north, and he seems to be searching for something."

"We just don't know where he is now; otherwise, we could take the initiative and perhaps finish him off in one go."

Mu Baiyi took out a piece of newly obtained intelligence and showed it to the Yaoyang Sect: "On my side, I've heard that there is a very famous Spirit Transformation stage cultivator in the far north, nicknamed the Wandering Guest, who is the disciple of the Wuqing Sect leader."

"And the place where the Wandering Guest last disappeared is in Muxue City."