Meng Shi's saber descended with all the strength he had left.
Black mountain force gathered around the blade, heavy and rough, pressing down like a falling boulder. His robes snapped in the wind, and his eyes were red with anger, betrayal, and desperation.
He had not yet entered Spirit Foundation.
He was only at Peak Qi Conjunction Realm.
But in that moment, Meng Shi used everything he had. His body cultivation, his Black Mountain Gate foundation, his killing intent, his desire to live, his desire to break through, and his desire to keep the old vitality leaf that might decide his future.
The saber came down.
Fang Lin looked at it calmly.
Too slow.
Too weak.
And completely open.
Meng Shi was stronger than many Qi Conjunction cultivators, and among Black Mountain Gate disciples of the same realm, his body strength was impressive. But he was no match for Fang Lin.
Fang Lin was no longer the Fang Lin from the Demon Sealing Ruins.
He had entered Spirit Foundation Realm. His foundation had been consolidated for months, his soul had advanced, his Nine Nether Phantom Body had grown steadier, his Darkness arts had improved, and his Mountain Bearing Frame had reached initial mastery.
His battle prowess had already touched half-step Core Formation.
Against the current Meng Shi, there was no suspense.
Fang Lin raised his hand.
Frost Wind appeared.
The moment the sword appeared, the temperature inside the abandoned watch post dropped sharply.
Meng Shi's pupils contracted.
Ice.
That frost sword.
That aura.
For a brief instant, the underground hall in the Demon Sealing Ruins flashed through his mind.
Broken corpses.
Frost marks.
A black altar.
A calm pair of eyes.
Meng Shi's heart stopped.
"You..."
He did not finish.
Fang Lin moved.
One sword.
Only one.
A pale-blue sword light flashed through the dim watch post. It was clean, silent, and almost beautiful.
The Frost Trace Sword Art passed through Meng Shi's saber force as if cutting mist. The black mountain pressure split apart. The saber froze. Meng Shi's body froze.
A thin frost line appeared across his throat.
His eyes widened.
Shock remained there first.
Then fear.
Then understanding.
But it was too late.
Blood did not even spray at first. The wound froze instantly, and Meng Shi's body swayed once before falling heavily to the dusty stone floor.
The saber slipped from his hand and shattered into two frozen pieces.
Du Heng stood behind him, face completely pale.
He had not even understood what had happened.
One moment, Senior Brother Meng had attacked.
The next, he was dead.
Du Heng's legs weakened. He stumbled backward, his round face trembling with fear.
"E-Elder Luo..."
Fang Lin turned his gaze toward him.
Du Heng trembled violently. "I saw nothing! Elder, I saw nothing!"
Fang Lin said nothing.
He could not leave witnesses.
Especially not after using Frost Wind.
Du Heng turned and ran.
He had only taken three steps when a pale sword line crossed the room.
His body froze mid-stride. A thin layer of frost spread across his back, and then he fell forward.
Dead.
The abandoned watch post became silent.
Two bodies lay on the dusty stone floor.
Meng Shi.
Du Heng.
One was a Peak Qi Conjunction disciple who had survived the Demon Sealing Ruins.
The other was an ordinary attendant who had followed the wrong person to the wrong place.
Fang Lin's expression did not change.
He did not enjoy killing them.
But he did not regret it.
Meng Shi had seen too much. Du Heng had witnessed too much. The old vitality leaf mattered. The grey seed mattered. The path ahead mattered.
He could never let anyone know that he was here for the Old Vitality Leaf.
Then there might be changes.
Fang Lin walked toward Meng Shi's corpse and crouched down.
He took Meng Shi's storage pouch.
The spiritual imprint inside was weak. With Fang Lin's current soul power, erasing it took only a breath.
Inside were spirit stones, pills, spare robes, Black Mountain Gate tokens, a few body-tempering materials, and one sealed wooden box.
Fang Lin opened the box.
Inside lay a grey-green leaf. Its surface was dull, but faint silver veins ran through it like tiny rivers.
Old vitality leaf.
The moment Fang Lin saw it, the grey seed inside his spiritual sea pulsed softly.
Not violently like before.
But clearly.
Fang Lin's eyes deepened.
He closed the box and stored it carefully.
This was not the place to consume it.
Not yet.
He searched Du Heng's storage pouch as well. There was nothing important inside, only a few low-grade spirit stones, food, and mission supplies.
Fang Lin stood and swept his gaze across the room.
He had to erase traces.
He raised his left hand, and Abyssal Death Shadow spread from his sleeve. Thin black threads crawled across the ground, touching the blood, frost marks, and broken saber fragments. Wherever the black threads passed, spiritual traces weakened.
Then Fang Lin circulated Nether Life Spirit Qi briefly, not to heal, but to purify the lingering Qi disturbances left by the collision.
Finally, he used Luo Cheng's dark-earth aura from the elder token to cover the area faintly.
To an ordinary investigation, it would look like Meng Shi and Du Heng had been killed by a sudden overwhelming force.
But not necessarily by ice.
Fang Lin was about to leave.
At that moment, far away on the ridge, Elder Wei Shanzhu's bronze mirror trembled in his hand.
His face had gone pale.
He had seen it.
The sword.
The ice.
The single pale sword blow.
He had followed Luo Cheng out of curiosity, expecting perhaps corruption, private greed, or a hidden dispute over resources. He had not expected this.
Luo Cheng had used an ice sword.
No.
Not Luo Cheng.
Wei Shanzhu's breathing stopped for half a breath.
The reports from the Demon Sealing Ruins flashed through his mind.
A hidden cultivator.
A cold sword.
Frost marks.
Huo Lan dead.
Qin Yuesheng crippled.
Meng Shi injured.
A mysterious figure who had obtained an inheritance beneath the ruins.
Several surviving recruited cultivators had spoken of it. Even if the three sects tried to suppress the rumors, some details had still spread among the elders.
Cold sword.
Frost marks.
Unfamiliar identity.
Wei Shanzhu stared at the mirror, and a gasp escaped his throat before he could suppress it.
"Luo Cheng... has an ice sword?"
A chill climbed up his spine.
Luo Cheng was an elder of Black Mountain Gate. He cultivated dark-earth body techniques. His methods were heavy pressure, stone force, and brutal suppression.
He had never cultivated ice.
He had never used a sword as his main weapon.
He had never shown such clean killing power.
Then who was inside that elder robe?
Wei Shanzhu's eyes widened.
The answer appeared in his mind like lightning tearing open the night.
The hidden cultivator from the Demon Sealing Ruins.
He had not disappeared.
He had entered Black Mountain Gate.
And he was wearing Luo Cheng's face.
Wei Shanzhu's first instinct was to retreat.
He had to report this.
Elder Mo Jintao - the investigation/enforcement elder.
Gate Master Han Tieyan - the leader of Black Mountain Gate.
To the Core Formation elders.
But before he could move, the image inside the bronze mirror changed.
The figure in the abandoned watch post slowly turned his head.
Those cold eyes seemed to look through the mirror.
Directly at him.
Wei Shanzhu's heart froze.
Impossible.
He was far away. He had hidden his aura. The bronze mirror barely released spiritual fluctuation.
How had he noticed?
Inside the watch post, Fang Lin stood silently.
His gaze had turned toward the distant ridge.
He had sensed a faint ripple.
Very faint.
Almost nothing.
But after his soul breakthrough, his perception had become sharper than before, especially when someone watched him through a treasure. The fluctuation was weak, but it existed.
Fang Lin's eyes turned cold.
Someone was watching.
The situation had changed.
He could no longer leisurely erase traces and return to the sect.
The watcher had seen Frost Wind.
Fang Lin stored Meng Shi's corpse and Du Heng's corpse into separate storage treasures. Then he stepped out of the abandoned watch post.
Flowing Wind Steps and Nether Skin activated altogether.
Shadow Breath wrapped around him.
His figure blurred and rushed at the fastest speed.
On the ridge, Wei Shanzhu's expression changed drastically. He activated the Spirit sense since he had been discovered.
"How is he so fast? is that a..... core formation cultivator?!"
Without hesitation, he turned and ran.
He was at the Late Spirit Foundation Realm. He was not weak. But the sword that had killed Meng Shi was too clean, too calm, and too easy.
And if this person truly was the hidden cultivator from the Demon Sealing Ruins, then Luo Cheng was likely already dead.
Wei Shanzhu did not want to test whether he could survive.
He crushed a message talisman.
Before the talisman could fully activate, a pale frost line flashed across the air from behind.
Wei Shanzhu's pupils contracted.
Fast.
Too fast.
He twisted his body and threw the bronze mirror backward.
Frost Wind struck the mirror with a sharp sound.
The bronze treasure cracked instantly, but it managed to block the sword for half a breath.
Wei Shanzhu used that half breath to retreat.
His aura erupted, and Late Spirit Foundation pressure spread across the ridge.
"Your excellency! Who are you?"
Fang Lin appeared on the ridge, still wearing Luo Cheng's face.
Frost Wind rested in his hand.
His eyes were calm.
Wei Shanzhu's heart sank further.
That calm.
The reports had mentioned it too.
The hidden cultivator had killed without rage, without panic, and without arrogance.
Only calm.
Fang Lin looked at him.
"You followed me."
Wei Shanzhu answered "You are not Luo Cheng."
Fang Lin's gaze remained still.
"No."
The simple answer made Wei Shanzhu's scalp go numb.
He had guessed it, but hearing it confirmed was different.
"Where is Luo Cheng?"
Fang Lin did not answer.
Wei Shanzhu understood. Dead.
Wei Shanzhu's expression was ugly. He started running again burning his cultivation. This would have a lasting impact on his Foundation.
A Black Mountain Gate elder had been killed and replaced.
For months.
For three whole months, this person might have lived inside the sect under Luo Cheng's identity.
Wei Shanzhu's mouth went dry.
If this news returned to Black Mountain Gate, the entire sect would shake.
But first, he had to return alive.
He also crushed another talisman hidden in his sleeve.
This one was not a message talisman.
It was a movement talisman.
Grey light wrapped around his body.
Fang Lin moved.
Abyssal Death Shadow stretched from the ground like a black thread.
Wei Shanzhu's eyes widened.
The shadow wrapped around his ankle.
The grey light slowed.
Only for a moment.
But that moment was enough.
Fang Lin arrived before him.
Frost Wind cut horizontally.
Wei Shanzhu roared and raised both hands. Dark grey Qi gathered into a bronze-like shield.
The sword struck.
Frost spread.
The shield cracked.
Wei Shanzhu coughed blood and flew backward. He hit the ground hard, rolled once, then forced himself up.
His eyes were filled with horror.
This was not ordinary Spirit Foundation strength.
This was half-step Core Formation battle prowess.
No.
It was even more dangerous than that, because of the strange death shadow and ice sword.
Fang Lin walked toward him.
Wei Shanzhu's voice became hoarse. "Wait! I can pretend I saw nothing!"
Fang Lin asked calmly, "What exactly did you see?"
"I will leave Black Mountain Gate! I will not report..."
Fang Lin raised Frost Wind.
Wei Shanzhu's expression twisted.
"If you kill me, the Mission Hall will know I disappeared!"
Fang Lin looked at him.
"Then I will need another face."
Wei Shanzhu froze.
Only then did he understand.
The same thing that had happened to Luo Cheng could happen to him.
Fear swallowed his face.
"You..."
Fang Lin's sword fell.
Pale frost light crossed the ridge.
Wei Shanzhu's voice stopped.
His body stiffened.
Blood froze at his throat.
The ridge became silent.
Fang Lin stood before him for several breaths.
Then he stored the corpse.
The wind passed over the dry grass. No one else was nearby.
But Fang Lin's eyes were colder than before.
The matter had become troublesome.
He had gained Meng Shi's old vitality leaf, but Luo Cheng's identity was no longer safe. Wei Shanzhu had followed him. The Mission Hall might notice his absence. The bronze mirror had cracked, but traces might remain.
Fang Lin looked toward Black Mountain Gate in the distance.
He could still return as Luo Cheng.
Perhaps for a short while.
But not for long.
The first door had begun to close.
He needed to move faster.
Inside his storage treasure, Meng Shi's wooden box rested quietly.
Inside his spiritual sea, the grey seed pulsed once.
Fang Lin turned away from the ridge.
His face remained Luo Cheng's.
But his eyes were Fang Lin's.
Calm.
Cold.
Already planning the next move.
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