His soul scattered completely, leaving not a single trace.
If not for the ancient corpse's remains on the ground, it would have been as if the elder had never existed at all.
"Someone has come?"
Chen Sanshi frowned.
He thought of the disciples from the other two sects. Having delayed here for so long, it was indeed possible that people from Lingji Cavern and the Shengyun Sect had tracked them down.
Rumble—
The violent tremors and collapsing stone pillars snapped Chen Sanshi back to his senses. He immediately took out his Storage Bag and began harvesting the spiritual plants within the cave dwelling.
There were so many valuable things—none of them could be wasted.
As the collapse began, the law of All Techniques Forbidden also loosened further. Chen Sanshi's realm gradually recovered to the late stage of Qi Refining.
But at the same time, that also meant that those approaching this place would likewise gradually no longer be affected.
If it were only people from Lingji Cavern and the Shengyun Sect arriving, Chen Sanshi was confident he could leave with ease. What he feared was that Wang, who had escaped earlier, might have reported the news to those outside.
Having been trapped within the barrier for several days meant there had been more than enough time for additional cultivators to enter the forbidden land.
Within the second forbidden zone.
"The heretical path must be eradicated! The heretical path must be eradicated!"
Guiyuan Sect Inner Deacon Zhai Rui angrily led several late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, along with a large number of sect disciples, rushing swiftly toward the depths of the forbidden land in the direction of the anomaly.
Several days earlier, they had received news that something had gone wrong within the forbidden land. Upon arriving, they saw that all the Guiyuan Sect disciples who had come to participate in this trial were dead—only headless corpses remained. Not a single one had survived.
This was clearly a premeditated ambush!
Not long after stepping into the interior of the shattered barrier, they encountered a second batch of corpses—these belonging to Lingji Cavern disciples, likewise all brutally slain.
"Which demonic heretical faction committed this?"
Guiyuan Sect Inner Deacon Wei Rui narrowed his eyes. "The Seven Kill Sect? The Zhuxian Sect? Or perhaps Eastern Divine Continent, which has recently been active in Northern Yang Dao?"
He had hurried to Northern Yang Dao from a nearby region after receiving a voice transmission message in recent days.
"This is simply insane."
Zhang Jinchen looked at the corpses on the ground, his expression growing colder.
After parting ways with the Guiyuan Sect and Lingji Cavern people, he had waited according to their original agreement to rendezvous. Yet no one arrived.
Each group held fragments of the token. If everyone did not gather, even if they found the exit teleportation array, they would have no way to leave.
While he was still troubled over the situation, the barrier suddenly collapsed without warning. Then came the news—Guiyuan Sect and Lingji Cavern disciples had all been slaughtered. Their fellow disciple Wang had escaped the forbidden land but was gravely injured and unconscious.
Rumble—
The thunderous sound of heaven collapsing and earth splitting grew increasingly deafening. A Guiyuan Sect cultivator flew back from afar on his sword.
He reported urgently, "Senior brothers, not far ahead there is a blessed cave-heaven. Once one approaches it, cultivation is weakened, and there are obvious traces of battle. The area near the barrier has already been sealed off. Most likely, that is where the fiendish culprit is hiding!"
"Move out!"
Wei Rui waved his hand. "Head immediately to the blessed cave-heaven. No matter which demonic villain it is, not a single one must be allowed to escape!"
Those who had rushed to Northern Yang Dao nearby included five or six late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, leading hundreds of cultivators as they encircled the direction of the Guardian Envoy's cave dwelling.
Inside the cave dwelling.
After collecting all the spiritual plants, the cave dwelling began collapsing on a large scale.
Fortunately, once the law disintegrated, they had recovered part of their strength and would not be crushed to death beneath the falling boulders.
Boom!
Chen Sanshi cleaved apart the massive rock before him with a single sword strike, quickened his pace to catch up with the blind woman ahead, and spoke, "Miss Jiang, I have something to give you."
As he spoke, he took out the relic left behind by his senior brother—a jade flute artifact carved entirely from emerald jade—and placed it into her hands.
Jiang Xiyue was blindfolded, yet it seemed not to affect her ability to perceive and observe everything around her. "For me?"
"Yes."
Chen Sanshi said, "My Fourth Senior Brother Fang Qingyun asked me to pass this on."
"I don't know him."
Jiang Xiyue replied calmly.
"You don't?"
Chen Sanshi paused, then explained, "Senior Brother said to deliver this to Fairy Jiang of the Qingxu Sect. Is that not you?"
"There is more than one person surnamed Jiang."
Jiang Xiyue returned the item and continued walking outward, carrying the Ice-Soul Sword.
Chen Sanshi felt somewhat helpless.
Fourth Senior Brother truly had only said to find 'Fairy Jiang,' but never specified which Fairy Jiang.
Presumably that female cultivator truly was like a fairy in his senior brother's heart.
Chen Sanshi caught up to the blind woman. After putting away the jade flute, he took out half of a jade pendant. "Then Miss Jiang, do you recognize this item?"
Qingxu Sect, True Person Yuling.
That title had to be correct.
And since the blind woman claimed to be True Person Yuling's disciple, she might know something.
When Jiang Xiyue sensed the jade pendant, her figure visibly paused. But after a moment of silence, she still said, "I don't recognize it."
"You don't recognize it either?"
Chen Sanshi put away the jade pendant. "Could I ask Miss Jiang to do me a favor? After you return to the Qingxu Sect in a while, please help pass a message to your honored master, True Person Yuling. Tell him this junior wants to ask your sect for assistance."
"Go yourself."
With the law's suppression gone, some kind of spiritual power within Jiang Xiyue seemed to activate. Within a radius of several dozen meters, everything became bitterly cold.
"Turning hostile fast."
Chen Sanshi shook his head lightly.
Just a short while ago, the two of them had still been allies who would live and die together.
Yet after taking the treasure, they became strangers.
But from the very beginning, it had merely been a mutually beneficial transaction. There was no need to blame anyone—if anyone was at fault, it was only himself for mistaking the other party for someone he knew.
It seemed he would have to make a trip to the Qingxu Sect himself in the future.
Putting those thoughts away, Chen Sanshi raised his head and discovered they had returned along the original path, arriving at the entrance of the Guardian Envoy's cave dwelling, now more than half collapsed.
Outside was a vast expanse of heaven and earth, accompanied by intense anomalies.
The entire forbidden land had completely fallen into chaos.
"As expected, someone's here."
Chen Sanshi stared upward and saw, not far away within the clouds, a dense mass of cultivators rushing over.
The leading cultivator's Aerial Control speed was extremely fast—either a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, or someone who had cultivated some secret art.
If it was the former, with so many late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators arriving, things would truly become troublesome.
What worried Chen Sanshi most was whether, in the process of self-destruction, the forbidden land would also lift the law suppression that prevented Golden Core cultivators from entering.
If that happened, and his identity was exposed, Shouzhongzi—stationed on the main peak of Daze—would very likely rush over.
Then he could only use Xiao Feng's identity and strength and try with everything he had to break through.
"Miss Jiang, wait a moment. I'll set up a few formations here to buy time. Then you and I can each look for our own chance to leave this place."
Chen Sanshi took out the formation plates he had prepared in advance and was about to start arranging them, when he saw the blind woman utterly unafraid, as if she meant to face the cultivators head-on.
"You go."
After Jiang Xiyue calmly spat out those 3 words, she stepped onto the Ice-Soul Sword and shot into the air. In a flash, she vanished without a trace, leaving waves of frost where she had been.
Chen Sanshi had stayed inside the cave dwelling under All Techniques Forbidden for so long that he had almost forgotten the blind woman's realm was stronger than his…
But no matter how strong, she was only at Foundation Establishment perfection stage. Facing so many cultivators of the same realm alone—would there really be no problem?
Forget it.
It had nothing to do with him.
Thinking so, Chen Sanshi seized the opportunity and fled through the air in another direction.
Rumble—
At the same time, the sounds of fierce spell combat came from behind.
Chen Sanshi glanced back and saw that more than half the sky had frozen into ice and frost. Beyond that, he could no longer make out any clearer details.
He did not keep watching. He used the [Wind-Splitting Seal], and his Aerial Control speed continually increased. After about 15 minutes, he had thrown those people far behind.
Looking down from high in the air.
At this very moment, the Nine Nether Forbidden Land was collapsing at a pace visible to the naked eye. Mountain ranges crashed down with deafening thunder, while muddy rivers rushed through fissures in the earth, eventually drying up completely.
Crack—
Thunder exploded overhead. The sky itself was like a torn curtain, opening vast gaps, while bolts of lightning hammered down one after another, each one containing the power of laws.
How could Chen Sanshi dare to face it head-on? He immediately dropped lower, flying on his sword just above the ground, intent only on escaping this place as quickly as possible.
After today, the world would likely never again have the Nine Nether Forbidden Land.
The cultivators still inside the forbidden land clearly realized this as well, and so they entered a frenzied state and began one last round of looting.
Among them were quite a few cultivators who had gained little on this trip; they simply turned into "robber cultivators," blocking the road and plundering what others had obtained.
For a time, this ancient battlefield once again became a scene of corpses strewn everywhere and rivers of blood.
"Daoist friend, where do you think you're going!"
He had not even gone 10 kilometers when a blind Foundation Establishment cultivator blocked the way ahead. Chen Sanshi produced the Guiyuan Sword. Water-Element True Force roared and surged as he flickered forward, slicing off the man's head.
"This fellow has robbed plenty!"
He opened the other party's Storage Bag and glanced through it, discovering that the spiritual materials inside were enough to refine a Foundation Establishment Pill.
"Daoist friend Xiao"
Chen Sanshi was about to leave when he suddenly heard someone calling him.
He swept his gaze around and, through [Qi Observation Technique], saw someone hiding inside the hollow of an old willow tree ahead.
"Who?"
"It's me, Daoist friend Xiao—"
Hearing the familiar voice, Chen Sanshi quickly remembered who it was. "Daoist friend Mo Zhu, this is—"
Cough, cough, cough—
Mo Zhu's weak voice came from within the tree hollow. "Daoist friend Xiao, can you come in and talk?"
"Yes."
After checking again and again to confirm there was no ambush, Chen Sanshi cautiously approached the opening. He bent down and looked at the scene inside.
Mo Zhu, covered in blood, was sprawled on the ground. A Breath-Concealment Talisman—its spiritual power completely exhausted—was stuck to his body. In his arms he clutched a mottled wine gourd, and he cast a dying look over with barely a thread of life remaining.
"Daoist friend Mo, did you run into robber cultivators?"
As Chen Sanshi spoke, he began rummaging through his belongings for healing pills.
"It's no use. No need for you to waste your resources… cough, cough—"
After Mo Zhu vomited up clotted blood, it took him a long time to steady himself before he continued, "This old man stopped you because… because I want to ask you a favor."
"Go on," Chen Sanshi said patiently.
Cough, cough, cough—
Mo Zhu exhausted what little strength he had left and pulled a Storage Bag from his robes. "There are some things in here. I want to entrust them to you for safekeeping."
"Things?"
Chen Sanshi took it and probed its contents with his divine sense. Inside were talismans, spirit stones, spirit plants, and a set of inheritance texts—True Talisman Codex.
A talisman inheritance.
His talisman-drawing attainment had already broken through to the 2nd tier, but he had never been able to find a suitable follow-up inheritance.
Moreover, several types of talismans Mo Zhu drew were extremely useful—like the Earth-Escape Talisman. In Mo Zhu's hands, it was absolutely extraordinary.
"This inheritance was something this old man found when I went adventuring in my youth. It contains all kinds of talismans from the 1st tier to the 4th tier. If you can find the follow-up inheritance, it's said—said you can even obtain a great divine ability.
"But I'm truly foolish. Even to my death, I only learned a few talismans. Keeping it in my hands… is really a waste…"
After only a few words, Mo Zhu had to stop and gasp for a long while. "Today… I'll hand them to you, Daoist friend."
"Daoist friend Mo," Chen Sanshi said, "say it plainly. What do you want me to do?"
"Heh heh, I can't hide it from Daoist friend Xiao."
Mo Zhu forced a bitter smile. "I came into the forbidden land this time because I wanted to earn more spirit stones, to send my grandson into an upper sect's inner sect to cultivate. Never did I expect it to end up like this… I'm afraid I won't be going back…"
"So I'm entrusting my family assets to Daoist friend Xiao, asking only that after you learn it, in the future you can pass it on to my grandson—and, if possible, protect him a bit."
Chen Sanshi recalled.
Long ago, when he had seen Mo Zhu risk his life to go hunting, the old man had said it was to save up spirit stones for his grandson. He never expected Mo Zhu would still fall in the end on the road of shielding the next generation.
It seemed that handing these things to him was also an act of helplessness.
After all, if he died here, the items would either fall into a stranger's hands, or be buried forever along with the forbidden land's collapse.
And "Xiao Feng" did have some acquaintance with him. By giving them proactively, perhaps a portion could still be left for his grandson.
"I promise you."
Chen Sanshi did not refuse.
"Many thanks, Daoist friend Xiao. This old man can die without regret."
Mo Zhu finally had his wish fulfilled. He opened the wine gourd, wanting to take one last sip, but just as it reached his lips, his arm drooped powerless, and he drew his final breath.
Only the clear wine remained, trickling steadily from the mouth of the gourd.
"Daoist friend, travel well."
Chen Sanshi used the Storage Bag meant for spirit beasts to put away Mo Zhu's corpse, then continued on his way, heading straight for the forbidden land's exit.
At the teleportation formation by the exit, a large number of cultivators stood guard—people from every sect, families of Northern Yang Dao, as well as members of the Demon-Suppression Bureau.
Clearly, the massacre of Guiyuan Sect disciples had caused a huge uproar.
Every cultivator who wanted to leave had to pass through layer upon layer of inspection, and quite a few cultivators of unknown origin were detained.
Chen Sanshi remembered that there were other exits within the second forbidden area, but given the current situation, they might very well have already collapsed.
He simply disguised himself as Mo Zhu, and successfully slipped through.
Rumble—
The forbidden land's collapse was still continuing.
'This time, we didn't kill the key figures among the Guiyuan Sect disciples,' Chen Sanshi calculated to himself. 'Huang Laojiu and Cao Zhi—both are cut from the same cloth back then. Sooner or later, they'll both have to be dealt with.'
Leaving Huang Laojiu aside for now.
As for that brat Cao Zhi, this time he hadn't come along with Cui Zichen. Lucky—he could live a few more days.
Heavenly Sword Sect.
"Daoist friend Cao, the elder orders you to wait here."
After leaving that instruction, a Heavenly Sword Sect disciple mounted an immortal crane and departed.
Cao Zhi—once Prince of Yan, now a Guiyuan Sect disciple—cast off his usual slovenly manner and stood respectfully before the stone gate, waiting.
Because the elder he was to meet—
Was surnamed Cao, given name Xie.
Cao Xie.