Chapter 1173: Killing Heart Ancient Domain
“How did he die?” Xue Shilou was befuddled. The Carefree Wanderer is renowned throughout the Extreme North for his footwork. His Carefree Steps are so unfathomably peerless that defeating him is nearly impossible, much less killing him.
I haven’t even comprehended the supreme sword technique from the rake technique. How did the Carefree Wanderer already end up dead at my doorstep?
With the Carefree Wanderer dead, the top seat among Divine Transfiguration cultivators in the Extreme North now falls to me.
I’ve passed the second trial in the most baffling way.
“No idea,” Lu Yang replied. He had been cultivating in his room and hadn’t paid attention to the events outside.
He turned to the Everlasting Immortal Fairy in his mental space. “Immortal Fairy, do you know how the Carefree Wanderer died?”
“Suicide,” the Everlasting Immortal Fairy stated with conviction.
Lu Yang stared at the Carefree Wanderer, who didn’t have a single intact spot on his body, and fell into deep thought.
“Fellow Daoist Xue, give me a hand. Let’s lay the Carefree Wanderer to rest.”
“Ah, oh.”
Lu Yang and Xue Shilou carried the corpse toward the tree in front of Lu Yang’s room.
Luo Shi, the Foundation Establishment assassin from the Ghost Assassin Alliance, was already buried beneath this tree. He would surely be happy in death if he learned that his corpse would have the company of the Carefree Wanderer, who was once the strongest Divine Transfiguration cultivator.
“Old Lu, did something happen out here...”
Meng Jingzhou stepped out and saw Lu Yang and Xue Shilou carrying an unfamiliar corpse.
“I saw nothing. I’m going back inside.”
“Go back, my ass. Come here and help.”
“Tch.”
Meng Jingzhou reluctantly picked up the Carefree Wanderer’s severed right arm and placed it back on the corpse.
Lu Yang produced three shovels, and the three began digging.
Meng Jingzhou and Xue Shilou had never done such manual labor, so their movements were somewhat clumsy. In contrast, Lu Yang moved with practiced ease.
Xue Shilou pondered. Could this be the true use of a shovel? Was my previous comprehension misguided? Since I’ve already passed the second trial, I shall focus all my efforts on creating a technique uniquely my own.
“No wonder the tree outside your door grows so well. It’s because there’s plenty of fertilizer,” Meng Jingzhou remarked as he dug and buried. It’s just that this method is rather unique and not easily mimicked.
~~~
When Vice City Lord Ma received his subordinate’s report, his face grew so stormy that his subordinate didn’t even dare to breathe.
“A Divine Transfiguration cultivator who could escape from me must be the Carefree Wanderer! Is there still no trace of that vermin? Damn it, he got away!”
The Carefree Wanderer’s parting threat haunted Vice City Lord Ma’s mind. I can’t stay on guard forever. He slammed the table in fury. “Find him! Dig three feet down if you have to!”
Muxue City was placed under lockdown for ten days, with a city-wide manhunt for the Carefree Wanderer, but it was completely futile.
Clearly, Muxue City’s soldiers hadn’t strictly followed Vice City Lord Ma’s orders—they hadn’t dug three feet down.
~~~
A rope was tied to a boulder and hung all the way down to the bottom of Departed Souls Cliff. Su Yuan nervously gripped the rope, waiting for signals from the other end.
Suddenly, the rope swayed. Su Yuan perked up and quickly pulled it in. Judging by the way it swayed, he could tell that the person on the other end was climbing rapidly.
A figure flashed by, somersaulted several times in the air, and landed steadily on the ground.
It was none other than Fang Zhige.
“It’s been three days. You finally made it back up. If you had taken any longer, I would have asked Teacher Lu for help. Zhige, how did it go? Any gains?”
Fang Zhige was usually stoic, but he now broke into a relieved grin. “I passed!”
“That’s wonderful!”
Hearing Fang Zhige’s response, Su Yuan couldn’t help but think back to recent events.
The voice inside him had said that it had learned of an ancient secret domain called the Killing Heart Ancient Domain by devouring the Ghost Assassin Alliance Leader’s soul.
The Killing Heart Ancient Domain was the fortuitous opportunity that led to the Ghost Assassin Leader’s rise in his early years. By passing the secret domain’s first trial, he had obtained a fragmented Killing Heart Scripture, thereby becoming the fearsome assassin he was.
He had fled to Muxue City in the hope of passing the secret domain’s subsequent trials and rising once more.
The Killing Heart Ancient Domain lay at the deepest part of the Departed Souls Cliff. However, the only way to enter was to possess a killing heart. The voice had repeatedly tried to lure Su Yuan into committing murder, but he had firmly refused.
Left with no choice, the voice had settled for a compromise. It had Su Yuan contact Fang Zhige, who possessed a killing heart and was thus qualified to enter the secret domain. The two would split the spoils fifty-fifty afterward.
Fang Zhige and Su Yuan had discussed the matter at length and made ample preparations before setting out to brave the Departed Souls Cliff.
The voice could discern that Fang Zhige was at the Great Perfection Qi training Stage. If Fang Zhige turned on them after obtaining the benefits, he could use saving Su Yuan as an excuse to take control of his body.
However, Fang Zhige showed no intention of reneging on their deal. As agreed, he enumerated everything he had gained from the Killing Heart Ancient Domain.
“The Killing Heart Ancient Domain appears to be the ruins left by an ancient assassin. Having no descendants or disciples, she set up this secret domain, hoping to pass on her legacy.
“The ancient domain is divided into three trials. I was lucky to have passed all three.”
Although Fang Zhige brushed it off, Su Yuan caught the trace of fear in his eyes. It was evident that those three trials were nowhere as easy as he had made them sound.
“Here’s the Killing Heart Scripture. Only I can cultivate it, so I won’t be giving it to you.” Fang Zhige produced an ancient scripture, which detailed the cultivation technique of that ancient assassin.
“Alright.”
“Since the Killing Heart Scripture is mine, I’ll give you sixty percent of the spirit stones and other cultivation techniques.
“Actually, I also found something in the ancient domain. I can’t figure out what it is, and my inherited memories don’t contain any clues either.”
“What is it?”
Fang Zhige unwrapped the bundle strapped to his back, revealing a long, three-foot ice case.
Only then did Su Yuan notice that Fang Zhige was carrying a cloth bundle. He hadn’t been carrying one when he descended.
“This ice case can’t be stored in a storage ring, and it has a seal on it. I don’t know how to open it. But according to my inherited memories, what’s inside seems to be of great importance to the ancient domain’s owner.”
“Do you know what this is?” Su Yuan asked the voice inside him.
The voice was uncharacteristically silent. It didn’t know, but it was too embarrassed to admit it.
“Teacher Lu seems to be very knowledgeable. Why don’t we go back and ask him?”
“Let’s go. The parent-teacher meeting is about to begin. We’d better not be late.” Fang Zhige also trusted Teacher Lu.
~~~
With the Nine-Netherworlds Creed and the Radiant Sun Creed joining forces, the Heartless Creed members were either captured or had their souls searched. The two creeds demonstrated high efficiency in their operation.
The three Transcendent Tribulation experts from both creeds sat together, sharing the intelligence they had gathered.
Creed Leader Chi of the Radiant Sun Creed bared his teeth in a grimace, though it was unclear whether he was crying or laughing. “The situation is trickier than we’d imagined. I didn’t expect the creed leader of the Heartless Creed to really be in the Extreme North, and he seems to be searching for something.
“We just don’t know where he is right now. Otherwise, if we strike first, we may be able to finish him off in one go.”
Mu Baiyi took out an intelligence report he had just received and showed it to the Radiant Sun Creed. “I’ve learned that the Extreme North has a famous Divine Transfiguration cultivator who goes by the nickname Carefree Wanderer. He’s the disciple of the Heartless Creed Leader.
“And the Carefree Wanderer was last seen in Muxue City.”