Chapter 188: Follow-up Cultivation Techniques

Qin Sang sensed that Le Rou's emotions were gradually calming down. He nodded to Le Xing and said, "Don't worry. Your sister touched the sword mark directly with her spiritual sense, and the residual killing intent within the mark impacted her mind. She found it difficult to break free for a moment. Fortunately, she wasn't injured; she'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

Hearing Qin Sang's words, Le Xing reluctantly suppressed her worry. She tightly embraced Le Rou, who was still trembling slightly, and gazed at the sword mark with a hint of dread.

What kind of person left such a dangerous sword mark that even spiritual sense couldn't touch it?

She cautiously kept her spiritual sense within her Nascent Soul space, not daring to expose even a sliver of it.

Qin Sang turned and looked up. As expected, there was also a barely visible crack on the dome of the cave dwelling.

One could imagine someone holding a sword above the cave dwelling, perhaps even standing on the water's surface, lightly swinging a sword into the water. The sword energy pierced through the lake, disregarding the illusion formations and restrictions, penetrating the cave dwelling and precisely leaving a sword mark on the stone bed.

It's likely that True Person Cangli was not in the cave dwelling at the time and narrowly escaped being split in half by the sword. However, he was eventually found and couldn't escape his fate.

Qin Sang was now certain that Senior Qingzhu had left this sword mark!

Only those who had cultivated the *Divine Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter* could perceive how special the residual sword energy on the mark was. The killing intent within the sword energy originated from the same source as the Killing Talismans of the *Divine Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter*!

In Mount Shaohua, to Qin Sang's knowledge, Senior Qingzhu was the only one who had truly cultivated the *Divine Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter* without losing his sanity to the corrosive killing intent, successfully continuing his cultivation and breaking through to the Core Formation stage.

This was a sword mark left by a Core Formation Grandmaster!

If the sword mark hadn't existed for such a long time, with over ninety percent of its sword energy and killing intent dissipated, Le Rou's cultivation level would have caused her spiritual soul to be utterly shattered by the killing intent the moment her spiritual sense touched the mark, leading to her Nascent Soul's withered death.

However, what surprised and astonished Qin Sang wasn't this, but rather how pure the killing intent within this sword mark was. It was even purer and more extreme than the fifth Killing Talisman!

Qin Sang had originally thought Senior Qingzhu might have switched to cultivating another cultivation method. Now, it appeared he had continued on the path of slaughter. Could it be that he found subsequent levels of the *Divine Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter* beyond the fifth?

Why wasn't it collected in Pagoda Peak?

Qin Sang sat cross-legged in front of the stone bed, extending his spiritual sense to touch the sword mark.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he wouldn't be unable to withstand a sword mark from several centuries ago. Moreover, he also cultivated the *Divine Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter*, so he had no reason to fear.

Qin Sang remained still, like a withered tree.

Le Xing dared not disturb Qin Sang. She worried about Le Rou's condition and feared that the hard-found cave dwelling might have been ruined by the sword mark, making her wonder if it could still be used.

"Mmm..."

After a while, Le Rou suddenly stirred, slowly regaining consciousness. Le Xing's face lit up with joy as she urgently whispered, "How do you feel now? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"My head hurts so much..."

Le Rou clutched her head, her eyes slightly dazed, still not fully understanding the situation. When she saw the stone bed, profound fear suddenly appeared in her eyes. She instinctively shrank into Le Xing's embrace and stammered, "That crack... it was so terrifying inside..."

"What did you see?" Le Xing asked curiously.

"I... I felt like I fell into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood..."

Several hours passed before Qin Sang finally opened his eyes. After careful introspection, his earlier conjectures were confirmed: Senior Qingzhu had advanced to a higher level in the path of slaughter. Even if he hadn't found subsequent levels of the *Divine Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter* beyond the fifth, he must have obtained a new secret art of the killing path.

After a moment of contemplation, Qin Sang summoned his Ebony Sword. He visualized a Killing Talisman and unleashed a sword energy, which landed precisely on the sword mark.

A subtle flicker of sword light appeared and vanished, and the residual sword energy on the mark was neutralized.

"I have removed the residual sword energy from the mark. You no longer need to be afraid."

Qin Sang retracted his Ebony Sword. Before the Le sisters could show their joy, he spoke in a serious tone, "Shouldn't the two fellow Daoists fulfill your promise now?"

Le Xing suppressed her excitement. "We will return to Moon-Gazing Market with Senior now and hand over the spiritual spring item to you."

Although the restriction was broken, the naturally formed illusion array remained intact. As long as the Le sisters were careful enough, they didn't need to worry about others occupying the cave dwelling.

The three quickly returned to Moon-Gazing Market. After the Le sisters confirmed it, they obtained the tree root from Old Woman Jing. As a witness, Old Woman Jing's payment was simply for Qin Sang and the Le sisters to purchase one carving from her shop.

Qin Sang chose a peach wood sword, then quickly bid farewell to Old Woman Jing and headed straight for Heavenly Mark Tower.

At Heavenly Mark Tower, he reviewed the documents related to that public case. Then, he returned to Mount Shaohua and consulted with Senior Brother Wen and a few other familiar fellow disciples. He also entered Pagoda Peak and meticulously searched through various records.

Back in his cave dwelling, Qin Sang recalled the information he had gathered over the past few days and fell into deep thought.

Qin Sang was now virtually certain that Senior Qingzhu was the Sword Devil.

There was a gap of over a decade between Senior Qingzhu's defection from Mount Shaohua and the Sword Devil's assault on the Primordial Mirage Sect. The so-called public case only truly came to light after the Sword Devil's attack when corpses were successively discovered, all confirmed to have originated from the immortal mansion.

Due to the timing, some people linked the Sword Devil to Senior Qingzhu, but this was never confirmed.

During this period, Senior Qingzhu was likely secretly investigating and eliminating his enemies one by one.

Indeed, a few fellow disciples had heard rumors about this matter. However, Mount Shaohua had erased all traces of Senior Qingzhu, and the two major sects seemed to be deliberately suppressing the incident. So much time had passed that no one was willing to waste time investigating it thoroughly outside; it was merely treated as a legend and a topic of conversation.

After the Sword Devil attacked the Primordial Mirage Sect, he completely vanished. Some said he was besieged and killed by the Primordial Mirage Sect, while others claimed he escaped unharmed and left the Minor Cold Domain.

Opinions varied, all merely speculation.

There was one piece of news about Senior Qingzhu: it was said that a Mount Shaohua disciple once encountered him in the Ancient Immortal Battlefield and was saved by him. However, that was all; the disciple had long since passed away.

It was unknown if Senior Qingzhu was still alive. If he hadn't broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, his lifespan would have reached its limit.

Qin Sang was so concerned about Senior Qingzhu primarily because of the *Divine Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter*. Pagoda Peak only housed fragmented scriptures of the *Divine Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter*, and Senior Qingzhu might have found the subsequent cultivation methods.

If possible, Qin Sang didn't want to switch to another cultivation method. This particular method was one of the most suitable for him; it could not only help him increase his cultivation speed but also grant him an additional Natal Dharma Treasure after breaking through to the Core Formation stage, giving him a significant advantage in battles.

Of course, the prerequisite was that Qin Sang could form his Core.

For him, discussing these matters now was still too premature; there was no need to rush.

Once he entered the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, he could slowly investigate. Even if Senior Qingzhu had perished there, finding his remains or belongings would still be beneficial.