Chapter 1398: Suspicion

In the Myriad Ghost Sea, at Golden Eagle Market City, stood a magnificent palace of golden bricks and glazed tiles. A plaque above its entrance bore three large silver characters: "Golden Eagle Hall," shimmering with spiritual light and strikingly conspicuous.

Inside, a white-haired, hunched old man sat in the main seat. Li Ru and a refined-looking middle-aged man sat on either side, their expressions grave.

The hunched old man was named Su Yunchang, a cultivator in the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

"Madam Li, Fellow Daoist Yang, you must have heard the news, right? There's a ruins of a major cultivation sect deep within the Myriad Ghost Sea!" Su Yunchang's expression was peculiar, but his tone remained calm.

Honestly, he didn't quite believe it. Firstly, the ruins were located deep in the Myriad Ghost Sea. Years ago, someone reportedly encountered a Nascent Soul-stage ghost in that very sea area and barely escaped. This might be a rumor spread by someone trying to lure cultivators to seek treasures, thereby causing them harm by the Nascent Soul-stage ghosts. Secondly, if the Wang family truly controlled the ruins, they would surely seal off the news tightly; how could it leak out so easily? Thirdly, assuming the news did leak, why wouldn't the other party seize the ruins themselves? Either they held a grudge against the Wang family and deliberately spread the news to cause them trouble, or the ruins were guarded by Nascent Soul cultivators, making them inaccessible to others.

"I've heard about it," Li Ru confirmed. "It's said to be ruins controlled by the Wang family. The rise of the Green Lotus Immortals has been too sudden. If they had obtained a set of ruins, it would explain why the Wang family has produced multiple Nascent Soul cultivators. Tsk tsk, could the Wang family have acquired the Murong family's ruins?" Li Ru, however, believed this rumor. Few forces could produce Core Formation spiritual items, let alone Nascent Soul formation spiritual items. They would either have to exchange them at great cost with major powers or venture into forbidden lands and secret realms. The Wang family already had three Nascent Soul cultivators, meaning at least three Nascent Soul formation spiritual items. If they hadn't acquired treasures left behind by a major cultivation sect, where would the Wang family have obtained three such items? And this was a conservative estimate.

Over ten thousand years ago, the Murong family was the foremost cultivation family in the South Sea cultivation world, capable of contending with the Ten Great Sects of the South Sea. However, when the Murong family perished, their entire island vanished without a trace. Some said it was tens of thousands of feet beneath the sea, others claimed the island was destroyed, while some speculated it remained in its original spot, merely hidden by a powerful formation.

"Who knows?" the middle-aged man said dismissively. "Without seeing it with our own eyes, nothing is credible. Haven't there been countless rumors throughout history? When the Sun Moon Palace destroyed the Zhenhai Sect back then, wasn't it also rumored that the Zhenhai Sect colluded with demon beasts? Some major powers like to frame others to legitimately deal with rival forces." The middle-aged man remained unconvinced. Such incidents were common, with each side presenting its own justification. They couldn't simply arrest Wang family cultivators and search their souls based on a mere legend! That would be utterly foolish, akin to believing every whisper. Hearing is not believing; seeing is. This was an eternal truth.

"I don't care if those ruins belong to the Wang family," Su Yunchang stated. "What I'm concerned about is a spatial rift leading to the Demon Realm. I plan to go there and check it out. As long as it's not a spatial passage, everything will be fine." Su Yunchang dared not be careless. Since the Myriad Ghost Sect could collude with demonkind, there might indeed be a spatial passage to the Demon Realm in the Myriad Ghost Sea, especially given that Zhou Sihong had appeared in the South Sea.

Li Ru nodded. "Then let's make a trip. Additionally, let's send someone to find out who spread this news so we can formulate the correct countermeasure." The middle-aged man shook his head. "That might be difficult. The news was spread by over a dozen rogue cultivators, who claimed they were hired to do so. It will likely be hard to trace the source. Let's go see the ruins first."

In a secluded courtyard, a shifty-looking old man in green robes was reporting to Huang Yuxu.

"Master," the old man in green robes said nervously, "many people have contacted your disciple recently. They seem to be tracing back to me." He was tasked with bribing a group of rogue cultivators to spread the news. He didn't dare provoke the Wang family, but his master's orders were absolute.

Huang Yuxu had originally intended to open the ruins, but he encountered a spatial rift on the way. All the Wang family cultivators died within the rift, forcing him to return to Golden Eagle Market City. He had ordered his disciple to bribe rogue cultivators to spread the news that the Wang family had obtained a set of ruins. From the results of his soul-searching on the Wang family cultivators, it was true that the Wang family controlled ruins, but only a portion of them was open. Huang Yuxu had no idea how vast the ruins were or what rare treasures they contained. Since he couldn't obtain it himself, Huang Yuxu wouldn't make things easy for the Wang family.

A fierce glint flashed in Huang Yuxu's eyes. His right hand glowed with dazzling yellow light, suddenly transforming into a massive dragon claw that shot towards the old man's chest like lightning. With a scream, a huge bloody hole appeared in the old man's chest, profusely bleeding. He fell to the ground, his face etched with disbelief. "Someone like you, who changes allegiances so easily, would surely expose my whereabouts and identity if you fell into the hands of other Nascent Soul cultivators," Huang Yuxu declared. "Only the dead can keep secrets." Dazzling yellow light erupted from Huang Yuxu's right hand. The old man's body suddenly exploded into a shower of blood, leaving only two strings of storage beads on the ground. He collected the storage beads and departed. Before long, the Wang family would surely send people to investigate, so he couldn't stay here; he needed to move to a new location.

Deep within the Myriad Ghost Sea, a team of cultivators flew through the air. Leading them was a stick-thin Daoist in red robes, who possessed a cultivation base at the eighth layer of the Core Formation stage. Hearing that there were ruins of a large cultivation sect deep in the Myriad Ghost Sea, he came to join the excitement, hoping to profit from the chaos.

Shortly after, the red-robed Daoist and his companions stopped. Ahead of them were hundreds of cultivators, divided into a dozen groups, apparently drawn by the ruins. Whenever a treasure appeared, it attracted many rogue cultivators. Some simply came to watch the spectacle, some hoped to gain an advantage from the confusion, and others were dispatched by their masters to monitor the situation.

"Oh, Fellow Daoist Cheng, Madam Cheng, it's you! Long time no see." The red-robed Daoist exclaimed with delight, his gaze falling upon a man and a woman who were none other than Cheng Zhenyu and Zheng Nan.

Cheng Zhenyu was currently at the seventh layer of Core Formation, and Zheng Nan was at the sixth. As rogue cultivators, they had to strive for all their cultivation resources themselves. They had initially come to the Myriad Ghost Sea to seek treasures, where they discovered a spiritual flame and a thousand-year-old Thunder Apricot Spiritual Wood. They sold this information to the Wang family, which allowed Cheng Zhenyu to obtain a Core Formation spiritual item and advance to the Core Formation stage. After returning from the Central Plains cultivation world, they ventured to the Myriad Ghost Sea to seek treasures again. Who would have thought that upon their arrival, they would hear about the ruins of a major cultivation sect deep within the Myriad Ghost Sea, rumored to belong to the Wang family?

"Fellow Daoist Zhu, what a coincidence! How have you been recently?" Cheng Zhenyu smiled faintly and greeted the red-robed Daoist.

The three conversed. The red-robed Daoist then changed the subject, asking with a smile, "Fellow Daoists, is it true that the ruins really belong to the Wang family?"