Chapter 1209: Mingxin Sword

The Sect Master of Shenxing felt a jolt in his heart. A sensation of stepping off a cliff and plummeting, of weightlessness, surged through him.

The Female Corpse Venerable's gaze was indifferent, devoid of both malice and benevolence. She stared at the Shenxing Sect Master as if Brahma were gazing upon a lifeless object. The Shenxing Sect Master was drenched in cold sweat from her gaze, standing rooted to the spot, afraid to move.

He had plundered countless tombs and witnessed many corpses return to life. However, most of those instances were due to malevolent energy entering the body, leading to evil spirits controlling the physical form. This was different. That gaze was conscious. Moreover, it was the consciousness of a supreme being, looking down upon all living creatures!

The other members of the Shenxing Sect, seeing their Sect Master in peril, were filled with indignation.

"Sect Master! Take care!""Sect Master, we will avenge you!""Sect Master, you will always be our Sect Master!"

After uttering these parting words, they decisively fled. As a faction whose primary goal was to seek profit through tomb raiding, their camaraderie was incredibly thin. The idea of dying for their Sect Master was entirely alien to them.

The Shenxing Sect Master's face turned green. "Alright, so it's 'the Sect Master dies, not the humble Daoist priest,' is it? You're truly something!"

Their sudden movements drew the Female Corpse Venerable's attention. With a slight sweep of her gaze, a strange domain sealed off heaven and earth. The Shenxing Sect cultivators who were attempting to flee instantly lost their cultivation and plummeted from mid-air, crashing hard onto the ground.

The Female Corpse Venerable herself also lost her cultivation. This revealed that her domain sealed off cultivation, affecting not only others but also herself. The critical point, however, was that even without cultivation, the Female Corpse Venerable's physical body remained that of a Venerable. Against Nascent Soul realm cultivators, she still possessed an overwhelming advantage.

She raised a finger and flicked it gently. A drop of vital blood surged from her fingertip, transforming into a blood-red thread that effortlessly pierced the Shenxing Sect Master's abdomen. Immediately after, like a needle and thread, it instantly impaled all the powerful cultivators of the Shenxing Sect. With a flick of her finger, the Shenxing Sect members cried out in pain as they were strung together like human *tanghulu*, brought before her. In an instant, all the Nascent Soul realm experts of the entire Shenxing Sect were captured in one swift move!

The Female Corpse Venerable stepped out from the rubble. Her gaze swept towards the center of the Tianshan mountain range—the hundred-mile-wide gap where the Great Sage of Central Earth and the Giant Emperor of the Heavenly Realm had perished together long ago. Like a pilgrim, she bowed deeply towards the forbidden area. Afterwards, carrying the Shenxing Sect members, she headed towards the forbidden ground.

Elsewhere, guided by Yue Mingzhu, they arrived at a valley. A fierce battle had once raged here, leveling the surrounding mountain peaks. On the mountainsides, there were thousand-zhang sword and blade marks, as well as terrifying cracks left by maces. Six ten-zhang ancient giants and over thirty incomplete human skeletons were scattered throughout the valley. It appeared to have been a devastating battle between a group of ordinary ancient giants and early to mid-Nascent Soul realm humans, with an extremely tragic outcome.

Jiang Fan's eyes showed a look of solemnity. Six to thirty. Such a vast disparity in casualties was harrowing. How had humanity managed to achieve final victory a thousand years ago?

Sensing the fluctuations of numerous spirit artifacts, and even the aura of Heavenly Earth Spirit Treasures, Jiang Fan said, "Search for useful items yourselves. But do not damage the remains of the Central Earth's martyrs."

As for the ancient giants, Jiang Fan flew forward, his gaze sweeping over the pouches on their waists. He took them off and poured out their contents. They were all the remains of powerful cultivators from Taicang Great State who had died countless years ago. In a way, after a millennium, they had finally left that bloody pouch and found liberation.

*Clink!* A moon-white longsword, uncorrupted and radiating a sacred glow, fell out. A spirit sword? Jiang Fan's heart stirred. Could it be a high-grade spirit artifact? If so, his Great Deduction Sword Array could reach minor completion! However, upon closer inspection, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. It was a mid-grade spirit sword. The hilt was engraved with the characters "Ming Xin," and its delicate style clearly indicated it was a woman's personal sword.

As he grasped the sword, Jiang Fan immediately felt a surge of righteous energy wash over him. The intensity of this energy filled his heart with profound shame. He thought of Gong Caiyi, the second woman in his life, to whom he had given no official status. He thought of Xu Youran, the woman who had accompanied him from his humble beginnings, yet he had not given her exclusive devotion. He remembered the numerous schemes and calculations he had made throughout his journey. Unconsciously, he found himself unable to hold the sword, allowing it to slip from his grasp and fall to the ground.

Jiang Fan gave a bitter smile. "The owner of this sword must be someone who walks the path of righteousness and integrity," he said. "It has no fate with me!"

Jiang Fan was not an evil person; he could even be considered kind. However, he was definitely not someone of absolute integrity. He only knew two individuals who could truly be described as "righteous and upright": Jiang Wuya, who punished evil and promoted good, and Bai Xin.

"I'll give it to Bai Xin," Jiang Fan decided, "as a way to repay her for the Seven Star Precious Sword she gave me." He then placed the Ming Xin Sword into a jade box.

Afterwards, he conjured several ghostly underworld fires to incinerate the ancient giants' bones. Yue Mingzhu tilted her head. "They're just bones now," she said, "are you worried they'll come back to life?"

Jiang Fan shook his head. "No," he replied. "I don't want their remains to defile the land of Central Earth or disturb the peace of its heroic spirits."

Yue Mingzhu gazed at Jiang Fan, as if seeing the silhouette of the young man from the ancient war between the demon and human races on the continent. Time and experience had stripped away his youthful naiveté. Yet, the sincere heart, deeply hidden beneath his cunning, remained like a polished mirror, free of impurities. Its radiance illuminated others, drawing them into its captivating depths.

She stepped forward and lightly linked her arm with Jiang Fan's, resting her head gently on his shoulder. Jiang Fan tilted his head to look at her, asking curiously, "Aren't you looking for opportunities? Everyone else has found something."

Yue Mingzhu gently shook her head, smiling knowingly. "No need," she replied. "The greatest opportunity of my life, I have already found."

The encounter at the snowy mountain cliff must have used up all her life's luck, right? Jiang Fan scratched his head. Women's thoughts were truly hard to decipher.

Soon, everyone returned one after another. Fairy Yunshang had the best luck, finding a heavenly treasure that could further enhance her Sky Fox bloodline. Jiang Fan's eye twitched subtly. Just when he had managed to become less susceptible to the Sky Fox bloodline's influence and Yunshang's allure as his cultivation advanced, it seemed he was about to fall back into it!

The Heavenly Secret Pavilion Master also had good fortune, unearthing a thousand-year-old Earth-grade high-level cultivation method. It was comparable to the most guarded secret techniques of divine sects and great academies, perfectly suitable to become the foundational cultivation method for the Heavenly Secret Pavilion!

Besides these, Ye Banxia and Hua Wuying also found some immortal secret medicines that increased the chances of opening acupoints. The others also had some gains.

Seeing this, Jiang Fan nodded in satisfaction. If things continued this way, by the end of the day, all the Heavenly Secret Pavilion members would be richly rewarded.

"Mingzhu, it's up to you now." Yue Mingzhu nodded happily; this was the most fulfilling moment for her since accompanying Jiang Fan to Taicang Great State, as she could finally be of help to him. With her ability to discern the qi luck of heaven and earth, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion was like a fish in water on the battlefield. While other sects blundered around blindly like headless flies, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion had already scoured one treasure-laden legacy site after another.

Meanwhile, as they were making substantial gains, the Hellish Beast—also known as the Palace Master of the Star Palace—stood at the center of a patch of mist. Within the mist, the remains of over ten ancient giants knelt in a circle on the ground. Each of their skulls had a hole, indicating their heads had been pierced, and all their blood had flowed from these holes into the depression in the center of the circle. A millennium had passed, and the blood had long since dried into black sludge. However, a faint trace of aura still lingered underground beneath the sludge. The Hellish Beast grinned. "Finally," he muttered, "I've found a living Giant King!"