Chapter 1156: Killing Heart Ancient Realm

"How did he die?" Snow Shizhi wondered. Wanderer was renowned throughout the far north for his exceptional footwork; his Wanderer Steps were unpredictable and unmatched. Defeating him was almost impossible, and killing him was even harder.

He hadn't even fully comprehended the supreme sword technique from the Rake Law yet, so how could Wanderer have died right at his doorstep?

With Wanderer's death, the top position among Nascent Soul cultivators in the far north would now fall to him.

The second round of the test had been passed in a strange and inexplicable way.

"I don't know," Lu Yang replied. He had been cultivating in his room just now and hadn't noticed any commotion outside.

Lu Yang turned his head and asked the Immortal Fairy in his spiritual space.

"Fairy, do you know how Wanderer died?"

"He committed suicide," the Immortal Fairy stated with certainty.

Lu Yang gazed at Wanderer, whose body was severely mutilated, and fell into thought.

"Fellow Daoist Xue, lend a hand. Let's lay Wanderer to rest."

"Ah, oh."

Lu Yang and Snow Shizhi carried Wanderer's corpse towards the tree in front of Lu Yang's room.

It just so happened that under that same tree, Luo Shi, a Foundation Establishment assassin from the Ghost Killing Alliance, had been buried. Luo Shi would surely be pleased to know his corpse now had the most powerful Nascent Soul cultivator, Wanderer, for company.

"Old Lu, is something happening outside...?"

Meng Jingzhou walked out of his room, seeing Lu Yang and Snow Shizhi carrying an unfamiliar corpse, one in front and one behind.

"I didn't see anything. I'm going back inside."

"Going back for what? Come help."

"Tsk."

Meng Jingzhou reluctantly picked up Wanderer's right arm and placed it back on the corpse.

Lu Yang took out three shovels and handed one to each of them, and they began digging the pit.

Meng Jingzhou and Snow Shizhi weren't used to such manual labor, and their movements were a bit clumsy. In contrast, Lu Yang's movements were quite skilled.

Snow Shizhi pondered, "Could this be the true use of a shovel? Was my previous understanding of its purpose wrong?"

Since he had passed the second round of the test, he would now dedicate himself to comprehending and creating his own unique techniques.

"No wonder the tree by your door grows so well," Meng Jingzhou remarked as he dug the grave. "Turns out it has plenty of nutrients. Though this method is quite unique and hard to imitate."

Upon hearing his subordinate's report, Deputy City Lord Ma's face turned so grim it seemed water could drip from it, frightening his subordinate into holding their breath.

"The Nascent Soul cultivator who escaped my grasp must have been Wanderer!"

"Still no trace of that petty thief? Damn it, he got away!"

Wanderer's threats before leaving echoed in his mind. He couldn't constantly be on guard against Wanderer. Deputy City Lord Ma angrily slammed the table: "Find him! Dig three feet underground if you have to, but dig him out!"

Muxue City was locked down for ten days, with the entire city searching for Wanderer, but they found nothing.

Clearly, Muxue City's soldiers had not strictly followed Deputy City Lord Ma's orders; they hadn't dug three feet deep.

At the Cliff of Departed Souls.

A rope was tied to a large rock and dangled to the bottom of the Cliff of Departed Souls. Su Yuan nervously clutched the rope, waiting for a sign from the other end.

Suddenly, the rope swayed. Su Yuan perked up and quickly began pulling the rope up.

Based on the rope's swaying, Su Yuan sensed that the person on the other end was climbing rapidly.

A figure flashed by, tumbled a few times in the air, and landed steadily.

It was Fang Zhige!

"It's been three days! You're finally up. If you hadn't come up, I was about to ask Teacher Lu for help," Su Yuan exclaimed. "Zhige, how was it? Did you find anything?"

Fang Zhige, usually stern and reserved, cracked a rare, hearty smile. "I passed!"

"That's wonderful!"

Hearing Fang Zhige's response, Su Yuan couldn't help but recall what had happened recently.

The voice inside him had told him that by devouring the soul of the Ghost Killing Alliance leader, it had learned of an ancient secret realm called the Killing Heart Ancient Realm.

The Killing Heart Ancient Realm was the opportunity that had led to the Ghost Killing Alliance leader's rise in his early years. He had passed the first test of the realm, obtaining a fragmented version of the "Killing Heart Scripture," which was how he became a dreaded assassin.

His escape to Muxue City also stemmed from his intention to pass the subsequent tests of the secret realm and rise again.

The Killing Heart Ancient Realm was located at the deepest part of the Cliff of Departed Souls.

However, to enter the Killing Heart Ancient Realm, one needed to possess a "killing heart." The voice had repeatedly tried to persuade Su Yuan to kill, but Su Yuan had firmly refused each time.

Left with no choice, the voice had settled for a secondary option: have Su Yuan contact Fang Zhige. Fang Zhige possessed a "killing heart" and thus was qualified to enter the Killing Heart Ancient Realm, with a fifty-fifty split of any gains afterward.

Fang Zhige and Su Yuan had deliberated for a long time, making thorough preparations before finally deciding to venture into the Cliff of Departed Souls.

The voice could tell that Fang Zhige was a cultivator at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation. If Fang Zhige were to turn hostile after gaining benefits, it could conveniently use saving Su Yuan as an excuse to take control of his body.

Fang Zhige showed no intention of turning hostile and, as agreed, detailed his gains from the Killing Heart Ancient Realm.

"The Killing Heart Ancient Realm appears to be the remains left behind by an ancient assassin grandmaster," Fang Zhige began. "Having no descendants or disciples, she established this secret realm, hoping to pass on her legacy."

"The ancient realm has a total of three trials. I was quite lucky; I cleared all three."

Fang Zhige spoke casually, but Su Yuan noticed a flicker of fear in his eyes as he mentioned this, clearly indicating that these three trials were not easy to overcome.

"This is the 'Killing Heart Scripture,' which only I can cultivate, so I won't be giving it to you."

Fang Zhige took out an ancient scripture, which was the cultivation method of the ancient assassin.

"Alright."

"Since the Killing Heart Scripture is mine, I'll give you sixty percent of these spirit stones and other cultivation techniques."

"Actually, I also obtained something else from the ancient realm, but I don't understand what it is. The inherited memories didn't mention it either."

"What is it?"

Fang Zhige unfastened the bundle on his back, revealing a three-foot-long, rectangular ice-cold casket.

Only then did Su Yuan notice that Fang Zhige was carrying a bundle, which he hadn't been carrying when he descended.

"This ice casket can't be put into a storage ring, and it has a seal on it, so I don't know how to open it."

"However, based on the inherited memories I received, it seems the ice casket contains something extremely important to the ancient realm's owner."

"Do you know what this is?" Su Yuan asked the voice within him.

The voice was uncharacteristically silent. It didn't know what was inside, but it was too embarrassed to admit it.

"Teacher Lu seems to have seen many things. Why don't we go back and ask him?"

"Let's go. It's almost time for the parent-teacher conference, and we shouldn't be late." Fang Zhige also trusted Teacher Lu greatly.

Facing the combined forces of the Nine Nether Sect and the Glorious Sun Sect, members of the Ruthless Sect were either captured or had their souls directly searched, demonstrating extremely high efficiency.

Three Tribulation Transcending stage grandmasters from the two sects sat together, sharing the intelligence they had gathered.

Sect Master Chi of the Glorious Sun Sect grimaced, unsure if he was crying or laughing. "The situation is more complicated than we imagined. We didn't expect the Ruthless Sect's leader to actually be in the far north, and he seems to be looking for something."

"We just don't know his current whereabouts. Otherwise, we could launch a proactive attack and perhaps eliminate him in one go."

Mu Baiyi took out a newly acquired piece of intelligence and showed it to the Glorious Sun Sect: "I've learned that there's a very famous Nascent Soul cultivator in the far north, nicknamed Wanderer, who is the disciple of the Ruthless Sect leader."

"And Wanderer's last known location was Muxue City."