“It’s number twenty-eight,” Shi Xuan walked up and picked up the Soul Nourishing Wooden Tablet. He looked at it from both sides and found it to be exactly the same as the one in the Silver Frost Secret Realm. “The last Wolf King was number twenty-six.”
Lin Daozi frowned. "It's only been less than a month, and there are already three."
Shi Xuan nodded and said, "We must find the source as soon as possible, otherwise I'm afraid more people will be killed."
Shi Xuan observed the array patterns on the ground, then returned to the first room to examine it. He said thoughtfully, "The arrays in these two rooms seem to be connected. What is the relationship between that person over there and this place?"
Lu Shenzhi gave an affirmative answer in his divine sense: it was indeed a connected array, and the person in the first room had participated in the array, seemingly as a supplier. As for what they were supplying, he was still unsure.
Shi Xuan compared the differences between this place and the Silver Frost Secret Realm. Back then, the Wolf King was already seriously injured and unable to move, but this demon bear was still able to maintain its strength, which might be related to such a person.
The master and apprentice carefully inspected the room, then returned to the hall and blasted open the door to the third room.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the door opened, a cloud of white smoke billowed out. They were all stunned, but did not stop, and retreated several feet at the same time.
The white smoke dissipated quickly, revealing the room's true state: it was completely empty, devoid of anything. The snow-white walls and floor looked out of place in this dark, underground chamber.
this……
Shi Xuan looked at Lin Daozi, and the two of them simultaneously realized something. Could it be a ghost cultivator?
When the sect first went to explore Chen Shengjun's treasure map, someone discovered traces of a ghost cultivator. Later, during the sect's sword dao examination, a ghost cultivator even attempted to possess Dong Jingwei, but after being discovered, he arrogantly fled.
This room is probably inextricably linked to ghost cultivators.
However, when Shi Xuan released her divine sense, she did not sense anything else in the room. She looked at Lin Daozi with a questioning gaze.
At this moment, Lin Daozi had taken out a magical artifact, a long, thin object resembling a candle. After infusing it with spiritual power, the object emitted a pale red light.
"This is a magical artifact specifically designed to deal with ghost cultivators many years ago, called Senhong. It's actually only a third-tier artifact. The Qian Yuan Continent has been free from ghost cultivators for a long time, so this kind of artifact is not commonly seen," Lin Daozi explained.
The red light emitted by Senhong filled the entire room. Lin Daozi observed it carefully, put away the magic weapon, and said, "There were traces of two ghost cultivators who came and went, but they were both very basic. They should be the kind who hadn't had time to cultivate yet."
Shi Xuan nodded and used his divine sense to check again. Apart from these traces, there was nothing else in the room.
The fourth room has two rows of shelves, indicating that there used to be some items displayed there, but they have now been moved.
With only one room left, Shi Xuan didn't hesitate to blow the door open, but the scene inside made both Shi Xuan and Lin Daozi frown.
The tall, thin cultivator who had just snatched the Soul-Nourishing Wood at the auction was now lying silently on the ground, seemingly dead for some time.
Shi Xuan stepped forward to check, and found that the stolen Soul-Nourishing Wood was no longer on him, nor was his storage artifact. Lifting his black outer robe, he saw that the clothes underneath indeed had an eye pattern printed on them.
This is a case of realizing something is wrong, silencing their own people, and cutting their losses to survive.
Shi Xuan communicated with Lu Shenzhi through divine sense: "Senior Brother, have you detected any signs of an array?"
“No,” Lu Shenzhi said, “I have no spiritual energy fluctuations from the formation.”
Shi Xuan turned to Lin Daozi and said, "We've only seen one path here so far. There's no reason we wouldn't know they escaped. There must be some other passage that we haven't discovered."
“We’ve already alerted them,” Lin Daozi said, examining the corpses on the ground. “They must have a plan for dealing with being exposed.”
"Why didn't you take this person with you, or the bear demon?" Shi Xuan asked. Logically speaking, if there was a way to escape, wouldn't it be a smaller loss to take the bear demon and this cultivator with you? After all, a Golden Core cultivator is considered a very high-level cultivator, not to mention the bear demon that you had worked so hard to take.
Lin Daozi pondered for a moment and said, "It's also possible that there are limitations to the methods of escape."
Shi Xuan nodded, looked around but found nothing new, so he had no choice but to return the way he came with Lin Daozi.
On the way back, Leng Rufeng rushed over and only felt relieved when he saw Shi Xuan.
“Master Round Face! You chased after me before I could finish speaking. I saw two people, one tall and thin and the other short and fat, who looked very much like my two senior brothers from the Hidden Sect.”
"Oh? That tall, thin one is already dead. Come with me and let's see if that's true."
Shi Xuan led Leng Rufeng back to the deepest room.
The tall, thin cultivator was deathly pale, appearing to have died from severed meridians. He had prominent cheekbones, a gaunt face, and thick lips, making his features highly distinctive.
Leng Rufeng recognized him at a glance, "It really is Senior Brother Tan Yu!"
Having confirmed his identity, Shi Xuan asked, "What is his relationship with the people who injured you?"
“They are fellow disciples of the same master,” Leng Rufeng said. “Including that disciple who is suspected of dying at my hands, they are all from the same peak.”
Shi Xuan had already explained the whole story to Lin Daozi in detail. Now that he heard Leng Rufeng say this, Lin Daozi said solemnly, "It seems that it is necessary to make a trip to Luoyin Sect."
"Shall we go now?" Shi Xuan asked.
Lin Daozi shook his head and said, "Let's go back to the sect first and have the sect leader send an invitation. We still need to show proper courtesy."
"Then, Master, I'll go back to the auction house first, and then I'll come to find you when I return to the sect later."
Lin Daozi chuckled and said jokingly, "Go ahead, round-faced master."
Shi Xuan scratched his head and said that the name should not be chosen too casually, and this time it was a bloody lesson!
*
After Lin Daozi left, Leng Rufeng looked at Shi Xuan with a hesitant expression, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Ask anything you want.
“Round-faced Master. Your master…” doesn’t look like an ordinary person. He has an extremely heavy aura and looks somewhat similar to his former master.
Shi Xuan said, "I am a disciple of the Lianfeng Sword Sect. It's inconvenient for me to travel in the black market, so I just adopted a nickname."
Leng Rufeng's eyes lit up, and he asked cautiously, "But...but his surname is Shi?"
Shi Xuan nodded: "Exactly."
"It really is you!" Leng Rufeng exclaimed excitedly, "Since the Six Sects Alchemy Competition, your name has become known throughout the entire cultivation world! The first master to release a Dao Seal! I never imagined that I was saved by Master Shi! If you had revealed your identity earlier, I'm afraid no one in the black market would have dared to question you!"
Before Shi Xuan could speak, he continued, "I always said that the round-faced master truly embodies the style of the master, producing only top-quality pills! That cheap little shop..."
Shi Xuan: "It's my shop."
"Just as I suspected! I was very puzzled last time. Many people in the market were saying that the affordable shop was owned by Master Shi, and they would line up to buy it every time a new product was launched!"
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