Chapter 127: Kill

Little Yan frowned, shaking his head as he said, "I don't know, but if this secret realm has a spirit, we will all become its playthings."

Qu Yiqiu looked surprised. "Do you mean that the spirit can control us at will while we are in this realm?"

Little Yan shook his head in confusion. "It gives me a very strange feeling, and I am not yet sure of its true power."

Qu Yiqiu scanned her surroundings solemnly. "Let's go find it."

Little Yan nodded hesitantly. "Perhaps Master can subdue it."

Following the marshland inward, they reached a forest shrouded in thick fog. A path, looking as if a giant python had crawled through, wound its way deep into the woods. Qu Yiqiu avoided this wide path; it was too conspicuous. She moved lightly through the forest, the fog so dense it obscured the road ahead.

"This fog is as thick as a bowl of porridge. I wonder if I’ll be able to find my way once I’m inside," Qu Yiqiu murmured, feeling hesitant.

Little Yan said nothing, silently spinning his small hands to condense a ball of light between his palms. "Master, go in. This realm energy sphere will provide you with a bit of light."

Qu Yiqiu nodded and stepped inside with trust. The light sphere shone as bright as day within her sea of consciousness, yet she could only see ten paces ahead. After wandering through the white fog for seven days and surviving several battles against bizarre spectral beasts, she finally emerged.

"This must be the heart of the secret realm," Qu Yiqiu said, peering cautiously at a range of verdant hills.

Little Yan spoke up, puzzled, "Master, there is a male cultivator walking about a hundred meters away from you."

"A hundred meters away?" Qu Yiqiu expanded her divine sense, scanning meticulously several times before she finally spotted a figure at the location Little Yan described. "That’s Xia Changhan. I spent so long looking for him, yet he was only a hundred meters away!"

Qu Yiqiu felt a jolt of alarm, a sense of inexplicable dread towards this secret realm.

"Master, the realm spirit must be using a specific rule to cloud everyone’s senses. It doesn't seem to be aggressive," Little Yan explained.

Qu Yiqiu thought to herself that while the realm spirit might not attack her, the same could not be said for others. Having one's divine sense blinded was impossible to guard against. Just like now, she was following quietly behind Xia Changhan, and he had no idea.

"Did he come here with a map?" Qu Yiqiu wondered aloud, looking astonished.

The Feiling Secret Realm had only just opened for the first time; how could Xia Changhan possibly have a map?

Xia Changhan stood before a stone wall, gazing at the dew-cherry blossoms growing upon it. He measured three feet below the flowers, then struck the wall with a fierce punch, creating a pitch-black hole. Qu Yiqiu watched as he rummaged inside for a long while, and then, a green curtained door automatically opened in the rock face to his right.

Xia Changhan entered quickly. Qu Yiqiu followed like a phantom. At this moment, she was utilizing the full power of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, sticking close to Xia Changhan, yet he remained completely oblivious. Once both had entered, the stone door slammed shut.

The passage inside was initially narrow, but as they delved deeper, the space suddenly opened up. Qu Yiqiu immediately recognized this as an ancient tomb. Coffins were piled high, each with a unique design. Xia Changhan ignored them entirely, his gaze fixed solely on the murals carved into the stone walls.

The mural depicted a noble man surrounded by various beauties—some plump, some slender—all serving him with devotion and submission.

"Does this cultivation technique truly possess such divine power?" Xia Changhan whispered to himself.

Qu Yiqiu listened from the shadows, remaining silent. Suddenly, the ancient coffins shook violently, dust filling the air. The man in the mural glowed, his eyes lighting up as he turned his head to lock gazes with Xia Changhan.

Xia Changhan snapped open his folding fan, the paper-thin surface instantly blocking the decaying skull that lunged out from the wall. Qu Yiqiu held her breath, not daring to move. Xia Changhan decapitated the mural figure, gripping the head in his hand. He then flicked several blood-stained peach-wood swords from his storage bag, pinning the contents of the ancient coffins firmly in place.

"He was prepared for this," Qu Yiqiu thought.

The tomb fell dead silent once more. Xia Changhan dangled the head, its eyeballs rolling wildly, and interrogated it: "Where is the technique hidden?"

"Hee... hee-hee..." The skull’s jaw rattled, emitting a terrifying sound.

Xia Changhan said calmly, "Don't try to play dead. I know how to deal with a zombie that’s nothing more than a head."

"Hee... hee..." A glimmer of fear flickered in the skull's eyes.

Xia Changhan smashed it onto the ground and threw his folding fan like a sharp sword, piercing one of the eyes and pinning the head to the floor in a spray of blood. "Last chance. Where is the technique?" His voice remained clear and steady.

Yet, Qu Yiqiu could sense the killing intent behind his words.

The head rattled, blurting out incoherently, "Bo... box... Master... bone... in the box..."

The fan flew out, and as the head tried to escape like a bolt of lightning, a flash of electricity crackled, obliterating it entirely. Xia Changhan held a white thunder talisman between two fingers before tucking it back into his storage bag. "Hidden inside the ashes of the Immortal Niefu? What a stubborn ghost, taking it to the grave."

Muttering to himself, he continued forward.

Qu Yiqiu, trailing behind, lingered on a woman depicted in the mural. Among the many beauties, this woman was not particularly striking, yet she gave Qu Yiqiu a sense of vitality; her eyes were filled with a clever, spirited charm.

"Little Yan, do you feel anything different about this mural?"

Little Yan asked, puzzled, "Master, did you discover something? I don't sense anything out of the ordinary, aside from that decapitated zombie earlier."

"Is that so? I just felt this woman's features were painted too vividly. I don't see anything wrong, either." Perhaps she was just being too cautious.

Qu Yiqiu shook her head and followed the path Xia Changhan had taken. Having someone lead the way made her own journey much easier.

As both of them left the chamber, the blood-stained peach-wood swords slowly fell from the edges of the coffins, rotting into pools of black, sticky liquid. The coffins creaked open, and the withered corpses within sat up. Their pale, sunken eyes rolled about, finally settling in unison on the woman in the mural.

Following their gaze, it was clear that all the zombies were staring at the same figure. The spirited woman Qu Yiqiu had studied earlier stepped gracefully out from the mural, her skin as fair as jade, her features exquisite—a stark contrast to the grim surroundings.

"Master's command: Kill!" The woman’s cherry-red lips parted as she spoke the words softly.

The entire tomb began to tremble. Coffins shattered one after another.

Qu Yiqiu followed Xia Changhan to the lowest level of the tomb. She felt a slight dusting of debris falling from above, but paid it little mind.