CHAPTER 458: CHAPTER 458: NEWS OF ZUO FENGLEI

Watching the departing Gu Mu, a cold gleam flashed in Evil Charmless’s eyes. In his eyes, Gu Mu’s destiny was reaching the heavens. As long as he could defeat Gu Mu and absorb his destiny, his cultivation would surmount.

However, Gu Mu had an extraordinary destiny, defeating him was no easy task.

Moreover, Gu Mu was aware of his intentions and wouldn’t give him the opportunity.

Swoosh!

Evil Charmless also did not linger, transforming into a light streak and rushing into the small town.

As the tea ceremony approached, the small town became increasingly lively, and inevitable clashes occurred among the gathered geniuses.

On this day, in the clear sky hundreds of miles away, a flash of sword light appeared, gradually dispersing, revealing a handsome youth in white garments. His face was sharp like a carved knife, with threads of sword light flowing around his body.

"Finally arrived!"

The youth in white looked at the distant small town and murmured.

He was the last of the four great geniuses, Wang Xuanyi, known as the Hundred Sword Young Lord.

Speaking of Wang Xuanyi, he was most famous for once venturing to the North Sea, challenging numerous young swordsmen there, undefeated.

North Sea, located in the northern part of the Celestial Martial Continent, contained numerous islands with complex factors. Even Life and Death Realm Kings would not dare to be presumptuous in the North Sea, as it’s rumored to hide sealing emperor level powerhouses.

Moreover, the sea often hid sea monsters, powerful enough to devour Life and Death Realm Kings.

Whoosh!

With a flicker in his eyes, Wang Xuanyi’s entire body transformed into a streak of sword light, swiftly entering the small town.

...

Whoosh!

In the room of the inn, Chu Ming slowly opened his eyes, two bright lights flashed from the depths of his eyes like two streaks of lightning darting through the air.

Buzz!

A surge of majestic spiritual power flashed within his body. After two months of closed cultivation, his cultivation had reached Second Layer Guiyuan Realm, and he had already refined over two hundred Spiritual Profound Needles, attaining Second Layer.

The most crucial point was that he had comprehended nine-tenths of the sword patterns on the Sword Gang Remains, and his Void Sword Intent had reached Tier Four Late Stage.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At this moment, a knock sounded on the door.

Chu Ming stood up and dusted himself off, placing the Sword Gang Remains into his Storage Ring before gently opening the door.

"There’s news about your junior brother!"

Upon opening the door, he was greeted with the stunning face of Feng Yuyan, though her expression was not favorable.

"What’s happened to him?"

Chu Ming was momentarily shocked and then inquired. Although he had been in closed cultivation, he had always instructed Xu Ming and others to search for news about Zuo Fenglei. Zuo Fenglei had not arrived yet, causing him unease.

"Half a month ago, at the border between the Sword Domain and Thunder Marsh Domain, a group of horse bandits appeared. According to the escapees, Zuo Fenglei was among them."

Feng Yuyan spoke lightly.

Upon hearing this, Chu Ming frowned. If Zuo Fenglei had been captured by horse bandits, his current fate was unknown.

Regardless of life or death, he must go once.

"Stay here, I will go rescue my junior brother."

Chu Ming spoke calmly, turning to leave the inn.

"I will go with you!"

Feng Yuyan proposed.

"No need, I can handle it myself."

Chu Ming responded calmly.

"Be careful then, the escapees said there might be Guiyuan Realm Ninth Layer experts among the bandits."

Feng Yuyan did not insist but gently reminded Chu Ming.

"Understood."

Chu Ming nodded and dashed towards the border of Sword Domain and Thunder Marsh Domain.

Half a day later, he arrived at the border of Sword Domain and Thunder Marsh Domain, where a towering mountain stood. In the air, faint streams of blood light spread, which made Chu Ming frown. Three months ago, when the four of them passed this place, it was just an ordinary mountain.

Swoosh!

Chu Ming transformed into a streak of light and rushed towards the mountain summit, his soul power spreading, allowing him to clearly perceive the myriad tunnels within the mountain in his mind.

Thud!

Landing at the edge of a tunnel, Chu Ming cautiously stepped inside, not intending to reveal his presence without grasping the full strength of the horse bandits.

After advancing several meters, Chu Ming’s ears perked up at the sound of footsteps coming from his side, accompanied by intermittent chatter.

Swoosh!

A sharp, eerie sword light sliced through the space, instantly killing two horse bandits with a single strike.

Chu Ming emerged from the corner and continued his advance into the tunnel.

...

The tunnels branched in all directions. At the end of the largest tunnel lay a spacious stone chamber filled with bizarre rocks and blade and sword marks on the stone walls.

In the furthest corner, a small blood pool about two meters long and wide boiled with blood qi, sporadically producing blood bubbles. Occasionally, broken arms floated up from the blood pool’s depths, revealing stark white bones.

Beside the blood pool stood a gigantic pill furnace embraced by one person, its base burning with blazing flames that distorted the air’s temperature.

"Hehe, the vital blood of these so-called geniuses is indeed exuberant, far surpassing that of martial artists of the same realm!"

A sinister elder in a black robe remarked with chilling words, staring at the enormous pill furnace.

"Geniuses inherently possess strength far beyond those of similar ranks, it’s expected their vital blood is so vigorous!"

In the stone chamber’s corner, a burly man sat cross-legged on the ground, beside him a blood-red long saber embedded in the ground radiated flickers of blood light.

"At this rate, once the remaining twenty-odd geniuses are refined into blood pills, it should yield up to ten blood pills."

The elder in black robe spoke slowly, his hand releasing continuous fiery flames into the base of the pill furnace.

"It seems my decision back then was correct. Those so-called righteous people really took us merely as ordinary horse bandits!"

The burly man sneered coldly, a hideous scar stretching from his left to right face.

"By the way, there shouldn’t be any issues with the captured geniuses, right?"

The elder in black suddenly recalled and asked seriously.

"Rest assured, all those I’ve captured are geniuses from remote small domains, far from here. Those from great domains, I allowed them to escape."

The burly explained coldly. They weren’t fools; if they dared capture geniuses from domains like Fire Domain, Thunder Domain, Sword Domain, a Great Power of Transcendence might flatten them within half a day. Though they were a demon sect, the sect’s strongest had only Ninth Layer Guiyuan Realm strength.

Conversely, capturing geniuses from small domains ensured they would be far gone by the time news reached those areas.