Surveillance

Before the three rogue cultivators reached the cliff top, the Beetle Gu he had scattered out had already alerted Song Wen to their presence.

Song Wen felt a surge of irritation. He only wanted to hide here in peace to recover his spiritual energy, yet he had the misfortune of encountering these three blind fools trying to rob him.

It was just like the time a little beggar tried to snatch his steamed bun, or when Ji Yin used him to test medicine, or when Shi Shou forced him to cultivate a flawed technique.

It felt as if the entire world was brimming with malice at every waking moment.

Perhaps this was what it meant to step into the cultivation world; a man's fate was no longer his own.

Song Wen could have chosen to flee. Given his speed, even the male cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining had absolutely no chance of catching him.

However, he had no intention of slinking away in disgrace. He would make those three pay a price-a bloody price!

He also happened to need to replenish some essence blood.

"Eldest Brother, there's a cave here," the second sister, who was at the sixth level of Qi Refining, said.

The male cultivator stopped the second sister from barging straight in. "Second Sister, do not be rash. If that person is hiding inside, he has definitely laid traps."

The second sister nodded, and a fireball manifested before her.

"Go!"

The fireball shot into the cave. It was shallow, only a few meters deep, and the flames soon crashed against the stone wall.

Sparks splashed within. The cave was completely empty, bearing no trace of any Formation. It did not look like a place where anyone could hide.

"He probably isn't in this cave," the male cultivator said.

Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air from above.

Looking up, they saw it was actually their youngest sister.

Except she was already a corpse. Her essence blood, internal organs, and brain marrow had all vanished, leaving nothing but an empty husk of skin.

The husk remained perfectly intact, as if something had burrowed into her body and hollowed out her flesh from the inside.

This was naturally the handiwork of the Black-bellied Beetle Gu.

"Little Sister..." The male cultivator's eyes turned blood-red, filled with overwhelming sorrow and hatred.

He leaped into the air and caught her falling corpse.

"Little Sister..." the second sister cried out mournfully.

"Who did this?" the male cultivator forced out, suppressing his grief with pure resentment.

They had just been below the cliff and hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary-no sounds of battle, no eruption of spiritual energy.

Everything pointed to a silent ambush. She had lost her life in an instant, given virtually no time to resist.

"Come, let's head up and take a look!" The male cultivator stored away the corpse and gestured to the second sister.

In a cave a hundred meters away, Song Wen poked his head out. He watched the two retreating figures, his gaze dark and unreadable.

...

The pair searched through the trees at the top of the cliff. Aside from a few drops of blood on the grass, they found absolutely nothing. Not even a single footprint.

It was as if the killer had descended from the sky, slaughtered their sister, and vanished back into the air.

Just who could have done this? Who could kill their sister without leaving a single trace?

Could it be a Foundation Establishment cultivator?

But if a Foundation Establishment cultivator wanted to kill three Qi Refining cultivators, why resort to a sneak attack?

Finding nothing in the surroundings, the male cultivator turned to the second sister.

"I'll take a look from the sky. Be careful."

With that, the male cultivator activated a flight technique, rising straight up into the air until he reached a height of a hundred meters.

As he ascended, he shouted, "Shameless rat hiding in the dark! Since you dared to murder my sister, I will drag you out and carve you into pieces!"

But before the words had even settled, the male cultivator abruptly altered his trajectory and flew off into the distance, ascending further and further away.

Seeing her eldest brother flee, the second sister suddenly realized what was happening. Her expression changed drastically as she hastily summoned her spiritual energy to ride the wind and escape.

She had only risen a few meters off the ground when six half-foot-long needles shot out from the nearby forest.

The slender needles were incredibly fast, flashing forward like streaks of lightning!

Not daring to be careless, she summoned a ten-foot red silk ribbon. It coiled and twisted through the air, moving to entangle and knock down all the incoming needles.

Abruptly, the tips of the long needles split open, unleashing dozens of hair-thin needles from within. These smaller needles gleamed with a faint blue light, clearly coated in deadly poison.

The sudden transformation caught the second sister completely off guard.

She hastily cast a Shield Spell, causing a layer of spiritual energy to envelop her body.

Fearing the Shield Spell alone would not be enough to stop the dozens of needles, she produced a talisman and immediately activated it.

A violent whirlwind materialized out of thin air before her.

The strong gale-force winds swept up the fine needles, throwing them completely off course.

Just as she thought she could let out a sigh of relief, her Divine Sense suddenly detected two Gu insects diving at her from behind.

She spun around, whipping her red ribbon to swat at the Gu insects.

Suddenly, Gu insects swarmed her from every direction.

She was utterly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers.

The Black-bellied Beetle Gu quickly closed the distance, effortlessly gnawing through her spiritual shield.

A sharp pain suddenly pierced the center of her back. Her life force snuffed out in an instant, and her body plummeted from mid-air.

Song Wen stepped out from the dense forest. He looked up at the male cultivator, who had nearly vanished over the horizon, and silently put away the Vajra Talisman he had been holding in his hand. He was entirely speechless.

When it came to cowards who feared death, that man was truly in a league of his own.

At the first sign of danger, he had turned tail and fled, even going so far as to trick his own second sister into acting as a scapegoat.

Song Wen walked over to the second sister's corpse, devoured her essence blood, and claimed her Storage Bag. A single fireball reduced her remains to ash, and he turned to make his way down the cliff.

He now understood that this area was likely swarming with rogue cultivators. Traveling openly on a flying boat would easily expose him; slipping through the dense forest was much more prudent.

Moreover, this cliff had already been compromised. He definitely could not stay here any longer.

Song Wen traveled for several dozen miles before finding an abandoned beast den on a sloped clearing and slipping inside to hide.

The next day, having recovered about seventy to eighty percent of his spiritual energy, Song Wen controlled his flying boat and headed toward the Sect.

Five people had set out, but he was the only one returning. With no one left to guard against, he flew straight toward the Sect at full speed.

Within a single day and night, he smoothly arrived back at the Corpse Demon Sect.

Just as he was about to reach the entrance to his cave dwelling, he spotted an unexpected figure.

Du Qiu!

The inner Sect disciple who had originally guided Song Wen and the others into the Corpse Demon Sect as Novices.

"Ji Yin greets Senior Brother Du. Does Senior Brother have business here? Is there anything this junior can assist with?"

Song Wen first put on a look of surprise before smoothly shifting to a fawning, ingratiating expression.

Du Qiu said, "Ah, Junior Brother Ji Yin. It is nothing, I just happened to be passing by. Farewell, Junior Brother."

With that, Du Qiu turned and walked away.

Song Wen glanced at the cliff edge just a short distance from his cave dwelling, the corners of his mouth twitching.

Passing by? What the hell are you doing walking right up to the edge of a cliff for no reason?

Are you planning to jump off and commit suicide?

That couldn't be right either. The drop by his cave dwelling was less than ten meters; it wouldn't be enough to kill a seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator like Du Qiu.

Just now, Song Wen's senses had confirmed that Du Qiu's cultivation was only at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Back when he first entered as a Novice, Du Qiu had already been an inner Sect disciple, meaning his cultivation was at the seventh level of Qi Refining back then. Two and a half years had passed, and he was still at the seventh level.

Song Wen curled his lip. Trash!

However, it seemed this piece of trash was actually monitoring him!

Was he acting on Shi Shou's orders?

A wave of hatred surged in Song Wen's heart, followed closely by a sense of urgency.

He guessed that the moment he displayed a cultivation base at the sixth level of Qi Refining, Shi Shou would likely make a move against him.

The reason for this speculation was that the Corpse King Blood Refining Art was completely safe up until the sixth level of Qi Refining. Once past the sixth level, an uncontrollable corpse transformation would occur.

Shi Shou was most likely waiting for that exact moment.

However, this also meant that he was safe for now, giving him time to improve his strength.

For a fleeting moment, Song Wen considered fleeing the Corpse Demon Sect. But the thought was quickly dismissed when he remembered the wisp of soul aura left behind upon becoming a Novice, as well as the Sect's bloody and cruel methods for dealing with defecting disciples.

The Corpse Demon Sect retained the soul aura of all its disciples primarily to determine if they were dead or alive, but it could also be used to hunt down defectors.

With a cultivator's soul aura, no matter how well one concealed their cultivation or where they hid, the Corpse Demon Sect could always track them down using secret methods-unless one somehow managed to alter their very soul.

Once you entered the Corpse Demon Sect, you were a person of the Corpse Demon Sect for your entire life, regardless of life or death.

While alive, a disciple had to make contributions to the Sect, and even in death, they would not be wasted.

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