The rain of swords thinned, its force finally spent.

Zhou Kai immediately circulated the Cicada Raiment Art, suppressing his aura to reveal only the sixth layer of Qi Condensation. Just as the disguise settled, a sharp shout rang out.

“Who goes there?!”

Two figures approached with blinding speed. In a few leaps, they flanked him left and right, trapping him in the middle. Seeing that Zhou Kai was merely at the mid-stage of Qi Condensation, their tense postures visibly relaxed.

The man on the left was tall with ordinary features. He stared down at Zhou Kai. “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

The sword rain had ceased completely, returning the mountain walls to a deathly silence. Thoughts raced through Zhou Kai’s mind, but he plastered a fawning, terrified smile on his face and cupped his hands.

“Esteemed Senior Brothers from the Upper Sect! My name is Fu Cheng. I was sent by my Master to search for my Young Master!”

His posture was lowly, his tone laced with anxiety and servile respect.

“Fu Cheng?” The man on the right spoke. He was shorter, with a sinister aura and triangular eyes that gleamed with malice.

“My Young Master is Fu Weilun. He entered the Secret Realm two months ago and has been missing ever since. The Patriarch is beside himself with worry. With the Righteous and Demonic factions now at war outside, he took the risk of sending a lowly servant like me to gather news,” Zhou Kai lied smoothly.

“Fu Weilun?” The tall man frowned, thinking for a moment. “The entrance is guarded. How did you get in?”

Zhou Kai lowered his voice conspiratorially. “A Senior Brother did me a favor. He said if I found any news about the three Golden Core Elders, I should bring it out to him as well.”

The shorter man chuckled darkly. “How do we know if what you say about your Young Master is true or false?”

A chill ran down Zhou Kai’s spine. He hurriedly bowed deeper. “Senior Brothers, please be discerning! This lowly one speaks no falsehoods! May I ask the esteemed names of you two Senior Brothers? Once I find my Young Master, the Fu family will surely offer a generous reward!”

The tall man replied indifferently, “I am Su Tai. This is my Junior Brother, Ji Tao. We are also here under orders from an Elder to collect some exotic beast corpses.”

Su Tai sized up Zhou Kai for a moment, then slapped the Storage Bag at his waist.

Whoosh.

A Yin Corpse with a glossy blue-black sheen appeared beside him, emanating a thick stench of death. Its eyes were hollow voids.

Ji Tao gave a dark chuckle and pulled out a pitch-black earthenware jar. A surge of black energy erupted, and a ferocious malevolent ghost shrieked as it lunged out, surrounded by swirling resentment.

With the Yin Corpse in front and the ghost behind, the two men effectively bracketed Zhou Kai. Their intention was clear.

Ji Tao smiled, though the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “Little Brother Fu Cheng, this place is dangerous. It’s unsafe for you to wander alone. How about we escort you? If your identity checks out, you’ll be safe once we reach our destination.”

“That would be wonderful! Thank you, Senior Brothers!” Zhou Kai beamed with gratitude.

Internally, however, his mind was cold. These two aren’t easy to fool. Escort? More like a prisoner transfer.

If they actually dragged him to the Fu family, his impostor status would be exposed instantly. He would be lucky to die quickly.

Currently, their cultivation was suppressed to the peak of Qi Condensation, as were their pets.

Zhou Kai had a counter for the ghost. In the Storage Bag of Zhang Zhen—the Yin Ruins Sect disciple he killed earlier—there was a chain. It had little offensive power, but it was designed to bind malevolent ghosts below the Foundation Establishment level.

Strike first.

Zhou Kai made up his mind. Using Cicada Shell Shadow Hiding combined with his flying sword to ambush a Qi Condensation cultivator should result in an instant kill.

Suddenly, he pointed toward the water behind them, his eyes widening.

“Exotic beast!”

Su Tai and Ji Tao were startled, instinctively turning their gazes toward the direction Zhou Kai pointed.

Now!

The moment the shout left his lips, Zhou Kai vanished into thin air. Through his recent trials, his Cicada Shell Shadow Hiding had reached a level where he could execute three moves while remaining completely invisible.

“Not good!” Su Tai and Ji Tao reacted almost simultaneously, realizing they’d been baited.

But it was too late.

Clatter!

A streak of dark light shot out, swift as lightning, instantly coiling around the shrieking ghost. It was the Soul-Binding Chain. The ghost let out a piercing wail, the black energy around it churning violently, but it was held fast.

Ji Tao’s face twisted in shock. “My ghost! How do you have a Soul-Binding Chain?!”

Almost at the same instant, a sword light tore through the air, aiming straight for Ji Tao’s throat.

Zhou Kai’s primary target was Ji Tao. He had to eliminate the one controlling the ghost first; Su Tai’s Yin Corpse could be handled with brute force.

“You seek death!”

Ji Tao, both shocked and furious, threw himself backward in a desperate dodge. A bone shield instantly materialized in front of him.

Clang!

The flying sword struck the bone shield, erupting in a shower of sparks. The shield shattered on impact, but it bought Ji Tao a fraction of a second. He avoided a fatal blow, but the sword still slashed a deep, bone-revealing wound across his ribs. Blood sprayed.

“Junior Brother!” Su Tai roared. He commanded the Yin Corpse to pounce toward the empty air where Zhou Kai had vanished.

The Yin Corpse’s arms were like iron, its nails pitch-black, raking through the space with intense corpse energy.

Zhou Kai’s first strike hadn’t been fatal, but his figure remained concealed. He executed Dragon Roaming the Void, side-stepping the Yin Corpse’s attack. Simultaneously, with a thought, his flying sword made a nimble turn in mid-air and shot toward Ji Tao again.

“Let’s see you dodge this!” Zhou Kai’s voice seemed to echo from all directions.

Ji Tao was terrified. This “Fu Cheng” was no servant; he was a tiger masquerading as a pig!

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Ji Tao hastily retreated, pulling a yellowish-brown talisman from his Storage Bag.

“Still trying to use talismans?”

Zhou Kai utilized Dragon Roaming the Void to flicker into existence directly behind Ji Tao, leaving a fading afterimage in his original spot.

Thud!

A cold flash of light. The terror on Ji Tao’s face froze. A flying sword protruded from his chest, its tip dripping crimson.

“You…” Ji Tao managed to utter a single syllable before his vitality collapsed.

“Junior Brother!” Su Tai’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. He never imagined that his partner, whose cultivation was on par with his own, would be slaughtered in a single exchange.

This strength was absolutely not the sixth layer of Qi Condensation!

“Next, it’s your turn.”

Zhou Kai’s voice was icy. He stepped out of the shadows, the bloody flying sword returning to hover near his hand. He looked at Su Tai with indifferent eyes.

A chill surged in Su Tai’s heart. He knew he had kicked an iron plate today.

“Brat, you dare kill a disciple of the Yin Ruins Sect? No matter where you flee, in heaven or earth, you are a dead man!”

As he blustered, Su Tai madly directed the Yin Corpse to charge while he rapidly retreated, trying to create distance.

“Too much talk.” Zhou Kai snorted, utterly fearless.

With a thought, he activated the Roaming Dragon White Jade Body.

A layer of gentle, jade-like radiance instantly emanated from beneath his skin, enveloping his entire form.

ROAR!

The Yin Corpse’s foul-smelling claw wind reached his face. Zhou Kai didn’t dodge. He didn’t retreat.

He advanced.

His right foot stamped heavily on the river surface, propelling him forward like a cannonball. Carrying the force of ten thousand jun, he slammed head-on into the Yin Corpse’s razor-sharp claws!

Su Tai’s pupils contracted sharply. Is this kid insane?

Daring to confront a Yin Corpse with a bare body? Although suppressed to Qi Condensation, the corpse was refined through secret arts. Its physical toughness surpassed magical tools. It was nearly as hard as an early Foundation Establishment body cultivator!

How dare he?!

CRACK!

A sickening sound of fracturing bone rang out—but it didn’t come from Zhou Kai.

The Yin Corpse’s arm, harder than steel, snapped like a twig. Blue-black bone fragments pierced through its rotten flesh, exposing the marrow to the air. The stench of decay exploded outward.

“What?!” Su Tai stumbled in his retreat, his mind unable to process the scene.

Having succeeded with one blow, Zhou Kai didn’t pause.

His figure flickered, closing in on the monster like a ghost. Avoiding the Yin Corpse’s remaining claw, he delivered a fierce elbow strike squarely into its chest.

THUMP!

It sounded like a heavy hammer striking a wet drum.

The Yin Corpse’s chest caved in completely. The blue-black corpse energy scattered. The monster flew backward, crashing onto the water surface several zhang away. After twitching a few times, it lay still, the eerie fire in its eye sockets extinguishing.

Zhou Kai didn’t even glance at the fallen corpse. His gaze was locked on the fleeing Su Tai.

He unfurled Dragon Roaming the Void, his figure turning into a wisp of blue smoke as he closed the distance.

Su Tai was scared out of his wits. This was no Fu family junior; this was a god of slaughter!

“You… who exactly are you?!” Su Tai screamed, his courage failing. He frantically pulled a defensive magical tool from his bag.

Zhou Kai gave him no chance.

In the next instant, he was already in Su Tai’s face. His right hand, fingers stiffened into a knife-hand, slashed straight at Su Tai’s throat.

Whoosh!

Su Tai felt a gale-force wind. Zhou Kai’s hand chop rapidly enlarged in his vision. In his desperation, Su Tai actually managed to shoot upward, turning to flee through the air.

“Think you can run?”

The flying sword, which Zhou Kai had been holding quietly in his left hand, moved silently.

Su Tai hadn’t reacted at all; his entire focus had been on the incoming hand chop.

Ssssh!

A flash of cold light streaked past the corner of Su Tai’s eye.

Su Tai felt a sudden chill at his neck.

“Flying sword… body and technique… dual cultivation?”

A wet, gurgling sound leaked from his throat. Until his death, he hadn’t expected that an opponent with such terrifying physical prowess would resort to a treacherous sneak attack with a sword.

Zhou Kai expressionlessly withdrew the blade. It was smooth as a mirror, not a single drop of blood staining the steel.

Su Tai’s body slumped softly to the ground, eyes wide, dead yet unseeing.

“If not for the Heavenly Script’s enhancement boosting the flying sword’s power, and the fact that you two were low on talismans, today might have been troublesome,” Zhou Kai muttered, unceremoniously stripping both men of their Storage Bags.

Just as he was about to check the spoils, a sudden change occurred.

Beside Ji Tao’s corpse, the black earthenware jar began to swell violently.

BANG!

It exploded. Amidst the spreading black fog, two more malevolent ghosts shrieked as they charged out!

Simultaneously, Su Tai’s Storage Bag ruptured. Spirit Stones, magical tools, and the carcasses of over a hundred Blade Arm Strange Beasts spilled across the ground.

But what made Zhou Kai’s heart skip a beat was the sight of two coffins rolling out. The lids sprang open, and two bluish-black Yin Corpses wobbled to their feet.

Four undead horrors, now driven by instinct alone, fixed their crimson eyes on Zhou Kai.

So, at the Qi Condensation stage, you can only control one ghost or corpse at a time? he mused. When the master dies, the spares break loose.

He glanced at the mess. Counting Zhang Zhen and Lu Zhun, he had killed four members of the Yin Ruins Sect, and not one carried a decent magic treasure. They had poured their entire net worth into these corpses.

Before he could ponder further, the four creatures roared and pounced.

Zhou Kai’s eyes narrowed. He calmly formed hand seals, and several Array Flags shot out, swiftly establishing a kill-trap array around him.

The array’s light flared, boxing the monsters in. Relying on his agility and the array’s support, Zhou Kai began the cleanup.

Half an hour later.

The four Yin Corpses and ghosts had been reduced to ash.

Zhou Kai caught his breath, his gaze falling on the three dismantled coffin planks—two from Su Tai’s bag and one from the earlier battle.

Almost all my skills lie in hammer techniques. These two definitely weren’t top elites, or they wouldn’t be on garbage duty collecting beast carcasses.

With a thought, the System Panel materialized.

“System, raise my Artifact Refining skill to the Second-Grade maximum!”

A wave of understanding washed over him. Countless techniques and metallurgical secrets flooded his mind.

It doesn’t need to be pretty. It just needs to be heavy.

He rolled up his sleeves and dismantled the three Corpse-Nurturing Coffin planks. These boards, designed to nurture Foundation Establishment corpses, were tough, resilient, and steeped in Yin energy.

Perfect for recycling.

The clanging sounds of hammering echoed through the canyon.

One day later, a warhammer appeared in Zhou Kai’s hands. It was rugged, barely more than a slab of dark wood on a haft, but the weight was substantial. The head still showed the grain of the coffin wood.

“Barely usable.”

Zhou Kai swung it. Whoosh. The air screamed. He finally regained the solid, heavy feeling he preferred.

If not for the quality of this coffin wood, ordinary materials wouldn’t be able to withstand my Mana and Vitality.

Next, he fired up a furnace. Taking out a Blade Arm Strange Beast corpse, he refined two batches of golden Beast-Feeding Pills. The three Jade Arm Mantises, catching the scent, chirped excitedly from his shoulder.

After feeding his pets, Zhou Kai looked at the bodies of Su Tai and Ji Tao.

“Ji Tao is too ugly. Su Tai it is.”

He activated the Cicada Raiment Art. His bones shifted, his face molded, and his aura changed.

A moment later, standing in the clearing was no longer Zhou Kai, but an ordinary-faced, sharp-eyed “Su Tai.”