The inheritance of the Divine Essence Old Demon held an immense allure for the cultivators of the Tianlan Sea Region.
Even knowing that breaking the seal required seven celestial pills, even knowing the dangers of Divine Essence Mountain, thousands upon thousands of cultivators still flocked there every time a Divine Essence event arose.
These independent cultivators of the Tianlan Sea Region had not given up their desire for the opportunities at Divine Essence Mountain, and neither had the major powers of the region.
Or rather, it was precisely because the major powers had not given up that the independent cultivators were reminded time and time again of the Divine Essence Mountain inheritance in the Tianlan Sea Region.
Their schemes and calculations, overt and covert, continuing for hundreds or thousands of years or even longer, were all for the sake of the Divine Essence Mountain inheritance.
So what exactly were the arrangements made by the Dragon Whale Island Lord?
How did he intend to break the seal placed by the Divine Essence Old Demon - a being who was infinitely close to immortality - using his very life force?
Qin Ran pondered these questions as he watched the black-robed cultivators disappear into the darkness with their blades drawn.
What was hidden in that formation? What were these black-robed cultivators going to do?
Qin Ran closed his eyes, sensing that the soul imprint he had left on Tie Ruonan's map was still very clear. Without hesitation, he followed in the direction of the imprint.The soul imprint moved swiftly down Divine Essence Mountain, indicating that Tie Ruonan was in a state of rapid movement. This state of haste continued for a while before suddenly stopping without warning and beginning to vibrate in place. It was clear that Tie Ruonan had stopped halfway up Divine Essence Mountain.
Qin Ran slightly increased his speed, flying towards the direction where Tie Ruonan had stopped.
When he was still some distance away, a sea breeze suddenly blew up the mountain from below. As Qin Ran inhaled, he caught the scent of both sea salt and blood in the wind.
"Ah! As expected..." Qin Ran was not at all surprised by the smell of blood.
When he had seen that group of black-robed figures earlier, their murderous aura had already given him an inkling of what they were up to in the dark of night.
A moonless, windy night perfect for killing!
Killing!
"What is the purpose of this killing?" Qin Ran pondered as he employed his Flowing Water Technique to conceal himself in the air, continuing to move towards the source of the bloody smell. "Does the Dragon Whale Island Lord's arrangement require corpses? Is it the bodies themselves, or the souls of the dead? Or perhaps the blood?
"But when a cultivator dies, doesn't the spiritual energy in their dantian automatically dissipate? A cultivator's corpse with its spiritual energy gone isn't much different from an ordinary person's. Why specifically lure cultivators here to kill?"
As he was thinking, he suddenly realized that in the Tianlan Sea Region, there was a type of cultivator whose spiritual energy was not stored in the dantian, but throughout their body and muscles! Even after death, the spiritual energy would remain locked in their physical form... unless the body itself decayed.
Those were... body cultivators!
"Could it be that they're only killing body cultivators?" He continued to analyze as he walked. "Are they using cultivators' corpses for some kind of sacrifice? Or for a formation? Or to craft magical items? Or for some bizarre spell or supernatural ability?"
As these thoughts raced through his mind, he had already crept close to the scene. Crouching on the top of a tall tree, he could see intense fighting still going on in the darkness ahead.
And indeed, as he had analyzed, it was a battle between body cultivators.
It was Tie Ruonan alone, wielding a battle blade, engaged in close combat with three cultivators who were either armed with swords or fighting barehanded.
Qin Ran looked on, and despite using his eye technique, he could only make out that the black-robed, blade-wielding figure was Tie Ruonan, but couldn't clearly see her specific appearance or build.
"She's using some method to conceal her identity?" he nodded to himself. "That makes sense."
Tie Ruonan was indeed formidable. Even though it was one against three, she didn't seem to be at a disadvantage at all.
Not only that, Qin Ran could clearly see two corpses lying on the ground, both with blade wounds, cultivators who had already been cut down by Tie Ruonan.
There were also three cultivators with severed hands and feet, likely Qi cultivators, lying on the ground groaning, no longer capable of fighting.
The blade wounds on these people were all on their backs, suggesting that Tie Ruonan had begun with a sneak attack. She had first ambushed them, her blade moving in a flurry, killing two body cultivators, then instantly closed in to disable the three Qi cultivators, and finally engaged in direct combat with the three remaining body cultivators.
The difference in strength between the two sides was apparent, and after a brief period of close-quarters combat, the three body cultivators were also cut down by Tie Ruonan.
Qin Ran, crouching far away on the treetop, witnessed Tie Ruonan's ferocity and recalled how this woman had tried to seduce him multiple times. A chill ran down his spine.
With the battle over, Tie Ruonan briefly tended to her own wounds before tying up the still-living but incapacitated Qi cultivators, as well as the dead cultivators. Then, with one hand carrying the three living Qi cultivators and the other dragging the five dead body cultivators, she began to retrace her steps.
Qin Ran watched, suppressing the disgust in his heart and regaining his usual calm demeanor, continuing to ponder:
It seemed to align with his earlier thoughts - for body cultivators, only the corpses were needed, as all their cultivation was within their physical bodies. For Qi cultivators, they needed to be alive, as dead Qi cultivators were not much different from ordinary people.
...This didn't necessarily mean that Qi cultivators were better off than body cultivators, as it was still unknown what fate awaited them after being taken back.
Qin Ran followed Tie Ruonan from a distance back to the formation site, where he could see that other black-robed cultivators whose faces were equally indistinct had already returned. However, their "prey" from this outing was only one or two at most, far less impressive than Tie Ruonan's haul.
They gathered outside the formation area, all silent. There was a strange tacit understanding among them, indicating that they had done this many times before.
After a short wait, everyone who had gone out returned. Tie Ruonan counted the numbers, and once confirmed, the group disappeared into the formation together.
"Such blatant killing..." Qin Ran continued to analyze, "After so many years, hasn't anyone noticed anything unusual?
"Logically, killing so many at once, anyone would realize something was wrong in this area. Add to that the possibility of other factions also killing in secret, and the number of deaths during each Divine Essence Mountain event must be astronomical. Yet, it seems no one in the entire Tianlan Sea Region has noticed anything amiss."
He rubbed his brow, feeling that he didn't quite understand the current situation.
Could it be that because so many people die each time, as the deaths accumulate, it's gradually accepted as normal?
Qin Ran waited for a while but didn't see Tie Ruonan and the others come out again.
"Only one killing spree per night?"
He began to understand a bit. If they only killed a few people or a dozen or so each night, it might not be so noticeable among the tens of thousands of people on Divine Essence Mountain, especially if they kept their actions as brief as possible...
Indeed, Qin Ran waited outside the formation area for a whole night, but Tie Ruonan and her group did not act again.
It wasn't until the next day had passed and night fell again that the black-robed squad reappeared.
Qin Ran had been hiding there waiting for a day and a night. Seeing them skillfully disperse into the darkness, he decided not to follow Tie Ruonan this time. Instead, he randomly chose one of the black-robed cultivators and followed behind him.
This fellow appeared to be a second-rank body cultivator. He moved stealthily through the darkness with his blade, completely unaware of Qin Ran's presence.
He was walking along the mountain path, and after a short while, he spotted a roaring campfire on a large rock by the cliff in the distance. There were five cultivators, both male and female, gathered around the fire.
Seeing this, he didn't hesitate at all. With his blade in hand... he turned and took a detour, giving the five people a wide berth and continuing up the mountain through the forest.
After walking for a while longer, he finally found his target for this mission: a body cultivator resting with a sword in his arms, sitting in a tree.
He approached silently, blade in hand, creeping closer to the tree. When he was right beneath it, he suddenly leaped up, a flash of his blade aimed directly at the cultivator in the tree.
This sudden ambush in the darkness was something few could sense coming.
However...
"I've been waiting for you!"
The cultivator in the tree had reacted, or rather, he had been prepared. His eyes snapped open with a "swoosh," and the sword in his arms was unsheathed in an instant. A flash of sword light cut through the darkness, with a faint trace of sword energy visible. With a loud "clang," the sword light parried the black-robed cultivator's blade.
The sword-wielding cultivator didn't pause for a moment. After deflecting the black-robed cultivator's attack and leaving him wide open, he thrust his sword straight at the attacker's chest.
"You night prowlers are getting more and more brazen, daring to come after even me?!" The cold snort of the sword-wielding cultivator reached Qin Ran's ears.
Watching the battle from a distance, Qin Ran saw the black-robed cultivator narrowly avoid the sword-wielder's thrust. Then, swinging his battle blade back around, he engaged in fierce combat with the sword-wielding cultivator.
The clash of blades rang out in the darkness; countless sparks flew as swords and knives collided.
Although the swordsman was powerful, nearly reaching the level of sword qi, the black-robed knife-wielder sent by the Dragon Whale Island Lord for this task was clearly no weakling either. Most importantly, he was a seasoned killer with a bloodthirsty, death-seeking fighting style.
As a result, their battle reached a fierce stalemate.
"Night Walker?" Qin Ran thought about the deeds of these black-robed men and found the name fitting. "So the cultivators of Divine Essence Mountain are aware of these stealthy killers and even gave them a name." He wondered how this Night Walker would handle meeting such a tough opponent.
When two body cultivators of equal strength engage in close combat, the clash of blades is extremely dangerous. The darkness and cold edges of their weapons only added to the peril.
In the darkness, the sound of colliding blades grew faster and faster, like a thousand drums beating chaotically, making Qin Ran's scalp tingle. Blood splattered, propelled by the force of sword and knife qi, and he felt wetness on his face.
Just as the intense battle seemed about to reach its climax, torchlight suddenly shone from the forest. Clamorous voices arose as cultivators leapt from tree to tree, rapidly approaching.
Qin Ran quickly looked back, realizing it was likely the five people from the boulder earlier, coming to investigate the commotion.
He turned back to the combatants, who were still fighting fiercely. Using his eye technique "Phantasm Realm," he could see that both men were covered in wounds, bleeding profusely with injuries deep to the bone.
"Night Walker, how will you handle this situation?" Qin Ran opened and closed his right hand, summoning the Water Flower Pearl.
The pearl condensed water vapor, extending to both ends and slowly transforming into a sword.
Both fighters noticed the approaching group. In an instant, the Night Walker's qi and blood surged violently. His combat power suddenly increased by over 70%, each knife strike aimed to kill, every move an exchange of injury, fighting the swordsman with utter disregard for his own life.
"Medicine?" Qin Ran could tell the Night Walker must have had pills ready in his mouth for such unexpected situations. Moreover, these pills surely boosted combat power at the cost of severe bodily damage.
It was live or die!
However, the swordsman indeed had some skill. Even with the Night Walker's strength increased by 70%, he still couldn't defeat him quickly.
Qin Ran looked back, seeing the torches draw ever closer...
"No more time!" he said softly.
"Immortal Seeking the Way!"
He flashed forward, instantly appearing behind the Night Walker. Taking advantage of the moment when the Night Walker was fully engaged with the swordsman and unable to defend, Qin Ran's sword sliced off his head.
The swordsman, suddenly freed from the pressure of imminent death, opened his eyes to see the sudden appearance of a sword cultivator who had killed the Night Walker. He let out a great sigh of relief, saved and alive.
He hurriedly said, "Thank you! Thank you for saving my life, fellow Daoist."
Qin Ran smiled at him and replied, "No need for thanks!"
Then he raised his hand and swung his sword at the swordsman's head.
Startled, the swordsman quickly raised his sword in defense, twirling it to block Qin Ran's sneak attack.
However, having just fought a life-or-death battle, he was already at his limit. This sudden relaxation meant this parry was his "final ripple."
Qin Ran suddenly flashed again, his broken sword reforming and plunging into the swordsman's heart.
The swordsman instantly lost his strength. He looked at Qin Ran in confusion, not understanding why he would kill him.
Qin Ran offered no explanation. To be safe, he cut off the swordsman's sword hand, then casually thrust his sword into the swordsman's brain.
He looked back to see the boulder team very close now.
The sword stuck in the swordsman's brain melted, turning to water and reverting to its pearl form before jumping back into Qin Ran's body.
Then, Qin Ran grabbed a corpse in each hand and used Immortal Seeking the Way. With a few flashes, he disappeared into the swaying trees.
From far away, he faintly heard someone say, "That looked like the young lord of Evil Shark Island..."
"Young lord?" He immediately understood. "No wonder he was so powerful and knew about Night Walkers. His death wasn't entirely in vain."
After running quite far, Qin Ran finally stopped. He searched the Night Walker's body and found nothing but an identity token imprinted with a giant whale.
He thought for a moment, then stripped off the clothes and put them on himself. He discovered the clothing was a magical item with the ability to conceal one's form.
He then took the Night Walker's knife and used "Water Births All Things" to draw all the water from the Night Walker's body, reducing it to white bones, which he then crushed to powder with the knife.
"I should have brought some corpse-dissolving powder. Disposing of bodies is very inconvenient."
As he pondered this, he hoisted the swordsman's corpse onto his shoulder. He changed his appearance to match the Night Walker's, even altering his body to display wounds corresponding to those on the clothes. Then, with a flash, he set off towards the formation grounds.
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