Chapter 128: Dead man walking!

"What?" Xue Hongzhao’s face slowly turned pale.

"Haha, just kidding. What actually happened, sect master?" Xue Jianhong chuckled, looking into the old man’s shaken eyes.

For the first time since the investigators had arrived, the sect master looked genuinely shaken.

He turned toward Cang Ming, then toward Chi Leiyang and Xue Jianhong, his voice turning serious and sharp.

"I’ll explain everything from the beginning," Xue Hongzhao muttered, nodding his head.

The three investigators listened without interrupting.

Xue Hongzhao remembered the whole hectic situation again one by one before telling: the destroyed border villages, the coordinated monkey tide, the mutated Rank 4 beasts, and the monstrous Rank 5 core beast that had pushed their forces to the limit.

Then came the main mystery — the mysterious demonic cultivator who had guided the nightmare from inside the dark cave.

But despite the bloody carnage, one lethal detail remained a large blank.

Nobody knows who he was and which faction or sect he belonged to.

There was only his terrifying combat strength and his eerie command over the beasts.

Xue Hongzhao reached up and slowly pulled his red robe aside.

"Look here," Xue Hongzhao pointed toward the healed wound.

Everyone in the hall looked onto his chest.

A circular, pale scar lingered slightly to the right of his chest. The flesh had fully healed by his divine phoenix rebirth, but the jagged mark left behind by the lethal blow remained visible.

"You were killed or what, old man?" Xue Jianhong stammered, his voice quivering under pressure. "What the hell is that wound?"

Xue Hongzhao gave a pale nod. "He pierced clean through my back, and crushed my heart to kill me."

A suffocating silence fell over the chamber.

"And still," Xue Hongzhao continued, "I returned to life again through the Eternal Flame."

Chi Leiyang crossed his arms, his gaze thoughtful. "And the demonic cultivator?"

"Dead." Xue Hongzhao’s fists clenched tight until his knuckles turned white. "At least... that’s what we believed."

"What do you mean?"

"His scorched body was brought to the lower medical pavilion for examination," Xue Hongzhao said, his voice turning cold. "And then it disappeared."

Chi Leiyang’s eyes widened in shock. "Any clues or something happened??"

"Nothing. There is no trace of struggle or anything!" the sect master clicked his tongue, staring down.

Cang Ming had remained quiet throughout the explanation, his eyes locked on the floorboards. Suddenly, he raised his head. "Wait."

Everyone turned toward the young investigator.

"You mentioned something earlier, Sect Master."

Xue Hongzhao frowned, thinking with a pale expression "What are you talking about?"

"You said there was a strange sigil carved into the dark cave floor," Cang Ming leaned forward slightly, his voice serious.

"Yes."

"How did it look?"

Before Xue Hongzhao could describe the mark, the heavy oak doors of the main hall slowly groaned open.

The whole chamber looked at the door immediately.

A calm figure walked inside slowly, casually, as if he were taking a leisurely walk through his own courtyard.

He was shrouded in a long, tattered dark robe that concealed his body. A grey hood was pulled low over his head, casting a dark shadow on his face.

His legs clicked against the polished stone floor. The hall guards immediately gripped the hilts of their weapons tightly.

One senior elder stood up, shouting, "Who the hell are you?!"

"Stop right there!" another yelled, taking a step forward.

The hooded figure ignored them, his steady pace was calm as he moved toward the dais where Xue Hongzhao was standing before Xue Jianhong.

Xue Jianhong’s right hand slowly wrapped around the hilt of Frostfall.

The dark silver broadsword slid halfway from its leather sheath, emanating a wave of pure glacial frost.

"Take one more step," Xue Jianhong warned, his voice scary and sharp.

The figure didn’t even flinch. Xue Jianhong’s beast essence surged, his eyes burning with lethal intent. He was a split second away from slashing the intruder in half.

Then, the massive doors behind the figure rattled as someone came sprinting through the entrance at full speed.

"Move!"

Everyone turned in shock. Lin Yuan rushed frantically into the hall, his clothes fluttering vehemently, his voice echoing over the shouts of the guards.

"Who the fuck let this bastard walk into the main hall without permission?!"

Lin Yuan skidded to a halt, his eyes locking onto the hooded figure from behind.

Something was wrong. Lin Yuan’s eyes twitched in fear and shock.

He knew that suffocating aura from the cave. He recognized them instantly.

"White tiger!" Lin Yuan called out his tiger, concentrating his beast essence.

The male white tiger erupted from Lin Yuan’s back, its massive, shimmering form appearing in a flash of silver light.

Lin Yuan pointed furiously. "Get him, immediately!"

The white tiger exploded forward, tearing across the stone tiles.

The hooded figure suddenly turned. His arm began to lift under his wide sleeve...

"Sect master!!" Lin Yuan’s roar rumbled across the main hall. "That’s the demonic cultivator’s corpse!"

The hall was consumed by stunned silence.

Lin Yuan pointed at the figure’s exposed hands. "Look at his skin!"

Xue Hongzhao’s eyes widened in horror.

As the figure raised his arms, the tattered sleeves fell back, exposing scorched forearms and rotten fleshy hands. The skin was darkened, cracked, and covered in severe burn scars like the body recovered from the mountain cave.

"You..." Xue Hongzhao’s face turned frantic immediately.

Chi Leiyang reacted instantly, stepping back as lightning crackled along his arms. "Come out!"

A massive, blue panther appeared at his side, its fur standing on end.

Cang Ming stood still, but his eyes filled with intense fury.

Xue Jianhong’s grip locked onto Frostfall. His eyes flared with pure rage.

He was the monster who had killed his friend.

Xue Jianhong moved forward with intense speed.

A sonic boom shattered the air as his body flashed forward.

The frostfall was unsheathed, whistling through the air in a slashing arc.

The dark silver blade stopped within an inch away from the hooded figure’s neck, the sheer pressure freezing the atmosphere air into falling snow.

"Speak!" Xue Jianhong’s voice was filled with sheer anger.

The corpse remained calm, looking like he was staring at the blade.

Xue Jianhong pressed the sharp edge closer, piercing through the dark hood. "Who the fuck are you?"

For the first time since entering, the corpse reacted. His head tilted slowly.

Beneath the torn fabric of the hood, a part of his lower face became visible. The flesh surrounding his mouth was decaying and scorched, his burnt lips curled away to expose yellowed teeth.

But despite the horror, he smiled.

A rasping, resonant voice echoed out from the depths of his chest. "One of the Great Swords, huh?"

Xue Jianhong’s eyes twitched in anger.

The corpse slowly turned his gaze toward the frost-covered blade, then darted his eyes up to Xue Hongzhao on the dais. His rotten mouth stretched into a wider, grotesque grin.

"You are angry because I disappeared?" He chuckled, the sound wet and raspy. "Hahaha..."

His hollow laugh echoed through the chamber. Then, his deep eyes locked onto Xue Hongzhao.

"I’ll take you along with me..." The smile widened further, "bloody phoenix."

Xue Hongzhao’s chest tightened. "What did you—"

Instantly, the demonic cultivator raised both scorched hands.

The pitch-black beast essence surged around his fingers like liquid ink. The temperature in the main hall plummeted, and strange, archaic glyphs began swirling rapidly through the air around his feet.

Lin Yuan’s voice quivered in shock.

He knew those glyphs. He had just read them in the forbidden scroll.

It was the same ancient ritual.

The demonic cultivator began chanting in a hollow, echoing voice, "Ancient heavens bear witness..."

The black flames spiraled upward, wrapping around his scorched body.

"Ancient earth conceal name..."

The light inside the hall flickered once before dimming under the aura of the demonic cultivator.

"By blood shall the heavens open..."

The air around him began to warp and bend rapidly.

"By soul shall the great blade answer..."

In that instant, every weapon in the room began to reverberate.

The Frostfall hummed furiously in Xue Jianhong’s hands, its blade shook again and again.

Lin Yuan’s eyes widened as he remembered the faint line in the forbidden scroll.

The demonic cultivator’s voice grew deeper, reverberating through the stone floorboards:

"From the forgotten realm..."

"From the nameless void..."

"I call upon the blade that once split the heavens..."

The shimmering defence under his legs flared with obscuring, pitch-black light as a massive circle formed.

"Descend..."

The main hall of Red Talon Hall trembled under the pure pressure.

"Great sword of the ancient world!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" Xue Jianhong roared!

His beast essence burst out in a massive wave of icy layers. "If you don’t stop, I’ll take your head right now!"

He raised Frostfall high above his shoulder.

Xue Jianhong brought the sword down with an immense force.

The demonic cultivator didn’t attempt to dodge or parry. He simply kept chanting words of demonic language.

Just before the dark silver blade could cleave through his shoulder, a tiny spark of black light appeared in the air.

The Frostfall struck the spark head-on!

A powerful shockwave rumbled out from the point of impact, blowing the stone tiles off the floor and shattering every window in the hall.

Xue Jianhong’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "What?!"

His strike, which is capable of shattering mountains, had been halted by a single, tiny spark.

The spark suddenly extended, opening into a whole of pure darkness.

Xue Hongzhao’s eyes filled with horror as he recognized the terrifying pressure lingering out from the rift. He screamed at the top of his lungs. "Dodge it!!!"

Everyone froze, petrified. Lin Yuan’s white tiger snarled defensively, backing away. Chi Leiyang’s lightning panther lowered its ears, crouching low. Cang Ming’s breathing hitched as his eyes squinted.

Xue Jianhong stared into the void which is opening inside the black ritual circle.

And from deep within the darkness, a massive samurai sword appeared, clashing with the Frostfall.