140: Do whatever you want

The leader was a Cultivator at the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment, and the skull jade pendant hanging from his waist swayed gently with his steps, emitting a chilling crisp sound.

He squatted down to examine the black-robed Cultivator's corpse, his bony fingers tracing the wound on the throat, then suddenly sneered: "Such pure Sword Qi, it's the Azure Cloud Sect's technique."

His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing.

"Senior Brother, should we pursue them?" The short, stout Cultivator on the left asked impatiently, the blood blade in his hand already glowing red.

Saliva splattered as he spoke, revealing a mouth full of uneven yellow teeth.

"No rush." The blood-robed Cultivator stood up, a strange red light flashing in his eyes, like two flickering ghost fires. "The Secret Realm's opening will last for half a year; there's plenty of time... Go investigate which Sword Cultivators have recently entered the Secret Realm."

A blood talisman flew from his sleeve, transforming into a crimson bat in mid-air, flapping its wings towards the Secret Realm.

In the shadows of the trees, Wu Guohua and his Junior Martial Uncle exchanged a solemn look.

Wu Zhang's fingertips tapped lightly on the sword hilt, producing an almost imperceptible "tap-tap" sound—this was the Wu Family's unique secret signal: "Observe and adapt."

What they didn't know was that at the same moment, a similar conversation was taking place within the Azure Cloud Sect's camp.

Inside a tent made of blue jade, several Core Disciples were seated around a luminous pearl.

The leading woman in blue gently tapped the table with her fingertip: "Junior Martial Uncle Liuhua has personally gone to retrieve the important treasure from the Secret Realm..."

Her voice was as cold as ice, without a trace of warmth.

"I heard the Blood Fiend Sect also sent experts..." A young Disciple next to her added, the teacup in his hand rattling slightly from his trembling.

"This trip to the Secret Realm will likely not be peaceful..." An older Cultivator sighed, his grizzled beard trembling slightly with his breath.

Outside the tent, the Azure Cloud Sect's banner flapped in the night wind, the Azure Luan pattern on the flag seeming ready to soar.

The night wind rustled through the treetops, making a sound like countless tiny ghosts whispering.

Occasionally, a few shrill beast roars echoed from afar, reverberating through the mountains, as if foretelling the impending storm.

And at the entrance of the Tiankeng Secret Realm, the five-colored glow became even more enchanting, like an open maw, waiting to devour all intruders.

Inside the Tiankeng Secret Realm, thick mist flowed like a tangible entity among the trees.

This mist was an eerie milky white, sometimes condensing into various twisted shapes, sometimes dispersing into nothingness.

Wu Guohua waved his hand in front of his eyes; the outline of his five fingers was blurry in the mist, like looking through frosted glass.

Even more unsettling was that this mist not only obscured vision but also suppressed Divine Sense probes to less than ten feet, as if one were in a giant maze.

"Junior Martial Uncle, stay close." Wu Guohua lowered his voice, the Qingfeng Sword in his hand trembling slightly, emitting a faint hum.

Traces of blood from the previous battle still clung to the sword's edge, glowing a dark red in the mist.

He deliberately suppressed his Cultivation to the eighth level of Qi Condensation, his spiritual energy fluctuations so faint that he seemed like a novice who had just embarked on the Dao, even his breathing adjusted to be long and weak.

Wu Zhang walked three steps behind, his Judge's Brush having been replaced by an ordinary iron sword at some point, with even a few rust spots intentionally added to the blade.

He deliberately made his footsteps seem unsteady and coughed occasionally, truly appearing like a wounded, down-and-out Cultivator.

But the eyes hidden behind his messy hair were as sharp as an eagle's, constantly vigilant of the surroundings.

A faint rustling sound came from the mist, like some creature crawling on dry leaves. Wu Guohua's lips curved imperceptibly—the fish had taken the bait.

He deliberately slowed his pace, his right hand seemingly casually hanging by his side, but in fact, he was ready to draw his sword at any moment.

Sure enough, three dark figures darted out of the mist, forming a triangular formation to surround the two.

They wore gray tight-fitting clothes and black scarves over their faces, revealing only pairs of greedy eyes.

"Fellow Daoists, leave your Storage Pouches. We can spare your lives." The one-eyed big man leading them grinned, a knife scar on his face writhing like a centipede, and a strong smell of alcohol spewed out as he spoke.

Wu Guohua feigned panic and retreated, his back hitting the rough trunk of an ancient tree: "Seniors, my brother and I..."

His voice trembled just right, and even the hand holding the sword deliberately shook.

Before he finished speaking, three sword lights erupted!

Wu Guohua's Qingfeng Sword drew a perfect arc in the air, its tip trembling slightly, splitting into three Sword Qi, like venomous snakes flicking their tongues, accurately piercing the throats of the three rogue Cultivators.

Blood splattered, forming a crimson mist in the air.

Wu Zhang's iron sword, on the other hand, swept horizontally in a simple, unadorned manner, and where the blade passed, three bodies that had not yet fallen were cut in half at the waist, their internal organs spilling onto the ground.

"This is the thirteenth." Wu Guohua flicked the blood beads from his sword, the drops falling into the mist with a faint "hissing" sound, even corroding small holes in the mist.

He bent down to search the bodies and pulled out a blood-colored token from the one-eyed big man's embrace. The back of the token was carved with a ferocious ghost face.

"An Outer Sect Disciple of the Blood Fiend Sect." Wu Zhang leaned closer and whispered, his brows tightly furrowed. "It seems they are even more unrestrained in the Secret Realm."

His gaze swept over the thick mist around them, as if he could penetrate this white barrier and see the hidden dangers deep within.

Wu Guohua put the token into his embrace, his fingertips touching a cold piece of metal.

It was the Family token his grandfather had given him before he left, now emitting a faint warmth, as if reminding him of the responsibility he bore.

He looked up into the depths of the Secret Realm, where the mist was even thicker, and twisted tree shadows were vaguely visible, like demons baring their fangs and brandishing their claws.

"Let's go." Wu Guohua said softly, the Qingfeng Sword unsheathed again, its tip pointing into the depths of the mist. "The real test has just begun."

His voice was light, yet it carried an undeniable firmness.

The figures of the uncle and nephew were quickly swallowed by the thick fog, leaving only three gradually cooling corpses on the ground and a faint, lingering scent of blood in the air.

Over the past month, they had used this strategy to counter-kill thirteen waves of rogue Cultivators, and their gains were quite good.

Each ambush was like a meticulously choreographed drama—Wu Guohua deliberately showed weakness, feigning spiritual energy exhaustion, staggering along the rugged mountain path;

Wu Zhang, meanwhile, concealed his aura, hiding in the dense bushes, his hand tightly gripping the poisoned short sword.

When the greedy rogue Cultivators snarled and pounced on the "weak" Wu Guohua, Wu Zhang, ambushing in the shadows, would appear like a phantom, sealing their throats with a single sword strike.

Most of these rogue Cultivators were quite wealthy, and they usually carried all their belongings with them, which now benefited Wu Guohua.

From these rogue Cultivators, they obtained a total of over five thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, more than thirty first-tier Magical Artifacts, dozens of bottles of first-tier Medicinal Pills, hundreds of first-tier Spirit Medicines, over ten second-tier Spirit Medicines, as well as several Qi Condensation Cultivation Techniques and twenty to thirty first-tier basic Spells.