Chapter 23

"Deceive you? I really didn't make a move; you died by running into the sword yourself. How can you blame me?" Su Shier said with a blank expression.

This guy had intended to kill him from the start. Moreover, his cultivation was far superior, and if he were to let him go, it would be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains.

Although he was tempted by the Zhu fruit, he wasn't so deluded as to lose his head.

Talking so much to the other party was merely to make him completely drop his guard. For Su Shier, conserving a bit of strength meant having more ability to face any potential crises.

"Ah! You... You bastard! May you die a thousand deaths!" The young man with the headband spat out fresh blood, screaming hysterically.

In a few moments, he lay on the ground, his life force almost completely drained, and he was extremely weak. His scattered gaze fell on Su Shier, and he began to plead again, "Please! Please save me, I don't want to die! I still want to pursue the Great Dao..."

But no matter whether he cursed or begged for mercy, Su Shier stood coldly to the side, ignoring him.

A few minutes later, the young man with the headband lay motionless on the ground, his breath gone, his eyes wide open, as if he couldn't die in peace.

Su Shier drew the White Mist Sword and delivered a few more strikes from a distance to ensure the man was dead. Only then did he sigh in relief and approach with the sword.

He's really dead! Su Shier stood there, somewhat dazed. After all, it was his first time killing someone. At this moment, besides the relief of surviving, he felt a sense of emptiness.

However, over the years, countless beasts had died at his hands, and his character had become very resilient.

After a brief moment of shock, he regained his composure. He picked up all the useful items from the body and the ground, then threw a fireball to burn the corpse to ashes before leaving hurriedly.

Although this place was remote, the noise of the battle was not insignificant, and he was afraid someone might come.

If he were discovered, he would be in grave danger.

Private duels among fellow disciples were strictly forbidden, and killing a fellow disciple was a capital offense.

Half an hour later, Su Shier returned to his residence.

He sat in meditation for a while, calming his mind and restoring his inner true essence. Only then did he take out the items he had collected and examine them one by one.

The first thing he picked up was the young man with the headband's identity badge. It clearly read six small characters: Tianhua Peak, Meng Tianyi.

"He's actually from Tianhua Peak? That makes sense. According to the sect manual, Tianhua Peak is predominantly inhabited by sword cultivators. Since he claimed to be a sword cultivator, it's normal for him to be from Tianhua Peak!"

Su Shier muttered to himself, then cast a fireball to burn the identity badge to ashes.

After doing this, he picked up a round shield from the side.

Without the support of true essence, the round shield had shrunk to the size of a palm. The patterns on it resembled turtle shell patterns, and three small characters were faintly visible: Turtle Shell Shield.

"No wonder this round shield could withstand the attack of a high-grade magical weapon; it turns out it's a mid-grade magical weapon. Fortunately, I attacked him at close range; otherwise, if he had activated this Turtle Shell Shield in advance, it would be hard to say who would win!"

"Unfortunately, this Turtle Shell Shield has a crack. I wonder if it can be repaired after being refined in the mysterious alchemy furnace."

Lowering his head, he examined the Turtle Shell Shield, which had a long crack. Su Shier felt both relieved and a bit heartbroken.

After some thought, he took out the mysterious alchemy furnace, infused it with a bit of true essence, and made it slightly larger than the Turtle Shell Shield.

He then tossed the Turtle Shell Shield into the furnace.

Just like when he refined the White Mist Sword, the Turtle Shell Shield was immediately covered in a faint green light.

After a few moments, the transformation stopped, and Su Shier carefully put away the mysterious alchemy furnace before examining the Turtle Shell Shield again.

After the refinement, the Turtle Shell Shield had shrunk to half its original size, and it was now crystal clear, with a sandy brown color that faintly emitted a crystalline glow.

"This... This has actually become an exquisite magical weapon?"

Su Shier's eyes widened in excitement. In the world of cultivation, defensive magical weapons were even more precious and rare than offensive ones.

An exquisite defensive magical weapon was on par with ordinary spatial magical weapons.

With such a treasure in hand, his safety was greatly enhanced.

"If I had such a treasure beforehand, Meng Tianyi's sword qi wouldn't have been able to injure me!"

"However, I still have to thank him for giving me such a good thing before the new disciple trial."

"Unfortunately, the crack on the Turtle Shell Shield hasn't been repaired. It seems the mysterious alchemy furnace can only refine and enhance the quality of treasures, but it doesn't have the ability to repair them."

Su Shier suppressed his excitement, took a few more looks at the Turtle Shell Shield, and carefully tucked it into his chest.

Although it had a crack, the Turtle Shell Shield, now an exquisite magical weapon, had greatly enhanced its defensive power. The crack was secondary.

After putting away the Turtle Shell Shield, Su Shier collected two lower-grade Qi Gathering Pills and three escape talismans.

His gaze then fell on the last item he found on Meng Tianyi's body.

It was a book that Meng Tianyi had kept close to his person.

The book looked old and worn, with the cover missing. The pages were yellowed, and many of the characters were somewhat blurred.

But since it was kept close to his person, Su Shier felt it must be something valuable.

Flipping through the pages, Su Shier's pupils instantly constricted.

Suddenly, his veins bulged, and he became agitated and furious.

Breathing heavily, he quickly flipped through the book.

Most of the book recorded a sword cultivation technique called the Skeleton Sword Technique.

This sword technique could only be cultivated by those at the sixth level of the Qi Condensation stage and above, and it only covered the levels from the sixth to the ninth level of the Qi Condensation stage.

Moreover, when cultivating, one needed to use a large number of yin-attribute treasures and dead bodies.

Once mastered, one could unleash a unique skeleton sword qi that could devour the life essence of living beings. The more life essence devoured, the stronger the sword qi.

This description immediately reminded Su Shier of the black-clothed man who had killed his grandfather and the villagers.

He remembered clearly that the sword qi the black-clothed man had unleashed that day was shaped like a skeleton, almost identical to the description in the book, and even more powerful.

"Skeleton Sword Technique! Could it be... the black-clothed man is hiding in Tianhua Peak?"

"However, although this technique was carried by Meng Tianyi, it doesn't rule out the possibility that he obtained it from elsewhere."

"It seems I still need to put in a lot of effort to find the black-clothed man. No matter where he is, I will eventually find him. But for now, the priority is to improve my own strength."

Su Shier sat on the bed, lost in thought for a while before regaining his composure.

Over the past four years, although he had been cultivating in the failed pill room, he had also been secretly investigating the whereabouts of the black-clothed man.

Unfortunately, all his efforts had been in vain.

Although he still had no useful leads, at least he now knew the name of the sword technique and its characteristics.

Taking a deep breath, Su Shier picked up the unknown book again and continued to read.