Chapter 8

Zhou Heng continued to advance deeper into the cave.

Despite the entrance being incredibly narrow, the further he went inside, the wider it became. Of course, it wasn't wide enough to walk sideways, but it could accommodate three people walking side by side.

After walking for about ten minutes, there was still no sign of reaching the end. Zhou Heng, with his indomitable spirit, decided to challenge the cave and was determined to reach the end!

Outside was pitch black, and the cave was even darker, so dark that one couldn't see their hand in front of their face. Fortunately, there were no side paths in the cave, just a straight path extending forward, so there was no need to worry about getting lost.

Occasionally, Zhou Heng would use his long sword to strike the cave walls, using the weak light from the sparks to observe the surroundings.

Another half hour passed, and he still hadn't reached the bottom of the cave.

If it were someone else, they would have turned back by now, but Zhou Heng was stubborn. Since he had made up his mind to reach the end, he would not give up halfway—otherwise, he wouldn't have persisted for ten years under the black sword's trial!

As long as it wasn't a maze, he would eventually reach the end.

After another hour, a faint light suddenly appeared ahead. Although it was very weak, it was like a beacon to someone who had been in the dark for a long time. Zhou Heng felt a surge of joy, but his vigilance increased, and he gripped his sword in his right hand even tighter.

Taking a few more steps, the light grew brighter, revealing an opening.

When he stepped out, the view suddenly opened up. The moon was bright, and the stars were sparse, revealing a secluded valley.

Zhou Heng looked up at the sky, not knowing when the rain had stopped. The valley was covered with green grass, dotted with droplets of water, making it even more lush and vibrant, exuding a sense of vitality.

The valley wasn't large, only about a hundred meters in diameter, surrounded by steep mountains, forming a dead end. The mountain walls were so steep that even a spirit ape would find it difficult to climb to the top.

At the foot of the western mountain wall was a small pond, and next to the pond was a large tree. The sprawling canopy completely shaded the pond, and the leaves rustled gently in the night breeze.

When his gaze swept over the base of the tree, Zhou Heng's eyes involuntarily tightened.

A corpse!

Leaning against the tree, the head, neck, and hands had turned into white bones, while the rest of the body was hidden under a dark red brocade robe, not exposing the white bones, but the skull was already terrifying enough.

At this moment, Zhou Heng remembered that he had just killed someone not long ago!

What shocked him was that he didn't feel any discomfort, as if he had killed a chicken or a dog, not a person!

"The path of martial arts inevitably involves killing. It seems I have already adapted in advance!"

"However, I have no intention of becoming a killing machine... My limit is that no one should provoke me!"

With a determined gaze, Zhou Heng put the matter of killing aside and walked to the base of the tree.

The bones of the head and neck were intact. Zhou Heng lifted the corpse's clothes and saw that three ribs on the chest were broken, with the broken bones on the ground, sparkling and extremely white.

"This person must have been hit by a blunt force, causing internal injuries, and then escaped to this place, dying from severe injuries!"

"This can be proven by the intact clothes on his body. If he had been pierced by a sharp weapon, there would be no way the clothes wouldn't have been torn! And if his enemy had pursued him, he wouldn't have been able to maintain this posture before dying!"

"From the shape of the bone injuries, it's clear that he was hit by a punch!"

Zhou Heng picked up a broken bone and tried to break it, but it was surprisingly tough and didn't budge. He gathered all his true essence and tried again, but the bone was still as hard as iron!

"My current strength is definitely over a thousand pounds, and this bone has been exposed to wind and rain for decades, so it should have lost its toughness long ago. How can it still be so strong?"

"A few years ago, tomb robbers dug up the grave of an old ancestor who had passed away decades ago. When they reburied the body, someone accidentally stepped on the bones, and they immediately shattered!"

"That old ancestor was a Blood Refinement Realm existence!"

Comparing the two, Zhou Heng could only draw a shocking conclusion.

The Path to Heaven!

This corpse had once walked the Path to Heaven, achieving an incomprehensible existence!

In Zhou Heng's understanding, martial artists who crossed the Path to Heaven were equivalent to legendary immortals, and such immortals had been killed by a punch, dying a tragic death in this place!

Even among the strong, there are stronger ones; crossing the Path to Heaven does not mean invincibility.

Zhou Heng carefully searched the corpse and found a book and a token near the hip bone.

The book was originally hidden in the person's chest, but as the body decayed, it fell to the hip bone area.

However, the book, made of unknown material, had not decayed with the body. After so much time, the book had not changed at all, feeling soft to the touch, like human skin.

Not simple at all!

If such precious material was used to make the pages, what kind of information could be recorded in it? And if it was collected by a world-class expert who might have crossed the Path to Heaven, how valuable could it be?

There were no words on the cover, and Zhou Heng, unable to contain his curiosity, opened the book.

"Shadow Heart Sutra"!

The first page had only four characters, written in a flowing and powerful style, exuding a grand atmosphere.

The word "sutra" indicated that this was a cultivation technique. However, this "Shadow Heart Sutra" might be the reason for the expert's downfall, so how significant could it be?

Zhou Heng couldn't resist continuing to read, delving into the technique.

Indeed, it was a cultivation technique, with only about four thousand characters, slightly obscure, but Zhou Heng, after a brief pause, almost instantly understood it, finding it not difficult to comprehend.

His insight had continuously improved during the cultivation of the Nine Heavens Sword Technique. Although he had not yet mastered the first form, understanding the Shadow Heart Sutra was not a challenge.

"I'll have to try this technique and see how effective it is!"

Zhou Heng sat cross-legged and used the Shadow Heart Sutra to refine the food in his body, extracting free energy and converting it into true essence.

"Hmm!"

After running the Shadow Heart Sutra through his body once, Zhou Heng stopped, his face showing a hint of shock.

Efficiency!

The Shadow Heart Sutra's efficiency in converting true essence was more than twice that of the Fiery Sun Sutra!

According to the Shadow Heart Sutra, practicing under moonlight could increase the effectiveness by 30%, while the Fiery Sun Sutra under sunlight could increase the speed by 20%. No matter how you looked at it, the Shadow Heart Sutra was far superior to the Fiery Sun Sutra!

Even if it was just twice the speed, it meant that to reach the Bone Refinement Realm, if it took ten years with the Fiery Sun Sutra, it would only take five years with the Shadow Heart Sutra!

No wonder this person met a tragic end!

In the path of cultivation, time is the greatest enemy!

For example, if one cannot break through to the Muscle Refinement Realm before the age of twenty, the possibility of doing so will decrease infinitely, and there will be no hope—hence the Zhou family's rule that one cannot cultivate if they haven't reached the Muscle Refinement Realm by the age of eighteen.

Although the technique only increases the speed of accumulating true essence, saving half the time on this would allow more time to break through major realms.

Moreover, the higher the realm, the longer it takes to accumulate true essence. After reaching the Blood Refinement Realm, breaking through minor realms takes decades! If one could reach the peak of the twelve layers of Body Refinement in fifteen years, they would have more time to challenge the Path to Heaven!

Life is fleeting, and a hundred years pass in the blink of an eye. How many decades can one afford to waste?

Although Zhou Heng could obtain free energy from the black broken sword, the Shadow Heart Sutra was currently not very useful to him, but who knew how long the black sword's ability would last?

It might end after giving him ten years of cultivation!

Moreover, this technique could be passed on to Zhou Dinghai.

Zhou Dinghai had delayed his cultivation for many years because of him. If he switched to the Shadow Heart Sutra, with Zhou Dinghai's talent, he could reach the peak of the twelve layers of Body Refinement in just five years!

Zhou Heng put away the technique. His father would definitely return during the New Year.

It was about an hour before midnight, and Zhou Heng dug a pit, burying the corpse. Since he had obtained an excellent technique from the corpse, giving the deceased a proper burial was the only thing he could do.

Buried with the corpse was a token, one side inscribed with "Nine Spirits" and the other with "Su," made of an unknown material, entirely purple.

Zhou Heng believed it was the deceased's identity token and buried it with the body.

After finishing everything, it was almost midnight. He sat cross-legged, waiting for the black broken sword to release energy.

Buzz!

At the stroke of midnight, the black broken sword trembled slightly, and a massive force surged out, instantly filling Zhou Heng's entire body. He quickly unfolded the Shadow Heart Sutra, absorbing and refining the free energy frantically.

In less than twenty minutes, all the energy had been refined. Zhou Heng opened his eyes, suddenly startled!

On the mountain wall above the pond, a figure was clearly moving!

Someone? Who!

Zhou Heng quickly sprang up, his long sword drawn, and assumed a defensive stance.

He looked up at the sky. Although the moon was high, the cliff was so steep that no one could stand on top, so the figure could not have been projected from above.

Could it be reflected from the water?

Zhou Heng felt a sense of disbelief. Moving in water and walking on land are completely different. The figure was definitely walking, not swimming!

Who could walk under the water?

A water ghost?