Chapter 65: Yin Soldiers Kill

A flicker of panic crossed the Remnant Soul’s dim blue eyes.

He had originally thought that a mere Qi Refining stage girl was nothing more than an ant he could crush at will.

He never expected to be stomped underfoot.

“Speak.”

Lin Xiaoyu looked down at him, the Qingfeng Sword pressed against his forehead, its tip gleaming with cold light.

“Who are you? Why did you set these traps?”

*

The Remnant Soul hesitated for a moment.

He could tell this girl wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

The murderous intent radiating from the sword tip left no room for doubt.

“I… I was a steward of Hanling Heavenly Palace,” he rasped.

Lin Xiaoyu frowned slightly.

Hanling Heavenly Palace?

She only knew this was the Hanling Mystic Realm; she had never heard of any Hanling Heavenly Palace.

Seeing her confusion, the Remnant Soul could only patiently explain.

Hanling Heavenly Palace was a power established in ancient times by Venerable Hanling, a Quasi-Emperor expert.

At its peak, it was a hegemonic sect of the Southern Region, one no one dared provoke.

But later, overnight, the Heavenly Palace was destroyed.

Countless experts fell, the palaces sank into the void, and only this shattered secret realm remained, drifting in the cracks of time and space.

*

After hearing this, Lin Xiaoyu was a bit shocked.

A power built by a Quasi-Emperor had been reduced to ashes overnight?

“Do you know how Hanling Heavenly Palace disappeared?”

The Remnant Soul shook his head.

“No… I only recall an overwhelming pressure descending…

Heaven and earth overturned, sun and moon darkened…

By the time I woke again, I was nothing but a wisp of a remnant soul, drifting among these ruins.”

He paused, his voice hoarse:

“I don’t know what happened after that. My memory is full of gaps; I only remember that I was a steward here, and that this canyon was filled with traps I set in my lifetime…”

*

Lin Xiaoyu mulled it over.

A Quasi-Emperor power destroyed overnight, and even the remnant soul’s memory was fragmentary. This secret realm held a colossal secret.

However…

She looked down at the Remnant Soul beneath her foot.

This guy was just a lowly steward, his soul incomplete, not knowing much.

Staying here all these years, he’d only been hoping to possess a body and be reborn.

“Done asking?”

A glimmer of hope flickered in the Remnant Soul’s eyes:

“If you’re done, can you let me go?

I can tell you the locations of more treasures!

I was a steward in my life, I know many…”

Slap.

Lin Xiaoyu slapped him squarely on the forehead.

Purple-gold Heavenly Dao Primordial Power surged in, instantly shattering his remnant soul.

The Remnant Soul’s eyes widened, his face frozen in disbelief.

Even in death, he couldn’t understand how the girl could be so decisive.

*

Lin Xiaoyu withdrew her hand and brushed off nonexistent dust.

“My master always said, to cut weeds you must pull out the roots,” she murmured softly.

“Besides, a harmful thing like you would only cause trouble if left alive.”

*

After dealing with the Remnant Soul, Lin Xiaoyu didn’t rush to leave.

She carefully searched the underground space.

After all, the Remnant Soul had been a steward of Hanling Heavenly Palace in life, and this canyon was full of his traps; naturally, it hid quite a few good things.

Sure enough, in a hidden stone chamber, she found a large stash of heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

The hundreds of fruits on the Yin Nether Fruit tree—most were imbued with the death aura of the traps. But among them, many were truly ripe, untouched.

There were also all kinds of spirit herbs, ores, and pills, filling the stone chamber to the brim.

Without any hesitation, Lin Xiaoyu swept them all into her storage ring.

*

After that, she walked out of the stone chamber and took one last look at the dim canyon.

The bodies of the Yin Soldiers had dissipated, and the Remnant Soul was completely gone.

Only the Yin Nether Fruit tree remained, standing silently as if nothing had happened.

Lin Xiaoyu turned and left the canyon.

*

The moment she exited the canyon, a fierce gale hit her face.

She took a deep breath, a resolute glint flashing in her eyes.

This mystic realm was indeed fraught with danger, but it also held countless opportunities.

She touched her storage ring, now filled with the treasures she’d just collected.

“Master is right. Caution keeps a boat sailing for ten thousand years,” she murmured to herself.

“What next… where should I go?”

She raised her head and looked at the gray, hazy sky.

In the distance, the faint outline of a majestic palace was visible, half-hidden in the clouds and mist.

That should be the core area of the mystic realm.

Lin Xiaoyu thought for a moment and decided not to rush in blindly.

She found a secluded cave and sat down cross-legged.

First, she would consolidate her cultivation and digest the combat experience from earlier.

Then she would continue exploring.

The time it takes a stick of incense to burn quickly passed.

Lin Xiaoyu walked out of the cave.

She felt the power within her body had grown more solid.

Although her cultivation realm hadn’t broken through, the foundation of the 25th Layer of Heavenly Dao Primordial Qi Refining had stabilized even further.

However, the moment she raised her head, she froze.

The sky had grown even darker.

The originally gray sky now looked as if ink had been splashed across it; black clouds hung low, nearly pressing down onto the mountaintops.

Within the clouds, faint flashes of blood-red light flickered, like some kind of ominous omen.

The gale raged fiercer.

Storms more than ten times stronger than before howled across the mountain ranges.

Wherever they passed, boulders shattered and ancient trees were uprooted.

Even the ruins that had stood for countless millennia swayed and threatened to collapse in the wind.

Even more terrifying—Yin energy permeated everything.

Thick, frigid yin qi surged in from all directions, nearly solidifying into tangible form.

That yin energy was bone-chillingly cold, carrying the stench of decay and death, as if it intended to drag the entire mystic realm into the netherworld.

“What… what is going on?”

Intense unease rose in Lin Xiaoyu’s heart.

In her eyes, golden lightning flared.

Eye of Heavenly Punishment, open!

*

Her vision instantly sharpened.

And then, she saw.

Battle everywhere.

Countless cultivators were locked in fierce combat with Yin Soldiers that covered the mountains and plains.

The Yin Soldiers had come from nowhere – a sea of them, stretching across the hills and plains.

There were Yin Soldiers at Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core… and even Nascent Soul Yin Soldiers!

These Nascent Soul Yin Soldiers were wreathed in dense Yin energy, wielding rusted war halberds.

Every strike carried world-shattering power.

But the cultivators were fighting back with everything they had.

Blades flashed and spells thundered.

Screams, battle cries, and roars of fury wove together, echoing through the entire secret realm.

*

“Where are all these Yin Soldiers coming from…”

Lin Xiaoyu murmured, her voice trembling.

She swept her gaze across the battlefield. Just the Yin Soldiers she could see numbered in the tens of thousands.

And farther out, hidden in the darkness… who knew how many more there were.

The Nascent Soul Yin Soldiers alone numbered in the dozens.

Beyond them, she could faintly sense something even more terrifying lurking deeper within.

A presence that surpassed even the Nascent Soul.

*

Lin Xiaoyu took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

Her master had taught her that the more dangerous the situation, the more important it was to stay calm.

She tightened her grip on the Qingfeng Sword and scanned her surroundings.

Soon she spotted a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators not far away, completely surrounded by Yin Soldiers.

There were over a dozen Yin Soldiers, led by two at the Golden Core Stage.

The cultivators were covered in wounds, barely holding on.

*

Lin Xiaoyu didn’t hesitate.

She flickered, pushing the Heavenly Dao Evasion Art to its limit.

In the next instant, she appeared behind the Yin Soldiers.

The Qingfeng Sword left its sheath.

A violet-gold arc of sword light swept through!

One strike.

Over a dozen Yin Soldiers, along with the two Golden Core leaders, turned to ash in an instant.

*

The cultivators stood frozen.

They stared at the girl who had appeared before them, disbelief written across their faces.

Qi Refining?

A Qi Refining girl had cut down over a dozen Yin Soldiers in one strike, including two at the Golden Core Stage?

“M-many thanks for saving our lives, fellow Daoist!”

One of the cultivators recovered first and hurriedly cupped his fists in gratitude.

Lin Xiaoyu waved it off.

“Save the thanks. Tell me, what’s going on here?”

The cultivator’s face twisted in bitterness.

“We don’t know either! Everything was fine just a moment ago, and then suddenly the entire secret realm turned into this! Yin Soldiers everywhere, killing anyone they see! We’ve already lost several of our fellow disciples…”

*

Lin Xiaoyu’s brows furrowed.

She suddenly recalled what the Remnant Soul had said – an endless pressure descended… heaven and earth overturned…

Could it be that the disaster which had destroyed the Hanling Heavenly Palace all those years ago was about to repeat itself?

*

From the distance came an even more violent roar.

Lin Xiaoyu lifted her head.

That direction – the core region of the secret realm.

There, the outline of a majestic palace was faintly visible, now besieged by countless Yin Soldiers.

Above the palace, a massive pillar of blood-red light shot into the sky, piercing the clouds.

And within that pillar of light – something seemed to be awakening.