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Just as everyone was speculating about Lu Lingsha's destination, a voice that had been silent all along rang out; it belonged to a woman.

She said, "It is said that this area was once the residence of Hua Manlou."

"Hua Manlou?!"

Upon hearing this name, everyone, even Lu Lingsha's enemies, couldn't help but feel admiration. In that dazzling era, there were unparalleled geniuses like Ximen Chuixue, Lu Xiaofeng, and Ye Gucheng in the past, and outstanding figures like the martial arts master Mu Daoren, the honest monk, and the Prince of the Southern Kingdom in the future.

Hua Manlou, one of the seven children of the Hua family, overshadowed everyone else in his era. It is said that he was a cultivator with near-immortal cultivation and almost possessed the legendary supernatural powers of an immortal.

The legendary heroes of the past have shattered the void, but the legends they left behind have been pursued by countless successors for a long time to come.

"Is the ultimate goal of martial arts really immortality?" someone asked in a low voice.

The woman's tone was enigmatic, carrying a hint of expectation mixed with a touch of mockery, as she said:

"Hua Manlou is the best proof. It is said that it was because he witnessed the breaking of the void that Ximen Chuixue and Ye Gucheng fought a decisive battle at the top of the Forbidden City and ascended to heaven together."

"It is said that it was because he shattered the void that he attracted the greed of the royal family, and the Hua family, which had lasted for a thousand years, was destroyed in one day. Although Ye Gucheng killed the former emperor with the tacit approval of Lu Xiaofeng and Ximen Chuixue, it still could not stop the royal family from spying."

"As a result, the orphans of the Hua family were forced to move overseas and never set foot in the Central Plains again."

"It is said that twenty years ago, Lu Xiaofeng, one of the Four Heroes of Heaven and Earth who witnessed that scene, had already broken through the void and followed in the footsteps of his friend."

"Moreover, in this world, not to mention the imperial palace, how could Shaolin and Wudang possibly have a way to break the curse of Yama? The Snow Jade Cicada in the imperial palace, the Heavenly Ring Jade Pendant in the hands of the Wudang Sect Leader, the Bodhidharma Relic in Shaolin Temple, and the Heavenly Centipede God Gu of the Demonic Sect are all unparalleled treasures."

"These people let that madwoman hurt Ximen He just to see if those famous martial arts masters had left any backup plans?"

……

"Did Lu Xiaofeng really break through the void?" the leading man asked.

The woman glanced at him and said mockingly, "When Lu Xiaofeng shattered the void, didn't your elders witness it? Why be so hypocritical and secretive? You so-called righteous role models are all hypocritical and full of wicked and immoral thoughts."

The man clenched his fist but ultimately did not make a move.

Someone tried to smooth things over, saying, "Alright, alright, we all have the same goal, so why use hurtful words? This young lady must be a member of the Demonic Sect? If she has any other information, why not share it with everyone?"

The woman scoffed and said, "If you want to know, go find it yourself!"

Having said that, he leaped down from the city wall in a flash, his footsteps lightly touching the rooftops of the town as he sped away into the distance.

Chapter 675 Demon Cult Leader

"She left? She didn't want the opportunity in Lu Lingfeng's hands?" someone asked, watching the woman's departing figure.

The leader snorted and said, "People of the Demonic Sect are always like this, pretending to be gods and ghosts, like rats in a bellows."

With that, he leaped down from the city wall and chased after them into the wilderness.

On the city wall, someone said, "The renowned hero ascended to heaven too early, and we had no chance to meet him. If Lu Xiaofeng really left behind some kind of opportunity, I believe everyone would want it. How about we each rely on our own abilities from now on?"

The remaining people looked at each other, nodded, and followed.

Just after this group left, many more figures gathered in the town and followed them.

………………

In the inn of the market town.

Three figures watched this scene. The woman in the lead looked at them with a mocking expression and remained silent.

Behind them were a man and a woman. The man was hunched over, like a hunchback; the woman had a full head of silver hair and held a silver dragon cane in her hand, which weighed dozens of kilograms, but she handled it with ease.

The two old men exchanged a glance, and the old man asked, "Master, are we really not going to take the opportunity left behind by Lu Xiaofeng?"

The woman turned around, revealing a face that was both angry and happy, a face of breathtaking beauty as if bestowed by heaven. She wore a simple blue robe, and every movement she made seemed to carry a beautiful rhythm. She was the same woman from the city wall earlier.

"No rush. The place Lu Lingsha went to is so awful that probably no one but him can get in. Nobody else can."

"We just need to wait until Lu Lingsha comes out with an opportunity, and then we can take advantage of that opportunity to catch the cicada in the back."

The two old men nodded and cupped their hands, saying, "We will obey the leader's orders."

The woman nodded and sat down at the table, seemingly lost in thought, but the journal she had seen earlier flashed through her mind.

Those were the handwritten notes of the two former leaders of the Demonic Sect, during the era of Hua Manlou and Lu Xiaofeng. The Demonic Sect had gone through two leaders in succession, and who wouldn't covet the secret of breaking through the void?

Before Hua Manlou shattered the void, the previous leader of the sect, Yu Luosha, entered the Central Plains because of a certain matter. There, he encountered Lu Xiaofeng and Hua Manlou. It was in that battle that Yu Luosha, who was suppressing the Western Regions, was defeated by Hua Manlou's two fingers in one move.

The two developed a mutual respect for each other because of the battle. Or rather, it was just that Yu Luosha's actions did not arouse Hua Manlou's hostility. After all, he was a man full of unique charm, and he was always willing to give others a chance, even his enemies.

After that battle, Yu Luosha gleaned the secret of shattering the void from Hua Manlou.

Years later, the aged Jade Rakshasa arrived in the Central Plains as one of the witnesses to Hua Manlou's departure through the void; it was also on that occasion that the Demonic Sect gained unprecedented confidence in breaking through the void.

Unfortunately, by then Yu Luosha was already very old, while the Central Plains had already produced another, even sharper and more terrifying swordsman, Ximen Chuixue.

Jade Rakshasa could only return to the Western Regions unwillingly, where she died of old age in a secret chamber.

When the previous leader ascended to the throne, he learned of this secret and for decades sent spies to the Central Plains to investigate the hidden secrets. Finally, he discovered a figure that had been buried in history and only flashed by.

That figure first appeared in the small building of Hua Manlou, which marked the beginning of Hua Manlou's legendary suppression of an era.

Unfortunately, before the previous leader could take any action, Ximen Chuixue came knocking on his door.

It turns out that Ximen Chuixue had already agreed to a decisive battle with Ye Gucheng, and the Demonic Sect's actions over the years had long been exposed to the eyes of the major sects in the Central Plains. Therefore, Ximen Chuixue wanted to eliminate the last hidden danger for the martial arts world in the Central Plains before the decisive battle.

It was that battle that made the previous leader and this woman understand what it meant to shatter the void.

Every time she recalled that unspeakable sword strike, the woman couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart. There was no warning, no sword, yet the sword was everywhere. By the time you saw it, you were already dead under its blade.

After Ximen Chuixue left, the woman emerged from the shadows and used the last remaining divine medicine to save the previous leader for ten breaths.

In those ten breaths, the two leaders of the Demonic Sect completed their final handover.

Thinking of the terrifying power of that sword strike, and Lu Xiaofeng's unparalleled Spiritual Finger before he left, the woman was deeply confused. Could they really glimpse the secrets of the shattered void?

“Bronze Camel, Silver Dragon,” the woman suddenly exclaimed with a smile.

"Your subordinates are here," the two old men replied simultaneously.

The woman extended her wrist, revealing a golden bracelet. With a gentle flick of her fingers, the bracelet seemed to come alive, crawling down her wrist to reveal a golden centipede, baring its fangs and claws, twisting its head and looking around.

Looking at the adorable little creature, the two elderly people stiffened, forcefully suppressing the urge to run away.

The woman smiled, flipped her wrist, and a whistle appeared in her palm. She said, "You two, take Xiao Jin to Wanmei Manor to detoxify Ximen He."

………………

Upon hearing this, the old woman couldn't help but say, "Master, that madwoman from the Tang family's Yama's Decree is extremely poisonous; even a divine Gu might not be enough..."

The implication was clear: she didn't think it was worth sacrificing such a divine object for a man she had never met.

The woman smiled and said, "I don't know why, but I suddenly have a premonition that if I don't do this, tonight will be the death of everyone, including me."

With a flick of her finger, the whistle flew to the old woman's hand, and the golden centipede on the table transformed into a golden thread, which flashed and landed on the old woman's silver dragon cane, resembling a golden eye.

"My premonition is not right. My inner demons tell me that a great terror is approaching, like a shadow that blots out the sky, leaving no way to escape."

"Go ahead! Be polite, consider it as us begging him to cure us of the poison."

"Mother-in-law, perhaps my life is in your hands."

The woman looked out the window and said.

The two old men exchanged a glance, bowed respectfully, and left. Under the woman's watchful gaze, they quickly headed out of town.

The woman stood quietly by the window. As the last rays of the setting sun faded, she chuckled softly and disappeared into the room.

"Is it something left behind by that mysterious master? Or a method left behind by Hua Manlou? Interesting!"

………………

The young Lu Lingsha seemed to be the wind, or a butterfly floating between heaven and earth, touching lightly without leaving a trace.

We crossed the wilderness, bypassed the small lake, and stepped into the depths of the bamboo forest the little beggar had described.

He walked briskly and quickly stepped out of the bamboo forest. Before him, piles of weeds grew wildly and unruly. Occasionally, a bright color would peek out from among the weeds, which turned out to be flowers.

In the midst of the flowers and plants, a small, collapsed building stands desolate, like a lonely old man abandoned in the wilderness; a sense of loneliness washes over one's heart, a feeling that heroes are nowhere to be found and romance is always swept away by wind and rain.

Chapter 676 In the Small Building

Lu Lingsha looked at the small building not far away and did not act rashly.

Although he came from an extraordinary background and his martial arts skills ranked among the top four in the world, and he had an unclear relationship with the Hua family, which was famous in Jiangnan back then, that was a long time ago.

Moreover, in the year he was born, his father, whom he had never met, had already shattered the void and departed.

Thinking of this, Lu Lingsha couldn't help but sigh. Apart from inheriting all the knowledge of her father, whom she had never met, from her mother, she had not received any special care. The only special thing was probably the place in front of her.

According to my mother, a huge secret is buried in this small building, but she doesn't know what the secret is. She has only heard my father mention it occasionally.

"According to my mother, when I was born, my father borrowed a treasure from here to cleanse my marrow and nourish my body, which is why I have the martial arts skills I have today."

"Later, my father returned that treasure to this place, hoping that my trip would not have been in vain."

"However, a secret that can be kept by both my father and Senior Ximen, and is also recorded in the Ximen family genealogy, should not disappoint me; kid, whether you live or die depends on how reliable your father is."

Lu Lingsha thought to herself.

Thinking of this, he took advantage of the last rays of the setting sun and lowered his head to examine the ground inch by inch. According to the little beggar, although this place was abandoned, it was obviously protected by some unknown means.

As time passed, Lu Lingsha's heart sank even further. There were no traces left by anyone else around her, except for herself.

"No, according to that little beggar, that guy called Blackie sent at least two groups of people in, how could there not be a single footprint?"

"The ability to make so many people disappear without a trace is not something that ordinary experts can do, unless it is... a method of shattering the void."

The more anxious she was, the less Lu Lingsha knew she couldn't rush things. Since her father had been able to come in and hadn't left any instructions for her to stay away, it meant that this place must be safe.

After searching carefully for a while, Lu Lingsha stopped staying in one place and began to move around the edge of the bamboo forest, observing the abandoned building from various angles.

As the moon rose above the willow branches, Lu Lingsha returned to his original spot. He wasn't in a hurry; instead, he sat cross-legged and waited silently.

Just as midnight arrived, Lu Lingsha suddenly moved, then looked at the open space in front of her, and with a flash, she disappeared from sight like a pebble thrown into water, creating ripples.

Not long after he disappeared, a dozen or so masked figures in black emerged from the bamboo forest behind him; and on the other side, a group of Flying Fish Guards dressed in flying fish robes also came out.

That night, countless masters from the imperial court and the martial arts world gathered here.

Without a word or exchange, a figure in the crowd casually snapped off a bamboo branch and shot it like an arrow towards the spot where Lu Lingsha had disappeared.

As the bamboo branch passed through the pile of weeds and gently fell to the ground, instead of disappearing like Lu Lingsha, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Back then, the Flying Fish Guard wiped out the Su family of Suzhou and the Hua family of Jiangnan, but they also found nothing here. Now that I think about it, the secret here is not in bloodline, but in martial arts," someone said hoarsely.

"Back then, the person from the Su family taught Hua Manlou and also gave pointers to Ximen Chuixue and Lu Xiaofeng. It must have been a martial art at the Shattering Void level," someone added.

Everyone stared at the Flying Fish Guards, trying to discern even the slightest clue from their faces, but alas…

The Flying Fish Guards didn't say a word, they just stood there quietly. Their orders were to kill everyone and take the secret at all costs as long as Lu Lingsha came out.

If someone were to look down from above, they would find that a large army had surrounded the area for dozens of miles around this location, making it impossible for anyone to escape.

………………

Just as midnight arrived, Lu Lingsha felt her internal energy suddenly surge, as if she had established a connection with something. As her internal energy circulated, the void before her seemed to have another layer of existence.

He seized the fleeting opportunity and leaped forward without hesitation.

A blur appeared before my eyes, as if I were looking through a thin film. The abandoned building was still an abandoned building, but it was as if I and the people who appeared afterward were in two different worlds. Those people were completely unaware of me.

After listening quietly for a while, and seeing that the people who appeared later could no longer see her, Lu Lingsha turned around and walked towards the small building.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that while the small building was dilapidated and the annex had become ruins, the main building was remarkably well-preserved. Despite the passage of time, apart from some signs of wear and tear, most of the main structure had not collapsed.

Brushing aside the annoying cobwebs and swaying withered grass, Lu Lingsha stepped into the small building. There were no traps or hidden weapons, only an empty staircase in front of her.

Looking at the dusty stairs, Lu Lingsha had no other choice but to climb them amidst the creaking sounds.

As she reached the floor level, Lu Lingsha turned her head and couldn't help but gasp. With a flick of her sleeves, she resembled a phoenix spreading its wings and soaring over the stairs, standing in the far corner of the room.

All of this was because a figure stood there on the balcony diagonally opposite, like a ghost.

………………

Before Lu Lingsha could see clearly, his vision blurred, and when he reappeared, he was already standing right next to that figure, as if he had always been standing there.

Suppressing the urge to attack, Lu Lingsha knew she was no match for the person in front of her. Even a master at the Shattering Void level couldn't so easily control her position.

This person's methods are simply unbelievable.

"Are you Lu Xiaofeng's daughter?" the ghostly figure asked.