“Young friend—” Yuwen Shi said weakly, “You, you must have heard of—the Three Holy Lands and Nine Sects, right?”

“Of course, I have,” Li Hai said, crossing his arms. “Soon after I stepped into this Xia Alliance Martial World, I learned of this from a group of bandits.

They said that the entire Xia Alliance’s five territories are ruled by the three great Martial Forest Holy Lands and the nine great Martial Forest Schools.”

“Hehehe, that statement…” Yuwen Shi chuckled, “Actually, it’s—half true, half false.

” Then he continued, “In reality, the so-called Nine Sects are, at most, just the running dogs and servants of those Three Holy Lands.

And over these past centuries, the Nine Sects have constantly changed; perhaps in two or three hundred years, they will become Twelve Sects, and then a few hundred years later, they might become Seven Sects.

But only those Three Martial Forest Holy Lands are eternal, simply because those Three Holy Lands are governed by three Martial Arts Myths.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is,” Li Hai nodded in realization. “Let me guess, the so-called Martial Arts Myth should be the Eternal Overlord of Great Jing, right?”

“You can—” Yuwen Shi said weakly, “understand it that way.”

“Then, the three Martial Arts Myths of these Three Holy Lands—” Li Hai asked curiously, “What are their names?”

“The Three Holy Lands refer to Sword Emperor Manor, Ice Palace, and Maitreya Temple, these three ancient Schools,” Yuwen Shi slowly said. “And the three Martial Arts Myths are the Sect Leaders of these three ancient Schools; they are Dragon Sword Emperor Wu Tianshi, Winter God Xue Cangqiong, and—Living Buddha Great Master Fanie.”

“Hmph~” Li Hai grinned, “These guys’ titles are more impressive than the last, but I wonder what their true strength is like. Alright, when I have some free time, I must go challenge them.”

“Hehehe—what courage! With your peerless talent, young friend, that day will surely come.”

Yuwen Shi gave a difficult smile, then continued, “We’ve strayed a bit. In short, as far as this old man knows, the Xuan Dynasty Remnants—are very likely related to—the Three Secret Schools.”

“Three Secret Schools?” Li Hai asked, “What’s that again?”

“Actually, it’s like the Three Holy Lands,” Yuwen Shi slowly said. “Among the Nine Sects—there are also Schools that have endured through the ages, and those are the Three Secret Schools—Machina Citadel, Mystic Gu Workshop, and Medicine Immortal Pavilion. But unlike ordinary Martial Dao Schools, these Three Secret Schools—all focus on external objects.”

After saying this long passage, Yuwen Shi’s aura instantly weakened, as if he had died.

“Hey, hey, old man, don’t die yet!” Li Hai rushed over, “You haven’t finished speaking!”

“Ngh~” Yuwen Shi woke up and spoke again, “Machina Citadel—follows the Dao of mechanisms and weapons; Mystic Gu Workshop is—the Dao of Gu worms and poisons; and Medicine Immortal Pavilion is—Alchemy and pill refining.”

“Old man, stop talking about these,” Li Hai urged. “Just tell me directly, where should I go to find the Xuan Dynasty Remnants’ lair?”

“When this old man was young, I once heard from an old Senior—” Yuwen Shi said to himself, “He said that these Three Secret Schools were all established by inheriting the legacy of the Xuan Dynasty, and that Senior said that the Xuan Dynasty Remnants—have always been in contact with these three Schools—so, young friend—you should go ask these three Schools, and you should get—the answer you’re looking for.”

“Sigh~” Li Hai frowned and sighed, “Why didn’t you just say that earlier? You’ve been beating around the bush. Also—which of these Schools is closest to here?”

“This old man only knows—” Yuwen Shi said word by word, “that the Mystic Gu Workshop should be in the northern end of the Western Wilderness. This is the Scorched Orchid Great Desert, eighteen thousand li away from here, located at the edge of the desert—in the Red Soil Forest at the southern end of the Northern Wasteland.”

“Oh, although what you said was a bit disjointed, I still understood,” Li Hai nodded. “Do you have anything else to say?”

“No, no, sigh~” Yuwen Shi sighed, “After this incident, my Knife Soul Valley—is completely destroyed. The Three Holy Lands and Nine Sects—are going to become Three Holy Lands and Eight Sects.”

“Old man, actually, it’s not regrettable that it’s destroyed,” Li Hai gently comforted him. “Think about it, your School produced so many bandits and robbers, causing so many deaths, yet it flourished for so many years before perishing. To be honest, Heaven has been very kind to you. The most important thing for a person is to be content. Come on, cheer up.”

As he spoke, he stretched out both hands and forcefully pulled up the corners of Yuwen Shi’s mouth, which only consisted of a head and some remaining body parts:

“See, isn’t this much better? Even if you’re about to die, you should smile. As the saying goes, a smile makes you ten years younger.”

Yuwen Shi: “…”

“Young friend, this old man thinks your—mental state is quite concerning,” the old man slowly said. “You wouldn’t happen to be—stimulated in your mind by the Qi of this Martial World, would you?”

“Hmm?” Li Hai frowned, “There’s such a saying?”

“There is,” Yuwen Shi said with difficulty. “Most outsiders in the Martial World—need to stay for ten or eight years to adapt to the environment here, and outsiders in the environmental adjustment period will become erratic and bloodthirsty.”

“I see,” Li Hai said with a profound look, stroking his chin. “In that case, even if I kill many more people in the future, it’s absolutely not my fault, but the fault of this Xia Alliance Martial World; it’s the overly volatile Qi of the Martial World that harmed them.”

Then he looked down at Yuwen Shi: “Old man, since everything that needed to be said has been said, then let’s part ways here.”

As he spoke, Li Hai was about to step away,

But at this moment, Yuwen Shi spoke again: “Young friend, wait a moment!”

“Hmm?” Li Hai stopped, turning to look at him.

“Before this old man dies, I want to ask, young friend—” Yuwen Shi said with difficulty, “When you were fighting this old man, how much strength did you actually use? Was it—fifty percent or thirty percent?”

“Old man, I really can’t answer your question, because—” Li Hai frowned, somewhat troubled, “I know too many things, so much that I don’t even know how strong I would be when exerting full strength. Hmm~ if you really want a definite answer, then let’s say I used—one percent.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

“One percent?” Yuwen Shi muttered to himself, “He only—only used one percent—and completely defeated this old man? And—he’s only eighteen years old?!”

As if struck by a sharp arrow, Yuwen Shi’s spiritual light of consciousness instantly dimmed and fell silent.

His last flickering wisp of vitality also vanished into thin air with the wind.

And so, Yuwen Shi—died.

At the same time, Li Hai, who had already left the ruins of Knife Soul Valley and flown into the depths of the vast desert, saw the number of power-user fragments on his personal interface quietly increase from 26 to 28.