Chapter 59: Who Killed the Gatekeeper? (2/2)

“Nonsense, how could Mo Feng have possibly died in this tower? Who would dare to kill him?!” Somebody immediately shouted in retort. Inside this pagoda, the hunters were the rulers and controlled the fates of everyone who entered. Nobody would dare to kill the masters of the tower! Not to mention, Mo Feng was just about to break through the middle stage of Immersion Realm. Even if somebody wanted to kill him, he still should’ve had enough time to send out a distress signal and absolutely wouldn’t have died so silently.

Because of their arrogance, the hunters believed it was simply impossible for somebody to have acted against them, the masters in this pagoda. Therefore, when Mo Feng didn’t immediately return, none of them had any worries or suspicions. It was only recently, when there was still no sign of him, that the group finally decided to send somebody to check. The result was that Mo Feng had actually died. Even though the scout who had been sent out reported such, the hunters still could not believe it.

“By the time I reached the first floor, Mo Feng’s aura had already disappeared. And, near his last position, there were only bloodstains and a few words written in blood: ‘Origin killed me’ If everyone doesn’t believe it, then you can go down and look for yourselves. The bloodstains and his last words are still there.” When people died within the Slaughter Array, their corpses would be teleported to a designated area outside of the Illusory Battlefield. However, the bloodstains and such things would remain. Upon hearing the investigator’s words, everyone’s faces turned stiff. The facts were right before their eyes, and they had no choice but to believe that there truly was somebody who could kill one of them. Qin Yu hadn’t anticipated the dead hunter would leave behind a few dying words. After Qin Yu had killed him, he was anxious to rush to the second floor, and so he hadn’t noticed.

“‘Origin killed me’; what does that mean?” Somebody asked the scout.

That person muttered to himself for a bit before guessing, “Maybe the killer’s surname is ‘Chu’ (Origin), or the killer’s name has that character?” In fact, the whole sentence was supposed to be, “An Origin Realm Cultivator killed me.” Mo Feng hadn’t known Qin Yu’s name, and so the gatekeeper could only write as such. Unfortunately, he only had the chance to write a few words before he finally kicked the bucket. And, among the hunters, nobody was stupid enough to think an Origin Realm cultivator would actually be strong enough to defeat a mid-peak stage Immersion Realm cultivator in a wink of an eye, not even giving Mo Feng time to call for help. Thus, the hunters could only guess “Chu”[footnote] The Pinyin for the character ‘Origin’ or ‘Beginning’/’Basic’ 初 [/footnote] was a name.

“Find whoever has the surname ‘Chu’ or that character in their name.” Can Bao’s scarred face was dreadfully cold, his voice icy enough to make a person shudder. Frankly, he didn’t really grieve the loss of a man; but, having such a death on his watch was simply a disgrace to his pride. A shepherd dying to his own lambs for slaughter was simply a joke and a slap in the face to the king of these shepherds.

“Da Ge, it’s possible that the person we seek has already died in battle with somebody else,” somebody voiced. “We’ve discovered Mo Feng’s death too late.”

“Not necessarily.” Another person reasoned, “He has to be an expert if he killed Mo Feng near instantaneously. Such a powerful expert wouldn’t die so easily. He may be one of the ten people on the ninth floor.” This analysis was very reasonable, and everyone immediately acknowledged it.

“Shi Yan, go. Move up the next stage of the plan and try your hardest to find the killer,” Can Bao ordered coldly, bloodlust flashing sharply in his eyes.

“Yes.” The man called “Shi Yan” turned around and left the hidden chamber.

……

The ten strongest of the competitors all converged on the ninth floor of the pagoda. All were frightening cultivators who were at the late stage of Immersion Realm at the very least. The most powerful had already reached the apex of Immersion Realm. Reaching the peak of Immersion Realm may be no big deal; however, none of them were very old, and only a few were older than 20. To reach such a stage at such a young age meant that they were all monsters among monsters.

On the ninth floor, nobody who was below late stage Immersion Realm in cultivation was qualified to stand there. Even if one had enough tokens, whoever came would either be killed or kicked back down. As such, those unwillingly consigned to the eighth floor could only look on wistfully. Many wanted to enter; but, if they tried again, they’d definitely be beaten back down once more and, this time, left as corpses.

Five living people were still on the eighth floor. The rest were all bodies slowly fading into the ground, disappearing one by one. Among the five, three hailed from Luosang City: Mo Badao, Dugu Feiyan, and Li Yijian. The trio were part of Luosang City’s selected players, and the other two were from somewhere else. Apart from Mo Badao at the early stage of Immersion Realm, everyone else was at the middle stage.

The reason why Mo Badao had survived until now and had even reached the eighth floor was his frightening fighting strength. He was so strong that he was able to overcome the difference in cultivation levels in a fight. Countless middle stage Immersion Realm cultivators had fallen beneath his blade. However, no matter how much of a monster he was, he could only stop here.

The ones on the next floor were true monsters, reaching the apex of Immersion Realm before even turning 20 years old was something completely unheard of. In Luosang City, perspectives were too narrow: Luosang City’s geniuses, compared to all those within the country of Qiongxi, were nothing. Naturally, this was only as it should be.

But, Mo Badao didn’t feel too discouraged; after all, the opponents were the greatest geniuses in the entirety of Qiongxi. For him, a youth that hailed from tiny Luosang City, reaching this far at the initial stage of Immersion Realm was already an amazing feat. “You two, I’m stopping here. I’ll be leaving first!” Mo Badao’s character was decisive; and, just as he said, he left, his figure disappearing in a flash as he leaped down to the seventh floor.

“Shall we go too?” Li Yijian asked, looking at Dugu Feiyan.

“En, let’s go.” Dugu Feiyan leaped down to the seventh floor, and Li Yijian following closely behind. When both of them reached the fourth floor, they stopped, eyes landing on Qin Yu and Qing Yun recuperating in the corner. On the wicked pair’s faces, brilliant smiles appeared, grins that were both gleeful and very dangerous, like wolves surrounding two beautiful, fat lambs.