296: The seventh and eighth realms of martial arts!

Although this place was very strange,

no matter what,

Xiao Shi could only continue forward now.

He silently memorized the eight taboos on the stone tablet.

He felt that with his current Luck, he still had some advantages here.

Of course,

for him,

the most important thing was to find the imprisoned members of the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect as soon as possible.

Through the strangeness of this place,

he realized that the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect members imprisoned here were definitely not simple!

If they were just ordinary members... they wouldn't be worthy of being imprisoned in such a place.

The entire valley was dead silent.

Only Xiao Shi's footsteps echoed in the pitch-black night, making it feel even more lonely.

After walking for ten minutes,

the vegetation ahead began to grow lush, and among these dense plants, numerous tombstones appeared.

This was unexpectedly a graveyard!

Above several of the tombstones,

illusory remnant souls floated.

These remnant souls basically only had half a body, either missing the lower half or the upper half.

They were repeating something in a low voice.

Because the distance was too great,

Xiao Shi could not hear them clearly.

However, the moment he saw these remnant souls,

Xiao Shi immediately thought of one of the taboos in the valley.

Do not attack the remnant souls!

If not for this taboo,

according to Xiao Shi's usual practice, he would have definitely chosen to absorb these remnant souls into his body as nourishment to improve his Soul Consciousness.

These remnant souls were clearly not ordinary spirits.

Absorbing them would bring significant benefits.

At the same time, he could also obtain some of the memories within the remnant souls, allowing him to gain a better understanding of this place of imprisonment.

But under the valley's taboos,

Xiao Shi certainly couldn't entertain any designs on these remnant souls.

Not only could he not take action,

he couldn't even have the thought or idea.

Because among the eight taboos, there was another one.

Within the valley, one must not have evil thoughts!

Evil thoughts... were actually hard to define.

However, Xiao Shi knew that the evil thoughts referred to here must be from the perspective of the valley.

If one had bad thoughts about the remnant souls in the valley... it would be counted as an evil thought.

Thinking of this,

Xiao Shi immediately reined in his thoughts.

He moved forward.

Since there was only one path here,

he could not avoid this graveyard.

He had to pass through it.

As he got closer,

he found that these remnant souls were all in a muddled state.

Their mouths were constantly repeating words.

At this point, he could clearly hear them.

The remnant soul closest to him was constantly repeating its words.

"It's over, the matter has been exposed, the Martial God will kill me, the Martial God will definitely kill me!"

Xiao Shi's heart stirred upon hearing this.

Through the words of the remnant soul, he realized that this soul was very likely someone from the era of the Martial God when it was alive!

"Could it be that this remnant soul was killed by the Martial God when it was alive?"

As someone who already possessed four pieces of Emperors Armor,

Xiao Shi was instinctively concerned and attentive to matters regarding the Martial God.

To this end,

he looked at the remnant soul with curiosity and asked,

"What matter did you expose? Why did the Martial God want to kill you?"

Following his words,

the remnant soul's neck twisted bit by bit with stiffness.

Its hollow pupils stared at Xiao Shi.

"It's over, the matter has been exposed, the Martial God will kill me, the Martial God will definitely kill me!"

It repeated the same words.

Xiao Shi frowned slightly.

This remnant soul's consciousness was too severely damaged.

So much so that it could only repeat this sentence over and over.

It could not answer his question.

Xiao Shi felt a bit of regret about this.

Although he couldn't get anything out of this remnant soul,

he now knew that this soul was most likely someone from the Martial God's era... "It seems the water in this place of imprisonment... is even deeper than I previously imagined!"

Xiao Shi lamented in his heart.

Once things from the Martial God's era were involved... it certainly wouldn't be simple.

He continued forward along the path through the graveyard.

There was no real danger in this graveyard.

These remnant souls would not actively attack Xiao Shi, nor did they have the ability to do so.

Xiao Shi felt that the real danger of this graveyard was actually the evil thought that would inevitably arise in one's heart to absorb these remnant souls into one's body.

Under close contact, he could feel the attraction these remnant souls held for him even more.

It was like walking through a mountain of gold and silver treasures but being unable to pick up any of them.

Not only could he not pick them up,

he couldn't even have the thought of picking them up!

He had to constantly restrain his thoughts.

Just like that,

after Xiao Shi had traveled a distance further,

"Hey, kid, I have a secret here, do you want to know it?"

A remnant soul suddenly floated to Xiao Shi's side.

It spoke in a very mysterious manner.

Xiao Shi was stunned for a moment.

"Are you talking to me?"

"Is there anyone else here besides you?"

The remnant soul looked at Xiao Shi with a gaze that seemed to ask if he had a problem with his brain.

Xiao Shi's eyes sharpened.

This remnant soul... was clearly different from the previous ones.

The previous remnant souls could not communicate.

They could only repeat one sentence over and over.

But this remnant soul was able to communicate with him!

"What do you know?"

Xiao Shi asked.

"If you want to know my secret, you have to give me a treasure. Give me a treasure and I'll tell you the secret."

The remnant soul said eagerly.

Xiao Shi pondered for a moment.

He tried taking out a treasure.

He gave the treasure to the remnant soul.

The remnant soul immediately took it with glowing eyes.

And it immediately put the treasure into its mouth.

However, in its current state as a remnant soul, it could not eat the treasure, causing the treasure to pass directly through its body and fall straight to the ground.

Yet, the remnant soul looked like it was eating with great relish.

It even let out a burp.

It patted its belly.

"Ah, comfortable..."

"Can you tell me the secret you know now?"

Xiao Shi asked.

"Of course."

The remnant soul nodded and thought for a while, seemingly choosing one from the many secrets it knew.

"Then let me tell you about the sixth Realm of Martial Arts."

"Many people don't know what the sixth Realm of Martial Arts is."

"This Realm is called the Saint Realm! The key to this Realm lies in the need to refine a Domain."

The remnant soul spoke in a profound tone, as if revealing a huge secret.

However, Xiao Shi felt like he had been swindled... but on second thought,

it wasn't exactly a swindle.

After all, not many people knew about the Saint Realm.

This could indeed be considered a secret.

It was just that the secret the other party mentioned happened to be one he already knew.

"If you want to know other secrets, you can continue to give me treasures. I know many more..."

The remnant soul said with a mysterious face.

Xiao Shi glanced at the treasure that had fallen to the ground after being swallowed by the remnant soul.

He felt that even if he picked up this treasure now and gave it to the remnant soul again, it wouldn't notice anything unusual... he could exploit it repeatedly.

Unfortunately, due to the taboos in the valley,

he could not pick it up.

After all, one of the valley's taboos was that no items within the valley could be picked up!

However, the treasure he had just given was only a Blood Martial Grade treasure.

It was intended as a test from the start.

It was impossible for him to give a highly valuable treasure right away.

"Are there any higher-level secrets, like the seventh Realm of Martial Arts? I want to know higher-level secrets..."

Xiao Shi asked.

"Of course I know!"

The remnant soul raised its head proudly.

"But..."

"You have to pay more!!"

To this, Xiao Shi said nothing more.

He directly gave it two Blood Martial Grade treasures.

When the remnant soul swallowed these two Blood Martial Grade treasures,

it licked its lips with lingering desire.

It still spoke in that profound tone.

"The seventh Realm of Martial Arts is called... Dao Lord!"

"The key to this Realm lies in taking charge of a complete 'Dao'!"

"But the 'Dao' of the Tianwu Continent is limited, so among Saints, there are often battles for the Dao!"

Xiao Shi nodded.

He was quite satisfied with this secret.

In fact, when he came into contact with the Thousand Weapon Dao Slash, he had already realized that the Upper Three Realms of martial arts would involve the Dao.

But he didn't expect that in the first Realm of the Upper Three Realms, one would need to take charge of a complete Dao!

"Dao Lord, huh..."

Xiao Shi memorized this Realm.

With a flip of his hand,

he took out three more Blood Martial Grade items.

He indicated that he wanted to know the eighth Realm of Martial Arts.

This information... could not be obtained even from Xiang Zizhen.

After all, the Upper Three Realms of martial arts were known as legendary Realms in the current Tianwu Continent.

Since the collapse of the Great Wu Dynasty's imperial power,

only two or three experts of the Upper Three Realms had ever been born in the entire Tianwu Continent!

As a result, many Martial Artists of this generation did not know the specific details of the Upper Three Realms.

The remnant soul took the three Blood Martial Grade treasures from Xiao Shi's hand with great satisfaction, swallowed them, and then said to Xiao Shi,

"The eighth Realm of Martial Arts is called Demi-God! As for the specific details of this Realm... they have always been classified."

"Because most people who have seen a Demi-God take action are already dead."

"At the same time, very few people are able to come into contact with a Demi-God."

"Therefore, information regarding Demi-Gods is very scarce."

"Even I only know the name of this Realm and don't know any other information."

Xiao Shi nodded.

Although there wasn't much information about this Realm and he only learned a name,

he knew that the higher the Realm,

the greater the value of its information.

He had only used three Blood Martial Grade treasures to learn the name of the eighth Realm, which was definitely a huge profit.

"Next is the ninth Realm of Martial Arts, which is also the end of martial arts!"

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

He didn't expect to be able to know the specific details of the ninth Realm.

He just wanted to know the name of the ninth Realm now.

It could be said that this was something every Martial Artist wanted to know.

No matter what Realm of martial arts they were in, they all wanted to know what the end of martial arts... would be?

Xiao Shi was no exception.

Immediately,

with anticipation in his heart,

Xiao Shi took out five Blood Martial Grade items in one go.

He gave all five Blood Martial Grade items to the remnant soul.

But after the remnant soul took and swallowed these five Blood Martial Grade items, it shook its head and said,

"I'm sorry..."

"I don't know about the ninth Realm of Martial Arts either."

"But I will tell you another secret of equal value."

"This secret..."

"...is about the Martial God."

The remnant soul said with a mysterious face.

Xiao Shi's heart jolted.

Although he didn't get to know the ninth Realm of Martial Arts, secrets about the Martial God were also something he was interested in.

"The Martial God had three offspring: one dead, one crippled, and one missing!"

"It is said that there is an earth-shattering secret on these three offspring!"

"Unfortunately, the one who died had his body and soul completely destroyed, not even a Corpse remains, so it's impossible to get the secret from him."

"The crippled offspring has always stayed by the Martial God's side, and no one can target him."

"So everyone has set their sights on the missing offspring of the Martial God."

"So much so that experts across the entire Tianwu Continent are searching for this missing offspring of the Martial God."

"Some speculate..."

"...that the Hall Master of Tianji Hall might know where this missing offspring of the Martial God is."

"Recently, through my own channels, I've learned the specific location of the Hall Master of Tianji Hall. I'm planning to go find him and find out this secret!"

Speaking to this point,

the remnant soul suddenly slapped its head, as if it had remembered something incredibly important.

"Oh right, I still have to go find the Hall Master of Tianji Hall. What am I doing here..."

It murmured in a low voice.

While doing so, it floated away into the distance.

Xiao Shi wanted to learn more.

However, the remnant soul had already turned a deaf ear to his words.

Even when Xiao Shi took out a treasure in front of it, the remnant soul didn't have any reaction.

It murmured to itself.

While floating away into the distance.

It was obvious.

After revealing this secret, the remnant soul would fall into the same state as the other remnant souls.

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

He clearly realized that this secret revealed by the remnant soul... likely already involved the highest level of the Tianwu Continent.

It not only involved the offspring of the Martial God but was also connected to the previous Hall Master of Tianji Hall!

And according to Xiao Shi's understanding,

he knew

that the previous Hall Master of Tianji Hall had fallen many years ago.

But the fall of the Hall Master of Tianji Hall had always been a mystery.

No one knew how the Hall Master of Tianji Hall had fallen.

“Is it possible...”

“...that the Hall Master of Tianji Hall met his end precisely because he knew this secret!?”

Xiao Shi made a guess in his heart.

According to the remnant soul's words,

the missing offspring of the Martial God was related to an earth-shattering secret. If only the Hall Master of Tianji Hall knew where this missing offspring was, he would likely become the public enemy of the entire Tianwu Continent!

This had brought about his death!

“If the Hall Master of Tianji Hall fell because of this secret...”

“...then this remnant soul most likely also died because of this secret!”

“Its final memory most likely stopped at the point where it went to find the Hall Master of Tianji Hall. Of course, it's also possible that because it's a remnant soul, it lost the subsequent memories...”

“But how did it know the whereabouts of the Hall Master of Tianji Hall?”

Xiao Shi fell into deep thought.

Although he didn't know much about the previous Hall Master of Tianji Hall,

he knew that the identity of the previous Hall Master of Tianji Hall was not public in the Tianwu Continent, and very few people knew his true identity.

Unless... when this remnant soul was still alive, it was a member of Tianji Hall!

And it was a member of Tianji Hall who was deeply trusted by the Hall Master of Tianji Hall!