131: Chapter 131 The "Surprise" Left by the Dead

Morning sunlight filtered through the window lattice, cutting the study floor into two distinct halves of light and shadow.

Gu Yan sat in the shadows, a blood-stained Storage Pouch placed on the sandalwood table in front of him.

This had been stripped from the corpse of Golden Core Master Wu Yong; the Divine Sense imprint originally remaining on it had been violently wiped away, and now it was like a clam stripped of its defenses, waiting to be plundered.

Leng Yuechan sat to the side, lowering her head to wipe a newly acquired short dagger.

The storm of last night seemed to have left no traces on her face, only her long hair, usually coiled up, was now draped loosely, revealing a lingering hint of laziness.

"Clatter."

Gu Yan upended the Storage Pouch.

A pile of messy items poured out, forming a small hill.

The halo of the Spirit Stones instantly illuminated the dim corner, mixed with a few bottles of Medicinal Pills, two Low Grade Spiritual Artifacts, and several picture books with gaudy covers.

[Tsk tsk tsk...]

The System light screen popped up before Gu Yan's eyes, lines of barrage scrolling rapidly:

[A dignified Golden Core Cultivator, and his private life is so lacking? Besides Spirit Stones, it's just pornographic books? What the hell is this "Secret History of the Saintess of the Hehuan Sect"? Host, open it quickly and take a look, this System needs to critically review the content!]

Gu Yan ignored the System's unreasonable demands, his slender fingers rummaging through the miscellaneous items, brushing those picture books aside, and finally picking up a greyish Jade Slip.

This Jade Slip was heavy, cold to the touch, and its surface was covered with dark red veins like blood vessels.

It had been hidden in the deepest part of Golden Core Master Wu Yong's Storage Pouch, and even reinforced with an independent small Seal.

"This is the 'Blood Pact Spirit-Sealing Technique' unique to the Black Fiend Sect."

Leng Yuechan stopped wiping her dagger, her gaze falling on that Jade Slip, her brows slightly furrowed: "Without the corresponding essence blood to break the Seal, forcing it open will cause it to self-destruct."

"Self-destruct?"

A wisp of golden True Qi flame ignited at Gu Yan's fingertip, gently licking the red veins on the surface of the Jade Slip: "With me, there is no option for self-destruction."

[Warning! High-risk self-destruct program detected!]

[Launching brute-force cracking module... Beep! Computing power connected... Cracking progress 10%... 50%... 100%!]

[Done! Host, this old thing also hid a mental poison thorn inside, but it's been easily wiped out by this System. You can consume it with peace of mind.]

As the System prompt fell, the red veins on the surface of the Jade Slip let out a shrill hiss, then dissipated completely, revealing the original lustrous jade texture.

Gu Yan probed his Divine Sense into it.

Boom!

A massive stream of information instantly washed over his Sea of Consciousness.

Gu Yan, originally indifferent, suddenly tensed up.

The knuckles holding the Jade Slip began to turn white, and his breathing rhythm was disrupted for a moment.

An image unfolded in his mind.

It was a dimly lit secret room.

Golden Core Master Wu Yong was kneeling on the ground, and in front of him, a water mirror was floating.

In the water mirror was a middle-aged man wearing cloud-patterned Daoist robes with a blurred face, but Gu Yan recognized this Daoist robe—it was the attire of an inner Sect Elder of the Yunlan Sect.

"Golden Core Master Wu Yong, how is the 'Gu-raising' plan in Baifeng City progressing?" The person in the water mirror asked in a cold voice.

"Replying to Elder Lin, in three more months, the Blood Sacrifice Great Array will be completed. At that time, we only need to sacrifice the essence blood of all the Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the city to forcibly open the gap to the ancient Secret Realm on the outskirts of the Fallen Demon Valley."

"Very good. Although the Lin Family has great power within the Sect, we cannot be too ostentatious at this juncture. That Secret Realm is suspected to be the place where the Soul Transformation mighty figure 'Ancestor Blood River' passed away. That 'blood river bead' inside is something I am determined to obtain."

"This subordinate understands! It's just... that kid from the Gu Family has been jumping around a lot recently..."

"Just an ant. If he is in the way, just crush him to death."

The image cut off abruptly.

Silence.

Deathly silence.

Gu Yan slowly opened his eyes, and deep within his originally calm pupils, cold stars seemed to be exploding.

Crack.

The Jade Slip in his hand did not break, but the armrest of the grandmaster chair he sat on turned into powder under his unconscious exertion of force.

"Baifeng City... a Gu-raising field?"

Gu Yan's voice was very soft, but it sounded like it was squeezed out from between his teeth.

He had thought the Black Fiend Sect was just purely greedy and wanted to loot resources.

He never expected that the entire population of hundreds of thousands in Baifeng City was, in the eyes of these people, merely a "sacrifice" used to pry open the door to a Secret Realm.

Even those Families fawning over Golden Core Master Wu Yong were on the must-kill list.

Leng Yuechan sensed that something was wrong, put down her dagger, walked to his side, and placed her palm gently on his shoulder: "What's wrong?"

"We've been sold."

Gu Yan handed the Jade Slip to her, his tone cold: "And sold by the pound."

Leng Yuechan took the Jade Slip, scanned it with her Divine Sense, and her face instantly turned deathly pale.

As someone who had once struggled at the bottom of the Black Fiend Sect, she knew better than anyone what a "Blood Sacrifice Great Array" meant.

"City-wide sacrifice..." Her hand holding the Jade Slip was trembling, "The Lin Family of the Yunlan Sect, how dare they? This is the conduct of the Demonic Path!"

"In the face of absolute profit, there is only a fine line between the righteous and the demonic."

Gu Yan stood up and paced in the room.

With every step he took, fine cracks appeared on the floor tiles.

Angry?

Of course.

But his emotion was more... excitement.

The excitement of a hunter discovering a larger prey.

[Host! We've hit the jackpot this time!]

The System was completely unaffected by the heavy atmosphere, instead acting like a miner who had discovered a gold mine: [An ancient Secret Realm! The legacy of a Soul Transformation mighty figure! A blood river bead! Just the name sounds like an SSR-level item!]

[And listening to what that Elder Lin meant, they haven't gotten the key yet; they just want to use a clumsy method to force the door open. What does this mean? It means this Secret Realm is still an ownerless object!]

[Rob them! Such villains should not only be killed, but their Opportunities should also be snatched away! This is the duty of a male protagonist in a cool novel!]

Gu Yan stopped pacing and turned to look out the window.

In the distance, the streets of Baifeng City were bustling; the merchants who had just escaped a disaster were hawking their wares, and the Family heads who had just submitted were calculating in their homes how to curry favor with the Gu Family.

No one knew that a Sword of Damocles was hanging over their heads.

"Three more months."

Gu Yan muttered to himself.

According to the original plan, the envoys from the Yunlan Sect would arrive in a few days.

If it were people from the Lin Family who came, then Baifeng City would be a powder keg about to explode.

But what if it wasn't people from the Lin Family who came?

The Yunlan Sect had many factions within it, and if the Lin Family wanted to eat alone, they must be keeping it from other factions.

"Yuechan."

Gu Yan suddenly spoke.

Leng Yuechan raised her head, the terror in her eyes had receded, replaced by a sense of determination: "Tell me, who do we kill?"

"No killing, at least not for now."

Gu Yan walked up to her, tidied the stray hair at her temples, and a trace of a curve finally appeared at the corner of his mouth, but this time it was a bloodthirsty cold smile:

"I want you to use special means to make ten copies of the content in this Jade Slip."

"And then?"

"Then, once the flying ship of the Yunlan Sect lands, I want this 'gift' to appear exactly in the hands of the people who should have it."

Gu Yan turned around and looked at the map of Baifeng City hanging on the wall, his gaze seeming to penetrate the paper and look toward the distant Yunlan Sect mountain gate.

Want to use me as a sacrifice?

Then let's see who ends up on whose dinner table in the end.

"System." Gu Yan murmured in his heart.

[I'm here, dear! Always ready to serve you!]

"Help me analyze the coordinates of this 'Ancestor Blood River' Secret Realm. Since there is a clue to the key, I don't plan on waiting until three months later."

[As you command! Establishing a data model... Hehe, Host, I just love that look in your eyes when you want to stir up trouble!]

Gu Yan stood with his hands behind his back, his Aura contained but not revealed.

Originally, he had just wanted to join the Sect to get a status, but now it seemed that this trip to the Sect was destined to be anything but peaceful.

But, that was what made it interesting.

Wasn't it?