566: All suspicions cleared! Strengthen the Holy Sword of Light.

"Disciple! Do you know where your Senior Sister Hu Xiaoyun went?"

Yu Jianying looked at Su Lie and asked solemnly.

After learning about the death of Black Pepper King and the related events,

she had personally come to question Su Lie.

Behind her

stood a group of members from the Formless Ghost Clan and the Formless Ghost Ancestor.

Su Lie looked at Yu Jianying blankly and replied, "Reporting to Master! Senior Sister and I agreed about an hour ago to explore an abandoned cave at the foot of the mountain. After waiting for her to return from the martial arts field, I never saw her again!"

He noticed that Yu Jianying appeared no different from a human at this moment, whether in expression, gaze, or body temperature.

He had thought that upon knowing Black Pepper King was dead, the Formless Ghost Clan would investigate immediately.

To his surprise, they waited a full half-hour before taking action to inquire.

Clearly, this clan's efficiency was not very high.

This was Su Lie's opportunity!

Su Lie had already prepared his story long ago.

Coupled with the lack of witnesses or physical evidence along the way, and no traces showing he had gone elsewhere,

he was certain he could completely clear himself of suspicion.

Then,

Su Lie feigned a startled look, putting on an expression as if he had just realized something, and hurriedly asked, "Master! Has something happened to Senior Sister?"

At this point,

Su Lie's face changed again as he asked urgently, "Could it be that Senior Sister was eaten by ghosts..."

Clatter!

He began to tremble with fear, his eyes filled with panic.

Seeing this, Yu Jianying shook her head. She patted Su Lie's shoulder and said heavily, "Do not be afraid! After all, your Senior Sister is still..."

Before she could finish her sentence,

Yu Jianying shuddered violently and cried out, "Xiaoyun is really dead?"

"Ah!"

Su Lie looked at Yu Jianying in confusion.

Yu Jianying took out a jade talisman shattered into three pieces from the storage equipment at her waist. "This is the Soul Jade left behind when you joined my command! As long as the person is alive, it remains intact! If the person dies, it shatters..."

At this point,

she said to Su Lie, "Lie'er! After bathing in the light of the holy sword tomorrow, wait for me at the Heavenly Sword Peak square! Do not go out today! Once you receive your cultivation technique, move into the secret room of the main hall. I will make space for you there!"

After giving her instructions,

Yu Jianying left in a hurry.

Su Lie secretly breathed a sigh of relief, though his expression remained exceptionally grave.

He continued to pace back and forth in the room, muttering worried words to himself.

This made the formless ghosts hidden in the shadows find it incredibly amusing, and they began to mock him one after another.

On the other side,

after leaving Su Lie's dormitory, Yu Jianying arrived at a mountain forest not far away. "Ancestor! Su Lie is clearly not the killer! If he were, Hu Xiaoyun wouldn't have died!"

"Mm! Su Lie's suspicion can be ruled out. I didn't see any marks on him either! Moreover, I checked the cave at the foot of the mountain. That fellow Black Pepper King actually used his authority for personal gain, using a shielding array there. Truly detestable!"

The Ancestor nodded repeatedly after hearing this and said to Yu Jianying, "The death of Black Pepper King serves as a warning to us! I thought that by setting the clan to an asexual reproduction system, no chaos would arise! I didn't expect such a thing to still happen!"

"I know you requested a groom to complete the ritual of the rules for advancement!"

"But other clansmen must strictly control such matters! Otherwise, our clan will fall to something worse than livestock!"

After speaking,

the Ancestor gave Yu Jianying many more instructions.

Only then did he depart to search for the killer of Black Pepper King.

What they didn't know

was that while they thought everything was under control,

they had no idea

that Su Lie had heard their entire conversation.

"Phew! Finally cleared of suspicion!"

Su Lie acted covertly, looking down to carefully examine the Old Gourd Vine while pondering the information he had just gained. "Asexual reproduction? Could Yu Jianying's groom be me? Shouldn't their advancement rules be cultivation? Why are they so similar to the advancement rules of the Mist Main World?"

These questions were destined to remain unanswered for now.

He stayed in his dormitory after that.

In the afternoon, Zhao Ergou brought Su Lie his meal.

After Su Lie smiled and expressed his thanks, he locked the door.

Through his sense of smell, touch, and intuition, he discovered that a large amount of contaminated materials had been placed in the food.

These things tasted no different from normal food; in fact, they even enhanced the aroma and flavor.

But once consumed, they would turn into stubborn toxins that corroded the brain and internal organs, continuously transforming everything about the eater into this special ghost pollution.

However,

this stuff was useless against him.

His All-System Immunity Talent had already immunized him against all negative effects the moment these toxins and pollution tried to take hold.

So,

after Su Lie finished eating,

the ghosts hidden in the shadows finally felt at ease and went back to report.

While thinking, Su Lie hit upon another mystery: "Why must they wait until night to eat people? Why do they Disguise and hide during the day?"

"It couldn't be some kind of ritual of the rules, could it?"

He took out the Skill books he had obtained earlier.

After flipping through them, he found that the characters recorded in these books were in a language he couldn't understand.

Time to use the Identification Talent!

He could only tell that the books were either Skills or Talents.

Seeing that he couldn't get any more information, he put the items away again.

The ghosts monitoring him hadn't returned since they went back to report.

When night fell,

after the dormitory's mechanisms automatically activated,

the sound of the wind outside the dormitory died down.

Soon,

the sound of knocking on the door rang out again.

This time, the ghost was disguising itself as Hu Xiaoyun.

Her voice was shrill and panicked.

Had Hu Xiaoyun not died in Su Lie's Avici Purgatory,

Su Lie might have been moved

by this performance.

After the commotion outside lasted for a while,

Su Lie finally fell into a deep sleep.

He had already obtained Yu Jianying's identification token, and with Black Pepper King's mysterious death, the ghosts hidden in the shadows who wanted to eat him dared not be even more presumptuous.

That night,

Su Lie slept exceptionally soundly.

The next morning, after the rooster crowed,

Su Lie sensed that everything outside the door, which had been still, had returned to normal.

He opened the door and walked out of the room, seeing Zhao Ergou coming to tidy up.

Su Lie ignored him and went straight to the teleportation array.

After Zhao Ergou entered Su Lie's room, he performed a series of checks, even looking at Su Lie's diary and the gourd vine Su Lie was keeping in a bowl.

Once the inspection confirmed everything was in order,

he went back to report.

By then,

Su Lie had already arrived at the square.

Today,

he was surprised to find

that there weren't just thousands of times more people on the square,

but also many monsters and other races.

Disciples of various clans gathered in their own groups in different areas.

The Sword Sect disciples were still sitting cross-legged around the holy sword.

Some disciples even walked right under the blade of the holy sword, leaning against it to cultivate.

As Su Lie looked around, there were as many as hundreds of thousands of people.

He exerted a great deal of effort to push to the front and sit in the area near the blade of the holy sword.

Once seated,

Su Lie touched the body of the holy sword.

A warm sensation continuously flowed from the sword.

It made Su Lie feel incredibly comfortable in both body and mind.

At the same time,

through contact with the holy sword, Su Lie discovered

that every time this sword released its divine light, it emitted a rhythmic hum.

This made Su Lie's eyes light up: "Perhaps I can use that method!"

Thinking of this,

he decided to try communicating first.

Through the contact of skin and metal, Su Lie sent a message with his Spirit: "Holy sword! I am Su Lie, a new true disciple of the Emperor Sword Peak of the Sword Sect. Could you, Senior, reply with a word?"

He had not yet condensed divine sense.

Because the time in this historical fragment was not synchronized with the Mist Main World's time.

...

Su Lie tried several times, but never received a response from the holy sword.

Su Lie sighed in his heart: "As expected! This giant sword cannot move and has no one to wield it! The Formless Ghost Clan must have tested it like this before. It likely went through something that made it choose to avoid contact!"

"However!"

"It's not that it truly refuses to save those in need!"

"So... I have no choice but to offend it!"

After thinking,

Su Lie said to the holy sword, "My apologies!"

As he spoke,

at the exact moment the holy sword pulsed again, he used his Enhancement Talent on it.

Buzz!

A slight vibration traveled from the holy sword.

Its light became even more dazzling.

"Eh?"

A voice rang in Su Lie's ear.

Su Lie glanced around. Seeing that the other Sword Sect disciples hadn't heard it, he immediately acted on his intuition and used the Enhancement Talent again.

Buzz!

The sword's rhythm and the vibration from the enhancement happened simultaneously.

The light on the holy sword brightened once more.

This time, Su Lie's perception of the holy sword became increasingly clear.

"Uh...?"

The holy sword's startled voice appeared in Su Lie's ear again.

Su Lie enhanced the holy sword once more.

Buzz!

The rhythmic sound spread out.

Su Lie let go of the holy sword.

As if he had just completed his purification, he backed away directly to the edge of the area.

The spot he vacated was immediately taken by a Sword Sect disciple of another race.

By now, Su Lie had completely established a master-servant connection with the holy sword through the Enhancement Talent.

The first time, the holy sword resisted slightly, and the enhancement wasn't perfect.

The second time, the holy sword only offered a sliver of resistance; once it confirmed this power, it cooperated with Su Lie.

After the third time,

once the holy sword let down its guard and fully cooperated with this enhancement power,

Su Lie finally achieved a special contract ritual with the holy sword through the power of enhancement.

Unsurprisingly, the holy sword became Su Lie's servant.

Because of this,

Su Lie no longer needed to be near the holy sword to communicate with it.

He immediately looked at the holy sword's panel.

[light holy sword]

[Quality: Red Divine Grade]

[Sword Spirit: Awakened]

[Master: Su Lie]

[Holy Light: 100 extreme point/Infinite]

[Base Damage: 1 extreme point]

[Buff: When held by the master, it gains a stack of 100% of the master's Spirit attribute value + 1 extreme point of damage.]

[Buff: Sword Skills, Talents, and Divine Abilities gain 1 trillion times Skill damage, 1 trillion times continuous damage, and 1 trillion times casting Speed.]

[Special Effect: Holy Light Bloom: By automatically releasing holy light, it purifies all life within a 500-kilometer radius of any pollution they have suffered.]

Special Effect: Critical Strike: Damaging sword Skills, Talents, and divine abilities released while holding the sword gain a 100% critical hit chance and 1 trillion times critical damage.

Special Effect: Purification: All sword Skills, Talents, and divine abilities released while holding the sword will carry divine power and purify everything within the range of the Skill, Talent, or divine ability.

Special Effect: Light: Can accumulate 1 positive point of holy light daily by absorbing light.

Special Effect: Damage Multiplier: By releasing stored holy light all at once, extra damage can be added to Skills, Talents, and divine abilities. Every 1 positive point of released holy light adds 1 trillion times damage to your Skill, Talent, or divine ability.]

[Note: The light holy sword was obtained by the Sword Sect after destroying the Light Angels. It was placed on the Heavenly Sword Peak square by a Sword Sect expert as a special trophy for boasting, display, and purifying disciples.]

[Note: Through the thoughts and gratitude of countless Sword Sect disciples, the light holy sword has spontaneously developed a sword Spirit. The Formless Ghost Ancestor uses the Sword Sect disciples as bait to induce the light holy sword to continuously consume its own power to purify the sect's disciples.]

[Note: Although the light holy sword is aware of the outcome, dying for the Sword Sect disciples is its heart's desire.]

...

"Hiss!"

After seeing the power of the light holy sword, a flash of fiery light erupted in Su Lie's eyes.

This was absolutely the strongest sword he had ever seen.

The damage reached 1 extreme point.

It could even stack damage and had critical hit and damage multiplier effects.

This was simply defying the heavens.

At this moment,

the sword Spirit's voice rang in Su Lie's ear: "Master! Are you looking for me so I can help you fight the ghosts trying to subvert the Sword Sect?"

"Yes! Do you have any good ideas?"

Su Lie asked.

The sword Spirit sighed: "Master! Although I have broken through my shackles now, I must be wielded by you to exert my power! I worry that your strength is too weak and you will be killed if you resist rashly!"

"Moreover, this clan is shadowless and formless, specializing in seizing bodies and eating people. They are similar to Heavenly Demons yet different! The Sword Sect has been infested for a long time, and I cannot judge how many are still Sword Sect disciples and how many lives have been corrupted!"

"Also, according to my tests, they do not fear divine power!"

"I simply cannot restrain them!"

"This is a group of mutated ghosts!"

At this point, the sword Spirit added: "If you have the chance, go to the back mountain and find the old dragon guarding the sect! The old dragon has information on the Grand Elder Council!"

"As long as the Grand Elder Council appears, the Ghost Ancestor of this clan will no longer be terrifying! The old dragon and I can combine forces to fight the thirteen peak masters!"

"You only need to unite the surviving Sword Sect disciples to wipe out the rest of the body-snatchers, and the Sword Sect can emerge from the darkness!"

"If there is no opportunity, please continue to endure and wait for the right time. Do not attack foolishly to avoid falling into a trap!"

...