Lin Feng continued his search for the Red Spider Lily.

To him, nothing was more important.

As for saving Li Luoyi and the others from the Qingyun Sect, it was merely a convenient act, forgotten soon after.

The matter of the Black Robed Men made Lin Feng slightly wary, but he didn't pay it much mind.

He couldn't say for sure about the outside world.

But in here, he could kill as many of the Black Robed Men as came.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the Jiuyou Secret Realm, a battle had just ended.

Lying on the ground, showing no signs of life, were three Black Robed Men.

Standing before their corpses, inspecting them, was a peerlessly beautiful woman.

It was none other than Leng Hanshuang, master of the Ice Soul Sword and one of the Shenxiao Seven Swords.

Even before entering the Jiuyou Secret Realm, while mingling among the unaffiliated cultivators, she had sensed the auras of many powerful experts.

Now she was certain they were these Black Robed Men before her; they had simply changed their attire.

Although she didn't know what they were here for, it was surely nothing good.

After a thorough inspection, she found nothing of value.

Leng Hanshuang frowned.

These Black Robed Men were clearly professionally trained. Each one was ruthless and unafraid of death.

If she didn't possess the strength to completely crush them, and their power levels had been closer, the outcome of today's battle would have been uncertain.

Finding no clues on their bodies, Leng Hanshuang, unwilling to give up, stripped off the Black Robed Men's upper garments, leaving their pants untouched.

Even though they were corpses, she was unwilling to dirty her eyes.

She examined them carefully.

Still finding no clues on their arms, chests, or necks, she flipped the bodies over, face down.

What came into view was a large, red character for "Kill," occupying almost the entire back.

This "Kill" character wasn't written on; it was carved, already fused with the flesh.

With a single glance, Leng Hanshuang felt a wave of killing intent wash over her.

Clearly, the person who had carved this "Kill" character was no simple figure.

Otherwise, it wouldn't carry such potent killing intent.

Leng Hanshuang stood frozen, lost in thought for a long while, before her eyes suddenly narrowed.

Could they be…

At that thought, Leng Hanshuang immediately grew worried.

Things were becoming more and more troublesome.

It seemed the search for the Red Spider Lily would have to be put aside.

She had to kill as many of these Black Robed Men as possible, and at the same time, find her True Disciple, Ye Qingxuan, and the other disciples of the Shenxiao Sword Sect to warn them of the gravity of the situation.

Explore the extended edition on pawread.com.

Otherwise, the Shenxiao Sword Sect would surely suffer disastrous losses on this trip to the Jiuyou Secret Realm.

The days passed, one by one.

In the blink of an eye, ten days had gone by.

In the Jiuyou Secret Realm, battles broke out and people died at almost every moment.

Some fell to beasts, some were killed by the Black Robed Men, and others died fighting over treasures.

However, compared to the first two days after entering, the death toll had dropped significantly.

The slaughter carried out by the Black Robed Men in the Jiuyou Secret Realm had finally caught the attention of the Shenxiao Sword Sect and the Qingyun Sect.

The members of the two sects, who had originally intended to search for treasures and opportunities, began to gather in large numbers using their own secret signals.

After all, no matter how important treasures and opportunities were, how could they compare to one's own life?

Both the Shenxiao Sword Sect and the Qingyun Sect had gathered several teams, banding together for safety. The smaller groups had a few or a dozen people, while the largest reached fifty or sixty.

As time went on, the number of people gathering together would only increase.

Ye Qingxuan was in the largest of these parties.

Besides her, there was also another True Disciple of the Shenxiao Sword Sect, Yang Fan.

As the True Disciple of Leng Hanshuang, one of the Shenxiao Seven Swords, Ye Qingxuan's talent, strength, and status within the Shenxiao Sword Sect were all exceptionally high.

Barring any accidents, once she matured, she would become one of the next generation of the Shenxiao Seven Swords.

In a situation like this, with no core sect elders present, a True Disciple held absolute authority.

Thus, she naturally became the backbone of the party. Even the other True Disciple, Yang Fan, had to defer to her.

The party led by Ye Qingxuan and Yang Fan was currently resting. Not long ago, they had encountered a small squad of six Black Robed Men.

After a difficult battle, they finally managed to kill their opponents.

But even in victory, their sect had lost eight members.

This was somewhat unacceptable to Ye Qingxuan.

Fifty to sixty people against six—a tenfold difference in numbers—and they had paid the price of eight deaths and over a dozen injuries to achieve victory. It was hardly a cause for celebration.

The Black Robed Men's fighting style was too bizarre; they completely disregarded their own lives. Ye Qingxuan felt as if she were fighting a group of unfeeling corpses that knew no pain.

That fighting style of "killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of your own" gave Ye Qingxuan a massive headache.

"Everyone, share your thoughts on these Black Robed Men who have suddenly appeared."

The members of the Shenxiao Sword Sect remained silent.

The recent battle had left them deeply shaken.

At the same cultivation realm, Sword Cultivators had the strongest attack power, but their defense was relatively weaker. Facing the fearless Black Robed Men, they felt a sense of helplessness.

Sword Cultivators were, after all, human. Their opponents, however, seemed like corpses that felt no pain and feared no death.

"Senior Sister Qingxuan! It's obvious these Black Robed Men are no ordinary people. Not only are they ruthless, but they fight by trading injury for injury. Even on the verge of death, they'll try to take someone down with them. They're definitely not the product of any ordinary faction. I feel their purpose for entering the Jiuyou Secret Realm is not simple," Yang Fan said, his expression still showing lingering fear.

His strength was clearly much greater than the Black Robed Men's, yet he had been unable to kill them easily. This was because their complete disregard for their own safety was a tactic Yang Fan couldn't adapt to on the fly.

In a normal fight, the weaker party would certainly try to escape. "As long as the green mountains are there, one need not worry about firewood." They could always come back for revenge after becoming stronger.

These Black Robed Men, however, were different. All they thought about was how to make their opponents pay the heaviest price before they died. Sword Cultivators, with their insufficient defense, feared this type of opponent the most.

Today, the Shenxiao Sword Sect had a huge numerical advantage, yet they still lost over a dozen people to annihilate the enemy.

"Senior Brother Yang Fan is right. These Black Robed Men probably didn't come to the Jiuyou Secret Realm for treasures and opportunities. Before we met up with you all, we saw many corpses—some from our Shenxiao Sword Sect, some from other factions, and some unaffiliated cultivators. All were killed by humans. At first, we thought it was due to fights over treasure, but now it seems highly likely that the Black Robed Men were responsible," an Inner Sect Disciple added.

"We saw many similar situations along the way!"

"So did we!"

"Us too!"

The other Inner Sect Disciples and Deacons chimed in with their agreement.

"These guys don't snatch treasures or fight for opportunities. They only care about killing. What on earth is their goal?" Ye Qingxuan asked, puzzled.

No one could answer her question.

The appearance of the Black Robed Men cast a shadow over everyone's hearts.

They had originally wanted to enter the Jiuyou Secret Realm to find their own opportunities, but now they could only stick with the main group.

"Whatever their purpose is, we must change our plans! No one can act alone anymore. We have to stick together to get out of here alive. You've all seen the combat prowess of these Black Robed Men. If we only had a third of our current number today, it's uncertain who would have lived and who would have died!"

With that final word, Ye Qingxuan set the survival plan for the Shenxiao Sword Sect disciples in the Jiuyou Secret Realm.

She had originally intended to split into groups to search for treasures, opportunities, and the Red Spider Lily. Now, for the sake of safety, they could only move as one large group.