Chapter 326

Chapter 326: Tragedy at Black Tortoise Hall
A sharp wind howled.

Ji Han Zhou curiously looked back and asked: “Senior Sister Yu, what are you looking at?”

Yu Zhao pretended to be calm as she pulled back her gaze and said: “Nothing.”

“But it feels like you keep looking back?”

“You saw wrong.”

Yu Zhao firmly refused to admit she was checking to see whether Dean Mo Xin had caught up with them or not.

Although she felt that Dean Mo Xin probably would not bother to argue with a junior like her, she had snuck away in secret, so she could not help feeling guilty.

Thankfully, those days of anxiety only lasted two days. After that, she relaxed completely, stopped thinking about Dean Mo Xin and the Wordless Heaven Tome, and started asking Ji Han Zhou about Black Tortoise Hall.

Ji Han Zhou naturally told her everything he knew.

Black Tortoise Hall had two Nascent Soul Cultivators, more than thirty Golden Core Cultivators, and many disciples.

The Palace Master of Black Tortoise Hall was named Hong Ying, a Body Cultivator strong enough to carry thousands of pounds. The Deputy Hall Master was also famous for his physical strength.

Under the influence of the two Palace Masters, the whole sect respected strength above all and followed the path of the body.

But Body Cultivators only had the advantage in the early stages of cultivation. The further they went, the harder it became to advance, and they were a bit weaker in real combat.

Black Tortoise Hall chose to rely on the Heavenly Sword Sect, which was famous for its attacks, to make up for the sect’s weakness.

So in recent years, Black Tortoise Hall had been developing well. It was said that a third Nascent Soul Cultivator would appear soon.

Who could have guessed that Black Tortoise Hall would suddenly suffer disaster, and even the two Nascent Soul stage Palace Masters could not escape this Death Tribulation.

Ji Han Zhou could not hide the sorrow in his eyes.

Yu Zhao thought of Lin Shuang and what happened to the Seven Stars Sect. Her voice grew a little deeper as she asked: “Is there a Spirit Vein under Black Tortoise Hall?”

“A Spirit Vein?”

Ji Han Zhou’s sword paused for a moment. Then he shook his head and said: “I don’t know. The sect never mentioned it.”

To Ji Han Zhou, who came from the Heavenly Sword Sect, a Spirit Vein was not a rare thing.

His mother, Sword Sovereign Jiu Hua, had a small Spirit Vein under her name.

What surprised him was why Yu Zhao would ask this question.

Yu Zhao clearly did not even understand the basic situation of Black Tortoise Hall, yet she asked such a very precise question. It felt quite strange.

He watched her expression carefully, trying to guess what was on her mind. But after asking that question, Yu Zhao stayed silent the rest of the way and did not ask anything else.

Traveling without stopping, the two of them finally reached the place where Black Tortoise Hall was three days later. What met their eyes was only a scene of total ruin.

Forget about clues, they could hardly even find a single whole brick from the walls.

Someone had spread the news that Black Tortoise Hall was destroyed. All the nearby cultivators had rushed over, trying to get a share of the loot.

Anything that was even a little valuable had already been taken away by the cultivators who arrived first. The cultivators who came later, seeing there were no cheap gains left, simply started smashing things.

So the mountain gate, which was already in bad shape, was now damaged even more completely.

Even now, many rogue cultivators were still rummaging through the rubble, trying to find some fish that escaped the net.

Seeing this scene, Ji Han Zhou felt anger surge in his heart and could not help tightening his grip on his sword hilt.

It was very hard to build a sect.

But it was very easy to destroy one.

The hard work of several generations had been ruined in an instant.

Ji Han Zhou felt the same pain and his mood sank sharply.

“You have three breaths to leave this place right now!”

His voice, cold as ice, echoed over the ruins of Black Tortoise Hall.

The smart cultivators had already stopped what they were doing when Yu Zhao and Ji Han Zhou arrived. After hearing Ji Han Zhou speak, they ran away without another word.

But there were still some people blinded by greed who did not want to leave and looked very unhappy.

Ji Han Zhou did not waste words on them.

His flying sword left its sheath.

In the blink of an eye, it took a life.

Only then did the rest understand fear. They fled in a panic, stumbling over themselves to escape.

Ji Han Zhou let out a cold snort, then his expression became lonely and dim.

Yu Zhao gently patted his shoulder as her Divine Sense spread out. Before she knew it, her brows had already knit together.

It was bad enough that these rogue cultivators had smashed Black Tortoise Hall. They had not even spared the bodies of Black Tortoise Hall’s disciples.

Yu Zhao split her Spirit Power into more than ten strands to gather the corpses, then found a flat spot and dug a deep pit.

Seeing this, Ji Han Zhou came over to help.

In a short time, they had gathered more than two hundred bodies.

Most of the corpses had their faces destroyed, so their looks could not be seen. They could only judge their cultivation level during life by the remaining Spirit Power in their bodies and by the age of their bones.

Ji Han Zhou said in a low voice: “We didn’t find the bodies of the two Nascent Soul Palace Masters or of the more than thirty Golden Core Cultivators.”

Yu Zhao nodded silently.

Indeed, only the bodies of Foundation Establishment and Qi Refinement disciples were here.

Judging from the wounds on their bodies, they had clearly been killed in one strike. There were no signs of struggle.

The people who attacked Black Tortoise Hall were at least at the Late Golden Core stage.

Then where had the other bodies gone?

And what kind of people would take corpses away?

Yu Zhao said softly: “Let’s bury them first.”

“Mm.”

After they finished laying the disciples of Black Tortoise Hall to rest, the two of them began to search the surroundings, not letting any tiny clue slip by.

In the end, Yu Zhao was the first to find something.

She picked up a gray, dull Spirit Stone. There was a small, almost unnoticeable smear of blood on it.

Seeing Yu Zhao staring at the Spirit Stone in a daze, Ji Han Zhou ran over to look as well.

“Could this blood be…”

“Judging from how dense the Spiritual Energy left in the blood is, it should have come from one of the two Palace Masters.”

“But what can it prove?”

Ji Han Zhou did not understand.

Yu Zhao lifted her head, cold light flashing in her eyes.

“It proves that there is indeed a Spirit Vein under Black Tortoise Hall.”

When she first noticed that some of the cultivators’ bodies were missing, she had thought this matter had nothing to do with the people who stole Spirit Veins. Only when she saw this Spirit Stone did she realize that she had guessed wrong.

The disaster at Black Tortoise Hall was closely tied to the Spirit Vein.

Ji Han Zhou looked again at the Spirit Stone, which was only two fingers wide, and also recognized it as an unformed Low-grade Spirit Stone.

This kind of Spirit Stone had not yet reached the time to be mined. It was half the size of a normal Spirit Stone, and the Spiritual Energy inside was very weak. Such stones could usually only be seen inside a Spirit Vein.

“Senior Sister Yu, did the people of Black Tortoise Hall suffer this disaster because of the Spirit Vein?”

Yu Zhao nodded, then shook her head.

Ji Han Zhou became even more confused.

Yu Zhao explained: “Black Tortoise Hall was indeed targeted because of the Spirit Vein, but the ones who did the killing might be someone else.”

Based on Yu Zhao’s memories from her past life and the clues she had found recently, the people hiding in the dark who stole Spirit Veins were not bloodthirsty. Otherwise, Lin Shuang’s junior brothers and junior sisters could not have survived.

It was like when the Spirit Vein of the Seven Stars Sect was stolen. The Head Elder was still alive and full of energy, and even had the strength to chase Yu Zhao all over the world.

Their goal was very clear: to steal Spirit Veins.

They only killed those who tried to stop them.

By the same logic, when they came to Black Tortoise Hall to steal the Spirit Vein, even if the two Palace Masters discovered them, the only ones who should have died would be those two Palace Masters, not everyone in Black Tortoise Hall.

So Yu Zhao guessed that this tragedy was most likely done by two different groups who happened to run into each other, creating such a shocking case.

But for now, all the conclusions she had were based on her own deductions, without any solid proof. It was hard for her to prove any of this to Ji Han Zhou.