Deep in the bottomless cave, dark red magma flowed everywhere, occasionally releasing a string of bubbles and sending up a plume of black smoke.

A thick smell of sulfur pervaded the air, making this place a hellish land for ordinary people.

"Gu Xianyu, did you think hiding here would make you impossible to find?"

Two silhouettes, one fat and one thin, descended from the sky, glaring maliciously at the young man sitting limply in the corner, covered in blood.

In despair, Gu Xianyu screamed, "I’ve already fled to Xiazhou, why won’t you leave me alone?"

The fatter of the two spoke with some pity, "Blame yourself for insisting on recognizing your roots and ancestors. Farewell, Seventh Young Master. In the next life, choose a better lineage—"

Suddenly, the magma river nearby bubbled violently as if something was emerging from it.

Both men, extremely vigilant, instantly charged towards the Seventh Young Master.

The Seventh Young Master reacted quickly, jumping a few feet high, but he couldn’t evade in time, getting cut in half, screaming miserably on the ground.

At this moment, something finally erupted from the magma, it was a slippery human figure.

The two men, who had been on high alert, were stunned, unable to believe that a person could emerge from beneath the magma.

"Where on earth have I come to?"

A young man, completely naked except for a strange-looking long sword in his hand, shouted as he appeared midair.

This person’s sudden appearance was extremely peculiar.

The fat man and thin man exchanged glances and simultaneously attacked, a knife and a sword striking at the bizarre individual in the sky.

The attack was nearly a sneak attack.

They must keep their assassination operation absolutely secret for no one to know. This person was strange, his strength a mystery, but to maintain secrecy they had to kill him without hesitation.

As soon as the two attacked, the man immediately sensed it, swiftly turning his head to look at them, then coldly "hummed," blocking their full-force strike with his sword.

Not good!

Seeing this person being so composed, they feared his strength far surpassed theirs, realizing something was wrong before they could react, hearing only a "buzz."

They felt an overwhelming sorrow wash over them, painfully heart-wrenching.

This is bad.

It’s Sword Intent!

As they managed to grasp what was happening, the opponent’s sword was already upon them.

The Gang Yuan Shield, which could withstand a full-force strike from a Third Grade powerhouse, burst like a bubble beneath that sword point.

Unparalleled Divine Weapon?

A thought flashed in their minds, and their throats were already pierced, dying instantly.

...

[You killed an enemy of LV75, gaining 300,000 Experience Points.]

[You killed an enemy of LV76, gaining 320,000 Experience Points.]

The person who emerged from the magma was none other than Chen Ming.

He didn’t know how long he had soaked in the magma, but eventually found an outlet and made his escape following the earth vein.

No sooner had he emerged than he faced two Third Grades, who suddenly attacked him, scaring him.

With others trying to kill him, he naturally wouldn’t be polite, retaliating mercilessly, and ended up killing them instead.

If they were Fourth Grade, he could keep them alive and interrogate them about why they wanted him dead.

These two were Third Grade; it was safer to kill them.

Unexpectedly, they were so weak, he managed to kill them in seconds.

Feeling a sudden intuition, Chen Ming turned to the young man, still alive despite being sliced in half, stubbornly crawling towards him, "There’s still one survivor."

"Save—save me—"

The young man reached out, his face contorted with pain as he begged for help.

Chen Ming noticed that the man was wearing the official attire of the Six Gates, indicating he was a Fifth Grade Captain.

Those two Third Grades were bold beyond measure, daring to murder a Six Gates officer.

Chen Ming said, "Sorry, I can’t save you."

Were it other injuries, his Profound Wood True Skill could heal some, but such trauma left him helpless.

He observed the young man’s wounds were frozen over. This must be an Ice Attribute cultivation technique he practiced, freezing the wounds to stop bleeding.

"Save—"

Despite that, sustaining such fatal damage, he couldn’t survive, his life force was fading quickly.

Watching this, an idea struck Chen Ming’s mind: why not use him for an experiment.

"You can’t speak now, but if you have any unfulfilled wishes, I’ll try to grant them. I’ll need to stab you. How about it?"

"You don’t speak, I take it as consent."

With that, he embedded his sword into the young man’s body.

Instantly, the Mingfeng Sword in his hand, now completely transformed, emitted a faint purple glow.

The young man’s expression froze, then appeared calmer, dying peacefully.

"Let me take a look."

Chen Ming sat cross-legged on the ground, connecting his mind with the "Mingfeng Sword." Then, like a fleeting glimpse, the life of the young man who had just died flashed before his eyes.

"This person is called Gu Xianyu... an illegitimate child with the bloodline of the Gu Family... because he recognized his ancestry and was too outstanding, he threatened the interests of the Crown Prince..."

"The struggle for crown prince has always been like this."

Chen Ming opened his eyes, and the "Mingfeng Sword" in his hand had returned to normal.

The ability to devour others’ souls came from the Immortal Demon Venerable.

Back then, he fell into the lava, pulled into the depths of the Fire Vein, and could only hold up the Gang Yuan Shield. With his power, he couldn’t last long.

Unexpectedly, the purple figure took the initiative, forming a purple shield to protect him from the lava’s harm.

Then, the "Mingfeng Sword" underwent a mutation, actively swallowing the golden flame, resulting in an incredible change.

After a long time, once the "Mingfeng Sword" digested the golden flame, its form underwent significant changes, as if it had regained its former power.

Then, it swallowed the purple figure, extending a golden shield to protect him.

Chen Ming vaguely guessed that after the "Mingfeng Sword" devoured the golden flame, its power greatly increased, even suppressing the purple figure within the sword.

Now, the sword’s power has weakened considerably, but it gained some strange abilities.

All this, he learned through communicating with the "Mingfeng Sword."

In general, Chen Ming managed to escape this deadly calamity, thanks to the golden flame thrown by Yu Haitang. Otherwise, even if he survived, he wouldn’t escape the fate of being overtaken.

...

Chen Ming didn’t rush to leave but examined the three bodies on the ground, contemplating future plans.

"The fact that I was possessed by the purple figure was seen by so many people. I fear that, in others’ eyes, I’ve already been overtaken by it."

"If I return to Qingfeng City now, likely, the Six Gates will be waiting to capture me for a reward. There might even be peak experts from the Celestial Dao Alliance waiting at home."

Thinking of this, he shook his head, thinking, "It seems I can’t use this identity for now."

"If I were to switch identities, it can’t be done carelessly."

A Third Grade expert can’t appear out of thin air; there must be a background and lineage.

Chen Ming suddenly looked at the young man on the ground, "Got it."

He searched through the belongings of this young man named Gu Xianyu, stripping off his clothes and putting them on. After carefully adjusting his appearance to ensure there were no flaws,

he said, "I’ll borrow your identity for a while. Consider it a debt I owe you. Once my strength is fully matured, I’ll avenge you."

He threw the two halves of the body into the lava, and then tossed the other two corpses down, completely destroying the evidence.

From now on, he would be Gu Xianyu.

...

On the way, Chen Ming repeatedly reviewed Gu Xianyu’s memories.

He had been living in the Capital City and, being ostracized by the Crown Prince, wished to avoid conflict, so he voluntarily requested to be transferred to Xiazhou, far away from the capital’s troubles.

"I ended up being sent to Xiazhou."

He found it a bit ironic that, although Xiazhou was adjacent to Jiangzhou, it was still quite far from Qingfeng City, at least a thousand kilometers away.

For now, pretending to be Gu Xianyu wasn’t hard. His "Mystic Water True Skill" was a cultivation technique of extreme yin and softness. Unless he met someone extremely familiar with his cultivation, no one would see through his disguise.

The only problem was, Gu Xianyu was traveling with several others to Xiazhou, and amongst them was a personal maid responsible for his daily life, who he spent every day with and was most likely to see through him.

"It’s a pity the Mingfeng Sword can’t extract such detailed memories."

He thought regretfully that details like Gu Xianyu’s favorite foods, interactions with those around him, and even the cultivation technique he practiced were unknown to him.

After all, the "Mingfeng Sword," having only suppressed the purple figure, provided its functions through a layer of separation.

Soon, Chen Ming returned to the location where he was initially attacked, unexpectedly finding several people there.

"Young Master!"

A beautiful maid saw him from afar and ran over, tears in her eyes, saying, "It’s such a relief that you’re fine... this maid... was scared to death..."

The scene was chaotic, with two bodies lying on the ground, an old man and a young servant boy.

Chen Ming said nothing, bearing a look of grave sorrow.

Because that old man was an old servant from Gu Xianyu’s mother’s family, who had watched him grow up. The young servant boy was also brought from his mother’s home.

It could be said that these two were the closest to Gu Xianyu.

Now, they were both dead.

As for the personal maid, she was a maid assigned to him by the Gu Family after he arrived, having been with him for three years.

The issue was, why wasn’t she present when Gu Xianyu and the others were attacked?

Chen Ming instinctively felt there was something suspicious about this maid.

Next, a young man in blue rushed over, anxiously asking, "Brother, what on earth happened? Are you injured?"

This person was a cousin from Gu Xianyu’s mother’s side, supposedly someone he could trust. But why was he absent when the incident occurred?

Right now, Chen Ming felt like everyone seemed like a traitor.

A young girl in green approached, asking with concern, "Seventh Brother, are you injured?"

Chen Ming looked at her feigned concern, thinking that Gu Xianyu was living too pitifully, surrounded only by possible traitors, without anyone truly caring for him.