Supreme Emptiness

"Leaving now?"

Shang Shiqiu pointed at the vanished hidden space: "Fan Jiang is still in there."

"Just leaving him?"

Even if he isn't one of your disciples, you wouldn't just abandon him like that, would you?

Yunyang gently poked her forehead: "Use your head more."

"With so many of us here, staying neither leaving nor doing anything."

"Won't Ren Guhong and Wu Manyue become suspicious?"

"Besides, if Fan Jiang could outsmart those two, he's no fool."

"If he dared to go in, he naturally has his reasons."

"We should leave quickly and not draw attention to him. That's what we should really be doing."

Shang Shiqiu grumbled, feeling chastised.

Pouting, she mumbled quietly: "Talking about me, huh."

"When you're reading books, you're even dumber than I am."

"Hmph."

Inside the hidden space.

As soon as Jiang Fan stepped in, he felt a suffocatingly dense Yin Qi.

It seeped through every pore, desperately trying to invade his body.

Even with the protection of thunder energy, he couldn't completely block it.

Whenever a wisp entered his body, it acted like a bloodsucker, excitedly heading straight for his Golden Core.

The Thunder Arc in Jiang Fan's body surged and swiftly obliterated it.

"No wonder that Li Shangqiu didn't want to come."

"With such concentrated Yin Qi, anyone below Nascent Soul Realm coming here would be wasting their time."

He promptly pulled out the Mountain River Tripod.

"Little broken tripod, whether you're a blessing or a burden depends on your performance today."

While channeling Spiritual Power to activate it,

he simultaneously employed the Great Yin Sect's Yin Corpse Refining Technique to manipulate the Yin Qi in the space.

Under the movement of the cultivation technique,

the pervasive Yin Qi began converging into the Mountain River Tripod.

Initially, there was no visible change inside the tripod.

As more and more Yin Qi was refined,

finally, the inner walls of the tripod began to be coated with a pitch-black water mist.

Gradually, it condensed into droplets and pooled at the bottom of the tripod, forming a puddle of liquid.

As the liquid accumulated, it approached the rim of the tripod, threatening to overflow.

Jiang Fan furrowed his brow: "This tripod is useful, sure, but it's too small."

It was only palm-sized, incapable of holding much.

At that moment,

the Mountain River Tripod seemed to understand Jiang Fan's complaint.

As soon as he finished mumbling,

it suddenly grew larger.

As the liquid threatened to spill over again, it grew larger still.

This went on repeatedly.

When all the Yin Qi in the space had been cleared,

the once tiny Mountain River Tripod had transformed into a two-foot-high cauldron.

Inside, it was filled to the brim with ink-black liquefied Yun Qi,

which was being rapidly condensed.

Jiang Fan stared at the Mountain River Tripod, astonished: "This tripod is called 'Mountain River.'"

"Could it really expand infinitely and contain an entire mountain and river?"

Crackling sounds soon emerged from within the tripod.

It was the liquefied Yin Qi beginning to solidify into fist-sized stones.

The stones condensed even further,

until all that remained was a thin black shard, no bigger than half a thumbnail.

This must be what Shang Shiqiu referred to as Yin Marrow.

Jiang Fan carefully wrapped it in a delicate piece of cotton.

This material was exceedingly fragile; even the slightest touch could cause it to erupt back into Yin Qi.

"I'll ask around later and see if this thing holds any value."

After securing the cotton-wrapped shard,

he finally took the time to examine his surroundings.

This place resembled a military camp.

The ground was littered with remnants of documents decayed into mud.

Seven or eight armored skeletons lay scattered around on both sides.

On the desk at the very front, a pile of miscellaneous items was chaotically arranged.

"Documents?"

Curious, Jiang Fan stepped forward, intending to pick them up for a look.

But his steps caused vibrations on the ground, disintegrating the fragile documents in an instant.

"This..."

A hint of regret flickered in Jiang Fan's eyes.

He then approached the armored guards,

intending to search through them.

Yet, just as he unsheathed the Purple Sword and touched the armor,

the sharp energy of the blade proved fatal for the brittle remains.

The brittle skeleton within the armor instantly shattered.

The heavy armor, now unsupported, fell with a loud crash, echoing across the ground.

This sound triggered a series of chain reactions.

From distant corpse remains to scattered documents, slanted weapons, and even the desk at the front—

everything shattered!

The commotion lasted for quite a while before settling down.

Jiang Fan waved away the dust from his face, looking helpless.

"How many years have passed for everything in this space to be so fragile?"

When the dust finally settled,

all that lay before him were shattered remnants.

Not a single intact item...

"Eh!"

Jiang Fan's gaze suddenly froze.

Among the desk ruins broken into fragments lay an inkbrush, unscathed.

"It hasn't decayed?"

He walked over and carefully lifted the inkbrush from the rubble.

It was incredibly heavy to the touch.

Though only a foot long, holding it felt like bearing a thousand pounds.

The brush handle was pitch-black, carved with two characters: "Execution."

The brush tip was an unknown material, dyed with crimson ink.

Despite the unknown number of years that had passed, the red ink remained vibrant.

Curious, he picked up the brush and tried to write the character "me" on the ground.

Oddly enough,

the inkbrush began to write other characters on its own.

The first stroke formed "一" (One).

The second stroke, "丿" (Slash).

The third stroke, "フ" (Hook).

The fourth stroke, "-" (Horizontal).

Jiang Fan's heart sank.

This was part of the character "死" (Death).

He quickly lifted the brush.

At that moment,

he realized his entire body felt weak and sluggish,

slumping to the ground.

When he examined himself internally, he was shocked.

His Golden Core was completely empty.

Not a trace of Spiritual Power remained!

All that was left in his body were fragments of Void Flow Thunder Force.

Cold sweat poured down his face.

Merely writing half the character for "death," within mere breaths,

had drained all his Spiritual Power, consuming 90% of his physical strength?

"What is up with this brush?"

Jiang Fan's hands trembled weakly, nearly unable to hold onto the brush.

Looking back at the "Execution" characters etched on the handle,

his mind roared with clarity—he realized what kind of brush he held!

The Execution Pen!

This was the sacred pen used to mark condemned prisoners for their executions!

After a death-row inmate passed through all required trials, upon final judgment,

the highest authority would use a red inkbrush to mark their names.

This pen must be the one specially made for such executions!

Merely writing half the character for "death" had nearly drained Jiang Fan dry.

If he completed the full character, he feared he would end up a dried-out corpse.

"If I wrote the full 'death' character and marked someone with it, would that effectively sentence them immediately?"

"Would it mean instant death for them?"

His eyes sparkled with excitement.

He faintly sensed that he had gained a terrifyingly powerful trump card.

However, he needed to quickly elevate his cultivation.

The current amount of Spiritual Power he possessed was far from enough to wield the Execution Pen's deadly abilities.

Stowing the pen safely within the Heavenly Thunder Stone,

he immediately sat cross-legged and began recovering his Spiritual Power and physical strength.

Just then,

a faint slicing sound came from the entrance to the space he'd entered earlier.

Like a spatial fissure being forcibly opened by someone.

A delicate voice followed closely after.

"Someone's inside?"

Jiang Fan's body stiffened.

Immediately alert, he turned to look.

What he saw was a maiden in snow-white robes, with jet-black hair like a waterfall and ethereal beauty.

Her presence radiated a distant and unworldly grace.

Momentarily,

Jiang Fan even thought he was seeing Concubine Yunxia.

Her aura and elegance were so strikingly similar.

"Who are you?" Jiang Fan eyed her, a hint of admiration rising in his expression.

The woman in white gracefully inclined her head and said softly, "I am Hua Xin."

"Junior Brother, you're from the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion too, aren't you?"

So she was a disciple of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion.

Jiang Fan nodded discreetly.

He had to admit, the beauty of Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion disciples was unmatched.

The earlier Ye Banxia had been dazzling, and now Hua Xin was in no way inferior.

He warily glanced toward the spatial entrance behind her and said, "Is it only Senior Sister Hua Xin here?"

Hua Xin offered a comforting smile:

"I always act alone."

"You need not worry, Junior Brother."

Jiang Fan nodded slightly.

But suddenly,

a notion struck him, and his heart was overwhelmed with alarm!

No, something was wrong!

This woman was lying!