"I am the executioner. I should preside over the guillotine."
"But I don't need a ghost blade — a single Inkblade is enough."
The young man stood atop the guillotine. Strangely, despite standing there, nothing harmful occurred. No blood-red iron chains emerged, and the ghost blade did not fly out to sever his head. Instead, everything was eerily calm.
It was as if everything that had happened earlier had been an illusion.
"How can this be?"
"The guillotine doesn't threaten him at all. It hasn't suppressed him or severed his head — on the contrary, standing there, he looks like the true master of the guillotine. This is too strange."
Many cultivators watching revealed looks of astonishment.
"He must be an executioner. Those blood ghouls all died under the executioner's ghost blade. So even after death, they instinctively fear executioners, as though encountering a natural enemy. That's why the blood ghouls retreated and returned into the guillotine," someone speculated.
It was almost certain: the young man was an executioner, one who specialized in beheading people. That was why he exerted such powerful intimidation over the headless blood ghouls.
Although the ghost blade was a deadly weapon, in the hands of an executioner, it was simply a tool. Naturally, it was drawn to the executioner and did not attack him.The ghost blade only showed its true power when wielded by an executioner.
However, the young man showed no intention of taking up the ghost blade.Instead, he drew the Inkblade from his back — a jade blade, meticulously crafted by unknown means. Though it had no visible edge, it radiated a deadly threat.
Clang!
The Inkblade was stabbed upright into the ground beside the ghost blade.
The ghost blade immediately reacted. It erupted in blood-red light, unwilling to allow this newcomer to occupy its place. A bloody blade flash burst forth, slashing toward the Inkblade, trying to destroy it — flaunting its own ferocity, asserting that it was the perfect ghost blade, the most powerful weapon.
Clang!
Yet when the blood-red blade light struck the Inkblade, it was as if it had fallen into a bottomless pit or a dry sponge — the light was instantly absorbed without a trace. At the same time, a faint blood glow appeared on the Inkblade, exuding an invisible devouring force, pulling strands of blood essence directly from the ghost blade.
Creak! Creak!
The ghost blade, sensing its essence being drained, roared in fury. Blood light exploded from it, engulfing the Inkblade completely. One could see both blades fiercely clashing within the blood light, each trying to devour and destroy the other.
The Inkblade sought to devour the ghost blade and become the ultimate killer weapon of the guillotine. The ghost blade fought back, trying to destroy the Inkblade and prove its supremacy.
Their duel caused the entire guillotine to shudder violently, blood light soaring into the sky.
Boom!
The young man frowned slightly at this sight, then simply lifted his foot and stomped on the guillotine.
With a thunderous boom, the guillotine immediately stabilized under his power.
However, he did not interfere with the battle between the two blades.The strong survive; the weak perish — this was a fundamental truth of heaven and earth.Whichever blade emerged victorious would become his weapon — his executioner's blade.
"Such terrifying physical strength! It's comparable to the seventh or eighth ringing of the Black Cauldron Realm. He's a body cultivator — a pure body cultivator — all his cultivation concentrated in his flesh and blood!"
Yi Tianxing's pupils contracted sharply at the scene. The destructive power of such raw physical strength was terrifying. He had never seen such a pure body cultivator before — inside the man's body, there was no true energy, only an overwhelming, vigorous blood force.
He cultivated only the body, not the spirit.Such a path was extremely rare.
"It seems that the executioner is the natural nemesis of the guillotine. Only an executioner can control it. If there are no other executioners here, the guillotine will definitely recognize him as its master," Ye Zhiqiu said, standing by the iron chain, his eyes gleaming with insight.
"The Scorpionmen have already retreated underground. We should hurry. The sooner we reach the deeper parts of the tomb, the better chance we have of finding great treasures," Flower Monk said.
The Scorpionmen, upon seeing the sea of blood ghouls, had immediately fled underground, sealing up their tunnels behind them in fear of being discovered and hunted down.
Now was the perfect time to cross the iron chains.
"Yes, let's go. Aside from him, no one else can control this guillotine," Yi Tianxing nodded and said decisively.
The guillotine only recognized executioners. No one else could claim it.And even among executioners, only the strongest could suppress it.
Thus, although it was a rare treasure, they had no choice but to move on.
Yi Tianxing didn't mind.He never believed that all the treasures of the world had to belong to him.Accidents were always part of life; the will of heaven was unpredictable.
"This executioner will definitely become a mighty figure one day," Yi Tianxing thought.
Without hesitation, he quickly stepped onto the iron chain bridge and crossed toward the other side.
The iron chain stretched across the void. For ordinary people, poor balance would mean certain death. But for cultivators, crossing it was not difficult: stabilizing themselves with true energy, they could leap several meters at a time — those skilled in lightfoot techniques could easily glide over ten meters with a single toe-tap.
There was no hidden trick to this iron chain.
Soon, the cultivators crossed and arrived on a massive platform.
The platform resembled a mountain peak abruptly sliced off, forming an isolated, towering plateau with a vast surface area.
Yi Tianxing and his companions stepped onto it.
"Why don't we cut the chain behind us, to stop the Scorpionmen from following?" someone suggested.
Not waiting for agreement, a cultivator drew his weapon and slashed at the chain.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew, and although the long blade was infused with true energy, possessing near-divine sharpness, it barely scratched the iron chain. Instead, the blade cracked, and fissures appeared along its length.
The iron chain remained completely unscathed.
"What incredible toughness!" the cultivators gasped.
Clearly, the iron chain was made from extraordinary materials.
"Let me try," Flower Monk roared, swinging his monk's spade like a shooting star toward the chain.
An even louder clang rang out.The iron chain wasn't even dented, and Flower Monk was sent flying back, his arms almost ripped apart.
"I can't cut it. I don't know what material this chain is made from, but it's unbelievably resilient," Flower Monk grimaced. Even at his strength, he couldn't damage it.At the Divine Sea Realm, it was almost impossible to sever.
"Look, there's a giant stone stele here — and it has writing on it. It seems to tell the origin of this great tomb!" someone exclaimed.
Hearing the shout, the cultivators gathered before the stone stele to read.
Yi Tianxing also moved closer.Before him, a massive text came into view:
"Immortal Tomb Inscription"
A cultivator gasped in recognition.
"Liu An, King of Huainan during the Han Dynasty, loved esoteric arts and pursued the path to immortality, especially alchemy. In his youth, by chance, he obtained a fragmentary formula for an elixir of immortality.Obsessed with achieving immortality, he used his royal resources to gather countless Taoist texts, alchemical secrets, and focused on refining the elixir.Later, he gathered thousands of alchemists to jointly research the path to immortality.Hearing of an alternative method — building a great tomb to harness the earth's feng shui, enabling resurrection and godhood after death — he decided to pursue both paths:continually refining elixirs while constructing a massive tomb on a site of supreme feng shui.To prevent grave robbers, he installed deadly traps inside the tomb, ensuring death to any intruder.
In his old age, the tomb was completed. Liu An feigned death and entered the tomb, accompanied by thousands of alchemists, tens of thousands of craftsmen, and countless rare treasures, to continue his research.Though he eventually developed the recipe for the 'Ascending Immortal Pill,' his aging body could no longer complete its refinement.
Therefore, using a secret technique, he turned the tomb into a furnace, the land's feng shui into fire, and time itself into charcoal, refining the Ascending Immortal Pill over centuries.He even buried his wives and servants alive, believing that when he ascended to immortality, they would rise with him — even chickens and dogs buried alongside him.
To prevent any leak of the tomb's secrets, Liu An ordered his trusted followers to forge a guillotine and execute all tens of thousands of workers and craftsmen, burying their decapitated bodies in mass graves.
One old survivor, who managed to escape, hid in the tomb and knew death was imminent. He carved this stele to warn future generations."