Building a Martial Dao Celestial Family by Laying Low

A few breaths later, the storm gradually subsided.

Chen Li’s Primordial Spirit quietly appeared inside the Tuo Dragon Pearl’s space, hovering in mid-air.

His gaze swept over the devastated landscape below. Sensing the aftershocks within the Little World finally calming, he let out a soft sigh of relief.

’It’s... finally over.’

The Primordial Spirit muttered to itself, a hint of imperceptible exhaustion in its tone.

Without a doubt, this Seven Kills Ancestor had been the most powerful, most bizarre, and most dangerous opponent he had ever faced.

The viciousness of his methods, the cunning of his mind, and especially that Primordial Spirit which far surpassed his current Realm—not to mention his final, desperate move to take them both down—were all enough to leave a lingering fear.

...

「The wind and snow gradually subsided.」

The southern foot of Kao Mountain was a scene of devastation.

Chen Li slowly opened his eyes. A faint golden glint flashed in their depths and vanished. He gently exhaled a breath of turbid air as his Primordial Spirit returned to his body.

He stretched his slightly stiff neck and wrists, then strode toward the tiger-masked man not far away, who was immobilized by the Vein-Severing Soul-Breaking Finger.

Chen Li stopped in front of him, his Qi churning.

CRACK!

The mask on the tiger-masked man’s face shattered, revealing his true face.

It was the face of a middle-aged man, perhaps in his forties, but his skin was rough and covered in deep wrinkles that belied his age.

Chen Li regarded him with indifference. "Speak. What are the Seven Kills Ancestor’s secrets? And where are his hoarded treasures hidden?"

The middle-aged man gave a bitter smile. "If this junior tells you everything he knows, will Senior be magnanimous and spare my life?"

Chen Li’s gaze turned colder. "You’re in no position to bargain. If you want to live, prove you’re worth keeping alive."

The middle-aged man fell silent for a moment, knowing there was no room for negotiation.

He composed his Heart Spirit, a flash of resolve in his eyes, and began to speak. "This junior dares to ask, was Senior not puzzled? The Ancestor who fought you just now clearly had a Cultivation at the peak of the Divine Intent Pass, so why was he able to form a Primordial Spirit, something only a Grandmaster should possess?"

"Explain."

Chen Li was concise, his gaze like a torch.

The middle-aged man didn’t dare beat around the bush any longer. He took a deep breath and said, "The body of the Seven Kills Ancestor that was just destroyed... it was not his original one."

Seeing that Chen Li didn’t interrupt, he continued, "I’ve been in the association for decades, making me one of the Ancestor’s earliest followers. All these years, though he founded the Seven Kills Association and managed its operations, there was only one thing he remained obsessed with: finding people born with the extremely malevolent Seven Kills Life Chart, no matter the cost."

"At first, we all believed the Ancestor was training a core group of death warriors. After all, the Seven Kills Heart Scripture he passed down is quite profound. Those born under the Seven Kills could cultivate with twice the results for half the effort. The more baleful their Life Chart, the faster their progress. And it’s true that this created many masters for the association."

"But as time went on, I began to feel that something was amiss."

A grave look appeared in the middle-aged man’s eyes. "The Ancestor’s focus on this matter was abnormally intense. He would personally verify the detailed birth times of every qualified candidate, scrutinizing them again and again. Moreover, in the early years, several disciples with exceptionally special Life Charts—what you might call a ’full house’ of the Seven Kills—mysteriously vanished or died in ’accidents’..."

He looked up, meeting Chen Li’s gaze. "Therefore, I have long suspected that the Ancestor is likely an ancient master who has lived for an unknown number of years. His original body probably decayed long ago, either from exhausting his lifespan or from an unhealable injury. But by relying on some heaven-defying Secret Technique, he managed to preserve his Primordial Spirit."

"His obsession with finding people with specific Life Charts was never as simple as just training disciples. He was likely searching for a body whose Life Chart was highly compatible with his own origin, so he could perform a possession and be reborn. And the method for this possession should be among his collection of treasures."

After hearing the middle-aged man’s deduction, Chen Li’s gaze hardened, and he fell into a brief silence.

The various anomalies from their battle flashed through his mind.

This speculation, while shocking, seemed to perfectly explain all of those issues.

Possession...

Chen Li fell silent, the light in his eyes flickering intensely. Clearly, the implications of this deduction far exceeded his previous imagination.

A moment later, he suppressed the turmoil in his heart, no longer dwelling on the matter, and asked directly, "Where are the Seven Kills Ancestor’s treasures hidden?"

The middle-aged man’s heart settled slightly, and he immediately answered, "Most of them are located inside the Kao Mountain Wall."

"The Kao Mountain Wall?"

Chen Li’s gaze swept toward the smooth cliff face. "What’s so special about it?"

"Inside the stone wall, there is a hidden, dilapidated Little Grotto Heaven," the middle-aged man explained.

"A Little Grotto Heaven?"

Chen Li’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

"Precisely."

The middle-aged man nodded. "We don’t know its origins, only that the grotto heaven spans roughly fifty thousand acres. The Kao Mountain Sect of old relied on this place to develop. After the Ancestor took it over, it became the association’s core treasury and foundation."

Chen Li nodded slightly.

This matched the information he had gotten from interrogating that Hall Master earlier, so it was likely not a lie.

"Lead the way."

Chen Li said no more.

He pointed two fingers, and from a distance, a stream of pure, gentle Primordial Qi entered the middle-aged man’s body. It instantly cleared his sealed meridians and Acupoints, releasing the restriction.

The middle-aged man felt the flow of qi through his body return, and he could move freely once more.

"Senior, please follow me."

Not daring to delay, the middle-aged man stretched his limbs and led the way toward the massive mountain wall.

Chen Li followed behind him at a leisurely pace.