Villa Master Han was already at the late stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and was one step away from reaching the Soul Formation Realm he had always dreamed of. If not for that senior appearing 10 years ago, the fate of his family wouldn’t have changed so easily, and he wouldn’t even have dreamed of breaking the bottleneck he was at now.

It has to be said that based on his talent and cultivation method, just reaching the Spirit Core Realm was already very good. Who knew that after meeting that senior, he would break through the bottleneck had been stuck for so long and reach the Nascent Soul Realm!

Soon after Villa Master Han closed his eyes, he began to cultivate. Soon, black lights appeared around his body. These black lights contained a gloomy and cold aura and would make anyone who looked at them shudder.

These black lights were corpse energy! If this was found by people from the orthodox faction, they would spare no effort to eradicate Villa Master Han.

Corpse cultivators didn’t just absorb spiritual energy like everyone else, they needed corpse energy. Corpse energy came from doing evil deeds to kill and destroy someone’s corpse to absorb their corpse energy.

Corpse cultivators were like other evil cultivators who used evil methods to cultivate quickly. After a while, the spirit core inside their body would turn into a corpse core!

Villa Master Han’s cultivation had improved greatly in the last 10 years because of this evil cultivation method. Not just him, it looked like the entire Wind Mountain Villa was able to improve their strength greatly due to this cultivation method.

As Villa Master Han cultivated, he smiled at the thought of breaking through to the Soul Formation Realm. Nascent Soul Realm cultivators were already overlords of this region, not to mention Soul Formation Cultivators.

While thinking about this, Villa Master Han couldn’t help but feel melancholy and think about what happened more than 10 years ago.

At that time, the Wind Mountain Villa was only a small force in the Yan Zhi Region. He wanted to grow the Wind Mountain Villa but was helpless due to his own lack of talent and background.

And then one day a senior in black appeared and threatened him to use the Wind Mountain Villa. He promised to help the strengthen the Wind Mountain Villa greatly and even promised them cultivation methods and treasures.

Villa Master Han was still the leader and wouldn’t give in so easily. Then the black-robed senior killed a few of his men with extremely cruel methods and revealed an aura that shocked Villa Master Han greatly. After that, Villa Master Han gave in.

He knew that the black spirit force the senior had released did not belong to the right path, but when he saw the powerful treasures and cultivation methods, he was moved. Who would want to stay at the Spirit Core Realm their whole life?

Villa Master Han endured his excitement and cultivated the Nine Transformation Spirit Corpse. When he noticed the bottleneck he had been stuck at for many years loosen, he was ecstatic. He ignored how cruel the cultivation method was and seemed to have become obsessed with it. He had tasted the benefits and was convinced by the mysterious senior’s words. No matter the risk, he would do as the senior told him.

After that, Villa Master Han understood why this senior had come to a little Spirit Core Realm cultivator like him. That senior had his eyes on a treasured land in the mountains not far from the Wind Mountain Villa and was cultivating there to recover from his injuries. Villa Master Han didn’t know why that senior hadn’t come out for so many years, but he knew that senior had a plan. Otherwise, that senior wouldn’t have asked him to go visit every month and command him to do many things.

He didn’t know what was so special about that treasured land aside from it having dense spirit force. However, it was not a rank-5 spirit vein, and he only knew it was very useful to that senior.

After that, Villa Master Han broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm and his fame spread across the area. The entire Wind Mountain Villa rose up, and soon Villa Master Han let his sons and some close family members cultivate this as well. Their cultivation all improved greatly with the cultivation method and spells that senior had given them. As the Wind Mountain Villa rose, more and more people joined.

Only then did the senior reveal his true intent. He ordered those rogue cultivators that joined them to be killed and turned into spirit corpses. He also ordered them to lure cultivators with high cultivation to that sacred place.

Villa Master Han was a bit unwilling, but the improvement of his strength was real. Lost in this internal struggle, they secretly killed more and more cultivators, with most of them being turned into spirit corpses. His own strength improved more and more, and it was all thanks to that senior.

This cycle continued, and the overall strength of the Wind Mountain Villa improved greatly, but all the rogue cultivators that joined them were killed. This continued until recently, where the senior ordered them to find more powerful cultivators. He was going to use their corpse energy to completely recover.

This matter was very difficult for Villa Master Han. There were only a few famous cultivators in the area, and with his strength, he could only deal with people at the Nascent Soul Realm or lower. He also has to do it in secret because if the people in the region found out the truth, his Wind Mountain Villa would be destroyed.

Over the years, they had secretly killed a lot of cultivators. He really couldn’t figure out where to find all these cultivators.

Fortunately, his eldest son, Han Shaolong, came up with an idea: use his birthday as a cover to invite a lot of people and say that the sacred place was a rank-5 spirit vein. Then they would trick them all into going there and then they would kill them.

This idea immediately got his approval, but looking at the people that came today, the result wasn’t satisfactory but still very good. There were at least a dozen Spirit Core Realm cultivators but not a single Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. The only unexpected thing was that there were far too many people, and he was afraid that something would expose their true intent.

However, they had already reached this point. Thinking about that senior’s strength, he calmed down and continued to cultivate. That senior had promised him that once this matter was successfully completed, he would give him a medicine to break through to the Soul Formation Realm.

The people who came to participate in the birthday celebration didn’t know of the secret plot of the Han family. Even Zhao Jiuge and company only felt like something was wrong but couldn’t figure out what.

The next day, the moment the sun rose, Zhang Da came to inform Zhao Jiuge and company that the birthday celebration for Villa Master Han was about to begin.

The four of them, including Peng Bo, who came back late last night, walked out of the calm courtyard following Zhang Da.

San Wu looked at Zhao Jiuge with a face filled with resentment. Last night, when they were resting, Pei Su Su had kicked him out of the room while Zhao Jiuge just silently smiled.

Along the way, Peng Bo was chattering endlessly, talking about how lovely it was outside. However, Zhao Jiuge showed no interest at all. After talking for a while and seeing no reaction from Zhao Jiuge, Peng Bo felt that it was pointless and shut up.

Looking at the resentful San Wu, Pei Su Su couldn’t help but smile. She just loved teasing San Wu for fun recently.

Shortly after, they arrived at the five-story pavilion. The bottom of the pavilion was covered in red ribbons and there were no less than 100 carved mahogany chairs placed on the square before it.

Many people had already arrived early and most of the chairs were already filled. Many disciples from the Wind Mountain Villa walked among the people with weapons on their back. This made Zhao Jiuge feel that there was something inexplicable in the air.

Compared to the liveliness from last night, it was much quieter now. However, there were still many people whispering about Villa Master Han.

Most people were seated, and when Zhao Jiuge’s group was taken to the front by Zhang Da, many people looked at them with curiosity. When they felt Zhao Jiuge’s aura, their curiosity turned into understanding.

The order of the seating was naturally based on their strength. This was why most people were not hiding their cultivation.

With Zhao Jiuge’s strength, Pei Su Su didn’t need to release her aura at all. The four of them were brought to the seats in front.

Zhao Jiuge glanced at the seats around him and found some familiar faces. Beside them was the white-haired old man with his two disciples.

On the other side was actually the couple that had left the tea stall first. Feeling their Spirit Core Realm auras, they had actually been hiding their strength.

Aside from these familiar faces, Zhao Jiuge looked at the surrounding seats and found that there were seven or eight people at the Spirit Core Realm. No wonder Zhang Da had brought him here. Behind them were people at the Foundation Realm, and behind them were the weaker cultivators. The servants brought by others could only stay in the back.

The couple was startled by Zhao Jiuge’s arrival and revealed inexplicable hostility. However, the white-haired old man nodded and revealed a meaningful smile.

Zhao Jiuge also returned the smile. He looked at the Wind Mountain Villa disciples filling the area and felt like something bad was going to happen.

“Hmph, this Villa Master Han is really arrogant. He is only at the Nascent Soul Realm and keeps so many people waiting.”

The noise from the crowd made Pei Su Su a little upset. 

“Since we came, we should wait patiently. The excitement is yet to come.” San Wu smiled and shook his head mysteriously.

Pei Su Su glared at San Wu, making him so scared that he immediately closed off his senses. He was afraid that Pei Su Su would come up with some scheme to toy with him.

The people here were already immersed in excitement, waiting for the famous Villa Master Han’s arrival, so no one paid attention to Pei Su Su’s words; otherwise, they would all be shocked. The Nascent Soul Realm might not mean much to Pei Su Su, but it was still quite shocking for most cultivators here.

From time to time, more people would be seated, so it was still very lively. Then three people appeared from the five-story pavilion facing the square. Zhao Jiuge knew it was about to start.