[Day 18, Night]

[You set fire to several corpses]

[These are the seventh group of assassins you've killed]

[You've grown accustomed to this by now]

[You continue heading north]

[You only travel at night, spending your days cultivating in inns]

[During nighttime travel, you cover your face completely, leaving only your eyes exposed as you move furtively]

[Like some celebrity just getting off a plane]

[Your fully mastered Art of Hidden Breath operates at full capacity constantly]

[You disguise yourself as an ordinary person]

[Your path northward isn't direct either]

[Your route twists and turns unpredictably]

[You only know which direction to take next one second before your pursuers do]

[After three months of this cat-and-mouse game]

[You gradually shake off those tracking you]

[You don't neglect your cultivation during this journey]

[Your Heavenly Desire Formless Technique has improved significantly]

[In less than two months, you've reached the late Skin Refining stage of the technique]

[Your rapid progress has two reasons]

[First, your martial talent has greatly increased]

[Second, your mental state perfectly suits the Heavenly Desire Formless Technique]

[You feel your true qi has become more responsive to your will]

[The creator of this technique possessed terrifying insight into true qi]

[No one understood true qi better than them]

[Moreover, you experience no side effects from practicing this technique]

[Unlike Wan Qingluan with her seven-day personality disorder]

[You don't know why this is]

[Nor do you have time to ponder it]

[You continue your journey]

[One day, you unexpectedly find yourself back in Xian'an City]

[You consider leaving immediately]

[After all, you don't know who backs the Golden Saber Martial Arts School]

[But ultimately you decide to investigate briefly]

[Putting your traditional skills to use, you infiltrate the county government office]

[There you find the case files about the Black Tiger Martial Arts School massacre]

[After carefully reading through them several times]

[You discover the records match what you already know]

[The only odd detail is]

[After the Black Tiger School massacre]

[Before the investigation was complete]

[County Magistrate Zhang Hongwen repeatedly urged for a swift conclusion to the case]

[Eventually the case was hastily closed]

[You suspect this Zhang Hongwen is involved]

[That night, you break into Zhang Hongwen's residence]

[Searching through his estate]

[You finally discover numerous letters exchanged with Duan Qian, the Prefect of Danzhou in his study's secret room]

[Xian'an County falls under Danzhou's jurisdiction]

[It would be normal for Zhang Hongwen to report to his superior]

[But you don't understand why these letters are kept so secretively in a hidden room]

[After examining all the correspondence]

[You discover that after the Golden Saber School's destruction]

[Zhang Hongwen proactively reported the situation to Duan Qian]

[Duan Qian's reply mentioned sending a team of experts]

[The next day, the Black Tiger School was annihilated]

["So it was Prefect Duan Qian who ordered the Black Tiger School's destruction!"]

[You realize]

["But if the Golden Saber School had connections to Duan Qian, how could they have been destroyed by the Black Tiger School?"]

[You ponder]

["This must mean Duan Qian didn't normally favor the Golden Saber School!"]

["Could their relationship not have been close?"]

["Then why would Duan Qian seek revenge after the Golden Saber School's destruction?"]

[You stroke your chin thoughtfully]

[Suddenly, you have an epiphany]

["Of course! Duan Qian must have wanted to retrieve something from the Golden Saber School that he didn't want the Black Tiger School to obtain!"]

[You roughly understand the whole sequence of events]

[Now having clarity]

[You plan to thoroughly search the Golden Saber School after the simulation ends]

[To find whatever Duan Qian was after]

[The Golden Saber School likely possesses some extraordinary treasure]

[You leave Xian'an County]

[Continuing toward the Cangwang Desert]

[Along the way, you encounter two or three more groups of assassins]

[Having killed so many previously, you've accumulated more enemies]

[In the sixty-eighth year, you finally reach the Cangwang Desert]

[Under the blazing sun lies an endless expanse of yellow sand]

[The scorching air distorts your vision]

[No normal person could survive here]

[But you're no normal person - your simulation space is stocked with water and food]

[You could live here for decades]

[During this journey of over a year, you've advanced your Heavenly Desire Formless Technique to late Bone Tempering stage]

[Just one minor realm away from matching your Wild Heaven Saber Technique's level]

["What a genius I am!"]

[You're quite pleased]

[Taking out construction materials purchased earlier from your space]

[Like assembling building blocks]

[You construct a large villa in the desert]

[Your three-story luxury villa stands out conspicuously in the barren desert]

[But deep in the desert, no one will come]

[So showing off doesn't matter]

[You settle in the Cangwang Desert]

[During breaks from cultivation, you tend to plants]

[Of course nothing grows in sand]

[So you brought thousands of tons of fertile soil from outside to surround your villa]

[Planting flowers, trees and shrubs]

[Your afforestation project succeeds]

[Creating a pleasant environment filled with birdsong and floral fragrance]

[You even dig a pond and stock it with fish and shrimp]

[Becoming the first person to raise aquatic life in a desert]

[Your home becomes the only oasis deep in the desert]

[A beautiful scenic spot]

[Anyone seeing this would think it a mirage]

[Never imagining it could be real]

[Three months later, your Heavenly Desire Formless Technique breaks through to peak Bone Tempering]

[You also feel your Wild Heaven Saber Technique has reached its limit]

[Next is the breakthrough to Marrow Washing realm]

[But although your Bone Tempering has reached its peak]

[You can't seem to touch the threshold of Marrow Washing]

[You recognize this bottleneck]

[But maintain good spirits]

[Continuing regular cultivation]

[Though with slightly reduced hours]

[And more rest time]

[One scorching day]

[After cultivation, you take a short break]

[Eating chilled watermelon in your villa]

[Your true qi can transform into icy properties, perfect for chilling watermelon]

[You've also created ice blocks throughout the house for cooling]

[Your villa stays as comfortable as air-conditioning]

[Life is good]

[Suddenly, you hear footsteps outside]

[Along with hushed voices: "No wonder this villain hides in the desert - he found this treasure land!"]

[You know trouble has come knocking again]

[Instantly appearing outside]

[The six intruders startle at your sudden appearance]

[Recognizing you, their expressions darken]

["So it is you, Extermination Sect villain! Give me back my brother's life!"]

[The speaker is a female martial artist]

[Tall and fair-skinned, she glares at you with hatred]

[Behind her stand five others - men and women, young and old]

[Appearing to be family]

[This female martial artist is quite strong, at mid Organ Fortifying realm - the strongest present]

[Two major realms above you]

[But are you afraid?]

[Not at all]

[Though only at peak Bone Tempering]

[Your actual combat power could kill peak Organ Fortifying martial artists]

[Conventional realm classifications like early/middle/late can't describe your martial level]

[You prefer calling yourself "advanced Bone Tempering"]

["He Yu, you villain! Our family has searched for you for months, enduring countless hardships, today we finally-"]

["Enough already." You interrupt the woman's speech]

[Quite the dramatic extra]

[You crook your finger: "Come at me together."]