Starting as a Grandmaster, all of my cultivation techniques are at max level.

In the distance, there was a city that wasn't very large.

The city gate was wide open, and the two heavy gate panels hung crookedly on the hinges, one of which was even broken in half.

"Let's go! Junior Brother Xia, come with me to take a look!" A rare hint of murderous intent flashed across Shen Jinghan's somewhat honest, round face.

The city gate was deserted.

There were no guards, no pedestrians, and no sign of any living person.

Instead, a strong smell of blood wafted from the city, mingling with the dry wind and hitting you in the face.

"What... what's going on?" Xia Jin stood outside the city gate and saw the scene inside through it, causing his pupils to shrink involuntarily.

Inside the city gate, many white bones were scattered on the ground.

Complete skeletons, preserved in their original postures, lay crookedly on the ground at the city gate.

Those people are already dead.

He died cleanly, leaving only a skeleton.

On the ground between those bones, there were still traces of black blood that had not yet completely congealed, reflecting a dark red luster in the morning sunlight.

The way these people died looked too bizarre.

Almost all the bones were unmarked, as if something had ripped away their flesh and blood in an instant, leaving only skeletons.

Xia Jin and her companion walked through the city, constantly observing their surroundings.

The city is not large, but judging from its size, it has at least several thousand inhabitants.

Thousands of people.

They all turned into skeletons.

"Senior Brother Shen, do you think it could be the work of those monsters in the night?" Xia Jin suddenly frowned and looked at Shen Jinghan beside her.

But Shen Jinghan shook his head, denying this guess.

"Impossible. Those monsters wouldn't leave such intact skeletons. When they devour living beings, they wouldn't even spare the bones; they would at least crush them to suck out the marrow. But these skeletons all retain their complete skeletal structure, without any signs of gnawing. This isn't the work of those monsters."

Shen Jinghan took a deep breath and slowly uttered the name that had suddenly flashed through his mind.

"I suspect it's most likely the Hall of Wrathful Souls!!"

"The Hall of Wrathful Souls?" Xia Jin frowned deeply.

"That's right." Shen Jinghan's gaze swept over the skeletons in the city. "It is said that the Wrathful Soul Palace has an evil technique called the 'Soul Devouring Essence Technique,' which can instantly drain the essence of a living being's flesh and blood and convert it into one's own cultivation. This evil technique is extremely cruel and is listed as a forbidden technique. Only a very few core members within the Wrathful Soul Palace can cultivate it."

"They've just undergone a purge within their faction and want to increase their strength as quickly as possible, so this Soul Devouring Technique is probably the best choice!!" He lowered his head, looking at the intact skeletons on the ground, his voice carrying a hint of suppressed anger.

Xia Jin also felt a chill. If Shen Jinghan's guess was true, it seemed that the Wrathful Soul Palace was truly acting without any scruples.

Just as the two were talking in hushed tones, Xia Jin and Shen Jinghan raised their heads almost simultaneously, their gazes both fixed on the direction outside the city gate.

In the distance, a muffled sound of horses' hooves approached, and although the noise was faint, it did not escape the ears of Xia Jin and her companion.

"Let's go, let's hide first!!"

The two exchanged a glance and then disappeared behind some ruins in the distance.

The two men stared intently at the outside of the city gate through the cracks in the wall.

Soon, a group of people appeared in Xia Jin's sight as the morning light shone through.

More than ten riders, all of them mounted on fiery steeds, filed in.

The leader was a burly man with a thick back and a fierce look in his triangular eyes.

Looking at their attire, Xia Jin felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Their appearance resembled that of bandits who ruled mountains in the lower realms, only their imposing presence was many times greater.

"It's them?" Shen Jinghan beside him suddenly frowned. "The Thirteen Bandits... how come they're here too?"

A hint of doubt flashed in Xia Jin's eyes.

"Senior Brother Shen, which faction are these thirteen bandits?"

Shen Jinghan's gaze was fixed on the group at the city gate, but he still explained, "These thirteen bandits are a force founded by thirteen powerful rogue cultivators! They don't belong to any one prefecture and operate year-round in the border areas between prefectures, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. These people act ruthlessly and often rob other forces of their resources; those who are targeted by them rarely survive."

He paused, a hint of seriousness flashing in his eyes: "Although their behavior is like that of bandits, the strength of these thirteen outlaws should not be underestimated."

"Those thirteen leaders are all highly skilled cultivators, and they have recruited a large number of desperate men under their command, making them extremely powerful. What's most troublesome is that no one knows where their stronghold is."

"That's why even the top powers in each prefecture mostly turn a blind eye and are too lazy to bother wiping them out. After all, although these people are troublesome, as long as their fundamental interests are not touched, the major powers are unwilling to suffer heavy losses to provoke them."

As Shen Jinghan said this, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes as well: "However, the Thirteen Bandits never act without self-interest. Wherever they appear usually means that treasure has appeared in that place, or that there is some resource worth fighting for. Now, they have come to this dead city at this critical juncture... Could it be...?"

He didn't finish his sentence, but Xia Jin already understood the unspoken meaning behind it.

Just then, the group arrived outside the city gate.

The burly man with a face full of scars suddenly pulled on the reins. He narrowed his triangular eyes, glanced at the two city gates hanging crookedly on the hinges, and then sniffed the bloody smell in the air. His scars twitched slightly.

"Damn it!" the burly man roared, "Which bastard dared to beat me to it?!"

He dismounted and strode into the city, his triangular eyes fixed on the scattered bones and the still-uncongealed black bloodstains on the ground.

"If that thing goes missing, how am I supposed to explain it to the leaders!" the burly man roared, turning sharply to his men behind him. "What the hell are you all standing there for! Search! Dig three feet into the ground and find it!"

"Yes!" The dozen or so riders responded in unison, and within a few breaths they scattered and split into several groups, rushing off to various parts of the city, leaving only the big man standing alone inside the city gate.

The burly man stood still, his gaze sweeping darkly over the bones at his feet. He crouched down, his rough fingers picking up an arm bone, and examined it closely for a moment.

He quickly stood up, a cold glint flashing in his triangular eyes.

"The Hall of Wrathful Souls... Could it be something you did?"