Chapter 9: Beyond the Life Palace!

Murray Scurr glanced at the sharp sword in his hand. A Mid-grade Mortal Weapon really was a joy to use. After fighting for so long, the blade did not even have a nick. Marcus Scurr truly knew how to spoil a son. Back then, Murray had nearly fought himself to death just to get his hands on a Low-grade Mortal Weapon, and Marcus had even dressed it up with a pretty name. A "gift." He used to swallow everything for the sake of repaying kindness. Thinking back on it, it all felt like he had fed his life to dogs. Not worth it. Not even close. He rummaged through Steward Ketill and the others and found more than a dozen bottles of Medicinal Liquid. Other than that, there was nothing. They had come into the Demon Beast Mountain Range to kill someone, so of course they had traveled light. Murray packed the Medicinal Liquid into his bundle. When he looked up, he spotted the woman of the Zimmerman Family, and surprise flickered in his eyes. He had thought she would have run long ago. She was still here. Waiting to die? Sword in hand, he strode toward her. The moment she saw him closing in, she jerked like she had been struck and stumbled back until her spine hit a tree. She wrapped her arms around herself and trembled so hard her teeth clicked. "N-no… Don't. Don't kill me." Her eyes were wide with terror. Her mind had gone blank. Murray's strength had crushed whatever thinking she had left. All she wanted was to live. "At the Purple Crystal Beast, you nearly got me killed," Murray said, his voice flat as stone. "Then you brought them to kill me. And you want mercy?" His grip tightened. The sword lifted. There was no world where he let her go. Letting her escape would only buy him endless trouble. "Don't kill me, don't kill me!" The woman of the Zimmerman Family blurted, as if she had grabbed a lifeline. "I can serve you. I'm… I'm really good!" Before the last word even settled, she began tugging at her clothes with shaking hands. Under the moonlight, her bare, flawless shoulders gleamed. She was already pretty, and with fear softening her features, she looked pitiful enough to make men's hearts wobble. "As long as you don't kill me," she said, voice quavering, "you can do whatever you want to me." She was terrified he would do what he had done half a month ago, take her by force and kill her afterward. "Pfft!" The blade flashed, carrying a chill that seemed to drink the moonlight and turn even colder. Her body jolted. Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth as she stared up at him, disbelief flooding her eyes. "W-why…?" Then she toppled forward and hit the ground. She could not understand it. Wasn't Murray Scurr a lust-crazed beast? Hadn't his whole clan hunted him down because he violated decent women? Why had he killed her without even touching her? Murray looked down at the corpse and gave a self-mocking laugh. After half a month of rumors fermenting, his name in everyone's mind had probably become nothing but "rapist" and "filth." If he wanted to wash that shame away, there was only one way. Kill Marcus Scurr, that old hound. He used the sword tip to push aside the woman's clothes. Not because he wanted anything from her, but because he needed the Medicinal Liquid on her. He still had twelve days to cultivate inside the Demon Beast Mountain Range, and restorative and healing Medicinal Liquid were necessities. He found three bottles on her, along with a sheepskin scroll. "A map?" Murray opened it, and his eyes lit up. "In the depths of the Demon Beast Mountain Range… there's an Ice Spirit Spring!" "So Derek Zimmerman and the others came here for the Ice Spirit Spring." An Ice Spirit Spring was a prime cultivation ground. It did not only contain abundant Origin Energy, its frigid temperature also tempered the meridians again and again, making it easier to break into the Rebirth Realm. Above the Life Palace Realm lay the Rebirth Realm. As the name implied, it meant remaking flesh and bone. Through nine rebirths, a cultivator expelled every impurity from the body, becoming far more attuned to Heaven-Earth Origin Energy and able to climb toward higher realms. Tempering meridians in an Ice Spirit Spring was similar to Marrow Cleansing and Essence Refining. It laid the firmest possible foundation for breaking into the Rebirth Realm. "This time, I not only broke through the Life Palace Realm, I even got a map to the Ice Spirit Spring." Murray's breath came quick with excitement. "This fight was worth everything." He tucked the map into his clothes, gathered his things, and immediately set off for the Ice Spirit Spring's location. At the same time, two slender figures entered the Demon Beast Mountain Range. "Second Miss, you snuck out. The Family Head is going to panic," the maid pleaded. "First Miss was so hard to find. We should hurry back." "Why do you sound like some old nanny?" the girl snapped. "You never stop nagging." "Second Miss… why did you come here, anyway?" the maid asked, voice small. "Young Master Murray is already… gone. Even if you wanted revenge, there's no one left to take it on." The girl in the pale-yellow dress halted. Her rosy, delicate face looked sweet and innocent, and her eyes were bright and watery. Then anger surged through them, and in an instant she went from a next-door little sister to a tiny demon. "What did you call him?" she hissed. "That bastard drove my sister mad, and you still call him 'Young Master'?" The maid flinched back, lowered her head, and rushed out an apology. "I'm sorry, Second Miss. I misspoke. Murray Scurr betrayed First Miss, violated decent women. He's a rapist. A bastard!" Only then did the girl nod in satisfaction and continue deeper into the Demon Beast Mountain Range. "My sister loved him with her whole heart," she muttered, teeth clenched. "If that bastard weren't already dead, I'd chop him into pieces!" … In the depths of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, Murray stood atop a patch of grass with the map in hand, staring at a lake that breathed Cold Energy into the night. Delight spread across his face. "The Ice Spirit Spring is this big?" Calling it a spring was a joke. It was a small lake. Tall water plants grew within it, as high as a man's chest, and their cover would make cultivation safer. "Heaven's really on my side." Murray let out a low laugh. "A pool this huge, and not a single Demon Beast is using it. What a waste." He had encountered no danger on the way, and the Ice Spirit Spring still sat untouched. He could not wait. He stripped off his clothes and dove in with a clean, fishlike leap. He regretted it immediately. "Hiss! Cold, cold, cold!" The instant he hit the water, the bone-piercing chill nearly made him spring right back out. A frozen face was nothing. This was a frozen ass. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure the stabbing Cold Energy, pushing his mind into cultivation as fast as he could. Only then did he have the space to use inner vision on his Sword Meridian. When he saw the Life Palace expanded across the entire Sword Meridian, shock thundered through him. "This Life Palace… what grade does it even count as?" Before, the Seventh-grade Life Palace he had condensed had only occupied half of his Elixir Field. But this one filled his entire Sword Meridian. And the Sword Meridian was three times larger than his Elixir Field had been. Which meant this Life Palace was six times larger than his previous Seventh-grade Life Palace. "Even a Tenth-grade Life Palace only takes up nine-tenths of the Elixir Field," he thought, heart pounding harder and harder. "So what is mine? Tenth-grade? Or… beyond Tenth-grade?" "Kid, your horizons are pathetic," a voice suddenly sounded in his mind, lazy and disdainful. "Looks like this Immortal Emperor really has to educate you." Murray's eyes widened with joy. "Mad Immortal Emperor?" "You weren't asleep?" "What, you want this Immortal Emperor to sleep that badly?" The voice snorted. "Fine. I'll go back to sleep." Murray could only smile bitterly. This was a man who had even slain an Immortal Emperor, yet he still bickered with him like this. "Hah… forget it. I can't be bothered to argue with you," the Mad Immortal Emperor said with a languid yawn. "I can only wake for a short while. I'll use this time to fill your head with some basic knowledge." "Life Palaces are divided into ten grades. That's the most shallow understanding. Even a Tenth-grade Life Palace can at most cultivate to the Elixir Origin Realm. It can't even reach the Law of Heaven and Earth Realm." Murray fell silent. Forget the Law of Heaven and Earth Realm. Even the Elixir Origin Realm felt impossibly distant. "Above the Tenth-grade Life Palace, there are stronger Life Palaces." "To achieve the Law of Heaven and Earth Realm, you must possess a Transcendent Life Palace, one that surpasses the Tenth-grade Life Palace!" "Above the Transcendent Life Palace is the Venerable-grade Life Palace, which carries the potential to become a Heavenly Venerable!" "Beyond that are the Heaven-grade Life Palace, the Sage-grade Life Palace, the Divine-grade Life Palace, and the Immortal-grade Life Palace!"