Zhou Ming stood in the mountain wind for a silent moment, setting this question aside for now. At least a few points were certain to him:

First, Emperor Liu Jun was dead beyond any doubt.

That legendary figure who had lived in the Great Xia, that founding emperor whom Grand Duke Su had revered for half his life, had not even lasted a single round against him.

Second, he was invincible. At least within these three kingdoms, he was already invincible.

The mountain wind completely dispersed the bloody mist. A primitive-looking ring and a long sword fell from the mist, gleaming with a dull luster in the sunlight.

Zhou Ming circulated his magic power and grasped them from the air; the ring and the long sword landed steadily in his palm.

Looking at the bloodstains on the ring and the sword, Zhou Ming suddenly felt a bit nauseous. This was his first time killing someone in his two lifetimes.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, he steadied his mind and forcibly suppressed the sensation.

He formed a cleansing seal with both hands, and a clear light overflowed from his hands, brushing over the ring and the long sword.

In an instant, the blood and flesh fragments on the ring and sword were cleaned away entirely.

The ring was pitch black, with an unrecognizable cloud pattern carved on its surface. It felt cold to the touch and weighed several times more than an iron ring of the same size.

"This is? A Storage Ring?"

He probed the ring with his Divine Sense. In the next second, within his perception, a vast space spanning a hundred meters appeared.

The interior of the space was neatly organized into several sections.

The most conspicuous item was a row of sandalwood bookshelves. There were no paper books on the shelves, replaced instead by neatly arranged Jade Slips.

These Jade Slips were identical to the ones he had previously observed Emperor Liu Jun pressing against his forehead in the Immortal Cave, each emitting a gentle, warm glow.

Beside the bookshelves were piles of Ore of various sizes; some were completely red like branding irons, while others were as black as ink, shimmering with starlight.

There was also a fist-sized transparent crystal, with a wisp of flickering blue flame sealed inside.

Further inside were several Spirit Medicine sealed in jade boxes. The Talisman attached to the jade boxes had faded and turned yellow, but the Spirit Medicine themselves still emitted a faint, fresh fragrance.

The remaining space was filled with mundane objects that had no Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

Chests of gold and silver jewelry, several neatly folded python robes, several jade seals carved with Dragon patterns, piles of land deeds and house deeds, and some tokens and seals that looked like royal tokens from various countries.

These were likely the worldly wealth he had accumulated on this land over six hundred years. In the eyes of a Mortal, each piece was a priceless treasure, but in the eyes of a Cultivator, they were no different from scrap metal.

Zhou Ming withdrew his Divine Sense from the Storage Ring, looked at the Storage Ring, and then at the long sword.

The long sword was three feet and three inches long, engraved with cloud patterns, and exuded a chilling cold light.

In the Mortal world, it might be a peerless sword, but Zhou Ming discovered a problem with it: the Formation inside had been shattered.

Zhou Ming estimated that it must have been destroyed by the palm strike he had just delivered.

Putting the matter of the sword aside, Zhou Ming couldn't help but feel delighted. When reading novels in his previous life, he had often seen Storage Rings in them.

Every time he saw one, Zhou Ming would fantasize about himself, thinking how wonderful it would be to have a Storage Ring.

Now that this Storage Ring was clutched in his hand, how could Zhou Ming not be delighted?

He tried to store the long sword into the Storage Ring; with a thought.

The long sword disappeared from Zhou Ming's hand.

With another thought, the long sword reappeared in Zhou Ming's hand.

Disappear, appear, disappear, appear.

Zhou Ming played with it happily; with this thing, it would be extremely convenient in the future.

Just as Zhou Ming was having fun, a burst of noise interrupted him.

Zhou Ming frowned and scanned the valley below with his Divine Sense again.

The originally orderly camp was now in complete chaos.

Several Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators were the first to react; Emperor Liu Jun's aura had completely vanished in the sky.

Although that purple-gold magic hand had only existed for a few short breaths, it was enough for them to understand what had happened.

They didn't even bother to pack the things in their Immortal Cave, turning into several panicked beams of green light and rushing toward the valley exit.

A dozen or so Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators followed closely behind; some hadn't even put on their shoes, and others were still clutching pieces of beast meat they hadn't had time to put down.

Their faces were ghastly pale, their steps staggering, like a swarm of ants fleeing in all directions after their nest had been poked.

They fled extremely fast, but no matter how fast they were, they couldn't be faster than Zhou Ming's Divine Sense.

Zhou Ming hovered in mid-air, looking down at these Cultivators fleeing like ants, his gaze devoid of any extra emotion.

He extended his right hand from his sleeve, spread his five fingers, and condensed his magic power into a purple-gold ball of light in his palm.

Then, he turned his palm downward and pressed down gently.

A purple-gold giant palm, several times larger than the one that had crushed Emperor Liu Jun earlier, descended from the sky.

Before the giant palm even landed, the palm wind had already flattened the vegetation in the valley.

Several Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators were still running desperately toward the valley entrance; one even crushed a protective jade Talisman at his waist, and a layer of pale golden light shrouded his entire body.

When the purple-gold giant palm fell, that light shield didn't even hold for a split second before shattering like a soap bubble, and the Cultivator was smashed into the soil without even having time to let out a muffled groan.

A dozen or so Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators didn't even have time to react before they were knocked to the ground by the gale caused by the giant palm, and then the palm force penetrated the ground, crushing them and the rocks beneath their feet into powder.

One palm strike.

All the Foundation Establishment Stage and Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators had turned into a dark stain mixed with soil and gravel, not even a complete skeleton could be found.

The valley became quiet again.

The Martial Artists bound by chains in the iron cages still maintained their posture of looking up at the sky; they had seen everything that had just happened.

They saw the purple-gold giant hand and the bloody mist falling from the sky.

They saw the giant palm descending from the sky and smashing all the Cultivators to death.

But they didn't cheer, didn't cry out, and their expressions barely changed at all.

Their faces remained pale and numb from having their Qi and blood drained, though a spark of something brightened in some of their eyes before quickly fading away.

Zhou Ming flashed into Emperor Liu Jun's Immortal Cave and collected all the Jade Slips on the stone table into his Storage Ring.

He scanned every corner of the Immortal Cave with his Divine Sense again to ensure nothing of value was left behind before flying back up over the valley.

He hovered above those iron cages, looking down at the two thousand hollow eyes in the cages, and began to consider how to deal with these people.

These two thousand-plus people were all Martial Artists above the Blood Refining Realm, the fifth realm after Skin Refining, Flesh Refining, Bone Forging, and Tendon Changing; the next stage up was the Meridian Opening Realm.

Placed in the Great Xia, these people would all be figures capable of guarding a region.

In terms of combat power alone, they were likely no weaker than a Late Stage Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator.

But now they were locked in this valley, their Qi and blood had been drained for who knows how many years, and they were so weak that they couldn't even stand steadily.

"Hmm, it would be a pity if they died."

"These people haven't Cultivated the 'Dushi Sutra' yet."

"If I let them walk out like this, carrying bodies drained of most of their Qi and blood, they wouldn't last long before dying in this forest due to complete exhaustion of their Qi and blood."

"But if they learned the 'Dushi Sutra' and generated magic power in their Dantian, given their martial foundation above the Blood Refining Realm, they could recover their Origin Qi in a few days, or even advance further."

Thinking of this, Zhou Ming's eyes brightened; he had a brilliant idea.