Legend has it that Murong Xiaoyao of the past was truly a formidable figure. He mastered a devastatingly powerful martial art, and his methods of attack were unparalleled in the world, virtually unstoppable.
Even the renowned barrier master of Qingzhou at the time, a senior expert with formidable defensive skills, was slain by a single strike from him in their duel.
Back then, some believed Murong Xiaoyao would, like the Dragon Daoist, become a generation's prodigy. Yet no one expected that just as his rise was beginning, he would suddenly vanish.
The year he disappeared was the very year he emerged from the Forbidden Zone, the same year the White Tiger Manor was newly established. In that year, he was only twenty years old.
Some said he gained immense benefits within the Forbidden Zone but paid a corresponding price, his life destined to be short. Others claimed he grew weary of worldly strife, burdened by guilt toward the noble young lady who had first taught him cultivation, and so he retreated into the mountains.
Regardless of how Murong Xiaoyao disappeared, after he was gone, experts from all over Qingzhou flooded into the White Tiger Mountain Range, desperate to obtain his peerless martial art. But they could never locate that Forbidden Zone.
Later, someone suggested razing the White Tiger Manor to the ground, digging three feet deep if necessary, to uncover that Forbidden Zone. But just as Qingzhou's top experts were about to level the manor, Murong Xiaoyao suddenly reappeared.
It is said he had only been gone for two months. However, when people saw him again, he had become a weathered old man. His once black hair had turned snow-white, his face was as pale as paper, and he wore white robes, resembling a living corpse.
Yet he used only a single move to obliterate all of Qingzhou's top experts who had come to trespass. It was truly a strike that shook heaven and earth, a thought that turned blood into rivers, carrying an invincible and unmatched momentum.
After wiping out the invaders, Murong Xiaoyao vanished once more, disappearing completely. No one knew his whereabouts, not even the people of the White Tiger Manor.
But the strangest part was that afterward, corpses of peerless experts would inexplicably appear at the White Tiger Manor. They were all killed by someone, all in a single fatal blow. That clean, efficient method was uniquely Murong Xiaoyao's technique.
From then on, everyone knew Murong Xiaoyao was not dead. He had merely grown tired of worldly conflict but was secretly protecting the White Tiger Manor, not tolerating any intrusion.
However, the martial art Murong Xiaoyao possessed was far too tempting. For the sake of it, many experts still risked their lives to sneak into the White Tiger Manor, but in the end, none escaped death.
Most bizarrely, even hundreds of years after Murong Xiaoyao's disappearance, such incidents still occurred occasionally. The most recent happened just two hundred years ago, with the manner of death identical to those from the original era.
Yet one must realize that even if Murong Xiaoyao were alive two hundred years ago, he would have been over three hundred years old—an age impossible for a human to reach.
Therefore, some believe that Murong Xiaoyao actually died from the very beginning. What lived on was merely a sliver of his divine consciousness. Due to some power within that Forbidden Zone, Murong Xiaoyao's consciousness could remain indestructible forever, eternally guarding the White Tiger Manor.
From then on, no one dared to covet the White Tiger Manor. And since the manor had almost no dealings with the outside world, it gradually faded from people's view.
But it was precisely this that piqued Chu Feng's interest even more. He knew that the Forbidden Zone from those years was very likely the entrance to the Emperor's Tomb within the White Tiger Mountain Range. Murong Xiaoyao, like the Dragon Daoist, must have obtained something from it.
As for where that entrance truly lay and whether Murong Xiaoyao was alive or dead, Chu Feng did not know. However, since he had already infiltrated the place, Chu Feng would absolutely not give up easily, vowing to uncover the truth.
On this morning, before dawn had fully broken, Chu Feng's door was knocked open. When he looked, it was none other than that Steward Zhang.