Chapter 94 - 91 Sword Tomb

Chapter 94: Chapter 91 Sword TombThe next day. When Ye Xuan woke up, Ye Mei had already left. The latter didn’t say goodbye to Ye Xuan, only leaving behind a note on the stone table, along with a black iron token that emitted strange fluctuations. Ye Xuan picked up the note and gently unfolded it to read, "By the time you read this note, I will have left. The item left on the table is called a Beast Soul Token. In dire moments, you can stimulate it with True Qi to summon a Beast Soul to save your life, but it can only be used once, so use it wisely. If fortune allows, we’ll meet again on Sky Demon Mountain. Do not worry." Putting down the note, Ye Xuan picked up the so-called "Beast Soul Token." From it, he could indeed feel a powerful and subtle demonic power fluctuating. However, this power was sealed within the token, ready to be unleashed in a crisis to summon a powerful Beast Soul. He just had no idea what rank of Demon Beast was sealed inside. Guessing was useless; after all, Ye Xuan could hardly break the seal now just to see. After studying it for a while, he put away the Beast Soul Token. He had no intention of using it unless it was really a matter of life and death. After all, it was a lifesaver; once used, it would be gone, but as long as you didn’t use it, it would always be there. "It’s time for me to leave as well. This is not a safe place. I need to make my way to Great Hua Country as soon as possible." The area where Ye Xuan was now located should be deep within the Panlong Mountain range. Although powerful beings generally wouldn’t enter this place without good reason, if people from the Jun family were to find him, his current strength would hardly afford him any ability to resist. Moreover, the depths of Panlong Mountain were a deadly place. Most of the Demon Beasts here were strong. Having Ye Mei around had meant there were no concerns, and Demon Beasts would not dare to approach. But now that she had left, he had to consider these issues. After a quick pack-up and sealing the secret cave, Ye Xuan set off on his journey. He moved stealthily through the forest with great caution. Ye Xuan couldn’t afford to act too recklessly; his strength was only a third of what it used to be. Even facing a Second Rank late-stage Demon Beast might force him to flee in panic, let alone higher-level ones. Along the way, he occasionally encountered Second Rank late-stage Demon Beasts, but Ye Xuan’s stealth and reflexive abilities were top-notch. Unless he was incredibly unlucky and encountered a Third Rank Beast, he wouldn’t be found. At the same time, Ye Xuan couldn’t help feeling a bit miffed with Ye Mei for leaving an injured person like him in such a dangerous place and just walking away, seemingly not worried that he might end up as a meal for a Demon Beast. His current strength wasn’t going to recover quickly, which meant that for a long time to come, he would have to keep a low profile. Without strength, trying to show off was a sure way to seek death. "Right, the stone slab at the bottom of the lake in the testing ground, didn’t it have four lines of text? Now that I’m here, I might as well look for the place described on the slab." Lying on the branches of a dense tree, Ye Xuan was resting with his eyes closed when he suddenly remembered those four lines on the stone slab. Weren’t those places deep within the Panlong Mountain range? Nine peaks in a chain, the abyss of Panlong, Sword Sect’s Ying Xuan, within Hidden Weapon Mountain. Who exactly was this Sword Sect’s Ying Xuan? Ye Xuan thought that anyone with the title of Sword Sect would not be mediocre, unless he had titled himself. Ye Xuan pondered; the nine peaks in a chain would be a great spectacle. Such a spectacle couldn’t be everywhere; it should be easy to find. Although the stone slab at the bottom of the lake was severely corroded, the sixteen characters on it were still clear. The question was, had anyone else seen this slab before? No matter what, Ye Xuan was determined to investigate. Half a day passed. After a careful search, Ye Xuan finally arrived at the top of a peak. Before his eyes now appeared eight towering peaks lined up in a chain, just like fingers, plus the one under his feet made exactly nine peaks in a chain. In the center of these nine peaks was a patch of open ground, and in the center of the open ground was a small mound. The mound was only a dozen meters high, but it was covered with bushes and undergrowth, seemingly long untouched. "Nine big peaks, so many places to hide something. It’s hard to know where Sword Sect’s Ying Xuan could have hidden the treasure." Ye Xuan observed the differences between the nine peaks but soon frowned. Just by looking from the outside, no peculiar features could be discerned. He would have to search through each one. However, after three days of searching, Ye Xuan found nothing. "Could the information on the stone slab be false?" Ye Xuan looked uneasy. With his experience in mechanisms and secret passages, if there was a treasure location within these nine peaks, he should have been able to find it. Was the slab really fake? It seemed unlikely that anyone would go to the trouble of forging such information, and the area didn’t seem like it held any traps. Leaning against the mound at the center of the nine peaks, Ye Xuan was puzzled. Since it was Hidden Weapon Mountain, he had already searched all nine peaks, but he couldn’t find any place that might hold a hidden treasure. *BANG!* Feeling quite gloomy, Ye Xuan drew out his Star-cutting Saber and swung it at the small mound behind him. The fierce blade energy shattered the bushes and weeds, then slammed directly onto the mound with a deafening roar, kicking up a fierce whirlwind of dust and stones. As the dust slowly settled, Ye Xuan sheathed his saber. Just as he was about to turn away and give up the search, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. On the mound, faint traces of carvings emerged. "Are there characters on this?" At the glimpse of the markings, Ye Xuan’s eyes suddenly brightened, and he quickly took three steps in two, approaching the mound and clearing away the obstacles. What came into view were two ancient characters. "Sword Tomb." Ye Xuan’s gaze settled on the two characters with a flicker of brilliance in his eyes. He had not expected that the hiding place of weapons mentioned on the stone tablet actually existed. It just wasn’t within the nine peaks but rather at the location encircled by them! The Sword Tomb has been a known place since ancient times where well-known swordsmen would bury their swords because in their eyes, swords have spirits, have life, hence the existence of such places. "Sword Sect’s Ying Xuan buried weapons in Hidden Weapon Mountain," these characters coincidentally matched with the last eight characters. However, it was unknown what grade of divine weapons were buried within this Sword Tomb. Suppressing his somewhat excited heart, Ye Xuan began to search for mechanisms and secret passages around the mound. The Sword Tomb should be right beneath it. Boom! Indeed, just as he anticipated, a subtle mechanism existed right below the "Sword Tomb" characters. Ye Xuan barely touched it, and suddenly a stone door opened, revealing a secret passage. Taking a deep breath, Ye Xuan didn’t hesitate to enter the passage. The tunnel was about ten meters long, and it only took a moment for Ye Xuan to enter the world beneath the passage. What appeared before him seemed to be a massive tomb chamber. The moment he set foot on the floor of the tomb chamber, flames ignited spontaneously all around, suddenly brightening the vast chamber. The tomb chamber looked incredibly vast, seemingly bottomless at first glance, with countless tall stone pillars supporting it. In the center of the chamber was a very long corridor, and on either side, it was empty. The only thing visible was the dazzling sword light. Countless sword shadows, neatly ordered, were planted on the ground. At a glance, their number was astonishing—perhaps in the thousands. So many swords gathered in the Sword Tomb, forming what seemed like a forest of swords. Even if every sword was common, the collective Sword Qi would be astonishing. The swords varied in strength and grade, with higher-grade ones emitting a particularly fierce aura, while the low-grade ones were rusty and lackluster. "What an astonishing number of hidden swords." Ye Xuan walked along the corridor, feeling as though there were thorns in his back from the aura emanating from the ’forest’ of swords. This Sword Tomb was purely a world of swords, naturally resistant and repellent to other things. Although there was a large number of treasure swords in the Sword Forest, none seemed to catch his eye. Ye Xuan had seen countless swords and could tell at a glance which were ordinary and which were excellent. Most of these swords, despite looking extremely sharp on the surface, had actually decayed inside. They relied on the Sword Qi formed within the Sword Tomb to continue existing. However, even the slightest touch would turn them to dust. Following the corridor to the end of the Sword Tomb, Ye Xuan saw a small black mound. It was covered in treasure swords, densely packed. Even from a distance, one could feel a pressing sharpness that left the skin tingling. These treasure swords were evidently of Earth-grade quality, each one extraordinarily powerful! However, the object that caught Ye Xuan’s attention was not these swords, but a cyan treasure sword surrounded by the others in the center. Although the aura this sword emitted was weak, Ye Xuan could tell at a glance that it was the core of the entire Sword Tomb. While there were thousands of treasure swords in the Sword Tomb, the one that Sword Sect’s Ying Xuan wanted to bury was just this one—the cyan treasure sword in front of him. With a sweep of his foot, Ye Xuan stepped into the air and landed atop the small mound. His gaze focused, he immediately reached out and grabbed the hilt of the cyan treasure sword. In an instant, a surge of spiritual fluctuation burst from the sword in his hand, pouring straight into Ye Xuan’s mind. An aged but robust voice resounded in his ear, "A sword should be sharp. It would rather break than bend, and its heart should know no fear. Without sharpness, one shames the title of Swordsman." "I have buried three thousand swords here, yet none compares to this single one." "This treasure sword is called the Spiritual Edge Sword, a top-tier Heavenly Grade treasure sword. Anyone who intrudes and touches any other sword will cause this sword to disappear and lose the chance with it. Fortunate one, the Spiritual Edge Sword was my personal weapon. Use it well." Ye Xuan’s mind absorbed each sentence, feeling secretly fortunate that he hadn’t touched any other sword in the Sword Tomb. Otherwise, as Sword Sect’s Ying Xuan had said, he would have missed his chance with the Spiritual Edge Sword. A gleam flashed in his eyes, and with a bit of effort, Ye Xuan pulled out the cyan treasure sword. Humming... However, as Ye Xuan drew the treasure sword, the dozen of Earth-grade Treasure Swords that were clustered around the Spiritual Edge Sword began to vibrate violently, resonating with each other. They seemingly pulled themselves out from the ground and hovered in midair. This strange occurrence made Ye Xuan frown slightly. But the next moment, his expression drastically changed as the levitated Earth-grade Treasure Swords all aimed their blades at him. A series of sharp intentions seemed to lock on him, poised to pierce through his body.