Gu Chengming slowly lowered his joined sword-fingers. The bottomless ravine before him still gave off the smell of scorched earth.
Just as he was about to tally his spoils, his spiritual sense caught waves of extremely familiar spiritual power surging from a hundred zhang away.
Gu Chengming turned to look. Behind a broken half-pillar of stone, Ren Wencai was holding an extremely tense posture.
The old man's legs were slightly bent, both hands pinching a textbook-perfect sword-guiding formula, his whole body leaning forward as though ready to spring and strike at any instant.
Three natal flying swords hovered in midair, tips pointing straight ahead, the light flowing across their blades flickering bright and dim from their master's shock.
The two of them stared at each other across the wreckage-strewn ground.
The scene was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Gu Chengming blinked, taken aback.
"Master?"
But the problem was, by all rights this cheap master of his should have been sitting safe and sound inside the Huiyuan Gate of the Wenjian Sect. How could he appear out of thin air in the depths of the Tianque Secret Realm here in Great Qian's far north?
In the distance, hearing that all-too-familiar "Master," the heart that Ren Wencai had been holding in his throat finally dropped back into his belly.
The fact that his precious disciple could call to him in that tone proved the boy was still the genuine article, that he hadn't been body-snatched by some old monster who had lived ten thousand years.
Ren Wencai coughed twice, casually dispelled the sword formula in his hands, recalled those three rather awkward natal flying swords into his sleeve, and smoothly converted his half-finished rescue stance into the hands-behind-the-back bearing of a grandmaster.
"Chengming, how is it that you're here?"
Ren Wencai stepped into the ruined battlefield, his gaze roving ceaselessly over Gu Chengming.
While his master approached, Gu Chengming realized the thing above his head was far too conspicuous.
His thoughts stirred, and the Sword-Burial Clan hovering in the air gave a low hum, then began to climb rapidly.
The colossal iron-gray mountain body swiftly sank into the deep, thick gray clouds of Tianque, hiding its traces completely.
Once he had done all this, Gu Chengming came forward and respectfully performed a junior's bow.
"This disciple greets Master. Two years apart, and Master's bearing is as splendid as ever."
Ren Wencai didn't pick up the thread. Instead he circled Gu Chengming twice, his eyes widening despite himself, finding it all utterly absurd.
—Third Realm, third layer.
Two years ago in the Golden Summit Hall of the Wenjian Sect, when this boy first revealed his sword intent, his cultivation had only been at the first realm, ninth layer.
In a mere two years he had crossed two great realms, and had even scrambled three small steps forward within the Third Realm?
Ren Wencai tilted his head back and gazed at the gray, murky sky, a jumble of feelings churning inside him.
For what had he spent these two years clawing and scraping through this perilous Tianque? Wasn't it all to gamble on that faint, will-o'-the-wisp Fifth Realm chance, so he could be a backer for himself and for this precious disciple?
And now look — his disciple's cultivation speed rivaled the demon-path evil cultivators from the revenge storybooks.
At this rate, even if he did luck his way into a Fifth Realm breakthrough, once they left Tianque, who would be backing whom was anyone's guess.
"Why is Master here?"
Seeing that Ren Wencai stayed silent for so long, Gu Chengming voiced his question again.
Ren Wencai came back to himself, pushed down the sourness of being an old wave dashed dead on the sand by the new, and waved a hand.
"My affairs can wait. You first — these two years in Great Qian, what exactly have you been through? How did your cultivation advance to such a degree?"
At that, Gu Chengming recounted his experiences over these two years since leaving the mountain.
From joining the Night-Watch Bureau to being promoted to Deputy Commander of the Night-Watch Bureau, and ranking third on Great Qian's Hidden Dragon List — he told it all, trimming the excess.
Ren Wencai stroked the whiskers on his chin, nodding again and again, filled with gratification. Yet amid his gratification, he grew puzzled.
Deputy Commander of the Night-Watch Bureau?
Ren Wencai was an old hand who understood Great Qian's official system well. The Night-Watch Bureau was Great Qian's most central instrument of force. Whoever could sit in the Deputy Commander's seat — which of them wasn't a veteran Fourth Realm powerhouse who had hacked their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood? Those people not only had profound cultivation, they had tangled, intricate court backing behind them.
For Gu Chengming — a fledgling Wenjian Sect disciple with no family or faction to back him — to climb to that position within two years, no matter how astonishing his combat power, was all but a pipe dream.
Great Qian's bureaucracy had always been exclusionary and ranked by seniority. How could it ever let a young man of the Third Realm hold such heavy authority?
Ren Wencai's gaze turned somewhat strange. Just what kind of merit had this boy earned?
Or was it that some powerful high-ranking woman official in Great Qian's court had taken a fancy to his disciple's looks?
The more Ren Wencai thought, the more his heart pounded with alarm. Great Qian's waters ran deep — surely his disciple hadn't been subjected to some unspoken rules, had he?
But now wasn't the time to dig into this. Ren Wencai pressed the thought down for the moment and, following Gu Chengming's earlier question, began explaining the reason for his own presence in Tianque.
"Two years ago, your Senior Brother the Sect Master traveled to the bitterly cold far north, observed anomalies in the heavens, and sensed that this Tianque was about to open. This place was left behind by a great power of ancient times — countless chances lie within."
Ren Wencai spoke as he walked, his tone extremely flat. "At that time I had long been stuck at the peak of the Fourth Realm, my lifespan nearing its end. If I didn't gamble everything, I'd end this life as nothing but a mound of yellow earth. Your Senior Brother the Sect Master, out of consideration for us, brought me and several other elders who had hopes of breaking through into this Tianque together."
As he spoke, Ren Wencai had already come before Scarface.
That bandit-cultivator leader was covered in blood, his meridians all shattered, yet by the tenacious life force of a Fourth Realm cultivator he still clung to a last breath.
He watched Ren Wencai approach, his withered lips twitching, seeming to want to beg for mercy.
Ren Wencai didn't spare him a single glance. The thumb of his right hand casually slid across the pad of his index finger.
A near-imperceptible, razor-sharp thread of sword qi burst from his fingertip in that instant, and with a light hiss it pierced Scarface between the brows, shredding what remained of his soul outright.
The light in the bandit leader's eyes scattered entirely, his head drooping limply, and Ren Wencai deftly tore the storage pouch from Scarface's waist.
"The interior space of this Tianque is immense, and its rules are bizarre. The moment we entered, we ran into an extremely rare spatial turbulence, and everyone was scattered."
Ren Wencai went on with his tale, both hands cupping that blood-stained storage pouch.
His ten fingers flew, pinching out several exquisitely subtle cracking formulas, the spiritual power at his fingertips like solid, fine threads seeping layer by layer along the pouch's patterns.
The spiritual-sense ward that Scarface had set in life didn't hold up even three breaths in Ren Wencai's hands before it was forcibly erased.
Ren Wencai turned the pouch's mouth downward and gave it a hard shake.
Clatter-clatter—
A great heap of objects, each glowing with different spiritual light, poured out onto the bluestone slabs.
Ren Wencai's gaze swept quickly over the spoils. Third-grade Rejuvenation Pills? Garbage, keep them to take up space. A few hundred low-grade spirit stones? These bandit cultivators are doing pathetically — paupers.
Hm? This starfall iron is a decent grade.
Ren Wencai picked out a few rare ores glinting with treasure-light, two exceptionally aged spirit herbs, and a large bag of mid-grade spirit stones, and without looking back tossed them toward Gu Chengming.
Gu Chengming scrambled to catch these priceless treasures, and watching his master's smooth, flowing operation, he was left rather dazed.
Having dealt with Scarface's remains, Ren Wencai didn't idle. Beside each bandit cultivator's corpse he first delivered a finishing thread of sword qi, confirmed the death, then rifled the storage pouch — breaking wards, sorting, tossing the spoils.
At last, Ren Wencai fished a small gray porcelain vial from his sleeve.
He pulled the stopper and sprinkled a little white powder evenly over each bandit cultivator's corpse.
A sizzling sound of corrosion rose, accompanied by acrid white smoke, and the corpses dissolved before the eye into pools of yellow fluid, finally congealing into ash-white powder.
Ren Wencai pinched a Wind-Riding Formula and swept his wide sleeve.
A wild wind howled past, blowing the powder off the ground until not a trace remained, dispersing the surrounding stench of blood along with it.
Having done all this, Ren Wencai clapped his hands together and turned. "Now, where was I? Oh, right — everyone was scattered by the spatial turbulence. This Tianque is full of these murdering, plundering rogue cultivators. To protect myself these two years, I've had no choice but to pick up a few little means of self-defense."
Gu Chengming looked at the spotlessly clean crime scene, then at his master's old face, written all over with "kindly benevolence," and the corner of his mouth twitched madly.
You call that "picking up a few little means of self-defense"?
[The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula, watching Ren Wencai's smooth, flowing movements, marveled: Truly worthy of being Fellow Daoist Gu's master!]
Gu Chengming put the spoils into his storage pouch, looked at Ren Wencai — now clapping his hands as though he had only done some trivial little thing — and steered the conversation back on track.
"Since the Sect Master led the party himself…" Gu Chengming's brows knit slightly as he grasped the crux of it. "Then doesn't that mean there are many Wenjian Sect people inside Tianque?"
He looked around at that barren dark-stone plain, then at his solitary master, and the unease inside him swelled.
"And the Sect Master? The Sect Master's cultivation reaches the heavens — why isn't he with Master?"
Hearing Gu Chengming press like this, the eyes that had been shining moments ago from looting corpses instantly dimmed.
The motion of Ren Wencai brushing his sleeve stopped in midair. His lips parted as if to say something, then he swallowed the words back.
"It's a long story…"
Seeing his master hesitate like this, Gu Chengming understood — this Tianque expedition of the Wenjian Sect had likely suffered a heavy blow from the very start.
Gu Chengming was about to offer some words of comfort, or ask whether there was anything he could do, when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Oh no — had he forgotten something?
Oh right, Fellow Daoist Xu.
Earlier inside the Zhou Shrine, thanks to that special "please, come right in" treatment, he had gone straight through the VIP channel into the core zone, while Xu Huayi, holding a "Fine" grade, had gone to the outer reaches.
Later, when Zhou Qingmu's "Night-Sever" strike tore through the void and forcibly sent him out — what about Xu Huayi?
Gu Chengming instinctively turned his head to look at the towering Zhou Shrine behind him. Just as he was wondering whether he should go back in to fish her out, the void before the Zhou Shrine's gate suddenly twisted without warning.
It was as though someone had gouged a hole straight out of a placid picture, and then a figure tumbled somewhat awkwardly out of that rift in the void.
It was Xu Huayi.
...
The Judge's Brush in Xu Huayi's hand still glowed with faint spiritual light — clearly she had been maintaining some formation right up until she was teleported out.
After landing, she quickly steadied herself, and once she made out the familiar figure before her, her whole body visibly relaxed.
Yet the moment she let out that breath, Ren Wencai over on the other side wouldn't stand for it.
The old man, who a moment ago had been lamenting the harshness of the world to his disciple, now saw yet another person pop out of thin air — and judging by her manner of appearance and the uncommon spiritual light circling her body, she clearly wasn't an easy mark.
As an old hand who had clawed and scraped through Tianque's vile "murder-and-loot-made-legal" environment for two years, Ren Wencai of course understood how dangerous this place was.
No matter who she was, subduing and restraining her first for harmless neutralization was surely the right move.
Seeing this stance, how could Gu Chengming not know what his master was thinking? He hurriedly transmitted his voice: "Master, stay your hand! She's one of us! This is Fellow Daoist Xu of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau — don't harm the peace!"
Hearing she was an acquaintance, and from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau no less, the old man changed his expression faster than turning a page. His right hand, fingers held straight like a blade, rose smoothly and quite naturally to stroke the few sparse whiskers on his chin, forcibly molding himself into a portrait of an immortal-boned, kindly-browed elder.
Xu Huayi noticed none of this. She strode up to Gu Chengming, a look of survivor's relief on her face.
"Fellow Daoist Gu! The laws inside the Zhou Shrine suddenly went wild just now — I was still cracking a formation in the outer reaches when I was expelled… Are you all right?"
Gu Chengming signaled that he was unharmed.
Only then did Xu Huayi notice the old man behind Gu Chengming, and she blinked.
Gu Chengming briefly and succinctly laid out for Xu Huayi the gist of what had happened in the core zone of the Zhou Shrine.
Then he introduced the man beside him as none other than his own teacher, an elder of the Fourth Realm from the Wenjian Sect.
When Xu Huayi finished listening, her beautiful eyes lit up in an instant.
Master?
Wasn't this just meeting the parents?!
This was Fellow Daoist Gu's genuine master — the "a teacher for a day is a father for life" kind!
Xu Huayi felt her heartbeat skip half a beat at that moment, and the reserve she had held as a Tianding Sect disciple was flung to the ninth heaven in an instant.
She swiftly reviewed her present appearance in her mind: Clothes not torn? Hair not messy? Was that landing pose just now graceful enough? Surely there wasn't any dust on her face?
Once she confirmed all was passable, Xu Huayi drew a deep breath, stepped forward twice, folded her hands before her, and respectfully performed an exceptionally proper junior's bow — an act so correct it was three parts more precise than her greeting at the Zhou Shrine's gate earlier.
"This junior, Xu Huayi, disciple of the Tianding Sect and Calendar Officer of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, greets Senior."
She kept her head slightly bowed, her voice gentle and soft, striving to leave a good impression on this "future elder."
"Oh? From the Tianding Sect?"
Hearing those three words, Ren Wencai looked this young girl before him up and down anew.
This getup — tsk, tsk — a Dharma robe of Flowing Cloud Brocade, a hairpin of thousand-year warm jade, and that Judge's Brush in her hand fairly radiating spiritual charm. Truly a product of the Tianding Sect, oozing that rich-fool air of "I've got money, come and fleece me" from head to toe.
Only…
Ren Wencai's heart suddenly went a little hollow.
Back in his younger, hot-blooded years, relying on a sword cultivator's decisiveness in slaughter and his bit of cleverness, he had set no small number of traps for Tianding Sect disciples in the various secret realms.
Selling fake maps, snatching kills and stealing treasures, even the sort of business where he trapped people in formations and collected ransoms.
Though he hadn't given his real name back then — mostly he had swindled and swaggered under the name "Zhao Wuji of the Qingfeng Gate" — there was no guarantee the Tianding Sect didn't have some secret art that could record his aura or his features.
This girl looked to be of no low standing. If she went back, leafed through the sect's wanted notices, and recognized him as that old "repeat offender," the fun would be considerable.
His old face didn't matter, but he'd best not spoil Chengming's image in front of this girl.
So the smile on Ren Wencai's face grew all the more benevolent. He waved a hand, striking the pose of a generous elder to just the right degree. "Aiya, Senior this, Senior that — far too distant."
Ren Wencai looked at Xu Huayi with a smiling squint, his tone as warm as if gazing at his own long-lost daughter. "Since you're Chengming's good friend, then you're one of us. Out and about like this, we can dispense with those empty courtesies. And don't bother with what title I go by — I'm an old man now, and I stopped caring about such empty names long ago. Since you and Chengming are this close, from now on just call me Martial Uncle."
Sure enough, how could Xu Huayi know the twists and turns in this old fox's mind? All she heard were the words "one of us" and "this close with Chengming."
On Xu Huayi's originally fair and pretty face, two blushing clouds visibly rose, and even the tips of her ears grew a little hot.
She stole a glance at Gu Chengming beside her, and seeing he didn't object, she laughed. "Yes! Martial Uncle!"
That cry of "Martial Uncle" from Xu Huayi came out crisp and ringing.
Her little mental abacus clacked away: since the parent had spoken, didn't that mean she was just one final push away from winning Fellow Daoist Gu?
Watching this girl's touched expression, Ren Wencai secretly let out a breath of relief, while sneaking a glance at his own foolish disciple, who still stood there like a wooden post.
Gu Chengming was puzzled. What are you looking at me for?
"All right, this isn't a place to linger long."
Ren Wencai broke in at the right moment on this slightly off-track mood.
He put away his smile, his gaze sweeping their surroundings. "The commotion at the Zhou Shrine just now was too great — more prying eyes will be drawn here soon. Come with me."
With that, Ren Wencai swept his wide sleeve, and a mass of azure sword-cloud sprang up beneath his feet, bearing the three of them aloft. They turned into a streak of flowing light and sped off toward some direction deep within Tianque.
After perhaps half a shichen of flight, a stretch of deathly silent dark-stone cliff appeared abruptly ahead.
Ren Wencai hovered before the cliff face, his hands rapidly working a sword formula.
As the spiritual light flickered at his fingertips, the once seamless surface of the cliff rippled with formation-patterns like ripples on water.
Accompanied by a low rumble, the center of the cliff slowly drew back to either side, revealing a narrow passage wide enough for only two to walk abreast.
"All of you, stay close. This formation can only hold for a few breaths."
Ren Wencai gave the instruction without looking back and stepped first into the passage.
Gu Chengming and Xu Huayi followed close behind.
Once all three had disappeared inside, the cliff behind them swiftly closed, sealing off the raging gales and prying gazes of the outside world.
Set into the passage were several moonstones giving off faint light, barely illuminating the road ahead.
The atmosphere settled somewhat, and master and disciple finally had a chance to exchange intelligence.
"Chengming, on this trip into Tianque, did you meet with anything strange?"
Ren Wencai walked at the very front, his voice echoing in the long, narrow passage, tinged with gravity.
"Strange things, naturally there were plenty. But what troubled me most was getting separated from the main party right as I entered the Secret Realm."
Gu Chengming reported honestly, briefly relating how the Great Qian party had met spatial turbulence and been forced apart.
Walking ahead, Ren Wencai gave a cold laugh at these words. "When our Wenjian Sect first entered, we ran into spatial turbulence on the same scale. At first your Senior Brother the Sect Master thought it a natural disaster from an ancient secret realm like Tianque falling into long disrepair. But afterward, we ran into several waves of extremely precise ambushes in the Secret Realm, and only then did we catch on."
Ren Wencai paused, his tone turning icy. "Someone tampered with the spatial nodes at Tianque's entrance, with the aim of scattering the manpower of every great sect and faction completely."
At that, Gu Chengming raised a brow. "Master means that a truly enormous force had long lain hidden within this Tianque? And has been secretly manipulating the situation?"
Ren Wencai confirmed Gu Chengming's guess. "Your Senior Brother the Sect Master once secretly captured a few of the ambushers alive. Though those people all self-detonated their souls the instant they were caught, from the remnants of their cultivation methods, the mastermind behind it all is very likely the Eternal Life Sect."
The Eternal Life Sect.
Hearing those three words, understanding dawned in Gu Chengming.
No wonder he had felt everything reeked of being targeted the moment he set foot in Tianque. These Eternal Life Sect evil cultivators were like rats in a gutter, burrowing toward wherever the scent of blood was.
From the chaos in the Capital to the rebellion at Snowfall Pass, and now even this ancient secret realm in the far north wasn't spared — the scope of these fellows' operations had expanded a bit too broadly.
As they spoke, the passage had come to its end.
Ahead opened up an extremely spacious underground cavern.
The instant he stepped into the cavern's core, Gu Chengming understood why his master had been so hesitant to speak of the Sect Master's safety when they had reunited in the outer reaches of the Zhou Shrine.
On the white jade platform at the cavern's center sat a figure cross-legged.
That was none other than the current Sect Master of the Wenjian Sect, Shen Qianqiu.
The Shen Qianqiu of this moment had not a shred left of the bearing of a sect lord he had shown in the Golden Summit Hall of old.
His once mountain-steady, deep-pooled Fifth Realm aura was now wilted to the utmost, more than half his body covered by a bizarre substance like black sludge.
That black sludge seemed alive, crawling slowly across the surface of Shen Qianqiu's body, ceaselessly eroding his protective sword qi and his flesh and meridians.
Shen Qianqiu's eyes were shut tight, his brows deeply locked. Now and then a few sharp sword-lights flared around him, trying to sever that sludge, but often the sword-light had barely brightened before it was mercilessly devoured by that sticky black substance.
Seeing such a wretched sight, Xu Huayi tactfully withdrew behind Gu Chengming, not daring to make a sound and disturb him.
Sensing someone approach, Shen Qianqiu slowly opened his eyes.
When he saw Gu Chengming and Xu Huayi walking behind Ren Wencai, a flicker of surprise crossed the gravely wounded, dying Sect Master's eyes.
Ren Wencai strode forward to the edge of the white jade platform.
He didn't let Shen Qianqiu speak and expend his mind's strength. Instead, in extremely spare, crisp words, he made a thorough report to his Senior Brother the Sect Master: how Gu Chengming had made his mark in Great Qian, how he had become Deputy Commander of the Night-Watch Bureau, along with Xu Huayi's identity as a formation master of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and the two's chance meeting in the outer reaches of the Zhou Shrine.
After hearing this account, a trace of comforted smile finally surfaced on Shen Qianqiu's utterly bloodless face.
He looked at Gu Chengming and nodded slightly, his gaze holding both gratification at a junior of the sect coming into his own and a touch of feeling at how fate toyed with men.
After the group exchanged brief greetings, the atmosphere in the cavern turned heavy once more.
Gu Chengming looked at the black sludge on Shen Qianqiu and cut straight to the point. "Master, what injury exactly did Martial Uncle the Sect Master suffer? How could it worsen to this extent?"
Ren Wencai let out a long sigh, his tone full of fury and helplessness.
"Not long after we entered Tianque, our Wenjian Sect party was ambushed. The other side had clearly come prepared — they sent out two Fifth Realm great cultivators straight off, their target aimed directly at your Senior Brother the Sect Master. To cover our retreat, your Senior Brother the Sect Master held the rear alone, fighting those two Fifth Realm cultivators to the death."
Ren Wencai's fists clenched tight beneath his Daoist robe, knuckles white. "Your Senior Brother the Sect Master's swordsmanship is divine — he had already gravely wounded one of them and was about to pull free. Who would have known another old man would appear and release a cloud of black mist. Caught off guard, your Senior Brother the Sect Master was clung to by that thing, and his cultivation was forcibly suppressed to less than one part in ten of his prime."
At this point, as if recalling something, Ren Wencai turned to Gu Chengming and added:
"While searching for supplies in Tianque's outer reaches, I once cut down several bizarre creatures that were neither demon nor devil. Those creatures had no intelligence to speak of. They wander all over Tianque, and it seems they're not hunting cultivators but consciously seeking out and destroying stone tablets and building ruins carved with ancient seal-script."
"The aura on those creatures is exactly the same as this layer of black sludge clinging to your Senior Brother the Sect Master."
Gu Chengming looked at the filth on Shen Qianqiu and found the thing rather familiar.
—Why did it look more and more like that "Filth Tide" from the biography of True Lord Zhou Gui of Heavenly Principle?
As he thought this, over on the other side — perhaps moved at the sight of Gu Chengming — Shen Qianqiu suddenly said:
"This ruined body of mine most likely won't walk out of this Tianque."
"But a single breath of pure sword intent still remains within me. If it comes to the very end, I can yet burn my soul's origin to forcibly trade for a moment of Fifth Realm peak combat power—"
Shen Qianqiu turned his gaze to Ren Wencai. "Wencai, you've long stayed at the peak of the Fourth Realm. Countless chances lie within this Tianque. If you can find your opportunity to break through to the Fifth Realm here, then your Senior Brother will cast away this life to guard your path — so long as you can ascend to the Fifth Realm—"
This grand, life-entrusting speech had barely left his mouth before Ren Wencai cut it off.
"Enough with settling your final affairs to me here!"
Ren Wencai stepped forward, blowing out his whiskers and glaring, though his eye-sockets reddened slightly, his voice utterly stern. "There are magic treasures and chances as thick as ox-hair in this Tianque. I refuse to believe I can't find a way to cure you!"
Just as the two elders were about to quarrel over this tragic topic of self-sacrifice, Gu Chengming cut in at exactly the right moment.
"Master, Martial Uncle the Sect Master's injury — what exactly does it take to recover from it?"
Pressed by Gu Chengming's question, Ren Wencai knit his brows and began explaining Shen Qianqiu's current condition.
"There is a way, of course. What your Senior Brother the Sect Master primarily cultivates is our Wenjian Sect's most core Sever-Self Heart Method. This heart method is extremely domineering — it stresses using surpassingly strong sword qi to sever the flesh's filth, cut away heart-demons, and slice apart karmic obstructions. As long as the sword qi is pure enough and strong enough, in theory even this filth resembling the Filth Tide could be severed along with the rest, restoring the injury."
"Then why not use it?" Gu Chengming pressed.
Ren Wencai smiled bitterly and pointed at the empty sword-case beside Shen Qianqiu. "In the past, your Senior Brother the Sect Master had a Fifth Realm Dharma Sword passed down for a century as his natal weapon, enough to sustain the enormous sword qi the Sever-Self Heart Method demands. But in that ambush against the two Fifth Realm evil cultivators, to cover our retreat, your Senior Brother the Sect Master didn't hesitate to detonate that Fifth Realm Dharma Sword, gravely wounding the enemy."
"Now that the Dharma Sword is destroyed, the sword qi remaining in your Senior Brother the Sect Master's body is nowhere near enough to drive the Sever-Self Heart Method against filth on this scale. If he forced it, I fear the filth would go unpurged and he'd first die of the heart method's backlash. To break the deadlock, the only option is to see whether we can find a Fifth Realm Dharma Sword somewhere in this Tianque."
The moment Ren Wencai's words fell, the atmosphere in the cavern suddenly turned somewhat odd.
Standing behind Gu Chengming, Xu Huayi exchanged a glance with him in perfect tacit understanding.
Xu Huayi and Gu Chengming looked at each other, each reading the meaning in the other's eyes.
Xu Huayi knew Gu Chengming had refined that Sword-Burial Clan, and what both of them were thinking at this moment was—
—Could there be such a coincidence?
Gu Chengming thought it over and asked, "Master means that as long as there's sufficiently vast and pure sword qi, without any specific pill or heavenly treasure, Martial Uncle the Sect Master can recover on his own?"
Hearing Gu Chengming's rather amateurish words, Ren Wencai grew puzzled despite himself. "That's right. The Sever-Self Heart Method is subtle by nature — sword qi is the finest healing medicine of all. What, Chengming, don't tell me you've picked up some peerless fine sword in this Tianque?"
Gu Chengming looked at his master's expression — utterly failing to connect the dots — and felt every bit as puzzled inside.
That's not right. Just now outside the Zhou Shrine, didn't I use that thing to smash several bandit cultivators into meat paste right in front of you?
The cavern fell into a brief silence.
After a moment, Gu Chengming sighed.
Since words couldn't explain it clearly, then the only way left was to show it in the most direct manner.
Gu Chengming's thoughts stirred, and his vast spiritual sense instantly linked with the colossal object hidden deep in Tianque's clouds.
"Hummm—"
The entire underground cavern's defensive formation gave off an extremely piercing alarm, and even the surrounding basalt walls began to tremble.
Under the utterly stunned gazes of Shen Qianqiu and Ren Wencai.
Without any spell wind-up, without any omen of gathering spiritual power.
A giant mountain — iron-gray, its body straight as though hewn, its summit stabbed through with countless broken swords that yet radiated a heaven-shaking sword intent — thus, with utter brute force and not a shred of reason, crushed through the space above the cavern and forced itself, hard, into being before everyone.
Looking at this enormous mountain, both Shen Qianqiu and Ren Wencai were left dazed.
Earlier, watching from afar as Gu Chengming summoned this thing to smash people, Ren Wencai had assumed it was merely some oddly-shaped heavy magic treasure along the lines of a "Mountain-Toppling Seal" — astonishing in power, yes, but still within the bounds of common reason.
But now, feeling up close the underlying law-fluctuations this great mountain gave off, Ren Wencai finally realized the gravity of the matter.
This is no damned Mountain-Toppling Seal!
Isn't this a Dharma-Station wonder?!
The thought he had pressed down earlier — that his disciple had been body-snatched by an old monster — began stirring restlessly again.
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