In the end, Li Shishi still fell asleep.
Of course, Deng Tianyu had to tell several stories before she grew drowsy.
Gazing at her already breathing evenly, a sweet smile on her face as she slept in his arms, he smiled helplessly and closed his eyes as well.
In the dream, it was still that sea of flowers.
Deng Tianyu lay among them, waiting for Fourth Aunt to appear.
A warm breeze blew, and a cold, stunningly beautiful figure in a veil appeared.
“Fourth Aunt!” Deng Tianyu stood and called softly.
Fourth Aunt nodded, her mature and alluring figure swaying as she approached him. Her red lips parted slightly. “Today we begin practicing the Three Extremes Sword Intent.”
Deng Tianyu asked, “What are the Three Extremes?”
Meeting his gaze, Fourth Aunt thought for a moment before explaining, “The Three Extremes Sword Intent comprises Heaven, Earth, and Human swords.”
“Human Sword: Transform Qi into Void, gather the Human Extreme!”
“Earth Sword: Fuse Spirit as Edge, unite the Earth Extreme!”
“Heaven Sword: Sword Heart as Spirit, condense the Heaven Extreme!”
Deng Tianyu mused, “Qi is True Essence, Spirit is the Divine Soul, and Heart is my Dao path?”
“Correct. The three progress layer by layer. If you can fully comprehend them, only then will you have a chance to cultivate the Two Modes Sword Intent later.” Fourth Aunt looked at him and said softly.
Deng Tianyu took a deep breath and smiled lightly. “Let’s begin.”
Without further words, Fourth Aunt pointed her jade-white fingertip at his brow. Instantly, streams of radiant characters intertwined and merged into it.
【Human Sword, transform Qi into Void, gather intent and condense spirit, so subtle and traceless…】
Deng Tianyu trembled all over, feeling as if he had plunged into a profound and mysterious state. Every character seemed to contain an extremely esoteric meaning, leaving him entranced.
After an unknown time, traces of Sword Intent flickered in Deng Tianyu’s eyes, and the entire sea of flowers seemed to twist and tremble.
Seeing this, a strange color flashed in Fourth Aunt’s beautiful eyes, but she did not disturb him, simply standing guard quietly.
…
Central Province, Cihang Sword Sect.
On a sword platform that pierced the clouds, amid sparse mist, a bright moon rose.
A peerlessly beautiful figure in a snow-white palace dress grew increasingly clear in the moonlight. Her pristine skirt trailed the ground, spotless, her bearing proud and voluptuous, like a Moon Palace Fairy.
Under the moonlight, her face was clearly visible. Cloud-like hair, flower-like face, a black waterfall cascading to the waist, ice-skin and snow-flesh—at first glance, her age was indiscernible. Beneath long, delicate eyebrows were cold, impassive eyes; a snow-jade nose and moist lips were all exquisitely sculpted. Regrettably, that nation-toppling beauty bore an air of unearthly aloofness, like eternal snow on a remote peak.
Just then, space distorted, and an old woman appeared beneath the sword platform.
The old woman respectfully bowed and said, “Palace Lord, the abode of a mysterious powerful figure that appeared in the far south of Youzhou’s Bloodfall Mountain Range—according to Chief Yin, it is most likely from the mid-Ancient Era.”
The peerlessly beautiful woman in snow-white palace robes turned to face the old woman. “Can it be determined whether it belongs to a Human Clan powerhouse?”
Her voice was like heavenly music, yet calm as an ancient well, carrying no emotion.
“The abode lies within Bloodfall Mountain Range. After emerging, it manifested ancient array patterns that isolate the outer world, making probing impossible. According to Chief Yin, these array patterns form their own rules. Those above the King-Sealing Realm cannot enter, so whether it belongs to our Human Clan cannot be determined. If we forcibly break it, it might cause the entire Bloodfall Mountain Range to collapse, leading to incalculable consequences,” the old woman explained with a bitter smile.
An abode left from the ancient era, its rules not worn away by time—the owner’s strength must be terrifying.
The snow-robed woman on the sword platform asked, “When will the abode open?”
The old woman pondered briefly and answered, “According to Chief Yin, within a month at most, the grand array shrouding it will disperse on its own.”
“This expedition to the abode will be treated as a trial. We can send two disciples. Qingchan is about to emerge from seclusion; have her go as well.”
“Yes, Palace Lord!” the old woman respectfully acknowledged.
Yu Qingchan, Grand Princess of the Great Yu Dynasty and the Palace Lord’s First Disciple, possessed an Innate Sword Bone and unparalleled talent in the Sword Dao. Barring unforeseen events, any inheritance or peerless treasure within this abode would belong to Cihang Sword Sect.
As if recalling something, the peerlessly beautiful woman’s red lips parted. “Has any trace of it been found?”
The old woman shook her head. “Reporting to Palace Lord, still nothing. Only the Great Yu Dynasty and the Northern Barbarian Territory remain unsearched.”
She understood exactly who the Palace Lord meant by “it.”
Twenty years ago, Palace Lord Luo Xuanyin was still the Saintess of Cihang Sword Sect. In preparation to inherit the Palace Lord position, she needed to cultivate the Supreme Purification Law to expel her own evil thoughts. As per the successive Palace Lords, no matter which Saintess succeeded, the expelled evil thoughts had to be sealed in a special artifact and brought into the sect’s forbidden ground—the Purification Spirit Pool—to await purification by its rules.
Otherwise, if those evil thoughts condensed into an entity and developed sentience, it could bring calamity to the world!
At that time, Saintess Luo Xuanyin naturally heeded the warnings, sealing the severed evil thoughts in the Purification Spirit Pool to wait.
Three years passed in a blink. During that time, nothing unusual occurred in the pool. Luo Xuanyin could no longer sense the evil thoughts and went into seclusion.
But in the fourth year, months after she began seclusion, disaster struck outside the Purification Spirit Pool. The disciples guarding it inexplicably started killing each other, causing chaos without any warning. When news reached the twelve peak chiefs of Cihang Sword Sect, they hurried over only to find the grand array isolating the pool had been broken. And the special artifact that had sealed Luo Xuanyin’s evil thoughts now bore a crack.
At that sight, the twelve peak chiefs’ expressions changed drastically. They understood the Palace Lord’s evil thoughts might have condensed into an evil entity with sentience and immediately informed the secluded Luo Xuanyin.
Upon learning of this, Luo Xuanyin cast a secret art and deduced the evil thoughts had left Central Province for Yuzhou.
She then rallied the Twelve Chief Disciples, tore through the void, and arrived in Yuzhou, hoping to locate the already-sentient evil entity.
Strangely, once Luo Xuanyin and the twelve chiefs entered Yuzhou, her connection to the entity vanished.
Suspecting it had hidden in some special heaven-and-earth pocket realm that blocked perception, Luo Xuanyin and the chiefs sought the Heavenly Secrets Sect, using the Heavenly Secrets Disk that reflected the Nine Provinces to divine its location. The result: the entity had not left Yuzhou, but its exact position could not be pinpointed.
Perhaps, as they thought, it had hidden in some perception-blocking special realm. Yet the vastness of Yuzhou held countless such special realms—searching each could take over a decade.
But what alternative was there? For this, Cihang Sword Sect dispatched its experts to comb through such realms one by one. And so sixteen years passed in the blink of an eye…
