Danger of the Ruins
Upon hearing this, Yu Zhu pursed her lips into a straight line, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Jing Xu and the other two don't have to go, but I have to go."
Changyou remained silent, seemingly deep in thought.
Yu Zhu continued, "Senior brother, can you guarantee that the gathered cultivators will be safe? Besides, that's the Sword Venerable's ruins, there must be skilled swordsmen among them. I also have the sword intent given to me by the sect leader, so I'm sure I'll be able to save my life."
Seeing Yu Zhu's determined eyes, Chang You said, "Alright, A Zhu will go too, but she must prioritize her own safety."
With the matter settled, Yu Zhu relaxed a bit. "Of course, I'm not stupid."
"Senior sister, I want to go too," Jing Xu suddenly said. "Senior sister and I are already bound together and cannot be separated. Besides, I also have the sect master's sword intent, which can protect me."
Yu Zhu's eyes darted around. Jing Xu could also go. She had heard that many of the people who had explored the ruins were at the Foundation Establishment stage. Going there would be a good opportunity for him to gain experience. But she would have to listen to her senior brother's advice.
"Senior brother, what do you think?"
Changyou tapped his fingers lightly on the table. After a while, he said, "Then let's all go. Jingxu will also enter the ruins. Xun will practice his Qi cultivation. Conceal your aura and wait on the outside. Don't make any rash moves."
The next day, at the crack of dawn, Changyou, Yuzhu, and Jingxu set off first and met up with the dozen or so people Changyou had gathered at the foot of Duiyun Mountain.
Besides them, there were also groups of two or three, and even people traveling alone, on the road.
Zhao Xun concealed his aura and followed behind the group at a distance.
Along the way, some people chatted and said that Duiyun Mountain was where the Sword Master Wuren forged swords. The clouds piled up on the mountain were the mist rising from the forging pool when the Sword Master was quenching his swords. No one knew how many swords the Sword Master forged back then, which formed the clouds and mist that Duiyun Mountain has been shrouded in for many years.
The higher you climb, the more you feel the dampness of the mountain; the higher you climb, the more desolate the vegetation becomes.
The entrance to the ruins is on the mountainside, which is fortunate. If it were on the mountaintop, the clouds and mist would obscure even the shadows of people.
The entrance is a cave, with rocks scattered around the opening. The gap is still fresh, indicating that it was recently broken open.
When Yu Zhu and her group arrived, five people came out, all of them disheveled and in a sorry state, with wounds on their bodies from being cut by sharp weapons.
It seems we'll have to wait until night to enter the ruins. That's right, there's a queue to enter these ruins. In the beginning, those with lower cultivation levels would follow behind those with higher cultivation levels to pick up the leftovers. After that, cultivators entering the ruins would try to place restrictions, which couldn't completely block others, but delaying them for a while was still good.
Someone struck up a conversation with them, "How's it going? Is the ruins any better at night?"
One of them spat, "What's so good about it? With fewer people, won't you get more sword strikes? You have more people, so your chances of winning are greater."
After saying that, they helped each other walk away.
"Fellow Daoists, you've all heard it too. There's a greater chance of victory in numbers. Why don't the two of us go in with you?"
"Yes, fellow Daoists, let's go in together."
Can I come along too?
Several groups of cultivators outside of Yu Zhu's group spoke up, while the rest remained silent, but the meaning in their eyes was quite clear.
Based on his earlier observations, Changyou roughly deduced that the more people involved, the lower the chance of injury. That's why he temporarily formed a team of more than ten people. In reality, Changyou couldn't fully control this team.
Besides Changyou's team, there were more than a dozen others. The difference in their cultivation levels was unknown, but their numbers were roughly equal.
Unwilling to incur losses before officially entering the ruins, the team suddenly expanded to nearly thirty people.
Changyou set up a barrier at the cave entrance, which allowed Yuzhu and Jingxu to fall to the back of the group.
Using Jingxu's figure as cover, Yuzhu first ate half a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills, "Be extra careful of those few who just asked to join us."
"Mmm," Jing Xu replied softly.
After Changyou finished setting up the formation, he did not put away his Xuanbi. Yuzhu and the other two also summoned their swords and held them tightly in their hands.
Entering the cave entrance, there is a dark passage.
Yu Zhu and the other two walked slowly forward. The sunlight outside the cave gradually disappeared. After about a hundred paces, a faint light appeared ahead.
The group perked up and quickened their pace, entering a stone chamber.
The ruins consist of several interconnected stone chambers. Thanks to the intelligence gathered earlier, Yu Zhu and the other two successfully reached the third stone chamber, which was also the chamber where the cultivators had suffered repeated defeats in the past few days.
Everyone guessed that the third stone chamber was followed by the last one.
At this time, in addition to Yu Zhu and the other two, there were thirteen other people, including members of the original team and cultivators who joined later.
Upon reaching the door of the third stone chamber, all that could be seen inside was the carvings and cracks on the walls.
Yu Zhu examined the carvings closely and discerned from the details that they depicted the method of sword forging. However, these carvings had been destroyed, and their key aspects remained unknown.
Although there was nothing there, the group still dared not let their guard down.
According to previous intelligence, wind blades will appear on this floor. It is unknown where the wind comes from, but it passes through the cracks in the wall and forms countless wind blades.
At this point, everyone hesitated, crowding at the doorway and reluctant to take a step.
Yu Zhu was last, and she swallowed another half bottle of Rejuvenation Pills. Actually, she felt quite good now; the Divine Soul Seal was not moving, nor were the Blood-Drinking Worms.
The three exchanged a glance, and stepped into the stone chamber. As soon as they entered, a howling wind arose, and blades of wind rushed towards them.
Yu Zhu and the others used their weapons to defend themselves, and although they were not injured, they could not make any progress.
Yu Zhu lagged behind, throwing a handful of Cloud Ice Beads into the crack in the wall with her left hand and activating them, instantly freezing the crack. Seeing that it was effective, she threw out several more beads in succession, but because she couldn't dodge in time, her left arm was cut by several wind blades, leaving bloody marks.
As the wind blades diminished, the people at the entrance began to move, leaving only four people still observing. With the increase in numbers, Yu Zhu and the others quickly reached the center of the stone chamber.
Click! Click!
With several consecutive sounds, the ice in the crevice was shattered by the wind, and the wind blades became denser again.
Changyou retreated into the protective circle formed by the crowd. He drew an array in the void with his Xuanbi, raised his hand and pressed down. The complex array diagram fell to the ground and emitted a burst of golden light. Then, streams of light golden spiritual energy were drawn onto the four walls like ink. When the spiritual energy touched the top, the wind stopped abruptly.
A hint of surprise flashed across Yu Zhu's face, but she quickly concealed it.
"Fellow Daoist, your formation is excellent!" someone complimented.
"I must thank you all for covering me as I reached the center of the stone chamber. This formation won't last much longer, so let's hurry and find the next stone chamber," Changyou said calmly.
Strangely enough, the doors to the previous stone chambers were all quite obvious, but this one had no door. The group had no choice but to put away their weapons and examine every inch of the stone wall to find the mechanism.
Changyou monitored the formation from the middle, while Yuzhu and Jingxu stood side by side, their palms covered with spiritual energy as they stroked the stone wall.
"not good!"
Changyou suddenly exclaimed, and Yuzhu abruptly turned her head to look at him on the right, "The restriction on the cave entrance has been..."
Out of the corner of her eye, Yu Zhu saw a hand pushing towards Jing Xu. She quickly pulled Jing Xu away and turned around to block with her left arm, but unexpectedly, another palm struck her and slammed her against the wall.
The hard stone wall struck Yuzhu's back hard, which should have caused severe pain, but instead felt like falling into a swamp.
"Senior Sister!"
Just then, Yu Zhu heard Jing Xu shout, and everything went black before her eyes.
With a snap, Yuzhu flew out from a stone wall and landed on the ground.
Suddenly, the divine soul imprint within her body began to stir restlessly, as if it wanted to leap out of Yu Zhu's body. Her dantian felt as if it were being chiseled. Yu Zhu clutched her stomach and rolled around in pain. If she were to look inward at her dantian at this moment, she would find that her nascent soul was also wailing incessantly.
Yu Zhu endured the excruciating pain, meditated, circulated her spiritual energy, calmed her mind, and slowly, the pain disappeared.
Yu Zhu frowned as she examined the room. There was a dark red mark drawn on the floor along the corner of the wall. She touched it with her finger and found it was blood. It seemed that someone had used blood to set up an array, an array that affected the primordial spirit and could also affect the soul.
Yu Zhu's expression turned cold; this was directed at Jing Xu.
Yu Zhu tapped the stone wall; it felt hard, as if the softness from before had been an illusion. Looking around, Yu Zhu released her spiritual energy to sense her surroundings. This seemed to be a secret chamber?
Yu Zhu summoned her sword, imbued it with spiritual power, and slashed at the stone wall she had fallen into, leaving a deep mark. Yu Zhu regained her spirits and prepared to strike a few more times.
As soon as she raised her hand, a sudden pressure descended, forcing Yu Zhu to kneel on one knee with her sword planted on the ground. Her hands unconsciously gripped the hilt of the sword, and her internal organs felt as if they were being crushed by a boulder.
Yu Zhu circulated her spiritual energy, spreading it throughout her body to resist the oppressive force. She didn't know how much time had passed, but Yu Zhu remained in the same posture. The oppressive force persisted, but Yu Zhu's spiritual energy was nearly exhausted. She was covered in sweat and bit her lower lip tightly.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Yu Zhu trembled, her longsword slipped from her hand, and she fell forward, kneeling against the stone wall with her head in her knees.
Suddenly, the oppressive aura vanished, and a compassionate voice reached Yu Zhu's ears: "The way of the sword is born of slaughter, but its ultimate destination is the absence of a blade."
Yu Zhu looked at the long sword on the ground. After a moment, she tentatively picked it up. Sure enough, the oppressive aura returned, and Yu Zhu immediately let go.
Yu Zhu laughed in exasperation. A sword master and a swordsmith, the last piece of advice they left for others was to be without a blade, to discard the sword in their hands.
Yu Zhu consumed another half bottle of pills to replenish her energy, then observed the wall in front of her. Her divine soul imprint seemed to sense something about this wall. Yu Zhu carefully touched it and indeed found a slightly rough spot, and even sensed a trace of residual spiritual energy, as if someone had carved words on it and then worn them away.
Yu Zhu tried to slowly restore the words, and sure enough, there were a few sentences: This son of the Spirit Clan, unworthy of the title of Sword Master, advises people to abandon their swords as if they were abandoning their lives; those who come after him should not follow him. To leave this place, only the higher realms can be reached. Signed Baili Hanying.
Yu Zhu raised an eyebrow. While there was some truth to what he said, Baili Hanying was quite arrogant to dare look down on the Spirit Race, a faith in the cultivation world. What surprised Yu Zhu the most was that even members of the Baili clan would denigrate the Spirit Race. Weren't they die-hard fans of the Spirit Race?
There's no time to lose; we just need to find a way out.
Yu Zhu waved her hand, trying to put the sword back into her spiritual energy bag, but the sword wouldn't budge. She had no choice but to abandon the sword, soar into the air, and seemingly passed through another swamp, where she reappeared underwater.
Yu Zhu immediately used her water-avoidance technique and swam ashore.
It turns out that the top of this cloud-covered mountain is a lake, which may be the quenching pool where the Sword Master Wuren forged his sword in the past.
Yu Zhu had no interest in looking any further and hurriedly went down the mountain, wondering how Jing Xu and her senior brother were doing.
Before even returning to the entrance of the ruins, Yu Zhu heard a fierce fight.
Bang! Jing Xu was sent flying to the ground by a palm strike from a black-robed cultivator.
The black-robed cultivator extended his palm in a claw shape, and gray demonic power also condensed into a claw that lunged at Jing Xu. Jing Xu timely unleashed the sect leader's sword intent, which dispersed the demonic claw, and even had the strength to attack the black-robed cultivator.
The black-robed cultivator easily dodged the attack and prepared to strike Jing Xu again, but suddenly stopped and turned around.
It turned out that Yu Zhu had deployed the Mirage Array.
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