Zong Shou only snapped awake when the colossal Thunder Dragon intended to swallow his consciousness. His soul-sense burst forth, shattering the illusion instantly!

There was one such depiction on the left and one on the right, differing only in angle, and thus, in the insight gained.

Then, he felt a scorching heat within him, emanating from the latent Thunder-Winged Sun Snake. It seemed to have just undergone some ordeal, its very core still violently vibrating.

Meanwhile, Zong Yuan had already moved on to stand before another mural, gazing upon it silently.

A full quarter of an hour passed before Zong Yuan’s fervent, almost devotional gaze finally subsided, and his composure returned.

Zong Shou laughed and asked, "How many did you see?"

"Twelve! If I could fully comprehend them all, I would surely grasp a new Martial Dao concept. Alas, I cannot fully master them, though they have provided considerable benefit to my Raging Thunder Spear Intent."

Saying this, Zong Yuan’s gaze drifted back to the mural of the Thunder Dragon on the left. "Especially these two—they truly brought sudden enlightenment!"

He brandished the spear in his hand within the stone chamber, and a flash of lightning appeared, resembling a winding, swimming dragon, yet imbued with a certain tyrannical might.

Zong Shou felt a surge of pleasant surprise. He himself had only perceived eighteen illusory scenes. This wasn't necessarily due to his comprehension being vastly superior to Zong Yuan's; rather, it stemmed from the foundation of his previous life. Most of these patterns resonated with him instantly.

He pointed to the dual dragons locked in ice and fire, "What did you perceive in this mural?"

Zong Yuan frowned, a hint of helplessness in his expression. "I only saw some lines."

Zong Shou felt somewhat speechless. Truly, the same object presented entirely different appearances to different eyes.

He estimated that the Thunder Dragon mural must have appeared completely disparate to both of them.

Just as he was about to lead the way out, Zong Shou suddenly felt a slight stirring in his heart and looked up toward the ceiling of the stone chamber. He saw streaks of natural grain running across it. Their color was extremely dim, almost unnoticeable. The only reason they caught Zong Shou’s attention was that there were exactly nine of these natural patterns.

"What is this? It faintly resembles the trajectory of a sword path, yet if one were to enact it fully, it would be incomplete. Could it correspond to Dragon Veins? That also seems slightly off. Legend says the Old Man of Dragon Shadow was an ancient Demon Race member possessing Dragon Blood inheritance. He possessed Dragon Veins and spent his entire life studying the nine true dragons of heaven and earth. He deduced nine distinct True Dragon Sword Intents, and in the final years of the Cloud Barren era, he merged them into one, creating the Dragon Shadow Sword Style. Its combat prowess surpasses that of a genuine Celestial Dragon. Could this be related to him?"

Unable to decipher it, Zong Shou scanned his surroundings but found nothing else of note, so he committed the trajectory of the patterns entirely to memory.

Only then did he begin searching for the next location. Following the map, Zong Shou, as if familiar with the route, located another cavern.

According to the map’s marking, this was the 'Sword Scar Location,' another chamber measuring five zhang square.

When Zong Shou arrived, five or six people were already present. Zong Shou looked toward the two walls and saw that both sides were entirely blank, save for numerous sword marks.

Zong Shou’s eyes brightened. He knew these marks were clearly left by an expert. Although they only reached the level of potential (), short of true Martial Intent, they were far more refined than those he had demonstrated to Lei Dong previously.

Compared to the baffling wall murals, these were much clearer and easier to understand.

He tried mimicking the sword marks one by one. Only after he could roughly replicate them did Zong Shou express satisfaction and prepare to leave.

What puzzled him was that he could still only fully grasp eighteen of the sword marks; the rest remained entirely beyond his comprehension, no matter how he tried.

The surprising discovery was the ceiling of the chamber above, which still held a profound mystery. It also featured naturally formed patterns, but these were completely different from the previous trajectory. And this time, there were also nine patterns.

Zong Shou discreetly committed them to memory. After Zong Yuan had finished examining the dozen or so sword marks he understood, Zong Shou swiftly departed. However, just as he was about to step out of the chamber, he overheard two people chatting.

The first sighed, "Twenty-six sword marks. It's a pity; I studied them for half a day and only vaguely grasped six. I heard that comprehending even a fraction of these marks allows one to grasp one of the nine True Dragon Sword Intents. If one masters them all, even the Nine-Nine Dragon Shadow Sword could be learned. It seems Shi Shu is destined to be without fate regarding this Dragon Shadow Sword."

"Why be so disheartened, Brother Shi? I heard that nearly half of these twenty-six marks are false; only eighteen are genuine. For you to grasp six in half a day means you’ve grasped one-third. Such comprehension is likely no less than that of the direct disciples of major sects."

Zong Shou’s expression froze slightly. Twenty-six marks, and eighteen were true? That meant he had comprehended all eighteen genuine ones.

The third chamber was the location marked on the map as containing the incomplete sword incantations.

This time, Zong Shou ignored the inscriptions on the side walls and looked directly above. There were no traces, no patterns whatsoever.

Zong Shou frowned, then turned his attention to the two walls.

The first line read: 'The dragon battles in the fields; its blood stains the dark yellow earth.'

The second line: 'It can be great or small, able to ascend or hide: great, it stirs clouds and summons mist; small, it lurks unseen; ascending, it soars between the cosmos; hidden, it submerges within the waves.'

The third line: 'The dragon walks on the peak's breath, its words are heard high in the heavens. Chaos seems newly divided, Cloud Barren appears to split apart.' He couldn't fully grasp it, but he sensed that the characters themselves were like latent dragon forms, swimming everywhere.

Zong Shou felt a subtle shift in his heart and compared these lines one by one with the sword marks and patterns he had previously seen. Indeed, there was something arcane connecting them.

However, it wasn't entirely surprising that the Hao Xuan Sect called it incomplete. Truly, many profound meanings remained unexpressed, preventing the full mastery of its subtlety.

As Zong Shou read through each line, discerning the authenticity of the twenty-six phrases, he looked up again and was once more stunned. Above him were glaringly visible nine patterns. Yet, when he looked moments before, there had been absolutely nothing there!

"Could it be that these patterns only become visible after one has comprehended the previous diagrams?"

Startled, Zong Shou hesitated not at all and immediately strode toward the next location.

The map recorded a total of eight such locations. After Zong Shou frantically visited the first seven marked spots, his expression grew increasingly heavy.

They were indeed interconnected. Almost every time he (comprehended/meditated on) two more, a new pattern would appear above.

But even now, he still couldn't figure out the connection between these seven sets of patterns. They crisscrossed, appearing similar yet distinct, almost impossible to link together.

Beside him, Zong Yuan watched with secret apprehension. He noticed that in the later stages, Zong Shou was becoming increasingly familiar with the path through the cave. Regardless of whether he had passed through before, he proceeded swiftly without hesitation.

Given Zong Shou’s age, he naturally couldn't have been here before. Thus, the only explanation was that Zong Shou had already uncovered the profound mechanism of this Maze Cave. But how was that possible?

At the seventh chamber, the space of five zhang north to south was crowded with dozens of people, packed shoulder-to-shoulder. Fortunately, most hadn't achieved true comprehension yet and remained relatively restrained.

Zong Yuan faintly sensed several gazes occasionally fixed upon them, radiating cold malice.

In truth, this had been the situation since the fifth and sixth caverns.

Yet, Zong Shou, as if possessed, seemed completely unaware, only maintaining vigilance in his heart against his surroundings.

The eighth location was the only one that was a vast hall, spanning three hundred zhang in circumference. It could be considered the 'Grand Hall' of the entire Maze Cave. Simply following the widest passage would lead one here, and it was also the best exit from the Dragon Gate Maze Cave.

Zong Shou had initially avoided this place, suspecting it would be too crowded from the start, but now he had no choice but to go.

While frantically trying to discern the mutual relationship between the seven sets of patterns in his mind, he suddenly felt an icy chill sweep over him from the front.

When Zong Shou’s mind snapped back to alertness and he focused his gaze ahead, he saw countless glints of cold light shooting toward him.

Just as he prepared to evade, a spear shadow lashed out from behind him. Spear thrusts flew out one after another, batting away the entire deluge of flying needles and arrows.

Then, in the next instant, he heard a True Word spoken.

"Shift Stars and Change Cosmos, Shift!"

Zong Shou’s heart sank slightly as he prepared to cast a spell. Then, he felt a strange force suddenly reinforce his body. In moments, the world spun before his eyes. When the image stabilized, he found himself within the expansive cavern.

Before him stood over a dozen people, staring coldly. Yun Xiong Yu and the troops accompanying him were also present, and standing directly opposite was Zong Yang, who had fled from Qian Tian Mountain—now wearing a look of smug satisfaction.

Behind Zong Yang stood three figures cloaked in snow, all Tier Six experts. The two further back were Spirit Masters, each maintaining a spirit array with pale faces, clearly having expended significant energy. Judging by the array’s style, it was a spatial transposition array.

The person directly in front was a Martial Master at the peak of the Black Tortoise stage, who smiled and bowed slightly: "Xue Shuitan of the Xue family, greetings, Your Highness. Distracting His Highness with the covert operative Zong Yuan, and using spirit arts to relocate Your Highness. What does Your Highness think of this strategy?"

Zong Shou offered no reply, knowing he had been careless, completely absorbed by the Dragon Shadow Sword. In truth, if these people had used any other lethal technique besides spatial transposition against him, he would have sensed it long ago.

He utterly disdained the man’s strategy; however, regardless, the opponent had succeeded, and there was nothing to criticize.

Just as Zong Shou was about to survey his surroundings, Xue Shuitan chuckled, "Is Your Highness looking for someone to call for aid? This location is the absolute periphery of the Maze Cave. My esteemed brothers have employed some methods—the Sky Fox Illusionary Art—so I imagine no one will be able to reach here for some time. In other words, even if we kill Your Highness here, no one will ever know."

"Why such meaningless chatter?" Yue Linghuan snapped, his face ashen. "Let's settle this quickly; I require another head to consecrate my father’s spirit in heaven!"

"Heh heh, that’s not entirely true! Does Brother Yue perhaps not wish to reclaim the Three Provinces?"

While Xue Shuitan was shaking his head and speaking, Zong Shou suddenly smiled a wicked smile: "I despise people like you the most! Do you truly think you have guaranteed victory?"

His composure momentarily faltered as Zong Shou’s figure instantly dissolved into afterimages and lunged forward with sudden speed.

Before the others could react, a roar erupted near Xiong Yu. A figure nearly ten feet tall lunged out first. At that precise moment, a streak of blade light flashed out from Zong Shou’s sleeve.

Xue Shuitan instinctively pulled Zong Yang’s figure in front of him as a shield. Then, they heard a muffled thud as Zong Yang’s chest and abdomen were utterly pulverized by a small, thin fist.

Another sword shadow slashed diagonally from the most unexpected direction, arriving mid-air and aiming straight for his neck.

For more novels, visit storyread.net.