Is the common folk Tao talking about autumn? You say Black Spirit Valley Dao, this person defeated Tai Ling Sect’s Ji Lingzi with two hundred and one swords? The first two hundred swords were all defensive, holding firm against the Taiqing Wind-Riding Sword without yielding. Only the very last sword was an attack, and with that, he defeated Ji Lingzi? Hm. This person is truly somewhat interesting—that little bamboo bird chirped incessantly. Jue Yu paid it little mind: “Battle Formation Unparalleled? What has that to do with me? I only hope this person can break through to the Seventh Order by then. I, Jue Yu, might gain another worthy opponent!”
After a contemplative glance towards the distant horizon, Jue Yu lingered no more and proceeded down the mountain path.
Though several thousand Danquan Sect disciples surrounded this place, not a single one dared to obstruct him.
And those dozen or so elders, their faces ashen, did not dare to cast a single glance his way from beginning to end.
Xuanyuan Yiren frowned. However, at this moment, what concerned her most was not the blow dealt to the Sect’s reputation this time. With nearly half of the Nineteen Spirit Mansions having lost face under Jue Yu’s sword, Danquan Sect was hardly an exception.
What truly occupied her thoughts was Jue Yu’s self-muttering just now.
“Cangsheng Dao’s Tao Tanqiu?”
For some inexplicable reason, she instinctively felt that this name must be connected to Zong Shou.
Perhaps it was the pseudonym her disciple was using within the Cangsheng Dao.
Her gaze swept across the area for a moment, and not long after, Xuanyuan Yiren’s eyes lit up slightly.
Without betraying any emotion, Xuanyuan Yiren approached a young man in blue robes who was currently knitting his brows in deep contemplation.
“Senior Brother Yuanding, may I ask who this Tan Qiu is?”
The person she questioned was Senior Brother Yuanding, the one she had tried to persuade to leave after they departed Cloud Saint City.
He ranked seventh among the martial siblings, but being from a prominent family, his access to information far surpassed hers. He was intimately familiar with all the major and minor rumors circulating within the Cultivation World.
Yuanding, lost in his own thoughts, was startled by her address. He turned his head to look, then breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, it’s Junior Sister?”
A smile immediately touched his lips: “Junior Sister is asking about that Cangsheng Dao’s Tao Tanqiu? That name is famous throughout all the sects of the Cloud Realm now. How has Junior Sister not heard of him? That’s quite out of touch!”
Xuanyuan Yiren shook her head, wondering if this person was truly that famous. She had spent the last few days in strict seclusion, cultivating while awaiting her Master’s emergence from seclusion. She knew nothing of outside affairs.
Had Jue Yu not mentioned it just then, she would never have known this name.
But hearing Yuanding say that, Xuanyuan Yiren inexplicably felt a pang of shame.
“It’s no wonder, then. This matter is currently only spreading among the high-ranking officials of the great families within the Cloud Realm sects; it hasn’t broadly disseminated yet. It’s normal that you wouldn’t know.”
Watching Yuanding speak on so smoothly, without a trace of embarrassment, Xuanyuan Yiren desperately wished she could punch him in the face. Even if it hadn't spread widely, on what grounds did he call her ignorant?
Fortunately, the next moment, Yuanding’s expression turned serious: “Has Junior Sister heard of the Yan City Pass rebellion twenty years ago? The Cangsheng Dao not only lost a core disciple in that incident, but the total personnel lost over the years numbered no less than four hundred! Though, the Cangsheng Dao traitor Yuan Jiuchen was recently executed, and the Tai Ling Sect also suffered heavy losses. Their main force, the Purple Cloud Sword Cavalry, has seen four-tenths of their number eliminated. It is said that the main managing disciple of the Cangsheng Dao is this very Tan Qiu. First, he persuaded the King of Han to abandon Yuan Jiuchen, and then he led eight hundred Cangsheng Profound Dragon Riders to a great victory against an enemy several times their number. Following that, in the Black Spirit Valley Dao, he defeated the long-renowned Ji Lingzi with his sword. I heard these details from my Master; I don’t know the specifics, however. But this person is now acclaimed as a rising star in the Cloud Realm’s swordsmanship, mentioned in the same breath as your fiancé…”
Xuanyuan Yiren’s eyes brightened; she could now confirm that this Tan Qiu was undoubtedly Zong Shou.
Her husband, indeed, could not hide his sharpness no matter where he was.
In the vast Guangling Sea, a location deep within the desert but slightly to the south, a luxuriously decorated Cloud-Flipping Carriage hovered silently above a small sand dune.
Beside the carriage was a bottomless pit.
Normally, digging a pit in this desert would be a thankless, arduous task. But now, the sand surrounding this pit had been petrified in patches, allowing the pit to successfully burrow deep into the earth.
“It should be here!”
At two thousand zhang underground, the base below was already unyielding. Furthermore, an invisible resistance prevented them from digging any deeper.
Zong Shou decisively halted, urging threads of soul power into his eyes to scan the surroundings.
Within a hundred zhang, everything was visible, even the minute microorganisms surviving within the layers of sand.
Beneath his feet, within ten zhang, he could now see not only a solid layer of rock but also faint runes appearing in his sight. Judging by their pattern, it was an extremely complex and profound spirit formation.
A full twelve complete Dragon Veins were supplying the operation of this array, allowing this location to drift within the Guangling Sea while possessing astonishing defensive capabilities, sealing the internal space into an isolated world.
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and Zong Shou took out the ‘Nine Transformations Obstacle Breaking Talisman’ that he had exchanged for a full two hundred thousand merits.
As he continuously poured his soul power into the golden immortal talisman, its radiance grew ever more dazzling, shimmering with golden light.
When Zong Shou finally ‘fed’ the immortal talisman to satiety, he was drenched in cold sweat, his sea of consciousness nearly dried up. Yet, he dared not delay. He chanted a spiritual incantation and finally brought the talisman into activation. The Nine Transformations Obstacle Breaking Talisman immediately transformed into a ball of golden light and shot underground.
This caused waves of fluctuating vibrations in the nearby spiritual energy. The spirit formation below reacted instantly, vigorously attempting to prevent the descent of the golden light.
However, the latter then shifted. It suddenly scattered completely, turning into specks of golden motes of light that seeped inward.
Sometimes a fierce assault. Sometimes subtle infiltration. Sometimes causing the fluctuations of surrounding spiritual energy to agitate the array.
A single spiritual technique acted as if it possessed independent intelligence, cycling through several transformations, rendering the grand array below completely unable to cope, causing it to disintegrate piece by piece.
After consuming a Restoration Pill provided by the Sect, Zong Shou closed his eyes to rest. He waited for a full half an hour, then a flash of white light suddenly emanated from his sleeve. The solid wall below, upon which they previously could not leave even a trace, instantly cracked open in response.
In a moment, a gap just large enough for one person appeared before everyone.
Descending further, they encountered no further rejection from any spirit formations. At one hundred and twenty zhang, the area below was hollow—a vast, expansive space opened before their eyes.
Ruoshui glanced around. In every direction—left, right, north, or south—the expanse was boundless. However, looking down from above, one could vaguely discern that the terrain below was built to mimic the mountains and rivers of the Cloud Realm.
Silver mercury replaced rivers, flowing turbulently.
And in the four cardinal directions—southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest—stood four colossal golden bronze figures.
“Is that mountain the Source Mountain?”
With his very first glance, Ruoshui recognized a hundred-zhang-tall rockery in the southeast corner, mirroring the Source Mountain, the foremost mountain of the Cloud Realm.
Then Ruoshui froze, utterly stunned. The topography here was different from the present. The position of the Source Mountain was also slightly off; here, its height was only the third highest.
This constructed landscape of mountains and rivers was precisely that of ten thousand years ago, before the Cloud Continent had shattered.
Even Zong Yuan standing beside him had a blank expression, astonishment flickering in his eyes.
Only Chuxue remained utterly bewildered.
“Young Master, what is this place? Why is it so filled with Yin energy…”
“You can tell what it is by looking at the scene inside—naturally, it is the Tomb of the First Emperor!”
Zong Shou explained casually, but Chuxue remained lost, her face clearly etched with countless question marks.
Zong Shou didn’t find it strange; it would be miraculous if this girl had heard of it. He never expected too much from Xue’er’s intelligence quotient.
He leaped down suddenly and stood atop a false rock formation. Looking up, he could indeed see a blue sky with sun, moon, and stars, though he had now excavated a hole through it.
Ruoshui, Zong Yuan, and Chuxue followed suit, though the first two wore subtle expressions of worry.
Zong Shou knew what they were concerned about. He shook his head, gazed steadily at a gigantic suspended sarcophagus about fifty li away, and said, “Rest assured, this is merely a false tomb, a cenotaph. As long as we do not disturb the actual corpse of the First Emperor, nor lay eyes on his treasures, and carefully avoid triggering the restrictions, we will be safe.”
Besides the sixteen bronze figures, there were countless seemingly clay-made Terracotta Warriors—dense, numbering one hundred thousand in total, arrayed in formations on all sides.
They appeared inanimate, but Zong Shou knew well that if he carelessly triggered the killing formation here, these Terracotta Warriors would awaken and transform into instruments of slaughter. Every single warrior, even the most common ones, possessed combat power equivalent to a Sixth-Order Xuanwu Sect expert.
And the Qin Empire founded by this First Emperor before his demise was not only the ancestor of the Central Dynasty but, at its peak, was a hundred times mightier than the Wu Lie Kingdom, which could easily massacre entire sects!
The elite troops under his command far surpassed the Blood Cloud Cavalry!
It was said that these Terracotta Warriors were interred with the most elite soldiers and powerful slaves chosen to accompany the Emperor in death.
And the sixteen bronze figures were powerful enough to rival Celestial-Tier entities!
Though he spoke lightly, Zong Shou proceeded with caution afterwards. Activating a spiritual technique, he subtly sensed the location of his objective and headed south.
He had visited this subsidiary tomb of the First Emperor more than ten times in his previous life, so he was quite familiar with it—though it was within a game.
As a low-to-mid-level instance, this subsidiary tomb had decent drop rates, making it extremely popular among players. Zong Shou himself had battled fiercely within this graveyard for several days and nights.
What surprised and delighted him most now was that although there were distinct differences from the God Emperor game of his previous life, the general layout was the same.
What he sought this time was naturally not the burial artifacts of the First Emperor, thus minimizing the danger.