Chen Xuan looked at those weak and helpless vengeful spirits with a happy smile on his face.
"I've seen so many demons and monsters that I suddenly find vengeful spirits quite cute."
"No, I need to stop this thought. I'm a man with a fiancée. Vengeful spirits are just tools for gaining experience, nothing more."
As he muttered to himself, Chen Xuan's sword moved like flowing clouds—one sword, one vengeful spirit. The experience wasn't much, but he just liked this steady feeling.
Not far away, Liu Yunmeng and Qin Jiaojiao watched Chen Xuan's proficiency with many question marks floating in their heads.
The two girls exchanged glances and spoke in unison: "You go first."
Liu Yunmeng smiled and made a gesture of invitation, indicating the other should speak first.
"Senior Brother Chen is clearly so powerful, so why is he slaying these vengeful spirits? At our Yujian Palace, this kind of work is done by outer disciples," Qin Jiaojiao said with puzzlement.
"No, look carefully."
Liu Yunmeng pointed at a vengeful spirit Chen Xuan had just slain: "Although they're all weak, the aura they emit is different.
The higher up you go, the more powerful the aura on the vengeful spirits. I don't know where these things came from, but I can be certain they were all powerful experts when they were alive."
"Ouch!"
Qin Jiaojiao wasn't paying attention and tripped over something, falling down.
Liu Yunmeng quickly helped her up while secretly glancing toward Chen Xuan. Seeing he was still immersed in the joy of slaying vengeful spirits, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Are you okay?"
"This broken mound—how dare it trip this young miss! Watch how I deal with it!"
Qin Jiaojiao cursed, her sword instantly leaving its sheath and hacking toward that mound.
Liu Yunmeng wanted to stop her but it was too late—trouble, they were going to be exposed.
Ding!
Qin Jiaojiao's sword came down with neither earth-shaking force nor an exploded mound—only a sword mark remained on the surface, accompanied by a crisp sound.
Then her sword broke...
The situation was awkward for a moment. Although Liu Yunmeng wasn't a sword cultivator, she could tell that Qin Jiaojiao's sword was a high-quality magical artifact—yet it couldn't even split a stone.
Qin Jiaojiao looked at her broken sword and wanted to cry. This was a treasure her master had given her before she descended the mountain—and she hadn't even slain a single demon.
To have it break while chopping a stone—if word got back, she'd be laughed out of her teeth by her fellow disciples.
"This stone isn't ordinary."
Liu Yunmeng casually found an excuse to ease the awkwardness.
This only made Qin Jiaojiao angrier.
"I don't care what kind of stone it is. Today I want to see what thing made this young miss fall and break my sword!"
She said this while using her broken sword to dig away all the dirt from the stone. Only halfway through digging, Qin Jiaojiao stopped—seeing that beneath the mound was actually a stone tablet.
Her hands began to tremble. After gently brushing away the dirt, she saw with shock that the broken tablet bore the three large characters 'Flying Leaf Saint' and nearly cried.
"We're in big trouble—this is the sword tomb of Patriarch Flying Leaf!"
"Patriarch?"
Liu Yunmeng was also stunned. Although their Wangqing Palace was a Holy Sect, it had only produced two Great Sages, and only one could be called a Patriarch.
That a random mound halfway up Wushang Sword Sect's mountain contained a Patriarch's sword tomb made her suddenly feel how shabby her own sect was.
"Mm."
Qin Jiaojiao tried hard not to cry: "I once heard a legend in the sect that when Wushang Sword Sect dominated the nine heavens and ten earths in ancient times,
they would create sword tombs for deceased high-level members. Wushang Sword Sect was so powerful then that Great Sages and Saints were numerous, and there were even hundreds of God Kings and God Emperors. Eventually, this sword tomb became an entire mountain.
I always thought my master was bragging, but now I've caused a catastrophe..."
"..."
Liu Yunmeng didn't know what to say for a moment. She'd never heard her own master brag about God Kings and God Emperors—how was your Yujian Palace superior to my Wangqing Palace when both were Holy Sects?
"You'd better cover it back up quickly. I believe Patriarch Flying Leaf won't blame you."
"I suppose that's the only option."
Qin Jiaojiao quickly covered the dirt back and kowtowed three times to the tablet: "Patriarch above, please be magnanimous and forgive this disciple this once."
After saying this, Qin Jiaojiao still looked terrified, while Liu Yunmeng looked around.
"We've lost track of Young Master Chen."
"What?"
After Qin Jiaojiao used a cleansing talisman to clear all the dirt from her body, she said: "Senior Brother must have gone up the mountain. Let's follow and we should be able to find him."
"You're not allowed to chop randomly anymore."
Liu Yunmeng was worried Qin Jiaojiao would hack some great power's sword tomb and cause the sword spirits inside to fly out and chop them two little novices to pieces.
"I'll be careful."
Qin Jiaojiao also couldn't worry about her broken sword—with all these big shots' sword tombs on the mountain, not a single one was someone she could afford to offend.
The two girls subconsciously quickened their pace. About a few minutes later, they saw Chen Xuan's silhouette.
Moonlight shone on Chen Xuan's profile, making him appear extraordinarily handsome. The two girls were instantly captivated.
"Senior Brother Chen is handsome even when he's not speaking," Qin Jiaojiao said subconsciously.
"..." Liu Yunmeng said nothing, just gave her a look to figure it out herself.
After following for an hour, Liu Yunmeng and Qin Jiaojiao found they were approaching the summit, yet they couldn't take another step up the mountain—it was as if something was blocking them.
"What's going on?" Liu Yunmeng asked subconsciously.
"Em... Emperor Sword!"
Qin Jiaojiao pointed at the three proudly standing divine swords on the summit, her words becoming incoherent.
"How do you know?"
"The sword on the left was the personal sword of Patriarch Fei Hong Empress from my Yujian Palace lineage!"
Qin Jiaojiao said this and immediately knelt on the ground to worship toward that immortal sword.
Liu Yunmeng only glanced up once and instantly felt her brain struck as if by a heavy blow, nearly fainting. She barely steadied herself but didn't dare look at the Emperor Sword again.
"Is this the Emperor Sword? Still within the sword tomb yet possessing such power—but what is Young Master Chen doing?"
Qin Jiaojiao raised her head and watched Senior Brother Chen walk step by step toward the Emperor Swords, confusion appearing on her face.
"He's not planning to pull out the Emperor Sword, is he? That would be fatal."
Under the two girls' puzzled gazes, Chen Xuan drew his precious sword.
"???"
Question marks nearly overflowed from Qin Jiaojiao and Liu Yunmeng's heads.
"Are there any legends in your sect about people competing against Emperor Swords?"
"No, I've never seen an Emperor Sword before either." Qin Jiaojiao shook her head.
Before the words had fallen, the two girls noticed something was wrong...
Unlock 30 chapters instantly (for the price of the old 20-chapter tier) and get 50–55 new chapters every month.
If you're enjoying the story, consider supporting me here:
patreon.com/Alex_Cruise