253 Brilliant Chess Player

"Wait a minute!"

When Wang Lu was about to launch the spirit sword heavenly talisman to immediately return back to the sect, Sword Demon finally could not maintain his calm stance anymore; he coldly called out, "Wait a minute!"

Wang Lu inwardly sighed. "You finally couldn’t hold back?"

"What might be your advice, Mr. Sword Demon?"

Sword Demon cast a glance on Wang Lu’s mustard seed bag. "The magical talisman in your bag, was that a talisman bestowed by your sect to be used in the critical moment to send you back to your sect? If you use it rashly here, aren’t you afraid it would shock the space and rip you into powder?"

Wang Lu said, "Since it’s a way to save the life bestowed by the sect, naturally, it has a way to save the life. In theory, no matter the danger, even in the abyss of the devil realm or the western continent, all of them are incapable to cut off the transmission effect of the magical talisman."

"Oh? It’s actually that miraculous?"

Wang Lu explained, "After the end of the Age of Chaos, although the strength of the cultivators is not as powerful as before, there has been a lot of advancement in technique and skill compared to ten thousand years ago."

"This is an eye-opener for sure, might you be willing to let this old man borrow it for a view?"

Wang Lu just smiled at him. Since his experience in encountering the Great Elder of the Beast Master Sect on the Grand Cloud Mountain, Wang Lu would not let other people casually look at it no matter how stupid he was.

"Well, since you’re that suspicious, then so be it. And since you’re also so confident in your magical talisman, you might as well try it. But I have to warn you, don’t underestimate the power of the tomb. If it’s that easy to get out, do you think I would stay here until now?"

Wang Lu was silent for a while, and then he said with a smile, "If there’s another talisman available, next time I’ll remember to bring you with me."

Then, Wang Lu truly launched the talisman inside his mustard seed bag.

Right now, the situation has become completely out of his control. Every exchange with the Sword Demon was like facing into the abyss to him—behind the seemingly dull conversation lied the surging undertone. Rescuing Big Sister was indeed important, but it was not worth it if he too was to be trapped. Going as far as this has already shown his extreme tolerance, but now it was time to get out and leave.

The only question was, could he get out?

Boom!

The moment the spirit sword heavenly talisman was lit up, it set off a monstrous wave in the vast sea of bitterness. The black tide surged and tumbled fiercely, torn by an invisible giant force. Cracks instantly appeared all over the sea of bitterness boat, signaling that it was about to shatter at any moment. The bright place of the Sword Demon was also subjected to an enormous pressure and sharply reduced in size.

At the same time, Wang Lu’s heart sank. He knew that thing has gone from bad to worse.

Spirit sword heavenly talisman was indeed marvelous, but its energy was, after all, limited. Breaking the space barrier and setting up the transmission channel consumed an enormous amount of energy. Therefore, when produced, the heavenly talisman was manufactured very carefully in order to make every energy consumption as efficient as possible. When it really came into effect, the user would only silently disappear on the spot, and no extra change would occur. If the energy consumed caused a tidal wave, it could only mean that the transmission has failed.

Sure enough, a moment later, the tide on the sea of bitterness gradually subsided and Wang Lu, holding the remnant of the heavenly talisman, still found himself standing before Sword Demon and not appearing on the Spirit Sword Mountain.

Wang Lu silently closed his eyes and sighed.

At this time, saying anything was useless. Complaining that the treasure bestowed by the sect was not powerful enough? Lamenting that he shouldn’t have rashly rushed deep into the tomb? Speculating that the heavenly talisman has already expired? What was the use? When the decision was made, he should’ve taken full account of all possible outcomes...

Thus, right now what he must do was to start a new plan.

Although it was shocking that the heavenly talisman actually failed, it was not particularly unexpected; there were worst possible outcomes than this… He has yet to reach a dead end.

Just as Wang Lu was ready to collect himself, Sword Demon finally opened his mouth.

"You underestimated the ancient sword tomb. Your spirit sword heavenly talisman is indeed unique; unexpectedly, it could even shock the sea of bitterness. In my era, even the most brilliant talisman maker could not produce such a magical talisman. But then again, no matter how powerful and unique it is, it’s still produced with a mortal method, so it could not be effective against a true immortal level tomb."

Sword Demon paused for a moment and then continued, "To escape from this place, you have to have the means of a true immortal, or you need to have the approval of the master of this place."

"The master of this place?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Lu finally realized a problem.

Ancient sword tomb. The name implied that it was just a burial place for the sword. However, as he has gone as far as this, it was not difficult to find that the thing that was buried here was not as simple as the sword...

"The master of this place is Zhong Shengming."

Upon hearing this name, Wang Lu was immediately shocked. Zhong Shengming? What a familiar name! In ‘Bai Li Ascension Biography’, a record about Bai Li’s Sword God was written down. The character was not a true immortal, it was even better than it!

According to the rumors, sixteen thousand years ago, with his powerful sword cultivation, Bai Li’s Sword God Zhong Shengming went around unhindered in the Nine regions. Powered by primal chaos energy cultivation, the Sword God was unequaled under the heaven. He was one of the illustrious figures before the Age of Chaos. Wang Lu very clearly remembered the written record in ‘Bai Li Ascension Biography’: In all his life, Zhong Shengming has never been defeated. His real accomplishment that cemented his reputation was him breaking the divine tribulation.

More than twenty thousand years ago, in Bai Li Region, there was an old devil who tried to steal a mystery known only to heaven, which caused the wrath of heaven, leading to continuous heavenly calamity. People in the Bai Li Region suffered a terrible situation and the Feng Shui line in that region wilted, unable to recover in the whole one thousand years.

Later on, the heavenly calamity finally stopped. However, the ninth heaven’s firmament in the Bai Li Region remained especially gloomy. The immortal cultivation road of cultivators that cultivated in this region were extremely bumpy compared to that of other regions; every level became extremely difficult to past. And, after all of those difficulties, when these cultivators reached Mahayana Stage, the divine tribulation that they need to face in order for them to ascend was far stronger than elsewhere.

For normal cultivators, it was either one in nine divine tribulation or two in nine divine tribulation. However, in this region, it was three in nine divine tribulation. Cultivators were practically unable to ascend from this region, so much that Bai Li Region nearly became the forbidden area in the immortal cultivation. Then, at that time, Zhong Shengming transformed the Feng Shui line in the Bai Li Region for his own use. After which, using his unrivaled Sword God cultivation, he drew the four in nine divine tribulation. His sword qi broke the night, scattering the ten thousand years of haze in one go, opening the light for the later generations of cultivators. After nearly ten thousand years of repression, Bai Li Region quickly glowed with extraordinary vigor. In the thousand years that followed, three Daoist Immortals successively ascended from this place, which was second only to the Central Region. 

However, after breaking the divine tribulation, Zhong Shengming himself was mortally wounded, and soon after, he fell and disappeared. When the later generations commented on this person, they were all deeply filled with regret. With such a show of power that broke the divine tribulation, he was not only a true immortal, he was even more than that. If only he managed to survive the divine tribulation, he would likely be a prominent figure in the immortal world!

In ‘Bai Li Ascension Biography’, Zhong Shengming fell from the sky in silence. His entire life was spent in an imposing manner, so it was also normal that he died in silence. Yet, unexpectedly, before he died, he still managed to refine such a tomb!

"The tomb was built before the final battle. Initially, it was meant as a place to look and pass on his legacy. However, after he broke the heavenly calamity, the four in nine divine tribulation has inflicted serious damage to Zhong Shengming. His Jade Mansion collapsed, and his primordial spirit routed."

"In his dying breath, he came alone to this place to seek for that slim chance of survival. He sealed himself inside the deepest part of the tomb and set up a link with the deeper layer of the Feng Shui line. After that, his primordial spirit dissolved into countless remnant souls to drive out the heavenly calamity. Each wisp of the remnant soul was connected with the Feng Shui line to absorb the external force and begin the transformation process. If the heaven cares, perhaps they would re-condensate again."

"This transformation process could perhaps succeed or not. And even if it could succeed, no one knows how long it would take. At that time, what Zhong Shengming did was simply the last effort of a dying man, but perhaps his life wasn’t supposed to end yet, or perhaps it was because of his karmic reward for the immeasurable achievement in opening up the path to immortality for the cultivators in the Bai Li Region. In short, after more than ten thousand years, those countless remnant souls finally stirred up, came to life and began to devour each other, gradually condensing into its original condition."

Here, Sword Demon paused for a moment and then, looking at Wang Lu with interest, he smiled and said, "However, even Zhong Shengming did not expect that this process ushered in a group of uninvited guests, causing things to get out of control.

Seeing that Wang Lu deeply wrinkled his brows, Sword Demon’s smile grew thicker. "This coming-back-from-the-death transformation method has extremely deadly flaws. When the countless remnant souls derived the external force to combine into one, there would unavoidably be impurities that slipped through during the process.

"These impurities are actually related with the cultivation method of Zhong Shengming. In cultivating the sword cultivation in all his life, he always did it bravely, slaying any evil or demon that stood in his way, never allowing them to come near him. However, after he died, all kinds of demons and devils quickly came and knocked on his doorsteps. In order to avoid degenerating into a demon when resurrected, before he died, Zhong Shengming made an arrangement.

"He divided the array buried in this tomb into yin and yang array, which would split the countless remnant souls into two factions and then built a guardian to suppress the demon faction. In the last step of his resurrection, he would just let the guardian refine the remnant souls on the demon faction, and then combine its soul essence with that of the other faction into one to come back from the dead. Although this arrangement couldn’t be regarded as perfect, and after thousands of years have passed the mechanisms in the tomb have become more rigid and decayed, but in general, they still worked as intended. What a pity, in the eve of successful resurrection, the outsiders that came into this sword tomb rashly shattered the guardian that suppressed the demon faction, thus freed a certain demon that was surely about to die."

Upon hearing this, Wang Lu suddenly remembered something.

Previously at the eight virtues trial, Wang Lu became suspicious of that ice-cold sound, guessing that there must be an evil behind the scene manipulator. However, when he carefully thought about it, that voice first appeared on the level four, when it told them to attack the guardian! In other words...

It was indeed a blunder!

After taking a deep breath, Wang Lu gave out a full-of-self-deprecating smile. This sword tomb exploration was a mistake; the people of the four sects have been played by another right from the start! This Sword Demon only used a few words, and everyone immediately went to the wrong direction! No matter whether it was the Successor Disciple of the Shengjing Sect, Lead Representative of Kunlun Immortal Sect, or the ultra-professional adventurer, they have all been played like puppets being played by a puppeteer.

However, rather than being shocked by the truth, it was more important to think about the question: What was the intention of this Sword Demon in revealing the truth?

"I want you to help me, which would also help you. As I said just now, you and I are in the deepest part of the tomb where it’s completely sealed. If you want to go out of this, you have to obtain the permission from its master. Although I’m a remnant soul of Zhong Shengming, my state is not complete, so I cannot be fully me. Therefore, I don’t have the authority to open the seal. But, there’s a way for me to have that authority."

While speaking, Sword Demon waved his hand and a crystal mirror appeared in front of him.

Within that mirror, there was a similar white-haired old man, with similar look and attire. The only difference was the word on the back was ‘God’ instead of ‘Demon’.

Obviously, this was another remnant soul of Zhong Shengming, symbolizing the upright and straight Sword God Zhong Shengming.

Wang Lu then saw that, standing beside that Sword God, there was a long-lost figure.

Big Sister, Zhu Shiyao!