Chapter 43: Chapter 40: The Divine Sword Seed

"Please enlighten us, Ape," Ye Chen requested.

Jiang Yao noticed the sorrow in the eyes of the great feathered bird deity. With a heart as clear and pure as her eyes, she felt uneasy at the sight of the deity's somber demeanor.

It was likely that the "Lian Yue" mentioned on the Ten Thousand Swords Stele had a significant connection to the great bird.

"'Lian Yue' was the old demon bird's master, Heavenly Saint Lian Yue! Just as the 'Qian Ji' mentioned above is my master, Heavenly Saint Qian Ji," the three-eyed giant ape had just revealed when the great bird suddenly let out a sharp, piercing cry: "Stop talking! You are not allowed to mention my master's name!"

"Alright, alright, I will stop," the three-eyed giant ape let out a wry chuckle.

It turned to Ye Chen and Jiang Yao, "If you can climb Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, once you reach the summit, you will understand everything when you see the invaluable Flying Sword Heritage."

Having said this, the three-eyed giant ape sighed deeply.

"Lian Yue" was the master of the great feathered bird?

Heavenly Saint Lian Yue, another powerhouse of the Heavenly Saint Realm?

The hint of a secret revealed by the three-eyed giant ape left Ye Chen and Jiang Yao completely shocked.

The Heavenly Saint Realm is a realm above the "True Qi Realm," "Spirit Sea Realm," and "Rotating Pill Realm," the legendary supreme sacred realm.

Currently, there are no Heavenly Saint Realm experts in Heavenly Wind Kingdom.

Who would have thought that the founders of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain were two existences at the level of Heavenly Saints!

"So the 'Lian Yue' on the Ten Thousand Swords Stele is actually the real master of the feathered bird!"

"No wonder when we first met the feathered bird, it did not show much respect for Qian Jizi. I thought it was strange for the bird to treat its master with such an attitude. It turns out it has another master!"

"This Heavenly Saint Lian Yue did not appear in the Qian Lian Cave Mansion, and it is not known where she is now. Seeing the expression of the feathered bird, could it be that Heavenly Saint Lian Yue has..."

Ye Chen was immensely curious about the "Heavenly Saint Lian Yue" who created Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, but since the great feathered bird did not want the three-eyed giant ape to talk about these things, it was not appropriate for Ye Chen to inquire further.

The sharp cry of the great feathered bird that interrupted the three-eyed giant ape led him and Jiang Yao to secretly speculate that it might involve some past events related to their two masters.

"Ye Chen, Jiang Yao."

At this moment, the great feathered bird had calmed its emotions. It looked at Ye Chen and Jiang Yao, "Regarding my master's affairs, it's not that I don't want to tell you, but telling you now is useless."

"If you can reach the summit of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain and obtain the 'Flying Sword Heritage,' I will tell you then."

"My master put a great deal of effort into that Flying Sword Heritage, even... in any case, if you obtain the Flying Sword Heritage, you must not forget my master's dedication!"

Does the Flying Sword Heritage also involve Heavenly Saint Lian Yue?

Ye Chen and Jiang Yao looked at each other, their curiosity about Heavenly Saint Lian Yue grew even stronger.

"Alright, we've reached Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. This second trial, you may now begin!"

The great feathered bird lifted its divine eyes to gaze at Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, then back to Ye Chen and Jiang Yao.

"This is the Life-Protection Law Badge; take good care of it."

With a flap of its wings, two palm-sized white law badges shot towards Ye Chen and Jiang Yao.

The two caught the badges and examined them, noting that the front of each badge was carved with a lotus flower pattern, while the back bore a small character for "Lian."

"Drop a droplet of your blood onto the badge. If you encounter a life-threatening danger on Ten Thousand Swords Mountain that you cannot withstand, this badge will teleport you directly out of the mountain."

Ye Chen and Jiang Yao did as instructed, each dropping a drop of blood onto their badge. The moment their blood touched the badges, the badges shone with milky white light. Then, the entire badge transformed into a lotus flower pattern and flew into their wrists.

Outside of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, Ye Chen found the swords on the mountain densely packed. Once inside Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, this feeling became even more pronounced.

Alongside the path they walked, countless treasured swords were inserted between rocks and stones – there were snowy white flexible swords, ink-black great swords, blue slim swords, and dusky wide swords of various kinds, haphazardly stuck everywhere without any order.

At the same time, these treasured swords were "buzzing" as they vibrated, occasionally emitting wisps of Sword Qi. Inside the whole Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, one could hear nothing but the sounds of swords singing and the presence of Sword Qi everywhere.

"Ye Chen, be careful!"

As Ye Chen was examining the treasured swords on the mountain, Jiang Yao's cautious voice suddenly reached his ears. At that moment, the treasured swords within a radius of several dozen yards, as if sensing their intrusion, suddenly burst into radiant light and began to swing wildly.

Instantly thereafter, a barrage of "whoosh whoosh whoosh" sounds erupted as numerous swords, previously embedded in rocks, soared into the air and lunged towards Ye Chen and Jiang Yao as if to strike them down.

The suddenly airborne treasured swords amounted to at least forty or fifty, forming two massive waves of treasured swords, shooting towards Ye Chen and Jiang Yao respectively.

As over twenty of those treasured swords shot towards Ye Chen, within his Sword Palace Acupoint between his eyebrows where Sword Qi Spirit Liquid was already tumultuously stirring, a small stream was seemingly attracted and burst forth as countless Sword Qi from within the Sword Palace Acupoint.

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The Sword Qi Spirit Liquid shot out from the Sword Palace Acupoint turned into silver-white Sword Qi, while the myriad of Treasured Swords flying towards him had Sword Qi that was inordinately mixed and impure.

Ye Chen reacted extremely fast. As the silver Sword Qi was shot out, his mind moved, and under the control of the Storm Rain Sword Intent, in an instant, countless strands of Sword Qi transformed into droplets of sword rain that intercepted the group of Treasured Swords.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The silver sword rain clashed with the group of Treasured Swords, and those swords were actually pierced by the silver sword rain and immediately fell to the ground.

Then, after vibrating with a "buzz" on the ground, these Treasured Swords flew back to their original positions, seemingly subdued, no longer attacking Ye Chen.

On the other side, Jiang Yao also began to manipulate the silver Sword Qi that shot out from her Sword Palace Acupoint. Under her control, that silver Sword Qi astonishingly transformed into streaks of lightning that likewise knocked down large numbers of Treasured Swords, completely subduing them!

As the girl made her move, her waterfall-like hair flew behind her, and her delicate face, fixed on the sky, looked serious and captivating.

After subduing the first wave of attacking Treasured Swords, she retracted the silver Sword Qi back into her Sword Palace Acupoint, turned her head, and her starry bright eyes looked towards Ye Chen. When she saw that Ye Chen had already subdued the batch of Treasured Swords aimed at him, a smile flickered through her eyes.

"Ye Chen, these Treasured Swords at the very bottom of Ten Thousand Swords Mountain were won by Senior Qian Ji and Senior Lian Yue during the 'True Qi Realm Sword Dueling Tournament'. They are all Mysterious Instruments commonly used by True Qi Realm warriors, quite easy for us to deal with," she said.

Mysterious Instruments are weapons that can withstand the attacks of True Qi Realm warriors, a quality level higher than ordinary weapons but far inferior to Spiritual Artifacts, which can withstand the attacks from warriors in the Spirit Sea Realm.

True Qi Realm warriors rarely manage to cultivate Sword Intents. Their Treasured Swords hidden within Ten Thousand Swords Mountain only contain faint remnants of Sword Qi that they had nurtured originally, unable to withstand the onslaught of silver Sword Qi under Ye Chen and Jiang Yao's control of their Sword Intents.

"Jiang Yao, the Sword Qi Spirit Liquid we absorbed from the Sword Pool seems to be much stronger than the residual Sword Qi on these Treasured Swords. It looks like we don't even need to control Sword Intents; just relying on the Sword Qi Spirit Liquid shot out and wielding sword techniques might be enough to repel these swords," Ye Chen said to Jiang Yao with a smile and a nod.

"Yes, I have that feeling too," Jiang Yao's eyes shone brightly. "I heard from my master that there are different levels of Sword Qi. The ordinary Sword Qi comes from sword cultivators using True Qi over the years, gradually blending it with their sword techniques, which then imparts some Sword Qi on the sword; this is all acquired Sword Qi."

"There's another type of Sword Qi that naturally arises from the heavens and earth, or that which naturally resides in spiritual swords, or spawned by nurturing from treasures of the world. Those types of Sword Qi are innate Sword Qi."

"By the looks of it, the Sword Qi Spirit Liquid we've drawn from the Sword Pool is all innate Sword Qi."

This second challenge, Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, was meant to temper Sword Qi, Sword Intents, and sword techniques. After a brief encounter with a group of Treasured Swords, Ye Chen and Jiang Yao gained a deeper understanding of the Sword Qi Spirit Liquid they had absorbed.

"Let's go."

"We only have one month to climb Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. The lower part of the mountain region contains Mysterious Instrument-grade Treasured Swords used by True Qi Realm cultivators; they shouldn't be too difficult. However, the midsection's Spiritual Artifact-grade swords and the top section's artifact-grade swords will likely not be so easy to contend with."

"Let's not waste time here!"

Having taken a look at the surrounding Treasured Swords, Ye Chen and Jiang Yao continued on their way up.

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