Chapter 135 | The Galgame Martial Saint

Gu Chengming slowly lowered his joined sword fingers, the bottomless trench before him still emitting the scent of scorched earth.

Just as he was about to count the spoils of war, his divine sense captured waves of extremely familiar spiritual energy from about a hundred yards away.

Gu Chengming turned to look, and behind a half-broken stone pillar, Ren Wencai was holding a highly tense posture.

The old man's legs were slightly bent, his hands forming an extremely standard sword-induction gesture, his entire body leaning forward as if ready to strike.

Three natal flying swords hovered in mid-air, their tips pointed straight ahead, the light flowing on the blades flickering slightly due to their owner's shock.

The two stared at each other across the wreckage.

The scene was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

Gu Chengming blinked, feeling somewhat bewildered.

"Master?"

The problem was that, logically, this cheap master of his should be safely staying within the Huiyuan Gate of the Wenjian Sect right now. How could he appear out of thin air in the depths of the Tianque secret realm in the extreme north of Daqian?

In the distance, hearing that all-too-familiar call of "Master," Ren Wencai's heart, which had been lodged in his throat, finally crashed back into his stomach.

To be able to call him with such a tone proved that his precious disciple was indeed the original and had not been possessed by some ten-thousand-year-old monster.

Ren Wencai coughed twice, casually dispersing the sword gesture in his hands and withdrawing the three somewhat awkward natal flying swords into his sleeves. He smoothly changed his mid-rescue posture into the dignified air of a grandmaster with his hands behind his back.

"Chengming, why are you here?"

Ren Wencai stepped into the shattered battlefield, his gaze constantly sweeping over Gu Chengming.

Taking advantage of the gap as his master approached, Gu Chengming realized the thing above his head was far too eye-catching.

With a slight thought, the Burial Sword Tomb hovering in mid-air emitted a low hum and then began to rapidly ascend.

The massive, iron-gray mountain body quickly vanished into the thick, dark clouds of Tianque, completely hiding its tracks.

After doing all this, Gu Chengming stepped forward and respectfully performed a junior's salute:

"This disciple greets Master. It has been two years, and Master's style is as impressive as ever."

Ren Wencai didn't pick up the conversation. Instead, he walked around Gu Chengming twice, his eyes widening in disbelief, feeling it was utterly absurd.

—Third Realm, Third Level.

Two years ago at the Golden Summit Hall of the Wenjian Sect, when this kid revealed his sword intent, he was only at the First Realm, Ninth Level.

In just two years, he had crossed two major realms and even jumped forward three small steps within the Third Realm?

Ren Wencai looked up at the gray sky, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

What had he been struggling for in this dangerous Tianque for the past two years? Wasn't it to fight for that elusive Fifth Realm opportunity to act as a backer for his precious disciple?

But now, the disciple's cultivation speed was practically comparable to an evil cultivator who had fallen into the demonic path in a revenge novel.

If things continued at this rate, even if he did manage to break through to the Fifth Realm, it was hard to say who would be the backer for whom once they left Tianque.

"Why is Master here?"

Seeing that Ren Wencai remained silent for a long time, Gu Chengming asked his question again.

Ren Wencai snapped out of it, suppressed the bitterness of being overtaken by the younger generation, and waved his hand:

"We'll talk about my business later. First, tell me, what on earth have you experienced in Daqian these past two years? How could your cultivation have progressed to such an extent?"

Hearing this, Gu Chengming recounted his experiences over the two years since leaving the mountain.

He briefly described everything from joining the Night Guard Division to being promoted to Vice Commander and being ranked third on the Daqian Hidden Dragon Ranking.

Ren Wencai nodded repeatedly while stroking his beard, his heart full of pride, but alongside that pride, he was also somewhat puzzled. A Vice Commander of the Night Guard Division?

Ren Wencai was an old veteran who knew the Daqian official system well. The Night Guard Division was the most core and violent institution of Daqian. Every person who could sit in the position of Vice Commander was a veteran Fourth Realm powerhouse who had fought their way out of a sea of corpses and blood. Those people not only had profound cultivation but also had complex political backgrounds.

For Gu Chengming, a Wenjian Sect disciple who had just started out and had no family power as a backer, no matter how amazing his combat strength was, climbing to this position within two years was practically a fairy tale.

Daqian's bureaucratic system was notoriously xenophobic and focused on seniority. How could they let a young man in the Third Realm hold such power?

Ren Wencai's gaze became somewhat strange. Just how much merit had this kid achieved? Or did some powerful female high official in the Daqian court take a liking to his disciple's looks?

The more Ren Wencai thought about it, the more his heart pounded. The waters in Daqian were too deep; his disciple couldn't have been subjected to some "unspoken rules," could he?

However, now was not the time to delve into this. Ren Wencai pushed the thought to the back of his mind and began to explain the reason for his appearance in Tianque, following Gu Chengming's earlier question.

"Two years ago, Senior Brother Sect Master traveled to the extreme north and observed abnormal celestial phenomena, realizing that Tianque was about to open. This place was left behind by an ancient powerhouse and contains countless opportunities." Ren Wencai narrated in an extremely calm tone as he walked: "At that time, I had been stuck at the peak of the Fourth Realm for a long time, and my lifespan was nearing its end. If I didn't take a gamble, I would only turn into a pile of yellow earth in this life. Senior Brother Sect Master took pity on us and brought me along with several other elders who had hope of breaking through into this Tianque."

As they spoke, Ren Wencai arrived before the scarred face.

The leader of the rogue cultivators was covered in blood with shattered meridians, but relying on the powerful vitality of a Fourth Realm cultivator, he still held onto his last breath. He looked at the approaching Ren Wencai, his withered lips moving as if he wanted to beg for mercy.

Ren Wencai didn't even look at him. He casually flicked his thumb against the pad of his index finger.

A microscopic, sharp sword qi instantly burst from his fingertip. With a light "psht," it pierced into the scarred face's brow, directly shredding his remaining soul.

The light in the rogue leader's eyes completely faded, his head drooping lifelessly. Ren Wencai skillfully pulled the storage pouch from the scarred face's waist.

"The internal space of Tianque is extremely vast and the rules are strange. As soon as we entered, we encountered an extremely rare spatial turbulence, and everyone was scattered." Ren Wencai continued his story while holding the blood-stained storage pouch.

His ten fingers flew as he pinched several extremely exquisite cracking gestures. The spiritual energy at his fingertips was like solid silk threads, penetrating layer by layer along the texture of the storage pouch.

The divine sense restriction the scarred face had set before his death didn't even last three breaths in Ren Wencai's hands before being forcibly erased.

Ren Wencai turned the mouth of the storage pouch downward and gave it a hard shake.

Clatter—

A large pile of items emitting various spiritual lights poured onto the bluestone floor.

Ren Wencai's gaze quickly swept over the spoils. Third-realm Rejuvenation Pill? Trash, it'll just take up space. A few hundred low-grade spirit stones? These rogue cultivators are doing too poorly; they're beggars.

Wait, this piece of meteoric cold iron is of good quality.

Ren Wencai picked out several rare ores shining with treasure light, two extremely old spirit herbs, and a large bag of mid-grade spirit stones, throwing them toward Gu Chengming without looking back.

Gu Chengming hurriedly caught these priceless treasures, looking at his master's fluid operations, feeling somewhat dazed.

After dealing with the scarred face's belongings, Ren Wencai didn't stay idle. At every rogue cultivator's corpse, he first delivered a finishing blow with sword qi, and after confirming they were dead, he searched their storage pouches, cracked the restrictions, sorted the items, and discarded the trash.

Finally, Ren Wencai pulled a small gray porcelain bottle from his sleeve.

He uncorked the bottle and evenly sprinkled a small amount of white powder on each rogue cultivator's corpse.

The sound of corrosion hissed, accompanied by bursts of pungent white smoke. The corpses dissolved into puddles of yellow water at a visible speed, finally condensing into grayish-white powder.

Ren Wencai performed a wind-control gesture and swept his wide sleeve.

A fierce wind whistled past, blowing the powder on the ground completely clean and even dispersing the surrounding smell of blood.

After finishing all this, Ren Wencai clapped his hands and turned around: "Where was I? Oh right, everyone was scattered by the spatial turbulence. Inside this Tianque, there are rogue cultivators who kill and loot everywhere. To protect myself over the past two years, I could only learn a few self-defense methods."

Gu Chengming looked at the clean crime scene, then at his master's "kind" old face, and his mouth couldn't stop twitching.

You call this "learning a few self-defense methods"?

【The 《Red Dust Phantom Step》 watched Ren Wencai's fluid movements and exclaimed: As expected of Fellow Daoist Gu's master!】

Gu Chengming put the spoils into his storage pouch and, looking at Ren Wencai who was clapping his hands as if he had only done something trivial, pulled the topic back to the main track.

"Since the Sect Master led the team himself..." Gu Chengming's brow furrowed as he realized the key: "Does that mean there are many people from the Wenjian Sect inside Tianque?" He looked around the desolate black stone plain and then at his solitary master, his unease growing.

"And what about the Sect Master? His cultivation is supreme; why is he not with you?"

Hearing Gu Chengming's follow-up questions, Ren Wencai's eyes, which had been shining because of the looting, instantly dimmed.

His movement of patting his sleeves paused in mid-air. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but swallowed the words back down.

"It's a long story..."

Seeing his master's hesitant appearance, Gu Chengming knew what was going on.

—The Wenjian Sect's trip to Tianque had likely suffered a heavy blow right at the start.

Gu Chengming was about to offer some comfort or ask if there was anything he needed to do, when something suddenly occurred to him.

Wait, did I forget something?

Oh right, Fellow Daoist Xu.

Earlier in the Zhou Shrine, because of that "please come in quickly" special treatment, he had directly taken the VIP passage to the core area, while Xu Huayi had gone to the outskirts with a "Good" rating.

Later, Zhou Qingmu's Night Severance had sliced through the void and forcibly sent him out. What about Xu Huayi?

Gu Chengming instinctively turned his head to look at the towering Zhou Shrine behind him. Just as he was wondering if he should go back in to fish her out, the void before the gates of the Zhou Shrine suddenly distorted without warning.

It was as if someone had hard-gouged a hole out of a calm picture, and immediately after, a figure fell out of that spatial crack looking somewhat disheveled.

It was Xu Huayi.

...

The judge's pen in Xu Huayi's hand was still glowing with a faint spiritual light, clearly showing she was still maintaining some array before being teleported out.

After landing, she quickly stabilized herself. Once she saw the familiar figure before her, she visibly relaxed.

However, just as she let out a breath, Ren Wencai on the other side became alert.

The old man had just been lamenting the hardships of the world with his disciple, and now seeing another person pop out of thin air—and looking at the manner of appearance and the extraordinary spiritual light flowing around her—she clearly wasn't someone easy to deal with.

As an old veteran who had struggled for two years in a harsh environment like Tianque where "killing and looting is legalized," Ren Wencai naturally knew the dangers of this place.

Regardless of who the other party was, taking them down and performing a "harmless treatment" first was definitely the right move.

Seeing this stance, Gu Chengming naturally knew what his master was thinking and hurriedly sent a transmission: "Master, hold back! She's one of us! This is Fellow Daoist Xu from the Imperial Observatory. Let's not damage the harmony!"

Hearing she was an acquaintance, and moreover someone from the Imperial Observatory, the old man's face changed faster than flipping a book. His right hand, which had been pointed like a sword, smoothly lifted and naturally stroked the few sparse whiskers on his chin, forcibly assuming the pose of a transcendent and kind elder.

Xu Huayi was completely unaware of this and walked quickly to Gu Chengming, her face carrying a hint of relief from surviving a disaster:

"Fellow Daoist Gu! The internal laws of the Zhou Shrine suddenly went berserk just now, and I was expelled while still cracking the array in the outskirts... Are you all right?"

Gu Chengming signaled that he was fine.

Only then did Xu Huayi notice the elderly man behind Gu Chengming and blinked.

Gu Chengming briefly and concisely explained to Xu Huayi the general events that had occurred in the core area of the Zhou Shrine.

Then, he introduced the man beside him as his mentor, a Fourth Realm elder of the Wenjian Sect.

After hearing this, Xu Huayi's beautiful eyes instantly lit up.

Master?

Isn't this meeting the parents?!

This was Gu Chengming's legitimate master, the kind who was like a father for life!

Xu Huayi felt her heart skip a beat at this moment, and the reserve she usually held as a Tianting Sect disciple was instantly thrown out of her mind.

She quickly checked her appearance in her mind: Is my clothing torn? Is my hair messy? Was my landing posture elegant enough? Is there dust on my face?

After confirming everything was acceptable, Xu Huayi took a deep breath, stepped forward two paces, crossed her hands before her, and respectfully performed an extremely standard junior's salute. That movement was so formal it was even three points more standard than her salute at the gates of the Zhou Shrine:

"Junior Xu Huayi, a disciple of the Tianting Sect and a Calendar Official of the Imperial Observatory, greets Senior."

She kept her head slightly lowered, her voice gentle and soft, trying hard to leave a good impression on this "future elder."

"Oh? From the Tianting Sect?"

When Ren Wencai heard those three words, he looked the girl up and down again.

This outfit—tsk tsk—a robe made of Flowing Cloud Brocade, a hairpin made of thousand-year warm jade, and the judge's pen in her hand was even more spiritually resonant. As expected of someone from the Tianting Sect; she was covered from head to toe in the aura of a wealthy person saying "I have money, come slaughter me."

Except...

Ren Wencai suddenly felt a bit guilty.

Back when he was young and aggressive, relying on a sword cultivator's decisiveness and his own cleverness, he had set quite a few traps for Tianting Sect disciples in various secret realms.

Things like selling fake maps, stealing kills and treasures, and even trapping people in arrays to collect ransoms.

Although he hadn't used his real name back then—mostly using the name "Zhao Wuji of the Qingfeng Gate" to deceive people—it was possible the Tianting Sect had some secret method to record his aura or face.

This girl looked to have a high status. If she went back and flipped through the sect's wanted posters and recognized him as a "habitual offender" from back then, it would be quite a mess.

His old face didn't matter, but it shouldn't affect Chengming's impression in front of this girl.

Thus, the smile on Ren Wencai's face became even more kind as he waved his hand, assuming the posture of a generous elder perfectly: "Aiy, what senior or junior? That's too formal."

Ren Wencai looked at Xu Huayi with a smile, his tone as gentle as if he were looking at his own long-lost daughter: "Since you are Chengming's good friend, you are one of our own. When out and about, those empty formalities can be waived. Don't worry about my title either; I'm old now and no longer care about those empty names. Since you are so close with Chengming, you may just call me 'Uncle-Master' from now on."

Sure enough, how could Xu Huayi know the twists and turns in this old fox's heart? She only heard the words "one of our own" and "so close with Chengming."

Two red clouds visibly rose on Xu Huayi's originally fair and pretty face, and even the tips of her ears felt hot.

She stole a glance at Gu Chengming beside her, and seeing that he didn't object, she smiled: "Yes! Uncle-Master!"

Xu Huayi's call of "Uncle-Master" was crisp and loud.

The little abacus in her heart was clicking away: Since the elder has spoken, does that mean she's only one step away from winning over Fellow Daoist Gu?

Ren Wencai looked at the girl's touched expression and secretly let out a sigh of relief, while simultaneously stealing a glance at his own disciple who was still standing there like a wooden post.

Gu Chengming was puzzled. Why are you looking at me?

"All right, this place is not suitable for a long stay."

Ren Wencai timely interrupted the slightly straying atmosphere.

He withdrew his smile and scanned the surroundings: "The commotion from the Zhou Shrine just now was too big; it will soon attract more onlookers. Follow me."

With that, Ren Wencai swept his wide sleeve, and a green sword cloud grew beneath his feet, lifting the three of them into the air. They turned into a streak of light, racing toward a certain direction deep within Tianque.

...

After flying for about half an hour, a desolate black stone cliff appeared abruptly ahead.

Ren Wencai hovered before the cliff, his hands quickly forming sword gestures.

As spiritual light flickered from his fingertips, the originally seamless surface of the cliff rippled with array patterns like water.

With a low rumble, the center of the cliff slowly receded to both sides, revealing a narrow corridor only wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side.

"Stay close; this array can only be maintained for a few breaths."

Ren Wencai gave a reminder without looking back and took the lead into the corridor.

Gu Chengming and Xu Huayi followed closely behind.

Once the three of them had entered, the cliff wall behind them quickly closed, isolating the raging gales and prying eyes of the outside world.

A few moonstones embedded in the corridor emitted a faint light, barely illuminating the path ahead.

...

The atmosphere settled down, and the master and disciple finally had an opportunity to exchange information.

"Chengming, have you encountered anything strange during your entry into Tianque this time?" Ren Wencai walked at the front, his voice echoing in the narrow corridor with a hint of gravity.

"There are certainly many strange things, but the most concerning was being separated from the main group as soon as we entered the secret realm."

Gu Chengming told the truth, briefly recounting how the Daqian team had encountered spatial turbulence and been forced to scatter.

Ren Wencai, walking in front, let out a cold laugh upon hearing this: "When our Wenjian Sect first entered, we also encountered spatial turbulence of the same scale. Senior Brother Sect Master initially thought it was a natural disaster caused by an ancient secret realm like Tianque falling into disrepair, but later we encountered several extremely precise ambushes in the secret realm, and only then did we realize the truth."

Ren Wencai paused, his tone becoming icy: "Someone tampered with the spatial nodes at the entrance of Tianque with the goal of completely scattering the manpower of the major sects and powers."

Gu Chengming's brow rose slightly: "Master means there is already an extremely large force lurking in Tianque? And they are secretly controlling the situation?"

Ren Wencai confirmed Gu Chengming's suspicion: "Senior Brother Sect Master once secretly captured several survivors who participated in the ambushes. Although those people blew up their souls the moment they were caught, based on their remaining cultivation techniques, the mastermind behind all this is very likely the Longevity Sect."

The Longevity Sect.

Hearing those three words, Gu Chengming was suddenly enlightened.

No wonder he felt targeted everywhere since stepping into Tianque. These evil cultivators of the Longevity Sect were like rats in a gutter, scurrying wherever there was a scent of blood.

From the chaos in the capital to the rebellion at Falling Snow Pass, and now even not letting go of this ancient secret realm in the extreme north—this group's business scope was expanding a bit too broadly.

As they spoke, they reached the end of the corridor.

The space ahead opened up into an extremely wide underground cavern.

As soon as he stepped into the core area of the cavern, Gu Chengming instantly understood why his master had been so hesitant when mentioning the Sect Master's safety earlier outside the Zhou Shrine.

On a white jade stone platform in the center of the cavern sat a figure cross-legged.

It was the current Sect Master of the Wenjian Sect, Shen Qianqiu.

At this moment, Shen Qianqiu had not a trace of the air of a sect leader who once stood atop the Golden Summit Hall.

His Fifth Realm aura, which used to be as steady as a mountain, was now withered to the extreme. Most of his body was covered by a strange substance that looked like black mud.

The black mud seemed to have a life of its own, slowly crawling over Shen Qianqiu's skin, constantly eroding his protective sword qi and fleshly meridians.

Shen Qianqiu's eyes were tightly shut, his brow deeply furrowed. Occasionally, sharp sword lights would flicker around him as he tried to sever the mud, but often as soon as the sword light appeared, it would be ruthlessly swallowed by the viscous black substance.

Seeing this tragic state, Xu Huayi very sensibly retreated behind Gu Chengming, not daring to make a sound to disturb him.

Sensing someone approaching, Shen Qianqiu slowly opened his eyes.

When he saw Gu Chengming and Xu Huayi following behind Ren Wencai, a hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of this heavily injured and dying Sect Master.

Ren Wencai stepped forward quickly to the side of the white jade platform.

He didn't let Shen Qianqiu waste his mental energy speaking. Instead, in extremely concise and direct terms, he gave a detailed report to his Senior Brother Sect Master about how Gu Chengming had risen to prominence in Daqian, how he had become a Vice Commander of the Night Guard Division, and Xu Huayi's identity as an Imperial Observatory array master, along with their chance meeting outside the Zhou Shrine.

After hearing this narration, a relieved smile finally appeared on Shen Qianqiu's bloodless face.

He looked at Gu Chengming and nodded slightly. His gaze held both the pride of a sect elder seeing a junior succeed and the sentiment of how fate toys with people.

After the group briefly exchanged greetings, the atmosphere in the cavern became heavy again.

Gu Chengming looked at the black mud on Shen Qianqiu and cut straight to the point: "Master, what kind of injury did the Sect Master suffer? How could it have worsened to this state?"

Ren Wencai let out a long sigh, his tone full of resentment and helplessness.

"Shortly after entering Tianque, our Wenjian Sect's team was ambushed. The other party was clearly prepared, directly deploying two Fifth Realm great cultivators whose target was Senior Brother Sect Master. To cover our retreat, Senior Brother Sect Master stayed behind alone to fight those two Fifth Realm cultivators to the death."

Ren Wencai's fists clenched tightly beneath his daoist robe, his knuckles turning white: "Senior Brother Sect Master's sword skills are supreme; he had already heavily injured one of them and was about to withdraw. Who knew another old man would appear and release a cloud of black mist? Caught off guard, Senior Brother Sect Master was possessed by that thing, and his cultivation was forcibly suppressed to less than one-tenth of his peak."

Speaking to this point, Ren Wencai seemed to remember something and turned to Gu Chengming to add:

"While searching for supplies in the outskirts of Tianque, I killed several strange monsters that were neither demon nor beast. Those monsters have no intelligence to speak of; they wander everywhere in Tianque, seemingly not to hunt cultivators, but consciously searching for and destroying stone tablets and architectural ruins engraved with ancient seal script."

"The aura on those monsters is exactly the same as this layer of black mud attached to Senior Brother Sect Master."

Gu Chengming looked at the filth on Shen Qianqiu and felt it was quite familiar.

—The more he looked, the more it resembled that "Miasma Tide" in the biography of the Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying True Monarch.

While he was thinking this, on the other side, perhaps moved by seeing Gu Chengming, Shen Qianqiu suddenly spoke:

"My broken body likely won't make it out of this Tianque."

"However, a single breath of pure sword intent still remains within me. If things reach a desperate point, I can still burn my soul's origin to forcibly exchange for a few moments of peak Fifth Realm combat power."

Shen Qianqiu turned his gaze to Ren Wencai and said: "Wencai, you have stayed at the peak of the Fourth Realm for a long time. There are countless opportunities in this Tianque. If you can find a chance to break through to the Fifth Realm here, I will sacrifice this life to protect your path. As long as you can ascend to the Fifth Realm..."

This grand declaration, which sounded like he was giving his final instructions, was interrupted by Ren Wencai.

"Stop giving me your final instructions!"

Ren Wencai stepped forward, his beard fluttering and eyes wide, though his eyes were slightly red. His voice was extremely stern: "There are as many dharma treasures and opportunities in this Tianque as there are hairs on a cow. I don't believe we can't find a way to heal you!"

Seeing the two elders about to argue over this tragic sacrifice topic, Gu Chengming intervened at exactly the right time.

"Master, what conditions are actually needed for the Sect Master's injury to recover?"

Questioned by Gu Chengming, Ren Wencai frowned as he explained Shen Qianqiu's current situation.

"There is naturally a way. The core technique Senior Brother Sect Master practices is our Wenjian Sect's most essential 'Self-Slaying Heart Method.' This technique is extremely overbearing, focusing on using supreme sword qi to slay physical filth, slay inner demons, and sever karma. As long as the sword qi is pure and strong enough, theoretically, even this filth that resembles the Miasma Tide can be slashed away, allowing the injury to recover."

"Then why not use it?" Gu Chengming followed up.

Ren Wencai gave a bitter smile and pointed to the empty sword case beside Shen Qianqiu: "In the past, Senior Brother Sect Master had a Fifth Realm dharma sword passed down for a hundred years as his natal weapon, which was enough to support the massive sword qi required for the 'Self-Slaying' technique. But in that ambush against the two Fifth Realm evil cultivators, to cover our retreat, Senior Brother Sect Master did not hesitate to detonate that Fifth Realm dharma sword to heavily injure the enemies..."

"Now that the dharma sword is destroyed, the remaining sword qi in Senior Brother Sect Master's body is simply not enough to drive the 'Self-Slaying' technique to resist filth of this scale. If he forcibly performs it, I fear that before the filth is removed, he will die from the technique's backlash. To break this situation, we can only find a way to see if we can find another Fifth Realm dharma sword from within this Tianque."

As soon as Ren Wencai's words fell, the atmosphere in the cavern suddenly became somewhat strange.

Xu Huayi, standing behind Gu Chengming, exchanged an extremely tacit look with him.

Xu Huayi and Gu Chengming looked at each other, both seeing the meaning in the other's eyes.

Xu Huayi knew that Gu Chengming had refined that Burial Sword Tomb, and what they were both thinking at this moment was—

Could there be such a coincidence?

Gu Chengming thought for a moment and asked: "Master means that as long as there is enough massive and pure sword qi, without the need for specific pills or heavenly treasures, the Sect Master can recover on his own?"

Hearing Gu Chengming's somewhat amateurish question, Ren Wencai couldn't help but feel puzzled: "Yes. The 'Self-Slaying' technique is profound, and sword qi is the best medicine. Why, Chengming, did you happen to pick up some peerless sword in this Tianque?"

Looking at his master's expression, which hadn't connected the dots at all, Gu Chengming was also puzzled to the extreme.

Wait, just now outside the Zhou Shrine, didn't I use that thing to smash several rogue cultivators into meat paste right in front of you?

A brief silence fell within the cavern.

After a moment, Gu Chengming let out a sigh.

Since a verbal explanation wasn't clear, he could only use the most direct way to show it.

Gu Chengming's mind moved slightly, and his massive divine sense instantly communicated with the gargantuan object hidden deep within the clouds of Tianque.

"Vrrr—"

The defense array of the entire underground cavern emitted an extremely piercing alarm, and even the surrounding basalt walls began to tremble.

Under the extremely bewildered gazes of Shen Qianqiu and Ren Wencai.

Without any casting delay, and without any sign of spiritual energy gathering.

—A massive, iron-gray mountain with a straight, cliff-like body and countless broken but terrifyingly sharp swords stuck in its summit, just like that, overbearingly and unreasonably squeezed through the space above the cavern, forcibly appearing before everyone.

Looking at this massive mountain, both Shen Qianqiu and Ren Wencai were somewhat stunned.

When Ren Wencai had seen Gu Chengming summon this thing to smash people from afar earlier, he thought it was just a heavy dharma treasure with a peculiar shape, similar to a "Mountain-Flipping Seal." Although its power was amazing, it was still within the realm of common understanding.