The stairs grew progressively darker. As they set foot on the sixth floor, they were met with total blackness, a deep and inky void.
If not for his nascent soul divine sense, Xu Xian likely wouldn't have been able to see his own hand in front of his face.
The sixth floor was essentially a dark room. Cold stone walls surrounded them, and the interior was entirely empty.
Using his divine sense, however, Xu Xian could faintly discern lines converging on the floor, forming what appeared to be a map.
Mountains.
Dense forests.
Deep valleys.
Deserts.
Plains...
And a vast, boundless ocean.
The youth remained silent, his breathing slow and steady.
Within the darkness, Ye Xianyu's voice rose slowly. "This is the sixth floor of the Immortal Pavilion. Is it a bit different from what you imagined?"
Xu Xian answered with a question of his own. "Is this a map of Fanzhou drawn on the floor?"
"Yes!"
Xu Xian fell into deep thought.
Ye Xianyu paced across the map, pointing her hand toward various corners as she introduced them one by one.
"Here are the Northern Borders, where our Wendao Sword Sect is located. To the south is the Central Plains, and to the north is a vast ocean—the North Sea. Over there is the Great Desolation, and this side is the Demon Abyss. As for those mist-shrouded areas, they are unknown forbidden lands—places where people could spend their entire lives and never reach..."
Xu Xian murmured, "Fanzhou is larger than I imagined."
The vast and borderless Central Plains.
The endless North Sea.
The infinite Demon Abyss.
The sprawling Great Desolation.
By comparison, the five-thousand-mile expanse of the Northern Borders in the middle seemed far too small.
Ye Xianyu sighed softly. "Fanzhou is vast, the Northern Borders are small, and the Wendao Sword Sect is smaller still. It is just like this dark room; for thousands of years, it has never been illuminated."
"Are you speaking in metaphors, Senior Sister?" Xu Xian asked.
Ye Xianyu said gently, "The sixth floor of the Immortal Pavilion is the place where immortals light their lamps—and I mean true immortals. If someone from the Wendao Sword Sect can reach the tenth stage, they may place their soul lamp here."
Pausing for a moment, she looked at Xu Xian through the darkness and asked, "Little Eleven, can you guess Master's intention for doing this?"
Xu Xian was silent for a moment before calmly speaking eight words.
"A millennium of darkness, one lamp to illuminate."
Ye Xianyu tilted her head slightly and praised, "You truly are clever!"
A millennium of darkness, one lamp to illuminate.
One immortal can suppress the entirety of Fanzhou.
Master's intention was not complicated. If a lamp could be lit here, it would illuminate all of Fanzhou.
This was the very purpose of the Wendao Sword Sect: to aid the world and deliver all sentient beings.
Facing her praise, Xu Xian smiled but did not speak. This had not been difficult to guess.
A dark room.
Stone walls on four sides.
A map of Fanzhou, trapped within.
The symbolism was more than obvious. This place needed a lamp—the lamp of a true immortal—to light up the entire room and illuminate all of Fanzhou.
However...
In Xu Xian's view, what trapped Fanzhou might not necessarily be the darkness. Perhaps... it was this dark room itself.
The cold stone walls.
They looked very much like a cage.
But that was merely his own idle speculation, nothing more.
Ye Xianyu continued to herself, "Unfortunately, nearly ten thousand years have passed since the Immortal Pavilion was established, yet no one has ever been able to touch the threshold of the immortal stage. Even Master himself cannot..."
"In fact, Fanzhou has not seen an immortal for tens of thousands of years."
"Some say Fanzhou has entered the Age of Dharma Decline, where spiritual qi has dried up, and the power of heaven and earth can no longer support the ascension of sentient beings."
"Others say the Sky Gate of Fanzhou has been sealed, and thus the Heavenly Dao does not permit immortals."
"Still others say Fanzhou is a cage, imprisoned here by the immortals above the heavens. Until the cage is opened, one cannot become an immortal..."
"The opinions are varied and numerous, a mix of truth and lies that no one can verify."
"Master and my four senior brothers traveled far away likely to find this answer, to seek a path to immortality..."
Xu Xian remained silent, naturally recalling what Xiushe had said.
It said...
In ancient times...
The immortals and gods from above descended to the mortal world, slaying all evil spirits and great beasts.
Since then...
The Sky Gate was sealed, and the human race rose. In this world, no powerhouse at the immortal stage has ever appeared again.
At the time, Xu Xian had listened just for amusement and didn't care much. Now, hearing Ye Xianyu mention it, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
As a transmigrator, though he came from a civilization that could not cultivate or seek the Dao, Xu Xian's thinking was relatively expansive.
He subconsciously looked up at the ceiling of the dark room, intending to see through the roof, to see above the heavens.
He thought...
Perhaps his guess was correct. What Master wanted to tell them was likely that Fanzhou's situation was just like this dark room—it was imprisoned.
It was dark.
It needed a lamp—which meant it needed a person to reach the tenth stage and become an immortal—to break this deadlock...
And the long journey of Master and his senior brothers was very likely to the Unordered Lands marked on this map, seeking answers.
In this way...
Everything was explained.
After Ye Xianyu finished speaking, she frowned slightly. She thought that telling Xu Xian these things now might be a bit too early.
Xu Xian did run faster than others.
No, he flew faster.
But he was still just a youth who had just turned eighteen.
With that thought, she stopped her rambling and brought it to a close. "Alright, it's enough for you to know a bit about this. Once you touch that bottleneck in the future, you will naturally understand."
Xu Xian snapped back to reality and gave a nod of assent.
"Let's go. We're going up to the seventh floor to take care of business."
"Alright!"
Despite saying they were going to the seventh floor, Ye Xianyu turned back to the fifth floor, leading Xu Xian through the main hall and out through a side door.
Outside the pavilion...
There was a long set of stairs that spanned two floors, leading directly to the roof.
Xu Xian followed silently without asking questions.
He had already guessed what the seventh floor was for.
Before entering the pavilion...
He had seen that the seventh floor was open to the air on all sides, looking more like a pavilion on a rooftop.
An ancient bell hung there.
The Wendao Sword Sect...
Had five ancient bells in total.
Each ancient bell had its own unique significance.
Every time one was struck, it was to convey corresponding information to the entire sect.
The bell on the main peak of Sword Inquiry Peak was the bell of the Sword Pavilion.
When it rang...
It summoned the Pavilion Elders for a meeting, usually signifying that something major had happened.
Before any major sect decisions were issued, the tolling of this bell would be heard first.
The bell on Zhijian Peak was the War Bell; nine rings signaled the start of a war.
The bell on Zhujian Peak was the bell of the Sword Mound; three rings meant an immortal sword was leaving, and six rings meant an immortal sword was returning.
The bell on Burial Sword Peak was used to mourn the dead; every year during the Qingming Festival, this bell would toll for a hundred breaths.
At that time, the entire sect would observe a moment of silence in mourning, and all would be still.
The final bell was the one in the Immortal Pavilion on Tianjian Peak. Six rings reported joyful news—someone had broken through to the great ascension stage and their soul lamp had entered the fourth floor. Twelve rings reported a death, proving that the lamp of someone in the great ascension stage had been extinguished.
Although Xu Xian had not broken through to the great ascension stage...
Since his soul lamp was being enshrined on the fifth floor, Xu Xian figured the bell would certainly be struck. This meant that very soon, the entire sect would know.
Xu Xian had broken through to the nascent soul stage!
In fact...
It was exactly as Xu Xian thought.
When the two reached the roof, two disciples of the Immortal Pavilion had already been waiting for a long time.
"Greetings, Sect Master!"
"Greetings, Little Grand-Uncle!"
Ye Xianyu stopped before the bell, looked back at Xu Xian, and asked with a smile, "Do you know what we're here for?"
Xu Xian shrugged and said, "To ring the bell, I suppose!"
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