Lei Yunche

Lei Yunche's spirit abode was not difficult to find. Li Qingshan had said that on the Ancestral Peak, the baldest mountain you see is Martial Uncle Lei's home.

However, Xu Xian did not expect it to be like this.

Not only was the mountain bald, but it was also black—charred, pitch-black.

The entire small peak was covered in marks from lightning strikes. One look at the mountain told you it had been struck by lightning more than a few times.

Forget grass; there weren't even many intact rocks left on the mountain.

As Xu Xian landed in front of the cave entrance, a few withered old trees stood lonely and upright. Xu Xian couldn't help but take a few glances. "Tsk tsk, this lightning-struck wood must be worth quite a lot of money..."

He had barely landed when the restriction at the entrance of the spirit abode rippled, and an afterimage shot out with a whoosh.

It then came to a steady halt right in front of Xu Xian.

Cold armor adorned his body, reflecting the light. The man was heroic, with eyes like swords and eyebrows like stars.

In his piercing gaze, there was thirty percent confusion and seventy percent curiosity as he spoke, "Little Junior Brother?"

Xu Xian was startled and took two steps back, cupping his hands in greeting.

"Greetings, Senior Brother!"

"Greetings!"

Xu Xian straightened up and said, "I hope Senior Brother doesn't mind my uninvited visit."

Lei Yunche pondered for a moment. "Do you need something from me?"

Xu Xian spoke frankly, "I have some questions I would like to ask you, Senior Brother."

Lei Yunche nodded slightly, turned to enter the spirit abode, and uttered a single word.

"Come!"

Xu Xian twitched his nose and followed him in.

Beneath the desolate mountain lay a hidden world. The spirit abode was clean, tidy, and simply furnished: a stone table, four stone stools, and a prayer mat.

That was all.

Everything radiated an air of austerity and poverty.

Lei Yunche went to the table and sat down, his palms resting on his knees, his posture straight and meticulous.

"Sit!"

Xu Xian complied and sat opposite him.

Lei Yunche seemed to remember something. With a flick of his hand, a pot of hot tea appeared out of thin air. Controlled by his will, it slid in front of Xu Xian.

"Drink!"

Xu Xian glanced at it. There was a pot but no cup. How was he supposed to drink?

His face showed his difficulty.

Lei Yunche caught this instantly. With another flick of his hand, a jar of wine appeared before Xu Xian with a whoosh.

"If you don't like tea, then drink wine!"

Xu Xian was stunned. He swallowed hard and nodded. "Alright, thank you, Senior Brother."

At this, the tension on Lei Yunche's face eased slightly, and his sword-like brows relaxed.

Next, he brought out a plate of candy.

"Eat candy!"

Then he brought out a plate of fruit.

"Eat fruit!"

Finally, he brought out a bottle of pills that Xu Xian couldn't name.

"Take medicine..."

Xu Xian felt awkward, and Lei Yunche was also ill at ease.

The atmosphere was inexplicably bizarre.

Lei Yunche didn't say much, but he was very hospitable.

The tea was drunk, the wine was consumed, the candy was eaten, and the fruit was taken, but as for the medicine...

Xu Xian hesitated. Under Lei Yunche's expectant gaze, he said, "Senior Brother, how about we get straight to business?"

Lei Yunche sat upright. "Ask."

Xu Xian put down the peach in his hand and asked, "I came today to ask about things within the Demon Abyss..."

"The Demon Abyss?"

"Yes. I heard that in the sect, only you have been to the Demon Abyss, Senior Brother," Xu Xian said.

Lei Yunche fell into deep thought, then suddenly spoke slowly.

"Four thousand years ago, the demon sovereign of that era allowed his kin to enter and leave the Demon Abyss at will. The people of a city in the western mountains were slaughtered. At that time, all the Wendao Sect disciples in the city fought to protect the people, refusing to retreat a single step. All twenty-eight of them died in battle."

"Upon receiving the news, I entered the Demon Abyss alone with my sword, determined to seek justice."

He paused and looked up, his eyes brimming with sword light. He extended his index finger and emphasized each word, "One month. For a whole month, I fought my way from the Blazing Fortress all the way to the banks of the Nether Pool."

"During that time, I was besieged by the demon sovereign leading hundreds of demon gods and a million demon soldiers. I sustained countless wounds, large and small."

Lei Yunche gave a disdainful smile, looking high-spirited. "But I didn't make a single sound. In the end, I wore the demon sovereign down and decapitated him in the Nether Pool!"

"The demon race feared me. They promised that as long as I lived, they would not take a single step out of the Demon Abyss."

After finishing, Lei Yunche added emphatically, "Actually, if I hadn't been unable to cross the Nether Pool back then, I would have wiped out the demon race entirely."

Xu Xian listened in a daze and instinctively gave a thumbs-up.

"Incredible."

Lei Yunche waved his hand, his serious expression unable to hide his pride.

"It was nothing!"

Xu Xian followed up with another question. "I've heard of your prestige, Senior Brother—clearing the Demon Abyss in a month and suppressing the demon race for four thousand years with your strength alone."

Lei Yunche's expression didn't change, but the upward curve of his lips became more obvious.

"I also heard that in this world, no one has ever survived more than three strikes from your sword. Because of this, you have a nickname: Lei Three Swords..."

Lei Yunche spoke honestly, "Between fellow disciples, I won't hide it from you. That isn't entirely true."

"Oh?"

Lei Yunche thought for a moment and said, "Let's put it this way: anyone who lasted more than three strikes against me was killed by me."

"Huh?"

"When I returned, I told everyone it only took three strikes to slay them."

"Ah!"

Lei Yunche shrugged slightly. "And then everyone believed it."

Xu Xian suddenly understood.

"So that's how it is."

Lei Yunche enjoyed the admiration in Xu Xian's eyes. That look was just like how he used to look at his own master—the admiration for the strong.

He wasn't close to Xu Xian, but he still wanted to be a role model for his Little Junior Brother.

"Back to business. What did you want to ask me?"

Xu Xian quickly pulled his thoughts back; he had indeed gone off-topic.

"Since you've been to the Demon Abyss, Senior Brother, I wonder if you know about the Spirit-Sealing Seal?"

A flicker of light clearly passed through Lei Yunche's eyes. He didn't answer but asked instead, "Why ask about that all of a sudden?"

Xu Xian said casually, "Just curious."

"I've seen it."

Xu Xian's eyes filled with anticipation.

Lei Yunche fell into his memories. "To be honest, I almost died under that object back then."

Xu Xian's anticipation grew even more.

Lei Yunche gave a self-deprecating laugh. "It was also thanks to my good luck. When I forced the demon sovereign to the banks of the Nether Pool, he brought out the Spirit-Sealing Seal to suppress me. However, there was an accident—he suffered a backlash from the Spirit-Sealing Seal. Not only did it fail to harm me, but he also lost all his cultivation."

"I took the opportunity to strike and kill him. If not for that, I really might not have made it back alive that time."

Xu Xian hurriedly asked, "Where is that object now?"

Lei Yunche said calmly, "It fell into the Nether Pool. The Spirit-Sealing Seal is a Great Dao Divine Weapon and a sacred object of the demon race. There is an unwritten rule among them: whoever obtains the Spirit-Sealing Seal is honored as the demon sovereign. For these four thousand years, the Demon Abyss has been ruled by those two sisters, the High Priest and the Small Priest. No new demon sovereign has been born. Presumably, it hasn't been fished out of the Nether Pool yet."

Xu Xian furrowed his brows.

The Nether Pool? The demon sovereign?

This deviated slightly from the common knowledge he had gathered.

Lei Yunche asked tentatively, "Little Junior Brother, you aren't thinking of going to get that thing, are you?"

Xu Xian gave an ambiguous answer, "You think too highly of me, Senior Brother."

Lei Yunche was skeptical but didn't forget to warn him, "The water of the Nether Pool is Ruoshui. Legend has it that this water originates from the Nine Heavens and falls into the Nine Nether. It forms its own domain where not even a goose feather can float; neither immortals nor buddhas can cross. Unless you are a creature of the Demon Abyss, no matter how heaven-defying your cultivation is, if you dare to cross Ruoshui, there is only one outcome: sinking into the water, being decomposed and melted by it, and finally becoming part of the Ruoshui itself..."

"Only the creatures of the Demon Abyss, who originate from and are born of Ruoshui, can come and go upon it as they please."