Sword Bearer

Several streaks of light shot through the mountains, heading straight for the peak of the Main Peak.

Inside the towering Sword Pavilion, for the first time, the attendance was surprisingly complete.

Even the three Guest Elders who usually ignored sect affairs—Ruan Hao, Qiaofu, and Yuren—had arrived.

Lei Yunche, Ye Xianyu, Lin Fengmian, and Jiang Wanyin... today, four of the thirteen chairs of authority were occupied simultaneously.

This was a rare occurrence in the Wendao Sword Sect.

Usually, during a Sword Pavilion Meeting, even for the previous trip to the Emperor's Tomb, the patriarchs would discuss things in private beforehand.

Then, they would send a single representative to announce the decision.

Most of the time, Ye Xianyu presided over these matters.

But today, they had all come.

Not only these four, but the figures of the three Guest Elders also entered the sight of the Pavilion Elders, causing their expressions to turn extremely grave.

Those who should come and those who usually wouldn't have all arrived.

The only ones missing were a few Little Grand-Uncles and Yao Xiqiao, who was stationed at the Sword Qi Great Wall.

With such a lineup, something major must have happened; otherwise, it would never come to this.

They remained silent, standing in solemn formation.

Jiang Wanyin scanned the crowd below and spoke slowly, "Today's discussion is top secret and must not be disclosed."

This simple opening pushed the atmosphere in the hall to its peak, and the sound of breathing seemed to grow heavy.

On the face of every Pavilion Elder, there was more or less a look of weight and concern.

Top secret?

This matter was indeed not simple.

The pavilion doors closed, and the meeting began.

No one knew exactly what was said during that meeting.

The disciples in the mountains only knew that when the Pavilion Elders returned that day, their faces were incredibly grim.

Exceedingly heavy.

Following that, there were frequent personnel reassignments; Cloud Boats came and went from the mountain, and streaks of light darted back and forth...

Some noticed the signs, sensed the crisis, and felt a deep sense of worry, sighing that a major event was likely to occur.

Others remained completely unaware, continuing their cultivation, meditation, and travels as usual...

...

On the other side, after stepping through that gate, Xu Xian appeared in a tunnel filled with brilliant starlight.

The tunnel extended downward, accompanied by starlight and a long, winding staircase.

He had originally thought that stepping into the blue light gate would be like entering the Emperor's Tomb or the Sword Mound, placing him in another small world.

But once inside, he found that the power of the laws of heaven and earth did not fluctuate.

This was merely a passage, a road leading somewhere deep underground.

However, this road was not carved or excavated from the mountain.

Instead, it was a spatial passage constructed using special means across different dimensions.

The surrounding scenery was merely an illusion.

Walking through it felt like strolling through the sea of stars in the heavens.

Xu Xian initially found it strange, but gradually grew accustomed to it as he descended slowly and unhurriedly until he saw the end of the tunnel.

It was a patch of brilliant, blinding light; he could not look at it directly, and the light and shadows blurred in his eyes.

Xu Xian did not stop, leaping forward into the light.

The light shifted, and the world was completely renewed.

When Xu Xian opened his eyes, he had arrived in a subterranean world.

It was a vast underground space, seemingly boundless.

The temperature was scorching, burning his skin, and waves of heat rolled through the air, hitting him in the face.

Looking around, he saw crimson mountains and blood-red rivers.

Countless streams of lava flowed from all directions, eventually converging into a single chasm.

The lava bubbled and hissed, breathing out white steam.

In this massive place, there was not a single spot to set foot.

It was as if he were in a purgatory of lava.

The little book spirit flew out immediately, soaring into the sky.

Her Pupil of Insight monitored the surroundings, and through visual sharing, what she saw was instantly transmitted to Xu Xian's mind.

Xu Xian's sea of consciousness shuddered, and his expression turned to one of shock. "This is..."

With a thought, he moved through the air, and in the blink of an eye, he flashed to the edge of the chasm where the lava flowed.

Suspended at the edge of the abyss, the youth leaned over to look, capturing the scenery before him from his own perspective.

His pupils dilated slightly, and his throat bobbed involuntarily.

Before his eyes was a giant pit where lava from all directions poured down into a natural chasm, gathering into a massive lava lake.

Within the lake, molten rock erupted and splashed from time to time, like a great wave in the deep sea or a jiaoyu thrashing in a lake.

In the very center of the lava, a gate stood.

It was a massive, golden Sky Gate; half of it was submerged in the lava, but even the exposed half was several thousand feet tall and incredibly wide.

On the gate's pillars and lintel, countless totems were carved.

Under the tempering of the flames and the rendering of the heatwaves, they looked lifelike, as if they could come alive at any second.

Particularly in the center of the left and right pillars, a dragon and a phoenix were carved, their claws and fangs bared with a chilling, divine aura, their eyes filled with immortal intent.

Sacred and solemn, the surging heatwaves and the pool of lava could not hide its sharp radiance.

However, this gate was sealed.

There were five five-colored chains binding and wrapping around the Sky Gate.

They formed a formation, with the five ends of the chains anchored to the five corners of the lava lake.

At those five corners stood five elevated platforms.

On those five platforms, five people sat in silence.

They looked like five mummified corpses, withered to the bone with shriveled faces, completely motionless.

Yet, their hands tightly gripped the five five-colored chains.

Gold, azure, green, crimson, and yellow; the chains were enveloped in the power of the five elements.

At the spots where the platforms stood, an ancient formation was inscribed, appearing to suck the power of the five elements from the ground.

Xu Xian murmured in a lost voice, "What an overbearing formation."

Indeed.

The entire abyss was a massive formation, a Five-Element Great Formation.

Using the strength of five people to gather the five elements of heaven and earth, it sealed this gate.

Where the iron chains were wrapped and reinforced, something behind the gate seemed to be trying to break through.

Every few breaths, the iron chains on the gate would shake violently.

The sound was masked by the roar of the lava, and the sight was blurred by the surging heatwaves.

But with the help of the Pupil of Insight, Xu Xian still noticed that black gas would occasionally seep out from the gate's pillars.

It was very faint.

As soon as it appeared, it would be incinerated by the heat and erased by the formation's power.

Xu Xian still saw it, and he detected that those wisps of black gas were filled with slaughter and brutality.

It was absolute yin earthly malice.

A lake of fire, a Sky Gate, five elevated platforms, and five withered forms.

Though the bodies were withered, their breath remained.

At this moment, Xu Xian knew clearly that the rumors were true; Fanzhou's Sky Gate really was sealed, right beneath the mountain gate of the Wendao Sword Sect.

And the five people before him were undoubtedly his master, Li Taibai, and the four senior brothers and sisters who had never shown their faces.

Even if he had never met them, the sword aura on them could not be hidden from Xu Xian's eyes.

Five immortal swords.

They originated from the Sword Mound.

As early as over a decade ago, when Xu Xian left the Sword Mound, he had already sensed the aura of these swords.

Today, he finally saw them.

...

The five people on the platforms were as gaunt as skeletons, their hair like withered grass, yet they were all at the peak of the tribulation transcendence stage.

For a moment, Xu Xian truly could not distinguish who was his master or which ones were his seniors; he could not even tell their genders.

They were in too wretched a state.

It was hard to imagine what they had endured over the years.

Could they really have sat here for ten thousand years?

Just as he was rendered speechless by the scene before him, the skeleton-like old man on the platform connected to the golden chain slowly opened his eyes.

His parched lips moved slightly, and his voice was deep and resonant as he spoke slowly.

"Sword Bearer!"

"You have finally come!"