Chapter 158: Hidden Cloud Cave (Part Two)

"?"

Song Yan stood in a daze, feeling somewhat baffled.

This was the Lesser Grotto-heaven Realm, which, to put it bluntly, was a small world contained within some sort of spiritual treasure.

Why would the Yin-Yang Bead react here?

Could it be that in ancient times, a sword cultivator had fallen here?

Or perhaps...

Song Yan thought of his own sect master.

From that heaven-shrouding sword strike on the Dao-Enlightenment Terrace to the formless sword intent hidden within the handwritten calligraphy on New Year's Eve, every single sign pointed to one undeniable fact.

That his own sect master was also a "sword cultivator."

Song Yan had never believed that the sword cultivator inheritance he obtained from the Yin-Yang Bead was the only one of its kind in the entire world.

The "Compendium of Evil Cultivators" alone recorded three distinct lineages of sword cultivators, and naturally, each lineage had more than one sect.

Even if those sword cultivators had truly perished overnight, there would surely be someone in this world fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of their legacy.

"..."

Taking a deep breath, he temporarily reined in his thoughts.

"No matter what, I'll know once I go take a look."

The Yin-Yang Bead could only serve as a prompt, but its guidance of clues was extremely elusive.

It was almost as if that particular function was incomplete.

Fortunately, he had other methods.

He could take this opportunity to test whether the Profound Calamity Spirit-Worshipping Visage actually had the ability to track sword cultivator clues.

Previously, Song Yan had delayed condensing his natal flying sword, so the idea of using the visage for tracking had never been put into practice.

Now, he could finally give it a try.

Keeping his sword body still, he summoned the Non-Boundless Boat from the Dao-Suppressing Sword Mansion.

However, the problem now was how to divide out the "sword dao spiritual intent" needed for tracking.

The Sword-Planting Technique contained no records of such a method.

"Hmm... The Profound Calamity Spirit-Worshipping Visage requires very little spiritual qi, so the spiritual intent it needs shouldn't be much either."

With a flick of his sword finger, the Non-Boundless Boat surged with spiritual light, and sword qi instantly rose turbulent.

At the same time, along its edge, a faint yet razor-sharp strand of sword qi was slowly guided and gradually integrated into the visage.

The wood-element spiritual qi that had been introduced back at Northern Cliff Mountain was dispelled.

Activating the visage, the scene before his eyes instantly blurred like ink spreading on paper.

"It seems to work... but why does it look so strange?"

The scenery in his field of vision was completely different from what he experienced at Northern Cliff Mountain; the tracking ink trails were extremely thin, yet tightly condensed.

Anyway, as long as he could follow the direction and find it, that was all that mattered.

He stepped forward, walking among the black and red mountain ranges.

Rock formations of mixed black and red emitted tiny crackling sounds under his feet.

"Hmm?"

He crouched down and pinched a handful of dark red sandy soil, a burning, stinging sensation shooting straight to his fingertips.

These sands seemed to contain fire-element spiritual power within them?

Following the direction guided by the visage, Song Yan wove through the rugged, bizarre rocks, and the ink trails in his field of vision gradually grew clearer.

"..."

The ink-colored trajectory suddenly took a sharp downward turn at a cliff wall ahead.

It led to the base of a not-so-tall precipice.

Since he intended to leave this place eventually anyway, Song Yan did not hesitate, leaping a few times and descending along the cliff face.

A huge cave, concealed beneath intertwined vines and weeds, finally appeared before him.

"Go."

With a light tap of his fingertip, the Non-Boundless Boat darted out like a swimming fish.

It instantly sheared away the lush vines hanging and growing on the rock face, and amidst falling decayed vegetation, a massive cave entrance was revealed.

"Such dense fire-element spiritual qi... No, this seems to be sword qi."

The Non-Boundless Boat hovered by his side. Ever since his natal flying sword had officially taken shape, his perception of such sword qi had become somewhat sharper.

Outside the cave, there were four characters carved using a sword blade.

Channeling his spiritual power to brush away the withered branches and fallen leaves covering them, the true appearance of the characters was revealed.

Little He looked at these words, murmuring, "Hurry Deer Rice..."

"Hidden Scaled."

Song Yan corrected, "Hidden Scaled Cloud Cave."

Repeating the words under his breath, he stepped inside.

The cave was pitch black, and a spark ignited at Song Yan's fingertip, illuminating a section of the interior.

Following the wide passage of the cave, he walked all the way to the end.

"This..."

He saw that at the very end of the cave was a massive space, and on the barren rock wall at the far end, there appeared to be numerous characters engraved with a sword.

He slowly closed his eyes, and a wisp of sword qi welled up.

Opening them again, the Void-Observing Sword Pupils made the scene inside the cave crystal clear.

What was engraved on this wall seemed to be an autobiography.

Glancing over it roughly, it told the story of a sword cultivator who started from humble beginnings, entered the Dao through martial arts, and was enlightened by a predecessor to practice the sword.

At the very end of the autobiography, this senior sword cultivator seemed to be heading to some distant place, and thus left his somewhat dispensable inheritance right here.

He also left behind the flying sword he habitually used prior to the Golden Core realm.

The flying sword was merely ordinary iron; if it failed to resonate with a future sword cultivator's state of mind and sword intent, it could only be kept as a memento.

Looking at the characters carved on the wall, Song Yan was somewhat dumbfounded.

Leaving the inheritance right here?

In a small world contained within a spiritual treasure?

What was going on here...

He was utterly baffled, and the autobiography on the wall made no mention of this matter.

He continued reading.

This senior had originally wanted to leave the body-refining cultivation technique he practiced here as well, but worried that future generations of sword cultivators would blindly follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and thus hamper their own comprehension of the sword dao, he ultimately gave up.

The sword cultivation path of any predecessor in the sword dao was uncopiable.

Blindly pursuing the inheritance of predecessors and mimicking their paths was no different from an ugly woman mimicking a beauty, foolishly burying one's own bright future.

Thinking about it this way, the senior's worries were not without reason.

However, for Song Yan, this was inevitably a matter of regret.

Because right now, he was precisely lacking a technique to cultivate physical strength.

His current realm was still too low, and during battles with others, the dual consumption of spiritual power and sword qi frequently caused his body to exceed its load, leaving his meridians aching faintly.

"Forget it, if it's meant to be yours, you will have it; if not, do not force it."

Being able to gain this much was truly an unexpected pleasant surprise. Song Yan was someone who knew how to be content.

Speaking of which, he even had to thank Fatty Li's teleportation talisman for this.

"In the dark, there is naturally divine will at play."

A look of joy appeared on his face as he stepped forward, only to find that on a stone platform beneath the stone wall, some items were indeed placed.

Two jade boxes and two small oil lamps.

Suspended above one of the oil lamps was a fiery red scale.

Inside one of the jade boxes, blood was faintly and slowly surging.

The remaining two were empty.

"Hmm?"

Could it be that someone had already been here before?

Who could be so magnanimous as to not covet the treasures at all?

He asked himself honestly, if it were him, he would definitely have eaten his fill, wiped it clean, and stuffed the rest into his pockets to take away.

Just as he was secretly grateful to this "predecessor," a possibility suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"Could it be... the Sect Master?"

He pondered this thought in his heart, and the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

The sect master had perhaps also received the legacy of this senior, but his esteemed self was blessed with supreme talent and inherently formidable strength, so he had no use for two portions of treasure.

Therefore, he had left one portion behind within this grotto-heaven realm as a treasure reward for the sword-testing trial this time.

Fortunately, the map did not mark any treasure patterns near this mountain range, otherwise it wouldn't have been his turn.

In the center beneath the rock wall, an ancient sword covered in rust was planted obliquely.

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