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Chapter 56: Chapter 56: The Forest of Swords in the Sky
The characters on this stone stele actually contain a sharp edge, making them difficult to look at directly.
Even Li Qian, who has comprehended the Illusion Level Sword Intent, vaguely felt an invisible pressure from the characters on the stele.
"Does the sharp aura contained in these characters seem to come from the same person as those in the Sword Grinding Cave?"
Li Qian had a thought.
At this moment, the black-masked Sword Carrier walked under the stone stele, where there was unexpectedly a path on the cliffside.
The crowd hurriedly followed.
Due to the dense fog, there was a sheer cliff next to the path beneath the feet, and it was extremely perilous.
Even an Innate Martial Artist who carelessly falls might not survive if their Qinggong is slightly inferior.
Moreover, this place gave off an eerie feeling, walking on the mist-shrouded cliffside path made one’s hair stand on end for no apparent reason.
It was very quiet all around.
Walking on the cliff-hanging stone path, it felt as though one was cut off from the outside world.
Li Qian looked up at the sky, which had become a hazy gray, completely different from the vast white expanse previously seen from the mountain top.
Everyone had questions in their hearts, but no one spoke. They simply followed the Sword Master, walking deep into the abyss along the cliff.
After about ten or so minutes, they finally reached the end. Another stone stele was erected, inscribed with the words "Sword Tomb."
The crowd stood on a platform surrounded by walls on all sides.
Below the platform were layers of stone steps, with the bottom being a rather large and ordinary valley floor.
Nothing about all this seemed to resemble a Sword Tomb.
"Below here is the Sword Tomb. Once you descend from this platform, you can comprehend the Sword Intent contained within the Sword Tomb. If your luck is good enough, you might even find a match with a Divine Sword."
The Sword Master seemed to perceive everyone’s confusion and said indifferently.
With doubts, the crowd slowly descended from the platform.
As soon as Li Qian entered the Sword Tomb, he felt his scalp tingle and his heart hung in his throat.
Looking up, he saw thousands of swords suspended in mid-air, forming a vast and dense and terrifying Sword Forest.
If they all fell, it would be a horrifying rain of swords.
In the most central position was a huge stone sword, probably a hundred zhang tall, standing tall and towering, striking awe into all.
This huge stone sword was a bit strange, covered in dense holes.
Additionally, there were many stone steles, methodically placed around the stone sword.
"Is this the Sword Tomb?"
Li Qian had imagined what the Sword Tomb might look like, but what he saw now was completely beyond his imagination.
Thousands of swords were just suspended in the air.
What kind of magical power was this?
Or might it be false, an illusion?
But his own consciousness told him that this was no illusion; it was real.
Unless there was a force so powerful here that it could deceive someone with Illusion Level Sword Intent like him.
Both possibilities were plausible.
Even the latter seemed more likely.
Judging from its position, the location of the Sword Tomb was right beneath the cliff beside the Divine Sword Hall, at the bottom of the abyss.
Wasn’t this place open to the sky?
He had thought it would be an enclosed cave or the like.
Suddenly, he looked around, even more astonished.
The twenty or so Inner Sect Disciples who had entered with him had all disappeared.
"It must be the powerful force here that has completely disrupted all my senses."
Li Qian could feel the pervasive and invisible Sword Intent within this space.
Very chaotic, as if hundreds of Sword Intents were mixed together, omnipresent.
Taking a deep breath, Li Qian opened his eyes and slowly walked towards a stone stele.
It bore many inscriptions, chronicling the life of an ancestral Sword Master of the Divine Sword Sect.
Clearly, each stele here represented a predecessor of the Divine Sword Sect, and there were thousands of them.
It was said that those qualified to be buried in the Sword Tomb were either distinguished by great achievements or profound cultivation.
Taking another deep breath, Li Qian sat down cross-legged and began to release his Heartless Sword Intent.
Boom!
In an instant, Li Qian’s perceptual world completely changed.
Various sharp Sword Intents with different characteristics appeared in his world of perception, roaming through the air.
Suddenly, a nearby Sword Intent seemed stimulated, abruptly transforming into a figure wielding a Sacrificial Artifact, attacking Li Qian.
Li Qian instinctively mobilized his own Sword Intent to meet the attack.
Sword lights intertwined; the two Sword Intents clashed fiercely.
....
Outside the Sword Tomb, on the surrounding wall platform.
There stood four figures wearing masks.
Each person wore a different mask.
The one who had led Li Qian and the others down wore a Black Iron mask.
The other three, one wore a Bronze mask, one a Silver mask, and the last a Gold mask.
These three were naturally the other three Sword Masters among the top five.
Including that Black Iron-masked Sword Master.
Four Sword Masters had appeared.
"I wonder if anyone will match with a Divine Sword this time?"
The Black Iron-masked Sword Master spoke.
"Hopefully a few more, the last time it was opened, not even one..."
"It’s different this time, last time it was open to all Official Disciples, but this time it’s the cream of the crop among the Inner Sect Disciples, there should be a few."
"Let’s hope for more, after this opening, it will probably be a long time before it can be opened again."
The Sword Masters discussed.
Although they were the guardians of the Sword Tomb, after the opening of the Sword Tomb, they could not intervene, and even the situation inside, they could not understand, they could only wait for the people inside to come out.
The entire Sword Tomb was very special; once activated, it would form a space independent from the outside world, containing mysterious and incomprehensible special effects.
However, activating it just once consumes a tremendous amount.
And the Sword Tomb itself also needed time to slowly recover.
Therefore, the Divine Sword Sect could only open it after a lapse of several years.
...
Within the Sword Tomb space.
Li Qian had almost pushed his swordsmanship to the limit, and with the radiance of his sword shining, it embodied the powerful Heartless Sword Intent cutting through with Soul Chasing Slash.
Accompanied by a dazzling sword light rising, that spectral sword persona, unable to withstand it, burst like a bubble illusion, extinguished by Li Qian’s sword.
But before he could even catch his breath, another Sword Intent formed into a spectral sword persona and attacked Li Qian.
Li Qian promptly defended.
Time was indiscernible as it passed, with Li Qian seemingly entrapped in an endless cycle of combat.
Defeating one spectral sword persona only for another to attack.
He could only desperately defend.
These spectral sword personas, each with their own characteristics, some exhibited sword techniques that were grand and majestic, some were yin and secretive, some were as solid as a mountain, and some were ethereal and traceless...
Li Qian was like fighting against a multitude of talented and powerful swordsmen.
Gradually, he felt mentally exhausted.
So, he quickly used the Chen Bell in his mind.
With the dong dong dong of the bell tolling.
His spirits were revitalized.
Under the blessing of the Chen Bell’s sounds, Li Qian’s body and mind seemed tireless, maintaining his ground in such a relentless battle.
Using Sword Intent for long periods of combat was extremely draining on the spirit.
However, his bell toll was special, capable of recovering his spirit to some extent.
Still, this restoration had its limits.
After he extinguished another Sword Intent, another spectral sword persona’s attack came.
Li Qian was at the end of his tether, his efforts to resist were in vain.
The next moment, he was completely overwhelmed by the attack of that Sword Intent.
He awoke in a daze, disconnecting from the previous sensory world.
So tired.
Li Qian lay down on the ground, closed his eyes, and just wanted to sleep well.
Even the sounds of the bell in his mind were now barely effective.
However, he still endured the mental fatigue, sensing that the Sword Intent shadow revolving around the Chen Bell in his mind became extremely solid, as if it was about to become fully materialized.
"What’s going on?"
Li Qian was extremely surprised in his heart.
Previously, his Sword Intent was nowhere near this condensed.
Suddenly, his heart stirred, and he quickly summoned the system interface to check the latest information.
Host: Li Qian.
Cultivation: Innate True Qi (Late Stage 3/100).
Sacrificial Artifact: Chen Bell (Law 2452/10000). 𝓷ℴ𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝒸𝓸𝓶
Martial Arts: Sword Stabbing Fist (Perfect), Heartless Sword Technique (Perfect), Pure Sword Body (Perfect), Soul Chasing Sword Skill (Great Success 68/100).
Martial Intent: Heartless Sword Intent (Illusion 99/100).
Secret Skill: Ten Thousand Transformation Sword Qi, Blood Burning Technique.
...
