Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 287 The Second Ancient Talisman

"..."

He was silent for a moment, then nodded, and turned to Zhou Mengdie: "It's safe outside now, you can wake up."

"Oh...oh."

Zhou Mengdie nodded blankly.

After Song Yan finished speaking, he tried to restrain his sword intent.

As expected, his figure slowly disappeared from the spot.

The two people in the dream looked at each other.

"Sir, didn't you say no one could come in?"

Zhou Mengdie looked somewhat suspicious, which made Zhou Zixiu feel a little awkward.

"Ahem, this is the lesson I'm going to teach you."

He said, "The world of cultivation is full of wonders, and there is everything. Nothing is absolute, so don't underestimate others."

"Oh……"

Zhou Mengdie nodded.

"Do you know who your Senior Brother Song is?" Zhou Zixiu suddenly asked.
The girl scratched her head: "Senior Brother Song Yan? I'm not very familiar with him... I think I've heard Ling'er mention him before."

Zhou Zixiu pondered for a moment, then sighed.

This child doesn't understand anything and just sleeps all day. Only now has he discovered that there is someone like Song Yan by her side.

But now that I think about it, he actually bears some responsibility for this.

Subconsciously, he also vaguely felt that there was nothing worth caring about in this remote and secluded place.

So I didn't ask her to do anything.

"Song Yan..."

He murmured the name, and a figure appeared before his eyes.

"Master, what happened to Senior Brother Song?"

“It’s nothing.” Zhou Zixiu shook his head: “I just think he might be the successor of an old friend.”

"Huh?" A look of surprise appeared on Zhou Mengdie's face: "Didn't you say you've lived for tens of thousands of years?"

"Is there really such a coincidence in the world?"

Zhou Zixiu sighed softly: "Who can truly explain matters of destiny?"

"You should pay more attention to this person in the future."

Zhou Mengdie pointed to herself with her little finger: "Me? I'm just a Qi Refining cultivator. You want me to pay attention to a Foundation Establishment cultivator?"

"Sir, you think too highly of me."

“So,” Zhou Zixiu glanced at her, “you should also hurry up and start cultivating.”

"Oh."

……

After Song Yan emerged from the dream and confirmed that Zhou Mengdie was unharmed, he left the place and returned to his cave.

He put Xiaohe to bed and went into the quiet room alone.

He took out two Qiankun bags.

These two Qiankun bags were seized from the two Foundation Establishment mid-stage demonic cultivators he killed. He immediately used his sword energy to erase the original spiritual power imprints and probed into them with his divine sense to examine them.

The demonic cultivator who wielded the blood-red blade had a Qiankun bag filled with bottles and jars of pills.

Many have already taken the pills, and the bottles are now empty.

There weren't many spirit stones either, only five or six hundred.

Including the blood-stained blade, the few other magical artifacts were of no use to Song Yan. He would have to sell them and exchange them for spirit stones.

Judging from the condition of this Qiankun bag, it seems that this cultivator from the Demon Ruins has just spent a lot of effort breaking through to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

Unfortunately, not long after, he went to the battlefield and has now died.

However, Song Yan had no time to mourn his opponent. After tidying up casually, he took out the second Qiankun bag.

It was the old man in the yellow robe.

Compared to the previous one, the old man in the yellow robe had a much richer Qiankun bag, which Song Yan sorted out one by one.

There were over 1,300 spirit stones.

It should be understood that once you enter this battlefield between the righteous and the demonic paths, no one knows whether they will survive.

Therefore, most people, like the person mentioned earlier, will spend a lot of resources trying every means to improve their abilities.

The old man in yellow robes probably made similar moves; his original accumulation should be more than just this.

However, for Song Yan's current assets, this is already a considerable supplement to his financial resources.

The small ghost-headed banner he had previously controlled was destroyed by the killing move of the Star-Shifting Sword Formation and was no longer usable.

Song Yan did find a small, emerald-green sword in his collection, which was of fairly good quality.

After picking and choosing, he quickly kept the useful items and put the worthless junk and things he didn't need into the Qiankun bag in front of him.

In the end, two things remained, suspended in front of Song Yan.

One of them was an ancient jade talisman.

The ancient talisman was red and purple, with mysterious symbols and patterns on it that looked extremely familiar.

"What a coincidence!"

He took out another ancient talisman from his Qiankun bag and placed the two jade talismans tightly together.

In comparison, they appear to be exactly the same.

This ancient talisman was given to him by Sheng Nian earlier; it is the key to the ancient battlefield of the Immortal Dynasty, whose emergence is still unknown.

Unexpectedly, this old man in yellow also had one.

Now, he has two ancient talismans in his hands.

Song Yan couldn't help but start to think.

Normally, this ancient talisman would be given to someone you trust, so that they can enter the ancient battlefield together and seek opportunities.

For example, Qin Xijun, Li Yi, Li Qingfeng, and even Lin Qing, etc...

But this time I'm going to be with Gou Sheng.

He was, after all, a demonic cultivator, and Song Yan couldn't be sure how these people would react once they found out; it might cause unnecessary trouble.

But is it a waste to just keep it in my hands like this?

After pondering for a moment, Song Yan had an idea and made a plan.

However, this matter needs further consideration, so the ancient talisman was temporarily put away.

His gaze fell on something else.

This is a jade slip. Song Yan had glanced at its contents earlier and it should be some records passed down from the ancestors of the cultivators in the yellow robe.

He wasn't interested at first, but then he heard a few words about sword cultivators.

He was now carefully reading the contents of the jade slip.

The forces within the Demon Ruins are vastly different from those in the mortal cultivation world.

Although there are also terms like "family" or "sect," they usually refer to themselves as a certain lineage or tradition when speaking to outsiders.

For example, this yellow-robed cultivator came from a Ghostly Land within the Demon Ruins, and his lineage originated from the Yellow Springs Path.

Therefore, this invasion was initiated by the Yellow Springs Path.

Among the cultivators of the Demon Ruins, whether they refer to themselves or each other, they all report their origins in the Yellow Springs Path.

The lineages of the Demon Ruins can be roughly categorized as follows.

The Asura Path, the Joyous Union Path, the Underworld Path, and the Demon Seed Path.

However, according to the contents of this jade slip, several names were mentioned, which Song Yan had never heard of before.

Those are Stealing Heaven Gate, Evil Sword Sect, and Shaomeng Mountain.

However, according to the jade slip, the foundation of the Daoist traditions of Stealing Heaven Gate and Shaomeng Mountain has always been in the human world, not within the Demon Ruins.

Furthermore, they haven't had any close contact with the cultivators of the Demon Ruins for who knows how many years.

They are basically neutral and rarely participate in the conflict between the righteous and the demonic paths.

As for the Evil Sword Sect, it is quite mysterious, and there are relatively few records of it on the jade slips.

All I know is that this tradition seems to have always existed in the human world.

In fact, if we trace back to the source, all these countless sects in the human world, going back thousands or tens of thousands of years, all originated from a few different lineages.

However, in this respect, the "system" of the Demon Ruins still retains an ancient style. The Ghost Luo Land, where the yellow-robed cultivators originated, is also considered one of the more ancient lineages within the Yellow Springs Dao tradition.

A passage in the jade slip caught Song Yan's attention.

The land of Guiluo has a history of about six thousand years.

Around 4,200 to 4,300 years ago, all the demonic cultivators of the Yellow Springs Path above the Golden Core Realm suddenly received a summons from the Yellow Springs Sect, the orthodox lineage of the Yellow Springs Path, and were asked to go to the mortal realm.

The demonic cultivator who recorded the events on the jade slip didn't know exactly what they were going to do. According to a Golden Core demonic cultivator who was going to participate in the event, it seemed to be related to sword cultivators.

In short, the demonic cultivators who participated at that time included those at the Golden Core Realm, Nascent Soul Realm, and even those at the Divine Transformation Realm.

There are almost no survivors at the Golden Core stage.

The returning Nascent Soul and Divine Transformation Realm cultivators also remained silent about this matter, and not a single piece of news was released.

This matter only constitutes a small part of the entire contents of the jade slip.

It can be said that it was mentioned only briefly.

After reading this part, Song Yan only glanced at the rest of the content briefly and did not look at it in detail.

"Four thousand years ago... was it related to sword cultivators?"

Perhaps due to its antiquity, the descriptions of time in the jade slips are rather vague.

Between four thousand and five thousand years, that's a difference of a thousand years...

For those great cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage, who often spend thousands or hundreds of years on the job, they probably don't care about this little bit of time.

But you should know that Song Yan only lived to be twenty-four.

"..."

Could it be that the disappearance of the sword cultivator was caused by the demonic cultivators?

"And the very far place the sword cultivator mentioned he was going to, is it the Demon Ruins?"

"...Something doesn't seem right."

No matter how much Ren Songyan thought about it, he felt that his guess was somewhat far-fetched.

Moreover, based on his current understanding of sword cultivators, the power of sword cultivators in the human world back then was definitely not to be underestimated.

He was the first to disbelieve that the Demon Ruins could send so many cultivators and cause the sword cultivation lineage to vanish from the world.

It is said that those true sword cultivators left the mortal realm and went to some other place.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Demon Ruins invaded, and the cultivators who remained there to carry on the sword cultivation tradition were purged.

This explanation is somewhat more reasonable.

"..."

But why would the cultivators of the Demon Ruins do this?

Song Yan is no longer a hothead; cultivators rarely resort to such large-scale warfare unless there is a particularly serious blood feud between them.

This can be seen from the records of heretical cultivators that Song Yan had previously obtained.

Even a heretical cultivator like that Golden Core Realm expert would try his best to avoid the sharp edge of a sword cultivator when encountering one.

In his words, it's all about profit, so why risk your life?

However, if the disappearance of sword cultivators is truly related to the cultivators of the Demon Ruins, what is their motive for slaughtering sword cultivators at all costs?
Most sword cultivators are poor and have little to no resources, such as spirit stones and pills.

As for a natal flying sword, that thing lives and dies with the sword cultivator. Once the master perishes, the sword intent and spiritual energy within it will immediately dissipate.

At most, all that's left is an ordinary sword body, with little value.

Sword Cultivation Lineage?

Of the three sword cultivators, two of the mainstream ones both require the Spirit-Slaying Seed Sword.

It is highly unlikely that any cultivator with the Foundation Establishment realm would actually dissipate their cultivation and start over.

If the so-called sword cultivators' lineage were truly seized, there would be some benefits for the cultivators of the Demon Ruins, but they would be very limited.

"..."

Song Yan pondered deeply, seemingly glimpsing a glimpse of the truth.

But it's also vague and indistinct, impossible to grasp.

However, at least now he knows that the cultivators of the Demon Ruins, or at least the demon cultivators of the Yellow Springs Path, are somewhat involved with sword cultivators.

It seems I still need to work hard to search for what the sword cultivator predecessors left behind, and then use the Endless Treasury to see for myself what happened.

After this period of contemplation, Song Yan cast aside his chaotic thoughts and returned to a state of cultivation.

As for the things that happened at Tiansheng Pass, it's none of his business.

As the nominal gatekeepers, He Huan and Shi Ping would naturally report everything that happened here to the Nine Veins Elder Council.

He himself continued to study the art of sword formations.

After a while, the deadline for Song Yan and his group of cultivators who were sent to support the defense of the town was approaching.

In the next few days, someone should come with a message: some of the cultivators will stay here, while others will return to Red Maple Plain.

The monks who were originally stationed here may also change.

Whether to continue guarding this place or return to Red Maple Plain, everyone has different ideas.

It is generally believed that this place has just experienced a surprise attack by demonic cultivators and should be safe for a short period of time.

Some might argue that Red Maple Plains, where the core of the righteous cultivators of Chu Kingdom are gathered, is actually safer.

So these days, the cultivators in Guanzhong have been discussing this matter.

"Hey Feng, they're not leaving anytime soon."

"Ah...right?"

There is a very simple small barter area in Guanzhong, far from the scale of a market town. It was formed spontaneously by the cultivators stationed there.

Several cultivators walked into the street and happened to see Zhou Mengdie leaving from there in the distance.

"I heard that Xiao Zhou will be able to return to Red Maple Plain with Senior Song this time."

"Good news, good news. I reckon that once the young girl goes back, she should be able to leave the front lines and return to her sect."

The monk known as Brother Feng had a stubble beard and looked somewhat haggard.

He spoke absentmindedly: "It's better to accumulate enough merits and return to the rear to cultivate peacefully than to fight to the death here."

"Oh right, they're leaving now, isn't Senior Sister Chen also...?"

"..."

"Brother Feng, you'd better think this through. You might not get another chance like this."

The man patted Feng on the shoulder: "If you have something to say, you should go and tell Senior Sister Chen right away."

"..."

……

Zhou Mengdie came out of the market and before she returned to her residence, she encountered a senior sister.

"Dream Butterfly?"

"Hey, Senior Sister Chen."

This Senior Sister Chen was one of the cultivators who came to support the defense along with Senior Brother Song and the others. She was at the late stage of Qi Refining.

Although we didn't spend much time together, he was very approachable and took good care of her.

Senior Sister Chen's expression was a half-smile: "Just now, Senior Brother Song Yan sent a message, asking you to come to his cave to discuss matters after you return."

Huh?
Senior Brother Song?
Zhou Mengdie pieced together fragments of memories to form the image of Song Yan.

Because she was always sleeping, she couldn't really remember what many people looked like, except for Ling'er and this Senior Brother Song.

For her, Song Yan was the first person who could enter her dreams; he was practically a miracle worker.

On another note, since my senior brother can enter my dreams, why doesn't he just meet me in my dreams while I'm sleeping?

The moment the thought crossed my mind, I dismissed it.

Meeting in a dream, this... this...

This is rather ambiguous.

"Dream Butterfly? Dream Butterfly?"

Whether it was because she was lost in thought or for some other reason, Zhou Mengdie blushed slightly and said, "Oh, okay, okay."

"I'll go now."

Watching Xiao Zhou's retreating figure, Senior Sister Chen sighed softly, a hint of envy in her eyes.

In such a perilous battlefield, having a powerful patron is an incredibly fortunate thing.

(End of this chapter)