Chapter Ten: The Blazing Stone Gate

  "Grave of the Sword!"

  Looking at the two characters that were identical to the previous "Forbidden Land", Ling Qingyan's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, and he clearly felt the difference between these two words. Because when he focused his attention on the two characters "Sword Mausoleum", he could distinctly feel a sharp and fierce aura, similar to sword energy, rushing towards him, which was in no way inferior to the cold mountain wind.

  The sword energy emanating from the strokes...

  If it were the previous life's Ling Qingyan, he would absolutely not believe in the existence of such absurd things. However, because this life was born on the Chongwu continent that revered the strongest and most powerful, having seen too many strange and bizarre things, Ling Qingyan's ability to accept new things had also undergone a qualitative transformation, and he clearly understood that his earlier feeling was correct.

  What is this place after all?

  As Ling Qingyan's gaze moved away from the two characters "Sword Mausoleum" on the stone gate, he looked at himself with a puzzled expression. Lian Jun explained without hesitation: "This is the place where the seniors of my Tianjian Sect retreat and cultivate in seclusion. Normally, even if it's the sect master, unless there's something extremely important, no one can come to this 'Sword Mausoleum' to disturb the seniors' cultivation."

  Wow!

  Ling Qingyan's expression, which had always been calm and composed, changed at this moment. A senior of the Tianjian Sect? Who could be referred to as a senior by the sect master of the Tianjian Sect, who had already reached the late stage of the Purple Rank? Apart from a cultivator of the Respectful level, Ling Qingyan couldn't think of any other explanation.

  In the blink of an eye, a hint of fervor appeared in Ling Qingyan's eyes. A top-notch martial artist, this lifetime he had never seen before, and his curiosity grew even more. This lifetime, the strongest people he had ever seen were none other than the couple who appeared at the Ren family, the drunkard "Ximen Kuang" and the Ice Phoenix Sect's elder "Lan Rou".

  The so-called boundary warrior, the other day on his way to this Tianjian Sect, Ling Qingyan also asked for advice from Jianzhang Laozu Fan Yiran. After Fan Yiran's explanation, he only knew that the so-called boundary warrior was the pinnacle of the purple-level later-stage warriors, and it was only one step away from entering the respected level of warriors.

  Critical martial artist, to a certain extent, is no longer considered a purple-level martial artist, because they have already preliminarily grasped some of the abilities of a respected-level martial artist, such as "spiritual awareness" ... Ling Qingyan only then realized that in the Ren family, the "spiritual pressure" displayed by Ximen Kuang and Lan Rou with their own consciousness probing had a similar subtlety to his own, was actually an ability of a respected-level martial artist.

  Ling Qing's gaze was fixed tightly on the stone gate with the words "Sword Tomb" engraved on it, and inside, this was the secluded retreat of the Tianjian Sect's top-ranking warriors.

  Rumble...

  A faint tremor came from under Ling Qingyan's feet, and in his astonished gaze, the stone gate in front of him slowly rose up. When Ling Qingyan saw the dark passageway that appeared after the stone gate rose, a surge of impulse to step forward arose involuntarily from the bottom of his heart.

  Just at this moment——

  "Jun Er, you go back, leave your junior brother here."

  The sound of vicissitudes, as if from the distant ancient wilderness, hummed in Ling Qingyan and Lian Jun's ears.

  "Yes, Master!"

  In Ling Qingyan's astonished gaze, Lian Jun bowed and said with a smile as he turned to leave: "Younger brother, older brother will take his leave first. If there's anything in the future, you can directly find me at Jian Xiao Ge's rear courtyard."

  Looking at Lian Jun's figure disappearing into the distance without any hesitation, Ling Qingyan's face was filled with even more shock. "The sect master called him my junior brother? And that voice just now, it seemed to be the sect master's own master..."

  What's going on? Ling Qingyan now only feels dizzy and confused, completely unaware of what happened. Before, he thought the sect master was looking for him, it was because he wanted to make the Executioner Sword Elder his teacher, but after coming to this forbidden land, and then coming to this sword tomb, Ling Qingyan overturned his previous thoughts.

  "Come on in!"

  That voice full of vicissitudes came again from the dark and deep passage.

  Ling Qing suddenly took a deep breath. Since the sect master had left, there was no one else around. This voice was clearly calling out to him.

  Moreover, Ling Qingyan, who had slightly cleared his mind, understood a bit more through the previous conversation between this voice and Lian Jun, as well as Lian Jun's self-address before leaving. However, he didn't dare to confirm it, after all, this matter was really too frightening to mention.

  Treading on the slightly uneven ground in the dimly lit corridor, Ling Qingyan was calm and composed on the surface, but his heart was turbulent and restless. The events that had transpired earlier were still hard for him to accept, even as someone who had lived through two lifetimes. After walking another twenty or so steps forward, Ling Qingyan clearly saw a glimmer of light at the far end of the corridor.

  Turn left at the end, Ling Qingyan only felt a bright light in front of him, and his eyes, which had just come out of the darkness, took some time to adapt. After blinking lightly several times, Ling Qingyan opened his eyes to see that this snow-bright space was actually a large stone chamber carved out of solid rock.

  At this time, only the upper part of the large stone chamber was seen, with dozens of iron chains as thick as arms hanging vertically. Every few gaps between the iron chains were hung with a long sword without a scabbard. There were so many long swords that it was impossible to count them at one time.

  Ling Qingyan suddenly realized, no wonder this place is called "Sword Tomb".

  The reason why this large stone room is so bright is entirely because of the night pearl hanging from the top of the stone room, which is as big as a washbasin. Looking at the night pearl, Ling Qingyan couldn't help but swallow his saliva, "If this were in my previous life, it would be a miracle... If this night pearl were to be auctioned off at the world's top auction house, it would definitely fetch a sky-high price."

  "Haha! Little brother."

  That voice full of vicissitudes sounded again. Along with this sound, a white-robed old man who seemed to appear out of thin air suddenly appeared not far in front of Ling Qingyan. At this time, the old man was smiling at Ling Qingyan, without any intention of treating him as a junior.

  Ling Qingyan looked at the white-haired and youthful old man in front of him, and couldn't help but feel incredulous. Looking at the old man's exposed skin, it was completely like that of a child, tender and delicate, not at all like the skin an old man should have... Could it be that a high-level martial artist could actually reverse their age?

  "Don't mind me, little brother. I'm only saying this because I don't want to arouse the suspicion of those two disciples of mine, so I'll just tell them that I'm going to take you on as a disciple."

  When the old man said this, a hint of apprehension appeared on his face as tender as an infant's, but it was fleeting. If not for Ling Qingyan's sharp eyes, he wouldn't have noticed anything at all. However, he became even more perplexed now, and before he could fully clear up his previous thoughts, the old man's words led him to fall into endless doubts once again.

  "Little brother, I know you must be extremely puzzled now. When you get to that place, you will understand..." Seeing the puzzlement in Ling Qingyan's eyes, the old man couldn't help but say: "My few fellow disciples have been in seclusion these days, little brother please don't blame them, little brother please follow me."

  Feeling the old man's politeness, Ling Qingyan forcibly suppressed the doubts at the bottom of his heart, but he couldn't help feeling more and more incredulous. This old man wasn't the master and the Sword Elder's teacher? Why would he be so courteous to himself? What was he afraid of?

  However, Ling Qingyan still closely followed the old man's footsteps and headed towards one of the inner passages.

  Closely following the old man in white robes, they turned through several passages and finally arrived at the end of one passage.

  Ling Qingyan looked incredulously at the stone gate at the end, emitting a scorching heat as if it was burning. This stone gate, still several meters away, could already feel the scorching heat emanating from it, and Ling Qingyan's forehead had begun to sweat.

  Ling Qingyan's attention was now completely focused on the strange stone gate in front of him, and he did not notice that the white-robed old man had quietly left as soon as he stood still.

  P.S: What is behind this burning stone gate? Is there something?