More than a million li away.
At the foot of Qingxu Sect's mountain, in a ruined courtyard.
Sunlight was blocked by thick layers of old dust, filtering feebly through the shattered window lattice and casting several bleak shafts of light into the room.
The air was filled with the heavy, rotten stench of decayed wood mixed with wet mud, weighing down every inch of space.
In the courtyard, withered yellow leaves lay layer upon layer, carpeting the cold ground and piling up in the corners, thick enough to swallow one's ankles.
Deathly stillness, desolation, and decay were the best summary of this place.
Deep within the courtyard, beneath that old locust tree, a ruined sword lay quietly embedded in the earth.
Having been buried for too long, the sword had nearly blended into its surroundings. Its blade was covered in a thick layer of dark-red and inky-green rust, layer upon layer, completely wrapping and sealing the sword. There was not the slightest trace of metallic texture left; it looked more like a fragment of rotten wood abandoned in some corner of time.
This sword seemed as though it should have slept forever, buried here.
Until this day, when the word "sun" pierced this world like invisible thunder and slammed fiercely into this silent, desolate courtyard.
A faint tremor Sounded. Within the earth, it was as if a heart had suddenly begun to beat, and an invisible force started spreading outward.
The thick heaps of fallen leaves were violently tossed up by that unseen force, scattering skyward with a rustle like a startled flock of birds.
"Screech!"
A teeth-grating sound of metal tearing suddenly rang out.
Upon the sword, the dark-red and inky-green rust layer, thick as armor, was blown apart from within by an invisible colossal force, exploding into countless