Sky Sword Sect's Secret!

"Revenge must be taken, but this matter requires long-term planning. I need to find out exactly how the Ye Family and the Profound Heaven Sect colluded with Otherworlders, and how many Otherworlders they still have hidden in their homes. Unfortunately, I cleaved that previous Otherworlder apart with my sword."

Dugu Wudi's gaze was sharp as a blade, his heart surging. He suddenly glanced at Lu Chen and said, "Chen, since you have grown to this extent, there are some secrets of our Sky Sword Sect that I can now tell you."

"Secrets?"

Lu Chen's eyes flickered as he looked at Dugu Wudi.

"Indeed."

Dugu Wudi nodded lightly.

Suddenly, he sensed something and wheeled around, looking in another direction.

Not far away, Qing Lian came staggering back at last. Her clothes were in tatters, her face deathly pale, her hair disheveled. She looked like someone who had narrowly escaped death, her eyes filled with terror.

Dugu Wudi took one step and appeared before Qing Lian in an instant. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and a powerful stream of true qi poured directly into her body. He said calmly, "It is all over now. There is no need to fear. Calm your mind and steady your breath. Your Master is here for everything."

As that pure true qi entered her body, the damage Qing Lian had suffered from burning her blood and qi to perform Blood Escape began recovering at an astonishing pace.

Even the panic on her face gradually faded.

After the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, Qing Lian had finally recovered seven or eight parts out of ten.

"Thank you, Master."

She bowed slightly as she spoke.

"Come. Go with your senior brother and hear the secrets of our Sky Sword Sect."

Dugu Wudi let out a soft sigh, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked toward a great hall in the distance.

Lu Chen frowned slightly. He looked at Qing Lian from afar and said flatly,

"Junior Sister, it has been many days. You have not acted up again, have you?"

"No, no."

Qing Lian hurriedly replied.

"That is more like it. There is an order between elders and juniors, a distinction between high and low. I hope you remember that forever."

Lu Chen added another sentence before turning and leaving.

Qing Lian said nothing. She lowered her head and quietly followed behind.

Before long.

They arrived at a damaged great hall in the distance.

The entire hall was riddled with holes, nearly razed to the ground. Scattered foundation stones and rubble lay everywhere.

Within the shattered hall stood a massive stone sword, five meters tall, thrust into the ground.

The stone sword was broad and heavy, its surface engraved with countless words.

It seemed to exude an invisible force.

It gave one the strange illusion of facing a mountain or a towering peak.

"Chen, what do you think of this sword?"

Dugu Wudi asked.

"Very strong. Very formidable."

Lu Chen stared at the stone sword and said, "There is something inside this stone sword?"

"Correct."

Dugu Wudi smiled. "The stone sword is only a disguise. A true divine sword is hidden within it, a divine sword left behind by the ancestor of our Sky Sword Sect. Its sharpness is unmatched, peerless beneath heaven. Do you know why this sword is planted here?"

"To suppress the Otherworlders you mentioned, Master?"

Lu Chen asked.

"Yes."

Dugu Wudi nodded calmly. "This world is far beyond what ordinary people imagine. Besides us humans, there is another strange kind of existence, also known as demons. But those demons are extremely few in number. Most have long been firmly sealed away by the great aristocratic families and major sects, with only a very small number hiding outside. Our Sky Sword Sect once had an ancient ancestor seal away a Demon King. More than a thousand years have passed, and that Demon King has still not died..."

"A Demon King!"

Lu Chen was astonished. Looking at the stone sword before him, he said, "A Demon King is being suppressed beneath this stone sword!"

"To be precise, it is a Demon Soil!"

Dugu Wudi replied. "Over a thousand years ago, the ancestor of our Sky Sword Sect sealed an entire Demon Soil here. The Demon King within, along with countless demons, was trapped inside. To prevent them from breaking free in the future, the ancestor built the Sky Sword Sect here, guarding it generation after generation."

"They cannot be killed?"

Lu Chen was shocked.

"Yes. True Demon Kings can be considered undying and indestructible."

Dugu Wudi's expression was solemn as he sighed. "That is why the ancestor chose to suppress them. And as the Sky Sword Sect has passed down from generation to generation, nearly every sect master has spent most of his energy on this Demon King. Once the Demon King below breaks free, the first to settle scores with will be our Sky Sword Sect. That is why, regarding so many matters outside, this old man has seemed willing but powerless."

The Sky Sword Sect's enmity with the Demon King below ran too deep.

Those reclusive families and sects had seen exactly that, which was why they had dared to keep making moves against the Sky Sword Sect in secret.

For thousands of years, whenever the Sky Sword Sect changed from an old sect master to a new one, it had been the sect's darkest hour.

Several hidden families would seize the opportunity to come and plunder it.

Because they had concluded that the Sky Sword Sect would have no time to deal with them.

This time had been no exception.

Yet they had never imagined that Dugu Wudi's strength would far surpass their expectations.

Still less had they imagined that their collusion with Otherworlders would thoroughly enrage Dugu Wudi.

"Do those reclusive families and sects not have seals within them as well?"

"Of course they do."

Dugu Wudi replied indifferently, "But how could what their families seal compare to what our Sky Sword Sect holds? At most, they have sealed a few somewhat formidable demons, far from anything that could become a Demon King. Besides, those reclusive families possess deep foundations, far deeper than those of our Sky Sword Sect."

From ancient times to the present, even during its most prosperous era, the Sky Sword Sect had only ever had five disciples.

But the origins of those reclusive families could be traced all the way back to the Ancient Clans...

Who knew what they had inherited from the Ancient Clans?

That was the second reason Dugu Wudi could do nothing to them.

"Alright."

Lu Chen stared fixedly at the area beneath the giant sword.

A Demon Soil!

If he killed them all, how many Merit Points would that bring?

Even Qing Lian at the side wore a look of utter shock.

She clearly had not expected such a tremendous secret to be hidden within the Sky Sword Sect.

It was like a concealed powder keg!

It could blow the Sky Sword Sect to pieces at any moment?

"Why has there not been the slightest news of demons in this world?"

Lu Chen asked.

"Because the demons roaming outside are mostly extremely cautious and never reveal themselves lightly. But this time, they actually colluded with those reclusive families... and those families even agreed to their terms. There must be a conspiracy involved that neither you nor I can imagine."

Dugu Wudi's eyes flickered, his heart churning.

What worried him most now was the Demon King below!

Anything could happen outside, but this Demon King absolutely could not break free!

Otherwise, the Sky Sword Sect would certainly be destroyed!

"So, we cannot take revenge on those reclusive families?"

Lu Chen frowned.

"That is not absolute. So long as you can enter the Heaven Rankings and achieve a Golden Body, you may take revenge as you please from then on. At that time, our Sky Sword Sect will have two Heaven Rankings experts."

Dugu Wudi encouragingly patted his shoulder.

Enter the Heaven Rankings?

Lu Chen fell silent.

Easy for him to say.

Without Merit Points, how was he supposed to achieve the Heaven Rankings?

He would definitely destroy those reclusive families and sects.

With that thought, Lu Chen once again silently glanced at the panel.

Merit Points:

"I can break through to the ninth level of the True Qi Hidden Realm..."

A strange curve rose at the corner of his lips.

It was just that exaggerated!

A true cheater never wronged himself!

"Master, I want to study the cultivation method for opening the Spirit Hidden Realm."

Lu Chen suddenly said.

"You may. You are now at the eighth level of the True Qi Hidden Realm. With your aptitude, you should need no more than half a year to reach the ninth level of the True Qi Hidden Realm. Studying the method to open the Spirit Hidden Realm in advance is just right."

Dugu Wudi said.

Qing Lian's eyes immediately widened, and her breathing quickened as she looked at Lu Chen.

What had he said?

Lu Chen had reached the eighth level of the True Qi Hidden Realm?

How was that possible?

Before the Heaven Gate Baptism, had he not only been at the third level of the True Qi Hidden Realm?

Wave after wave of dizziness washed over her, and she felt as though her heart had been battered beyond recognition.

Back when Dugu Wudi had discovered her, he had once praised her as a swordsmanship genius seen only once in three hundred years.

She had been delighted by that for a long time.

She had vowed to sweep away everything with her sword.

Especially after learning that she had two senior brothers, she had felt nothing but contempt.

Yet ever since meeting Lu Chen, she had suffered one massive blow after another at his hands.

If she remembered correctly, Lu Chen had only been at the sixth level of the Physical Body Hidden Realm half a month ago.

Yet in merely half a month, he had reached the eighth level of the True Qi Hidden Realm!

That was a total leap of... eleven minor realms?

And she, this genius seen once in three hundred years, with the aid of the Enlightenment Pavilion and all kinds of pills, had only just broken through two minor realms in this half month.

Her mind thundered and buzzed, and her confidence collapsed in an instant.

"This is a method for tempering spiritual power, called Myriad Swords Contemplate the World. It is the supreme spiritual cultivation method of our Sky Sword Sect. Take it and study it now. If there is anything you do not understand, come ask me."

Dugu Wudi casually took out a black book, forced out a smile, and handed it to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen took it. The moment his gaze swept over it, he felt waves of indescribable sword intent rushing from the black book's surface. Especially when his eyes fell upon it, he faintly felt pain stabbing through his mind, as though even his soul were being thrown into disorder.

"Lu Chen, without reaching a certain realm, this book cannot be read. Only after you truly reach the ninth level of the True Qi Hidden Realm, then spend time little by little tempering your spiritual power, can you truly open this book. Therefore, advancing from the True Qi Hidden Realm to the Spirit Hidden Realm is an extremely arduous matter. It often consumes more than ten years, or even several decades."

Dugu Wudi sighed. "Back then, your senior brother spent a full nine and a half years tempering himself before advancing from the True Qi Hidden Realm into the Spirit Hidden Realm."

"So long?"

Lu Chen's eyes flickered.

He did not have that much time to waste!

So long as he had enough Merit Points, he could reach great mastery in a single day.

"Thank you, Master!"

Lu Chen cupped his hands.