After regulating his breathing in the secret chamber for another half hour,
and thoroughly stabilizing the qi within his body,
Zhang Chu rose and walked out of the secret chamber.
The disciple waiting outside saw Zhang Chu emerge from seclusion and hurriedly bowed. "Daoist Priest Zhang, the manor lord asks that you go to the council hall for a discussion once you emerge."
Zhang Chu nodded and followed him there.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the council hall was grave.
Deng Wuzong, Tu Xiong, Li Gang, and the others all wore furrowed brows. Clearly, there had been no progress in the matter of the stolen Divine Sword.
When they saw Zhang Chu enter, everyone was startled.
At this moment, Zhang Chu's hair was actually half white and half gold!
"Daoist Priest Zhang, your..." Deng Wuzong abruptly stood, staring worriedly at Zhang Chu's hair.
The others were the same, concern appearing on their faces. They had thought Zhang Chu had suffered grave injuries.
"It is nothing. Daoist Sect cultivation techniques are simply unusual." Zhang Chu waved a hand calmly, dispelling everyone's doubts.
Only then did everyone let out a breath of relief.
"The sword embryo still has not been found?" Zhang Chu asked after taking a sip of tea, looking at the frowning crowd in the hall.
Deng Wuzong gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "We have no leads at all. That sword embryo seems to have truly vanished into thin air."
"But perhaps that is for the best. Though the sword embryo was lost in this incident, a loss at the frontier may yet be a gain in the rear—who can say it is not a blessing?"
Zhang Chu was somewhat surprised by those words.
"Why does Manor Lord Deng say so?"
He had never cared much about the sword embryo to begin with, but judging from the other man's demeanor now, it seemed Deng Wuzong did not care much either.
Could it be that they were no longer going to search for the Divine Sword Embryo?
"Daoist Priest Zhang, you do not know this, but if you knew the name of the Divine Sword Embryo, you might understand."
"Oh?" Zhang Chu was curious. He truly had never asked for the sword embryo's name; he had only heard that it was a Divine Sword Embryo.
But he had not known what, exactly, made it divine.
The old manor lord spoke. "This Divine Sword Embryo is called 'Regret'!"
Zhang Chu raised an eyebrow. What kind of name was that?
Earlier, he had heard Ma Wuji speak of a Divine Sword called Passing Time. He had not expected this one's name to be even more abstract.
"This matter must be told from several decades ago. Has Daoist Priest Zhang ever heard of the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens?"
Deng Wuzong suddenly asked.
Zhang Chu shook his head. "Zhang has practiced martial arts since childhood and rarely paid attention to the outside world. I have never heard of them."
In truth, it was not only Zhang Chu.
Long Tu and the others around him, even Sun Jingyi, all looked bewildered. Evidently, they had never heard of them either.
"It is only normal that Daoist Priest Zhang does not know. After all, these are all martial world rumors, and they concern events from more than a thousand years ago."
With a trace of vicissitude in his voice, Deng Wuzong slowly recounted a long-buried tale of the martial world.
"Since ancient times, there has been a legend of the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens. It is said that each artifact possesses unfathomable powers beyond ghosts and gods, powers utterly inconceivable. Obtaining even one can bring unimaginable benefits and allow one to dominate an entire region."
"And these Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens can be divided into three categories: the Seven Treasures, the Eight Profound, and the Nine Secrets, each with its own mysteries."
Everyone listened intently, their eyes filled with shock. They had never even heard of the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens. Hearing of them today, they found them utterly unbelievable.
"And these are not merely legends!"
Deng Wuzong continued, "My grandfather was one of Sword Forging Manor's peerless geniuses in his day. His sword-forging art was unmatched beneath heaven. When he traveled the world in his youth, a fortunate coincidence allowed him to obtain one of those divine artifacts—one of the Seven Treasures, Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold!"
"What?!"
The entire hall erupted. Everyone stood dumbstruck, their eyes full of disbelief.
Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold—the legendary divine artifact. Sword Forging Manor's ancestor had actually obtained it!
Zhang Chu was shocked as well.
According to Deng Wuzong, the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens had been nothing but legends for over a thousand years, yet his grandfather had obtained one. Such fortune could only be called heaven-defying.
Ignoring everyone's shock, Deng Wuzong continued, "After Grandfather obtained Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold, he did not dare leak a single word. He returned to the manor overnight and never again stepped outside. Even Grandmother knew nothing about it."
"Not until Sword Forging Manor's first Divine Sword was born—the Qingcheng Sword, one of the Ten Great Divine Swords beneath heaven—did Grandfather dare leave the manor again."
"Because that Qingcheng Sword had been forged from Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold. Once the sword was completed, the Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold disappeared, so there was no longer any fear of others coveting it."
"Grandfather had thought that, with Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold gone and a Divine Sword in hand, he would be able to bring glory to the family name."
"But who could have imagined that not long after the sword was completed, Grandfather died mysteriously. The Qingcheng Sword also vanished without a trace and was never seen again. Sword Forging Manor declined from prosperity because of it, step by step becoming what it is today."
By this point, Deng Wuzong's voice was filled with vicissitude and regret, and everyone was deeply moved.
They had never expected Sword Forging Manor's past to be so fraught with twists and turns—rising because of a divine artifact and falling because of one as well.
Then Deng Wuzong changed the subject. "But what the world does not know is that when Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold dissipated within Sky Fire Cave, where the Qingcheng Sword had been forged, it left behind a single drop of golden tear trace. That tear trace was the Divine Sword Embryo that has now been lost."
"That is why this sword embryo is called Regret. First, because of the tear trace; second, because I mourn my grandfather. Had he not obtained Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold back then, Sword Forging Manor would not have suffered that calamity, nor would he have died so mysteriously. Everything... is regret."
"That is why I said that losing the sword embryo may instead be a good thing. Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold was an ominous object to begin with. Sword Forging Manor has paid too great a price because of it. Now that it is gone, perhaps the manor can escape this fate and begin anew."
After hearing Deng Wuzong's account, Zhang Chu was filled with emotion as well. He had never expected this seemingly ordinary Divine Sword Embryo to conceal so many secrets.
The Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens, Heavenly Maiden's Tear Gold of the Seven Treasures, and the rise and fall of Sword Forging Manor were all bound to it. Nothing was more fitting than the fickleness of worldly affairs.
Just then, Deng Wuzong suddenly looked at Zhang Chu.
His expression became solemn as well.
"In truth, I did not tell Daoist Priest Zhang all this today merely to recount Sword Forging Manor's past. It is because the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens have an enormous connection to your missing master!"
"Hm?"
Zhang Chu's pupils abruptly contracted.
The calm expression on his face vanished in an instant.
It was replaced by gravity.
"Manor Lord Deng, is that true? My master's disappearance was actually connected to the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens?"
Ever since his master had died in Mobei, Zhang Chu had been searching for clues. Several years had passed without any gains, yet now he was hearing news of his master from Deng Wuzong.
At this moment, Tu Xiong suddenly looked at Zhang Chu.
"What the old manor lord says is true. Daoist Priest Zhang saved our lives today. With our strength, we may never be able to repay this debt in this lifetime, so we can only tell you this sole clue. And this clue concerns your master's disappearance, as well as another of the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens."
"Please speak, Lord Tu." Zhang Chu looked at the elder who was still his superior and spoke.
He had long since sought news of his master from the Sky Patrol Guard. The Sky Patrol Guard answered to the Imperial Court, with informants spread throughout the land and the most well-informed intelligence network.
He had simply never found a suitable opportunity. Now that Tu Xiong had brought it up himself, Zhang Chu naturally would not let it pass.
Tu Xiong slowly said, "The Sky Patrol Guard does not know much about your master's disappearance either, because this matter involved the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens and was far too secretive."
"But one point is certain. The reason your master ventured alone deep into Mobei back then was because the Nine Nether Wishing Stone, one of the Eight Profound, had once appeared in North of Mobei!"
"The Nine Nether Wishing Stone?" Zhang Chu repeated in a low voice.
Another of the Twenty-Four Divine Artifacts of the Heavens.
And one of the Eight Profound at that.
"Precisely." Tu Xiong nodded.
He continued, "Legend says that the Nine Nether Wishing Stone possesses the heaven-defying power to alter Fate itself. It can turn life into death and death into life. By the banks of the Styx River, the Nine Netherworlds remain Undying."
"So long as one makes a wish before it, no matter how heaven-defying that wish may be, it may come true."
"We surmise that the reason your master risked himself and entered North of Mobei alone was to find the Nine Nether Wishing Stone and use its unfathomable ghost-and-god power to resurrect someone."
"Resurrect someone?"
A wave of doubt rose in Zhang Chu's heart.
He had entered the mountain as a child and followed his master for more than a decade, yet he had never heard his master mention anyone he missed.
Much less anyone he wished to resurrect.
His master had been detached his entire life, as though he held none of the ten thousand things of this world in his heart. What person could be worth such a risk?
Seeing Zhang Chu's changing expression,
Tu Xiong hesitated before speaking. "Daoist Priest Zhang, although there is now news of your master, this old man still advises you not to go to North of Mobei."
"Mobei itself is already incomparably perilous. Only Sandstorm City stands there, and together with Snowy City, it is known as humanity's last barrier. It is already the Imperial Court's farthest territory."
"Further north lies an uninhabited region, where chilling winds rage year-round, desolate mountains stretch without end, and few living creatures exist."
"In such a death ground, even Grandmaster-level experts would struggle to emerge alive. Who knew how many top martial artists in the martial world had been buried in that uninhabited region."
"And North of Mobei is merely its present name. In ancient times, it had another name—a name that made martial artists throughout the land turn pale at its mention!"
Zhang Chu asked in a low voice, "What name?"
Tu Xiong slowly uttered two words. His voice carried a trace of chill, and a trace of reverence.
"Ghost Realm!"
(It's too cold. Please send rewards and urge updates so this kid can buy a hand warmer... If there are enough, there can be an extra chapter!)
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