Princess Anping's Tomb, ninth floor.
After an ancient sword manifested by the rules of the Heavenly Dao pierced Li Mu's body, he instantly vanished into nothing.
In the icy burial chamber, the radiance faded. A bloodstained, tattered robe fluttered down into the coffin, landing right over Princess Anping's body.
Tap.
A rusty broken sword, drenched in enemy blood, tumbled from the air and embedded itself in the stone floor beside the coffin.
A tattered robe, a broken sword-these were the last traces the World's Number One Sword Immortal had left in this world when he died fighting in Shangyu County.
Inside the coffin, the breathtakingly beautiful Princess Anping's flesh began rapidly shriveling the instant the tattered robe covered her corpse.
Her beauty and splendor faded. In mere moments, she became a skeleton coated in the dust of the world.
An Ping had been dead for decades, yet only at this moment did she close her eyes.
The wheels of history rolled on, the years hurried past, and dynasties rose and fell.
The world no longer had its Sword Immortal or that lovestruck little princess. All that remained was a lonely grave in the barren mountains, with two people resting within.
Nearby, Ren Ye witnessed it all, and the grief in his heart deepened.
He tried focusing his consciousness and forming a thought.
Whoosh!
The coffin lid that had been lying quietly on the floor suddenly rose, then settled snugly onto the coffin, sealing it shut.
Once that was done, Ren Ye settled his thoughts again and continued sensing the "unknown regions" of Qingliang Prefecture.
His consciousness drifted into the distance, slowly sweeping over mountains and rivers. Every blade of grass, every tree, the wild beasts, insects, and birds-all lay beneath his gaze.
Bang!
At last, a strand of consciousness stretching