Wu Yin's Trail

The light from the teleportation array receded like a tide, and Chu Mo and Yun Che fell into a viscous mud swamp. The surrounding purple mist surged as if alive, and every breath carried the metallic sweetness of rust. The Chaos Sword suddenly trembled violently, and the runes on its sheath actually seeped out a dark golden liquid, outlining an incomplete Sword Art on the ground, identical to the one on Godfall Island.

"Be careful!" Yun Che held her soft sword horizontally across her chest, its blade reflecting the twisted dark shadows behind her. These shadows were condensed from the mist, resembling Godfall Pavilion disciples but with the compound eyes of a Scorpion-tailed Demon Spider. Chu Mo swung his sword, but the Chaos Sword Qi was like a clay ox entering the sea, swallowed by the mist without a trace. His temples throbbed. This mist could absorb Chaos Power. Could it be related to the First Generation Sword Master's imprisonment?

A bell-like laugh echoed from the mist, and a woman in a translucent gauze dress stepped out of the fog. What dripped from her skirt hem were not water droplets, but glowing black viscous liquid, and each drop that landed bloomed into sword-shaped patterns. "Thirty thousand years. Finally, someone with the Chaos Sword Body has entered this place again." Her fingertip traced Chu Mo's sword, and her nail instantly turned golden. "Unfortunately, you're a step too late."

The woman waved her jade hand lightly, and the mist condensed into chains, wrapping around the two of them. Just as Chu Mo was about to activate his power, he saw a curse mark similar to the Zi Lin woman's appear on her chest, only darker, as if it had been burned. "I am Wu Yin, once the Saintess of Godfall Pavilion." She giggled, but there was no smile in her eyes. "That fool Zi Lin, thought she could exchange her life for the truth? She only made you fall into a dead end faster."

Suddenly, the ground trembled, and hundreds of Broken Swords rose from the mud. The runes on the swords resonated with the Jade Slip in Chu Mo's hand. Wu Yin's expression changed drastically, and the chains snapped instantly. "Impossible! How do you have the 'Fate Defying Remnant Scroll'?!" Her gauze dress was torn apart by the air current, revealing a back covered in sword marks, each wound bleeding purple blood.

Chu Mo seized the opportunity to unfold the Jade Slip, and the ancient characters automatically flew into his Sea of Consciousness. In an instant, he saw the scene in the underground secret chamber of Godfall Pavilion: countless corpses similar to his were immersed in golden liquid, each with half a Chaos Sword pierced through their chest. And at the end of the secret chamber, a Bronze Masked Figure was whipping a boy bound by chains with the Zi Lin woman's long whip — the boy's face was identical to his when he first entered the Ye Family.

"This is the First Generation Sword Master's Memory Cage!" Wu Yin shrieked and lunged, but was stopped by a White-haired Elder who suddenly appeared with a bone staff. Tears welled up in the elder's cloudy eyes. "Wu Yin, don't be so stubborn anymore. Chu Mo, quickly activate the 'Illusion Breaking Array Diagram' in the Jade Slip, only this way can..."

Before he could finish speaking, blood-colored lightning suddenly struck from the sky. The Bronze Masked Figure descended, stepping on a Sword Shadow. The Chaos Sword in his hand resonated with Chu Mo's weapon, shaking his hand until his tiger's mouth cracked. A familiar voice came from under the mask: "Little friend, running around with my remnant scroll is not a good habit." A crack appeared in the mask, revealing eyes identical to the clone Chu Mo saw in the Mirror Abyss.

Yun Che suddenly plunged her soft sword into her own shoulder, and blood splattered onto Wu Yin. Something strange happened; the madness in Wu Yin's eyes gradually faded, replaced by confusion and pain. "I... What did I do?" She looked at her scarred body and suddenly grabbed Chu Mo's hand. "Run! Godfall Pavilion's 'Ten Thousand Swords Spirit Devouring Array' has been activated, the entire Divine Realm will..."

A loud bang interrupted her words. The Bronze Masked Figure swung his sword down, and Wu Yin's body turned into countless points of light. One of them entered Chu Mo's glabella, carrying her last memory: During the thirty thousand years of sacrifice, each generation of Chaos Sword Body would have their memories erased and become a vessel for the First Generation Sword Master's resurrection. Zi Lin and Wu Yin had once tried to resist together, but failed.

The White-haired Elder suddenly plunged his bone staff into the ground, and the mud swamp boiled, spewing out golden runes. "Old man, you dare betray Godfall Pavilion?" The Bronze Masked Figure roared, and the runes on his sword glowed with an eerie red light. The elder, however, coughed up blood with a smile. "Chu Mo, remember, the true Sword Master's remnant soul is in... Ah!" His body was pierced by Sword Qi. Before dying, he stuffed a "Nine" Character Token into Yun Che's hand.

The purple mist began to shrink wildly, forming a huge vortex. Chu Mo held Yun Che's hand tightly, and the Chaos Sword automatically flew up, colliding with the Bronze Masked Figure's weapon. In the violent energy fluctuations, he heard the First Generation Sword Master's whisper from the Jade Slip: "If you want to know the truth, go to the 'Mirror Abyss Corridor' in the Ninth Divine Region..."

The moment the vortex swallowed the two of them, Chu Mo looked back and saw the Bronze Masked Figure remove his mask. That face was clearly his future appearance, with a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth, holding another "Three" Character Token in his hand. The two tokens combined, forming the complete character "Three Ten Thousand" in the air — the exact number of years in Godfall Pavilion's sacrifice cycle.

When they landed again, they found themselves in a corridor filled with mirrors. Each mirror reflected a different Chu Mo, some wearing a bronze mask, some covered in blood, and some being pierced by countless sword blades. Yun Che gripped the "Nine" Character Token in her hand; its pattern perfectly matched the design on the corridor floor. And at the end of the corridor, the deafening sound of chains breaking echoed, as if some ancient existence was about to awaken.