"Don't go in yet."
Chu Yunfei drew his Abyss-Devouring Sword horizontally, blocking Ling Xueyao was about to enter the cave.
The cave was only a little over a meter tall, and the pale blue fluorescent light shone in for only a few feet before plunging into darkness.
The skeleton sat against the rock wall, head bowed, right hand gripping a broken sword.
Most of the chest bones had collapsed, and several ribs were broken in the middle, with dark marks remaining at the breaks.
Ling Xueyao stopped beside Chu Yunfei.
"Having been dead for so many years, what danger could he possibly be in?"
"A dead person isn't necessarily dangerous, but what they leave behind is another matter."
Chu Yunfei picked up a pebble from the ground and flicked it into the cave with his finger.
Smack
The rubble landed in front of the skeleton and rolled several feet before coming to a stop.
No array patterns lit up inside the cave, and the withered bones remained unchanged.
"You're quite cautious."
Ling Xueyao glanced at him.
"The reason I've survived until now is because of this kind of caution."
Chu Yunfei drew his sword and entered the cave, observing the ground before each step.
Little Purple lifted her head from his wrist, her purple snake eyes scanning the surroundings, her forked tongue occasionally darting out to sense the lingering aura within the cave.
"You brat, there's nothing alive around here."
Xiaoxiao Dragon spoke in his sea of consciousness.
"However, there were remnants of an array next to the corpse, but they had mostly dissipated."
Can you tell what kind of formation it is?
"It's used to isolate one's aura; it's not of high grade, but it lasts for a considerable time."
Xiaoxiao Dragon gave a soft snort.
"The person who inscribed the array has decent skills, at least better than you."
Chu Yunfei did not respond to her statement.
Reaching the skeleton, he used his Abyss-Devouring Sword to part the tattered clothes around him, confirming there were no traps below, before crouching down.
Ling Xueyao followed behind, her golden slender sword always in her hand.
"How?"
"He has been dead for at least several decades."
Chu Yunfei lightly tapped the skeletal arm with the tip of his sword.
The bone made a soft cracking sound, but it didn't shatter directly.
"His cultivation level was quite high during his lifetime, and his bones were tempered by spiritual energy for many years. Even after death, without the nourishment of blood and qi, he can still be preserved for a long time."
Ling Xueyao's gaze fell on the corpse's chest.
He died from a chest wound?
"Uncertain."
Chu Yunfei parted the rotten collar of his clothes, revealing his sunken sternum.
"There are a total of eleven broken bones here, three of which pierced internal organs, indicating that he had indeed suffered severe injuries before his death."
"But the wound already shows signs of healing, indicating that he survived for some time after being injured."
Ling Xueyao leaned down and looked for a moment.
"His injuries were too severe, and he didn't make it through?"
"Most likely."
Chu Yunfei reached out and pinched a broken rib.
Several very faint dark red lines were still attached to the surface of the bone, the color of which had faded to the point of being almost invisible.
"His spiritual energy had long since dissipated, making it impossible to determine the cultivation technique he practiced."
He didn't have any storage rings on him.
Ling Xueyao's gaze swept over the skeletal hands.
He held the broken sword in his right hand, and his left hand had its five fingers spread open, with nothing between the finger bones.
There was no token at his waist.
There was no pendant visible around her neck.
Apart from a set of decaying robes, there were almost no items on the corpse that could identify it.
"Could it be Luo Wuxu, the powerful expert who suppressed the demon soul?"
Ling Xueyao looked at the Earth Vein Spirit Spring outside the cave.
"This place is located below the Soul-Locking Formation, and that ferocious beast guards the outside."
"The person who was able to come here is perhaps the one who orchestrated all of this."
Chu Yunfei shook his head.
"No."
Why are you so sure?
"The timing doesn't match."
Chu Yunfei pointed to the chest of the skeleton.
" The Soul-Locking Formation outside has existed for at least a thousand years, but this skeleton has only been dead for a few decades."
"If he were the one who set up the formation, these bones would have long since rotted into ashes and could not have been preserved until now."
Ling Xueyao did not argue.
She knew her earlier guess was unfounded, but the location of the corpse was too unusual to ignore.
Chu Yunfei then examined the broken sword.
The sword blade was only about two feet long, the tip was missing, and the surface was covered with thick rust.
The cloth wrapped around the sword hilt had long since rotted.
A pattern was engraved on the handguard, but it was mostly covered by rust.
Can you also tell the rank?
Ling Xueyao asked.
"The spiritual energy has dissipated, and the material has been corroded."
Chu Yunfei did not forcibly pry open the withered bone fingers.
The corpse's right hand remained tightly gripping the sword hilt; even though the flesh and blood had long since disappeared, the five finger bones were still firmly clenched.
"When complete, it should be at least at the prefecture level."
How could a level-elemental spirit sword be so rusty?
"Someone severed its spiritual essence."
Chu Yunfei wiped away a small patch of rust with his fingertip.
Beneath the rust layer, there was no luster that a magical weapon should have; only the grayish-white blade remained.
"When a weapon is severely damaged, its internal array patterns shatter, and its spiritual energy will continuously dissipate."
"When he fled here, the sword was probably already ruined."
Ling Xueyao remained silent for a moment, then looked at the scattered pebbles at the cave entrance.
" The Scarlet-Pupiled Iron-Armored Beast has lived outside for decades, how come it hasn't destroyed this place?"
"It crashed through the hole, but didn't actually get in."
Chu Yunfei got up and walked towards the two cave walls.
Several claw marks, about half a person's height, remained near the entrance.
Embedded in the rock wall are some broken array stones, whose remaining spiritual energy has been exhausted.
There used to be an isolation formation here.
"The cave entrance wasn't completely breached, Scarlet-Pupiled Iron-Armored Beast couldn't sense anyone inside and naturally wouldn't guard it indefinitely."
Ling Xueyao used the tip of her sword to remove a piece of array stone.
The array stone was only the size of a fist, with cracks all over its edges and the patterns engraved inside were damaged.
"How long did the formation hold?"
"At least several years."
Chu Yunfei pointed to the area above the entrance.
"When the formation was complete, there should have been another stone door here."
"Among the rubble outside, there were several pieces with clean cuts, matching the color of the cave walls, which were later shattered by the Scarlet-Pupiled Iron-Armored Beast."
"That ferocious beast was initially probably no more than the Heavenly Origin Realm."
Ling Xueyao's eyes revealed her thoughts.
"If it had been at the Seventh Level of the Heavenly Origin Realm back then, this formation probably wouldn't have been able to stop it more than a few times."
" The Earth Vein Spirit Spring here are enough to alter the physique of ferocious beasts."
Chu Yunfei turned to look outside the cave.
"Decades ago, it might have just been an ordinary ferocious beast that strayed into this place."
"Having grown to its current Earth Vein Spirit Spring, the armor has also undergone continuous transformations under the nourishment of Spiritual Qi."
Ling Xueyao gently stroked the sword hilt with her fingertips.
"So, this person and the Scarlet-Pupiled Iron-Armored Beast arrived here at almost the same time."
He was seriously injured and hid in the cave, where he set up a formation to seal the entrance.
"The ferocious beasts outside couldn't get in, and he didn't have the strength to leave either, so he eventually died from his injuries."
"It should be about right."
Chu Yunfei looked at the skeleton again.
But there's still one question that doesn't make sense.
Above this place once resided a demonic soul that had reached at least the Dao Mysterious Realm.
Even though the remnant soul was suppressed by the Soul-Locking Formation, its perception could still reach the bottom of the abyss.
The eight assassins at the Heavenly Origin Realm had barely landed when their souls were instantly obliterated.
How did the person before me arrive at the Earth Vein Spirit Spring back then?
What are you thinking about?
Ling Xueyao noticed that he hadn't made a move.
"I'm wondering how he got in."
Chu Yunfei pointed to the top of the cave.
"Falling into the abyss, I'm bound to be discovered by that demonic spirit."
"This skeleton may have been quite powerful in life, but if it truly possessed the strength to contend with a demonic soul, it wouldn't have died in the cave."
Ling Xueyao continued thinking along the lines of his words.
"Are there other entrances?"
"We checked when we came in; there's only one stone path behind the bronze door."
There were no signs of artificial excavation around the cave.
Chu Yunfei squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, and rubbed it lightly between his fingers.
The soil contained a small amount of grayish-white stone chips, which were different from the stone used on the outer stone path.
Xiaoxiao Dragon suddenly said, "There are very faint spatial fluctuations around here."
"Spatial array?"
"Incomplete."
Xiaoxiao Dragon paused for a moment.
"The traces left behind are too faint; even I can only sense a tiny bit."
"It could be a teleportation array, or it could be a spatial rift formed after the collapse of some remnant array."
Chu Yunfei put down the soil in his hand and did not tell Xiaoxiao Dragon Ling Xueyao's judgment.
"He may not have come down from above."
Ling Xueyao looked up at him.
"You mean, someone brought him here?"
"It's also possible that some kind of formation was accidentally triggered."
Chu Yunfei looked at the skeleton beside him.
"The specifics depend on whether he left any clues."
Little Purple climbed down from Chu Yunfei's wrist and swam around the skeleton.
It didn't approach the broken sword, but stopped behind the corpse, its tail gently patting the stone wall twice.
Smack
Dust settled in a soft patter.
Ling Xueyao noticed the fine marks visible beneath the dust and immediately spoke.
There's something on the stone wall.
Chu Yunfei turned his body to the side and raised his sleeve to sweep away the surface dust.
A series of crooked scratches gradually became visible.
The text extends from the top of the withered bone to the right, densely engraving half of the stone wall.
Some of the writing has completely disappeared.
The remaining parts are also very blurry, and you need to get close to see the general outline.
Ling Xueyao stretched out her hand, her fingertips hovering in front of the stone wall.
"It wasn't carved with a broken sword."
"These words retain spiritual power."
"He directly condensed his spiritual energy into a thin blade, leaving words on the stone wall."
Chu Yunfei followed the first line and felt his way forward.
" The Earth Vein Spirit Spring keeps the Spiritual Qi here at a very high concentration year-round, which is why the power within the inscription hasn't completely dissipated."
Ling Xueyao's gaze fell on the withered bones.
"To maintain spiritual energy imprints for decades, this person must have been at least at the Divine Sea Realm during their lifetime."
"And it's not just an ordinary Divine Sea Realm."
Chu Yunfei placed his palm on the edge of the text.
"If it's spiritual energy left behind by the Heavenly Origin Realm martial artist, it will dissipate within a dozen or so years at most."
"Only traces left by those at the Divine Sea Realm could have been preserved until now."
"It's a pity that too much spiritual energy has been lost; in a few more years, I'm afraid we won't even be able to see a single complete character."
Ling Xueyao sheathed her golden slender sword.
Can it be repaired?
"It can only be temporarily awakened."
Chu Yunfei separated a wisp of spiritual energy and slowly traveled along the residual power within the stone wall.
His spiritual power was different from that of the person who carved the inscription, so he couldn't truly complete the text; he could only make the remaining marks clearer.
As spiritual energy was infused, the first line of text gradually emerged with a pale white light.
Chu Yunfei approached the stone wall and began to examine it line by line.
"Knowing my days are numbered, and fearing the secrets of the Blood Baleful Intent Tower will be buried with my bones, I leave this final message..."
Upon hearing the words "Blood Baleful Intent Tower," Ling Xueyao's hand returned to the hilt of her sword.
Chu Yunfei continued looking down.
The second line is mostly missing.
The third line only has a few broken characters left.
It wasn't until the fourth line that I could barely make out the whole thing.
"My lineage is... Heavenly Edict Sect, Lu Shaoyuan?"
The sound of fabric rustling came from beside me.
Ling Xueyao took a step forward and stared at the name on the stone wall.
" Lu Shaoyuan!"
Chu Yunfei turned to look at her.
"You know him?"
"I haven't met him, but I've heard his name."
Ling Xueyao read the inscription on the stone wall twice before confirming that she had not misread the three characters.
" Lu Shaoyuan is the most dazzling genius in the Heavenly Edict Sect in the past hundred years."
"At the age of twenty-five, he reached the Divine Sea Realm Ninth Level and was considered the most likely to break through to the Dao Mysterious Realm."
"He once defeated six geniuses of the same realm in Divine Sea Realm Fifth Layer in the Eastern Continent Sect Competition, and finally fought against the three Holy Sons of the three sects alone, propelling the Heavenly Edict Sect to the top of the seven sects."
Chu Yunfei looked again at the corpse with its ribs completely broken.
" Divine Sea Realm Ninth Level?"
"Good."
Ling Xueyao's gaze shifted from the stone wall to the withered bones, and then slowly landed on the broken sword.
Thirty years ago, he disappeared suddenly after going on a trip.
" The Heavenly Edict Sect searched the entire Eastern Continent but couldn't find him."
Some say he failed to break through to the Dao Mysterious Realm and died in some forbidden land; others say he discovered a way out of the Vast Waves Domain and has already gone to the outside world.
"I didn't expect..."
Ling Xueyao stood before the corpse, remaining silent for a long time.
The spring outside the cave rippled with a faint sound, and the broken sword in the skeleton's hand still pointed at the ground.
" Divine Sea Realm Ninth Level... I never expected to die here."