Seeking Truth with a Sword

Fierce and wild winds gushed out from those holes, drawing out the air from the chamber like vortices and causing the atmospheric pressure in other areas to drop.

Within them, one could vaguely discern pale white Qi Blades.

It was the Heaven and Earth Gang Wind, which should only exist at high altitudes.

The Gang Wind could not only erode sturdy metal but also weaken the strength of Cultivators. It prevented them, including Body Refining Martial Artists, from exerting their full capabilities.

No wonder Jiao Cheng's men had fallen mysteriously ill with high-altitude cerebral edema; no wonder Jiao Cheng's own leg injury was so peculiar.

Li Ang pursed his lips slightly, his gaze drawn to the script carved deep into the dome of the hall—

"An Immortal touched my head, bestowing upon me hair knotted, to accept everlasting life.

Bones pile into hills, yet what sin have the common people committed?"

A poem by Li Taibai?

Li Ang's heart skipped a beat, but then he heard Jiao Cheng say, "How much longer?"

"Less than half a quarter of an hour."

One of the Sword Cultivators, Fan Guangyu, spoke softly, "This Heaven and Earth Gang Wind is generated by an Array, powered by a hundred-meter waterfall from the underground Dark River. Once the water flow slows down, the power of the Gang Wind will naturally decrease."

"There's enough time."

Jiao Cheng let out a sigh of relief, muttering to himself, "There's enough time..."

Enough time to open Li Taibai's tomb?

Li Ang's mind raced. Li Taibai, the Poet Immortal Yu Chu, had achieved fame in his youth, his poetic renown spreading far and wide. Later, he turned to the Sword Dao, his Cultivation advancing by leaps and bounds. It was rumored that he had reached the Near-Cliff Realm by the age of thirty.

Li Taibai, having attained the pinnacle in both poetry and swordsmanship, thus began to travel the world. He visited famous mountains and great rivers, making friends and acquaintances. Young Cultivators constantly followed in his wake, listening to his poetry and learning his sword techniques. Although Li Taibai never officially took on a single disciple, he also never refused anyone seeking guidance.

Had things continued thus, Li Taibai would have been revered as a perfectly content Poet Immortal and Sword Immortal, his deeds praised for hundreds of years after his death.

However, at the age of fifty, he returned from a journey deep within the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains and traveled alone with his sword to Taihao Mountain, where the Haotian Temple was located.

No one knew who he met there or what he did, only that upon his return, he literally went mad.

He no longer paid attention to anyone and did not converse with anyone, not even his former friends, family, or relatives.

He went to Nan Zhao, used his Flying Sword to fell giant trees, and constructed an enormous boat. Anyone who tried to interrupt his construction was beheaded with a single sword strike.

Even Candle Cloud Realm Cultivators couldn't withstand a single sword blow from him.

After the giant boat was completed, he sailed alone into the Endless Sea. For twenty entire years, there was no news of him.

Only twenty years later did messages spread across the land, sighting a silent, emaciated old man wielding a sword. The sword he carried was Li Taibai's.

Various forces, upon hearing this information, became active in trying to find him but were always a step behind. He was rumored to have constructed a series of vast Tombs of Clothing for himself in the deep underground of many places. Within these Tombs of Clothing, he concealed the secrets he found in the Endless Sea, along with every sword he had wielded and every Sword Manual he had written.

In the last and true burial place, he supposedly entered a realm above the Near-Cliff Realm, becoming a true Immortal.

Whether the Sword Immortal's Tombs of Clothing actually existed or not was something common folk might never know.

"Half a quarter of an hour has passed."

Another Sword Cultivator, Zhu Yuyin, abruptly opened his eyes. Indeed, the airflow gushing from the holes in the wall had weakened significantly.

The Heaven and Earth Gang Qi swirling around the hall had also dimmed to its faintest point, as if it could vanish at any moment.

"Sun Jiu, Zhang San, you go first."

Jiao Cheng's eyes flickered as he waved his hand, his voice muffled and low due to his breathing mask, "Be careful."

Two tattooed men in leather armor walked out from the group. They wound iron chains around their waists and backed against each other. Bending down, they shielded themselves with metal shields in front as they quickly charged towards the center of the hall.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—

The Heaven and Earth Gang Wind chopped against the thick metal shields, directly shaving a corner off one shield.

The two tattooed men kept their bodies as low as possible, sprinting fifty steps. The taller of the two, in an unguarded moment, was sliced on the left arm by the Gang Wind. Instinctively reaching for the wound, his shield tilted, and a blast of Gang Wind cut through half his neck. Blood gushed out instantly, and he fell to the ground.

His death left his companion unprotected. Instantly, a multitude of wounds were torn into his back by the Gang Wind. Leather armor shards exploded, blending into the roaring wind.

The Innate Gang Wind swirled around the center of the hall, revealing no weakness.

Jiao Cheng's men immediately pulled on the iron chains lying flat on the ground, managing to drag the surviving Zhang San back just before the chains were severed.

Zhang San was bleeding profusely. Jiao Cheng glanced at Li Ang. Li Ang frowned slightly, opened his medical kit, and began to suture Zhang San's wounds with silver thread. Zhang San didn't have Jiao Cheng's pain tolerance and kept screaming so horrifically that the others had to hold down his limbs and cover his mouth.

"Not right, not right..."

Sword Cultivator Fan Guangyu muttered, "Everyone says that after the Sword Immortal returned from the Endless Sea, he became utterly insane. Yet, the Tomb of Clothing he constructed has always retained a safe passage leading to the burial chamber.

Regardless of whether this path was intended for his own descendants or for the inheritors of the Sword Dao, it must exist.

The Innate Gang Wind can pulverize steel and suppress Cultivators.

Apart from dealing with it at its source of power—namely the unknown location of the underground Dark River waterfall—it had almost no weaknesses.

There must be a shortcut..."

"Could it be an Array?"

Another Sword Cultivator, Zhu Yuyin, spoke softly, "An Array that can generate Innate Gang Wind must have been set by a cultivator of at least the Candle Cloud Realm or the Near-Cliff Realm.

The metal plates above the holes on the wall, each with a different pattern, numbered as many as sixty-four. They likely corresponded to the sixty-four hexagrams."

His eyes flickered as if he had discovered buried treasure, and he muttered to himself, "Kun is earth, the restoring of thunder in earth, the approaching of the marsh over earth, the peace of heaven upon earth..."

Zhu Yuyin's words were forcibly interrupted.

The corpse of Sun Jiu, which lay in the middle of the hall, was swept up by the rotating Gang Wind and slammed onto a square stone tile.

That tile suddenly sank, and a series of rumbling sounds from mechanisms echoed from within the stone of the hall's walls.

WHOOSH!

The Gang Wind gushing from the wall holes suddenly became ferocious and violent.

The emitted Qi Blades sliced a tattooed man standing slightly too far forward into several pieces. His gushing blood, before it could hit the ground, was swept away by the fierce wind and turned into a bloody mist.

"Retreat!" Jiao Cheng roared, intending to fall back through the corridor they had come from.

But with a deafening crash, a massively heavy Dragon-breaking Stone crashed down within the sloping entrance of the corridor, blocking the exit.

The retreat was cut off, and the vortex of the Gang Wind in the hall continued to expand and accelerate. Debris from the edges of the hall was continuously picked up by the Gang Wind. It spun rapidly with the vortex, striking people like bullets.

Another man, too slow to raise his shield, was hit in the forehead by a high-speed piece of shrapnel. His head burst open, and he died instantly.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—

The shrapnel and Gang Wind continuously eroded the shields pressed against the ground.

Zhu Yuyin nervously scanned the patterns on the perforated metal plates on the wall, still muttering to himself, "Xun corresponds to wind, Kan to water, water aids the wind's force... I understand, we need to pull down the perforated metal plates above the holes!"

He pulled two men to their feet, ordering them to hold up their shields. Sticking close to the edge of the cavernous hall, they advanced towards the holes in the wall.

CRACK!

One of the men grasped the edge of a perforated metal plate. It was set in a sliding groove above the hole below. With a forceful tug, he pulled the plate down.

The plate appeared perforated, but once it was lowered, the sound of spherical objects rolling came from behind it. The airflow from that hole and the adjacent ones weakened significantly.

Success.

A smile appeared on Zhu Yuyin's face, but the next second—

BOOM!

An even more violent Gang Wind burst forth from behind the perforated metal plate, instantly shredding the tattooed man beside him into a bloody pulp.

The wind's force, instead of diminishing, intensified. Zhu Yuyin and the other survivor had no choice but to lie flat on the ground, dodging the fierce Gang Wind.

What's going on? Why did the Gang Wind become more violent after lowering the metal plate?

Like everyone else holding up shields against the Gang Wind, Li Ang scanned his surroundings. He suddenly noticed something: the holes in the rock wall seemed to be in pairs.

And when Zhu Yuyin had someone lower the metal plate, there was first the sound of spherical objects rolling behind the hole; the wind's force weakened momentarily, then intensified.

...

Li Ang took a deep breath. The escape route through the corridor was blocked, and the Gang Wind vortex continued to expand. They had to find a path to survival.

He pounded on the back of Di Wu in front of him and shouted, "Go raise that closed metal plate back up!"