ILDV Chapter 50

The Sword-Inquiry Valley was where the seven immortal swords that served as the foundation of Taihua Immortal Sect were enshrined.

No one could say for certain when the Sword-Inquiry Valley was built. Some claimed it was completed when Patriarch Hua Immortal established the sect, while others said it was a trial ground set up by later disciples and grand-disciples to seek out the immortal swords.

“This really is… bringing destruction upon oneself.” Yin Lang stood at the bow of the spirit vessel, gazing at the distant Sword-Inquiry Valley where thunder roared and lightning surged.

With the great formation activated, earth fire, wind, and water gathered within the valley. Thunder dragons and lightning accumulated their power, ready to strike. Throughout all of Taihua Immortal Sect, aside from the four Sword Masters and Yuan Daozhu whose cultivation had reached the Dao Integration stage, no one could emerge from within unscathed.

Qin Xun sighed in admiration. “Truly spectacular.”

Yin Lang said, “Originally, the Sword-Inquiry Valley’s trial formation wouldn’t be opened again until most disciples of your batch entered the Spirit Transformation stage. Who would have thought someone so reckless would anger Tu Feng to the point of fully activating the great formation?”

“Is the Sword-Inquiry Valley’s formation… that dangerous?”

“It’s part of the sect-protecting great formation. Aside from Sword Masters, below the Dao Integration stage, there are absolutely no survivors.”

Qin Xun drew in a sharp breath. “Truly worthy of being the first immortal sect with such profound foundation. I’m afraid even if the Supreme Palace came here, they would only meet their destruction.”

The spirit vessel was blocked outside the sect-protecting great formation. The guard disciples flew up into the air, and after recognizing the arrivals, they both clasped their hands in salute with bitter expressions. “Please wait here temporarily, Martial Uncle Tianji. The Hua mother and daughter privately escaped from Heavenly Punishment Ravine and forcibly broke into the Sword-Inquiry Valley. The Sect Master was furious and has completely activated the Sword-Inquiry Valley’s great formation. The sect-protecting great formation affects the entire system—we truly don’t have the authority to open a path.”

Upon hearing the words ‘Hua mother and daughter,’ Yin Lang suddenly raised her hand and tossed the token controlling the spirit vessel into her disciple’s arms. He lifted her foot to leave. “You wait here. This master will go see what’s happening.”

Before the words finished falling, the Tianji Sword left its sheath. As the radiant halo flowed, her figure had already disappeared from the deck, transforming into golden light and departing toward the distant horizon.

Qin Xun was about to respond when from the corner of his eye, he glimpsed something darting over from the side. At the instant his master flew up, it latched on and was actually carried away together!

Qin Xun: “……”

He looked back to see the cabin door wide open, and the cheap protagonist who should have been obediently staying inside had, as expected, disappeared.

The eldest disciple’s expression grew darker and darker, his imposing aura frightening the two formation-guarding disciples so badly they nearly activated the enemy attack alarm.

……Senior Brother Feng, how can you be even more terrifying than demonic cultivators? QAQ

When he rushed up to embrace that waist and was carried away, Xu Rong nearly couldn’t maintain his composure despite having lived two lifetimes. If he hadn’t overheard their conversation in the cabin mentioning ‘Sword-Inquiry Valley’ and ‘Hua mother and daughter,’ he wouldn’t have done something so shameless.

——Though Shizun’s waist was truly slender and felt wonderful to hold.

This trip to Beiyu City had made him realize his feelings for Shen Muxuan, and it also made him anxious about how slowly his cultivation was progressing after his rebirth. Shen Muxuan had already advanced further, breaking through to the Tribulation stage, yet he was still slowly wandering through the second stage of cultivation.

He wanted to be worthy of this person. His current cultivation speed absolutely wouldn’t do—otherwise, by the time this person ascended through the clouds, he would probably still be nowhere near touching the edge of the Tribulation stage.

In his past life, without all these troublesome matters, Hua Qilan had also gained the recognition of the Yaoguang Sword with Li Baisu’s great assistance, becoming a true Yaoguang Sword Master. She had directly become the second-youngest immortal sword master in history with only early-Integration stage cultivation, second only to the heaven-blessed genius Tianji Sword Master Shen Muxuan.

Later, with the tilted support of the immortal sect’s resources, she had achieved Tribulation stage cultivation in just ten years, adding a capable general to Li Baisu’s faction and indirectly establishing the foundation for the Enforcement lineage to dominate Taihua Immortal Sect.

Everyone thought her cultivation progress was largely due to the immortal sword’s assistance, but Xu Rong, who was also in Li Baisu’s faction, knew it was because she had obtained the demonic core of the valley-guarding demonic beast!

And his goal was precisely this demonic core!

Only by closely following Shen Muxuan, who had become a Sword Master, would he have the opportunity to enter the Sword-Inquiry Valley.

The Sword-Inquiry Valley was located in the back mountain of Taihua Immortal Sect. Though it seemed far away with all the commotion, it was actually quite distant. When Yin Lang flew close, a large crowd had already gathered outside the valley. Tu Feng stood with a cold expression at the only path entering the valley, the chill emanating from him capable of freezing people from three feet away.

Kaiyang Sword Master Zhu Heze was also there, but Gu Fuxuan’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

From afar, Tu Feng sensed the immortal sword’s aura. Looking back, he indeed saw that Shen Muxuan had returned. His expression, cold enough to freeze someone to death, eased slightly as he nodded faintly in acknowledgment. “Tianji.”

Shen Muxuan’s usual lazy demeanor was completely restrained. Without bothering with pleasantries, he casually flung aside the disciple clinging to his waist and got straight to the point. “I saw the commotion here from far away. What’s the situation? To find and bring people out, you only need to activate the trapping formation. With the Sect Master creating such a scene, I’m afraid something has already changed inside the valley, hasn’t it?”

“The situation is somewhat complicated……”

“Then make it short.”

“……”

Tu Feng sighed. The sword mark between his brows radiated light, indicating he had already pushed the Tianquan Sword’s power to its limit. Zhu Heze was the same.

Tu Feng explained the situation in a few words.

Simply put, the idiots who had gone in to seek death had bumped around and awakened the formation-guarding spirit beast, driving it mad. Kaiyang Daojun Zhu Heze needed to assist him in stabilizing the Sword-Inquiry Valley’s formation and couldn’t leave, so only Gu Fuxuan and Lu Li had gone inside to find people.

“Martial Uncle Lu also went in?” Shen Muxuan looked up, quite surprised.

“Elder Lu said he possessed important treasures that would allow him to temporarily stay within the valley, so……”

Hmph.

That damned peacock—who knows what scheme he’s plotting.

“Alright then, I won’t waste words. I’m going in too.” Having clarified the situation, Shen Muxuan didn’t look back and simply waved his hand, directly charging in with his sword.

“Shizun——”

Shen Muxuan, already halfway into the formation, seemed to just remember something. He stuck her head out. “Oh right, Sect Master, please keep a close eye on my little disciple. Just now I wasn’t paying attention and this brat hitched a ride to the sky. You damned brat, wait until I come back to deal with you!”

The second half of the sentence was cursed at Xu Rong. Before the words finished echoing, he had completely entered the formation’s radiant halo.

Xu Rong cried out in alarm and rushed after him, wailing dramatically, “Shizun, I’m worried about you going alone—take me with you!”

Whether it was an explosion of potential or something else, throughout the entire massive Taihua Immortal Sect, not a single person managed to react in time to restrain him. They could only watch helplessly as he charged into the formation, followed by Shen Muxuan’s exasperated scolding. However, they never saw him throw him back out, and gradually there was no more sound.

“Well… this… truly shows the deep bond between master and disciple……”

After a long pause, someone awkwardly praised them. The emotions Tu Feng had finally managed to calm instantly exploded again. “What dog shit nonsense! Didn’t this Sect Master just explain how dangerous it is inside? And he still dared to rush in and drag Tianji down. If he manages to come out alive, even if Tianji stops me, this Sect Master will still throw him into the cold prison of Heavenly Punishment Ravine for ten days to half a month!”

Inside the Sword-Inquiry Valley.

Xu Rong’s eyes were brimming with tears as he clutched his waist, refusing to let go. “Shizun, I’m worried about you……”

Yin Lang held back again and again. Considering the dangerous environment within the Sword-Inquiry Valley where leaving the protagonist unattended might result in him kicking the bucket on the spot, he silently recited ‘Heavenly Dao’s free conditions’ ten times before borrowing twelve parts of patience to suppress the impulse to raise his palm and obliterate this infuriating thing.

This brat had insisted on coming in. Who knew what trouble he’d stir up if thrown back out? It was safer to keep him inside.

However, he couldn’t expect any peace and quiet. Yin Lang raised his hand to peel him off, tossed the Tianji Sword’s scabbard over to him, and coldly scolded, “Hold onto this and squat here obediently without moving. When I’m done, I’ll come back to take you out!”

Having said that, he turned and left, absolutely not giving Xu Rong half a chance to cling to him again.

The Sword-Inquiry Valley’s formation was divided into four parts: first was the trapping formation; second was the attacking formation; third was the defensive formation; and fourth was the illusion formation, also known as the trial formation.

The seven swords of Taihua were placed in a deep pool where the valley-guarding demonic beast resided, and the pool’s location constantly changed. Even Tu Feng couldn’t control where it would appear. All he could do was fully activate all the formations to trap the rampaging flood dragon.

Yin Lang pondered for a moment and decided to first try his luck at the location where he had obtained the Tianji Sword in his previous life.

Earth fire, wind, and water gathered—sometimes wind fueled the fire, sometimes water and fire clashed, sometimes water flooded everything, sometimes thunder dragons swept across. Even with the Tianji Sword’s contract reducing ninety percent of the damage, the remaining ten percent was enough to torment someone, more than sufficient to kill a Mahayana stage cultivator.

Yin Lang searched all along the way but didn’t encounter the Hua mother and daughter. Instead, he ran into Lu Li, who was in quite a sorry state.

His clothes had been slashed with seventeen or eighteen cuts by fierce winds, his hair was longer in some places and shorter in others. Seeing Yin Lang from afar was like seeing a savior. He threw out a magical artifact that exploded into fireworks to block the fierce wind coming from the side, then quickly chased after her. “Muxuan, lend me your sword scabbard!”

Yin Lang directly raised his hand and slashed a sword strike at him.

Lu Li cried out in alarm, crouching down to cover his head and barely dodging. He angrily shouted, “How can you treat your elder like this!”

It didn’t dissipate.

“……Hua Qilan?”

“It’s me, Muxuan.” The moment she admitted it, the layer of false light and shadow covering her body dissipated, revealing Hua Qilan with her hairpins askew and hair disheveled.

Tears shimmered in her eyes as she supported herself on the ground to stand, moving closer and reaching out to grasp Yin Lang’s sword-wielding right hand. “Muxuan, I……”

The lush grass behind them suddenly rustled as if blown by wind. Yin Lang alertly turned back, and a palm strike split open the grass, just in time to make Hua Qilan grasp at empty air.

There was no one there.

……A false impression?

Xu Rong rolled on the ground and dodged using the wind’s momentum. The sword scabbard in his arms kept flashing with light but was suppressed by the scroll, preventing Shen Muxuan from detecting his form.

He lay on the ground, glaring through the gaps in the grass at that green tea bitch who only knew how to act innocent in front of Shen Muxuan. He was so angry his teeth itched, wishing he could rush up and break that hand that persistently kept trying to grab.

I haven’t even gotten to touch it yet!

Watching Shen Muxuan protect the woman as they walked away in the wind, Xu Rong struggled in his heart for a long time, weighing immediate pleasure against future happiness. He had no choice but to part ways with them despite knowing how many opportunities that woman would have to take advantage of his beloved. He would go ahead first to find the flood dragon severely injured by the formation and take its inner core.

In the past life, after succeeding, Hua Qilan had once revealed to Li Baisu a path with minimal danger. Regardless of how the formation changed, there was a fifty percent chance of reaching the deep pool where the flood dragon resided directly.

Hua Qilan clutched her snow-white collar, leaning weakly against Yin Lang’s side. Each time she saw that person swing the sword to split open fierce winds or shatter descending thunder, the expression of worship and admiration on her face grew more genuine. Even the most iron-hearted man would probably feel proud under this offensive and become more tender toward the beauty.

“Is your mother still ahead?” Shen Muxuan was breathing slightly heavily, clearly finding the journey somewhat taxing.

Hua Qilan nodded repeatedly. “Yes, Mother and I were separated ahead. We encountered the flood dragon guarding the valley, and Mother, to protect me… wuu……” As she spoke, she couldn’t help but cry softly, clutching Shen Muxuan’s collar and looking up with tears in her eyes, pitifully begging him, “Muxuan, you must help me save my mother……”

“Don’t worry.” Shen Muxuan gently comforted her, one hand slowly caressing up the woman’s exposed snow-white arm, tenderly wiping away the bloodstains on her back. “The environment in this valley is treacherous. I’ll carry you as we go. Remember, don’t leave my embrace no matter what. Remember?”

Hua Qilan nodded repeatedly, naturally leaning into his embrace. One hand also touched his chest, only to be grasped by the man’s free left hand.

The two continued forward in this position. Hua Qilan didn’t forget to share intelligence. “That evil beast is a rare wood attribute. Muxuan, you possess a fire spiritual root—you’ll surely be able to destroy it in one strike.”

“I understand.”

The man nodded slightly with a smile, the hand caressing her smooth back slowly wandering. Under Hua Qilan’s shy and timid gaze, he suddenly gripped her throat!

He twirled his sword in a beautiful flourish with his right hand, smiling as he drew close to Hua Qilan’s terrified face. His left hand, gripping her throat, ignited with deadly black flames.

“If, after being used as a blood bag by that old undying thing and having blood drawn for nearly a month, you could still intimately call me ‘Muxuan’… if Hua Qilan had that kind of forbearance, she wouldn’t have fallen to her current state.”