“They should be left behind by cultivators who entered this place,” Gu Baiying said, his eyes focused as he looked toward the cavern walls on all sides.

“Cultivators?” Mendong turned his head to look around. “Where are there any signs of cultivators here?”

Gu Baiying turned his Embroidered Bone Spear and pointed toward the cavern wall in front of them. “Here.”

The Illumination Talisman on the Embroidered Bone Spear lit up the cavern wall, and everyone could see that the four walls of the cave were crisscrossed with many remnant shadows—knife marks, sword cuts, spear points—all traces left by spirit artifacts on the stone walls, as if not long ago, this place had experienced an intense chaotic battle.

Dense and chilling to behold.

They hadn’t noticed before, but now, under the illumination of the talisman, everything was exposed. Those marks were completely without pattern, as if made by desperate, random swinging. Just one glance was enough to see how perilous and terrifying the situation had been at that time.

Mendong couldn’t help but shrink back. “What… what was here before?”

What had been here, no one knew.

The Xiaoyuan Pearl at Zanxing’s chest suddenly pulsed once, and her body walked forward several steps as if beyond her control. Gu Baiying shouted, “Be careful!” and grabbed her arm to stop her forward movement. Zanxing pointed ahead. “Look.”

Among the spirit artifacts scattered all over the ground, at the very front, a small mountain had appeared.

This small mountain was built from accumulated spirit artifacts—more precisely, it was a sword mountain. Those swords, whether broken or new, were densely piled together, flashing with cold, chilling sword light under the dim firelight.

“Sword tomb,” Gu Baiying frowned.

In Duzhou’s cultivation world, there were indeed several major sword tombs, but they had never heard of one like this underground.

“Could it be that all those spirit artifacts we saw on our way down were summoned here because of the sword tomb?”

Spirit artifacts that lost their masters would automatically choose a place to slumber—this was a sword tomb. But if this were truly the case, what did all those scratches throughout the cavern mean?

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard a rustling sound. Gu Baiying called out, “Who’s there?”

From the shadows beneath the sword tomb, a sword fell diagonally—it was this sword that had made the noise just now. Mu Cengxiao walked over, and his gaze suddenly froze. “There’s someone!”

How could there be someone in such a pitch-black ghostly place?

Everyone carefully approached and saw that there was indeed someone sitting in the shadows beside the sword tomb.

However, this person seemed to have been dead for a long time.

This was a skeleton, unknown how long it had been sleeping here, wearing a cultivator’s robes. Probably because the clothes were made of special material, the garments hadn’t rotted. He sat with his head lowered, back against the cavern wall, looking peaceful in posture.

“Is this a disciple from another sect?” Mu Cengxiao wondered.

Gu Baiying was silent for a moment, then stepped forward to feel around the skeleton’s clothing.

Mendong was frightened and hid behind Zanxing while holding Mimi, not daring to come out. Zanxing stood leaning against Tian Fangfang, looking at the withered skeleton, her heart also uneasy.

Gu Baiying searched the skeleton’s body, trying to find evidence that could prove this person’s identity. After searching for a while, he found no other tokens but did pull out a scroll.

“This is…” Meng Ying’s gaze fixed on it. “Left behind by this person?”

“Let’s take a look first,” Gu Baiying said, unrolling the scroll.

Zanxing carefully leaned forward to look.

“My name is Zheng Qing. I am a disciple of Duzhou’s Huanyang Sect, eighteen years old this year. I accidentally obtained a treasure map and came to this place with my senior brothers to search for the Divine Sword…” This was the first sentence that met their eyes upon opening it.

Divine Sword? Zanxing was stunned. The Serpent Witch had given her a treasure map, saying the treasure land contained a sacred tree. How had it now become a Divine Sword?

“Huanyang Sect?” Meng Ying pondered for a moment. “This name sounds somewhat familiar.”

There were many sects in Duzhou’s cultivation world. Since Meng Ying spent most of her time in sword cultivation practice, it was normal that she couldn’t remember clearly.

Gu Baiying continued to flip through the scroll.

“This place was once a kingdom called the Yuezhi Kingdom. I heard that the Yuezhi Kingdom prospered in smelting weapons, and there was a swordsmith named Chai Sang who forged a sword called ‘Wuyou.'”

“The Wuyou Sword was forged with the swordsmith’s life’s blood and effort. It has divine power and has even generated a sword spirit. Legend says this sword can be called a supreme-grade spirit artifact. Chai Sang presented this sword to the ruler of the Yuezhi Kingdom. Later, when the ruler of the Yuezhi Kingdom passed away, this sword was buried together with him in the Yuezhi Kingdom’s imperial mausoleum as a burial object.”

“…We decided to retrieve the Wuyou Sword.”

Reading to this point, Gu Baiying frowned.

“This Huanyang Sect disciple has some nerve. Although cultivators don’t need to fear ordinary people, he was still a kingdom’s ruler. Just going and robbing someone’s tomb like that is quite immoral!” Mendong said indignantly.

“Junior Brother is being pedantic,” Tian Fangfang disagreed. “A supreme-grade spirit artifact buried so deep underground is quite a waste. Wouldn’t it be better to see the light of day again and benefit the people, killing a few more Mo Sha?”

Zanxing: “…” Even lying down, she got hit by a stray shot.

The scroll continued: “Master had the senior brothers with the highest cultivation in our sect set out together to come to the treasure land. Because we had to go underground, we left our youngest junior brother above ground to provide support. I went into the cavern under the giant tree together with my senior brothers.”

“This cavern is very deep and very long. We walked for a long time.”

“…We found that sword.”

The scroll’s record stopped abruptly there. Mu Cengxiao asked, “What happened next?”

Gu Baiying flipped through several more pages, all blank. This disciple named Zheng Qing seemed to have ended his writing there, not continuing further.

“According to what Zheng Qing said, they found the Wuyou Sword,” Zanxing thought for a moment. “But where is the sword now? Where did his other senior brothers go? And himself—why didn’t he get out and instead die here?”

The dead cannot answer. Zheng Qing sat quietly with his head lowered in the same spot, silent and still.

“Could it be that his other senior brothers already took the sword and left?” Tian Fangfang boldly speculated. “But this fellow cultivator usually had conflicts with his senior brothers, so those people left him here and deliberately didn’t let him out?”

“Impossible.” Gu Baiying immediately denied this. “The cavern has an exit. He could have gotten out by himself completely. Moreover…” He paused. “He died by suicide.”

Suicide?

Gu Baiying moved aside the skeleton’s clothing and indeed found a long wound where a sword had pierced through the chest. This should have been his fatal injury.

“But why would he commit suicide for no reason?” Mendong didn’t understand. “And if he committed suicide, why didn’t his senior brothers take his body away? Just leaving him alone here.”

Tian Fangfang said, “I told you earlier, they had conflicts between senior and junior brothers. Their relationship was bad—internal strife!”

Zanxing looked at the withered skeleton sitting there, feeling something strange in her heart.

A young cultivator who came to the treasure land to search for the Divine Sword, whose words were full of anticipation and excitement between the lines—why would he suddenly decide to commit suicide?