Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 63 A Friend's Invitation (Seeking First Subscription~)

The ripple-like spiritual patterns on the jade pendant slowly spread out.

They surrounded the crowd in circles.

As Song Yan approached within ten feet of the mountain wall, the water-ripple spiritual patterns spread from his body, and the mountain wall in front of him disappeared.

Instead, there was an empty cave.

"An illusion array?"

Song Yan reached out, wanting to touch the spirit pattern, but missed: "What a wonderful treasure, it can directly bypass the illusion array and reveal its true form."

Formations are usually broken by disrupting their core and base.

Of course, if one's strength and realm far exceed that of the one who set up the formation, brute force can also be used to break through.

Leaving aside these rare cases and without relying on external aids, breaking a formation requires extremely strong insight and an understanding of formations.

Song Yan happened to have some understanding of formations.

He knew that the jade pendant had not broken the illusion array, but had bypassed it directly.

"It's probably something left behind by that Foundation Establishment senior from back then..."

"However, this senior passed away peacefully in his cave, so how did the 'key' end up in Che Ning's hands..."

Such questions are destined to remain unanswered.

As the group entered the cave, they saw some mottled marks and circular patterns on the ground, with a protruding black stone pillar in the very center.

The stone pillars are engraved with dense, mysterious runes.

"The opening restriction of the cave is here."

Che Ning slowly said, "Previously, I obtained clues about this senior's cave dwelling and the 'Friend Invitation Jade' by chance, but I have not found a way to break the restriction."

"Therefore, for now, we can only rely on brute force to break through..."

He cupped his hands in greeting: "Right now, we need all of you to work together to break the seal."

No one objected. They had come here to break the barrier together and then enter the cave to explore for treasure.

They immediately dispersed and surrounded the restrictive stone pillar.

They all began to perform hand seals, urging their spiritual power to surge towards the restriction.

Song Yan was the last of these people to make a move. The reason was simple: he was deciding whether to use sword energy or spiritual power.

After a moment's thought, he decided to play it safe and use ordinary spiritual power.

To avoid any mishaps and being held accountable by others.

Breaking the barrier is a test of one's spiritual energy reserves and strength. Che Ning was unable to break the barrier before because he could only muster too little spiritual energy in a short period of time.

Now that ten cultivators are working together, it's naturally a piece of cake.

The mysterious patterns on the barrier lit up one by one. The spiritual power of everyone was not interrupted. On the contrary, everyone stirred up their spiritual energy and increased the output of spiritual power.

"boom--"

A loud bang was heard, and Che Ning was the first to stop breaking the barrier, and the other cultivators also stopped their cultivation one by one.

"It's done."

The circular patterns underfoot lit up rapidly, and the bluestone between the two circular patterns began to slowly rotate.

None of the cultivators present were fools; they all walked onto the circular bluestone.

As the mechanism operates, it slowly descends.

After an unknown amount of time, a narrow passage appeared before them, and at the same time, the mechanism stopped working.

"This is... the true entrance to Senior Lin Qinglong's cave dwelling."

The place was dark, so everyone used their spiritual power to create a light and moved forward.

On one wall of the passage leading to the cave, there are several strong characters carved with what could be a knife or a sword.

It appears to be Lin Qinglong's autobiographical seal engraving.

The content is short and brief.

According to the account above, when Lin Qinglong was young, he was spotted by a disciple of the Yunxi Sect, a small sect in Hujiang County, who was traveling around, and was taken to the immortal mountain to cultivate.

Initially, due to his extremely poor talent, his progress in cultivation was slow, and he became weary.

So he also learned about some arts of self-cultivation, but he became so addicted to them that he couldn't extricate himself. He devoted himself to painting all day long and had no heart for self-cultivation.

Having not cultivated for long, and knowing that staying any longer would be pointless, he voluntarily left the sect.

"Fate is cruel..."

In the name of self-cultivation, he ended up "going astray and becoming possessed."

However, misfortune may be a blessing in disguise, and a blessing may be a misfortune in disguise.

Even after becoming a rogue cultivator, Senior Lin Qinglong remained engrossed in painting every day. By chance, he acquired a collection left behind by a predecessor who was equally obsessed with ink painting.

What happened in between was not explained in detail.

As a result, Senior Lin made great strides in the cultivation world of Chu Kingdom at that time.

His magic is masterful, combining fire and lightning techniques to perfection.

Reaching the very end of the passage, the life of this senior Mr. Lin came to a close.

Before his passing, he reflected with a touch of self-deprecation, wondering if he might have truly made further progress if he had spent less time on painting. Though he seemed regretful, everyone could see that there was absolutely no trace of remorse in his words.

Only at the end did he mention that he had let down the master of Yunxi Sect who had introduced him to the sect, and that he had failed to live up to the master's high expectations.

It seems that the master he spoke of did not blame him even at the end, and even preserved his status as a disciple of the Yunxi Sect back then.

After establishing his foundation, he returned to his sect to protect this small sect in the mountains from invasion for a hundred years.

However, by then, his former master had already passed away.

"After I pass away, there will be no traps or mechanisms in the cave, nor any difficulties or trials."

"If anyone happens to discover this place, they may take all the antiques, magical objects, and secret records in the mansion."

"You can't take anything with you when you're born, and you can't take anything with you when you die. What do the things that happen after you're gone have to do with me?"

Free and easy.

That's so carefree.

I originally thought that this senior had no hope of achieving the Golden Core stage, and was ultimately filled with resentment and regret.

Unexpectedly, as his lifespan was waning and he was about to die, he had such thoughts.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the group arrived at a fairly spacious place.

This stone chamber is very spacious, like a large hall, with four stone doors at the front, which are also unlocked and have no mechanisms.

There was a narrow pool in the corner, which looked like it used to have a mountain spring, but it had dried up long ago.

A rusty short sword was stuck in the pool.

The part of the sword that touched the soil and rocks at the very bottom even had some unnamed plants that looked like moss growing on it.

This sword looks terrible. Although it was left behind by a Foundation Establishment senior, it has no spiritual energy.

Moreover, this senior is proficient in magic but does not practice flying swords. He probably just picked up this sword casually and threw it here.

No one attempted to steal it.

Some of the people present even wondered if the sword was made of ordinary iron.

Song Yan had no intention of taking the sword, and the Yin-Yang Pearl did not cause any fluctuations.

But then I thought, since it's a "collection" in a Foundation Establishment cultivator's cave, maybe if I clean and restore it a bit, and then put it on the gimmick of being a Foundation Establishment senior's relic, I could sell it for some spirit stones...

Anyway, nobody wants it.

Scavenging for trash in a Foundation Establishment cultivator's cave is far better than returning to Firework Village hoping to find another Yin-Yang Pearl.

He used his spiritual power to pull the short sword out of the pool.

Only then did everyone realize that the sword was actually broken.

A few cultivators who had initially hesitated, hoping to find a bargain, have now completely abandoned that idea.

Song Yan still put it into his Qiankun Bag.

Che Ning was somewhat surprised: "Junior Brother Tong has a very discerning eye..."

Che Ning's words were very polite, without any mocking tone or manner.

Song Yan nodded: "I usually enjoy collecting antiques, it's purely a personal hobby."

"Since none of you are interested, I'll just take it and play with it."

"I see."

After passing through the small pool-shaped outer chamber that resembled a gateway, the group finally arrived inside the cave.

"Ok?"

Everyone looked at the empty stone chamber with some confusion.

The inner chamber of the cave was completely empty, except for a huge and ancient scroll hanging on the wall at the far end.

"Car enthusiasts..."

The scarred man, who was at the sixth level of Qi cultivation, was not very polite when speaking to Che Ning.

"You've gone to great lengths to gather us here, yet you claim you only want a piece of calligraphy..."

"Could it be that this painting is the only item in this cave?"

The group of cultivators looked at Che Ning with unfriendly expressions.

Rong Xiaofeng and Wu Huaguo pulled Song Yan back a step.

Che Ning, however, remained calm and laughed loudly, "Hahaha... Fellow Daoists, don't panic..."

"This senior's cave dwelling is truly different from that of ordinary cultivators."

"What is the difference?"

Che Ning pointed a finger from afar.

"The true location of the cave and the treasures left by our predecessors are in this painting."

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(End of this chapter)