243: Chapter 243: Each Displays Their Unique Abilities

Li Changsheng took the sword, the hilt feeling icy cold to the touch.

A chill surged from his palm, flowed along his Meridians, and finally gathered in his Dantian.

His spiritual energy gained a trace of a cold attribute, but it did not conflict with his Innate Dao Embryo; instead, they complemented each other.

"Thank you, Senior." Li Changsheng bowed.

The skeleton nodded, and the golden flames in its eye sockets gradually extinguished.

Its body turned into a pile of broken bones, scattering all over the ground.

Li Changsheng put away the sword and turned to climb out of the pit.

Halfway up, he suddenly remembered something and sent a message to Xiao Ran via their Soul Link.

"Xiao Ran, did you get that equinox flower?"

Xiao Ran replied quickly: "Got it. What about you? Are you done exploring the skeleton pit?"

"Finished. A skeleton at the bottom of the pit gave me a sword."

"Conservatively estimated, it's a top-tier Heaven Rank weapon."

"Damn, your luck is too good, right? I worked myself to death fighting over a thousand corpses just to get a Cultivation Technique and a tiger tally, and you just picked up a sword while squatting in a pit?"

Li Changsheng laughed: "That's just fate."

"Get lost."

The two cut the connection, and Li Changsheng continued climbing out of the pit.

...

On the other side.

Yao Race Hunting Ground

Zhao Wudi crouched on a withered tree, holding a golden long spear in his hand, with the head of a Yao Beast skewered on the tip.

It was a Late Stage Soul Transformation Shadow Leopard, fast as lightning and skilled at sneak attacks.

But in front of him, it didn't even last three moves.

"Vulnerable." Zhao Wudi flicked the head away and jumped down from the withered tree.

Behind him, fourteen Prodigies of the Zhao family were cleaning up the battlefield.

Some were collecting Yao Beast cores, some were skinning the hide, and some were bandaging wounds.

Along the way, they had already killed over thirty Yao Beasts and seized quite a few good items.

"Young Lord, a ruin has been discovered up ahead."

A Zhao family Prodigy ran over and whispered.

"It seems to be an Ancient Battlefield."

Zhao Wudi's eyes lit up: "An Ancient Battlefield? Let's go take a look."

The group quickly darted forward.

Half an hour later, they arrived at a wasteland.

On the wasteland, thousands of broken swords were densely stuck into the ground.

The broken swords were rusted; some were shattered, and some were just hilts.

But the remaining Sword Intent on the blades was still sharp, cutting people's faces with pain.

"This is... a Sword Tomb?" Zhao Wudi narrowed his eyes.

He walked to the center of the wasteland and found a broken sword stuck in a stone.

The broken sword was pitch black, covered in cracks, but one could faintly see two characters engraved on it.

Demon Slayer.

Zhao Wudi reached out and grasped the hilt. A massive repulsive force erupted from the blade, knocking him back several steps.

"It has spirituality?" His eyes brightened even more.

He took a deep breath, stuck his golden long spear into the ground, gripped the hilt with both hands, and pulled hard.

"Haa—!"

The broken sword was pulled out. The blade was covered in cracks and could shatter at any moment.

But a faint golden light flowed along the blade, emitting an unsettling aura.

"Good sword." Zhao Wudi nodded in satisfaction.

...

Sword Sect Secret Realm

Sword Dust stood in front of a dilapidated palace.

The palace was built entirely of bluestone, with the characters "Sword Sect" engraved on the lintel.

The two characters were already blurred, but the strokes were still sharp, as if someone had carved them with a sword.

"A Sword Sect ruin?" Sword Dust frowned.

He pushed open the gate and walked inside.

The main hall was empty, with nothing inside.

The ground was paved with bluestone slabs, and the slabs were engraved with dense sword marks.

Those sword marks were not drawn randomly; they were arranged in a pattern, forming a set of sword techniques.

"This is... the lost sword technique of the Heavenly Sword Sect!" Sword Dust's eyes lit up.

He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to comprehend it.

The remaining Sword Intent in the sword marks poured into his mind continuously, transforming into individual sword moves and techniques.

He was immersed in it, forgetting the time and forgetting that he was in a ruin.

Don't know how long passed, he opened his eyes.

The sword light in his eyes flared, and the Sword Intent around his body soared into the sky.

"The Nine Styles of the Heavenly Sword, so that's how it is."

He stood up, drew his sword, and slashed at the wall of the main hall.

The Sword Qi was like a rainbow, and a deep sword mark appeared on the wall.

The undying Sword Intent from ten thousand years ago remained in the mark, resonating with the Sword Qi he had slashed out, emitting a buzzing sound.

"Thank you, Senior." Sword Dust sheathed his sword and bowed to the main hall.

...

Meanwhile.

Li Qingyun, leading seventeen Prodigies from the City Lord's Mansion, arrived in front of a massive tomb.

The door of the tomb was open, and it was pitch black inside, making it hard to see clearly.

"Go in." Li Qingyun walked in first.

The tomb was very quiet, with only their footsteps echoing.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a stone door appeared in front of them.

The characters "Secret Treasure of the City Lord's Mansion" were engraved on the stone door.

Li Qingyun pushed open the stone door, revealing a huge secret chamber inside.

The secret chamber was piled with Spirit Stones, Magic Treasures, Medicinal Pills, Cultivation Techniques... a dazzling array, countless in number.

"We've hit the jackpot!" a Prodigy from the City Lord's Mansion shouted excitedly.

Li Qingyun didn't move, just scanned the room.

His gaze fell on the deepest part of the secret chamber, where there was a stone platform with a Jade Slip placed on it.

He walked over, picked up the Jade Slip, and probed it with his Divine Sense.

The Jade Slip recorded the final volume of a Cultivation Technique.

"Good stuff." Li Qingyun tucked the Jade Slip into his robe.

"Split up and collect. Take as much as you can. Gather at the entrance after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

He commanded.

The seventeen Prodigies agreed in unison and began to scavenge frantically.

...

The Human Race was scavenging ruins everywhere, and the Yao Race was doing the same.

Shi Haokong stood on a mountain peak, stepping on a person under his feet.

The person's head had been crushed by a claw strike from Shi Haokong, and the corpse was still twitching.

"The Prodigies of the Human Race are nothing more than this."

Shi Haokong snorted coldly and swallowed the corpse in one bite.

en own source text reference to mythology mythology coiled in a swamp, his nine heads spitting venom together, poisoning the entire hundred-zhang swamp around him.

The Yao Beasts, plants, and even rocks in the swamp were corroded into pus.

"Comfortable." en own source text reference to mythology mythology hissed.

Feng Qingyin stood on a five-colored auspicious cloud, looking down at the ruins below.

Her feathers shimmered in the sunlight, and the Nirvana flames at the tips of her tail feathers burned silently.

"Human Prodigies... interesting." She whispered to herself.

Quae Wangmang opened his giant beak and swallowed a Spirit Medicine in one gulp.

"Still not full."

His blood-red eyes were filled with greed.

Lei Qianjun was surrounded by lightning, shattering a small mountain with one claw.

Rocks flew everywhere, revealing an ancient Magic Treasure buried underneath.

"Good stuff." He picked up the Magic Treasure and put it away.

Chi Hanyuan coiled on an icy lake, his profound ice chill freezing the entire lake surface.

The Yao Beasts at the bottom of the lake were frozen into ice sculptures, unable to move.

"Too weak." He shook his head and turned to leave.

The battles in the ruins continued, with both the Human Race and the Yao Race making gains.