240: Chapter 240 The Palace with the Hanging Sword

A strong sensation of spatial tearing washed over him. Ye Tian kept his mind focused, shielding Hou Xiaojie and the Mini Dragon Ape by his side.

A few breaths later, the feeling of solid ground returned as the blinding light around them gradually dissipated.

He focused his gaze and found himself in a completely unfamiliar environment.

The sky was a dull, leaden gray, devoid of sun, moon, or stars. Only some unknown glowing moss embedded in the towering, broken rock walls around them provided a faint source of light.

An ancient and desolate aura permeated the air. The Spiritual Qi was much denser than outside, but it was mixed with a heart-palpitating Sword Intent of destruction, causing a faint stinging sensation when inhaled.

They stood at the edge of a massive plaza paved with dark green boulders.

The plaza was incredibly vast, stretching beyond the horizon. The ground was covered in crisscrossing, deep sword scars; some marks even emitted a faint glow, as if they had been left recently.

In the distance of the plaza, the silhouettes of countless collapsed palaces, ruined walls, and the skeletons of giant beasts were faintly visible.

Further out was a deep darkness, resembling the Void Realm.

Most shocking of all was that at the extreme edge of their vision, a massive cluster of palaces seemed not to sit on the ground, but rather floated in the Void Realm!

They were vaguely connected by massive stone bridges or chains spanning the void.

“Is this the core area of the Ancient Sword Manor?”

Hou Xiaojie’s eyes widened, rendered speechless by the sight before him as he tightly gripped the hem of Ye Tian’s clothes.

The Mini Dragon Ape also seemed to sense the extraordinary nature of this place. No longer playing around, its small head looked around warily, its golden eyes filled with confusion.

Ye Tian took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart.

The concentration of Spiritual Qi here far exceeded the outside world; Cultivating here for one day was comparable to several days outside!

However, that omnipresent destructive Sword Intent was also extremely terrifying. If one's will was not firm or their cultivation was insufficient, staying here for long might lead to the Sword Intent eroding them and damaging their Foundation.

He looked around.

The place where they appeared seemed to be a corner of the plaza. He didn't see any sign of Jing Wutian, the Governor's Mansion, or other teams nearby.

“It seems the teleportation was random, scattering us to different entry points.”

Ye Tian understood.

This was for the best, as it avoided breaking out into conflict with other forces in the Early Stages.

He tried to expand his Divine Sense to investigate, but found that the space here was extremely stable and his Divine Sense was greatly suppressed. Even with his Divine Sense strength reaching the Mustard Seed level, he could only probe a range of about a hundred feet; anything further became blurred.

Moreover, while probing with Divine Sense, he could clearly feel the cutting sensation from the stray Sword Intent in the air, causing waves of stinging pain to his Divine Sense.

“Divine Sense is restricted here. Everyone stay close to me, don't get separated,”

Ye Tian warned Hou Xiaojie and the Mini Dragon Ape in a heavy voice.

With his Divine Sense limited, he could only rely on his five senses to distinguish things, which restricted his movements.

He carefully observed the sword scars on the ground.

These sword scars were chaotic and varied in depth, but every single one retained a powerful charm.

Perhaps great masters of the Sword Dao had once fought fiercely here, leaving these marks behind.

“Senior Brother, which way should we go?”

Hou Xiaojie looked at the vast ruins before him, feeling a bit lost.

Ye Tian did not answer immediately. Instead, he closed his eyes, silently circulating the Illusory Sea Heart Sutra while sensing the movement of the chaos bead in his robes.

The chaos bead grew slightly warm, sending out several tugs in different directions, pointing toward the depths of the plaza and the distant floating palaces.

But the clearest one pointed toward the left side of the plaza, along a path leading to a series of relatively well-preserved palace buildings.

Something there seemed to be attracting it.

“This way.”

Ye Tian opened his eyes and chose the direction where the chaos bead's resonance was clearest.

He trusted the guidance of the chaos bead.

The two people and one ape carefully walked along the edge of the plaza toward those palace buildings.

The boulders beneath their feet were cold and hard, producing hollow echoes as they stepped on them.

The surroundings were terrifyingly silent, with only the sound of their footsteps and breathing.

Hou Xiaojie had to exert his full True Yuan to resist the environment, but the Mini Dragon Ape seemed fine; instead, it curiously sniffed the air.

After walking for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, a massive archway appeared ahead. Though half-collapsed, its former grandeur was still evident.

On the archway remained three large characters brimming with sharp Sword Qi: “Suspended Sword Palace”!

Behind the archway lay an even larger cluster of palace ruins.

Most of the palaces had collapsed, but a few main structures remained, towering into the sky and emitting a desolate, ancient aura.

Just as they were about to step into the range of the “Suspended Sword Palace,” a sudden rush of wind and several roars came from the side!

“Stop it! Don't let this beast get away!”

“Watch out for its claws!”

Three or four figures wearing Yasui Gang uniforms were seen frantically chasing a black shadow that was as fast as lightning!

That black shadow seemed to be a Yao Beast. It wasn't large, shaped like a leopard, but its entire body was covered in dark gold scales. Its four claws flashed with a metallic cold light, and it spat out streaks of fine, golden Sword Qi from its mouth!

Its speed was incredibly fast!

“It's a ‘Saber-Toothed Leopard’!”

“And looking at those scales and that Sword Qi, it likely has the thin Bloodline of the ancient variant beast, the ‘Gengjin Saber-Toothed Leopard’!”

Ye Tian recognized the Yao Beast's origin at a glance.

This kind of Yao Beast was naturally close to metal-element Sword Qi and had extremely strong attack power.

Among the Yasui Gang members, the leader was an Incense Master at the third level of the True Martial Realm, while the other three were members at the eighth or ninth level of the Ningyuan Realm.

They clearly wanted to hunt this Saber-Toothed Leopard but had underestimated its strength. Instead, they were being led in circles, and all of them were injured.

The Saber-Toothed Leopard seemed to be cornered. It suddenly turned and charged right toward Ye Tian and his companions!

Its crimson beast pupils were filled with violence!

“Watch out!” Hou Xiaojie cried out.

Ye Tian’s eyes narrowed, and he was about to strike.

However, when the Saber-Toothed Leopard was still ten feet away, its body suddenly stiffened. It seemed to sense the sharp Sword Intent on Ye Tian. A flicker of terror passed through its pupils, and with a low growl, it forcefully twisted its body, crashed through a ruined wall, and disappeared.

The Yasui Gang members chased to the spot, but having lost their target, they stopped, panting heavily.

When the Incense Master saw Ye Tian’s group, he was stunned for a moment. A flash of greed crossed his eyes, especially when he saw the golden-furred little monkey on Ye Tian’s shoulder. But then he remembered the rumors within the gang about Ye Tian and Wang Laosi’s fate, and his expression immediately changed from greed to wariness.

He forced a smile and cupped his hands. “So it's Brother Ye. I didn't expect to run into you here.”

“We didn't disturb you just now, did we?”

Ye Tian gave him a flat look. “It’s fine.”

He couldn't be bothered to deal with these minor characters.

The Incense Master gave a couple of dry laughs and didn't dare stay longer. He quickly led his subordinates away in another direction, muttering under his breath as they walked, “What bad luck! Running into that Bringer of Death!”

Hou Xiaojie curled his lip. “Hmph, at least they know what's good for them!”

This small interlude did not affect Ye Tian’s plans.

He led Hou Xiaojie and the Mini Dragon Ape into the area of the “Suspended Sword Palace.”

Upon entering this zone, the Sword Intent in the air became even denser, carrying a unique rhythm of the Sword Dao.

Along the way, they could see more fragments of broken weapons, mostly swords. Occasionally, they could see withered bones scattered in corners, some with broken swords still lodged in them, painting a tragic scene.

They explored forward along a relatively intact corridor.

The walls of the corridor were covered in various sword technique diagrams and energy circulation routes. Although most were incomplete, they still conveyed the profound sword principles contained within.

Ye Tian slowed his pace, observing them carefully.

These diagrams were quite different from the Taiyi Light-Splitting Sword Art he had learned; they focused more on slaughter and transformation, broadening his understanding of the Sword Dao.

Hou Xiaojie was also dazzled. Although he couldn't understand them, he felt they were impressive.

Suddenly, Ye Tian stopped and stared toward a corner ahead in the corridor.

He sensed a faint energy fluctuation coming from there, as well as... a hint of blood!