Chapter 435: Sea of Swords
A resounding boom rang out as the vast expanse of golden swordlight passed through the surrounding mist, then came crashing down upon the Heavy Water True Axis like a waterfall.
A string of loud clangs rang out in rapid succession overhead, and Han Li immediately made a hand seal, upon which a vast expanse of black light erupted out of the axis alongside several dozen bursts of heavy water, which intertwined in mid-air to form an enormous heavy water vortex.
Upon falling into the vortex, all of the golden swordlight was shredded into pieces without being able to put up any resistance.
All of a sudden, the Heavy Water True Axis shrank down to the size of a normal shield at Han Li's behest, then flew through the air as a long streak of black light, hurtling directly toward one of the wooden puppets.
The puppet remained still on the spot as it raised its sword to defend itself against the Heavy Water True Axis, and right as the two were about to clash, Han Li suddenly curled a finger upward, upon which the Heavy Water True Axis circled around in mid-air, avoiding the puppet's sword before striking it on the head.
A loud thump rang out as the puppet's head exploded amid an eruption of black light, and its headless body instantly fell away to the side as if it had been sapped of all of its strength.
Meanwhile, the golden longsword in its hand flew toward the mountain summit as a bright streak of light as if it had been summoned.
The other puppets paid no heed to this at all as they continued to come after Han Li and Lu Yuqing with their swords raised.
We can't afford to waste any more time here!
Han Li's brows were tightly furrowed as he made a beckoning motion, and the Heavy Water True Axis instantly flew back to him before hovering above the palm of his hand, where it revolved incessantly.
At the same time, the Mantra Treasured Axis in his body began to revolve in reverse, and he abruptly shot through the air as a blurry shadow.
A string of afterimages suddenly flashed over the stone staircase, then abruptly drew to a halt.
Immediately thereafter, a string of explosions rang out as four of the six remaining puppets fell to the ground, having been decapitated.
Their longswords also flew toward the mountain summit as if they had been sucked away by some type of invisible force.
Meanwhile, Han Li took a moment to steady himself, and his complexion was looking a little pale. His breathing was also a little labored, and his Heavy Water True Axis was gradually slowing down in its revolution.
Simultaneously using the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Heavy Water True Axis was extremely taxing on his immortal spiritual power, and at his current cultivation base, he couldn't keep this up for long.
Lu Yuqing was still locked in battle against a pair of puppets, and she was rather taken aback to see both of them being decapitated in the blink of an eye.
Right at this moment, a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly rang out from the mountain summit, and the entire mountain began to tremble violently.
Han Li's expression changed slightly as he cast his gaze upward.
"There's no time to waste, Brother Han. Leave me here and go retrieve your flying swords, I'll be able to look after myself," Lu Yuqing suddenly said.
Han Li hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then nodded in response. "Alright, make sure to be careful."
After that, he sprang up the ladder once again, and it didn't take long before he vanished into the dense mist up above.
In the wake of Han Li's departure, the two remaining puppets immediately tried to give chase, only for Lu Yuqing to appear in front of them in a flash.
At this moment, there was a rather peculiar look on her face, one that she had never adopted before. She appeared a little cold and distant, but also rather confused and disoriented, while a hint of moisture had appeared in her eyes.
With a flick of her wrist, she stowed the azure feather fan away, and it was replaced by a silver longsword that was clearly a treasure of a far inferior caliber to the azure fan.
She looked down at the longsword in her hand as she murmured to herself, "Why does it suddenly feel like using a sword isn't so bad?"
This wasn't said in a joking manner. Instead, she seemed to be genuinely confused, as if she didn't know herself why she suddenly wanted to use the sword.
......
After emerging from the area enshrouded within the dense mist, everything in front of Han Li immediately cleared up, and only then did he discover that he was still situated halfway up the mountain. There was still no end in sight to the stone staircase, but as Han Li continued to scale the staircase, he encountered no further obstructions.
Upon reaching the top, Han Li made his way along a bluestone mountain path toward the center of the mountain summit, and he spotted what appeared to be a daoist temple from afar, concealed behind a green bamboo forest.
The daoist temple wasn't very large, and there were all types of designs engraved onto its white walls and black tiled roof, giving it a rather intricate appearance.
Han Li naturally had no time to appreciate the scenery right now, and after verifying that there weren't any restrictions in the daoist temple, he pushed its black gate open before making his way directly inside.
The daoist temple was barely furnished at all. The first two of its three courtyards was comprised of around a dozen halls, most of which were empty, while the rest only had some unidentifiable deity statues inside.
There were also two halls that appeared to be pill refinement chambers with pill cauldrons placed inside, while the shelves on the walls were lined with containers of different sizes.
Han Li had no time to verify whether the contents of the containers could still be used, so he simply stowed everything away with a sweep of his sleeve.
The final courtyard of the daoist temple was quite far away from the first two, and down the center was a wide path paved with white stone slabs.
Han Li made his way down the path before arriving in front of a large hall.
There were seven or eight wooden puppets that were identical to the ones that he had encountered earlier strewn over the ground outside the hall's entrance.
Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings, and he quickly noticed that the wooden frames of the hall's doors and windows were all engraved with complex runes, clearly indicating that there was a formidable defensive restriction set up here.
However, the restriction had already been severely damaged, and there were wisps of residual sword qi present in many of the important points on the array, indicating that the damage had been inflicted not long ago.
There was a huge black plaque hanging directly above the center of the hall's entrance, upon which was inscribed the words "Ancestral Hall" in flowing golden characters.
Despite the shared name, the ancestral halls of cultivating sects and those of the mortal world were actually very different.
The ancestral halls of the mortal world were generally used to worship the memorial tablets of deceased ancestors. However, cultivators of the Immortal Realm led extremely long lives, so aside from a select few memorial tablets, the ancestral halls of the cultivating sects mostly contained treasures left behind by ancestors and founders.
These treasures weren't necessarily extremely powerful. Instead, most of them were personal treasures that these ancestors and founders liked to keep with them during their cultivation journeys.
These treasures had the closest ties with the sect, and as a result, it gradually turned into a tradition for treasures of this nature to be kept in the ancestral halls.
An ancestral hall was the heart of a sect's lineage, and it was often the center of a sect's fortune. There were many stories of treasures being kept in ancestral halls that became nurtured by the fortune of a sect over time, thereby attaining sentience on their own.
A very fortunate sect disciple could be chosen by one such sentient treasure while engaging in worship at the ancestral hall, and that would often be the beginning of a meteoric rise.
The furnishings in the Boundless Sword Sect's ancestral hall were very simplistic. There were two rows of eternal flame lamps in the hall, the flames in which had, ironically, already burned out. Down the center of the hall between the two rows of lamps were four worship tables standing on platforms of ascending heights.
If we take each tier as one generation, that means that the Boundless Sword Sect's heritage only lasted four generations...
Han Li was initially rather surprised by this observation, but it then quickly made sense to him considering the sect's method of disciple recruitment.
Han Li swept his gaze over the hall to find that aside from worship tables on the second and third tiers, which had several memorial tablets placed on them in a haphazard fashion, the remaining two tables only held some sandalwood platters, all of which were completely empty.
Han Li's gaze lingered momentarily on the worship table on the highest tier to find that there was no memorial tablet for the Boundless Daoist there.
It looks like the Boundless Daoist was still alive when the Boundless Sword Sect fell...
Right as Han Li was inspecting his surroundings, a crisp and pleasant chime suddenly rang out from the rear of the ancestral hall.
The sound wasn't very loud, but it was remarkably penetrative, traveling all the way here, and Han Li was able to hear it clearly even though he hadn't been listening out for it.
He immediately left the ancestral hall, then made his way toward the mountain behind the hall along a small bluestone path.
After walking for a few minutes, Han Li arrived on a downward-sloping hill.
Standing before him was a black rock that was only half the height of a grown man. It was a rather unremarkable structure, and it bore the words "Sword Sea" inscribed in antiquated text.
Han Li stood on the edge of the hill as he cast his gaze downward, and he spotted a glimmer of light in a meadow down below. He took a closer look, and a stunned look instantly appeared on his face.
As it turned out, there were countless flying swords plunged into the vibrant meadow down below. All of the swords had their tips pointing up at the sky, and they were swaying gently like blades of grass in the light breeze, gently tapping against each other to produce the pleasant chiming sound that Han Li had heard earlier.
Among these flying swords were tiny ones that were as thin as sewing needles, enormous ones that were as wide as city gates, squiggly ones that resembled winding snakes, straight ones with parallel edges... Every type of longsword that one could think of could be found here.
They had been in this sword sea for countless years, yet not a single one of them was displaying any signs of damage or rust, and all of them were radiating dazzling spiritual light.
Han Li's gaze roamed over the sea of swords for a moment before his eyes finally settled on a spot in the meadow, where he spotted his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords arranged in a uniform line, swaying gently alongside all of the other flying swords.
When he tried to summon them back to his side, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately began to sway in a more urgent and erratic fashion, as if they were trying to heed his call, but were also locked into place by some type of suppressive force.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li raised a hand, and a section of his sleeve flew off on its own, enveloped in a layer of gentle azure light.
The piece of sleeve drifted past the black rock and entered the sword sea, upon which barely visible streaks of light instantly flashed through the air around it.
In the blink of an eye, that sliver of sleeve was shredded into dust in complete silence.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
Visit freewe𝑏n(o)vel.𝑐𝘰𝑚 for the best novel reading experience