Chapter 370
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Chapter 370: The Tomb of the Sword
Among the mountains and forests.
A squirrel was nibbling on a pine cone in its paws when suddenly it sensed something. It shook its fluffy tail, looked up, and saw a flash of blood-red figure pass by.
Xue Changhe displayed lightness skill, leaping between the trees with a lightness like a flying swallow.
His inner strength was extremely deep and profound, surpassing what ordinary people could achieve even after practicing diligently for generations.
Traveling from Baichuan City to here, his breathing remained steady and rhythmic, with only a slight sweat on his forehead.
Despite his young age, Xue Changhe’s martial arts skills were already top-notch when he first emerged, ranking first on the Strength List for a time.
Back in the era before the Inhuman War more than forty years ago, even if he didn’t reach the top in the world, he was still one of the few superb martial artists in the world.
At this moment, his brow was furrowed as he contemplated the mysterious red-clothed woman who had stolen the stone sword earlier.
He only lacked a bit of experience and combat experience, in terms of martial arts, Xue Changhe was considered top-notch.
But the mysterious woman in red, who easily caught the stone sword, was hard for him to figure out.
"The guardians of Sword Tomb have always been mysterious, their origins unknown, seeming to not be skilled in martial arts?"
Lost in thought, he suddenly arrived at Sword Casting Village.
Sword Casting Village was once famous, producing numerous renowned swords, including the Human Emperor Sword from three hundred years ago.
However, that was hundreds of years ago.
After the first guardian Sword Demon killed the swordsmith, the village became history, completely abandoned.
In front of Xue Changhe now, the village stood in ruins, with collapsed walls revealing dilapidated buildings, walls covered in cracks, ground overgrown with weeds, and items covered in dust.
When Sword Casting Village was still standing, "Sword Tomb" was just a hidden place behind the village for storing swords.
But after the swordsmith’s death, the entire deserted village became known as "Sword Tomb" in the legends of the martial world.
"Who would live in such a spooky place as a gravekeeper? It doesn’t feel like where a living person would stay."
Xue Changhe frowned as he stepped into the crumbling gates of the mansion.
As soon as he entered, a chilling breeze hit him, even though the sun was shining brightly overhead.
Xue Changhe furrowed his brows even deeper, feeling a momentary urge to leave.
The leaders of the Xue family throughout generations all sought stability. After all, the accumulated power of their ancestors rested on their shoulders. If a leader passed away prematurely without passing on the power in time, centuries of accumulation would be lost.
Xue Changhe was younger and more spirited than the previous family leaders.
"Can’t retreat… Other martial artists from Baichuan City have also heard about the Sword Tomb from the gravekeeper. They must be on their way here."
"I used my agility to arrive early. It would be meaningless to hesitate now."
Xue Changhe stood still, bowed towards the empty Sword Tomb, and solemnly said:
"Xue family Xue Changhe went into the mountain today to seek a sword!"
"Xue family Xue Changhe went into the mountain today to seek a sword…"
The sound echoed through the empty mountain village from far away, resonating repeatedly.
Though the Sword Casting Village no longer existed, the remaining Sword Tomb still held onto some of the old customs of the village.
Seeking swords from the mountain was one of them.
Seeing no one around to answer, Xue Changhe didn’t stop, he just lifted his feet and continued walking inside.
In the center of the village courtyard, there was a large stone over ten meters high, on which several large characters were carved: Sword-cleaning Pool.
However, there was no water pool around the giant stone, only a long-dried-up deep pit, with cracked and dry soil inside, containing hundreds of swords sticking crookedly.
"Following the tradition of the Sword Casting Village hundreds of years ago, those who visit the village must clean their swords in the Sword-cleaning Pool with spring water, as a small gesture of respect for the visiting swordsmen… But this Sword-cleaning Pool…"
Xue Changhe focused his gaze and saw hundreds of rusty swords in the soil, just like the mansion, they were already in poor condition, covered in rust with dull edges.
Besides these rusty swords, there were also several skeletons of the deceased in the surrounding land, some of them still holding a rusty long sword.
"Are these the swordsmen who died seeking the swords?"
With a thought in his mind, Xue Changhe continued to walk forward.
"This eerie place doesn’t seem welcoming, were the seekers of the swords killed by the grave keepers?"
Xue Changhe thought about this and then bent down to examine the injuries on a skeleton nearby.
But as he approached, a sudden sense of danger made him quickly turn his head.
The rusty long sword held by the skeleton flew out suddenly, narrowly missing his cheek like a sharp arrow.
Xue Changhe stood up and looked around.
He saw in the "Sword Washing Pool" he had just passed, thousands of broken swords with sharp edges pointing towards him.
………….
Sword Casting Village’s back mountain.
The woman in red held a stone sword, and with a bit of force, she slanted the stone sword into the soil on the mountaintop.
"Another person seeking a sword has come." The woman in red looked down at the villa below the mountain.
"How far can this Xue Changhe go again?"
The woman in red held the stone sword in her hand, seemingly speaking to the sword, but also speaking to herself.
"The Sword Cleaning Pool is the first step, with a thousand broken swords."
"These are the lingering spirits of swordsmen who failed to obtain a sword and died."
"The second step is Sword Tomb."
……………
Fifteen minutes later.
Xue Changhe walked through the deserted mountain village.
His robe had a few cuts on it, his face looked okay, but with a hint of confusion.
With his martial arts skills, dealing with those rusty swords was not a problem, the cuts on his robe were more from surprise.
"Being a powerful ‘spirit’ as a 3rd rank Spirit Refining martial artist, it’s easy to control objects externally, but handling hundreds of broken swords is quite unusual… it doesn’t seem like a martial art."
Xue Changhe paused his steps, and after walking out the back door of the mountain village, his view suddenly became clear.
The small hill wasn’t very tall, just a small slope, but on top of this slope stood many earthen mounds, resembling a graveyard of the deceased.
Xue Changhe walked closer to one of the mud graves to read the tombstone in front of it.
[The name of the sword, Burning Silence.]
[In the fifth year of the Yuanhe era, Zhao Ziying went to Sword Casting Village to seek a sword and obtained "Burning Silence".]
In the twentieth year of the Yuanhe era, Zhao Ziying’s name rose to Tide Listening Building, ranking tenth in the world, becoming the leader of contemporary swordsmanship and known as the "Fire Cloud Sword Lord" far and wide.
In the twenty-second year of the Yuanhe era, he fought against the royal offspring of the Great Yan, named "Yan Shenji", and died in battle. Yan Shenji returned the sword to the mountain.]
"This is not a person’s grave, but a grave for a sword?"
Xue Changhe’s heart stirred, and he took a few more glances at other graves.
[The name of the sword, Hidden Sea.]
[In the seventh year of Wu’an, ‘Yinwu Sword’ Yue Jinchao worshipped the mountain and obtained a sword.]
In the eighth year of Wu’An, Yue Jinzhao died in the hands of the ‘Hidden Sea Old Man’. Hidden Sea Old Man was famous for his Hidden Sea Sword and ranked twenty-third on the Tide Listening Building Hero List in his later years.
[The name of the sword is Whistling Wind.]
[…..]
After looking at a few tombs, Xue Changhe had a rough idea in his mind.
Among these large tombs, swords were buried instead of people. Even the inscriptions on the tombs mainly recorded the "life" of the sword, focusing on the sword itself rather than the swordsmen’s lives.
At this moment, with these thoughts in mind, Xue Changhe suddenly looked up, feeling a sharp pain on his neck and a mysterious chill.
Boom!
Just as he looked up, he saw several metal cases suddenly flying out from the tombs of "Burning Silence" and "Hidden Sea", resembling coffins.
Clang! Clang!
Just as a few crisp sounds of swords could be heard, the sword sheath opened by itself, and several shining swords with cold light flew out.
Unlike the broken swords previously buried in the mud, these treasure swords hidden in the sheath remained sharp and seemed untouched by time.
………..
The woman in red glanced towards the back of the village.
"This Xue Changhe, has resonated with a total of seven famous swords, including ‘Burning Silence’. He is truly extraordinary, not an ordinary person," she muttered to herself.
The mountain behind the village was actually the original Sword Tomb, a place for burying and hiding swords.
On the slope of the back mountain, there were dozens of long sword sheaths buried in the earth, resembling coffins.
Inside each sword sheath, lay a once-famous sword resting there.
Inside this Sword Tomb, there were a total of fifty famous swords.
These were the swords returned by a famous swordsman in the martial arts world of Jiu Province for hundreds of years.
The sword sheath hides the sword in the Sword Tomb, just like a grave for the deceased.
"There are fifty famous swords, not yet possessing magical spirits, but already showing a hint of spirituality," said the woman in red as she gazed at the Sword Tomb on the hillside.
"A divine sword will choose its master. Xue Changhe’s ability to resonate with seven famous swords is quite extraordinary, ranking in the top three over these hundreds of years."
"But the more extraordinary a person is, the more swords of gods resonate, the greater pressure he bears… Where do you think he can go to?"
The woman in red held the stone sword stuck in the ground, and said softly.
The stone sword stayed quiet, only her own voice echoing in the wind.
She didn’t mind and continued, saying:
"The third step, the peak of the Sword Tomb."
"Now, at the mountaintop, there is finally a second sword."
The woman in red clothes waved her hand and suddenly another sword appeared in her hand, glowing red.
The long sword’s blade was a bright red color and its shape was not straight, but rather a unique flame-like form.
When the woman in red clothes held the sword, it shone brightly red, as if there was a fire flowing inside the metal.
"Don’t you want to ask what other sword in the world can stand alongside you at the Sword Tomb’s peak?" the woman in red clothes spoke slowly.
"This sword is named Burning Sea. It was crafted by the best swordsmith of the time, Iron-hearted Layman. He was a man devoted to swords, cold-hearted like iron, always cherishing swords above all else…"
"Not my concern, not your business," a chilly voice emanated from the stone sword.
"You brought me here, sword person, not just to duel me at the mountaintop, right?"
"Oh, I’ve really made a mistake this time… mistook an old relic for a sweetheart."
The woman in the red dress was not angry, she remained calm and light-hearted, saying:
"Feel free to talk, after all, we will have to stay at the top of this Sword Tomb for many years in the future, so let’s consider it a way to pass the time."
She didn’t reply, just looked into the distance.
In the distance, the entrance to the mountain village became gradually noisy, with dozens or even hundreds of martial artists from Baichuan City coming together to challenge this Sword Tomb.
The person who was persuaded by her words to come and climb the Sword Tomb was not just Xue Changhe…
……………………….
In the mountains and forests.
A squirrel was nibbling on a pine cone in its hand.
Suddenly, a light breeze passed by, and a figure dashed past like lightning.
Its big tail wagged, unaware of anything unusual, just continuing to nibble on pine cones.
"Mr. Qiao, we are almost at the Sword Tomb, please put me down first."
Faintly in the wind came the cry of an old man.
A blurry figure suddenly stood still on the tree trunk, it was Qiao Mu.
He also carried an old man with white hair and a wooden sword at his waist, who was Wooden Sword Walker Lu Yanbei.
Because of the fast speed, Lu Yanbei’s hair was tousled by the strong wind at the moment, his hair stood on end, completely losing his usual dignified posture.
Wooden Sword Walker Lu Yanbei had been investigating the Earth Sword Immortal’s matter, he had once gone to Peach Blossom Villa in Southwest Province to deliver a message with Wei En.
When Qiao Mu led the team back to Nan Province, Lu Yanbei arrived at Baichuan City in Southeast Province ahead of Qiao Mu to investigate the Sword Tomb’s magic sword matter.
"So what did you find when you came first? Did you only discover the location of the Sword Tomb?"
Qiao Mu said casually.
As Lu Yanbei brushed through his wild white hair tousled by the strong wind, he spoke slowly:
"Not just that, even hundreds of years ago, the old stories of the village chief ‘Iron-hearted Layman’ from Sword Casting Village have been thoroughly investigated."
Lu Yanbei adjusted his white beard. He was a renowned sword master in Jiu Province, well-known in Southeast Province, and had acquaintances there.
It was not difficult to investigate the matter of the Sword Tomb.
"As for ‘Iron-hearted Layman,’ he was considered strange even within the martial arts community of Jiu Province," Lu Yanbei started:
"Throughout his life, he had no interests other than his love for swords. He never married, claiming that his sword made of gold and iron was his wife. Why bother with mundane relationships with ordinary women?"
"Although he dedicated his life to swords, his martial arts skills and swordsmanship were just above average, not reaching the level of the top experts of his time, and he never made it to the Hero List."
"His skill in sword-making, however, was unmatched in Jiu Province."
"What do you want to say? Just say it," Qiao Mu asked.
This man Lu Yanbei, who is quite old, is usually calm. Suddenly bringing up the story of the swordsmith from hundreds of years ago must have a reason behind it, rather than showing off knowledge.
Lu Yanbei smiled and said:
"Actually, there was a legend of a talking magic sword in the Jiu Province hundreds of years ago."
"The sword at that time, named ‘Burning Sea,’ was crafted by the owner of Sword Casting Village, Iron-hearted Layman."
"Perhaps because of this, the recent stone sword is believed by many to be connected to the Sword Tomb in the Southeast Province."
"The legendary magic sword ‘Burning Sea’ from hundreds of years ago was personally crafted by Iron-hearted Layman and gifted to a young talented swordsman who worshipped the mountains."
"However, the young swordsman passed away early, and ‘Burning Sea’ disappeared afterwards, passing through the hands of many swordsmen over the next few decades."
"Its last known owner was known as the ‘Sword Demon.’"
"Twenty years later, the ‘Sword Demon’ arrived at Sword Casting Village, defeated Iron-hearted Layman, and from then on, there was only the Sword Tomb in the Southeast Province, and no more Sword Casting Village."
