"Everyone, our Tianjian Sect is one of the three great Sword Path sects of the ancient Sword Realm Continent. As descendants of the Tianjian Sect, you bear the responsibility of revitalizing our lineage. From this moment forward, none of you may slack off. You must cultivate diligently and elevate your realm and strength.
If I discover anyone harboring a lazy heart, I will immediately expel them from the sect and drive them out of the Sword Realm."
Ye Yunfei swept his gaze over the descendants of the Tianjian Sect and spoke in a measured tone.
"Ancestral Teacher, Young Master Ye, please rest assured. From now on, we will certainly cultivate diligently and enhance our strength, and will absolutely not dare to be negligent," Qin Chong promptly declared.
"Ancestral Teacher, Young Master Ye, we dare not be lazy in the slightest. Starting now, we will exert ourselves desperately in our cultivation and will definitely not bring shame upon the Tianjian Sect," the other descendants of the Tianjian Sect roared in unison.
For a time, sword dao energy churned and rolled within this space, while countless rays of sword light shot skyward, dazzling and resplendent.
"From now on, Ye Yunfei is our Tianjian Sect's Eldest Brother. All of you must look to the Eldest Brother as your leader, heed his commands, cultivate diligently, and revitalize our Tianjian Sect," Sword Elder stated.
"We pay our respects to the Eldest Brother!"
Hearing Sword Elder's words, all the Tianjian Sect descendants bowed respectfully to Ye Yunfei. Having already witnessed Ye Yunfei's strength, they all accepted Sword Elder's decision wholeheartedly.
"Next, I will transmit some of the Tianjian Sect's ancient orthodox sword dao legacies to them. You should also rest and recover here before setting out to search for the other three Heavenly Turtle Tokens.
Furthermore, during this time, we must remain vigilant at all times regarding the movements of the Divine Sword Sect. The blade cultivators hidden within their headquarters will surely stir up trouble again," Sword Elder said to Ye Yunfei.
"Ancestral Teacher, rest assured. I will keep watch on the Divine Sword Sect's movements at all times," Ye Yunfei nodded.
"All of you, follow me. We will go to the Tianjian Square to begin practicing the sword," Sword Elder nodded, then addressed the other Tianjian Sect descendants.
He then led this group of descendants into a large square and began personally instructing them in sword practice. In that square stood over a dozen giant sword sculptures, radiating torrents of sword light that illuminated the entire area brightly.
Faintly visible within the square were many ethereal silhouettes of sword cultivators drawing their swords and practicing. These phantoms were impressions left behind by ancient Tianjian Sect disciples who had cultivated there.
Ye Yunfei summoned a batch of clones and Heavenly God puppets from his Illusory Pagoda, sending them to lay in ambush around the ruins of the Divine Sword Sect headquarters, specifically tasked with monitoring any activity there.
Once those Heavenly God puppets concealed their energy auras, they were even harder to detect than living beings.
Simultaneously, Ye Yunfei took out a large number of other puppets, dividing them into squads of patrolling units that began patrolling back and forth around the Tianjian Sect area.
Thus, the once-silent surroundings of the Tianjian Sect headquarters grew lively, with patrol squads moving about regularly, enforcing tight security.
"For now, you should cultivate diligently to improve your swordsmanship.
As the Eldest Brother of our Tianjian Sect, you should elevate your Sword Path cultivation to a higher level.
I will now send you into our Tianjian Sect's Twenty-Eight Sword Caves to practice the sword.
Our Tianjian Sect's ancient sword dao legacies are profound and vast. If subdivided, they can be divided into twenty-eight types of Sword Path, corresponding to the invisible Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions.
If you can fully comprehend and successfully cultivate all twenty-eight types of Sword Path from within the Twenty-Eight Sword Caves, then you will have truly mastered our Tianjian Sect's sword dao legacies."
Ye Yunfei received Sword Elder's Sound Transmission.
"Twenty-Eight Sword Caves, twenty-eight types of Sword Path…"
Receiving Sword Elder's Sound Transmission, Ye Yunfei was somewhat shocked. This was the first time he had heard of the Tianjian Sect's Twenty-Eight Sword Caves.
"Alright, I will now send you into the first Sword Cave," Sword Elder said.
After Sword Elder spoke, a powerful teleportation energy suddenly manifested at a certain location within the Tianjian Sect headquarters ruins. This powerful energy crossed the distance, instantly enveloping Ye Yunfei's body and teleporting him away.
In the next moment, Ye Yunfei found himself inside an enormous Sword Cave.
The most striking feature of this Sword Cave was the dense forest of sharp swords filling it. Swords were thrust into the ground, into the stone walls on both sides of the cavern, and even into the ceiling.
Each sword radiated rolling sword light, releasing powerful sword dao energy along with vast amounts of transparent Sword Path laws.
In short, this was a world of swords; wherever one looked, all that could be seen were longswords.
"These longswords have been accumulated by our Tianjian Sect since ancient times. Our sect has a tradition: whenever a member falls, the longsword they used in life is collected and sent back to the Sword Caves to become part of them.
Each longsword contains the essence of the Sword Path its master cultivated in life.
Because our Tianjian Sect's sword cultivators emphasize the integration of man and sword during their practice, each longsword may grow alongside its master. Many swords even conceal the Remnant Souls or Soul Power imprints of their masters.
It can be said that the Twenty-Eight Sword Caves are one of the cornerstones of our Tianjian Sect's heritage.
During that great war long ago, when a large force of powerful enemies invaded our Tianjian Sect headquarters, I timely employed many methods to seal and conceal these Twenty-Eight Sword Caves, ultimately preserving them.
From now on, I will periodically select some exceptionally talented descendants and send them into these Twenty-Eight Sword Caves to practice the sword.
You are the Eldest Brother. I hope you can fully comprehend and successfully cultivate all twenty-eight types of Sword Path contained within the Twenty-Eight Sword Caves. When that time comes, your Sword Path level will undoubtedly undergo a qualitative leap."
Sword Elder explained to Ye Yunfei.
"Ancestral Teacher, please rest assured. From now on, I will devote my entire heart and mind to comprehending and practicing the sword. I will strive to successfully cultivate all twenty-eight types of Sword Path," Ye Yunfei received Sword Elder's Sound Transmission and nodded solemnly in commitment.
"The Tianjian Sect truly lives up to its reputation as one of the three great Sword Path sects of the ancient Sword Realm Continent. Although you cultivated many of the Tianjian Sect's sword dao legacies in the past, it seems the sect's true legacy lies within these Twenty-Eight Sword Caves."
Hun Lao observed the dense array of swords thrust everywhere, the supremely rich sword dao energy within the cavern, and the advanced Sword Path laws, and could not help but sigh in admiration.
Following Sword Elder's guidance, Ye Yunfei now began comprehending and practicing the sword within this Sword Cave.
According to Sword Elder, Ye Yunfei must first perceive and thoroughly comprehend the sword intent contained within every single longsword in this Sword Cave.
Because these longswords were left behind by ancient sword cultivators of the Tianjian Sect, each one contained its master's Sword Path will, the refined essence of the Sword Path they cultivated, and even preserved some Remnant Souls and Soul Power imprints, along with certain sword dao legacies their masters practiced in life.
For a sword cultivator, these were all extremely precious things, amounting to the crystallization of a lifetime of Sword Path cultivation.
Ye Yunfei's two Soul Bodies, his sixty soul power planets, and the divine eye at the center of his brow all simultaneously participated in the sword comprehension.
From this point on, Ye Yunfei began to rapidly comprehend, one after another, the various sword-related things contained within the longswords at an astonishing speed.
In the process, Ye Yunfei even encountered numerous Soul Power imprints and Remnant Souls hidden within those longswords.
Knowing Ye Yunfei was a successor of the Tianjian Sect, those Soul Power imprints and Remnant Souls naturally did not trouble him. In ancient times, outstanding Tianjian Sect disciples had frequently entered these Sword Caves to comprehend and practice the sword.
"Good. His Sword Path aptitude meets my expectations. There is hope for him to grow into a pillar of strength capable of shouldering our Tianjian Sect's future alone."
In a certain location within the Tianjian Sect headquarters, Sword Elder sat cross-legged. From time to time, he would sense Ye Yunfei's progress within that Sword Cave. Seeing Ye Yunfei rapidly comprehending sword after sword, he could not help but nod in satisfaction, murmuring softly.
***
At the same time, within a certain underground palace deep beneath the ruins of the Divine Sword Sect headquarters…
An elder clad in a long golden robe sat cross-legged inside this underground palace. It was Mo Chenzi, the Grand Elder of the Divine Sword Sect.
Besides Mo Chenzi, a dozen or so elders sat cross-legged within the palace, each one exuding powerful sword dao energy auras.
In the center of the underground palace stood an ancient altar.
"Truly unimaginable. Now that the Tianjian Sect consists only of some wandering ghosts, they actually dare to provoke our Divine Sword Sect. They simply don't know their own mortality!
I suggest we simply charge directly into the Tianjian Sect headquarters, raze that place to nothingness, and make the Tianjian Sect vanish forever!" one of the elders suddenly declared.
"Correct. I agree.
Currently, within the entire Sword Realm Continent, only our Divine Sword Sect retains a large portion of the strength from back then. Even the core elders of our Divine Sword Sect are still alive. We don't need to fear the Tianjian Sect in the slightest.
In fact, we don't need to reveal ourselves entirely. If just one of us went out, we could completely annihilate the Tianjian Sect headquarters, then blast Sword Elder's Remnant Soul into scattering smoke and annihilated mist, ending any chance of his resurrection forever. Why must we endure this humiliation with such restraint?" another elder immediately chimed in from the side.
"Everyone, calm yourselves. Although our Divine Sword Sect is currently the only force on this Sword Realm Continent with so many powerful experts alive, once we show ourselves, I'm afraid all the other factions on this Sword Realm Continent would immediately suspect us. At that point, we would not only have to face the Tianjian Sect, but the entire Sword Realm Continent.
During that great battle long ago, besides our Divine Sword Sect, quite a few Small Worlds and secret realms remained intact.
Even in the ancient Sword Realm Continent, those Small Worlds and secret realms were known as forbidden lands. There might be some truly terrifying experts hidden within.
Moreover, on this Sword Realm Continent, although many Sword Path sects were seemingly destroyed on the surface, more or less of their foundational heritage has actually been preserved.
If all other factions on the Sword Realm Continent were to turn against our Divine Sword Sect, we would immediately find ourselves in a very passive situation, not necessarily able to handle it.
Therefore, for now, we must continue lying low. The timing is not yet ripe for us to rashly expose ourselves."
Hearing the two elders' words, Mo Chenzi immediately spoke up.
"The Grand Elder makes a good point. Everyone must not be rash. We have already hidden for so many long years; we must not allow all our previous efforts to go to waste due to a moment of impulse.
Rest assured, everyone. It won't be long before we can truly rule this Sword Realm Continent. When that time comes, our Divine Sword Sect will eradicate all remnants of the other Sword Path sects from this continent and turn the entire continent into the domain of our Divine Sword Sect.
By then, there will only be one Sword Path sect on the Sword Realm Continent, and that is our Divine Sword Sect." A white-haired elder exuding staggering sword qi energy spoke slowly.
"Esteelders, there are now many Sword Realm descendants who have found the Sword Path sects they belong to, going to trace their roots and reconnect with their ancestral sects. Do we continue to assassinate those fellows?" At this moment, a man walked into the underground palace from outside and reported to the dozen or so elders within.