C73 The Sword Soul Warned
"This doesn't bode well."
At the entrance to the Forbidden Area, the old general, who spent his days basking in the sun and dozing off, let out a heavy sigh.
The Mirage Water Curtain had suddenly become like a lifeless pond, no longer shifting to display any scenes.
He understood all too well that this stagnation meant the clam pearls placed within the Fallen Moon Forbidden Area were at least half damaged.
The Mirage Water Curtain and the clam pearls together formed an intricate illusionary array.
If more than half of the clam pearls were destroyed, the array would naturally fail.
This failure also meant that the remaining clam pearls could no longer connect with the Mirage Water Curtain.
And that meant Lee Yuchan, who had ventured into the Forbidden Area, could no longer communicate with him through the clam pearls.
"How peculiar."
The old general gazed eastward, murmuring to himself, "Lately, the relations between the Rainier Empire and us have been decent. With Zhou Cangmin preoccupied with his breakthrough and the Kingdom of Driliwyr's forces bearing down, how could the Rainier Empire spare any effort to meddle with our Forbidden Area Trial?"
The timing of this trial had been carefully chosen.
The Silvermoon Empire's greatest foe was currently beleaguered, and their Imperial Advisor, Zhou Cangmin, was in seclusion. It seemed an unlikely time for them to stir up conflict.
Yet, the last communication from Lee Yuchan had confirmed an unsettling truth—outsiders had indeed infiltrated the Forbidden Area.
The old general had not been worried initially, as the Mirage Water Curtain was still operational, and he hoped to identify the intruders through its visions.
Only then would he decide whether to personally intervene.
But now, with the Mirage Water Curtain unable to reveal the Forbidden Area and his connection to Lee Yuchan severed, caution was imperative.
"Lee Xi."
He rose from his lounge chair, calling out with a gentle voice.
A guard clad in heavy armor approached swiftly, coming to a halt with a knee to the ground, and declared, "Lee Xi, at your command!"
"Inform His Majesty that an outsider has breached the Forbidden Area," the old general said with a sigh, his face etched with shame. "I'm in the dark about their identity, their strength, the number of intruders, or how they managed to slip in."
Lee Xi looked up, astonished, and exclaimed, "What is this?"
"Enough talk, get back and report to the Emperor immediately," the old general commanded, his anger fueled by embarrassment.
"Understood."
...
Lee Yuchan roamed the silver-white expanse in solitude.
"Hu! Hu! Hu!"
An unseen gale wailed and shrieked, enveloping a three-mile radius around her.
The ground bore thin, elongated marks wherever the wind swept through, as if slashed by a razor-sharp blade.
Had Lee Yu been there, he would have instantly recognized that his aunt, in a fit of rage, had unleashed a tempest with her formidable Soul Blade.
Her Soul Blade, though not intended for those at the Penetrating Stage, wouldn't cause unintended harm under her careful control.
However, any cultivator with a refined spiritual sense nearby would be immediately detected and assailed by the numerous Soul Blades.
"Who could it be?"
Lee Yuchan's mood darkened and her irritation intensified.
The volcano within her was teetering on the brink of eruption.
Throughout her search, she found that all the clam beads had been shattered to dust, and even the Mirage Water Curtain was unreachable.
Understanding the intricacies of the Mirage Water Curtain and the clam beads, she realized that the invaders must have destroyed over half of the beads within the forbidden area.
She stumbled upon the bodies of numerous cultivators, including those from city teams and members of the five great families.
She sensed that the intruders, aware of her presence, had swiftly annihilated the remaining clam beads, leaving her and those outside the forbidden area utterly blind.
The infiltrators were either evading her deliberately or misleading her, making it impossible for her to uncover the truth.
The frustration of not knowing her adversary, being outmaneuvered in the shadows, and the inability to locate any living cultivators gnawed at her.
She quickly surmised that she was dealing with a master.
"I refuse to believe I can't find you in this small section of the Fallen Moon Forbidden Area!"
The gale grew wilder, howling with increased ferocity.
The reach of her Soul Blade tripled in an instant!
Within that zone, she would immediately detect any sign of life, any creature with a soul.
...
"Yan Lu!"
Yuan Tine looked skyward, breathing a quiet sigh of relief upon realizing that the fallen individual was a cultivator from the Yan family.
Lee Yu had been gone for over a day and a night.
In that time, he had managed to locate other teams and invited them to converge at this spot.
Han Hui and Woo Ji of Eastgriffin City had arrived half a day earlier, following their encounter with Lee Yu.
Now, even Yan Lu and the Yan family members had heeded Lee Yu's advice, a clear indication of the direness of the situation.
Yan Lu, with a grim expression, descended silently into the pit.
Yu Yuan, Zhao Yafu, Yuan Tine, and the rest, backed against the icy pit wall, understood the severity of Yan Lu's grimace as he and his kin joined them.
Yan Lu was missing three companions.
Members of the five great families, with their deep roots and formidable strength, often ventured separately with confidence.
The absence of the three Yan family members from Yan Lu's side likely meant they had met the same fate as the vanished individuals from the Lee and Su families—murdered.
"We've encountered Lee Yu," Yan Lu broke his silence, turning to Su Yan. "He mentioned we've had the misfortune of running into an outside adversary."
In his view, among those gathered at the bottom of the pit, only Su Yan was his equal in conversation.
Despite recognizing Yu Yuan's enigmatic qualities, Yan Lu discounted him due to his lower cultivation level and the Yu family's relative weakness, believing he couldn't stand on equal footing with Su Yan.
"Could it be an infiltrator from the Rainier Empire?"
His frown deepened. With his insider knowledge, he continued, "The Rainier Empire should be preoccupied with their own issues. How could they spare the effort to cause trouble here? Aren't they worried about a united front from us and the Kingdom of Driliwyr?"
"The conflicts between the Rainier Empire and the Kingdom of Driliwyr are often fleeting," Su Yan remarked. "In the grand scheme of history, due to our proximity, we are their most enduring and formidable adversaries."
Yan Lu scoffed, "They must be out of their minds! With Zhou Cangmin still in retreat, without the National Preceptor to steer the ship, they dare to rile up our two empires? Do they not realize the consequences they'll face?"
"What if the Rainier Empire has Zhou Cangmin's assurance that he will emerge from seclusion with a breakthrough soon? Would they still be afraid then?" Su Yan posed the question.
"Breaking through in such a short time? Advancing from the middle to the late stage of the Soul Wandering?" Yan Lu's face turned ashen, and he abruptly fell silent.
"Zhou Cangmin..."
At the mention of that name, the so-called prodigies of the Silvermoon Empire all wore looks of distress. The mere name loomed over them like a colossal mountain, an oppressive weight that left them all in discomfort.
It appeared that the Imperial Advisor of the Rainier Empire was indeed the bane of the Silvermoon Empire, an inescapable shadow for both the old and the young.
"Lee Yu once vowed to take Zhou Cangmin's life," whispered Zhao Yafu.
Yu Yuan was about to respond when a sudden jolt coursed through him. For reasons unknown, the sword light branded onto his bones blazed with unbearable heat. In a mere moment, his arms felt as though they had been transformed into searing branding irons, hidden from view only by the clothes he wore.
Without uttering a word, he shut his eyes and concentrated, channeling his awakened Heavenly Soul to attempt a connection with the emotions radiating from the sword light.
Lately, he had frequently been examining the white paper fan, drawing upon the four black characters inscribed upon it to further refine his Heavenly Soul. He was beginning to sense that this spiritual cleansing might prove even more beneficial than physical fortification at this juncture.
The Heavenly Soul was not only attuned to the melancholic essence of the white paper fan but also receptive to the waves of intent emanating from the sword light.
"Flee!"
"Distance yourself from here, avoid joining the main force."
"Depart from this place and delve into the depths of the unexplored regions of the Forbidden Area."
"Stay and you shall perish."
"Hurry, escape! Flee as far as you can!"
"..."
He deciphered these disjointed thoughts from the flickering sword light. Once the heat subsided, he could no longer detect any unusual activity within the sword light. Yet the chilling messages he had gleaned left him too unsettled to continue his cultivation in tranquility.
