The Sect's Demon Abyss!

As he lowered the jade slip, Li Guanqi had no idea what enormous upheavals his transmission would stir within the Meng clan and Tianji Pavilion! Li Guanqi turned to look at Lu Kangnian, his heart sinking slightly. Right now, he was burning with anxiety, wanting nothing more than to rush over to the Shenbao Domain to see how Xiao Chen was faring. At this moment, Xiao Chen was surely at his most vulnerable and tormented—bereft of family, surrounded on all sides by enemies... He looked at Lu Kangnian and asked in a low voice, "Sect Master, do you have something else to tell us?" Thinking it might be something he shouldn't be privy to, Ye Feng stood up, preparing to excuse himself. Unexpectedly, Lu Kangnian yanked him right back down into the seat beside him and scolded exasperatedly, "What's with that look, you brat? You think I'm trying to keep you in the dark? You two were babbling away so fast your words might as well have been scalding your tongues! Rattle, rattle, rattle—did either of you give me a chance to get a word in edgewise?!" Only then did Ye Feng realize he had overthought it. Scratching his head in mild embarrassment, he settled back into his seat. Lu Kangnian straightened his posture, his expression gradually growing solemn. Looking at the two most outstanding disciples before him, he gathered his thoughts and said deeply, "By now, both of you have probably noticed as well. The Great Xia Sword Sect's heritage and foundation are far more profound than anyone imagines!" Ye Feng and Li Guanqi exchanged a glance, mutual understanding dawning between them. Ever since breaking through to the Void Refining Realm, they had faintly sensed that the sect's three thousand wondrous peaks and eight hundred scenic streams were far from ordinary. The seven peaks and winding rivers, seemingly scattered at random, appeared to carry an enigmatic cadence that harmonized secretly with some formidable array. Yet whatever lay even deeper was beyond even their ability to perceive. Lu Kangnian drew a deep breath, his eyes glinting sharply as he fixed them with a serious gaze. "I won't tell you the rest for now. In any case, neither of you plans to take over the sect." Hearing this, both looked rather awkward, as if they were being accused of ingratitude. Yet their ambitions truly lay elsewhere; they were in no position to manage the sect. Even so, Li Guanqi and Ye Feng knew that whether they were in the sect or not, everyone from peak masters and elders down to the inner and outer disciples held a borderline fanatical adoration for them. Unaware of what was going through their heads, Lu Kangnian took out a fragment of a jade pendant and spoke slowly. "The Great Xia Sword Sect..." "Also suppresses a Demon Abyss!" Li Guanqi and Ye Feng were stunned at his words. "What?!" "Our sect actually has a Demon Abyss beneath it?! How long has it been suppressed?" Their expressions shifted drastically; neither had expected such a place to exist within their own sect! Lu Kangnian immediately followed up, "Fortunately, Elder Qin, Elder Ling, and I went to inspect it together. The Demon Abyss sealing array showed no signs of abnormality, so there is no need to worry." Li Guanqi frowned. "Can you take us to see it?" Lu Kangnian answered without hesitation, "Let's go." In fact, ever since learning what had happened to the Xiao clan, he had intended to have the two of them reinforce the sealing boundary; otherwise, he could never feel completely at ease. Before long, Qin Xian and Ling Daoyan arrived at Yuhu Peak one after the other. Immediately afterward, Lu Kangnian enveloped the group in spatial power, teleporting them in an instant to a secluded, isolated peak behind the Great Xia Sword Sect! The location was exceedingly remote, almost hidden. Even when Ye Feng and Li Guanqi had glimpsed it before, they had never paid it any mind. Who would have guessed the seal was concealed here? Ye Feng furrowed his brow slightly. Even expanding his divine sense, he detected nothing out of the ordinary. The isolated peak before them appeared utterly mundane, revealing no unusual traces. Seeing this, Ling Daoyan said in a deep voice, "Since both of them are here, let us begin." With that, the three elders each produced a pitch-black jade pendant fragment from inside their robes. Li Guanqi's heart quivered at the sight. It seemed this place was of paramount importance to the sect; otherwise, they would never have kept the keys to open it divided among separate hands... Was this safeguard designed precisely to prevent someone with malicious intent from unsealing the Demon Abyss? Buzz! A tremendous wave of spatial fluctuations rippled outward, and the peak before them began to twist in a bizarre distortion. Immediately following, a hazy gray spatial fissure tore open in front of their eyes. Ling Daoyan and Qin Xian looked at each other. Then, to everyone's surprise, the two elders handed their respective key fragments to Ye Feng and Li Guanqi! Blankly, Li Guanqi reached out and received the jade pendant, just as bewildered as Ye Feng. Ling Daoyan patted Li Guanqi's hand and said softly, "From this day forth, these pendants are entrusted to you and Ye Feng. Under no circumstances must they ever fall into the wrong hands! We old men... lack the strength. Having heard what befell Xiao Chen's clan, we dare not take any chances. Therefore... this responsibility is now yours." The elder's earnest, heartfelt words weighed heavily upon their shoulders. Li Guanqi took a deep breath. With solemn resolve, he accepted the jade fragment, carefully tore through the void, and forged a personal pocket of storage space to store it within. This space served as his intrinsic domain; so long as he did not perish, no one could breach it! Ye Feng took the jade fragment from Qin Xian's hands. Though it was a tiny object, it felt immensely heavy. He knew that weight was not the stone itself, but the burden of duty. Like Li Guanqi, Ye Feng secured the jade fragment with the utmost care. Beside them, Lu Kangnian watched with deep gratification, as if witnessing the sacred duty guarded by the older generation being passed down to the next. This was the true heritage of the Great Xia Sword Sect! The figures of the five vanished into the fissure, and the rift closed seamlessly behind them, as if it had never existed. Buzz! Space flickered around them, and the five soon found themselves standing inside a mountain cavern merely thirty zhang across. Bang! Bang! Bang! The moment they appeared, braziers set into the damp stone walls flared to life. And at last, Li Guanqi saw what the Great Xia Sword Sect's suppressed Demon Abyss truly looked like! A black altar thirty zhang in diameter lay sprawled before them. The altar stood merely a zhang high, with a four-sided stone pillar glowing with circulating light at each of the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. Each pillar was only as tall as a man, etched with swirling golden patterns. What shocked Li Guanqi most was that atop each of the four pillars sat a Rank Seven monster core! Rank Seven! Monster cores that could only be obtained from great demons Meng Wanshu had to risk her life to slay—and there were four of them right here! How could the Great Xia Sword Sect's past foundation ever have supported such an exorbitant display?! Gazing at the monster cores pulsing with radiance, Lu Kangnian spoke softly, reminiscence gleaming in his eyes. "This is the Four Symbols Demon Suppression Technique passed down through our sect. Combined with arrays, talismanic seals, and the power of great demons, it forms this grand seal! Don't look at how impoverished our sect is today; in the past, our Great Xia Sword Sect once stood at the very pinnacle of greatness!"