The storage chamber was neither a treasure vault nor an armory; there were no treasures, nor were there any finished weapons of standard form.
Arranged across rows of storage shelves were mostly vessels and ritual implements of bizarre shapes and forms, along with antique musical instruments, bells, and tripods.
The diverse artifacts were placed in neat order, and some even bore plaques noting when and where they had been unearthed.
An Jing looked at an object that resembled a dagger-axe yet was not one, shaped like the canine fang of some ferocious beast.
[Destiny Armament: Fang Dagger-Axe. Second year of Tianxing, unearthed in the Chenli Shaman Wastes. Wielding it hardens bone, sharpens teeth, invigorates blood, and strengthens life. Corresponds to the Destiny Pattern 'Tiger and Bull Rushing Si'—If held by one without the Destiny, the mind undergoes an aberrant fall.]
An Jing turned his gaze to a small bronze bell.
[Destiny Armament: Rust-Pattern Bell. First year of Longshuo, unearthed in the Boundless Sea of White Rivers. Its vibration can startle souls, awaken the mind, and call spirits. Corresponds to the Destiny Pattern 'Morning Bell and Evening Drum'—Taboo unknown.]
...
An Jing grew pensive. Every single artifact resting here was a so-called "Destiny Armament," corresponding to some manner of Heaven's Mandate Destiny Pattern, each possessing peculiar properties.
Yet only a tiny fraction had their specific effects discovered. Although the vast majority of the collected vessels were known to hold anomalies, no one knew their corresponding Destiny Patterns or effects.
And at the center of the vault, one shelf was bare.
[Destiny Armament: Life-Nourishing Vessel. Fifth year of Tianbao, unearthed in the Dao Ruins Ancient Grounds. Gathers essence and converges qi, using life to nourish life. Corresponds to the Destiny Pattern 'Borrowing Qi to Return the Soul'—If held by one without the Destiny, soul and blood are both ruined.]
"Gathers essence and converges qi, using life to nourish life..."
Thinking of the medicinal paste in the water vats, killing intent flared brightly in An Jing's eyes. "It seems this is the tool used to refine 'Medicinal Herbs' into 'Great Medicine.'"
Was the fate of those children in the dungeon simply to be reduced to that sort of Great Medicine?
As for where the Life-Nourishing Vessel had gone...
An Jing suddenly recalled the dark-gold vessel sitting on Deputy Envoy Yao's desk in the Medicine Pavilion.
That was probably the Life-Nourishing Vessel... It was in Deputy Envoy Yao's hands all along.
He truly hadn't bothered to hide it in the slightest.
Exhaling deeply, An Jing kept his gaze dark and continued observing.
The Destiny Armaments in the storage chamber were not particularly precious; the Life-Nourishing Vessel belonged to the most prized rank among them.
An Jing did not recklessly touch these items. Those taboos had clearly been tested at the cost of human lives. He merely watched to see if there was any tool he might need.
[An Jing.]
The sword's voice, silent for a while after entering the vault, spoke to guide him again: [The left corner.]
An Jing looked toward the corner on the left, where a frigid spiritual light suddenly flickered.
This was a recessed corner of the vault, crowded with murky, lackluster implements, yet now one object manifested a divine glow of its own accord.
It was a broken sword.
Tucked in the corner, the broken sword possessed an archaic design. Except for the hilt, the blade had snapped off almost at the very root. Entirely dull and lusterless, covered in rust, it looked little better than scrap metal.
Yet An Jing froze slightly, because he could tell that this sword... had the exact same hilt as the rusted sword in the Tranquil Sword Contemplation taught to him by the mysterious sword voice!
Only, the rusted sword within the Tranquil Sword Contemplation was complete after all, whereas the rusted sword before his eyes had nothing left but the hilt—battered, incomplete, and decayed into uselessness.
Lowering his gaze, An Jing looked at the plaque.
[Destiny Armament: Broken Blade. First year of Jingchang, discovered in the Northern Frontier. Effect unknown, corresponding Destiny Pattern unknown, taboo unknown. Inferred to be a Destiny related to slaughter in battle.]
Jingchang was the current era name of the Great Chen Dynasty. It had been the first year after the Northern Frontier's Frost Calamity, and the first year An Jing's family had fled as refugees.
The broken sword appeared entirely unremarkable, its effect and corresponding Destiny Pattern both unknown. Coupled with the decay of its blade, it was utterly useless as a weapon, so it had been preserved as a Destiny Armament of the lowest grade.
Yet at this very moment, it was glowing.
"Take hold of me."
The ethereal, mysterious voice—or rather, the voice of the broken sword—grew far more distinct, sounding as though it were whispering right beside his ear: "Visualize the Tranquil Sword Contemplation."
The broken sword was rusted all over, looking exceedingly brittle.
Stepping forward slowly, An Jing grasped the hilt. A frigid, chilling intent surged straight from his palm into his chest.
Yet it caused him no discomfort. On the contrary, An Jing felt as though it were an extension of his own arm, bound to him like flesh and blood.
"Huh?"
Holding his breath to enter tranquility, he visualized the rusted sword. To An Jing's astonishment, the broken sword vanished from his hand—while deep within him, faintly inside his obscure Divine Sea, the phantom silhouette of a sword emerged!
Within the Divine Sea, the broken sword's hilt grew more substantial, some of the rust flaked away, and the blade regained a sliver of sharpness, glinting with silver radiance.
"Incredible!"
With another shift of his intent, the broken sword returned to An Jing's grasp. This miraculous sight exceeded his imagination—though considering the sword spirit had previously transmitted a visualization method to him across distance, it was not entirely incomprehensible.
"Your constitution can actually endure my sword balefulness—this is Geng Metal Baleful Qi!"
The mysterious voice—or rather, the sword spirit—was also quite astonished. "Just what kind of constitution and Destiny Pattern do you possess?"
Soon, however, it spoke with indifference: "All the better. You will not be eroded by my sword balefulness, and in the future, you may even temper your body with it.
"I had intended to make you endure some pain, but now that trouble is spared."
Right at that moment, however, a chaotic flurry of footsteps suddenly rang out.
"Are they coming? Their pace isn't fast, so it shouldn't be a search... A routine patrol?"
An Jing looked up at once, listening intently to the direction, his brow furrowing deeply. "I left no traces behind, but if they inspect the storage chamber, I have no way to hide.
"What should I do?"
An Jing gripped the broken sword tightly and concealed himself behind the door. "Someone is approaching right now. They will definitely inspect the storage chamber.
"If I'm caught, I probably won't die, but I will certainly be placed under strict surveillance. I won't have the freedom of movement I enjoy now as the Eldest Senior Brother.
"I'm out of options. Perhaps I could mask my face and force my way out, but I might not be able to defeat them."
"Indeed," the sword spirit said. "Though those Demon Sect cultists have flimsy foundations, they all possess Inner Breath and are genuine martial artists.
"And while your foundation is decent, and you are only half a step from Inner Breath, you do not have Inner Breath after all.
"Handling one alone might be fine, but you are not yet a match for a group of them."
"Of course I know that."
Though the footsteps outside had already entered the courtyard, An Jing calmed his mind. "You must have prepared for this long ago. Tell me now, and I will follow your lead."
The sword spirit admired An Jing's composure. "Grip the sword. Circulate the Tranquil Sword Contemplation."
An Jing held the sword, circulating the Tranquil Sword Contemplation to visualize the rusted blade in his mind.
Right then, the rusted sword within his Divine Sea faintly overlapped with the broken sword gripped in An Jing's hand. At the fracture of the blade, a faint sliver of silver sword light sprouted.
It vibrated, shedding a visible halo of light.
"What is this?"
Even with his eyes tightly shut, An Jing could still sense it and was thoroughly startled. The sword spirit said, "Sense my aura, sense my fragments."
An Jing recalled the frigid aura he had felt when first grasping the sword. Using the broken blade as a conduit, he reached out with his senses.
In an instant, six points of light appeared in his mind. Three were dim and obscured, seemingly unimaginably far away; one, though not far, was equally faint; another was extremely close, nearly overlapping with An Jing himself, yet flickering erratically as if sealed away.
Only one shone with a steady, radiant glow.
"Open your eyes. Aim at the most stable one, and slash,"
the sword spirit commanded. Without hesitation, An Jing opened his eyes, raised the sword, and slashed through empty air.
Then, to his utter disbelief, he watched the broken blade slice open a pitch-black rift in the space before him.
Beyond that profound, dark rift, another world seemed to be waiting.
"What on earth is happening..."
Even with An Jing's extraordinary mental fortitude, reinforced by the Tranquil Sword Contemplation, his mind went blank for an instant. But he swiftly realized: this might be his only chance to escape safely!
"Go in,"
the sword spirit said softly. "This is our only chance to break free from the cage."
*Click!*
At that moment, the sound of a key sliding into the lock rang out at the storage chamber's entrance. Without the slightest hesitation, An Jing took a stride forward and crossed into the rift.
*Clack!*
The heavy door swung open, and a small squad of cultists filed inside to search for traces.
"Nothing out of the ordinary." After glancing around, the leader grumbled, "What is Deputy Envoy Yao thinking, ordering us to inspect the farmstead in the dead of night... Does the old man truly believe someone could escape from the dungeon?"
"Looks like someone touched something..." one cultist muttered, looking about, only to be refuted immediately by his companion. "Are you an idiot? Didn't Captain Chen's team come by this morning to fetch the precious vessel?"
Soon, having confirmed that no one was inside or outside the storage chamber, the Tianyi Sect cultists shut the door and took their leave. "Hah, staying so paranoid in the middle of these deep mountain woods... I think Deputy Envoy Yao is going a bit senile."
"Tell me about it. Who wants to stay in a dump like this? I just hope I get transferred back to Great Chen soon..."
Meanwhile.
"We are about to journey to another realm."
The sword spirit's voice echoed in his mind, resonant and clear. "You cannot stay in the other realm for too long unless you can find my fragments and strengthen my power.
"The fragment closest to you lies right within Suspended Fate Valley behind Suspended Fate Manor. Do not worry—the Demon Sect will hold their initiation ceremony there, and you will find an opportunity to enter it.
"Grip the hilt, circulate the Tranquil Sword Contemplation, and slash through empty air. You will be able to enter the other realm or return to Huaixu. With your supreme talent and the skills brought by your Innate Wisdom, as long as you advance to Inner Breath in the other realm without drawing their notice, ordinary Demon Sect cultists will be beneath your concern."
"I don't doubt that I can break through to Inner Breath, but how do I hide it from the Manor Lord?"
An Jing replied, "He is already in the realm of Inner Strengthening and possesses a 'divine marvel' of the observational kind. If I break through to Inner Breath, it might not escape his eyes."
"You have already learned the Tranquil Sword Contemplation. Maintain 'tranquility' and keep your mind stable, and I can help you conceal it—at least against anyone beneath the Divine Hidden realm,"
the sword spirit replied. "Yet do not become careless. The other realm holds many resources and dangers unknown even to me. Utilizing them, or being killed by them—anything is possible.
"Your fate and mine rest in our own hands."
"I understand. I will seize this chance." An Jing's mind was crystal clear. From the moment he took that step toward the rift, he knew his fate was held firmly in his own hands, and in his own blade.
He stepped fully through the rift.
What appeared before An Jing's eyes was absolute pitch-blackness, which gradually gave way to light.
It was a cavernous subterranean ruin. A colossal steel dome supported earth, stone, and the solid surrounding rock walls, steadfast and silent.
Lying deep beneath the earth, it should have been utterly dark, yet vast patches of translucent, luminescent vines shed a faint glow, allowing one to make out its general contours.
"This place is..."
An Jing looked around the massive subterranean ruins. The architecture was profoundly classical, resembling a collapsed, sacred celestial palace hall. Rows of toppled metallic pillars bore countless intricate cloud patterns and phoenix seal script, displaying a classical beauty that seamlessly fused grand solemnity with delicate refinement.
Stepping back slightly to take in the full view of the ruins, An Jing suddenly started. His foot had pressed down on something hard yet brittle. In an instant, his Mysterious Step engaged, making no sound as he crushed it entirely beneath his heel.
Looking back, An Jing's eyes went wide. Beneath the faint glow of the luminescent vines, he saw a skeleton... or rather, sea upon sea of corpses!
Vast swathes of uniformed, skeletonized remains lay scattered all across the surrounding area. Just a moment ago, An Jing had inadvertently crushed the bones of one such corpse.
"Wait, what?!"
Yet what truly stunned An Jing was not the skeletons, but the objects clutched in their hands.
In the hands of these skeletons... were objects An Jing knew intimately from his past life, yet had never once seen in this one.
—They were guns.
Not long spears or short spears, wooden spears or iron spears...
—It was a firearm rifle.
Chapter 24