White mist still danced among the thousands of swords thrust into the earth. A mountain wind blew gently, yet every gust carried the nearly inaudible sound of metal, as if countless blades were clashing deep within the valley.Qing Zilong did not step forward immediately. He stood upright in the middle of the stone path, allowing all his senses to adjust to this foreign place. Silent. Yet it was not a peaceful silence it was a silence filled with pressure.His gaze slowly swept across the valley. Every sword that stood in the ground pointed in a different direction, as if thousands of swordsmen had once stood here and fallen without ever drawing their weapons free again. Zilong crouched slowly. His fingertips touched a long crack on the surface of the freezing stone.In an instant, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Not from fear, but because an understanding suddenly formed in his mind.“This crack… was not made by an ordinary cultivator.”The sword mark still retained s

The mist among the black rocks drifted slowly, carrying a suffocating silence. The sound of footsteps echoed closer, breaking the stillness of a valley that had slept for thousands of years.Tap… Tap… Tap…Qing Zilong stood behind a boulder that rose as high as two men. His gaze calmly pierced the dense fog, while his breathing had almost completely merged with the wind. Not a single trace of cultivation aura leaked from his body; he was like a part of nature itself.Behind the curtain of mist, Zhao Ming crouched on the ground. His fingers touched footprints still clearly imprinted on the damp sand, proving that someone had just passed through.The smile on Zhao Ming’s face widened. “Still warm.”Gu Chen approached with cautious steps. “Is he really here?”“These tracks were made not long ago.” Zhao Ming rose slowly with a sharp grin. “Qing Zilong can’t be far.”Lin Hao stroked the hilt of his sword, his eyes radiating impatience. “Finally, this game of hide-and-seek is over.”Without

Atop a large rock veiled in thin moss, Qing Zilong stood upright. His black robe fluttered gently in the valley wind, while a pair of eyes stared straight at the three shadows that slowly materialized from within the dense mist.Zhao Ming. Gu Chen. Lin Hao.The three of them stopped about fifteen paces from him. There was no hurried gesture or intention of launching a surprise attack; instead, their lips curved into smiles full of confidence, as if the prey they had been hunting all this time had willingly walked into the spider’s nest.Zhao Ming stepped forward, raising his large sword until the dark blade pointed precisely at Zilong’s chest. “Qing Zilong,” he said, his voice overflowing with satisfaction. “So you finally grew tired of running.”Zilong did not move. Rather than showing panic, his pupils calmly scanned Zhao Ming’s posture, shifted to Gu Chen, then paused briefly on Lin Hao—as if he were weighing the strength of each opponent.“You were the ones looking for me?” he ask

The ground exploded into pieces. From within the rock fissures that spewed hot air, a massive creature rose to its feet. Its height was nearly twice that of a normal human, clad in thick ancient stone armor, with a giant stone sword radiating a heavy aura of destruction. A pair of the creature’s eyes glowed bright red.“Elite Sword Puppet!” Zhao Ming cried out in horror, recognizing the deadly entity that should only exist on the forbidden map of this valley.Without warning, the Sword Puppet swung its stone sword in a savage vertical slash.WHOOOOSH!Gu Chen, nearly losing consciousness, tried to raise the fragments of his sword to block.CLAAAANG!The sound of metal collision rang ear-splittingly. Gu Chen’s body was flung like a dry leaf, slamming hard into a stone wall. His left shoulder was torn wide open, spraying fresh blood that soaked the rocky ground.“Gu Chen!” Lin Hao shouted hysterically, trying to rise to help.Yet the earth rumbled again. A second explosion occurred on t

The mist in the Illusory Sword Valley slowly parted, revealing a stretch of stone plain filled with dozens of ancient sword blades thrust into the earth in eternal silence. In the middle of it, a young man in a dark blue robe stood upright, a long sword held casually in his right hand.Beside his boots, stone fragments lay scattered, the remains of a destroyed Sword Puppet.Wang Li brushed a thin layer of dust from his sleeve, the corner of his lips lifting into a smile full of satisfaction. “The third token,” he murmured. He picked up the bronze token that had just fallen from the puppet’s chest cavity and stored it in his spatial ring.His gaze shifted to the gray sky covered in thick mist. Yet there was not the slightest trace of concern in his eyes; he was completely calm.“Qing Zilong…” His smile thinned further, turning into a cold sneer. “This time you will not leave this valley alive.”That conviction was not born from the belief that he was invincible, but because he had dele