Urban Martial Saint

Ye Qing knew the exception Knife Saint mentioned was actually the cave where Ye Qing obtained the power of the Taoist Returning Origin Mysterious Body. There was a sculpture inside, however, it wasn’t suppressed by The Honored Buddha’s Relic Sharira, but by the power of the Primal Mysterious Body.

Ye Qing still remembered the situation inside the cave, where the power of the Primal Mysterious Body was particularly strong. Almost all those who entered before Ye Qing were crushed to death by that power. When Ye Qing went in later, he nearly died too, but later he absorbed the power of the Primal Mysterious Body for unknown reasons, thus preserving his life, and enabling the power within him to reach a realm where Buddhist and Taoist Magic coexist.

The sculpture Knife Saint referred to must be this one. Ye Qing remembered the sculpture’s appearance; compared to the other sculptures inside, it appeared extremely powerful and bizarre, undeniably so. Ye Qing didn’t know the origin of the sculpture, but Knife Saint specifically asked about it, could Knife Saint know something about it?

Ye Qing was also curious about the secrets within. Now that Knife Saint mentioned it, Ye Qing naturally was interested. He nodded and said, ”The sculpture you’re talking about, I’ve seen it. It has fangs in its mouth and six pairs of wings on its back, very strange.”

”It actually exists!” Knife Saint’s eyes widened, showing an expression of disbelief, ”You...you didn’t see wrong? It’s really six pairs of wings?”

”I didn’t see wrong at all, it was definitely six pairs of wings!” Ye Qing straightforwardly nodded, recalling the sculpture’s appearance vividly because it was extremely peculiar.

”Six pairs of wings! Six pairs of wings?” Knife Saint’s expression was one of shock, pacing back and forth, seemingly overwhelmed, yet contemplating something. After a moment, he turned to Ye Qing, asking, ”You really entered that cave? And returned alive?”

”Senior Knife Saint, I have to remind you, these are your second and third questions.” Ye Qing replied leisurely, subtly indicating to Knife Saint that it was time he answer Ye Qing’s queries.

Knife Saint, being a fair person, looked a bit embarrassed upon hearing Ye Qing, quickly saying, ”I apologize, I got a bit excited. Alright, one answer from me for one answer from you, very fair. What do you want to know?”

”Why didn’t you fulfill your appointment?” Ye Qing asked straightforwardly.

”Why didn’t I fulfill the appointment?” Knife Saint sighed lightly, looking into the distance with a trace of melancholy and confusion, before softly saying, ”Because I have too many attachments.”

”I don’t understand.” Ye Qing responded bluntly.

”Because I have too many people I can’t let go.” Knife Saint spoke softly, ”Those who have gone through the Heaven Earth Man Three Gates, and become supreme beings all possess great intelligence, fortune, and perseverance. Compared to them, I fall far short. My family is quite happy, teeming with children, this is true. But the more offspring you have, the less willing you are to let go, the more you worry. I want the Sword Saint Sect to be immortal and passed down forever, but I know that once I leave, the sect will gradually become history like those supreme beings before us. I refuse to let this happen, which is why I broke my promise, and haven’t fulfilled the appointment to this day.”

Ye Qing was surprised, he hadn’t expected this to be the reason for Knife Saint’s absence from the appointment. So, Knife Saint may not necessarily be utterly villainous. At least, he is fair, and skipping the appointment for family isn’t too extreme a reason. Compared to the sect’s successors, Knife Saint himself is actually more approachable.

”Alright, now you can answer my second question.” Knife Saint said to Ye Qing, ”If you entered the cave and made it out alive, then the ancient restraint inside must have been broken. So, what method was used later to suppress the sculpture once more?”

Ye Qing knew those sculptures weren’t actually dead, but transformed living people. These individuals, as Guiguzi mentioned, are divine beings. Each sculpture is suppressed by a force. The ones outside, suppressed by Buddha’s Relic, were all chopped apart by Ye Qing with his Famed Instrument. The one suppressed by the Primal Mysterious Body, Ye Qing only glanced at from a distance, not daring to approach. But since Ye Qing absorbed its power, the question remains what suppresses it now.

”From what you’re saying, you probably don’t know how to enter the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master?” Ye Qing asked softly.

Knife Saint smiled lightly and nodded, ”Correct, I really don’t know how to enter. If I did, I’d have gone in long ago, why wait for you to find me now?”

”That’s right!” Ye Qing said, ”You don’t know how to enter the tomb, so you wouldn’t know that before entering, you must first gather one hundred and eight Famed Instruments.”

”Oh?” Knife Saint’s eyes lit up, ”Then what?”

”Then, arrange all one hundred and eight instruments outside the tomb. I don’t know the exact arrangement, but it must follow a certain pattern,” Ye Qing said, ”Once arranged, these instruments will trigger the energy inside the tomb, absorbing them into the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master. They will then pierce the sculpture inside, each using one of the one hundred and eight instruments to seal its one hundred and eight acupoints, which I think is the method to suppress the sculpture!”

”I see! I see!” Knife Saint was enlightened, though still somewhat shocked, his excitement less intense than before. He paced inside for a while then said, ”Sage Guiguzi had long prepared this method for suppressing Dracula. Indeed, he was truthful, he didn’t deceive!”

Ye Qing was bewildered, looking at Knife Saint, ”What did you just say? Dracula? He wasn’t deceiving? Who is he?”

Knife Saint glanced at Ye Qing, smiling slightly, ”How many questions is this? Which one do you want answered?”

Ye Qing’s speech halted; he had agreed with Knife Saint, one answer traded for one answer. Asking multiple questions at once was indeed a bit unruly. But this incident showed how principled Knife Saint was, making matters manageable.

After contemplating, Ye Qing asked the most critical question, ”Who is Dracula?”

Knife Saint smiled, ”That’s the name of the sculpture.”

”I know it’s the sculpture’s name, but what exactly does he do?” Ye Qing asked, though unaware that Dracula was the sculpture’s name, he made it up, wanting to learn about Dracula.

”Dracula is an ancient member of the Divine Clan, incredibly powerful,” Knife Saint replied, ”He is one of the rulers of the Dark God Clan, though not the strongest among them, his power is undeniably among the strongest of the latter era!”

”Divine Clan truly exists? What is the Dark God Clan? And what is the latter era?” Ye Qing hurriedly asked, these questions were immensely shocking. Previously, discussions of Divine Clan’s existence mostly focused on gods also being humans. Here, Ye Qing was getting more answers, such as about the Dark God Clan and the latter era, aspects he had never known before.

”Haha, doing it this way again isn’t fair!” Knife Saint remarked, ”These questions require exchanging answers with me. But I can tell you a bit, Dracula’s power is so immense that even The Honored Buddha’s Relic Sharira couldn’t suppress him. To suppress him, a stronger force is needed; this gives you an idea of his true strength!”

Ye Qing was once again amazed, The Honored Buddha’s Relic Sharira’s force was enough to instantly kill the Corpse Ghost Dragon. Such power couldn’t suppress Dracula, which meant Dracula’s strength was truly awe-inspiring.

”Alright, now it’s my turn to question you.” Knife Saint looked at Ye Qing’s right hand, ”How did you obtain the Taoist Sovereign?”

”I acquired it inside the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master.” Ye Qing explained the situation of obtaining the Taoist Sovereign within the tomb to Knife Saint without much concealment. After all, Knife Saint was fair, and he seemed to know many secrets. Even if Ye Qing tried to hide something, he might not succeed.

Knife Saint nodded after hearing Ye Qing’s explanation, ”So that’s how it is, so that’s how it is.”

Ye Qing didn’t pay attention to Knife Saint’s realization and continued asking, ”What does Dark God Clan mean?”

”I can’t fully answer your question; I only know fragments of records about it. I don’t know much about this history!” Knife Saint said, ”The only explanation I can provide is that the Divine Clan has factions, divided into the Light God Clan and Dark God Clan. Dracula belongs to the Dark God Clan as one of its rulers.”

”What is the relationship between these factions?” Ye Qing quickly asked, a key question concerning future chaos in the world.

”You’re breaking the rules again...” Knife Saint responded, as Ye Qing essentially asked another question, emphasizing Knife Saint’s strict adherence to rules.

”You haven’t really answered my question, adding a bit more detail wouldn’t be unfair, right?” Ye Qing said, having gauged Knife Saint’s character, Ye Qing felt comfortable bargaining with him. If he were oblivious to Knife Saint’s personality earlier, Ye Qing wouldn’t dare speak to him this way.