Martial Cultivator

From the current situation, this cultivator who once secluded himself here for bitter cultivation was probably not low in cultivation realm. However, he met an even more terrifying sword immortal.

So he died very quickly, almost no time to react, just died like that.

Chen Chao let out a sigh.

In the present age, he believed he would no longer be easily killed by a single sword. Even against the Demon Emperor or the Sword Sect’s Sect Master, Chen Chao felt that he could at least hold on for a while under their hands.

But this was not Chen Chao’s final goal.

He wanted to truly and completely grasp fate in his own hands. The only way was to truly become the number one powerhouse in this current era.

When that day comes, all the principles and reason in the world would not be stronger than the saber at his waist.

Whether to follow reason or not, it would not be decided by others but by himself.

Chen Chao shook his head and continued to size up this quiet room, finding nothing here.

This made Chen Chao a bit depressed. This Divine Mountain, from the outside, should be a place with an extremely glorious history. But for some reason, the buildings here looked rather shabby.

That should not be the case.

Chen Chao furrowed his brows.

Could it be that he had not yet seen the true key to this Divine Mountain?

But where would it be?

This Divine Mountain should be a solitary mountain, with no back mountain. This place was at the summit. If there was nothing in this great hall, then there probably was nothing else at all?

Chen Chao pondered quietly.

Footsteps sounded behind. Autumn walked over, looking at Chen Chao calmly. “Found anything?”

Chen Chao shook his head, then asked, “What about you?”

Autumn opened her hand. In her palm was something: a medicinal pill. The medicinal fragrance hit the nose, and with just one sniff, it made Chen Chao feel a little lightheaded.

This pill, even if not an immortal medicine, should not be much different.

Chen Chao did not understand. The two of them entered the Divine Mountain, yet while he carefully searched here and found nothing, Autumn first got the flying sword, then sword qi, and now easily obtained a medicinal pill. Were they really living in the same world?

“Let me see.”

Chen Chao reached out to take the pill, but Autumn closed her palm and just looked at Chen Chao.

“So stingy.”

Chen Chao muttered.

Autumn ignored him. She actually did not have much interest in the pill anyway. Since it was not an immortal medicine, it was not worth caring about.

“Since this place is called a Divine Mountain, it should not be this simple.”

Chen Chao glanced at Autumn and said indifferently, “Maybe we haven’t entered the true interior of the Divine Mountain yet.”

Autumn said, “Then hurry up and find a way.”

Chen Chao rolled his eyes. “You think this is the vegetable market of the Divine Capital, just look and you find it?”

Just that single sword from earlier was enough to show this place’s extraordinariness. If this were just an ordinary sect, why would such a terrifying sword immortal be needed to attack this place?

Chen Chao walked out of the quiet room and returned to the great hall, looking around.

Everywhere were buildings cut by that sword strike, looking like wreckage.

Chen Chao muttered to himself, “Judging by that sword immortal’s killing power, one sword could probably completely destroy this great hall...”

“Since that’s the case, why... would there be a second sword strike?”

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes slightly. The person in the quiet room obviously was not killed by the first sword but the second.

But that sword immortal with terrifying killing power must have had the ability to kill everyone in this great hall with one sword. Why then was there a second sword?

“Why is it?”

Chen Chao muttered to himself. For some reason, he felt this was very important.

“The first sword was not meant to kill at all.”

Autumn suddenly spoke.

This demon race princess looked at Chen Chao calmly, “If he wanted to kill, the first sword could kill everyone. But it didn’t.”

“Since he didn’t want to kill, then that sword definitely wasn’t aimed at killing…”

Chen Chao slapped his forehead and laughed, “I get it. His first sword strike was just to open a passage into the interior of the sacred mountain. The second sword strike was to casually kill those who were not dead yet!”

Chen Chao’s eyes fixed on the broken wall in the great hall, then walked toward it.

Since the first sword was to open a passage, the passage must be there.

Chen Chao and Autumn arrived at the broken wall. They had seen it before but noticed nothing unusual. But in reality,, the most ordinary things were often the ones overlooked.

Chen Chao looked outside the broken wall. Outside was an ordinary mountain stream. This great hall was built on the cliff’s edge.

“Having come to the mountain top, who would have thought the real mountain gate was below?”

Thinking this, Chen Chao did not hesitate and jumped down directly.

Autumn wanted to say something, but after seeing Chen Chao jump down, she jumped down after him.

The two fell rapidly. Around them was pitch black at first. But moments later, it brightened greatly. Countless towering trees and colorful flowers appeared.

It was like a fairyland.

They landed at the bottom of the cliff and saw a picturesque valley.

Countless green plants grew, many flowers unseen outside. Below their feet was a simple cobblestone path leading far ahead.

The air was filled with floral fragrance.

Standing at the path, Chen Chao sighed, “This finally looks like a Divine Mountain.”

Autumn was expressionless, then asked Chen Chao an unexpected question, “Will there be divine medicine here?”

Chen Chao was stunned. In legends of the world, immortal medicine was already amazing and rare; almost impossible to chance upon. At least in the world, it was hard to see even one. Although he did not know if first-rate sects secretly had one or two divine medicine, Chen Chao was sure that once it emerged in the world, all major sects would fight for it.

In legends, divine medicine could even resurrect the dead, allowing cultivators after their longevity was exhausted to be reborn, living a second life.

After taking divine medicine, if not overwhelmed by the effect, ordinary cultivators could break right through to Nepenthe or even higher directly.

That was something of the legends, and the most, most important thing in this world.

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes. “The Demon Emperor is badly wounded and dying, needs this to save his life?”

He sized up Autumn, hoping to read what he wanted from her expression.

But in the end, he got nothing.

Because Autumn just looked at him icily.

Both of them were sharp, wanting to obtain information that could affect the fate of this world was never something easy.

But Chen Chao had already made up his mind: if he really found some divine medicine in this so-called Divine Mountain, he absolutely would not let Autumn take it away.

After all, that thing was too terrifying. Once the demon race possessed it, it could be said they would henceforth have two demon emperors.

After all, as long as the Demon Emperor took the divine medicine when severely injured and on the verge of death, it could likely restore him instantly.

Even if that was not the case, given the Demon Emperor’s current realm, taking the divine medicine could allow breaking through another level.

He himself was already the strongest person alive. With the addition of divine medicine, even Chen Chao would not know what to do.

Autumn said nothing and simply walked ahead calmly, her steps light. Clearly, she was also eager to see if there really was the so-called divine medicine inside this Divine Mountain.

Chen Chao glanced at Autumn with complicated feelings, but said nothing, following her.

The ordinary small path was long, but the surrounding scenery was so beautiful that the two walked for a long time without feeling how much time had passed.

But after a while, Chen Chao sensed something was wrong.

Because he saw no trace of any building ruins nearby, which also meant there had never been any buildings here.

Besides this pebble path, this place looked like nature itself, with no signs of human traces.

Chen Chao asked, “Do you feel it? This place is completely silent, as if there’s no life at all.”

Logically speaking, such a Divine Mountain should have butterflies and birds. But apart from these flowers, there was nothing at al.

”True. After so many years, probably everything from back then is gone. It’s already hard enough that these flowers remain.”

Chen Chao found an excuse to convince himself.

“But that sword immortal clearly sliced open a passage with one strike, then should have come into this Divine Mountain. So why isn’t there any sword qi residue at all?”

Chen Chao suddenly spoke up, feeling something was off.

Autumn nodded as well. If that sword immortal could leave behind sword qi for so many years with just one attack, there should be traces here if he fought inside the Divine Mountain.

But there was nothing here.

Chen Chao said, “Maybe it’s farther away.”

Autumn did not speak. Having come this far, there was no more turning back for them.

They pressed on and soon reached the mountain’s end, but it was not over. Beyond the peak was a basin, and before them lay a large lake.

Blue sky, white clouds, and a big lake. This was a breathtaking scene.

Chen Chao was momentarily stunned.

A place like this, one could live a lifetime and never tire of it.

But Chen Chao quickly came back to himself because not far off, he saw a white deer in front of him. The deer was pure white, its antlers like flawless white jade. But what truly made both Chen Chao and Autumn behave akin to facing a formidable enemy, was the wreath of fresh flowers woven around its antlers.

Furthermore, looking at the vitality of the fresh flowers, it should have been freshly woven today.

Chen Chao involuntarily held his saber hilt tightly, his expression serious.

Autumn removed the flying sword from her hair and held it in her palm.

On the way here, they had never encountered a living person, which was actually lucky for them. Anyone living here would likely be an existence from the previous era, and such a person might be far beyond their ability to deal with. Now that there might be people living here, whether friend or foe was uncertain.

The white deer looked at the two uninvited guests with curious eyes.

Chen Chao whispered, “Retreat?”

Autumn thought for a moment and sneered, “What good would retreating do? You think we can find the way out?”

Chen Chao smiled bitterly, “If someone really comes out later, just one glance from them and we’d die here.”

Autumn snorted coldly without saying anything. She knew it was very possible, but did not refute it.

“Forget it. Since we’re here, we can only go forward.”

Chen Chao quickly made up his mind. There was almost no way back.

The two walked down the path, and the white deer surprisingly did not run away. Instead, it waited until Chen Chao and Autumn were right in front of it before lowering its head to sniff Autumn. Autumn’s expression turned grim. If this were the demon territories, any demon who dared get this close to her would have long turned into a pile of bones.

But right now, she understood that she could not act rashly.

After sniffing Autumn, the white deer approached Chen Chao. Chen Chao thought for a moment, then reached out to stroke the deer’s head. The deer did not shy away; it seemed to even enjoy it a little.

Then Chen Chao and Autumn continued forward, and the white deer followed them, occasionally lowering its head to nibble on the grass growing on the hillside.

The two descended the slope and finally arrived at the lake’s edge. Chen Chao glanced at the water and noticed how crystal clear it was, able to see the small stones at the bottom.

Not far away, Chen Chao saw a simple thatched cottage.

The straw was fresh and green, as if it had just been harvested today.

In front of the cottage was a flower bed, but inside it grew only a solitary patch of grass.

Both Chen Chao and Autumn tensed up, because the two of them could virtually ascertain that someone was living in that cottage.

Chen Chao suddenly loosened his grip on the saber hilt.

Autumn glanced at him and understood immediately.

Then she relaxed her hold on the sword hilt and slipped it back into her hair.

If there really was an existence who had lived for a long time inside, their current behavior could be seen as hostile, which might cause more trouble.

The two stood quietly not far from the cottage.

It was unknown how long had passed.

Suddenly, the flying sword on Autumn’s head returned to its normal length and darted toward the cottage, hovering in front of the door.

Chen Chao saw this scene and frowned slightly.

Creak...

The cottage door opened.

Then a woman stepped out.