Upon entering the Sacred Spirit Hall, Qin Shi found himself in a pitch-black space. He looked around, but there wasn't the slightest bit of light. He couldn't even see his fingers.
"Do I want to explore it myself?"
Qin Shidu murmured. Shortly after, he had gotten used to it. For an extraordinary secret realm like the Sword Tomb's Sacred Spirit Hall, it wasn't something that could be easily obtained. It would definitely require a lot of effort.
After hesitating for a moment, Qin Shi took the first step forward.
Tap!
Suddenly, he was stunned by the sound of his own footsteps. He calmed his heart and listened for a long time. Astonishment flashed in his eyes. "This sound, is … is it the sound of water?"
He furrowed his brows in disbelief.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
At that moment, a soft humming sound suddenly rang out in front of Qin Shi. After that, he raised his head, and saw that roughly a thousand meters away, there was a ray of starlight that flickered extremely faintly. The starlight became more and more intense, and in the end, it illuminated the dusky land.
Naturally, it wasn't very bright. It was rather dim. However, with Qin Shi's eye power, it was enough for him to clearly see his surroundings. Under the starlight, there was a silver sword-shaped lighthouse.
There was a stone door beneath the lighthouse.
The place where Qin Shi was standing was actually a boundless black sea. The seawater was thick, and at this moment, it was still rippling because of Qin Shi's footsteps. Ripples formed into circles and flowed in all directions.
"This is … the Invisible Sea of Swords?" Suddenly, Qin Shi's eyes flashed with shock.
He had seen the Invisible Sea of Swords in the ancient records of the Sword Sect. It was a kind of Xumi Sea formed by sword aura. Within it, there were countless fallen broken swords.
Where the Invisible Sea of Swords was formed, there would definitely be extraordinary swordmasters that would fall.
"Kid, it should be that lighthouse," said the Nefarious Demon.
Qin Shi nodded his head. Shortly after, he narrowed his eyes and walked towards the stone door beneath the lighthouse.
He thought that the stone door should be the first trial of the Sacred Spirit Hall.
After entering the stone door, there were layers of winding stairs.
The height of the staircase was a total of 36 steps. This number puzzled Qin Shi.
"Thirty-six floors, thirty-six Sect Leaders?"
Qin Shi thought to himself. Then, he held onto the handrail and walked up to the first floor step by step.
"Buzz!"
Suddenly, just as Qin Shi stepped onto the first level, the stairs in front of him suddenly shook. In the blink of an eye, a huge stone statue appeared.
The stone statue was extremely ferocious. It was like a gigantic sword demon. When the stone statue saw Qin Shi, it did not hesitate to raise its hand and brandish its sword.
A cold light flashed in Qin Shi's eyes. He hastily leaned to the side and clenched his fingers. A beam of lightning dragon light shot out.
"Thunder Palm, Sword Qi power!"
Qin Shi shouted. He injected the power of sword Qi into the Lightning Palm. This was the first time he had used this method.
"Buzz!"
However, it was clear that his attempt was successful. The sharpness of the lightning radiating from the Palm Thunder was enough to cut through steel. Almost in an instant, the stone statue's arm was directly cut off.
"Roar!"
The stone statue roared angrily and stared at Qin Shi with bloodshot eyes.
Qin Shi could not help but feel his scalp go numb. "What a troublesome big guy."
However, there was one thing that Qin Shi could not figure out. Where did the stone statue come from? He looked around but did not find any defensive boundaries.
The demon said, "Kid, look over there."
"Hmm?"
Qin Shi looked over. Then, a faint red light was reflected in his black eyes. The red light was reflected from a red gem. From the red gem, Qin Shi could clearly feel the extraordinary power of the boundary. What made Qin Shi even more surprised was that the red gem was actually located in front of the stone statue's chest.
Qin Shi suddenly came to a realization. He smiled. "Haha, I really did not expect that the boundary itself is actually on the stone statue."
"En. Puppets like these were very common in the Ancient Era. However, the process was very complicated, and if the Spirit Formation Master wasn't very proficient in Spirit Formations, it was very possible that the puppet would go out of control if the Spirit Formation was not poured in well. So, it's very rare in recent times.
Then, the demon paused and continued, "However, once this kind of puppet is successfully made, it will be extremely powerful. Moreover, it will have its own consciousness."
Hearing that, Qin Shi nodded his head. Then, he turned his gaze and fixed it on the staircase that led to the second floor. There was a grey-coloured barrier there. The barrier was extremely powerful and there were chaotic Spiritual Energy ripples coming from it. It was connected to the ruby on the stone statue.
Seeing this, Qin Shi said, "It seems that this stone statue is the second floor's guardian. Only by defeating it can we go to the second floor."
"It should be to obtain the red gem," said the demon.
Qin Shi clenched his fists and smiled at the stone statue. "Big guy, don't blame me for this."
"Roar!"
The stone statue roared angrily. It didn't care what Qin Shi said. After losing one of its arms to Qin Shi, it wanted to smash Qin Shi into pieces.
On the other hand, Qin Shi remained calm and indifferent towards this huge figure. Even though this stone statue was forged with an extremely powerful Spirit Formation, it was still a puppet in the end. Moreover, its cultivation was only at the advanced-stage of the Domain Realm. In Qin Shi's eyes, it was truly too weak.
"Break!"
Qin Shi snorted. With a feint, he rushed to the stone statue's chest. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the red gem.
Boom!
Immediately, a huge ripple violently shot out from Qin Shi's palm. The violent ripple stirred up a shocking sea wave and filled the sky with sand. It wildly leaked out from between Qin Shi's fingers and the gaps between his palm.
Rumble!
Finally, when the wind and sand scattered, the entire second level was a complete mess. Looking from the front of Qin Shi's palm, it was an empty empty space. That enormous stone statue had already turned into ashes that permeated the sky and landed on the ground.
"Don't blame me. You blocked my way, so I had to get rid of you." Qin Shi shook his head. Then, he turned around and walked in the direction of the second level.
As he walked, the barrier outside the second level trembled. By the time he reached the barrier, it was already shaking violently.
"Open it."
Suddenly, Qin Shi opened his palm. The red gem was lying quietly in his palm.
Boom!
The barrier leading to the second level was instantly shattered.
The red gem in Qin Shi's palm also disappeared. Qin Shi smiled and walked toward the second level.
Soon, he arrived at the second level.
The second level was no different from the first level. It was the same spiral staircase. The path to the third level was also sealed by a dim barrier.
"Looks like I have to accept challenges on every level."
However, what was different from the first level was that there was a red void in the center of the third level. That void was very deep, so deep that one couldn't see the bottom with a glance. It seemed to be a passage that led to somewhere.
"There's a very strong inheritance in this passage. I think it should be one of the thirty-six Sword Sect Masters. It should be that you can come into contact with one of them after passing through the first level. In other words, if you want to stop now, you should be able to obtain the inheritance," said the evil spirit.
Hearing this, Qin Shi first nodded in agreement. Then, he felt that something was wrong and shook his head. "No, if that's the case, then this Sword Tomb Sacred Spirit Hall is a little too simple. It shouldn't be like this."
"In any case, you can ignore it and just keep going up. The higher you go, the less dangerous it will be," said the evil spirit indifferently.
Qin Shi nodded. "Yes, indeed. Anyway, we have three months. Let's go and see. If there's no other way, then it won't be too late to make a choice."
After making his decision, Qin Shi didn't waste any more time and stepped onto the second level.
"Roar ~ ~ ~!"
Soon, the guardian beast of the second level leaped out. Different from the first level, it wasn't a Spirit Formation Puppet, but a real ferocious beast. It was a Swift Leopard ranked one hundred and third on the Ancient Era's Ferocious Beast Ranking.
"A ferocious beast?"
Qin Shi was taken aback. Then, he couldn't help but reveal a mocking expression. "If it was someone else, perhaps this ferocious beast would be even harder to deal with than the stone statues. After all, it's a real life with flesh and blood. However, it might cry when facing me."
The evil spirit smiled. "Do you want me to act?"
Qin Shi shook his head. "No need. This is the sacred ground of the Sword Sect. The remnant spirits of the thirty-six Sword Sect Masters are all here. It's hard to avoid being discovered. Besides, do I still need you to deal with it?
Don't make a big fuss. "
Then, Qin Shi grabbed the Sword Sect's Spirit in his chest.
"Little girl, it's time for you to perform."
Donkey Flower howled. "I don't want to! What do you take me for?
A tool that can come and go at your beck and call? "
"It's fine if you don't want to help me, but don't beg me for help in the future. Take that Purple Jade Beast Trapping Pearl for example. Don't even think of asking me to risk my life to help you."
Qin Shi laughed complacently, "In any case, it's not like I don't have a way to deal with this leopard. It's just as I thought. Rather than asking you to help me and owing you a favor, I'll have to risk my life to repay it in the future. It's really not worth it. I'm a person who doesn't like owing favors to others.
"You …!"
Donkey Flower bared his teeth. In the end, he glared at Qin Shi. Without saying a word, a fiery Bloodline Radiance struck the Swift Leopard's glabella.
"Roar!"
The hundred ferocious beasts were reduced to dust by the Bloodline Radiance.
Qin Shi was shocked. The speed was too fast. Even though he knew that Donkey Flower's Bloodline was extraordinary, he didn't expect it to be so exaggerated.
After the Swift Leopard was killed, a wisp of excitement rose in Qin Shi's heart. That was because the Swift Leopard's Spiritual Energy cultivation had reached the perfected Domain Realm.
This happened to be the last medicinal catalyst for the Ashen Flame Spirit Recovery Pill … The reason why Qin Shi didn't take the Crystal Cores of the Blade Mammoths in the crack of the Beast World was because his cultivation level wasn't high enough.
This Swift Leopard had reached that level.
"Big Sister Yu, I'm about to wake you up." Thinking of this, Qin Shi excitedly strode forward and tried to grab the beast core.
"Buzz!"