As he crushed the jade token, Qiu Yutong closed his eyes tightly and prepared to fall into the secret realm!
After a few moments, the descent was still continuing!
A harsh wind whistling past his ears, Qiu Yutong felt something and opened his eyes abruptly, but instead of the ground, a hideous, bloody maw pounced on him!
The foul-smelling, bloody mouth, more than ten-feet-wide, with a man hanging from one sharp fang, was struggling desperately!
Qiu Yutong was slightly startled, but after being startled didn’t waste time thinking about anything as he pushed Lu Xiao and Xu Dongqing out of the way, while he himself fell straight into the huge bloody mouth covered with yellow fangs!
The disgusting fishy hot air came to his face. Stepping on the sticky slippery surface, Qiu Yutong climbed desperately on a long fang so as not to fall into that dark throat, while the man opposite, whose belt was hanging from the fang, seemed to have spotted him, immediately shouting, “Help, help! ”
“Be careful!” Qiu Yutong’s longsword moved and the cold sword wind broke through the air, releasing the man’s belt once, causing the man to be thrown out, wailing as he went!
**The gust of sword wind seemed to have stimulated the owner of the bloody mouth so much that it shook its head desperately and moved its upper and lower jaws as if it wanted to chew the living creature hanging on to it into mush!
As the sky spun, Qiu Yutong tried to dodge the jagged fangs coming up and down and while taking a deep breath, abruptly raised the meager spiritual energy left in his dantian and injected it all into his sword before lifting his hand and hurling the longsword fiercely into the black hole of the throat!
“Hiss – hiss -“
A ghastly, high-pitched hissing came from the back of that pitch-black throat and then the creature shook even more violently! In the midst of its violent shaking, Qiu Yutong seized an opening and with a gentle swing, his whole body slid out through the teeth in an extremely thrilling manner!
“Splash-” the sound of water!
Qiu Yutong fell heavily into the shallow river bank below and, dizzily, rolled several times in the shallow water before stopping. Lying on his back in the water, he gasped for breath.
Lu Xiao had already pounced on him by now, holding him up anxiously, “Are you alright? ”
“Cough, I’m fine, that was so big! ”
Qiu Yutong wobbled to his feet as Lu Xiao supported him, his mind still a little dizzy. He casually pulled up a handful of his long, wet, messy hair and looked up at the mad beast, only to be stunned.
It was a huge demon lizard!
The demon lizard was tens of feet long and covered in dark red blood-coloured scales. At this moment, after being seriously injured all of a sudden, it was hissing furiously at the top of its lungs, the sharp hissing sound echoing repeatedly in the river valley almost deafening!
“Hiss – hiss -“
The demon lizard hissed twice more then suddenly fell silent, its golden vertical pupils seemingly searching for something.
Lu Xiao stared intently at the ghastly demon, pulling Qiu Yutong with one hand as they held their breath and tiptoed backwards. Suddenly, Qiu Yutong stepped on a slippery pebble, causing his foot to slip hard and almost fall down! Lu Xiao pulled him up hurriedly, but a little bit of noise was still heard across the water.
Although it was only an extremely subtle sound, the movements of the demon lizard stopped immediately.
“It heard you, run!” Yanking Qiu Yutong, Lu Xiao turned around and ran!
But it was already too late.
The demon lizard lowered its head slowly and instantly spotted the tiny culprit that had caused it serious injuries. Its golden vertical pupils sharpened fiercely. It opened its bloody mouth and bit down viciously towards Qiu Yutong! It moved so swiftly that it even made Qiu Yutong feel a fishy, hot wind blowing behind his head!!
Turning his head to look, Qiu Yutong’s heart couldn’t help but seize slightly. He had thrown his long sword into the throat of the demon lizard just now, hence he was unarmed at the moment!
Seeing the foul-smelling mouth in front of him, Qiu Yutong ruthlessly prepared to fight with his bare hands, but Lu Xiao had already yanked hard, and the two of them fell down in an extremely messy position, then rolled on the ground!
The demon lizard bit into the huge reef behind Qiu Yutong with a soft click, crushing the rocks!
Gasping for breath, Qiu Yutong struggled to his feet and was about to fight the behemoth to the death when the demon lizard suddenly shuddered and its huge body fell to the ground with a crash!
“Boom – boom -” as the demon lizard fell, a loud sound echoed through the river valley and water splashed up several feet high!
“Xiao’er?” Qiu Yutong finally got a good look at the situation and couldn’t help but stare slightly.
He only saw Lu Xiao clutching a wrist-thick withered branch, while the other end of the branch was thrust deep into one of the demon lizard’s eyes! It turned out that when the demon lizard had been biting the boulder, Lu Xiao had taken the opportunity to pick up a dead branch on the river bank and ruthlessly thrust it into the eye!
“Hoo ……” Qiu Yutong breathed a sigh of relief gently, but at the same time was somewhat puzzled – this demon lizard was so huge. It would have just been blinded after having only one eye pierced, so how did it die so easily?
Lu Xiao stared at the demon lizard’s eye which had become a bloody hole, with his hands still clutching the other end of the dead branch, his face so pale that it was almost transparent, as if he was so nervous that he had forgotten to let go.
Qiu Yutong walked up and patted him on the back gently, “Xiao’er, let go, it’s already dead. ”
Slightly shaken, the dead branch in Lu Xiao’s hand suddenly fell to the ground and it was as if he was waking up from a long dream, “Oh, it’s already dead? ”
This kid, he was scared silly because he hadn’t seen this kind of battle before, right? But then, it was only one in a million chance that a mortal could go up to fight such a huge demon, so it was normal to be scared afterwards.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yutong stroked his hair again in a comforting manner, “It’s okay. ”
Lu Xiao lowered his eyelashes and looked to his slightly trembling hands, still a little lost in thought, “En. ”
Qiu Yutong nodded then raised his voice to call out, “Dongqing? Where are you? Is everything okay? ”
Not far away in the shallows, Xu Dongqing staggered up from the water and said in a trembling voice, “This, this is the Blood Prison Secret Realm? It can’t be that there are such things everywhere, right? ”
“Er, I’m not sure. “Qiu Yutong shook his head and suddenly remembered something else, “Huh, where’s that guy from just now?”
Where was the man who was hanging on to the fangs of the demon lizard?
“Cough.” The man rustled out of one of the reeds by the river and coughed lightly in an awkward manner, seeming slightly embarrassed.
It dawned on Qiu Yutong that this man was afraid that he couldn’t beat the demon lizard and was hiding on the sidelines watching the fun. Really slick.
“You …” Qiu Yutong paused and narrowed his eyes. Although the man was covered in grime and he couldn’t see his face well, he kept on feeling that he somehow looked familiar.
Lu Xiao stared at the man coldly, “Why are you here? ”
The man smiled with an embarrassed expression on his face, “Aren’t you two here too? And also brought the Second Master of the Medicine Monarch Manor … Heh heh, everyone is together. ”
As soon as he opened his mouth, Qiu Yutong instantly recognised him: “Have we met at the Medicine Monarch Manor before? Your name is Yan… what’s your given name?”
The man laughed, “Heh heh, my surname is Yan, and my given name is the word Ran.”
“Yes, Yan Ran.” Qiu Yutong nodded, having remembered. Previously when they were at the Medicine Monarch Manor, this man used to eat with them at the same table and was a very well-informed, blabbermouth gossip swordsman.
Lu Xiao narrowed his eyes and looked Yan Ran up and down, “What, did Master Wuyou give you the jade token? ”
His tone was full of suspicion. Qiu Yutong was slightly stunned and then understood that this blabbermouth swordsman Yan Ran’s cultivation was very ordinary and his character seemed to be average, so how could Master Wuyou give him the jade medal?
“Heh heh, it’s a long story,” Yan Ran touched his nose and smiled, shamefaced, “I was just casually wandering around Blood Prison Valley to try my luck, but I unexpectedly came across two cultivators fighting over a jade token, and both of them ended up dead, allowing me to pick up a big bargain for nothing. But who knew that as soon as I came in, I ran into this damn thing and almost died. ”
As he said this, he bowed deeply to Qiu Yutong, “Thank you for saving my life, otherwise I would have lost my life before I could find the secret treasure. ”
Qiu Yutong waved his hand, indicating that he didn’t need to be polite, and at the same time was somewhat puzzled, ”You came to the secret realm to seek treasure? Previously, the disciples of Qingxia Guan, also mentioned something about a secret treasure… What exactly is the secret treasure? ”
Yan Ran stared at him faintly, “Don’t you guys know? Then what are you doing here; looking to die for fun? ”
Lu Xiao looked at him coldly, not responding.
Qiu Yutong pursed his lips, too embarrassed to say that he had been chased in, so he said vaguely, “I got the jade token by chance, so I came in to take a look. ”
Yan Ran smiled very knowingly, “So that’s how it is. Did you think that since you had a jade token, you would be at a loss if you didn’t come in and try your luck? But you guys really should have gathered some information before entering this kind of secret realm, otherwise you wouldn’t even know how you died. ”
“If it hadn’t been for us, you would have been dead just now.” Lu Xiao said impatiently, “Cut the crap, what do you really know? ”
“Yo, kinda mean,” Yan Ran touched his nose. “But you did look pretty impressive when poking that big lizard’s eyes out, hehehe. ”
Qiu Yutong was secretly amused. This blabbermouth swordsman was very slick but timid. He was simply too much of a wimp.
Yan Ran paused then lowered his voice to sound mysterious, “Do you really not know what those great powers are looking for when they enter the secret realm?”
Qiu Yutong shook his head in bewilderment, while Xu Dongqing’s eyes widened in curiosity and Lu Xiao said coldly, “Cut the crap and just say it. ”
“They are here to find-” Yan Ran paused and said softly, “Tianzhao Yunhai. ”
**Qiu Yutong was dumbfounded, then couldn’t help but shout, “Tianzhao Yunhai?! It’s the one with the highest ranking in the Sword Book. Isn’t that the heavenly-grade spirit sword that ranks first in the Sword List? Immortal Emperor Qing Heng’s original sword?”
Yan Ran raised an eyebrow then asked rhetorically, “Is there a second Tianzhao Yunhai?”
Hearing about this famous heaven-grade spirit sword, Qiu Yutong’s eyes lit up and he said to himself, “So the Tianzhao Yunhai really exists, it’s not a legend…”
Lu Xiao furrowed his brows, “Tianzhao Yunhai?”
Xu Dongqing blinked: “Ah, I heard my brother say that it was Immortal Emperor Qing Heng’s original sword!”
“Since the three of you know about the Tianzhao Yunhai, then you naturally know how its master, Immortal Emperor Qing Heng, fell back then, right? ”
Qiu Yutong thought for a moment before saying, “When I was a child, I heard my senior brothers talk about how Immortal Emperor Qing Heng had martyred his body to the devil and died with an extremely powerful great devil in the Blood Prison Secret Realm . ”
Yan Ran laughed, “This story of martyrdom to the devil is well known to many people, but it’s just that it’s been too long and many details have been lost. As far as I know, although nowadays, in this heaven and earth, cultivators and mortals live in the human realm, completely isolated from the demon realm, this was not the case more than three thousand years ago. This Blood Prison Secret Realm was the only place where the Human Realm and the Devil Realm were connected back then. ”
Qiu Yutong nodded, “Hmm, there are still many demonic creatures here today, such as the demonic lizard just now, which I think is the offspring of the demonic creature that came to the secret realm at that time.”
Yan Ran nodded and continued, “Blood Prison Valley is the entrance to the Secret Realm from the Human Realm; while the Cuiwei Cold Pond is the entrance to the Secret Realm from the Demon Realm. Only, even a thousand years ago, the devils were not allowed to enter or leave the Blood Prison Valley and the humans were not allowed to enter or leave the Cuiwei Cold Pond, thus separating the human realm from the devil realm, but not completely isolating us as it is today.
Legend has it that one day, more than three thousand years ago, an extremely powerful great demon came alone from the Cuiwei Cold Pool to the Blood Prison Secret Realm and then fought to the death to get out of the Blood Prison Valley, finally arriving in the Human Realm. This great demon went on a killing spree in the human realm, slaughtering countless mortals and cultivators, stirring up a bloodbath that left all the great powers in danger.
In the end, Immortal Lord Qing Heng, who was in seclusion at the time, finally came out of seclusion early and led the thousands of remaining cultivators in the cultivation world to fight to the death to drive this great demon back to the Blood Prison Secret Realm. The monks were so badly killed and injured that Immortal Emperor Qing Heng, alone, drove it to the Cuiwei Cold Pool and died with it. Before he died, Immortal Emperor Qing Heng dispersed all his cultivation and sealed the entire Cuiwei Cold Pool.
Since then, the Demons have never been able to enter the Blood Prison Secret Realm again, and naturally, they are even less able to invade the earth. The demons in the secret realm right now are all the descendants of the remnants of the demons from back then, and no one knows what the demon world is like today. ”
“So it was only because Immortal Emperor Qing Heng dispersed his cultivation that he was able to seal the entrance to the Demon Realm?” Qiu Yutong couldn’t help but murmur as he listened with leisurely fascination.
Lu Xiao frowned, “What about the sword, Tianzhao Yunhai? ”
Yan Ran sighed, “After Immortal Emperor Qing Heng died, his original sword, the Tianzhao Yunhai, was also lost in the Cuiwei Cold Pond. The Blood Prison Secret Realm opens once every thousand years, and after the fall of Immortal Emperor Qing Heng, the Blood Prison Secret Realm opened twice more, but no one found the Cuiwei Cold Pool, let alone Tianzhao Yunhai. Now, it has opened for the third time, I don’t know if anyone will have the luck to be able to find it. ”
“Tianzhao Yunhai…” Qiu Yutong said softly.
Tianzhao Yunhai, the only legendary Heaven-ranked spirit sword, the top-ranked sword weapon on the Sword List, and the original sword of Immortal Emperor Qing Heng.
It was clear that this sword had nothing to do with him, but for some reason, the name ‘Tianzhao Yunhai’ gave him a vague feeling of affinity.
