Chapter 254: Chapter 254: White Jade Palace

"Someone’s coming."

He said calmly.

Su Zhenhe’s heart jumped. He hurried forward to follow Xu Yunfan’s gaze and saw a group of people on a distant mountain path, rapidly approaching the White Jade Palace.

They wore fitted robes of dark gold, embroidered with an emblem of nine suns. The aura they exuded as they moved was condensed, a clear sign of their impressive Cultivation.

"The Jiuyao Sect’s Ta Gang Step!"

A flicker of shock crossed Su Zhenhe’s eyes.

"Look at the one in the lead. That should be Zhou Tianyan, the head disciple of the Jiuyao Sect’s Megrez Peak. Brother Xu, aren’t you worried they’ll beat us to it?"

A corner of Xu Yunfan’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t reply. He simply watched in silence, showing no intention of stopping them. Instead, he crossed his arms leisurely, as if waiting for a good show to unfold.

Seeing his relaxed posture, Su Zhenhe couldn’t help but ask, "Brother Xu, the Jiuyao Sect might not have foundations as deep as the Sword Pavilion or the Profound Daoist Sect, but they are still a top-tier sect in Yanbei Dao. That Zhou Tianyan is a peerless talent of his generation. His mastery of the Four Symbols Star Positioning Instrument technique from the *Nine Luminaries Celestial Star Skill* is said to be unparalleled, even surpassing his own master. In the Secret Realm before, he suppressed Pei Yan so completely that Pei Yan almost couldn’t even draw his sword. If they enter the palace first, I’m afraid..."

"It doesn’t matter." Xu Yunfan’s tone was placid, his gaze still locked on the approaching group. "Let them test the waters."

"This White Jade Palace has remained sealed for two thousand years. If it were truly so easy to enter, why would all those Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmasters you mentioned have perished inside?"

Xu Yunfan discreetly circulated his Pure Yang Qi Skill. As the Pure Yang Inner Breath flowed through him, the heightened perception granted by his Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm allowed him to clearly sense the vigorous, surging Blood Qi roiling within the members of the Jiuyao Sect.

Their Blood Qi far surpassed that of other Martial Artists at the same Realm.

This group must be composed of the Jiuyao Sect’s elite True Inheritors. Only they would be qualified to practice the Nine Luminaries Swallowing Qi Technique.

Nine Luminaries Swallowing Qi Technique!

’This Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm truly is a treasure trove,’ Xu Yunfan thought, his eyes gleaming. ’Everyone’s just lining up to hand over their Cultivation Techniques.’

’A chill ran through Su Zhenhe. Xu Yunfan is planning to use the Jiuyao Sect to test the path!’

After all, the history of this White Jade Palace was mysterious. For two thousand years, none who entered had ever returned alive. To rush in blindly would be to face unknown, perilous dangers.

Down below, the members of the Jiuyao Sect had reached the palace doors. Their leader raised a hand and pressed it against the door, intending to force it open.

However, the instant his palm touched the door, the five ancient characters on the lintel above flared with a blinding golden light, and a vast brilliance erupted outwards!

BOOM!

As if struck by lightning, the Jiuyao Sect members were instantly blasted back by a wave of Sword Qi. Two of them coughed up blood on the spot, their auras immediately flagging.

Disappointment flickered in Xu Yunfan’s eyes.

’They didn’t even die from that?’

’Xu Yunfan’s eyes glinted. It seemed that over the past two millennia, while the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in the Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm had persisted, it had also been steadily dwindling. The White Jade Palace itself was just an inanimate object, after all.’

Though this was the center of the Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, the mountain’s topography wasn’t conducive to gathering Spiritual Qi; it simply couldn’t accumulate here.

Two thousand years ago, this wouldn’t have mattered much. But over the two millennia that its Spiritual Qi has been dissipating, this has become a fatal flaw.

After two thousand years, even if the White Jade Palace once possessed world-shaking power, it had likely weakened to an unimaginable degree.

Although the Jiuyao Sect members were repelled by the Sword Qi, their stern-faced leader, Zhou Tianyan, showed no sign of panic. He even let out a cold sneer and drew a solid crimson saber from his back.

The blade was long and slender like a crescent moon, with faint, blood-red patterns flowing along its edge. The moment it was unsheathed, it let out a dragon’s-roar-like hum, forcing the residual light from the palace back thirty feet!

"The Nine-Burning Saber?" Su Zhenhe’s pupils contracted. He couldn’t help but gasp, "The Jiuyao Sect actually entrusted their Sect’s Divine Weapon to Zhou Tianyan!"

Xu Yunfan, too, stared unblinkingly at the saber in Zhou Tianyan’s hand.

He had read about this saber in the *Yanbei Daoist Soldier Record*. Legend had it that it was quenched in Earth Core Fire Marrow for a century. On the day of its completion, it was said to have summoned the Nine Heavens Thunderfire. It was a true Tier Seven Divine Weapon.

He recalled Fu Jin drunkenly boasting once that the Jiuyao Sect had pressured the Ancestral Master of Divine Weapon Ridge to come and forge this very saber. The process had consumed two entire generations of Divine Weapon Ridge’s master smiths.

Zhou Tianyan bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of Essence Blood onto the blade.

Instantly, the patterns on the saber glowed with a blinding, blood-red light, and the phantasmal images of nine suns materialized above the blade.

With a thunderous roar, he gripped the saber with both hands and brought it down on the doors of the White Jade Palace with all his might.

BOOM!

CRACK!

The instant the saber’s light collided with the ancient characters on the lintel, the entire mountain seemed to tremble violently.

The half-shorn mountain slope shuddered, sending a cascade of rocks tumbling down, nearly burying the White Jade Palace.

The five ancient characters, suffused with a clear light, were struck so hard their golden glow dissipated. At the same time, the radiance erupting from Zhou Tianyan’s saber shattered inch by inch. Amid a shower of sparks, the blade forcefully wedged itself three inches deep into the seam of the doors!

The colossal pillar of light that had stretched to the heavens vanished completely.

"OPEN!"

Zhou Tianyan’s face was a ferocious mask, the muscles on his arms bulging like cords. The blood-red patterns on the saber began to frantically draw in the surrounding Spiritual Qi.

With a teeth-grating shriek of twisting metal, the gap he had carved slowly widened to the breadth of two fingers. A clear light spilled from the opening, instantly melting the flesh and blood of the three Jiuyao Sect disciples standing closest!

Staring at the cracks gradually appearing on the saber, Xu Yunfan suddenly scoffed. ’Sacrificing a Divine Weapon? How ruthless.’

The blood-red patterns on the blade were visibly fading. Clearly, Zhou Tianyan was willing to destroy this heirloom Divine Weapon to force the door open.

Beside him, Su Zhenhe could no longer hold back. "Zhou Tianyan is willing to shatter a Divine Weapon just to get inside! He must know some secret about this place! Brother Xu?!"

Even as he spoke, Zhou Tianyan had already slipped into the palace, the surviving Jiuyao Sect disciples close on his heels.

All that remained was the Nine-Burning Saber, its body riddled with cracks and on the verge of shattering.

’A pity...’

Ignoring Su Zhenhe’s anxious pleas, Xu Yunfan sighed to himself. ’Its spirituality is gone. For a Divine Weapon that once struck awe across Yanbei to end up like this...’

’After all, as the most gifted smith in the Celestial Craft Cave’s Weapon Casting Hall, a man who could forge Sharp Blade Level weapons with ease, it was painful to watch such a Divine Weapon be so senselessly destroyed.’

’These people deserve to die.’

Xu Yunfan hesitated no longer. With a push from the ball of his foot, he shot toward the White Jade Palace like an arrow loosed from its bow.

Su Zhenhe scrambled to follow.

"Brother Xu, wait! Those five characters on the lintel are rumored to be Ancient Immortal Texts that contain a world-shaking Attacking and Killing Technique! A senior from my Profound Daoist Sect once theorized that specific conditions must be met to enter safely..."

"A few people from the Jiuyao Sect already went in, and you’re still rambling."

Su Zhenhe was struck speechless.

As he spoke, the five ancient characters on the lintel suddenly flared with a blinding, clear light.

Xu Yunfan felt a presence as vast as the ocean wash over him, forcing him to take a step back. The Strength that vented from his feet pressed a three-inch-deep footprint into the stone.

His Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body activated on its own, and a metallic sheen surfaced on his skin.

Su Zhenhe’s face went pale. "Brother Xu, be careful! According to my sect’s records, the light from the White Jade Palace’s lintel grows stronger the more you resist it! Zhou Tianyan only got through by using his Divine Weapon to offset the force and slipping through a gap."