Invincible Dad-Chapter 615 Yunxiao Sword_1

This time, Cai Lu did not intend to divine the origins of the Sword Ranking; he planned to directly divine Xu Lai.

The Human Emperor technique was a forbidden art of the Tian Ce Pavilion. Using it once cost ten years of cultivation and was not something to be done lightly. Correspondingly, its effects were incredibly potent. Even if the person being divined was above the Nascent Soul Boundary, important information could still be obtained. Three hundred years ago, a Pavilion Master of Tian Ce Pavilion had used this technique to divine the corpse of a powerhouse. By a stroke of luck, he obtained an ancient scripture from the corpse of that terrifying existence, a being who had surpassed the peak of the Nascent Soul Boundary. In the minds of Holy Land leaders like Shen Xun, since Cai Lu had paid such a heavy price to use the Human Emperor technique on Xu Lai, there would be no margin for error.

"Attain the utmost emptiness, maintain the deepest tranquility, and watch as all things arise..." Cai Lu formed hand seals and chanted the incantation. A divine, brilliant golden light enveloped him, making him appear almost godlike.

After a full three minutes, Cai Lu shouted, "I refuse to believe I can’t find out who you—AHH!"

But before he could finish, Cai Lu let out a sudden, blood-curdling scream and plummeted from the sky toward the sea. It all happened in a flash. Before anyone could react, he had already crashed into the water.

The crowd was utterly baffled.

Zhang Suzi looked at her grandfather, Zhang Henshui, and whispered, "Grandpa, is falling into the sea a necessary part of the Human Emperor technique’s divination process?"

"It shouldn’t be." Zhang Henshui was uncertain, as this was the first time he had ever witnessed such a thing.

After a long half-minute, Cai Lu’s body finally surfaced. More accurately, he floated up from the seabed and drifted motionlessly on the water. It was only then that everyone realized something had gone horribly wrong. They rushed over, only to be met with a chilling sight.

Cai Lu’s Golden Core had shattered. His entire cultivation had dissipated, and his breathing was so faint he was on the verge of death. The protective Jade Pendant hanging from his neck had cracked into several pieces.

"What happened?!" Shen Xun’s eyes blazed with fury. Although his stature was the polar opposite of Cai Lu’s, the two were close friends and confidants who often drank tea and played chess.

"Retreat..." Cai Lu’s voice was as thin as a thread. He used all his remaining strength to utter that single word, his face a mask of pure terror.

I only said Xu Lai’s name! Before I could even begin the divination, some mysterious power stripped me of my cultivation and turned me into a cripple!

The bodies of Daoist Chi Huo, Mo Lian, Qi Jiuyang, and the other leaders of the Holy Lands grew rigid. The Human Emperor technique could be used to divine beings beyond the Nascent Soul Boundary, yet it couldn’t glean a single thing about Xu Lai. The implications of this were terrifying to contemplate.

"Did Senior Xu Lai create the Sword Ranking?" Zhang Suzi asked, unable to contain her curiosity. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

No one answered her. By now, it no longer mattered who had created the Sword Ranking. What mattered was getting out of here immediately, or they might not escape with their lives.

"Should we retreat?" The Heavenly Snow Pavilion’s Pavilion Master had a particularly stiff expression.

Initially, the eleven Holy Lands had come to denounce Xu Lai from the moral high ground, claiming to act "for the Human Race." But what about now? Firstly, Xu Lai was clearly not a traitor to the Human Race. Secondly, even without the Penglai Sword Pavilion, the sword cultivators of Hua Country still had a path forward—one that was even broader and better.

The problem was that the Yunxiao Sect had issued an edict. They were commanded to retrieve the Demon Sword and kill the one who destroyed the Penglai Sword Pavilion as a warning to all others. Now, the eleven Holy Lands were trapped. Retreating meant failing to carry out the superior sect’s edict.

And attacking... Are we tired of living?

As the masters of the Holy Lands hesitated, Ruan Lan flew out from Haitang Court, wielding a White Jade Sword whose blade was almost translucent under the sun.

She shouted fiercely, "You bunch of villains! If you want to kill my brother-in-law today, you’ll have to step over this Fairy’s dead body first!"

Ruan Lan’s voice boomed across the entire beach. Instantly, the gazes of tens of thousands of Sect disciples on the ground snapped toward her, their combined killing intent becoming almost tangible.

Wait, we don’t want to fight...

The eleven Holy Land masters grew anxious. This included Cai Lu, the Pavilion Master of Tian Ce Pavilion, who looked as if he had been jolted from his deathbed. He was terrified Ruan Lan’s words would cause a misunderstanding with Xu Lai, who was still inside Haitang Court.

"Wait, that sword..." Daoist Chi Huo’s pupils suddenly contracted, his gaze fixed on the sword in Ruan Lan’s hand as he exclaimed in horror, "That is the Yunxiao Sword! Why is it in your possession?"

"Found it," Ruan Lan pouted. After putting her niece to bed, she remembered the remarkable sword and decided to take it to make an impression. After all, a Fairy ought to have a sword to complete her ethereal charm. Of course, she would return it to her niece unharmed once this was all over. It was just a temporary loan.

"Only the Sect Master of the Yunxiao Sect can wield the Yunxiao Sword! It is passed down through generations and could never fall into the hands of an outsider, unless... unless they have perished!" Even Mo Yun from the Dao Sect could no longer maintain her composure.

In the ancestral halls of the major Cultivation Holy Lands hung portraits of the past Sect Masters of Yunxiao Sect. Their appearances and genders varied, but the one constant was the Yunxiao Sword hanging at their waists, an heirloom named after the sect itself.

"Found it on the Moon," Ruan Lan said lazily, not bothering to hide anything. "In a corpse pit completely full of Skull Heads. Oh, right, it was very close to the Sea of the Moon."

"The Sea of the Moon?"

The Holy Land masters were all stunned. The Yunxiao Sect was mysterious, but they knew its headquarters were on Earth. How could the Yunxiao Sword, the symbol of the Sect Master, appear in a mass grave near the Sea of the Moon? Amid their confusion, a memory from the distant past surfaced, and all their expressions changed drastically.

「Three hundred years ago.」

Xu Yanyang had defended Chang’an City with a single sword, his formidable might deterring countless warriors from the Moon Clan. It was also around that time that the Sect Master of the Yunxiao Sect had requested thirty Elders each from the Three Sects and Nine Pavilions, claiming he was going to the Sea of the Moon to search for something.

In the end, the Yunxiao Sect and all three hundred-plus Elders lost contact. It wasn’t until a year later that the Yunxiao Sect reconnected with the Three Sects and Nine Pavilions, informing them that the Elders had taken up residence in the Yunxiao Sect. The subordinate sects hadn’t thought much of it at the time. As lower sects, they were already required to offer up not only heavenly treasures but also their most talented disciples and even Elders at the Peak of Golden Core. According to the superior sect, cultivating in the Yunxiao Sect would allow one to go further, with the Nascent Soul Boundary being an achievable goal.

That was the pleasant way of putting it. The unpleasant truth was that they were harvesting the geniuses and top experts of the subordinate sects.

Thinking back, it’s highly likely that those three hundred-plus Elders, along with the Yunxiao Sect Master, all died on the Moon three hundred years ago. Otherwise, how could the Yunxiao Sword have been lost?

"If the superior sect’s Master died three hundred years ago, then who is the current Sect Master of the Yunxiao Sect? And why were we never informed?!" The eleven Holy Land masters felt as if their scalps were about to explode.

"Hey! Are we fighting or not?" Ruan Lan wrinkled her delicate nose, speaking with a hint of displeasure. They had completely ignored her.

But no one paid her any mind.

Noticing the drastic change in the expressions of Daoist Chi Huo, Mo Lian, and the others, Xu Wandao frowned and asked, "What’s wrong?"

After a brief hesitation, Daoist Chi Huo explained the entire situation. If there had truly been a problem back then, Xu Wandao’s ancestor, Xu Yanyang, might have known something. But unfortunately, Xu Yanyang was long dead.

As Yunxiao Sect was the head of the Three Sects and Nine Pavilions, this matter was of grave importance. Even the four Watchmen could not remain calm. As the most mysterious and powerful sect in Hua Country, the Yunxiao Sect could not afford any kind of mishap.

Tan Chang was also in the crowd. Standing behind Gao He, the president of the East Sea Wushu Association, he suddenly gasped. "So that’s how it is... I understand now!"