Chapter 371: Sword-Holding Establishing Life

Outside the Eastern Wanggu Pillar.

The sky was still azure, and the earth was still crystal clear.

The cold wind continued to blow, and snowflakes drifted onto the Taichu City as always, falling one by one onto the crowd around the Eastern Wanggu Pillar.

There were only a little over two thousand trial-takers here.

The vast majority of them had teleported back in advance, and their expressions still retained a sense of heart-palpitation even now.

Clearly, everything in the ghost cave was too shocking for them.

And this danger was indeed as the middle-aged Sword-Holder in official uniform had said three days ago, involving life and death.

Xu Qing stood in the crowd; he was among the last batch to teleport back.

The moment his body appeared, he immediately looked around, noticing that there were several others who had returned at the same time as him.

The Captain was also among them, covered in injuries, but fortunately, his limbs were intact.

However, one eye was gone, both ears were gone, and there was a wound on his stomach; at this moment, he was covering it while grinning.

Grinning at Xu Qing.

Even with only one eye, it still exuded smugness, as if he was very satisfied with the harvest this time; clearly, there were many caves in the deep pit, and while Xu Qing could see a god, others might have seen other spiritual anomalies in other caves.

Besides the Captain, Xu Qing also saw the Red Woman.

The other party had also teleported at the same time as him, clearly having persisted until the end.

The mask she wore had now become blood-colored, and her body was the same; the evil ghost on the sickle she carried was constantly chewing, but it could not hide its dying state.

There was another one, whom Xu Qing did not want to see.

That was Taisi Daozi Zhang Siyun.

He clearly had life-saving means, so he did not die.

But he was extremely weak, and the foreign matter in his body had clearly reached a certain degree; at this moment, he was constantly eating elixirs, trying to drive it away.

On his body, there was also a huge scratch mark spreading from his brow to his chest, deep enough to see bone, as if it could have split him into several parts if it had been deeper.

Xu Qing looked at Zhang Siyun, and Zhang Siyun also saw Xu Qing, his expression gloomy, his eyes carrying coldness.

Xu Qing was expressionless and withdrew his gaze.

He was thinking about the god in the ghost cave; it was impossible for the Sword-Holding Court not to know, so judging by this, perhaps the ritual of the pentagonal wooden house was arranged by the Sword-Holding Court.

The purpose was to keep the god in a continuous deep sleep.

Of course, this was just a guess; it was also possible that the wooden house had already existed before the Sword-Holding Court, but no matter what, this did not affect the next step of the deduction.

That was, the red Life Lamp inside the wooden house could not be taken away.

If the Sword-Holding Court had arranged it, they naturally would not let others take it away.

If it had existed originally, the Sword-Holding Court could not take it away, let alone those of them who went for the trial.

"Then what was Zhang Siyun's purpose for going there?"

Xu Qing lacked information and could not guess the answer; at this moment, he recalled the opera singing lyrics of the woman inside the wooden house and suddenly had a feeling.

It seemed that from the very beginning, the person singing the opera had already told all the arrivals about the story of the ghost cave in two lines of lyrics.

Someone was buried here for a long time, cutting the lovesickness into pieces and turning them into countless petals, petals messy like paper money, in that fluttering, as if dust was dancing.

Each petal contained longing, as if it had been waiting in the past and present lives, waiting for someone who could piece together the cut-up lovesickness to appear.

Just didn't know if it was the woman in the wooden house waiting, or the god in the ghost cave waiting.

Xu Qing was silent.

This world, in his eyes, was gradually becoming more and more mysterious.

At the same time, he also saw another human cultivator who had teleported back at the same time as him; the other party's figure did not appear, and the moment he returned, his body trembled, and he was instantly wiped out by a light emanating from within the Eastern Wanggu Pillar.

This person's death made Xu Qing bury his thoughts about the ghost cave in his heart; the moment his eyes narrowed, a voice without emotional fluctuation emanated from within the Eastern Wanggu Pillar.

"Verified, killed a clansman, wiped out."

Xu Qing's mind shook; he had guessed before that the teleportation jade slip had a function to record whether rules were violated, and looking at it now, it was indeed so.

In addition, he also discovered that the fragments on his body were gone.

The moment he teleported back, those fragments seemed to have been rolled away by a vast force and merged into the Eastern Wanggu Pillar.

Clearly, the Sword-Holding Court had its own method of recording.

At this moment, in this cold wind, amidst the waiting of the crowd, the sky suddenly shone with brilliant light, and figures descended one after another; every one of these figures was wearing official uniforms, standing in the sky.

At first, there were dozens, but soon, following the whistling of long rainbows, more and more figures descended, reaching hundreds.

The pressure from them roared in all directions, making the world seem to dim at this moment, and the descending figures were still continuing.

This scene made the trial-takers below tremble in their minds, and the surrounding crowd of onlookers and the guardians of various sects also became solemn.

Until a moment later, a full several thousand figures stood above the sky.

Every one of them exuded extraordinary fluctuations in cultivation; among them, the weakest were Heavenly Palace Golden Cores, Nascent Souls also existed, and Spirit Treasures were the same.

And behind every one of them, they carried the same large sword.

This sword was cyan, engraved with a mark.

The appearance of that mark was like the character 'Yuan'.

And the similar official uniforms made these people look extremely neat, and their auras seemed to be connected to each other, forming a heaven-shaking momentum, as if they could suppress the ages, making all races and all foreign enemies crumble!

The momentum was like a rainbow!

They were the Sword-Holders of the Yinghuang Prefecture Sword-Holding Court, all of them.

At this moment, they arranged themselves in a double-wing formation in mid-air, like two huge wings, currently soaring, and while the pressure was intense, there was also a sense of solemnity and majesty rising in the world.

The entire Taichu City was silent; whether it was around the Eastern Wanggu Pillar or the tents in the city, no one made a sound at this solemn moment.

Everyone held their breath, gazing at the sky.

Because they knew that next... would be the grand ceremony of the Sword-Holders!

Every second-stage trial of the Sword-Holders was like this, with extremely high specifications for the ceremony.

After all, this was the assessment of the human race's Upper Profound Five Departments, representing the face of the human race.

At this moment, as everyone's expressions became solemn, above the sky, amidst the clouds and mist, a rumbling loud sound slowly came.

This sound grew louder and louder, and finally, a seven-colored vortex appeared in the high sky.

Nine figures with brilliant light walked out from the seven-colored vortex.

Every one of them here was at the Void Returning cultivation level; any one of them could become an ancestor in the sects of Yinghuang Prefecture.

And they... were the nine great Sword-Holding Elders of the Yinghuang Prefecture Sword-Holding Court.

Their expressions were all serious; walking out at this moment, four on the left and four on the right hovered above the two wings, with only one in the center.

This person was the Great Elder of the Yinghuang Prefecture Sword-Holding Court, and also the highest level of the Yinghuang Prefecture Sword-Holding Court.

After Xu Qing raised his head and saw the other party, he was stunned for a moment.

This Great Elder was actually the old man who explained the attainments of the grass and wood elixir path at the Dao Altar and looked similar to Master Bai!

Xu Qing knew that the other party must have status in the Sword-Holding Court, but he did not expect his status to be so high, in charge of a court!

While Xu Qing had waves in his heart, a middle-aged man walked out from the front of the left wing.

His expression was serious, and he bowed deeply to the Great Elder in the center.

"Yinghuang Prefecture Sword-Holding Court, a total of four thousand three hundred and eleven Sword-Holders, four thousand three hundred and eleven present today, no one absent, please Great Elder review."

The Great Elder in the center nodded slightly.

"Read the list."

"Obey the Great Elder's decree!" The person who walked out from the left wing had an extremely solemn expression, turned around neatly, looked toward the earth, and his voice was like a bell.

"After review by the Sword-Holding Court and reporting to the Sword-Holding Palace, based on the number of fragments obtained, ten members of our human race have been decided to obtain the qualification to see the Emperor as Sword-Holders!"

"The list is as follows."

"Xu Qing, Chen Erniu, Qing Qiu, Zhang Siyun, Ning Yan..."

Following the middle-aged man's words, one name after another was transmitted from his mouth.

Every time one was spoken, it made the breathing of the crowd below rapid, until soon the names of the ten people were finished.

"You ten, step out!"

Xu Qing took a deep breath, stepped out, and stood in front.

The Captain was the same, and the others whose names were called also stepped out one after another.

Soon the ten of them were lined up together, ten feet apart from each other, standing in front of the crowd, the focus of all attention, very conspicuous.

After Xu Qing and the others stepped out, the middle-aged Sword-Holder in the sky turned around, bowed to the Great Elder, and retreated to his original position.

The Great Elder standing in the center of the sky did not lower his head to look at Xu Qing and the others, but turned around, full of solemnity, and bowed deeply toward the sky, toward the seven-colored vortex.

A vicissitudinous and hoarse voice slowly emanated from his mouth in an extremely solemn tone.

"Please, Yuan Zai Ji Xian Ji Yao Great Emperor, Ruler of the Human Race Sword-Holding Heavenly Venerate, descend to our court."

As soon as his voice came out, all the Sword-Holders on the two wings around, including the other eight Sword-Holding Elders, all had solemn expressions, clasped their fists toward the vortex in the sky, and bowed deeply, speaking in unison.

"Please, Yuan Zai Ji Xian Ji Yao Great Emperor, Ruler of the Human Race Sword-Holding Heavenly Venerate, descend to our court."

This kind of ceremony carried extreme formality, exuding the orthodoxy of the human race; Xu Qing participated in it and could not help but become solemn.

At this moment, following the opening of all the Sword-Holders, their voices rushed into the clouds, rushed into the vortex, making the light inside the seven-colored vortex brilliant for ten thousand feet.

Rosy light emanated from within one after another, finally reflecting the entire sky, making the endless sky full of rosy light.

Finally, that seven-colored vortex actually transformed into a huge god statue that made everyone's soul tremble.

This god statue stood tall, vast to the extreme.

One could see that the god statue was a middle-aged man, his expression dignified without anger.

His eyes carried brilliant light, and he wore a Nine-Dragon Great Emperor robe, moving with the wind.

He wore a Nine-Heaven Morning Rosy Crown, shining with divine color.

Behind him, there was also a large sword; this sword was cyan, engraved with the 'Yuan' mark, and its appearance was exactly the same as the Sword-Holders' swords!

And the moment this god statue appeared, the rosy light stirred up violent waves in the sky.

The world changed color, the wind rose and the clouds surged!

This scene made all the human race below tremble in their hearts, and their blood and energy could not be controlled and surged up.

A sense of being connected by blood rose strongly in the mind of every human.

That was the Great Emperor of the human race!

That was the founder of the Sword-Holding Department!

Everyone bowed involuntarily, even Blood Refining Son and the ancestors of other sects were the same.

Heartfelt and respectful, going to pay respects to the god statue of this human Great Emperor.

Xu Qing was the same, his heart rising and falling, waves constant.

He thought of the Ghost Emperor, but clearly, compared to this human Great Emperor, the Ghost Emperor was far behind.

And the face of this Great Emperor was actually seven parts similar to the Emperor Xuanyou Ancient Emperor statue Xu Qing had once seen.

Amidst the respects of all the humans, the solemn voice of the Great Elder echoed in the world.

"Bearing the holy decree of the Four Extremes Heavenly Dao Emperor Xuanyou Eternal Emperor, the Jiangong lineage holds the sword for the human race, cutting the suffering of the common people, blooming the light of heaven and earth, hence the Great Emperor god statue is full of rosy light, taking this as proof."

This voice was like heavenly thunder, spreading in the sky, swirling on the earth, imprinted in the heart of every Sword-Holder, and imprinted in the depths of the minds of all the humans below.

And it exploded directly in the minds of Xu Qing and the ten others.

Like a heavenly bell striking, deafening!

Because this was the establishing of life for the Sword-Holders!

Cutting the suffering of the common people, blooming the light of heaven and earth!

Only then are they... Sword-Holders! ===== CHAPTER 372 =====