Chapter 492: Current Situation

Meiling Tribe Territory, Teleportation Array area.

A burst of silver light shot into the sky, and two figures appeared within the Teleportation Array.

"Young Master, you have returned?" A muffled voice rang out from outside the teleportation array.

Lingyun felt the voice was somewhat familiar; when he looked up, he found a burly man standing respectfully outside the array. Upon closer inspection, he had met this person once before; it was the man he had seen standing behind Xuanying at the Half-Elf Auction House.

"Mr. Lingyun, please." Xuanying made a gesture of invitation toward Lingyun.

After Lingyun stepped out of the teleportation array, he stood still, not moving an inch.

Just as Xuanying was feeling puzzled, the Wind Holy Sword on Lingyun's back suddenly emitted a hum, as if echoing something from afar. A majestic power surged out from Lingyun's body, domineeringly pushing Xuanying and the burly man several zhang away. A whistling wind was heard, and an invisible barrier of wind appeared around Lingyun.

"This, what is this?" Only then did Xuanying turn his gaze toward the Wind Holy Sword on Lingyun's back.

"Young Master, this sword is very similar to that sword!" the burly man said in a deep voice.

"I once heard the Great Elder say that that sword was the Dark Holy Sword of the Lingyun Mercenary Group back then. Judging by the aura this sword is manifesting, could it be the Wind Holy Sword?" Xuanying said with some surprise.

"Hum—" The Wind Holy Sword emitted another hum, then transformed into a cyan streak of light and vanished into the distance.

"Sir, this..." Xuanying stared at the vanished Wind Holy Sword, somewhat dazed.

"It's fine, let's go. Let's head to the place where the Dark Holy Sword is first," Lingyun said with a wave of his hand.

The Meiling Tribe Forbidden Land was as silent as ever. In fact, in the past, this place was not a forbidden land; it was only listed as a forbidden land by the tribe's Elders because the Dark Holy Sword appeared here.

Inside the forbidden land, a long sword was half-embedded in a giant rock, with two strands of black energy surging on the sword body, constantly intertwining and wearing each other down. Above the long sword, a golden-red crystal was suspended, and golden-red light continuously overflowed from the crystal, weakening the power of one of the strands of black energy on the sword.

Around the giant rock, several old men sat on the ground, continuously converting the powerful Battle Qi within their bodies into pure Dark Element and inputting it into the long sword.

"Great Elder, this crystal is truly miraculous; it is even more effective at restraining Demon Qi than the Holy Leaf of the Elf Ancient Tree!" an old man said to a middle-aged man beside him.

"Indeed. It seems that the person named Lingyun mentioned by the lad Xuanying is no ordinary person either!" The middle-aged man nodded.

Suddenly, a hum emanated from the Dark Holy Sword, and the Dark Element and Demon Qi on the body of the Dark Holy Sword erupted simultaneously.

"Resonance? It is actually resonance? Could it be that another Holy Sword has appeared nearby?" The Great Elder became excited all at once.

"Not good, Great Elder, look at that Demon Qi!" An old man's expression suddenly changed drastically.

"Damn it, the Demon Qi must have sensed a change and wants to fight to the death here!" the Great Elder said urgently.

"What do we do now?"

"What else can we do? Third Elder is not here, so only we old fellows can contend with it with all our might!" As the Great Elder spoke, the Battle Qi on his body surged up, converting into pure Dark Element and continuously pouring into the Dark Holy Sword.

"Ha, I'm coming too!" The other old men also moved, continuously converting the power within their bodies into Dark Element to support the Dark Holy Sword.

"Roar—" The Demon Qi condensed into a fierce Strange Beast, letting out a heaven-shaking roar. On its body, chains emerged; these were the very things the Dark Holy Sword used to bind it.

"Hum—" The moment the fierce Strange Beast appeared, the crystal suspended above the Dark Holy Sword suddenly erupted with dazzling light, then shattered violently.

Red Lotus Karmic Fire and Purification Light intertwined, forming golden-red chains that enveloped the Strange Beast. Where the chains touched the Strange Beast, wisps of white smoke immediately rose; this was the Demon Qi being continuously purified and dissipated by these two powers.

However, this was a fight to the death by the Demon Qi within the Dark Holy Sword; even with the three forces combined, they could barely suppress this fierce Strange Beast. Just as the beast was about to break free from the three-way restraint, a streak of light suddenly fell from the sky, slamming heavily onto the top of the beast's head. After piercing through its skull, it ran through its body and stabbed into the giant rock.

Suddenly struck by the heavy blow, the Strange Beast let out a shrill wail, its entire body shattering and transforming once again into drifting, unstable Demon Qi. The Dark Holy Sword, the power of the crystal, and the Meiling Tribe Elders exerted force simultaneously, locking the drifting Demon Qi once more. Amidst the many fleeing wisps of Demon Qi, one could faintly see countless tiny Wind Blades constantly cutting and wearing down the Demon Qi.

"Is this... the Wind Holy Sword?" Fourth Elder let out a light breath, dissipated the Battle Qi in his hands, and fixed his gaze on the long sword that had just pierced the Strange Beast.

"That's right, the appearance of this sword is no different from the Wind Holy Sword recorded in the tribe's Secret Canon!" the Great Elder said.

"The Wind Holy Sword appearing at this time, could it be that the person Xuanying mentioned has arrived?" Second Elder asked while stroking his beard.

"Speak of the devil, our guest has arrived!" the Great Elder suddenly said.

Footsteps came from behind, and the several old men turned around in unison to look at the newcomers.

"Xuanying pays respects to all the Elders." Xuanying bowed to the old men present.

"Lad Xuanying, you've finally returned. If you hadn't come back, this old bag of bones of mine would have been finished in this place!" Second Elder stood up from the ground, flashed to Xuanying's side, and patted his shoulder hard.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Second Elder's strength was not small at all; he almost patted Xuanying directly into the ground.

"I say, Second Elder, could you use a little less strength when you pat my shoulder in the future? My current frail body can't withstand your torment at all!" Xuanying said to Second Elder with a look of resentment.

"I say, little Xuanying, I've told you long ago: men need to have a strong physique for girls to like them!" Second Elder said.

"I'm an assassin, I need speed and agility. What's with you making me stack constitution?" Xuanying asked, feeling both amused and annoyed.

"Assassin? Shouldn't an assassin be someone who goes 'all-out'? Even the most perfect stealth has the possibility of being discovered, but as long as you take care of everyone who sees you, isn't that the most perfect stealth?" Second Elder said, blowing his beard and staring.

"Old Second, stop instilling those strange concepts of yours into the younger generation!" the Great Elder said to Second Elder with annoyance.

"Heh, Old First, this concept of mine was left behind by the Qingxuan Sword Saint back in the day. Tell me, am I right or not, descendant of the Qingxuan Sword Saint, little..." Second Elder turned his head toward Lingyun's direction, but when he saw Lingyun's face clearly, he was as if choked by the throat, swallowing the second half of his sentence.

"Are, are you which one of the six great ones?" the Great Elder asked, trembling slightly.

Hearing this question, which was identical to the one from Third Elder, Lingyun only smiled and shook his head: "The old gentleman has likely mistaken me for someone else. I am not one of the six people the old gentleman speaks of, but I do have some connection with those six."

"Is that so?" The Great Elder sighed, then stopped bringing up that topic and shifted the question to the Dark Holy Sword. "Since Mr. Lingyun has come to us, do you have a method to restrain the Demon Qi?"

"The situation has not yet reached the worst-case scenario; wanting to solve this problem is not very difficult." Lingyun nodded and said.