Chapter 555: Polluted Terrestrial Weapon!

Inside the abandoned mine, the air was foul, thick with heavy rock dust, rotting wood, and an indescribable icy mildew stench.

The passage twisted downward, many sections collapsed, requiring finesse or brief openings to pass through.

On the rock walls, residual rough chisel marks from the original mining remained, along with faint traces of long-dead talismans once used for illumination or reinforcement.

Chen Mu moved like lightning through the darkness, his Tiangong realm consciousness acting as the most precise detector, scanning every inch ahead, avoiding potential collapses and traps naturally formed by converging yin energy and shifting earth veins.

At the same time, he carefully sensed the subtle fluctuation deep underground—the one described by "Mingmu," differing slightly from the mainstream yin vein flow.

As he descended deeper, the surrounding temperature dropped further, the ambient yin-cold energy becoming purer and more active, even carrying a faint, unsettlingly corrosive edge.

Fine frost patterns began appearing on the rock walls; thin black ice crystals formed on the ground.

After descending roughly a thousand zhang, the path ahead suddenly opened up.

Before him appeared a passage, only wide enough for a few people to walk side by side, three zhang high, entirely formed from natural black rock.

The passage wound endlessly, its destination unknown; both walls were smooth and damp, constantly dripping icy water droplets that echoed "drip… drip…" in the silence, deepening the eerie atmosphere.

And that subtle fluctuation became much clearer here.

The source seemed to lie deep within this passage.

Chen Mu suppressed all his aura, slipping soundlessly into the passage like a true fish.

The passage was extremely long, seemingly endless, and continuously sloped downward.

At one moment, Chen Mu suddenly sensed the presence of spatial turbulence.

Is the crack here?

The next instant, a wall of pitch-black stone appeared—end of the path!

Yet in the lower right corner of the stone wall, a crack half a man's width wide emitted an eerie glow, transmitting the subtle fluctuation, faint but potent sword qi, and the aura of spatial turbulence.

The crack truly exists!

Chen Mu's eyes flickered; he paused briefly in thought.

Hum~

The Four Seasons Martial Domain activated, enveloping his entire body.

His consciousness pushed to its limit, locking onto the faint sword qi leaking from the crack; the next moment, Chen Mu darted into the fissure.

The Four Seasons Martial Domain resisted the yin-poisonous miasma and spatial turbulence; his consciousness locked onto the faint sword qi as he traversed the crack.

Just three breaths, yet it felt like three hundred years.

Only Chen Mu, with his Four Seasons Martial Domain, could endure this—anyone else would have perished.

In short, no one below the Wan Xiang realm could cross this fissure.

His vision blurred.

Chen Mu entered the secret realm, standing in a hidden mountain ravine.

The air and energy within the secret realm were utterly unlike those outside.

Chen Mu suppressed all his aura, sensing around him—no one, no monstrous beasts.

The next moment, he moved on.

His consciousness still locked onto the faint sword qi, avoiding detection by all others and monstrous beasts, constantly shifting position.

Eventually, Chen Mu entered a dim passage.

After advancing about half an hour through the passage, a faint trickling sound of water reached him, growing clearer and closer.

The air now carried a denser, colder vapor—so icy it seemed capable of freezing the soul—alongside a subtle yet potent sharpness that made Chen Mu's true energy stir restlessly.

This was not the majestic, radiant sword momentum of Duan Tianhe.

It was something colder, more solitary and lofty, as if descending from the highest heavens, yet corrupted and tainted by some sinister, impure force.

Though faint and muddled, the sheer rank of its origin made Chen Mu's heart tremble.

"What level of weapon is this?"

Chen Mu, astonished, suppressed his aura to its utmost limit and crept forward slowly.

After advancing several hundred zhang, the end of the passage revealed a vast underground space shrouded in swirling black vapor.

At the center of the space lay a black river, dozens of zhang wide, its origin and destination unknown.

The river water was thick as ink, exuding a nauseating yin-cold and deathly stillness—the legendary branch of the "Yellow Spring Dark Flow."

The dark flow's water was no ordinary stream, but a mixture of purest yin-malignant energy, earth-dead qi, and some primordial netherworld essence, possessing extreme corrosive and corrupting power—any living being that touched it died instantly, its soul unable to survive.

Now, at a bend of this "Yellow Spring Dark Flow," an invisible force forcibly restrained and lifted the water, forming a black curtain ten zhang high and three zhang wide.

The curtain did not fall vertically, but continuously washed and pounded against an object suspended at its center.

It was a weapon.

A longsword, its entire body a deep, dark blue, slender and elegant, its blade shimmering with moonlight's clear radiance, yet entirely covered in countless fine, writhing, living-like crimson corruption patterns.

The sword had no scabbard, floating silently.

The crimson corruption patterns, under the ceaseless washing of the Yellow Spring Dark Flow's most yin and impure waters, were slowly, imperceptibly fading, dissolving bit by bit.

With each thread that vanished, the sword's own dark-blue luminescence and moonlight radiance brightened slightly; the cold, solitary, yet infinitely sharp sword momentum grew stronger by a fraction.

"This… this can't be the 'Moon Shadow Flowing Light Sword'?"

Chen Mu was stunned.

The sect's sacred weapon of Yaoyuewu Sect, polluted by a strange artifact, stolen by Changsheng Jiao—the terrestrial weapon, Moon Shadow Flowing Light Sword!?

The weapon's aura was unquestionably that of a terrestrial weapon.

Whether it was truly the "Moon Shadow Flowing Light Sword" remained debatable.

If it was the "Moon Shadow Flowing Light Sword," wasn't it stolen by Changsheng Jiao?

How could it appear here?

Could Jiuyou Sect have secretly intercepted it?

If Jiuyou Sect secretly intercepted it and hid the "Moon Shadow Flowing Sword" within the "Mingyuan Secret Realm," it would make sense.

For judging by the current situation, Jiuyou Sect is clearly using the "Yellow Spring Dark Flow," this most yin and impure water, to scour the strange dark-red stains from the sword's blade!

These stains are evidently the anomalous pollutants that caused the spirit of the weapon to fall asleep and the divine weapon to grow dim.

"No wonder the secret realm has been disturbed—Ming River sword qi, Soul Well sword cries... It's because the polluted earth weapon, when being scoured, released energy and sword momentum that triggered it!"

Chen Mu pondered.

This also explains why the disturbances carried sharpness and sword cries, yet did not match the aura of Duan Tianhe's sword momentum.

Chen Mu's gaze swiftly swept across the river bend's surroundings.

About a hundred zhang from the black curtain, on a protruding platform near the cliff wall, three figures sat cross-legged.

The central figure wore a deep purple robe embroidered with intricate silver patterns, his face withered, white hair like snow, eyes tightly shut, his aura obscure and profound as a deep abyss—he was a mid-stage Heavenly Palace cultivator!

Clearly a true power-holding elder of Jiuyou Sect, currently exerting full control over the "Yellow Spring Dark Flow" to maintain the scouring of the earth weapon.

To his left and right were a man and a woman, both clad in black robes, their cultivation levels unmistakably at the peak of Earth Altar, just one step away from Heavenly Palace.

They stood on either side of the purple-robed elder, expressions solemn, eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings—they were clearly guarding him.

The woman, in particular, held in her hands a disc-like artifact that continuously flickered with ghostly light, seemingly monitoring the scouring progress and the secret realm's stability.

"The stains have been removed by nine-tenths... almost done."

The purple-robed elder suddenly opened his eyes, a flicker of exhaustion passing through them, but more so joy and burning fervor.

"At most three more days, and this 'Blood Sin Cursed God Seal' will be completely scoured clean. At that time, the Moon Shadow Flowing Sword will regain its radiance, its spirit will awaken, and Jiuyou Sect will gain another sect-defining divine weapon!"

"Congratulations, Elder!"

The male guardian on the left said respectfully, "Once this sword is restored, the Sect Master and the Supreme Elders will surely reward you handsomely."

The woman on the right also spoke: "However, recently, due to the scouring of the earth weapon, the secret realm has been disturbed frequently, sparking speculation both inside and outside the sect."

"Irrelevant."

The purple-robed elder snorted coldly, "This place lies at the deepest heart of the 'Mingyuan Secret Realm,' beside the 'Yellow Spring Dark Flow,' protected by ancient prohibitions and natural barriers—outsiders can never enter. The sect has already strengthened outer defenses; even if petty thieves spy, they cannot stir up trouble. You two need only guard this place well. When the scouring is complete, you will have done a great deed."

"Yes!" the two replied in unison.

Chen Mu hid in the shadow at the entrance of the tunnel, listening to all of this, silently thinking in his heart.

It really is the "Moon Shadow Flowing Sword"!

Jiuyou Sect has snatched this earth weapon right from Changsheng Jiao's jaws!