Intelligence filled the pages of the Tome of Life and Death, while civilization crafted its spine. Channeling the powers of the book enabled Lu Yun to enter a marvelous state of mind that granted him unique abilities to simulate any situation. The Vast Dragon Seaturner had arisen from such a brainstorming session after observing other people’s sword auras. He’d also invented the Kunpeng method through studying the creature itself, and the Great Peng Spirit of the Exalted Immortal Sect.

Now, he would attempt to understand the ancient divine language through the three characters that referred to ‘Divine Sword Hall’, in order to gain insight into their civilization.

……

Pah!

Disorder punched into Lu Yun’s clear gaze and he threw up a mouthful of blood as soon as his lips parted. He looked up with reflexive consternation. “What’s stopping me from studying their language?”

After a pause, the dread zombie commented, “It was during her search for the ancient divine civilization that Myrtlestar was severely injured for no reason. Someone then came along to kill her, and buried her within the Skandha Extinction Tomb. The restriction was right, this Sword Barrow is a place of misfortune.”

Lu Yun didn’t respond. The black flames surrounding him grew thicker, burning away the blood energy within the Sword Barrow.

“While the ancient divine race suffered misfortunes, they at least left traces that suggest a once-magnificent civilization,” he muttered. “But hell used to reign over all life and death and the reincarnation of all the realms. However, nothing is left of it.” His lips quirked up. “Which of them is more of a bad omen, I wonder?”

“Reign over all of life and death? Reincarnation of all the realms?” The eye-opener whitened the dread zombie’s face. To its horror, the ghostly shadows of the tombs within Violetgrave became more concrete as Lu Yun spoke.

Lu Yun dropped their conversation and activated his Spectral Eye, scanning the depths of the Sword Barrow. “Huang Qing’s body is under that pitch-black mountain.”

Violet light flickered around the governor as he sped up. “No, that’s not a mountain!” He suddenly stopped and gaped with stupefaction. That wasn’t a mountain in front of him, but the hilt of a sword!

The blade itself was buried within the earth at a diagonal angle, whereas the hilt towered over the land, reaching a couple thousand kilometers in height. Terrible fissures in the ground snaked from the hilt throughout the entire terrain that was coated in red.

All of the cracks on the ground originated from the giant sword, and it in turn was surrounded by swords of different sizes and shapes. All of them had lost their spirit and lay lifelessly on the ground, every single one of them broken.

“Who did the sword belong to?” Lu Yun gulped at the giant sword.

“It’s dead as well,” the dread zombie said somberly. “It died before birth along with the civilization of the ancient divine court. Both have been forgotten by the long river of history.”

“Died before birth....” It dawned on Lu Yun that the sword was a work in progress.

“If my guess is right,” the dread zombie commented in a distant voice, “this unfinished sword must be the ultimate weapon that the ancient divine court had hoped would win their final stand. However, it was destroyed before its completion, along with this Divine Sword Hall.

“Who knows if, numerous aeons later, someone else will set foot in the ruins of an immortal dao civilization and lament our loss, like we’re doing now for the ancient divine court.”

Lu Yun remained silent.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Smithing sounds that were both crisp and heavy, lilting and solemn, suddenly resonated in the air.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sounds were startling out of place in this world of silence and lament.

“The sky as the sheath!

“The earth as the guard!

“Bless the divine race,

Sword of Chaos!”

……

“The sky as the sheath! The earth as the guard!”“Bless the divine race, Sword of Chaos!”

……

“The sky as the sheath! The earth as the guard!”

“Bless the divine race, Sword of Chaos!”

……

Old, desolate convictions spread in all directions following the sharp clinks and clangs. Lu Yun didn’t understand the ancient divine language, but he could decipher the meaning behind the words.

Clang!

A curl of black sword energy shot out of the giant sword hilt and soared into the air, morphing into several fine swords before burrowing out of this world. A cacophony of combat and violence slowly built from all sides, as if an endless army bristling with swords was charging out of the hall. It took roughly an hour for the commotion to quiet down.

Eyes wide with shock, Lu Yun reeled from what he’d just experienced.

“Is this how the swords in the Sword Barrow were made? The Sword of Chaos… is it that giant sword?” He took a deep breath and made his way to the enormous black sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The same sounds reached his eardrums, but they were much more discrete than the tremendous cacophony from before. No matter how glorious, that din hadn’t been altogether real; it was completely different from what he heard now!

A smear of crimson stood atop a broken smithing platform, blazing like a flame as it hit something of the same color over and over again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“It’s Huang Qing!” Lu Yun narrowed his eyes, recognizing the figure from Aoxue’s memory. Disbelief widened his eyes when he got a good look at the fiery being. “Her soul is hammering her corpse!”

“Mould my bones...

“Recast my flesh...

“Purify my blood...

“Shape my soul...” murmured the figure. She suddenly paused her movements and turned to point colorless eyes at Lu Yun.

“Mould my bones with your bones.

“Recast my flesh with your flesh.

“Purify my blood with your blood.

“Shape my soul with your soul.”

The crimson figure approached Lu Yun with a giant hammer in hand, a strange smile splitting her stunning face.

“Come...

“Come….

“Come to me.

“Forge my sword!

“Forge my sword with your body!”

……

“What the hell is that?!” Lu Yun backed away in horror. “It’s neither a ghost nor a zombie! What is it?!”

“A blood phoenix,” the dread zombie identified in a perturbed voice. “Blood dragons and blood phoenixes are two variants of a blood fiend. Blood dragons herald bloodshed, while blood phoenixes bring destruction.”