Chapter 1245: Skyborne Sword

**Chapter 1232: Flying Sword from Beyond the Sky**

He mentioned it twice, and He Lingchuan also became interested.

This gash had actually destroyed the cave's original structure; or rather, it had violently cut into the mountain from outside, creating a new opening for the entire cave. Following it to the end, the three entered a massive grotto.

Even with prior preparation, the three were stunned for a good while upon seeing the scene directly ahead.

"This, this..." Dong Rui's eyes widened. "This is outrageous!"

At the end of the gash, there was a colossal sword. It was plunged into the wall, following the gash's trajectory. The exposed part of the blade alone was five zhang (16 meters) long; the portion embedded in the rock wall had to be calculated separately. He Lingchuan had traveled extensively, but this was the first time he had seen such an enormous treasured sword.

What was even more bizarre was that two skeletal remains were impaled on the sword. Ancient in age, their flesh had long withered, but at a glance, these two skeletons didn't appear entirely human. Although they resembled bipedal creatures, one had horns on its head, and the other had a tail. Their heights were one zhang and one and a half zhang respectively. Illuminated by the fluorescent spores, their bones gleamed with a brassy luster, and even had an oily, smooth feel.

Fu Liushan looked outside, then at the great sword, and gestured in the direction of the gash. "A sword came from beyond the sky, cut through the mountain, pierced into the cave, and directly impaled these two, these two..." What exactly were these two things? He had spent half his life subduing demons and catching ghosts but had never seen anything like them.

"Are they also corpse puppets?"

The other two replied in unison, "No."

Dong Rui's gaze was fixed on the wall, his voice rising by a few degrees. "Sky Demons! These are Sky Demons! They died long after they were struck down; look at the gouges on the wall!"

"Sky Demons?"

He Lingchuan corrected him, "That is to say, Celestials."

Fu Liushan's confusion increased rather than diminished. He pointed a finger upwards. "These are Celestials? High and mighty Celestials?"

"Yes," He Lingchuan gave him an affirmative reply. "Celestials were once Sky Demons. Before the Cataclysm, they invaded the human realm and were later driven back by Immortals. Hmm, it seems this flying sword technique from beyond the sky is quite old, at least several millennia old."

As he spoke, he suddenly had a thought. The style of this sword, especially its hilt and guard, looked increasingly familiar the more he examined it.

He Lingchuan lightly leaped onto the sword and held up the fluorescent spores to illuminate it. The blade was covered in dust, no longer gleaming. He casually took out a piece of leather and repeatedly wiped the sword's spine. After one, two, then three wipes, the blade revealed its true appearance. Although covered in verdigris, there was a line of runes on its spine, identical to what He Lingchuan remembered. He lightly traced the runes.

It was the language of ancient Immortals.

It was Fu Liushan who read out the line: "Shou... An... Hong... Yuan?"

Dong Rui glanced sideways. "You recognize that?"

"Ah, I do," he replied. "It's part of my family's tradition. Anyone who practices talisman crafting has to learn these, right? So whose sword is this?"

"Shou An Immortal, the leader of the Great Rejuvenation Sect in ancient times," He Lingchuan replied. "He was one of the powerful figures who defeated the Sky Demons. Three years ago, at an auction in Lingxu City, a section of Shou An Immortal's sword tip sold for the exorbitant price of eight hundred thousand silver taels."

"Eight hundred..." Fu Liushan was speechless. Eight hundred thousand taels—how many lifetimes would it take him to spend it all?

"It's eight hundred *thousand*, don't miss the 'thousand'," Dong Rui scoffed, casting a disdainful glance at Fu Liushan's pathetic expression. "Hey, the one auctioned in Lingxu City, that couldn't possibly be the tip of this Hong Yuan Sword, could it?"

He just asked casually, but to his surprise, He Lingchuan nodded. "It's very likely."

After he fed the black dragon scale to the Grand Cauldron, this sword appeared in his first dream. At that time, Shou An True Man casually tossed the sword into the air, and the Hong Yuan Sword then flew away on its own, its destination unknown. Neither Shou An Immortal's disciples nor He Lingchuan knew what he was doing. Unexpectedly, after three thousand years, the answer was revealed here!

He Lingchuan didn't know where Shou An Immortal had thrown the treasured sword back then, but it must have been very far from here. Did that sword fly over countless mountains and rivers, only then to cleave open the great mountain and impale two Sky Demons? What cultivation level was that? What power was that? What grandeur was that? He Lingchuan felt dazzled and captivated just by imagining it. Truly worthy of being Shou An Immortal, who stood at the pinnacle of all Immortals.

Fu Liushan's eyes lit up. "If we pull this sword out, how much could it sell for?" A sword tip alone was worth eight hundred thousand taels. What about more than half of the sword?

"Nowhere other than Lingxu City would fetch such an inflated price," He Lingchuan said, pouring a bucket of cold water on him. "Even a divine artifact, after being plunged into a place of Yin evil for millennia, is now almost like scrap metal. To make it shine again would require an unknown cost." So this thing now, at most, had commemorative value, but no real practical use.

Fu Liushan gave a dry laugh. "I was just saying. Come on, let's get down to business."

Dong Rui also said, "These two divine skeletons have been dried for too long; their vitality is gone, they're useless."

From here, they officially entered the cave. With Fu Liushan's acorn sprites scouting ahead, the path they were now taking was relatively safe. As He Lingchuan walked, his mind still recalled the contents of the black dragon dream. A few breaths before Shou An Immortal threw the flying sword, what did he say to his disciples? They seemed to mention a person's name.

So, what were the Sky Demons doing in this cave back then?

The three walked deeper into the underground palace. On the way, they encountered several destroyed traps, all masterpieces of the acorn sprites. Soon, they passed two dark chambers. From afar, Ling Guang twitched her nose and sniffed twice. "Such a strong smell of blood, and rust."

Fu Liushan, on the other hand, said, "The resentment lingering in these two rooms is horrifyingly dense." A Celestial Master's sensitivity to certain things was even keener than a dog's nose.

He Lingchuan held up the fluorescent spores, illuminating the two dark chambers. Here, torture instruments were everywhere. To be precise, they were used torture instruments, many of which still bore black stains. The completeness of the collection was both eye-opening and chilling. On tables, chairs, and the ground, bloodstains had coagulated, turning into stubborn marks of varying shades.

"Interrogation chambers?" Ling Guang asked, puzzled. "Why would ghosts set up two interrogation chambers?" The torture instruments here are all for flesh and blood beings, aren't they?

"When people suffer extreme pain before dying, especially if they die unjustly, it's easier for them to become malevolent spirits or vengeful ghosts," Fu Liushan said, picking up a pointed file and examining it. A broken fingernail still adhered to it. "Ghost King Xuanlu takes a wisp of their soul energy when new ghosts are formed, turning it into a soul lamp, and from then on, he can control them for his own use."

Ling Guang shivered. People tortured to death by Ghost King Xuanlu, even after becoming ghosts, had to work for their tormentor, endlessly. "That's too miserable, isn't it?"

No wonder the ghosts here were fiercer than each other; their minds must have been severely twisted.

The bell in Fu Liushan's arms suddenly jingled, two faint rings.