Chapter 2850: Thunder Pool

"No, you're not him!" the pristine white longsword suddenly reacted.

While the Thousand-Faced Dao Pattern was profound, such a disguise could only fool ordinary cultivators. A supreme treasure like this longsword possessed the ability to discern truth from falsehood.

Especially since Lu Ye had only transformed his appearance to resemble Zong Shenliang, without altering his physique.

However, he had already obtained the answer he sought.

The pristine white longsword had indeed met Zong Shenliang. The master of Senluo City was currently refining a supreme treasure called the Nine Profound Heavenly Thunder Seal somewhere in the starry sky!

"What's your name?" Lu Ye's tone softened. After a few exchanges, he realized that this supreme treasure indeed had the disposition of a child.

The pristine white longsword, with little caution, replied, "My name is Xuanshuang!"

"Xuanshuang, can you take me to where the Nine Profound Heavenly Thunder Seal is?" Lu Ye asked.

"No, I won't. You're all after me. I finally got away from that guy; I'm not going back," Xuanshuang's tone was very resistant.

Lu Ye's eyes flickered. He said, "Xuanshuang, here's the thing. The guy you met before is my sworn enemy. I'm going to get my revenge. If you take me there, I'll help you kill him."

Xuanshuang sneered repeatedly, "What does your grudge have to do with me? Go find him yourself. You're all bad news anyway."

Lu Ye sighed, knowing that reasoning with it wouldn't work. This entity, despite its childish intelligence, was not easy to communicate with.

Taking it by surprise, he suddenly drew his saber and struck.

Xuanshuang shrieked, "You're cheating!"

Sword light erupted from its blade but was shattered by the saber's radiance. Lu Ye reached out again and grabbed the sword hilt.

"Again!" Xuanshuang was furious. As its blade trembled, an boundless chill, just like before, surged forth.

Lu Ye's large hand was immediately covered in a layer of frost, and his entire palm was pierced by fine sword energy. As crimson blood began to flow, it instantly froze into ice.

However, this time he did not let go. Instead, he activated the power of the Talent Tree and slowly said, "Take me there, and I'll release you!"

Xuanshuang's voice suddenly became terrified: "What are you doing?!"

It clearly felt that the divine consciousness it had nurtured for many years was being devoured by a force. What terrified it even more was that, under this consumption, its intelligence seemed unable to remain within the sword, giving it a sensation of being forcibly stripped away.

It fiercely urged its own power, but this time, the boundless coldness could no longer extend to Lu Ye's arm, stopping only at his wrist, as if there was a boundary there.

"Take me there, or I'll forcibly refine you. Choose!" Lu Ye's voice was calm, yet it carried an irresistible chill.

Finding Zong Shenliang was his most urgent goal at the moment, but if things didn't go as planned, refining a supreme treasure along the way wouldn't be a loss.

However, that would ultimately consume time.

Xuanshuang possessed considerable intelligence, and Lu Ye believed it would make the right choice.

Sure enough, three breaths later, Xuanshuang's terrified voice came: "Let go, quick, let go! Can't I just take you there?"

Lu Ye immediately stopped his actions and gently released the Xuanshuang Sword. "Don't even think about escaping; you can't get away."

Xuanshuang had no intention of escaping. It had experienced Lu Ye's speed before and couldn't escape then, let alone now with its power diminished.

Although the loss was not significant.

"You're all bad!" Xuanshuang huffed.

What terrified it was that this one seemed even stronger than the previous one it had encountered. With the previous one, it could at least contend using its own power, but with this one, there was no chance of contention at all.

"Lead the way!" Lu Ye instructed.

The Xuanshuang Sword immediately changed direction and flew back along the original path.

Lu Ye followed closely.

The journey was silent, but true to its childish nature, the Xuanshuang Sword started chattering to Lu Ye within half a day, asking only simple, naive questions.

Given its disposition, Lu Ye was happy to converse with it.

In just a few words, he managed to coax out details of its previous encounter with Zong Shenliang.

About two months ago, Zong Shenliang encountered it and naturally wanted to subdue it. However, Zong Shenliang didn't expect the Xuanshuang Sword's intelligence to be so high, so he failed several times.

Still, Zong Shenliang was one of the Ten City Lords, and their repeated clashes made the Xuanshuang Sword feel a significant threat.

So, during its escape, it intentionally led Zong Shenliang to the location of the Nine Profound Heavenly Thunder Seal.

This supreme treasure was different from the Xuanshuang Sword; it had no intelligence of its own and had always remained within a wonder called the Thunder Pool in this very starry sky.

When Zong Shenliang was led to the Thunder Pool and sensed the aura of the Nine Profound Heavenly Thunder Seal, he immediately abandoned the Xuanshuang Sword in comparison and entered the Thunder Pool instead.

The Xuanshuang Sword thus escaped Zong Shenliang. Afterwards, it encountered many other Hegemons who entered the starry sky, hiding and dodging until it met Lu Ye today.

After listening to the Xuanshuang Sword's account, Lu Ye's expression was subtle.

Listening to the Xuanshuang Sword's voice, anyone would think it was a wide-eyed, innocent little baby, yet it was capable of such a cunning act of diverting trouble.

If the Nine Profound Heavenly Thunder Seal had intelligence, it would probably curse the Xuanshuang Sword to high heaven.

The Xuanshuang Sword was a native supreme treasure, and its intelligence had awakened long ago. When the starry sky was intact, it had traveled and roamed throughout it.

It naturally knew the location of the Thunder Pool wonder better than anyone.

Under the guidance of the Xuanshuang Sword, it took only two days for the man and the sword to reach their destination.

"It's just up ahead!" the tip of the Xuanshuang Sword pointed forward.

Lu Ye looked up and saw a mass of blue light in the distance, faintly with lightning bolts like dragons swimming within. Even from afar, he could feel the violent power contained within that blue light.

"Thank you," Lu Ye nodded slightly.

"I'm leaving now!" the Xuanshuang Sword said, cautiously backing away.

Only after it was out of Lu Ye's sight did it turn and transform into a streak of light, rapidly departing.

Lu Ye slowly retracted the aura he had locked onto it, abandoning the idea of forcibly keeping it at this moment. Although he could have done so, acting here would inevitably alert Zong Shenliang.

Moreover, even refining a supreme treasure with the power of the Talent Tree would take some time.

For now, dealing with Zong Shenliang was more important, as this concerned the safety of an entire starry sky.

After a brief contemplation, Lu Ye suppressed his aura and swept forward.

From a distance, the Thunder Pool wonder appeared only as a mass of blue light, but the closer he got, the more he could feel its magnificent scale.

The scale of this wonder was at least as vast as several galaxies, with various colors of lightning moving and sweeping within it, terrifying just to behold.

For this starry sky, the Thunder Pool was absolutely a forbidden zone for life!

A moment later, Lu Ye plunged into the wonder.

He didn't need to search for Zong Shenliang's exact location; if the master of Senluo City was here, he would undoubtedly be where the supreme treasure was.

Thus, Lu Ye could easily find him by following the supreme treasure's aura.

As he delved deeper, at a certain moment, the surrounding lightning power suddenly became extremely violent, then simultaneously trembled.

Just as Lu Ye was wondering why, a loud laugh came from ahead: "Hahahaha, finally... I've finally succeeded!"

Hearing that voice, Lu Ye's brows furrowed.

It seemed he was still a bit late; the Nine Profound Heavenly Thunder Seal here had been subdued by Zong Shenliang.

Even for one of the Ten City Lords, subduing a supreme treasure was an extremely gratifying achievement.

It wasn't that there were no supreme treasures in the Star Abyss. Throughout history, countless starry skies had shattered and merged into the Star Abyss, and their supreme treasures would fall into it as well.

One could say that the number of supreme treasures in the Star Abyss was vast, but for some unknown reason, people rarely found traces of them there; even if they did, they were exceedingly rare.

That was why Xue Jiu had been so determined to obtain the Starry Sky Chessboard back then, even instigating an earth-shattering war to lure it out.

Where those supreme treasures went after the starry skies shattered had always been a mystery.

"Congratulations, Lord! Our sincerest congratulations, Lord!" The next moment, several voices rang out, clearly belonging to Zong Shenliang's subordinates. While he had been refining the supreme treasure recently, these subordinates had been on guard nearby, preventing any unwelcome interruptions to their City Lord.

"This is indeed a joyous occasion..." Zong Shenliang was clearly in excellent spirits. Just then, he suddenly turned and looked in a certain direction: "Who's lurking around? Get out!"

The instant he spoke, Lu Ye saw two figures charging straight towards him from that direction, their bodies surging with Dao power like a tide.

He had been suppressing his aura and had even applied concealment and aura-suppressing Dao Patterns, yet he hadn't expected his presence to be exposed.

He secretly marveled, "As expected of the Ghost Race. The Ghost Race inherently excels at stealth and assassination, and Zong Shenliang is a supreme master among them. My meager abilities truly fall short in front of him."

He had originally intended to ambush Zong Shenliang, but now that his presence was exposed, he had no choice but to face his enemies head-on.

As his long saber was unsheathed, a crescent-shaped saber gleam shattered the surrounding lightning dragons. The two charging Hegemons possessed profound cultivation, at least on the level of a Flood-grade City Lord outside, yet under this single saber strike, they were as fragile as paper, utterly vulnerable.

One of them was directly cut in half, while the other, luckily not killed, had an arm severed.

With a terrified expression, he retreated to Zong Shenliang's side, his face filled with the relief of having narrowly escaped death.

If he had charged any faster just now, he might have been the one to die.

"Hmm?" Zong Shenliang was also full of surprise. He knew that many Hegemons not belonging to Senluo City had invaded this starry sky, but he never paid them any mind. Who would have thought such a powerful individual would suddenly appear?

Taking a closer look, Zong Shenliang couldn't help but be startled: "It's you?"

He had witnessed Lu Ye's battle with Xuan Wuzong before, so he naturally recognized Lu Ye.

He truly couldn't understand how this person had shown up before him, and clearly with hostile intentions.

Lu Ye paid him no mind, instead looking at a large seal in Zong Shenliang's hand. The seal was entirely blue and semi-transparent, with thin, hair-like streaks of lightning moving within it.

A strong aura of a supreme treasure emanated from it.

Lu Ye immediately understood that this must be the Nine Profound Heavenly Thunder Seal that Xuanshuang Sword had mentioned!