Meng Qi knew next to nothing about the sects and families of the Northern Zhou, aside from renowned martial arts clans like the Great Martial Sect and the Gao Family of Changle. He had never even heard of the Academy and could only offer vague, improvised responses, thinking of familiar phrases such as “nothing exists beyond the mind” and “knowledge and action must be unified.” He pondered whether there was a difference in cultivation realms between the current Law Body experts and the two Confucian sages.
Gao Lan took a couple of steps forward and suddenly uttered a soft exclamation of surprise.
Standing atop the Dragon Platform, walking ancient paths, Meng Qi felt a sense of unreality. He, who hadn’t even opened his spiritual brow chakra, had somehow become entangled in the struggle for the Human Emperor’s Sword. Had he not experienced the mysteries of the False Tomb of Zhenwu and the Buddha’s Palm, he would likely still be wandering aimlessly. Even with those experiences, he remained anxious, constantly fearing the sudden appearance of demons or ghosts.
The evil entities that survived on the Dragon Platform of the Human Emperor were likely once formidable figures who shook the heavens. Even with Gao Lan by his side, Meng Qi felt no sense of security. This was nothing like the Six Paths missions, where challenges never exceeded the team’s limits. Here, everything was uncontrollable, and unexpected events could happen at any moment. Thus, when he heard Gao Lan’s soft exclamation, Meng Qi was startled, quickly drawing his blade in front of him, scanning the area warily. However, the surroundings were empty, with no enemies in sight.
“What are you afraid of? If I can’t handle it, even if you had ten lives, it wouldn’t be enough,” Gao Lan said mockingly. “I was just surprised that the old ghost of the Wang family has also been here before.”
Following Gao Lan’s gaze, Meng Qi noticed a spot slightly ahead of the Benevolent Sage where the flow of energy felt sluggish. Upon closer inspection, he detected an aura that seemed to exist outside the natural order.
“Is it the ancestor of the Wang family from Jiangdong?” Meng Qi asked.
Gao Lan nodded and, with one hand behind his back holding the True Emperor’s Seal, took another step forward. “It should be the old ghost of the Wang family known as the ‘Numerology Sage’ in ancient times.”
“He actually ventured further than Benevolent Sage and Mind Sage,” Meng Qi remarked with admiration.
“Hmph!” Gao Lan spat. “He only managed to go a bit further by relying on his numerology techniques to obscure fate and cheat his way through. His actual cultivation level should be about the same.”
Meng Qi felt an instant sense of camaraderie, sharing a similar disdain for mystics, and nodded in agreement.
After a few more steps, a massive stone door loomed ahead. Crackling purple lightning darted chaotically around it, exuding an overwhelming aura of yang energy—intense, fierce, and mighty.
“Is it the Overlord?” Meng Qi guessed.
Few had cultivated lightning techniques to such a level, and the ancient Thunder God should have perished during the reign of the Human Emperor.
Gao Lan stared at the purple lightning. “Yes. I only regret that time separates us, preventing me from facing the Overlord’s Six Cuts and Nine Annihilations of Divine Thunder.”
His tone brimmed with fighting spirit.
Inspired by his words, Meng Qi felt a similar surge of ambition. In the future, after mastering all his techniques, he would create his own “Overlord’s Six Cuts”!
As they approached, the sound of the purple lightning grew louder, lashing out as if to repel anyone who dared come near, exuding an arrogant and domineering presence.
However, it was merely a faint trace left behind on the Human Emperor’s Ancient Path, devoid of any real power. Gao Lan and Meng Qi leaped past it effortlessly.
Suddenly, both halted simultaneously. Beside the lightning sat a monk in cross-legged meditation!
He was clad in a plain monk’s robe, his face hidden from view. His gaunt figure shimmered with a crystalline radiance, tinged with dark gold, exuding an aura of tranquility, solemnity, freedom, and transcendence.
“This aura…” Gao Lan exhaled, his golden body flickering. It was an illusion, lacking any true essence.
“Who is this monk, capable of rivaling the Overlord? Few attained the Buddha’s fruit in ancient times—could it be the Medicine Master Buddha? No, it doesn’t feel like him,” Gao Lan mused, pondering the monk’s origins.
Meng Qi was also making guesses, sensing the characteristics of the golden body’s aura.
Suddenly, a distant, ancient sigh echoed in his ear:
“I see now.”
“A-nan?” Meng Qi blurted out in shock.
Even after the Human Emperor, he still had signs of activity!
“A-nan? A great Arhat might fit…” Gao Lan frowned. “But after the Demon Emperor’s demise and the retreat of the demon race into places like the Tianhai Source, A-nan had long vanished. I never expected him to reappear after the Human Emperor…”
Taking a deep breath, Meng Qi, emboldened by Gao Lan’s presence, approached the illusory golden body to investigate further, hoping to find clues and escape A-nan’s “entanglement.”
Unfortunately, like the lightning, it was merely a faint trace left behind on the Human Emperor’s Ancient Path, offering no substantial insights beyond its characteristics.
“You seem quite interested in this monk…” remarked Gao Lan, unaware of Meng Qi’s swordsmanship or sect affiliation. “I assumed you’d be more drawn to the Overlord, given that you wield a thunder-infused blade.”
Meng Qi could offer no detailed explanation and could only smile bitterly. “I’ve studied a couple of techniques from A-nan’s Breaking Precepts Blade Style.”
Gao Lan nodded slightly, not asking further. His mind was already elsewhere. Extending his left hand from behind his back, he pressed it against the ancient, weathered stone door before pushing hard.
The heavy stone door swung silently open. Meng Qi’s eyes lit up at the sight of a golden sea of flames.
The flames surged, occasionally taking the shapes of long snakes and phoenix birds darting about. The outer edges were golden yellow, growing closer to blue-white deeper within. Further still, Meng Qi could see nothing, as his vision seemed to burn away, the fire relentlessly advancing.
“Even if the sun were to fall, it wouldn’t be more intense than this,” Gao Lan remarked, unusually serious.
Meng Qi finally tore his gaze from the fire’s scorching effect on his vision and spirit, surveying the surroundings.
Beyond the fire sea lay a platform of peculiar, dark gray stone, curved in shape. Jade-colored steps extended into the fire, vanishing into the depths.
Ding, ding, ding—the distant sound of metal clashing echoed around them.
In addition, there were cries—unwilling shouts of defiance, cries of determination to fight for survival.
Ding, ding, ding—suddenly, Meng Qi felt his blood surge, as if he had returned to the end of the ancient age, forging swords, tempering blades, cutting through brambles, slaying demons, the struggle of humanity for survival, every inch of road paved with blood!
“The end of these steps is where the Human Emperor forged his sword,” Gao Lan boasted. “The ‘Human Emperor’s Sword’ was not initially a supreme divine weapon, but as generations of humans and other oppressed beings poured their unyielding beliefs into it, and countless demon kings, demon gods, and evil sages fell beneath its blade, their blood staining its body, it gradually grew stronger, eventually ascending to the peak alongside the Human Emperor!”
As he spoke, he led Meng Qi toward the jade steps. Upon nearing, he suddenly inhaled sharply. “The Holy Emperor has been here, and so has the Demon Buddha.”
Meng Qi felt nothing, choosing to trust Gao Lan’s words.
“The Holy Emperor” Qi, a powerful human who succeeded the Human Emperor after his retreat, was later regarded as no less formidable than the Medicine Master Buddha before his Nirvana. Yet he likely reached this place through human Dao techniques or related treasures.
As for the Demon Buddha, one who could provoke the Buddha himself—surely no mere pretender!
“It seems the Demon Buddha entered but found nothing, grew furious, and sought to destroy the Dragon Platform,” Meng Qi speculated.
Gao Lan clicked his tongue. “Perhaps he aimed to force the Human Emperor’s Sword to reveal itself, but failed, instead causing the Dragon Platform to vanish, leaving no trace until the end of the Kang Dynasty.”
He glanced at the jade steps, his expression turning solemn. “Legend says there are true fire dragons and ancient golden crows deep within the fire sea—extremely dangerous. You wait here while I venture a bit further.”
As a mortal, Meng Qi dared not provoke mythological beings and nodded in agreement, searching the area near the jade steps for any additional discoveries.
Gao Lan stepped onto the steps, advancing slowly. As he walked, Meng Qi noticed his figure beginning to waver, seemingly due to the extreme heat.
About halfway up, white vapor began to swirl around him, glowing with myriad lights and fires, forcing him to stop and sit cross-legged, holding the True Emperor’s Seal, closing his eyes to calm his mind. He activated the treasure’s aura and his human Dao techniques as bait, seeking the Human Emperor’s Sword.
Due to previous visitors having already cleared out everything beyond the jade steps, Meng Qi found nothing left. He shifted his attention to the peculiar, dark gray stones.
Capable of resisting the fire sea, they were certainly no ordinary materials. Checking that Gao Lan was focused on his search, Meng Qi squatted down, using his palm to strike, hands to pry, and blade to hack, but despite his utmost effort, could not chip off even a small piece.
“Truly extraordinary… Once I reach the Outer Manifestation realm, I’ll come back with Old Zhao Fifth. I refuse to believe we can’t take a piece!” He could only console himself thus, sitting cross-legged to recover.
After an unknown length of time, Gao Lan’s voice sounded, filled with disappointment. “Could it be that I am not the destined master of the Human Emperor’s Sword?”
He had tried hard for a long time, yet the fire sea remained unchanged, showing no anomalies.
He seemed to have expected an easy success… Meng Qi wiped imaginary cold sweat.
Gao Lan’s image in Meng Qi’s mind was peculiar—not like other experts who always concealed their emotions behind deep composure, but rather open and unrestrained, like a child or madman.
“Hmm, maybe I’m just having a bad day. I’ll try again tomorrow,” Gao Lan convinced himself, rising to descend the jade steps.
As he neared the bottom, he suddenly squatted, reaching into the fire and pulling out two objects—one long and narrow, the other covered in bumps. Both glowed with an iron-black hue, resembling failed smelting attempts.
“Damn! I got all excited, thinking the Human Emperor’s Sword had come to me!” Gao Lan’s disappointment was evident.
Fearing Gao Lan might lose control, Meng Qi quickly said, “Anything appearing at the Dragon Platform can’t be too bad. Brother Gao, look—they remain unscathed in the fire, surely no ordinary items!”
Gao Lan took a deep breath. “That’s true. Since I discovered them by chance, it must be fate. Perhaps they conceal clues about the Human Emperor’s Sword.”
“It?” Meng Qi asked, puzzled.
Gao Lan pointed at the long object. “It.”
“I can’t discern its nature, so it’s strange.”
“This should be leftover material from forging the Human Emperor’s Sword. Consider it payment for borrowing the ‘True Emperor’s Seal,'” Gao Lan said generously, tossing the bumpy iron block to Meng Qi.
Meng Qi caught it, feeling its immense weight—small as it was, it surpassed the weight of Tianzhi Shang by double.
“Leftover material… Not bad at all!” Unexpected fortune delighted Meng Qi.
After securing the iron block, seeing Gao Lan’s intent to leave, Meng Qi quietly asked, “Brother Gao, shall we come back tomorrow?”
“Hmm!” Gao Lan nodded firmly, hugging the iron bar.
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