Chapter 1710: Golden Sword Diagram

The interior was quite simple, with a small door dividing the originally rectangular room into inner and outer sections.

The outer section was larger, clearly serving as a reception area. Aside from a few simple tables, chairs, and a tea set, it was completely empty.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense over these items and found that while the materials used were somewhat rare, they were utterly useless to him. Without hesitation, he stepped into the inner bedroom.

This room contained slightly more furnishings. Besides a pale green jade bed, there was a rectangular desk with a few brushes, a light-red inkstone, and a stack of snow-white, silk-like sheets.

Han Li’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he approached the desk. He picked up the brushes and inkstone, examining them briefly before shaking his head and setting them back down.

Then, he reached for the thin silk sheets, shaking them open gently—only to find them completely blank.

His expression remained unchanged as he returned the sheets to their original position. After carefully scanning the room once more with his spiritual sense and confirming there was nothing else of note, he turned and left without hesitation.

He had never expected any significant gains from what was clearly a disciple’s quarters, so he saw no reason to linger.

Moreover, there were over a dozen similar rooms, and with time pressing, he couldn’t afford to inspect each one meticulously.

Thus, Han Li swiftly searched through all the rooms, only retrieving a few jade slips inscribed with an unknown ancient script.

These jade slips had been casually placed beside a bed, likely of little importance.

Han Li pocketed them anyway, thinking he might decipher them later if he ever learned the script’s origin. After all, he was deeply curious about everything related to the True Immortal Realm.

With his puppet in tow, he returned to the main hall and entered another side door.

After traversing another passageway, he arrived before a row of neatly arranged structures.

These rooms were entirely different from the previous ones—each was perfectly square, with only a small door and no windows. Moreover, they stood completely independent of one another, spaced over ten zhang apart.

What made Han Li’s heart skip a beat was that the surfaces of these square rooms shimmered with silver light, covered in faint silver runes—none other than the Silver Kho Script, which he was intimately familiar with.

After studying them for a while, he confirmed that these were cultivation chambers.

This discovery pleased him slightly. If they were cultivation chambers, there might be remnants left behind by previous occupants.

However, seeing the dense silver runes covering the doors, his expression grew more solemn.

Normally, such chambers would only have minor soundproofing or anti-spying formations. But after his earlier encounter with the main hall’s door, he wasn’t about to let his guard down.

This time, however, he didn’t send the giant ape puppet to test the defenses. Instead, he layered additional protective spells on himself before flicking his sleeve toward a stone door.

A small azure sword shot out, transforming into a ten-foot-long green streak that slashed fiercely at the door. Without hesitation, he intended to brute-force his way through the restrictions.

The door erupted in silver light, accompanied by a clear chime.

Though the silver glow seemed ordinary, the Emerald Swarm Sword was forcefully repelled. The sword’s edge struck the light as if hitting water, unable to pierce through immediately and only slowly wearing it down.

Seeing this, Han Li relaxed slightly.

As expected, the restriction wasn’t of the counterattacking type and was likely a low-tier formation in the Immortal Realm. After all, with over a dozen chambers lined up like this, it was unlikely they’d be heavily fortified.

Without further delay, he flipped his hand, summoning a small black mountain several inches tall. He tossed it forward, and with a thunderous boom, it expanded to ten feet in size before crashing into the silver light.

This time, the door’s restriction couldn’t withstand the force. The chime ceased abruptly as the silver light shattered and vanished.

With a flash of green light, the door was cleaved in two, collapsing to either side.

Han Li retrieved his treasures and strode inside.

The so-called chamber was only about seven or eight zhang wide and utterly barren, containing nothing but a meditation cushion woven from “Armor Grass.”

There was no need to even scan the room with his spiritual sense.

Sighing faintly, Han Li pocketed the cushion and exited.

With many more chambers left, he wasn’t truly disheartened yet.

Using the same method, he breached another door and entered, only to emerge empty-handed moments later.

In this manner, Han Li broke into six chambers in a row, but his luck seemed abysmal—he found nothing.

Frustrated, he began to lose hope for the remaining rooms.

However, when the seventh chamber’s door was blasted open with a thunderous crash and he stepped inside, he let out a soft exclamation, his eyes lighting up.

This chamber was vastly different from the previous ones.

Not only were there tables and chairs, but the desk held three jade boxes of varying sizes and two small bottles. Most striking of all, a golden painting hung on one wall, its surface so radiant that he couldn’t immediately discern its contents.

Closing his eyes briefly, Han Li reopened them, his pupils flashing with blue light. Now unhindered by the glare, he finally saw the painting clearly—and froze in astonishment.

The canvas was densely packed with countless identical golden flying swords.

The swords varied in size and posture—some resembled colossal sky-piercing blades, giving the impression of being dozens of zhang long, while others were mere inches in length, their intricate patterns visible as if held right before his eyes.

Despite the sheer number of swords, the painting didn’t appear chaotic. Each sword was vividly lifelike, exuding a distinct aura that made their differences unmistakable.

This bizarre “Ten Thousand Swords Painting” delighted Han Li. His gaze locked onto it, his body rigid with focus.

Moments later, however, he suddenly grunted and staggered back several steps, as if struck by an invisible force. He swiftly averted his eyes, not daring to look at the painting again, his face flushing unnaturally red.

“Such formidable spiritual power—it felt like being slashed by real swords! If I weren’t skilled in sword techniques and my spiritual sense wasn’t strong, that strike might have severely damaged my consciousness.”

After circulating his spiritual energy to dispel the discomfort, Han Li’s expression remained shaken.

Regaining his composure, he flipped his hand, producing a stack of talismans in various colors. With a flick, over a dozen talismans shot out, embedding themselves into the painting.

A strange phenomenon unfolded. Multicolored illusory runes emerged on the painting’s surface, suppressing the golden light and rapidly shrinking it.

Under the talismans’ pressure, the golden radiance reluctantly diminished before vanishing entirely.

The runes solidified into sealing talismans, firmly affixed to the painting. Instantly, all its extraordinary aura dissipated, leaving it looking like an ordinary piece of art.

Smiling faintly, Han Li reached out, and the painting flew from the wall into his grasp. With a flash of azure light, it rolled itself into a scroll and disappeared into his storage.

Exhaling in relief, Han Li turned his attention to the desk. With a wave of his sleeve, azure mist swept out, lifting the lids of the jade boxes and bottles.

Scanning them with his spiritual sense, he frowned.

The three jade boxes contained several talismans inscribed with intricate Silver Kho Script, but their spiritual energy had long since dissipated, rendering them useless. The two bottles were empty, though traces of evaporated spiritual liquid lingered inside.

After a brief consideration, Han Li still pocketed the talismans.

Their designs differed significantly from those he knew from the Golden Jade Texts, making them worth studying and replicating later.

A thorough search of the chamber yielded nothing else, so he left without hesitation.

The remaining chambers proved equally barren.

Exiting the last one, Han Li strode swiftly back the way he came.

Soon, he emerged from the side hall, standing on the platform outside its entrance. He glanced toward the other two side halls and the mountain path leading to the main hall, his expression pensive.

By now, Shi Kun and Liu Shui’er should have nearly reached the mountaintop.