97: Chapter 95 The Mysterious Sword Immortal Assessment

Without any warning, the charred earth beneath their feet suddenly shuddered violently. The broken weapons and halberds scattered everywhere seemed to be awakened by some invisible force, beginning to hum and buzz.

The dark golden Dao-mark fissures in the sky, frozen for untold tens of thousands of years, simultaneously brightened, as if dry riverbeds were suddenly injected with a surging torrent!

A sharp Sword Intent, powerful enough to nearly tear the Divine Soul apart, erupted from the deepest part of the battlefield—the direction Xuanji had just been gazing toward!

It wasn't a single flash of sword light.

It was an 'Aura'.

It was as if some Sword Dao Supreme had slowly opened their eyes after sleeping for eternal ages.

Inside Chu Ye's Dantian, the hundred phoenix diagram Origin suddenly accelerated its circulation; it was his own world's instinctive alertness and reaction to a higher level of power.

His expression turned solemn as Spiritual Qi surged around him, preparing to counter any possible attack.

However, that Sword Intent did not attack anyone.

It simply... spread out.

Like an ancient scroll slowly unfurling in the Void Realm, or like a powerhouse lonely for ten thousand years who had finally found someone to talk to.

The ground beneath Chu Ye and Xuanji's feet began to sink.

It wasn't a collapse, but rather being 'accepted' by some force. The earth covered in broken weapons and withered bones split open to reveal a straight staircase leading deep underground. Each step was condensed from pure Sword Intent, crystal clear, with its sharpness restrained within.

At the end of the stairs, the silhouette of an ancient palace was faintly visible.

"The place of the Sword Immortal Legacy."

Xuanji spoke softly, her tone still calm but carrying a hint of barely perceptible solemnity. "It has chosen you."

Chu Ye looked at the Sword Intent staircase leading straight to the center of the earth, then glanced at the Heavenly Secret Pavilion Saintess beside him, who always seemed detached yet always arrived at the right moment.

"Are you saying this is a coincidence?"

Xuanji did not answer. She simply lifted her simple skirt and was the first to step onto the stairs made of Sword Intent.

"...Follow me."

She didn't look back. "Since it has accepted us both at the same time, it means that what I am meant to see and what you are meant to see might originally be one and the same."

Chu Ye remained silent for two breaths before stepping forward.

He also wanted to know what connection this ancient battlefield's Sword Immortal Legacy had with him, the hundred phoenix diagram, the painting in the Goddess Palace, and the 'Death Tribulation' mentioned in the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's prophecy.

One man and one Saintess walked along the stairs paved with Sword Intent toward the secrets deep within the battlefield.

Behind them, the scattered broken weapons and halberds stopped their humming one by one after they passed, as if they had finally found the purpose of their existence.

And the palace at the deepest part quietly awaited its first visitors in eternal ages.

The Sword Intent staircase extended for an unknown amount of time.

Chu Ye and Xuanji walked in silence, one after the other, over the steps condensed from pure sword light.

The surrounding Void Realm gradually broke away from the deathly silence of the battlefield, and blurred shadows of light began to emerge. These were Dao-mark fragments remaining on the periphery of the Legacy site, carrying the memories of the ruin's master in his final moments.

A white-robed Sword Immortal stood alone above the firmament, facing countless black thunderbolts falling from the sky.

His sword was fast—so fast that Chu Ye could not capture its trajectory with his eyes alone.

With every strike, a black thunderbolt was annihilated; but the thunder was endless, like a heavenly punishment, a calamity, or some unshakeable will.

In the final scene, the Sword Immortal was covered in blood, his sword was broken, but he did not fall.

He looked down at the broken sword in his hand, whispered something, and then transformed into a rain of light that returned to nothingness.

The shadows of light dissipated.

At the end of the stairs, a simple stone palace stood silently.

The palace doors had no words, no patterns, and no markings, only a deep sword scar slanting across the portal.

That sword scar was not damage, but a Seal—or rather, a state of waiting.

Chu Ye reached out to touch it.

The sword scar suddenly lit up.

In the next instant, he and Xuanji were swept inside.

First Trial: Sword Heart.

They stood together in a boundless void, with countless floating broken swords beneath their feet.

Each broken sword reflected a blurred figure: enemies the Sword Immortal had slain in his life, comrades he had fought alongside, Disciples he had taught, and himself.

"This is the trial of the heart," an ancient voice echoed in the void. "Why do you hold the sword?"

Chu Ye remained silent for a moment.

He did not use those high-sounding answers—for the common people, for the Great Dao, or for protection. He simply spoke the truth: "Initially, it was to stay alive. Later, it was so that no one would dare touch my people."

The broken swords hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Xuanji's answer was even shorter: "I do not hold it."

The broken swords fell silent for several breaths before slowly receding.

First trial, passed.

Second Trial: Sword Aura.

They were thrown into a simulated battlefield.

The opponent was a wisp of a remnant shadow left by the Sword Immortal in the Dao-marks. His swordsmanship was so exquisite it was nearly the Dao itself, each move harmonizing with the principles of heaven and earth.

Chu Ye did not try to overpower it.

He stepped aside, letting Xuanji stand behind him.

He hadn't practiced tactics with her, but at this moment, the two seemed to share a telepathic connection.

Xuanji used the Heavenly Secret Pavilion secret techniques to interfere with the remnant shadow's perception, deducing seventy percent of its Sword Aura's trajectory.

Chu Ye seized every tiny opening she created, using the hundred phoenix diagram Origin to strike hard at the remnant shadow's weak points.

Their coordination wasn't exactly seamless, but it was unexpectedly effective. The 'calculation' of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion and the 'breaking' of the Great Chu Prince formed a sort of crude and direct complementarity in actual combat.

After three hundred rounds, the remnant shadow sheathed its sword.

Second trial, passed.

Third Trial: Sword Bone.

They were sent into a frigid abyss, their Physical Bodies suppressed to the level of a Mortal by an invisible force.

They had to climb a ten-thousand-fathom ice wall in the most primitive way. This was not a test of swordsmanship, but a tempering of will and endurance.

Chu Ye led the way, using his palms as claws. His fingers were cut bloody by the ice blades, but he never stopped.

Xuanji followed behind him. Her aura grew weaker and weaker, but she never once asked him to wait.

She simply climbed in silence, stumbling with every step. Her simple clothes were stained red with blood in several places, yet she still kept her veil firmly in place.

Chu Ye did not turn back to help her.

This was Sword Bone, not sword benevolence.

Third trial, passed.

Fourth Trial: Sword Intent.

This was the final trial.

They simultaneously stepped into the stone chamber at the deepest part of the palace.

The room was empty except for a broken sword floating in mid-air.

The sword's body was more than half missing and covered in rust, yet it still vibrated gently at a very slow rhythm, like a heartbeat.

This was the sword the Sword Immortal had held at the very end.

Chu Ye and Xuanji glanced at each other and stepped forward together.

Then, the world overturned.

There was no warning, no roar, not even a ripple of Spiritual Qi.

The ground beneath them simply vanished. The surrounding stone walls, the ceiling, the broken sword—everything receded, collapsed, and dissolved at extreme speed, like melting snow.

Chu Ye tried to circulate his Spiritual Qi, only to find his Dantian silent.

He tried to communicate with the hundred phoenix diagram, but found that world seemed to be isolated at an infinite distance.

He reached out to grab Xuanji's wrist. The moment his fingertips touched that simple-colored fabric,

All his senses were suddenly inverted.

It wasn't that he had grabbed Xuanji.

It was that he had *become* Xuanji.