"Swish!"
Lan Qinhai's figure was like a stream of light, shuttling rapidly through the forest.
In his mind, the shadows of the Green Ping Sword were almost tangible.
In this situation, as he ran, he not only didn't have to worry about the trees, green vines, grass, rocks, or even the fierce beasts, and even the crawling insects on the ground were all clearly felt.
Fast!
He darted through the forest at the fastest speed.
Lan Qinhai was racing against time.
In less than three days, Lan Qinhai travelled two thousand miles and appeared in a rugged mountainous area.
"The map shows..."
Lan Qinhai looked around the mountainous area and then set his sights on a peak.
He leaped up, four meters in the air, landed on a protruding rock with a single point of his tiptoe, then leaped onto a tree branch extending from the mountain peak, and then used the branch to ascend.
In a matter of minutes, he had climbed a mountain of more than three hundred meters. Looking around, he took in the nearby mountains and terrain.
Lan Qinhai examined the map and made a judgment about the surroundings.
In less than a minute, a small illustration on the side of the map caught Lan Qinhai's attention.
"Here..."
Lan Qinhai looked up and his eyes lit up as he looked at a mountain range only two kilometers away.
"Just there!"
"Swoosh!"
Lu Qinghe leaped down from the mountain peak, leveraging on some protruding rocks and branches, like a bird soaring into the sky, heading straight for another mountain peak two kilometers away, and quickly arrived at the foot of the mountain.
After searching for a while at the foot of the mountain, some man-made traces suddenly appeared before his eyes. Upon closer inspection, a large gate of a cave finally appeared in front of him.
"Very secretive."
Lu Qinghe looked at the gate, which was about twenty meters above the ground and hidden by the canopy of trees and rocks. If he didn't know the gate was nearby beforehand, even if he passed by, he would not have known that there was a cave inside the mountain.
"No signs of human activity nearby; Lü Qiankun has not found this place yet."
Lu Qinghe surveyed the surroundings, then leaped to the gate of the cave and, after circulating his true energy, pushed the gate open.
The ancient royal family had declined sixty years ago, and this cave had not been entered by anyone for sixty years. When the gate was opened, there was no sign of decay inside, and a faint glow could be seen from within.
After pondering for a moment, Lu Qinghe took a step forward and entered the cave, then closed the gate again.
However, he stopped less than twenty meters into the cave, as some unusual carvings on the walls caught his attention.
"The ancient royal family excels in mechanical formations..."
Thinking about this, Lu Qinghe took a stone and threw it ahead.
"Swoosh!"
The moment the stone was thrown, hundreds of extremely powerful short arrows shot out from both sides of the wall, instantly turning the sturdy rock into dust.
This scene made Lu Qinghe's expression change. He could unleash fourteen sword strikes in one second, but even facing hundreds of short arrows, he still fell short, especially considering the force contained within these arrows...
Perhaps not even a strong individual who had entered the mixed-element realm would be able to resist the force of these arrows with their protective true energy.
Lu Qinghe closed his eyes, and the image of the Qingping Sword constantly appeared in his mind, vividly showing every detail of the passage.
After a moment, Lu Qinghe arrived in front of a carving and pressed it down.
Instantly, the carving was half-pressed in.
Then, Lu Qinghe threw another stone.
This time, there was no appearance of a simultaneous volley of arrows, and the stone flew across to the other side of the passage unharmed.
Seeing this, Lu Qinghe took a step forward.
As he moved forward, he raised his spirit and attention to the extreme, with the image of the Qingping Sword in his mind not dissipating, even when his mental energy was heavily consumed. He would choose to sit briefly to recover his mental energy, rather than rush forward.
After walking and stopping, Lu Qinghe estimated that a day had passed.
During this day, Lu Qinghe encountered eleven mechanisms, each of which had the terrifying power to kill a strong individual in the mixed-element realm.
"This..."
After breaking through a new mechanism, Lu Qinghe saw a gate ahead. However, when he pushed the gate open, what appeared in front of him was not the true palace of the cave, but... a passage.
It was the passage he had just stepped into the cave a day ago.
A maze!
After walking for a day, he had actually returned to the starting point from the other side.
"Hmm!?"
At the sight in front of him, several gazes fell simultaneously on Lu Qinghe.
There were five people in the group, each of them looking extraordinary. In particular, the young man in the middle, who was surrounded by four people, had an extraordinary temperament. Even standing there casually, he appeared to be the core of everyone's attention, exuding a noble air that attracted everyone's eyes.
Lü Qiankun!
Upon seeing this group of people, Lu Qinghe had already identified their identities.
At this moment, they had obviously just found this cave and had not been inside for long.
"Swoosh!"
At the moment Lu Qinghe saw Lü Qiankun and the others, the leading Lü Qiankun had instantly reacted.
His figure seemed to tear through the void like a white light.
The sword edge carried an extremely chilling intent.
Before the person arrived, the chilling intent arrived first, causing Lu Qinghe's body to shiver all over!
"Retreat!"
Lü Qiankun was a practitioner of the tenth level of the True Refinement, and he had mastered two superior martial techniques to perfection, making him a top genius in the entire True Refinement realm. In front of him, even Lu Qinghe was no match.
Without hesitation, Lu Qinghe involuntarily retreated back into the interior of the main gate.
However, as quick as he retreated, Lu Qiankun pursued even faster.
In his white robes, he appeared like a white ghost, his speed forming a lingering shadow in the void. Just as Lu Qinghe had retreated less than thirty meters, Qiankun had already crossed a distance of fifty meters to pounce on him.
"Whoosh!"
There was an icy chill in Qiankun’s eyes, with a cold indifference towards all living beings.
With a single sword strike, the void trembled, and Lu Qinghe's spirit seemed to enter a golden world. In this world of gold, terrifying celestial dragons with the power to control the heavens and earth and trample the stars and moons, raised their necks and sang a mind-shattering chant.
"This kind of swordsmanship..."
This sword technique directly attacked the human spirit.
"Bang!"
A world-shattering giant sword emerged in Lu Qinghe's spiritual world, and as it struck, the countless golden celestial dragons, spanning millions of miles and treading upon the stars, wailed and screamed, disintegrating where the sword's edge pointed.
As the golden celestial dragons dissipated, the golden world in front of Lu Qinghe immediately collapsed, and Qiankun's sharp sword was already within reach.
"Bang!"
Flames erupted.
In that split second, Lu Qinghe, who had just reacted, wielded his sword to defend himself.
"Hmm!?"
Unbelievably, Lu Qinghe managed to break free from his own Celestial Dragon Zen Sword. There was a momentary change in the gleam in Qiankun's eyes, a slight sign of emotion in his gaze that usually looked down on others as if they were insignificant.
But... that was all.
In the next moment, the qi of the tenth level of Refining Reality erupted from Qiankun's sword.
The already not very solid or sharp Immortal Dust Sword, shattered under the impact of this qi. It burst and splattered in all directions, and the qi contained within it pierced through Lu Qinghe's body, seemingly ready to explode.
"Buzz!"
Lu Qinghe's body shook violently.
The Thunderous Body Refining Technique was triggered to its extreme, and his blood and qi boiled and burned, suppressing the qi that was about to explode within his body, preventing it from shattering his internal organs.
Yet, despite this, Lu Qinghe was still sent flying backward by the force of the sword, crashing heavily into a nearby wall.
Lu Qinghe and Lu Qiankun were both extraordinary geniuses!
But, the gap between the sixth and tenth levels of Refining Reality was too great, too significant!
"Face my sword without dying!?"
Qiankun glanced briefly at Lu Qinghe, as if committing his appearance to memory. However, his sword did not slow down at all, striking once again, accompanied by the same golden dragon's chant.
However, having prepared himself, Lu Qinghe continuously visualized the sword shadows of the Green Lotus Sword in his mind. Even before the golden dragon's chant could evolve into a golden world in his spiritual world, it was crushed by the sword shadows emitted by the Green Lotus Sword, crumbling and collapsing with a thunderous roar.
At the same time, as he flew backward, Lu Qinghe suddenly used the wall to propel himself towards a corner, and in that moment, he fiercely threw out the shattered Immortal Dust Sword.
This broken sword was not thrown towards Qiankun, but towards a relief.
The impact of the broken sword and the relief triggered a mechanism.
"Oh no!"
Just a moment ago, Qiankun, who had coldly and indifferently handled the situation, paled in the face of danger.
In the narrow passage, rows of sharp spears sprang up from the ground, walls, and ceiling, all aimed at him. Though Qiankun reacted promptly and retreated hastily, and managed to cut down most of the spears, he still ended up being hit by three of them, his elegant and graceful white robe momentarily dyed blood-red!
"Bang!"
He was thrown out in a sorry state, crashing to the ground, constantly coughing out blood, looking extremely miserable.
This was because he was on the edge of the mechanism attack area. If he was at the center of the mechanism, even with his tenth-level Refining Reality cultivation, his precious sword would still be like mud, and he would have no chance.
Seeing Lu Qinghe, who had managed to hide in the corner of the wall and evade the mechanism formation, Qiankun’s face turned as white as snow.
The killing intent in his eyes reached an extreme coldness.
Qiankun, one of the Ten Young Masters, had personally taken action, but instead of killing a mere sixth-level Refining Reality practitioner, he was backstabbed, hit by three spears, and almost lost his life...
This was definitely the greatest humiliation he had ever experienced since he started.
"Spit!"
Lu Qinghe spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fine internal organs.
Relying on his strong bones and tendons, he forcibly activated his blood and qi, shattered the true qi that Qiankun had attacked him with, but he himself was also severely injured.
Lu Qinghe looked at Qiankun, his gaze unyielding and confrontational.
"Tell me your name!"
"Lu Qinghe!"
"Lu Qinghe!"
Qiankun repeated this name, committing it to memory.
However, Lu Qinghe, after deeply imprinting the appearance of Lu Qiankun into his mind, forcibly stood up, disregarding his own injuries, and quickly disappeared into the corridor.
Lu Qiankun, fearing the hidden mechanisms in the cave, dared not pursue, only allowing Lu Qinghe to leave.