#649 - The eternal obsession

The steps were dark, sloping downwards, leading to an unknown destination.

They weren't very wide, about two meters or so, with darkness on both sides and emptiness below, like a bottomless abyss.

It was somewhat eerie here. There was no wind blowing in, yet one could feel a cold, chilling air seeping into the bones, involuntarily causing a shiver.

Jun Wuxie, with his Primordial True Eyes, could see the path beneath his feet, but he couldn't see the dark abyss on either side. He had no idea how deep it was below.

The steps were built from jade-green stone, stained with mottled bloodstains, dried up long ago after countless years.

It took them a long time to reach the end of the steps.

Ahead was a massive stone wall, blocking the way. In the stone wall was a stone door, which was open.

The stone door was covered in thick dust, but some of it had fallen off, revealing the dark red bloodstains beneath.

Clearly, those who had entered before them had pushed open the stone door, shaking off the dust.

Passing through the stone door, they entered a long corridor passage. Along both sides of the stone walls, at intervals, were burning eternal lamps, but the light was very weak, making the corridor's light dim.

"The baleful aura here is so strong…"

Jun Wuxie looked towards the depths of the corridor. Because the corridor wasn't straight, his line of sight couldn't reach very far, but he saw corpses.

In front, decaying skeletons lay on the ground. Some of the skeletons had broken bones, but they weren't broken by being stepped on. The cuts were clearly caused by violent force during their lifetime, while others were severed by sharp weapons.

Clotted bloodstains were around the skeletons.

Skeletal remains could also be seen along the walls on both sides of the corridor, leaning against the walls, with bent legs, showing that they were struggling before their death, their hands tightly clutching the decaying weapons that had pierced their chests.

"A tragic massacre once occurred here… No… it should be said, it was more like a slaughter…"

Ling Qingyu deduced what had happened based on the posture of the skeletons' deaths.

"Hall of Myriad Laws…"

Jun Wuxie stopped in front of the corpses, observing carefully, lost in thought.

Although these corpses had been dead for a long time, and their bones had long since weathered, a certain special aura still remained within their bones.

This aura was very faint, but he, who cultivated the Intent of War, still noticed it.

They continued forward along the deep corridor, encountering too many skeletons along the way.

All of these skeletons had one thing in common: a special aura remained within their bones.

"If the Hall of Myriad Laws is a force or organization, these dead skeletons are very likely to be people of the Hall of Myriad Laws…"

Jun Wuxie made this analysis and guess based on what he had seen along the way, because the aura in the skeletons seemed to be remnants of cultivating the same Law.

Hearing this, Ling Qingyu, in his arms, revealed a hint of contemplation on her beautiful face.

"Could it be that force?"

Ling Qingyu seemed to have thought of something, saying, "Legend has it that in the distant past, there was an extremely mysterious force in the world—the Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws! This sacred ground was a very special existence in the cultivation world at the time. Very few of them walked in the world, and they never openly recruited disciples, only accepting those with fate to go and cultivate. It is said that they collected all kinds of Laws in the world, wanting to merge all Laws into one furnace…"

"Are you saying that this Hall of Myriad Laws could be a palace of that Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws back then?"

Ling Qingyu wasn't very sure, saying, "I'm just speculating. The Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws later disappeared at the end of the Chaotic Ancient Era, and since then, there has been no news of them in the world. But according to legends, the Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws was extremely powerful, unfathomable, and shouldn't have fallen to such a state…"

"Nothing is impossible…" Jun Wuxie sighed, saying, "Now it seems that this place is very likely to be the palace left behind by the Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws you mentioned. There is no eternal inheritance in the world. Time is ruthless, and the torrent of the great era is cruel and dark. The heavens have never truly been peaceful. Since ancient times, too many powerful sects have been annihilated in the river of time. No matter how brilliant, it is only a wave of the era in the long river of time…"

"If this place is really a palace left behind by the Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws, combined with the clay statues we saw in the main hall and the inscriptions on the hall walls, this corridor may lead to their library…"

Ling Qingyu's voice trembled slightly.

Jun Wuxie could feel that her mood seemed to have some kind of forcibly suppressed excitement.

"Lanlan, let's go!"

Jun Wuxie naturally knew what this meant.

The Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws once claimed to merge all Laws into one furnace, collecting too many cultivation methods in the world.

It can be said that the Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws was simply a vast and comprehensive scripture!

If the Laws they collected back then were still there, it would be a precious treasure.

By understanding different Laws, one can broaden the horizons of cultivators and enhance their understanding of cultivation methods.

The Laws and techniques that Jun Wuxie cultivated were all peerless, of very high quality.

He had the existence of Ye Qingxue to teach him cultivation insights, and he could also ask his ancestor for cultivation insights, but their cultivation insights were too profound.

Those profound insights could initially allow him to quickly enter the threshold of Laws and secret techniques, but the road ahead would be difficult.

Over the years, he had been exploring on his own. The Mortal World Sword Manual and the understanding of the Intent of War, although cultivated to the half-saint realm, seemed to be progressing rapidly, but in fact, he had been stuck at this bottleneck for a long time, and it was difficult to make further progress.

Since his own realm had not yet reached the half-saint realm, he had not thought about the problem of understanding cultivation Laws and secret techniques, but this was always a key point that must be resolved.

In the future, if he reached the half-saint realm, and his understanding of Laws and secret techniques still stagnated, it would consume a lot of time and energy to comprehend, but without the solid foundation of predecessors, the time required might be unbearable for him.

In short, he couldn't just rely on the insights of the emperor-level powerhouse to comprehend. He also needed different insights from cultivators of different realms, which might have miraculous effects on the understanding of the Intent of War.

Finally, the corridor reached its end. Ahead was a stone door, where more than a dozen skeletons lay, and the ground was covered with dried bloodstains.

Lanlan leaped over the skeletons, passed through the stone door, and entered a wide and magnificent hall.

In the middle of the hall, there was a low, circular stone platform. On the stone platform was a skeleton in a standing posture, holding a war sword covered in metallic rust, with the tip of the sword inserted into the stone platform.

The skeleton stood proudly, its head slightly lowered, its breastbone covered with cracks, and its hand bones, leg bones, and skull all had cracks.

Its fatal injury was the penetrating wound on its head, which shattered the bones of its entire eye socket and penetrated through the back of the skull.

In front of the standing skeleton were two skeletons with severely deformed heads, lying in front of it, their skulls shattered, their foreheads pierced, which were obvious sword wounds.

"The other skeletons have weathered away over the years, but how can these two still maintain their jade-like clarity?"

Ling Qingyu's gaze stayed on the fallen skeletons on the stone platform. The bones glowed with a faint luster, like jade.

She couldn't understand it. Judging from the situation at the scene, they should have perished together with the skeleton holding the war sword, indicating that their strength before death was not as good as the master of the standing skeleton, at most on par, otherwise they wouldn't have all died here.

However, the remains of the skeleton master couldn't resist the erosion of time, so how could the enemies who perished with it resist it?

"So that's how it is…"

Jun Wuxie sighed, leaped from Lanlan's back, landed on the stone platform, squatted down, and touched the two crystalline skeletons with his fingers.

He sensed a faint, unfamiliar aura within the crystalline skeletons, and the guess in his heart was confirmed.

"Senior, you can be considered extraordinary…"

He got up and looked at the standing skeleton. This person, holding a sword and standing upright, even after turning into withered bones, still stood tall for eternity. How proud must they have been during their lifetime?

He was very emotional and sighed. Being able to kill two Dark Spirit powerhouses alone, although they ultimately perished together, could definitely be said to be extraordinary.

These two Dark Spirit powerhouses dared to kill their way into the core of the Sacred Ground of Myriad Laws, which shows that their realms must be very high, definitely not ordinary Dark Universe cultivators.

One against two, desperately fighting two Dark Universe powerhouses, this was a record that was enough to be proud of for eternity!

Jun Wuxie had respect for such a person.

He bowed to the standing skeleton as a tribute.

Just then, the decaying war sword in the skeleton's hand trembled slightly, emitting a soft humming sound.

The mottled rust on the war sword fell off piece by piece, but it didn't reveal a bright sword body. Under the rust was still decaying metal.

Jun Wuxie was a little surprised, his eyes fixed on the war sword.

"Yuanfeng…"

A voice like weeping blood came from the decaying war sword, with sobs and sorrow, as well as deep reluctance and sadness…

Jun Wuxie was stunned!

It turned out to be a woman's voice.

Only then did he realize that he had overlooked something.

That was, the proud skeleton in front of him wasn't tall, and the bones were very slender and long, obviously belonging to a woman's skeleton!

"Yuanfeng… you've come…"

The war sword hummed, and even the sound of the sword had a deep sense of sorrow.

The woman's voice inside was even more heart-wrenching.

At the same time, he was also very shocked that such a voice suddenly sounded in the war sword, with such intense emotions. Could it be that a wisp of obsession left behind by the owner of this skeleton remained?

Who was she talking to?

Just as he was wondering, wisps of light and smoke overflowed from the decaying war sword, turning into a faint female figure.

She wore a light yellow dress, was tall, had snow-white skin, ink-black hair, and a very beautiful face, with a kind of heroic spirit, but also lacking the gentleness of a woman.

These were two contradictory qualities, heroic spirit and gentle beauty existing together, which couldn't help but remind him of Ji Yinlan. Wasn't she just like this?

"Yuanfeng…"

The woman came before Jun Wuxie, extending a slender and beautiful hand to caress his face.

Jun Wuxie stood there without moving.

He knew that the obsession left behind by this female powerhouse was definitely a case of mistaken identity, but he didn't want to shatter her eternal dream of obsession. That would be too cruel.

"Yuanfeng… After our parting in those years, we were separated forever… Will you blame me? Separating from you in this way, it was I who didn't keep the solemn pledge we made. Over these years, I have missed you so much, only wanting to see you again, to personally say 'I'm sorry' to you, please forgive me…"

Jun Wuxie's lips trembled slightly. He didn't know whether he should respond or say 'I have never blamed you' for that Yuanfeng, so that her obsession would no longer be trapped in the guilt she had woven, suffering torment, and could dissipate and find peace.

He felt an unspeakable palpitation in his heart. It seemed to beat slower than usual, but it was very heavy, each beat causing a roaring sound in his chest, and at the same time, a strange sadness washed over him.