Ye Qiu let out a surprised exclamation, discovering that the sixth hall was entirely different from the previous five.
Firstly, this hall was very small.
Although its architectural style was identical to the previous halls, it resembled a small house, covering only two hundred square metres and appearing very ordinary, completely lacking the grand and majestic atmosphere.
Secondly, there was no bronze plaque hanging above the main entrance of this hall.
The previous five halls all had bronze plaques indicating what was inside, but this hall alone did not.
It was highly unusual.
Standing outside the door, Ye Qiu had a strong premonition that there must be an extraordinary treasure inside this hall.
“What could it be?”
With three parts excitement and seven parts curiosity, Ye Qiu reached out to push open the door.
Unexpectedly, the moment his hand touched the door, a tremendous force repelled him, sending him flying.
Caught off guard, Ye Qiu was thrown back, landing more than ten metres away, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
His chest surged with tumultuous energy.
The rebounding force just now was no less powerful than a full-strength strike from a cultivator with seven strands of true qi, utterly terrifying.
Far from feeling afraid, Ye Qiu’s eyes gleamed with excitement.
The harder it was to enter this door, the more it suggested that something valuable was inside.
Ye Qiu quickly got up from the ground, activated his Heavenly Eye, and looked towards the door.
He wanted to know where that rebounding force had come from.
The next moment, a golden light appeared in Ye Qiu’s eyes, dazzling like gold.
Not only the door but the entire outer layer of the hall was emitting a radiant golden glow.
This golden light completely blocked Ye Qiu’s vision, preventing his Heavenly Eye from seeing through.
Strangely, when Ye Qiu deactivated his Heavenly Eye, the golden light disappeared, and the hall before him appeared ordinary.
“What is this golden light?”
“A seal?”
“Or an array?”
Ye Qiu activated his Heavenly Eye again, observing the hall closely. Apart from the golden light, he found nothing unusual.
Then, he infused true qi into his fingertip and gently pressed a finger against the door.
“Bang!”
Ye Qiu was repelled again.
This time, however, he was prepared and sustained no injuries.
“Damn it, what on earth is this?”
Puzzled and somewhat regretful, Ye Qiu wished he had brought Master Longbrow along.
“If that old man were here, he might have figured something out.”
“No, even if he came, it wouldn’t help. He’s blind, he wouldn’t see anything.”
“How can I open this door?”
Ye Qiu racked his brains.
After thinking for a while, he came up with no good ideas.
“Fine, if there’s no way, I’ll just break it open with brute force.” Ye Qiu took a deep breath, activated the Nine-Turn Dragon Art, clenched his right fist, and smashed it hard against the door.
“Boom!”
As soon as his fist landed “[fist landed, comma]” that immense rebounding force surged into his fist, sending him flying again.
Ye Qiu performed a few backflips, landing steadily on the ground, staring at the hall with frustration.
“What now?”
In his anxiety, Ye Qiu suddenly thought of a solution.
“How could I forget about the Escape Technique? If I can’t break through the door, why not use the Escape Technique to enter the hall directly?”
Immediately, Ye Qiu used the Earth Escape Technique, diving into the ground.
This time, he met no resistance.
When he reappeared, he was already inside the hall.
The interior was pitch black, so dark that one couldn’t see their hand in front of their face, but it didn’t affect Ye Qiu’s vision.
Raising his eyes, Ye Qiu saw a meditation cushion at the very centre of the hall.
It seemed this was where Long Yi had secluded himself for cultivation.
Then, his gaze swept around, and he was stunned to find that the hall was completely empty—no gold, silver, or jade items, no rare treasures, nothing but the meditation cushion. It was unbelievably bare.
This outcome was hard for Ye Qiu to accept.
“No way, nothing at all?”
“That’s impossible!”
“If there’s nothing here, why would there be a protective layer outside this hall?”
“Could it be that Long Yi was worried about being disturbed during his seclusion, so he deliberately set up a protective layer to keep outsiders out?”
“No, the Forbidden City is the most powerful force in the world. No one would dare trespass here.”
“Besides, with Long Yi’s profound cultivation, even if someone broke in, he wouldn’t fear them. There’s no need for a protective layer.”
“There must be a secret here.”
With this thought, Ye Qiu began carefully searching the hall.
After a full hour, his efforts paid off.
Finally, Ye Qiu found a clue.
Beneath the meditation cushion in the middle of the hall was a tunnel.
Ye Qiu moved the cushion aside, entered the tunnel, and arrived at a secret chamber.
Inside the chamber were three square wooden boxes, each larger than the last.
He opened the smallest box.
As the lid was lifted, surprise flashed across Ye Qiu’s face, for inside the box was something familiar.
The Qiankun Cauldron!
This was the third Qiankun Cauldron Ye Qiu had encountered.
The first Qiankun Cauldron was a gift from Master Zhang, the second was found in Xu Changjin’s grandfather’s treasure room, and he hadn’t expected to find another in this secret chamber.
“The Qiankun Cauldron is hidden in such a secretive place, so it must be an absolute treasure to Long Yi.”
“But what mysteries does the Qiankun Cauldron hold?”
Ye Qiu didn’t have time to ponder and opened the second wooden box.
Inside was a sword.
The sword was over four feet long, slightly longer than ordinary swords, with a dark red wooden scabbard covered in cracked patterns.
Clearly, it was an ancient sword.
Ye Qiu took the sword out of the box, gripped “‘[gripped, comma]’” the hilt, and drew it with force.
“Clang!”
As the sword was unsheathed, it emitted Ascending, a dragon-like roar resounded, and the bright blade reflected faces with its chilling gleam.
“What a sword!”
Ye Qiu exclaimed in admiration, gazing at the blade, feeling as if he were standing atop a mountain overlooking a vast abyss, ethereal and profound.
Suddenly, Ye Qiu noticed two small seal characters on the blade. After studying them closely, he deciphered the words.
“Dragon Abyss?”
Ye Qiu was initially puzzled, then his heart raced with shock.
“Could this be the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword, one of the ten legendary swords?”
Legend has it that the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword was forged by the master swordsmiths Ou Yezi and Gan Jiang, ranking fifth among the ten legendary swords.
During the Spring and Autumn period, the famous general Wu Zixu, framed by a treacherous minister, fled to the riverbank and was saved by a fisherman. Fearing the fisherman might betray him, Wu Zixu gave him the Dragon Abyss Sword. Insulted by the implication, the fisherman took the sword and killed himself to prove his integrity, earning the Dragon Abyss Sword the title of the Sword of Integrity and Nobility.
Ye Qiu’s curiosity was piqued. With two boxes containing such extraordinary treasures, what could be in the third?
Stepping forward, Ye Qiu opened the third wooden box.
