All the blood in their bodies seemed to freeze, this was the natural reaction of encountering something terrifying.
"You… you…" Xue Qicheng looked at Xu Zimo, unable to speak for a moment.
"Respected one, I was just here to watch, I meant no harm," Xiang Mu, the sect master of the Feather Sect, quickly explained.
At this moment, he felt lucky he hadn’t made a move earlier.
Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t even know how he died.
"You said you'd break my limbs," Xu Zimo looked at Xue Qicheng and Sha Hu and said calmly. "You two don’t need to rush. We’ll take our time."
"Respected one, we weren’t!"
Before Xue Qicheng could finish, Chaos lifted its finger and stomped down.
With a miserable scream, both of their arms had been crushed and twisted.
Chaos didn’t stop there, several more stomps flattened all four of their limbs.
"Boss, stomping them like this is boring. I want to crush their heads," Chaos grinned beside him.
"Doesn’t matter," Xu Zimo turned to Flawless-Diviner and said, "Old man, if you’ve got anything else, feel free to try it. Forget Myriad Swords City, even if you call everyone in Celestial Secrets Valley, I’ll say the same thing. Either answer my question, or I’ll kill you."
Flawless-Diviner’s expression was ugly, shifting between dark and pale, and he stayed silent for a moment.
Eventually, he asked, "What do you want to know?"
"Do you remember the Jiang Clan of Overlord Sword City?" Xu Zimo asked.
"Why are you asking about that?" Flawless-Diviner frowned slightly.
"I heard the Jiang Clan came to you before they disappeared. Speak," Xu Zimo said.
"This..." Flawless-Diviner looked hesitantly at the others, clearly not wanting to say too much.
"You all can leave now," Xu Zimo waved his hand.
"And I don’t want today’s events to spread. Otherwise, I’ll consider wiping out your clans."
"Rest assured, respected one. We know nothing," the remaining three quickly shook their heads.
Faced with the Arcane Immortal Chaos, they didn’t even dare to look back as they fled.
As for Xue Qicheng and Sha Hu, Chaos stomped down again.
Their heads burst like watermelons, flesh and blood flying everywhere, and Chaos tossed them aside.
"Now speak," Xu Zimo said.
"I promised Jiang Li I wouldn’t tell anyone. I hope you’ll keep this secret too," Flawless-Diviner said. "Back then, Jiang Li, the Patriarch of the Jiang Clan, asked me to read the future fate of their clan."
"Your Celestial Secrets Valley doesn’t have that kind of power," Xu Zimo said. "Unless those old geezers risked their lives to step in."
"I don’t have that kind of power," Flawless-Diviner admitted.
"But do you know why the Jiang Clan declined?"
"Why?" Xu Zimo asked.
"Have you heard of the Blood Rune Space?" Flawless-Diviner replied.
Xu Zimo paused slightly. He certainly knew about the Blood Rune Space.
It was related to the fragments of the True God Sword he was gathering.
In the Legendary Era, the War God ended the reign of the Gods.
After that, monsters ruled the world.
Later, a cultivator walked out from the Valley of Flowers, wielding the True God Sword, and established the Celestial Court.
He sealed all those monsters into the Blood Rune Space, thus beginning the Desolate Era.
Xu Zimo had already seen this information in the River of Fate when he first obtained the True God Sword.
"I know," Xu Zimo nodded and replied.
"Then you should know that even though the Blood Rune Space is sealed, the monsters of the Legendary Era have never stopped trying," Flawless-Diviner said. "They’ve been attacking the seal generation after generation, hoping to return to the Primordial Heartlands and start their era of rule again."
"What does this have to do with the Jiang Clan?" Xu Zimo asked.
"Because the core of the Blood Rune’s sealing array is located at the Jiang Clan’s founding site," Flawless-Diviner replied. "Jiang Li told me this himself. Back then, the Sword Immortal Jiang Yun accepted the inheritance of the Divine Ancestor. That’s how he achieved such great success. Later, he also promised the Divine Ancestor to build the clan on top of the seal’s core, becoming its guardian for generations."
"The Jiang Clan’s decline is related to the Blood Rune Space," Xu Zimo immediately saw the key point.
"The seal has become unstable after all these generations of attacks from the monsters."
Flawless-Diviner nodded. "Some monsters have already begun to escape from the Blood Rune Space. The Jiang Clan exhausted themselves maintaining the seal. Eventually, internal and external troubles wore them down, leading to their decline."
"Where is the Jiang Clan now?" Xu Zimo asked.
"Back then, Jiang Li came to me, asking for help from Celestial Secrets Valley to solve the internal problems of his clan. But our Celestial Secrets Valley didn’t want to get involved. I pitied him, so I gave him some advice," Flawless-Diviner said.
"I told the Jiang Clan to leave Overlord Sword City and hide from the world. Maybe when the seal breaks one day, they’ll have a chance to survive. After all, they’ve guarded the seal for so long, and those monsters hold a deep grudge against them."
At this, Flawless-Diviner sighed.
"The Jiang Clan rose because of the Sword Immortal, and the Sword Immortal only became what he was with help from the Divine Ancestor. Truly, they succeeded because of the Sword Immortal, and failed because of him too."
"So now, no one knows where the Jiang Clan went," Xu Zimo said calmly, looking at Flawless-Diviner.
Feeling Xu Zimo’s gaze, Flawless-Diviner grew nervous.
He quickly said, "Even though I said that, Jiang Li isn’t someone who would run away. Although the Jiang Clan has been gone for many years, I believe they’re still hiding somewhere near Overlord Sword City."
"Let’s hope so," Xu Zimo said quietly.
After learning the truth, Xu Zimo left with Chaos.
He didn’t trouble Flawless-Diviner any further.
When he walked out of the alley, the waiting Hong Tianfu quickly ran over.
"Brother Xu, are you okay?" he asked anxiously.
"What could happen to me?" Xu Zimo replied.
"I saw so many people go in earlier, I thought you’d gotten into trouble with Flawless-Diviner," Hong Tianfu said.
"Just some small-time characters, not worth mentioning."
Xu Zimo smiled and said, "I’m leaving Myriad Swords City."
Hong Tianfu was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Safe travels!"
…………
After sharing a meal with Hong Tianfu, Xu Zimo finally left Myriad Swords City.
He headed north toward Overlord Sword City.
As the center of the Sword Domain, Overlord Sword City was the most prosperous and massive city in the region.
Since the Jiang Clan’s disappearance, the three major powers of the Sword Domain had each established a presence in Overlord Sword City.
It was also a sacred land in the hearts of all sword cultivators.
Xu Zimo traveled for about seven days. On the afternoon of the seventh day, covered in dust from the road, he finally arrived at the gates of this famous city.