Below the Heavenly Sword Mountain.
Liu Yunqing, still not seeing Chu Fan, grew increasingly anxious.
Unbeknownst to himself, Chu Fan had become his anchor.
Without Chu Fan, he didn't know how he would overcome this final trial.
Secondly, without Chu Fan as support, if any other factions came looking for them, he would be utterly powerless to resist.
Time ticked by.
He waited for half an hour.
"Bang..."
A tremendous sound suddenly erupted from the void, followed by the entire cave trembling and shaking.
"Is it an earthquake?"
"Quick, get out!"
The Yunshan Sect members gathered in the cave were all startled and immediately retreated. Only Liu Yunqing remained anxiously in place.
The tremors gradually subsided.
Chu Fan's figure also appeared not far away.
At this moment, he looked somewhat disheveled. His clothes were torn in many places and bore scorch marks.
Realizing that Chu Fan had broken through the final trial, Liu Yunqing hurried forward and asked with concern, "Wuming, are you alright?"
Chu Fan took a deep breath and exhaled, shaking his head slightly.
However, recalling everything that had just happened, he still felt a lingering fear.
Chu Fan knew very well that it was due to his own powerful strength. Anyone else entering the formation with offensive capabilities would only go in and never return.
However, the power of the formation also filled Chu Fan with anticipation for the secret realm they were about to enter.
After all, the formation was laid out by the owner of the secret realm.
The more powerful the formation, the stronger the secret realm's owner, and the more extraordinary the items left behind in the secret realm.
Conversely, if the formation was easily broken, it indicated that the secret realm's owner was not very strong, and the items left behind would be ordinary.
After a brief rest, Chu Fan set off towards the secret realm.
Although the secret realm was at the foot of the Heavenly Sword Mountain, it was a world of its own, like a paradise, not at all resembling being deep underground. Apart from being relatively quiet, there was no difference from being outside the Heavenly Sword Mountain.
The space of the secret realm was not very large, only a few hundred square meters. As far as the eye could see, the only thing that caught their attention was a building that looked ancient and elegant.
Chu Fan and Liu Yunqing immediately walked towards the building.
Knowing that there would be no traps inside, Chu Fan did not hesitate and directly pushed open the door.
Dust flew.
Inside were many rotten tables and chairs. After walking around and finding nothing of value, Chu Fan frowned.
Liu Yunqing also sighed, "Could it be that this was all for nothing, and there's nothing here?"
Chu Fan did not respond. Knowing that this three-story building's first floor was basically a reception area for guests, it would not hold anything of value. He walked straight towards the stairs.
"Creak, creak..."
The stairs made sounds of being unable to bear the weight, as if they might break at any moment.
Fortunately, neither Chu Fan nor Liu Yunqing were ordinary people. They could completely control their weight. Otherwise, if an ordinary person stood on the stairs, they would have long since broken.
The second floor had many shelves.
Some of them had already collapsed, with ancient books scattered all over the floor.
Liu Yunqing quickly went up, picked up two books, and after looking at them, said excitedly, "We've struck gold! These are all lost cultivation techniques and martial arts!"
Chu Fan picked up one of the books and glanced at it. His expression was indifferent, and his interest was not very high.
As someone who had come out of the Eternal Hall, these things were quite ordinary in his eyes, because the Eternal Hall had many such items.
It was precisely because of this that if he wrote something casually, it could be treasured by Qin Tian, who would regard Chu Fan as a young prodigy from an ancient family undergoing trials.
In this era of the end of dharma, cultivation techniques, martial arts, and the like were only preserved by ancient families with extremely deep heritage.
Another reason Chu Fan was not interested was that cultivation techniques were not like plain rice that anyone hungry could eat.
Everyone's martial path began with a cultivation technique, and they grew with the aid of cultivation techniques. It was not possible to immediately change and retrain upon seeing another cultivation technique midway.
The cultivation technique he practiced was the most perfect and highest-level cultivation technique in the Eternal Hall.
Coupled with his extraordinary talent, Chu Fan had achieved strength far exceeding that of ordinary people at such a young age.
Therefore, no matter how good the cultivation techniques placed before him were, Chu Fan could not use them.
The reason Liu Yunqing was excited was that these were exactly what the Yunshan Sect currently needed.
With the addition of these cultivation techniques, he was convinced that within twenty years, the Yunshan Sect could become a top-tier sect in the Dragon God Kingdom.
Glancing at the second floor, which was filled with books and did not contain any desired elixirs, Chu Fan left Liu Yunqing behind and headed for the third floor.
The third floor was arranged even more simply. On the floor was a rotten meditation cushion, and in front of the cushion was a square table. On the table were two wooden boxes.
Normally, wooden boxes would contain small items.
Elixirs and other important items would be found within wooden boxes.
Elixirs?
Elixirs were the very thing Chu Fan wanted to obtain the most at this moment.
He suppressed his excitement and walked to the square table, placing his hand on the wooden box. After confirming there was no danger inside, he opened it.
A hint of disappointment flashed across Chu Fan's eyes.
The first wooden box did not contain small porcelain bottles or anything similar, indicating there were no elixirs.
Looking at the fist-sized, black stone within the wooden box, Chu Fan reached out to take it out for a closer look.
"Hmm?"
As he tried to lift the black stone with force, Chu Fan suddenly grunted.
The black stone looked only fist-sized, but its weight was extraordinary. Normal force could not lift it.
Surprised, Chu Fan took a deep breath before managing to lift the black stone.
"Black Iron?"
Chu Fan brought the black stone close to his eyes and gazed at it, feeling that this iron-like material was no simple thing.
It looked only fist-sized, but it weighed over a hundred pounds.
After thinking about it, Chu Fan felt that only the legendary Black Iron possessed such weight.
Black Iron was excellent material for forging weapons.
He had once acquired a piece of Black Iron in the Eternal Hall, but that piece was only the size of a chicken egg. When mixed with other materials and forged into a dagger, it could completely achieve the legendary feat of "cutting iron like mud."
Now, such a large piece could be used to forge larger weapons.
Although he hadn't found the elixirs he wanted, Chu Fan felt it was good to obtain this item.
After putting away the Black Iron, he looked at the other wooden box.
"Eh?"
As he tried to force open the wooden box, a strange situation occurred again. The wooden box seemed to be locked, yielding no movement.
Chu Fan's fingers trembled slightly, attempting to use his strength to break open the latch inside the wooden box.
However, the wooden box remained unmoved.
Not simple!
Chu Fan's originally indifferent expression immediately became interested.
There were not many things that he couldn't break open.
This indirectly indicated that the contents of the wooden box were even more extraordinary.
"Wuming, have you found anything?"
Liu Yunqing's voice suddenly sounded from behind him. He walked over and saw the opened wooden box and the one Chu Fan had his hand on.
"A piece of Black Iron, and this wooden box that I can't open for now!"
"What?"
"Black Iron?"
Liu Yunqing couldn't help but exclaim.