"Clang—"
The broken sword sliced through the eagle's claw, and blood splattered on the spot.
"This is... an Iron-Clawed Eagle," Ye Bufan analyzed. "Cultivation at the late stage of Qi Refining, Great Perfection. But these Iron-Clawed Eagles seem to be gregarious demonic beasts. There should be a nest of them nearby."
"The eyes of this Iron-Clawed Eagle are very valuable," Ye Qingyi said. "Xun'er, dig out its eyes."
Without a word, Xun'er lifted her sword and went to the Iron-Clawed Eagle's corpse, digging out its eyes.
After dealing with the Iron-Clawed Eagle, Ye Bufan had time to look around and survey the environment.
Currently, Ye Bufan, Ye Qingyi, Ye Qingcheng, and others were on a cliff. The cliff was very high, piercing the clouds, its bottom invisible. The surroundings were covered in forests, and a very ancient-looking building stood within the forest.
Ye Bufan walked to the edge of the cliff and, in the distance, saw a faintly visible iron chain connecting to a huge, suspended flat land. On the flat land, there was a complex of buildings, but the most striking was a nine-story pagoda.
"Let's go, we'll continue forward," Ye Qingyi said, looking around.
As soon as she finished speaking, the entire space suddenly trembled, followed by a loud "dong" of a great bell echoing through the space.
"Taiyi Bell rings, opening the mountain gate!"
An ancient and prolonged voice rang out. Immediately, the surrounding flowers, grass, and trees withered at a visible speed, then regrew branches, finally becoming lush.
"Taiyi Divine Sect!" Ye Qingyi murmured. "I didn't expect this ancient ruin to be the Taiyi Divine Sect."
"What is the Taiyi Divine Sect?" Ye Qingcheng asked. "Why does it have the word 'Divine' in its name? Could it be that this sect had immortals who ascended to godhood?"
Ye Qingcheng nodded and said, "Originally, the Taiyi Divine Sect was called the Taiyi Sect. At its peak, a cultivator successfully passed the tribulation and ascended to the Celestial Realm. That was also the peak of the Taiyi Sect. From then on, the Taiyi Sect was renamed the Taiyi Divine Sect. Little did they know, this was precisely the beginning of the Taiyi Divine Sect's decline."
The last Sect Master of the Taiyi Divine Sect was named Linghu Chengye. According to the ancient records of the underground city, his cultivation realm should have been in the Void Amalgamation realm.
At that time, an incident occurred where Linghu Chengye fell in love with a woman from the Demonic Cult. Other sects denounced him and secretly sought to seize the Taiyi Divine Sect's inheritance.
Thus, they secretly colluded and besieged the Taiyi Divine Sect.
The Taiyi Divine Sect retreated steadily, but the disciples of the Taiyi Divine Sect fought and died for their sect, refusing to retreat or leave.
In the end, Linghu Chengye and a group of Taiyi Divine Sect disciples sacrificed their lives to activate the sect-protecting formation.
It was said that within the sect-protecting formation was a wisp of divine soul from the ascended cultivator. The pressure from the Celestial Realm descended. The sects besieging the Taiyi Divine Sect saw this and wanted to retreat. Linghu Chengye, with his own power, sealed all the entrance paths to the Taiyi Divine Sect.
Those who had besieged the Taiyi Divine Sect all left their lives behind.
With his last breath, Linghu Chengye sealed the Taiyi Divine Sect, and from then on, the Taiyi Divine Sect disappeared. Those who wanted to find it never found its exact location.
"But, wasn't it said before that this ancient cultivation ruin has something to do with the ancient Heavenly Court?" Ye Qingcheng scratched her head and asked.
Ye Qingyi glanced at Ye Qingcheng and said, "Because ancient records state that the Taiyi Divine Sect's inheritance originates from the ancient Heavenly Court's inheritance. As long as one can obtain the Taiyi Divine Sect's inheritance, they will know where to obtain the ancient Heavenly Court's inheritance."
"At this critical juncture, with Blue Star's shackles about to break, whoever obtains the Taiyi Divine Sect's inheritance, to a certain extent, obtains the ancient Heavenly Court's inheritance. Once the shackles disappear and people from other cultivation worlds come to our world, this will be a reliance in times of chaos," Ye Bufan said.
"Alright, that's the story," Ye Qingyi said.
"Then, if we want to obtain the inheritance, do we need to go to the most important place of inheritance in the Taiyi Divine Sect?" Ye Qingcheng asked.
Ye Qingyi nodded and continued, "But based on our previous investigation, the teleportation arrays here seem very unstable. Reaching the central area will likely require some effort."
"Let's go, we'll check the small pavilions in the forest ahead first," Ye Bufan said.
The five of them maintained a certain distance from each other to prevent sudden danger. Ye Bufan led the way, entering the forest, where the roars of demonic beasts could be heard from time to time.
Ye Bufan's spiritual sense probed outward and discovered a pile of skeletons. The source of the roars was a spiritual body formed from the spiritual power of a demonic beast.
The Heavenly Gang Wheel was still circulating. The moment his spiritual sense touched the demonic beast's spiritual body, it felt a powerful threat and instantly vanished from its spot.
Ye Bufan felt a sense of loss. The demonic beast's spirit should have been around the middle stage of Qi Refining. If it had been absorbed by his Heavenly Gang Wheel, it could have strengthened his spiritual power.
After walking for a while, they approached the pavilions, and there were many houses around them.
"Ah—"
A scream echoed. A person from the Demonic Cult rushed out of a pavilion, blood flowing from all seven orifices, and finally collapsed on the floor, his face contorted.
Then, more and more people ran out of the pavilions, eventually dying.
"This pavilion is a bit strange," Ye Bufan said, walking around it. It occupied a large area, about eight or nine hundred square meters.
"Wind Wheel Peak." Ye Bufan discovered a broken plaque by the pavilion. Beside the plaque was a skeleton, clutching the plaque with one hand and holding a sword in the other, still in an attack stance.
"It seems that the place we are in should be Wind Wheel Peak. This should be a disciple or an elder of Wind Wheel Peak," Ye Bufan said.
"It seems the battle back then was very fierce," Ye Qingcheng said. "Then what is inside this pavilion that caused those disciples to die so terrifyingly?"
"Wind Wheel Peak..."
Ye Qingyi murmured the name Wind Wheel Peak.
"Sister, do you know something else?" Ye Qingcheng looked at Ye Qingyi expectantly.
"Ancient records state that the disciples of Wind Wheel Peak were responsible for teaching spiritual power-based spells. So I'm thinking, is this pavilion a place for practicing spiritual power spells? That's why these disciples died so miserably after entering."
Ye Qingyi looked back at the cultivators lying on the ground.