Chapter 2703 - 2702: Ancient Sword Beneath the Bridge

Ling Feng, who was at the center of attention of three strange individuals, felt no panic at all, nor did he have a hint of fear on his face, and still wore a playful smile.

"Really? I don’t think this old man is mad; he seems pretty normal. Look, he’s still waving at me," Ling Feng said to the old woman.

After a slight pause, the old woman lowered her head and continued washing clothes: "Perhaps you are starting to go mad, but that’s fine. Eventually we’ll all be the same, and then it won’t matter whether we’re mad or not."

After the old woman lowered her head, neither the child nor the old man continued to look at Ling Feng; one resumed playing with mud, while the other continued reaching under the bridge.

The old man’s body had already stretched several meters. His lower body was still on the bridge, while his upper body had already reached into the bridge hole, his body as agile as a python.

Ling Feng gradually withdrew to stand next to Ling Yao and Song Ruozhao.

Although Ling Yao, the long-lived Goddess, was not new to unusual sights, she had never seen anything like this before. She asked in surprise: "Who exactly are those three?"

Ling Feng shook his head with a smile: "They are not human..."

"What are they?" Ling Yao covered her mouth, exclaiming in horror.

"I don’t know what they are, but I’m sure they’re not human. Have you ever seen normal humans look like that?"

"I went to ask them for directions just to probe their realities. I didn’t expect these bizarre beings to look like monsters, but that’s about it; I think they’re just average,"

"Moreover, I’ve used Divine Sense to examine them; these three are transparent in this world. There’s no trace of them in the Divine Sense, which is why I didn’t detect anyone within several kilometers earlier."

Song Ruozhao’s expression had returned to calm: "Legend has it that in the Lower Realm’s Nine Nether, there’s a humanoid creature called ’Xiao.’ They are abandoned by both gods and ghosts, unable to enter the Divine Realm or the Mortal World. Even the Underworld’s Nine Nether won’t take them."

"They can only remain forever at the borders of several realms, eternally unable to escape, forever wandering in the mist."

"Now it seems, those women, old men, and children should be ’Xiao.’

Ling Feng laughed: "Isn’t that great? Many people want this kind of immortality. Maybe the Human Race and Devil Clan above have perished, but these three are still here."

"Heh heh, this one truly knows a lot. I thought no one remembered us anymore..." The old woman had finished washing the clothes.

When the old woman placed the clothes into a wooden basin, Ling Feng clearly saw that for an instant, the clothes transformed into a beast’s fur, seemingly stained with blood.

"Indeed, the three of us have been here for quite a long time. Initially, when we were exiled here, we had hope. We believed that once the conflict above ended, we could return to where we once lived,"

"Heh heh, we didn’t expect that after hundreds of thousands of years, there was not a single word. When we realized something was wrong, it was too late; the passageways above and below had been sealed off, and we could no longer return..."

The old woman’s face was filled with a venomous expression, which made Ling Yao’s heart shudder.

"Exiled? Who exiled you here in the first place?" Ling Feng took his gaze off the fur.

"In ancient times, our tribe chose the Human Race side during the war between the God Race and the Human Race. In the end, the victorious God Race cursed our tribe to eternally stay in dark and eerie places,"

"Forever unable to return to where we once lived. But the curse was not enough. The Human Race we helped not only showed no gratitude; they heard rumors from somewhere and began to slaughter our tribe,"

"Just to extract the consciousness crystals from our bodies to aid in their cultivation. In the end, a mysterious person intervened and exiled the remaining members of our tribe to the Lower Realm, promising to open the passage between realms someday to let us out,"

"But nothing came of it in the end. Our tribe members couldn’t adapt to the environment, their bodies mutated and died, and only the three of us remain."

Ling Feng and his companions remained silent. Such experiences are truly tragic, but they were outsiders and couldn’t do anything about it; they didn’t even know how to leave.

The old woman took the child’s hand and turned away: "I don’t know why you came here, but if you want to leave, you might as well try walking upstream of the stream; if you’re lucky, you might find a way out.

"If you’re unlucky, death is the best result for you, heh heh..."

As the old woman held the child’s hand and passed by the stone bridge, she suddenly shouted: "Come back! Stop messing with that thing; if you get chopped in half again, I’ll see how you live!"

The old man’s body suddenly trembled, then withdrew his upper body, revealing a look of disappointment on his beast-like face as he followed behind the old woman and child.

The silhouettes of the three ’Xiao’ gradually disappeared from Ling Feng’s view.

Curious, Ling Feng walked to the stream and looked under the bridge. He wanted to see what the old man had been reaching for.

Through the mist above the stream, Ling Feng finally saw what was beneath the stone bridge.

An ancient sword without a scabbard hung in the bridge hole, pointing down to the stream below, perfectly steady without a hint of vibration.

Song Ruozhao walked over and took a look at the ancient sword, then said mildly: "Could it be the Dragon Slaying Sword? When I traveled across the land I also saw an ancient sword under a bridge in the deep mountains."

"Legend has it that the sages used iron chains and stone pillars to bind an Evil Dragon at the bottom of a deep pool and hung ancient swords at several key points, completely sealing the dragon in the pool so it wouldn’t come out to harm the Mortal World."

Ling Feng laughed: "Then what’s this shallow stream suppressing? It’s so shallow you can see the fish clearly; where’s the Evil Dragon?"

"That just means this is only a checkpoint; the Evil Dragon isn’t truly sealed in this stream. It must be to prevent the dragon from escaping this way."

"What would happen if I took the ancient sword down? Will the Evil Dragon come out?" Ling Feng’s face showed a mischievous grin.

Ling Yao silently knocked Ling Feng on the head. Ling Feng grimaced in pain and looked at Ling Yao, who remained expressionless as if nothing had happened.

Song Ruozhao was intrigued as well: "The young friend could try it. I had similar thoughts back then, but at that time there were many villages near the ancient sword."

"I wasn’t audacious enough to deal with an Evil Dragon by myself, so I stuck to the principle of not doing evil and didn’t take down the Dragon Slaying Sword."

"As for here..." Song Ruozhao surveyed the monotonous and oppressive scenery around them, nodded, and said: "Anyway, this isn’t the Nine Provinces, and there aren’t any people living here. If you want to take it down, go ahead,"

"If an Evil Dragon really comes out, the three of us here are enough to deal with it. Even if it was powerful enough that we couldn’t defeat it, I have enough confidence to carry you all to safety."

Encouraged by Song Ruozhao’s relentless egging and confident smile, Ling Feng was tempted: "Alright then, since Hero Song put it that way, we have nothing better to do now,"

"It would be great to see what an Evil Dragon looks like, and perhaps this might open the door for us."

Ling Yao, though appearing indifferent, also had a slight excitement and curiosity in her eyes. Obviously, it was the first time she’d heard such a legend and hadn’t seen a sealed Evil Dragon, making her the most eager among the three.

Ling Feng summoned the Blade of the Apocalypse, which, sensing the strange surroundings, was about to complain when Ling Feng interrupted him: "If you delay again, I’ll let Kai Tian handle the next chance."

The Blade of the Apocalypse immediately surrendered, under Ling Feng’s instruction, flew under the stone bridge, circled the ancient sword a few times, and finally severed the supporting red thread with one slash.

The ancient sword fell, and the Blade of the Apocalypse hurried to catch it, but the immense weight suddenly made the Blade feel overwhelmed.

"Master! It’s too heavy! I can’t hold on!"

Though Ling Feng grumbled inwardly, he summoned Jin Gang, who roared and caught the ancient sword, the ground buckling under Jin Gang’s weight, struggling to keep the sword.

Ling Feng finally began to take the weight of the ancient sword seriously, just as he was about to send another divine weapon, Song Ruozhao stopped him:

"Let me give it a try."

Song Ruozhao’s Dragon Qin flew out from behind, supporting the falling ancient sword and slowly bringing it to shore. Just as the sword was about to slip again, Song Ruozhao suddenly drove the sword, Dragon Qin pushed hard, flipping the ancient sword, embedding it into the soil before Ling Feng.

At this moment, Ling Feng didn’t look at the ancient sword but at the stream: "Why hasn’t any Evil Dragon come out? I wanted to see the dragon."

Unexpectedly, the stream was extraordinarily calm, not even making a sound.

As Ling Feng and Ling Yao were disappointed, believing there was no Evil Dragon and the ancient sword was just decoration, the stone bridge holding the sword collapsed, drawing everyone’s attention.

The falling stones shook the stream’s water out completely, revealing a white skeletal figure slowly crawling out of the rubble, an aged voice echoing:

"Who is it? Who dares to remove the ancient sword?"