Chapter 4019: Dangerous Sealed Objects

The hidden section was smaller than the other areas of the vault, though calling it small would have been misleading.

The chamber beyond the passage was easily large enough to contain a small mansion. Its ceiling rose several dozen meters overhead, while its walls were perfectly smooth and covered in layers of formations that glowed softly beneath the stone.

There were no shelves, storage cabinets, and no piles of immortal stones, pills, cultivation manuals, or ordinary treasures. Instead, glowing pedestals stood along the walls at regular intervals.

But even those pedestals were unusual as they possessed no physical structure. Each one had been created entirely from formations. Lines of golden light intersected in the air, forming translucent platforms upon which individual objects floated.

Every pedestal was surrounded by several barriers layered over one another, while additional formations extended from the ceiling and floor to isolate whatever had been placed inside. The objects themselves varied greatly as well.

There were weapons, Armor, Rings, Tools, Broken artifacts, Strange pieces of metal and some objects that looked completely worthless. Yet every single one had been sealed individually. More importantly, nobody could sense anything from them.

There was not even a trace.

A rusted dagger looked like an ordinary piece of scrap iron. A blackened helmet appeared no different from something pulled out of a battlefield after being buried for ten thousand years. A cracked jade bead gave off no spiritual fluctuations.

There was even a small wooden comb with several missing teeth that seemed so mundane one could have mistaken it for something belonging to a mortal woman. Yet all of them were sealed behind formations strong enough to make the elders hesitate.

"What is this place?" someone finally asked.

"Another treasure storage?" another elder wondered aloud.

High Elder Palm Saber said nothing. His instincts were already warning him that these objects were dangerous. Then one of the elders stopped walking and his entire body stiffened.

He stared at one of the pedestals along the left wall, and his face slowly changed.

"What the hell!?" he suddenly shouted. "HOW IS THIS HERE?"

Everyone turned toward him while the elder hurried closer to the pedestal. Floating within the barrier was half of a sword.

The weapon had once been enormous, perhaps closer to a greatsword than an ordinary sword, though most of its blade was missing. The remaining section was barely three feet long, ending in a jagged fracture that looked strangely melted.

Its edges still glowed with a faint crimson light and three black gemstones were embedded into the crossguard. They resembled eyes. The resemblance became considerably more disturbing the longer one looked at them, as though the three stones were staring back from within the barrier.

The handle was even stranger and it appeared to have been carved from a finger bone... A very large finger bone.

Even broken, the weapon looked sinister.

The elder swallowed. "The Cursed Blade of the Wilderness..."

High Elder Palm Saber’s eyes widened in recognition.

"You recognize it?" someone asked.

High Elder Palm Saber stepped closer, carefully examining the weapon through the barriers. His expression became increasingly grave.

"I’ve seen its depiction in the old records," he said. "There can be no mistake. That is the Cursed Blade of the Wilderness."

The name caused several of the disciples to react.

"Isn’t that..." one disciple began before his voice faded.

An older elder finished the sentence for him. "The blade that killed the Peak Head of Sword Peak six generations ago."

A chill passed through the room and even Lin Mu was surprised. He had no idea this weapon existed.

There had been nothing about it in the information he had obtained from Taegong, and Zhenyu’s memoirs had naturally contained no mention of something that had happened long after his disappearance.

Lin Mu kept his expression perfectly composed. Sometimes pretending to be an ancient expert required a surprisingly simple skill: Silence.

If you know nothing, then say nothing. Let everyone else explain it for you.

"The Cursed Blade that belonged to Wilderness Ghost?" another elder asked.

High Elder Palm Saber nodded. "According to the records, yes. He was hunted by three divisions after slaughtering several sect disciples and stealing from Sword Peak. Their Peak Head personally pursued him. Wilderness Ghost died during the battle, but the Peak Head was struck by the curse within the blade. He lasted less than a month."

"But the records said the blade was destroyed," someone replied.

High Elder Palm Saber stared at the broken weapon.

"Apparently, the records were incomplete." That answer changed the way everyone looked at the chamber.

Their curiosity transitioned to caution, and the elders began examining the other pedestals more carefully.

It did not take long before another person recognized something.

"Wait." An elderly woman approached a pedestal containing a ring.

The ring was thick and crudely shaped, made from yellowish metal with a dark gemstone embedded at its center. Inside the gemstone was a narrow vertical line resembling the pupil of a tiger.

"The Tiger Eye Ring," she whispered.

High Elder Palm Saber looked over.

"The one belonging to the Exiled Beast Division Elder?"

"Yes." The woman nodded. "Elder Huyan Kuo. He betrayed the sect nearly ten thousand years ago and tried to steal several ancient beast eggs before escaping. The records say he used the Tiger Eye Ring to control berserk beasts and turn them against their masters."

Several disciples immediately moved away from the pedestal and Lin Mu silently approved of their caution.

Another elder suddenly pointed toward a suit of armor. "And that..."

The armor was almost completely black.

Its chest plate had been pierced by seven holes, each one large enough for a fist to pass through. Several pieces were missing, and the remaining metal looked as though it had been burned repeatedly. Despite its terrible condition, it was sealed behind six barriers.

"The Seven Grudge Armor," the elder said. "It belonged to the Black Banner General during the Northern Heretic Rebellion."

Everyone grew silent as they tried to remember the Northern Heretic Rebellion.