While the Azure Mystic Sacred Land was plunged into utter chaos, transforming into a living hell on earth, on the other side, at the entrance of Falling Rain Valley, inside the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion’s warship, Gu Xiu remained completely detached from the turmoil. He sat quietly holding the Green Bamboo Rod, fishing.

Beside him sat a pot of clear tea, and he leisurely waited for a fish to bite.

Today’s fishing was a bit slower than usual. However, Gu Xiu wasn’t in a hurry. Slowly sipping tea while waiting was also a pleasant aspect of life.

Next to him, the little black monkey, Haiji, watched with his chin propped in his hands, his big eyes wide open. But his patience was ultimately insufficient. After waiting for a while, he found it boring. He simply extended a monkey hand and summoned a Soul-Tracking Puppet, then leaped onto it, riding the puppet and frolicking around the room as if having fun.

The Carefree Jade Pendant found this interesting. When it floated in front of the little black monkey, this big brother monkey acted quite righteously. With another wave of his hand, he summoned another Soul-Tracking Puppet.

One monkey and one pendant. Just like that, riding the Soul-Tracking Puppets, they chased each other around the room, frolicking happily.

This scene was somewhat like two children who, after going out fishing with adults, quickly lost interest and instead chased dragonflies by the river.

Gu Xiu smiled slightly and took a sip of tea.

Shaking off the frost and snow, being a carefree Rogue Cultivator. Very good.

Right at this moment, the fishing rod suddenly moved.

Gu Xiu’s eyes lit up. He gently lifted the fishing rod and immediately felt a powerful force on the other end.

It’s hooked!

But…

“Can’t lift it?”

Gu Xiu couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. He felt that the Green Bamboo Rod at this moment was somewhat similar to when he was fishing for the Heavenly Book of Talismans before, requiring a contest of strength with the “big fish.”

He still wasn’t in a hurry. Immediately focusing all his attention, he began to contend with this “big fish.”

When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy halts, we harass; when the enemy tires, we strike.

They remained deadlocked like this for nearly half an hour.

Gu Xiu could clearly sense that the struggling force on the other side was getting weaker and weaker. He simply stopped hesitating, seized the moment, and suddenly pulled the rod!

Instantly, a spatial ripple appeared.

But just as it was about to be pulled out, a powerful force seemed to tightly restrain the “big fish” on the other side.

Gu Xiu frowned. Just as he was about to relax again and wait for the next opportunity, he suddenly felt something.

It seemed like something over there gave a sudden push. The force that was originally restraining the “big fish” suddenly lost its grip, and an object squeezed out from within the ripple.

And accompanying this object’s appearance, an extremely violent roar came from the other side.

For a moment, Gu Xiu felt as if the restraints of heaven and earth were about to be broken.

However, it was only for an instant; all sounds were then blocked.

This made Gu Xiu take another look at the Green Bamboo Rod in his hand. He didn’t know much about it, whether from when he obtained it in the Forbidden Realm or in the dream of seeing ten thousand years in a glance.

He had actually never truly seen through this Green Bamboo Rod.

He didn’t know its origin or what abilities it possessed. He didn’t even know where the things fished by the Green Bamboo Rod came from.

However, Gu Xiu soon withdrew his thoughts. With his current cultivation level insufficient, delving too deeply into these things would only bring unnecessary trouble.

He shifted his gaze to the end of the spirit thread.

“Huh?”

Gu Xiu’s eyelids twitched. This time, what appeared at the end of the thread was an ancient book.

Since the first time he fished up the Heavenly Book of Talismans, this was the second time. The Green Bamboo Rod had brought him a secret manual.

However, what truly caught Gu Xiu’s attention was not this secret manual, but a blood-stained fragment attached beside it.

It was entirely snow-white but stained with a lot of blood, and a faint white light was flickering on it.

More importantly, on this blood-stained fragment, there was a strand of consciousness constantly trying to call out to Gu Xiu.

And this strand of consciousness…

Gu Xiu had just encountered it earlier.

Unfailing Sword!

Is it?

The Unfailing Sword, which had clearly just been forged, was now shattered, leaving only a broken fragment.

What did it do?

Gu Xiu had seen the complete Unfailing Sword; it was clearly at the Heaven-rank Dao Artifact level. Even one step further would make it a Heaven-rank Divine Sword. What kind of power could destroy it into fragments?

Wait!

This isn’t an ordinary fragment!

Gu Xiu took a closer look at this fragment and suddenly couldn’t help but show astonishment: “This is… a Sword Heart?”

Divine Swords have spirits and also have Sword Hearts. The so-called Sword Heart is only nurtured by truly peerless divine weapons. It is the core formed by absorbing the essential power of all the forging materials used in itself.

As long as the Sword Heart remains unextinguished, even if the divine sword is broken or completely shattered, strictly speaking, this sword is still not considered destroyed.

It can be quickly repaired.

And this seemingly ordinary blood-stained fragment before him was the absolute core of the Unfailing Sword. All the countless resources spent on the Unfailing Sword were gathered onto this one Sword Heart!

Moreover, this Sword Heart was currently in an ownerless state!

This made Gu Xiu subconsciously glance at the Carefree Jade Pendant, which was still riding the Soul-Tracking Puppet and dashing around the room.

However, soon, Gu Xiu’s gaze skipped over the Carefree Jade Pendant and instead looked at the ancient book at the end of the spirit thread.

Just by seeing a name, Gu Xiu’s eyes instantly brightened!

…

While Gu Xiu was surprised by the results of this fishing trip, over at the Azure Mystic Sacred Land, a figure was currently standing in the air above the Azure Mystic Sacred Land.

Her face was covered in frost!

“Who can tell me, what on earth… is going on?”

Guan Xuelan’s voice, spoken through gritted teeth, came through. Her terrifying Mahayana aura was somewhat uncontrollable at this moment.

She was on the verge of going berserk!

There was no other way; anyone who saw this scene would find it hard to accept.

The Unfailing Sword attracted the Spirit-Extinguishing Heavenly Tribulation. To avoid the Ascension Immortal Tribulation, Guan Xuelan temporarily avoided its peak and left the Azure Mystic Sacred Land. But she actually never went too far away.

When she saw the thunderclouds in the sky completely disappear, Guan Xuelan rushed back at the first moment.

She originally thought that in the end, it might only be the Unfailing Sword that was destroyed.

But now, at this moment, before Guan Xuelan’s eyes, what was destroyed was not just the Unfailing Sword, but most of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land!!!

Looking down from above now, the entire Azure Mystic Sacred Land looked as if someone had taken a brush, dipped it in ink, and scribbled randomly. Those crisscrossing marks… wherever they passed, everything was pitch-black, covered in black smoke!

This was the effect brought by the Spirit-Extinguishing Heavenly Tribulation.

Wherever it passed, everything was annihilated!

Whether people or the various buildings of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land, they were all plowed through. Some Sect disciples who survived by luck were sitting paralyzed on the ground, having narrowly escaped death.

It was originally agreed that a banquet would be held tonight to celebrate the entire Sect, but the result was that before they could even eat the banquet, they encountered an unimaginably terrifying disaster.

Azure Mystic… suffered heavy losses!

And it wasn’t just casualties, nor was it just the destruction of many Azure Mystic buildings.

Countless disciples of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land suddenly had another thought arise in their hearts.

“Azure Mystic…”

“Is it really going to be punished by heaven?”

However, Guan Xuelan was unaware of these thoughts at the moment because after she spread her Divine Sense, her heart instantly tightened.

With a step, Guan Xuelan arrived at a pile of ruins and saw her three disciples, their faces covered in black, lying unconscious.

“Master, Second Senior Sister, Little Junior Sister, and Little Junior Brother were pursued by that Unfailing Sword. Although they held on for a long time, they couldn’t avoid being struck by the heavenly tribulation.”

“Although it was only the residual waves, their injuries are very severe, even their meridians are damaged.”

“But the most serious is Little Junior Brother. Little Junior Brother was the main target of the Unfailing Sword’s attack. It took the opportunity to pierce through Little Junior Brother’s heart meridian at that time.”

“What’s worse, the Unfailing Sword was an item Little Junior Brother had blood-bonded with. When it was struck by the heavenly tribulation, some of the Spirit-Extinguishing Tribulation energy followed the blood connection and dispersed onto Little Junior Brother, injuring his Divine Soul…”

The third disciple, Xu Wanqing, reported the current bad situation with a face full of grief.

Sect disciples suffered heavy casualties.

Sect buildings were more than half destroyed.

Senior and Junior Sisters were seriously injured.

The worst was that Little Junior Brother’s Divine Soul was even injured!

Although he severed the blood-bond connection in time, completely cutting off the link with the Unfailing Sword, even so, his Divine Soul still suffered the impact.

“How is Jiang Xun’s Divine Soul injury?” Guan Xuelan asked with a furrowed brow.

Xu Wanqing said with a serious expression, “The injury isn’t too heavy, but it ultimately caused damage to the Divine Soul. If it cannot be completely cured, Little Junior Brother’s cultivation of Divine Soul techniques may be affected in the future.”

Divine Soul injuries cannot recover over time. Unless one encounters a heaven-defying opportunity, such injuries… can never be cured.

Guan Xuelan almost gritted her teeth to pieces upon hearing this. Her gaze fiercely glared at her second disciple.

Finally, she turned back to look at Qin Meran, who was also full of worry beside her.

She extended her hand: “Hand it over.”

“What?” Qin Meran didn’t understand.

Guan Xuelan frowned: “In the two days since you returned, I never asked you for it, thinking you would take the initiative. Now that your Junior Brother’s Divine Soul is injured, do you still intend to keep it hidden?”

Qin Meran was still confused: “Master, what are you talking about? This disciple doesn’t understand.”

But Guan Xuelan’s brows sank: “You obtained half a stalk of Earth Cloud Sprout in Cloud Firmament City. This matter has already spread everywhere. Do you want to pretend you don’t know?”

“What?”

Qin Meran was instantly stunned in place, then hurriedly explained: “Master, this is false!”

However…

Guan Xuelan didn’t respond to her words. She just looked coldly at her fifth disciple.

In her eyes… there was suspicion.