Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao-Chapter 173 - 070 Tongtian River

"Young Master, don’t worry about the family matters, I will guard them well."

Zhou Gucheng seemed to understand Zhou Yan’s concerns and promised right away.

"With all of you in the family, I’m not worried. Moreover, with Zhou Qian, a True Spirit Level old generation genius in the family, there’s no need for you to worry either. It’s best to diligently cultivate.

Ah, turbulent times are about to come, and who knows what will happen, so, strength is indeed the most critical thing."

Zhou Yan sighed softly as he spoke.

He didn’t say these words to alarm anyone, but rather he had a series of even more terrifying conjectures in his heart which he didn’t voice at the moment.

From the decay of the Sacrificial Heaven Ancient City, Zhou Yan knew that some horrifying change had occurred between heaven and earth, but what exactly it entailed, Zhou Yan did not know.

However, this change made his soul feel vaguely uneasy.

This unease became even more evident after acquiring the Black Iron!

If the change was caused by the beginning of the Nine Origin Reincarnation, then it seemed that the start of the Nine Origin Reincarnation would soon be upon them.

Once this cycle began, it would herald a terrifying transformation.

"Young Master, we will do our best."

Zhou Gucheng said resolutely.

Zhou Yan nodded, he had never doubted Zhou Gucheng’s words.

"Young Master, should Protector Li Qimeng and I follow you, or?"

Pan Yuming asked solemnly at this moment.

"You each have your own tasks, and I know that. So, after you finish your missions, hurry back to the Li Family. Oh, and along the way, try to investigate the matters of the past and also find out the current condition of my mother.

I will soon head to the province of Cangyan to meet up with you."

In his contemplation, Zhou Yan gave his orders to Pan Yuming and Li Qimeng.

"Yes, Young Master."

The two accepted Zhou Yan’s orders without any doubts.

"The Ancient Array is no longer standing, from here the safest exit is towards the east, you can leave from there."

Zhou Yan showed them a clear path.

"Brother Zhou Yan, aren’t you coming with us?"

"I cannot, I still have some matters to attend to. You go ahead, and I will return to the Great Zhou family soon after."

Zhou Yan slightly smiled at Zhou Qianqian who inquired and responded.

...

Watching Zhou Qianqian and the others leave together, Zhou Yan finally felt a bit relieved.

This world was soon going to collapse into chaos; staying here was extremely dangerous.

Sending these people away was his thought after carefully calculating and discovering that all ancient arrays outside had completely collapsed.

Once he came out, indeed, there was no longer any restrictive force outside, meaning a large number of cultivators would crazily enter here, accelerating the chaos here. Thus, letting these people leave was also a good choice.

Additionally, during his calculations, Zhou Yan also discovered a particularly perilous place.

This place, Zhou Yan only instinctively felt was dangerous and terrifying.

But he needed to utilize this special and hazardous place to properly handle the Black Iron in his possession.

After obtaining this piece of Black Iron, Zhou Yan’s soul had been constantly trembling, though he couldn’t feel exactly what this thing was, Zhou Yan believed it was definitely an extraordinary treasure.

And the more extraordinary it was, to someone like Jia Yongheng who regarded treasures as vital as life, once he sensed the true situation, it would probably mean that Zhou Yan would be utterly doomed!

Holding the iron piece, Zhou Yan walked toward a direction diametrically opposite to where Zhou Qianqian and the others went.

That direction was west, a place that seemed to conceal endless horror and boundless peril.

Moving step by step, Zhou Yan covered tremendous distance with each stride.

With no interference from the Ancient Array, Zhou Yan’s speed could almost match that of top experts in the Sword Soul Realm.

He quickly reached the end of the forest.

At the edge of the forest lay a river, a pitch-black river that seemed bottomless.

The waters of this river were also black, dark as ink.

The black water appeared very turbulent, yet despite its constant flowing, no one knew where it headed.

Arriving alongside the river, Zhou Yan couldn’t help but pause because there was absolutely no reflection visible in this pitch-black water.

Not only was there no reflection in the black water, but there was also a terrifying aura that seemed utterly chilling, as if it hid endless Yin Spirits.

"Is there such a Black Water River in the Ancient Tomb Mountain?"

Zhou Yan couldn’t help but frown; he had never received such information!

He wasn’t usually afraid of these bizarre and mysterious things, for in his soul there was the Void Tribulation Purple Flame, possessing the most righteous energy, and a fit of anger alone could dispel thousands of miles of Evil Souls.

What he feared the least were things like Yin Spirits.

However, seeing this river now, Zhou Yan hesitated.

Even without the Ancient Array, only he knew the full details of the Ancient Tomb Mountain the best, and there definitely was no river in the Ancient Tomb Mountain!

If it were said that the river appeared after the Ancient Array disappeared, that still wouldn’t make sense.

Because Zhou Yan had a complete grasp of the aura of the Ancient Tomb Mountain.

And each ancient site was a manifestation of remnants of the ’Tao,’ a unique environment very much like a ’Secret Realm,’ with its own unique existence.

Now, this abruptly appearing environment here, what did it suggest?

"This indicates that the river is something from beyond."

"Ancient Tomb Mountain, a secret realm akin to an ancient relic site, has seen the emergence of an external object... The City of No Tears, also an ancient relic outside Ancient Tomb Mountain, previously appeared within Ancient Tomb Mountain... What exactly is going to happen here? Have all the relics descended upon this place?"

Zhou Yan wasn’t afraid of much, but this thought suddenly incited an uncontrollable, instinctual fear within his heart!

It seemed that what he was considering was something that far exceeded his current understanding, a grand secret of monumental proportions.

Zhou Yan gasped in a breath of cold air, calming himself down before raising his head to look across the river.

There lay a graveyard.

The densely packed graves were like rusty broken swords thrust into decaying land, incredibly numerous.

There, it was desolate.

There, destructive Sword Qi periodically swirled and manifested.

In the sky, vaguely flying were terrifying vultures, each magnified a million times like enormous hawks.

Their bodies were covered in tattered iron feathers, seemingly full of holes, yet their presence was formidable.

"Lonely graves, cannibalistic vultures, and that destructive Sword Qi occasionally traveling through the void, stirring up terrifying tornado storms..."

Zhou Yan focused intently, scrutinizing the scene across the river which then suddenly disappeared, as if hidden within the mists.

He couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

After a long while, Zhou Yan’s mind was shocked as he dreadfully looked towards the distant horizon.

"This...this is the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb! Isn’t the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb supposed to be at the end of the space-time barriers, in the Void Secret Realm, in the area where the Heaven and Earth Laws are shattered? How...how is it also appearing here?

Could it be that the barriers between heaven and earth have cracked?"

Zhou Yan was horrified, and for a moment, he thought of something extremely terrifying—once the space barriers were cracked, then the extraterrestrial domains, secret realms, ancient relics, ancient battlefields, and those powerful demon beasts within the Eight Desolate Ancient Forbidden, those hidden mighty beings, old monsters, those sleeping powers all would awaken!

With heaven and earth shattered, planets defenseless, all life from extraterrestrial domains could directly transcend the shackles of Heaven and Earth Laws, moving through the ancient forbidden lands, through the void pathways like walking through heaven and earth, entering here.

Although he had known such a result would happen before, and even though Zhou Qian had also emphasized this scene, now that Zhou Yan was experiencing this horrendous situation himself, he couldn’t help being profoundly shaken.

"The Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb, just across the river, but what river is this?"

Zhou Yan murmured to himself.

"This river, is the River of Heaven. If you cross it, you can achieve the Sword Ancestor’s supreme realm."

A voice suddenly spoke up, as if with immense gravity, causing Zhou Yan to instantly lose his ability to judge.

As if a curtain had descended from heaven and earth, it shielded Zhou Yan’s heart, halting his thinking ability.

"Young man, set forth towards the realm of the Sword Ancestor, embark upon the River of Heaven, and you will discover the origin of life’s Sword Dao."

An ancient voice echoed in Zhou Yan’s heart.

In that instant, Zhou Yan saw his Master, seemingly maneuvering a boat, coming towards him, to ferry him across the river.

"Master, have you come?"

Zhou Yan was somewhat stunned; suddenly, the energies of heaven and earth awkwardly shifted, and Zhou Yan felt as if he had returned to the lakeside of the Zhou Family in Canglan City.

The river disappeared, and the small boat no longer existed.

The old man propelling the boat, like a fragment of memory, drifted through heaven and earth.

And Zhou Yan, suddenly felt as if he had returned to that night he was painfully cultivating in the lake, back to the moment he was exhausted from practicing the sword in the lake water.

At that moment, his potential exhausted, he collapsed into the lake, his consciousness blurry.

...

"Zhou Yan, I see you’ve exhausted your potential only to gain further recognition from us!

Unfortunately, you have now depleted all your potential, you’ve become useless. Excessively forcing your potential without progress, without cleansing your body and soul, your life is over."

Zhou Lingyi stood not far from Zhou Yan on a large rock, her clothes fluttering, like a goddess looking down at Zhou Yan in the lake from above.

Her gaze bore deep disappointment.

"I...I’ve become useless?"

Zhou Yan snapped back to reality, feeling himself standing in the lake, devoid of the invincible Sword Intent and Sword Spirit, lacking all extraordinary encounters.

He felt himself nothing more than useless, his own realm as a Swordsman of the Second Layer Heaven had even regressed to the early stages of the First Layer.

His cultivation, ruined in an instant.

A gentle breeze blew, the sky still harboring a lone cold moon.

Cold Pond, crane shadow, still the same.

And he, Zhou Yan, still completely useless.

"Zhou Yan... wake up!"

Zhou Lingyi, who previously looked down on him, seemed to suddenly change; her expression sometimes fierce, sometimes twisted, yet she suddenly struggled to utter several incomprehensible words!

In that moment, Zhou Lingyi’s facial orifices bled, suddenly transforming into a fierce ghost, charging towards him.

Zhou Yan’s soul trembled violently, abruptly coming back to his senses, and then, he discovered that he had unknowingly neared that Black Water River.

The river flowed fiercely.

But on the surface of the river, a snow-white dress, like a bright light in the night, strikingly floated there, motionlessly, not carried away by the water.

That was... Zhou Lingyi’s favorite dress!

"Zhou... Lingyi?"

Zhou Yan called out deeply, yet his voice did not carry here.

Only he could hear his own shout.

In his hand, a black stone was emitting a strange light and heat, suppressing his restless soul, preventing him from descending into madness.