The Sword Dynasty

“This kind of medicine is very dangerous.” Xu Fu’s fingers moved slightly, as though he picked up the energy from the gravestone. His expression changed.

He had searched for medicines for Yuanwu overseas for long periods of time, and knew medicine well. While this kind of medicine energy contained stunning changes, and caused his flesh to feel eager and pleased, he also sensed that there was a holy deathly silence in this medicine energy. It was completely different from the top spirit medicines he had been in contact with.

Yuanwu nodded, indicating that he had heard clearly. He did not immediately express his attitude, just reaching out his hand to fall on the gravestone.

When his palm made contact with the black gravestone, there was immediately blinding golden holy light. The black gravestone naturally was hostile and seemed to crack open. But his hand pressed on the gravestone, and the gravestone, trembling, was unable to move. The golden light seeped into the gravestone. He used a long time to sense, and his expression grew more and more strange.

“So the so-called elixir of life from the Wuzhi ancestral mountain is just a thing,” he said and then looked at Qian Mu. He seemed to have known Ding Ning’s arrangements already and said, “The medicine power is at most a half. There is the other half that will be handed to me when exchanging Eldest Miss Shang?”

“The other half is on Fu Su, and will be given to you with him.”

“Really?” Yuanwu raised his eyebrows.

Usually, his expression did not change much, and at many times, other than the authority of the emperor, he just appeared honest and simple. But when he raised his eyebrows, he looked unspeakably proud. Then he said simply, “I agree.”

Qian Mu was shocked. He had not expected Yuanwu to agree so easily. But in the next moment, his heart sank slightly, and he felt that this was the presence that Yuanwu should have. Only such a person could win against the past Wang Jingmeng and kill his master. Such a person seemed very simple; he was lying a rock, but...was terrifying.

Yuanwu no longer looked at Qian Mu. He did not think about how to exchange Eldest Miss Shang and Fu Su. In his view, these were things that Ding Ning should think about.

In the elixir of life, that eternal death presence should come from space. It contained a power to corrode the mind. This medicine that did not belong to this world was the thing he had to consider.

**

Light incense, pay tribute to the master, lock the doors and windows.

In the Thunder Fire Temple, the middle-aged Daoist’s actions were all very careful. He knew that after he left today, he may only return after a long time, or he may never return at all.

Ding Ning patiently watched him go about all this. This caused the color in his eyes to grow brighter, and made him think of the many senior sect brothers of the past Ba Mountain Sword Field. This was an unexpected surprise. This middle-aged Daoist had some of the unique presence of his senior sect brothers.

“You are the only one left in the temple?” After the middle-aged Daoist was done, he asked, “What is your name?”

“My master gave me the title Shouchen.” The middle-aged Daoist said, “Five years after the change in Changling, the second year of Yuanwu, there were plagues which broke out in the commanderies surrounding the temple.? Half of us died. The cultivators could not resist the illness. Back then, it was a joke in Qi. Originally, there had been a dozen disciples left, but they all left, and only I remained.”

Ding Ning looked at him and said, “Your cultivation is at least realm five, and you should not have a problem making a living. But I see your energies are not strong. You seem to have a problem with food and drink. Why is this?”

“Some sects target the Thunder Fire Temple. My master died because of this. If not for some in court who owe him favors, this sect could not have been kept. But after my master’s death, we could not enjoy the treatment of the Qi cultivation places, and the land has heavy taxes. The land that the sect occupies has a high rent.” The Daoist called Shouchen explained. “I have barely made it. Years ago, I taught several students, but if they achieved anything, they would be ‘ borrowed’ by other sects.”

Ding Ning was silent for a moment and then said, “Why keep that letter?”

“The Thunder Fire Temple is just an ordinary cultivation place. At the start, the founder was just a roaming Daoist. He coincidentally helped the squires here repel bandits, and was kept to open this place. After all this time, we mostly help people with ceremonies, use energy to heal people, and remove evil energies. There is nothing that is worthy of mentioning. But Wang Jingmeng who had once been invincible in the world sent a letter, noticing a little cultivation place like ours. This is glory. Also, and if not for the stunning energy contained in the brushstrokes of that letter, my master may have thought it a prank from another sect.”

Shouchen took a deep breath, looked at Ding Ning and slowly said, “My master said, just for this letter, we had to pass down the temple.”

“You are able to keep the temple. Your master’s greatest glory is not to have received my letter but chosen a disciple like you.” Ding Ning looked at him and was even more sure he was similar to his senior sect brothers from the Ba Mountain Sword Field who achieved great things late in life.

Shouchen did not say more, reaching into his sleeve to take out a jade box and then opened it.

Ding Ning stilled slightly.

The jade box that was taken out was made from fine Dushan Jade. This kind of jade was warm and had the ability to block energy. Even more importantly, such jade was very valuable, and was not fitting with this dilapidated temple.

There were five layers to the box. When Shouchen opened it, Ding Ning saw five Daoist seals, all of them different.

The seals of the Thunder Fire Temple were truly the most ancient Daoist seals in the cultivation world. The seals were made from some special materials. The scripts were drawn with special metals or jade ground up and mixed with precious materials that could draw in large amounts of primal energies of the universe.

The power of this kind of seal came from the seal itself. The vital energy and special method to use them was just to light the wick of the seal. The biggest weakness of the methods of the Thunder Fire Temple was that usually, before such a seal was used, they would have been killed by flying swords. So in the world of cultivators, they ended up evolving into Celestial Seal Sect’s methods of forming seals with vital energy.

But at this time, even though these five seals were in the jade box which blocked off energy, they were shining in Ding Ning’s eyes and shocked him greatly.