pjbooks Chapter 124 The Shattered Seal
Chapter 124 The Shattered Seal
Dawn breaks earlier in the East African Rift Valley than anywhere else in the world.
The first rays of dawn pierced the snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro, penetrating the deepest swamp in the valley, a place perpetually shrouded in sulfurous mist. As the light penetrated the mist, it was distorted into countless pale golden beams, striking the rugged basalt walls at the edge of the swamp and illuminating intricate details of the rock layers torn apart by tectonic activity.
Jiang Chen stood on a precarious rock at the edge of the rift valley, the Primordial Sword lightly gripped in his right hand, its tip pointing diagonally at the churning mist below. The high-altitude winds rushed into the rift valley from behind him, carrying with them the thin oxygen and the pungent smell of sulfur, making the hem of his school uniform flutter in the wind.
Ye Wuhen stood behind him.
Today, the Sword Saint changed out of the dark gray robe he had worn for thirty years and into a light, dark blue combat uniform—a teacher's uniform hastily made overnight by Qingyun Academy, with the same pale gold slender sword embroidered on the cuffs. Two swords hung at his waist. The one on the left was the silver-white longsword used by the Primordial Immortal Emperor in his youth, the faint scratch on the hilt gleaming warmly in the morning light; the one on the right was the broken sword, now only the hilt remained, the patina on the binding rope almost black.
"The energy reading is still rising." Ye Wuhen stared at the portable spiritual energy detector on his wrist. The numbers flashing on the screen had already surpassed all the thresholds he could comprehend. "It's 40% higher than the peak when the Kunlun ruins first awakened. What exactly is sealed down there?"
"One of the fragments of the Demon Ancestor's primordial spirit. And the largest one at that." Jiang Chen raised the Primordial Sword, its tip pointing at the thickest part of the fog. "The Primordial Immortal Emperor was assigned to guard Kunlun, along with two other seals. The East African Rift Valley was the first. If the markings on that star map are correct, there should be the remains of an Immortal Emperor at the bottom of the rift valley. The person who stayed here 30,000 years ago specifically to guard this seal had the Daoist name 'Burning Heaven'."
Ye Wuhen's fingers tightened slightly on the hilt of the silver-white longsword. He recalled the last words spoken by the remnant soul of the Primordial Immortal Emperor before his dissipation in the Kunlun Ruins—"There is still a sword in the Primordial Palace. Give it to him for me." The Primordial Immortal Emperor gave him his sword, and the weight of this inheritance needed to be proven by him with this sword.
"Let's go." Jiang Chen leaped down. His figure left a straight golden trail in the sulfurous mist, the protective sword aura automatically set up around its master by the sword intent of the Primordial Sword. The mist evaporated into nothingness the moment it came into contact with the sword aura, tearing open a vacuum passage several meters in diameter deep in the rift valley.
Ye Wuhen followed closely behind. His sword control technique hadn't yet recovered to the point where he could fly freely, but he didn't need to use a sword—he ran directly along the near-vertical rock face. Each step he took created a deep dent in the basalt, and before the cracks spreading from the dents could even expand, he had already leaped dozens of feet forward. The dark red bats that had roosted on the canyon walls for countless years were awakened by this sudden surge of air, bursting from their nests in droves, forming a rolling dark red tide behind them.
At the bottom of the rift valley lies a swamp. The sulfurous mist here is so thick it's almost liquid, reducing visibility to less than three feet. The swamp's surface mud is dark green, mixed with volcanic ash and basalt fragments, and every now and then a huge bubble rises. When the bubble bursts, it releases not methane, but a dark red chaotic energy—extremely thin and weak, yet its frequency perfectly matches the energy emanating from beneath the sealed stone tablet in the Kunlun Ruins.
Jiang Chen landed on a protruding rock in the very center of the swamp. The sword energy of the Primordial Sword automatically expanded outward the moment it touched the ground, repelling all the sulfurous mist within a hundred paces. After the mist dissipated, the scene in the center of the swamp was finally revealed in the morning light.
那是一座祭坛。
The entire altar was constructed from a material somewhere between jade and bone, each brick and stone covered with densely packed ancient seal script. The surface of the altar was riddled with cracks, from which a dark red light seeped—the energy emanating from the fragments of the Demon Ancestor's primordial spirit within the seal, worn down by time. And in the very center of the altar, a skeleton sat cross-legged.
The skeleton wore a dark red robe. Thirty thousand years had passed, and the robe's color had faded to a grayish-brown, but the flame pattern embroidered at the hem was still clearly discernible—each flame was woven from fine golden threads, and it had not lost its luster even after thirty thousand years. To the skeleton's right lay a sword, its blade entirely crimson, with faint flame patterns floating on its edge. And on the ring finger of its left hand, it wore a ring engraved with a flame emblem.
Jiang Chen knelt on one knee, his right index and middle fingers joined together, gently touching the ring on the skeleton's left ring finger. True essence surged from his fingertip, resonating with the remaining will within the ring. In that instant, the surrounding sulfurous mist, swamp mud, wind, light, and sound all vanished. He returned to the spiritual void constructed by the remnant soul.
In the void, a figure dressed in a dark red robe stood with his back to him. The figure turned around—it was the face of a middle-aged man, over forty years old, with rugged and strong facial features, and an old scar on his chin that stretched from the left corner of his mouth to his jawbone. In stark contrast to the gentle and refined temperament of the Primordial Immortal Emperor, this Immortal Emperor stood there like a flame forcibly compressed into human form.
"The successor of that old codger, Tai Chu." The Burning Heaven Immortal Emperor's voice was rough and scorching, each word like sparks erupting from the depths of a furnace. "He guarded it for thirty thousand years, and finally couldn't hold on any longer? Or did he finally realize that the seal was useless, and that the fragments of the Demon Ancestor's primordial spirit had to be completely burned away?"
Jiang Chen looked into Fen Tian's eyes, which were burning with dark red flames, and calmly replied, "The Dao Fruit of the Primordial Ancestor has been transformed into the Primordial Sword. The fragments of the Demon Ancestor's primordial spirit sealed under Kunlun have been shattered. Before he died, he said that the seal would not last until it was reinforced. If you're going to kill, you have to kill him completely."
The remnant soul of the Burning Heaven Immortal Emperor remained silent for about three breaths. Then he let out a deep laugh, like magma churning deep within the earth's crust. The laugh was rough and exhilarating, reverberating in the void with visible fiery red ripples.
"Thirty thousand years! I've been guarding this swamp for thirty thousand years, just waiting for these words!" The Burning Heaven Immortal Emperor's laughter abruptly stopped, his burning eyes fixed on Jiang Chen. "The Primordial Beginning gave you the Primordial Beginning Sword after the Primordial Beginning Dao Fruit was transformed into it, so my own Dao Fruit can't rot in this swamp. Do you see this sword beside me? Its name is 'Burning Silence,' forged over nine thousand years using the core fire of the seventh layer of the abyss. Back then, when a hundred Immortal Emperors besieged the Demon Ancestor, the moment they shattered his primordial spirit, it was I who used this sword to burn through his seventh layer of demonic armor."
He took a step forward, and the void beneath his feet suddenly heated up.
"The primordial swordsmanship teaches you all aspects of swordsmanship, while Lao Tzu's swordsmanship teaches you only one thing—how to burn your enemy to ashes. The fragments of the Demon Ancestor's primordial spirit are not afraid of being cut, sealed, or ground down. His essence is chaos. Chaos can be cut, sealed, and ground down, but as long as the will of chaos remains, it can always be reassembled. The only way to kill chaos is to use a power more intense than chaos itself to burn it into nothingness from its very existence."
Fen Tian raised his right hand, fingers spread, palm facing upward. A pure, unadulterated dark red flame condensed in his palm. The center of the flame was nearly transparent white, the outer layer of which was crimson, the outer layer of which was dark gold, and the outer layer of which was a constantly shifting seven-colored halo.
"The Burning Soul Fire ranks third among the nine great heavenly fires of the cultivation world. The first is the Chaos Fire, the second is the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Fire of that old thing Tai Chu, and the third is Lao Tzu's Burning Soul Fire. You already have the Tai Chu Sword, which contains the seed of the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Fire. If you also integrate the seed of the Burning Soul Fire into the sword, the two heavenly fires will overlap, and theoretically, the temperature can be pushed back to the origin point of chaos at its inception—a temperature that can burn the will of chaos itself."
The Celestial Emperor of Burning Heaven clenched his fist, and the ball of seven-colored flame exploded in his palm, transforming into a dark red light core the size of a grain of rice. The light core floated in mid-air, slowly rotating, releasing an extremely intense heat wave with each rotation.
"Take it. I've guarded it for 30,000 years, and my only regret is not being able to burn the Demon Ancestor to death myself. You burn it for me."
Jiang Chen raised his right hand, letting the dark red light core fall into his palm. The moment the light core touched his palm, a new flame pattern suddenly emerged from within the sword mark of the Primordial Sword. That pattern began to spread from the base of the sword mark, expanding in all directions with an almost savage force, colliding, intertwining, and merging with the original pale golden sword intent of the Primordial Sword. The two heavenly fires collided fiercely in his palm, turning his entire right hand into an eerie color, half gold and half red.
The Burning Heaven Immortal Emperor watched this scene, a satisfied smile appearing on his rugged face. Then, his remnant soul began to dissipate from the edges, turning into dark red specks of light. Before the last wisp of light vanished, he uttered his final words: "This fragment of my primordial spirit from the East African Rift Valley, I'll use it to test my sword. I want to see it burned to ashes with my own eyes."
The void shattered.
Jiang Chen opened his eyes and returned to the center of the altar. His right palm still burned with half-gold, half-red flame patterns. The Primordial Sword hovered beside him; of the seven pale gold stars on its hilt, one had turned dark red—a sign that the Primordial Sword had awakened a second type of celestial fire power after fusing with the Heavenly Flame. He stood up, looked down at the sealing stone tablet in the center of the altar, which was continuously emanating dark red chaotic power from its cracks, then raised his right hand, fingers spread, palm facing the stone tablet.
Flames, half gold and half red, erupted from his palm. In that instant, the entire altar began to tremble violently.
Of course, the fragment of the Demon Ancestor's primordial spirit inside the seal emitted a silent shriek the instant the Burning Flame touched it. The shriek pierced through the altar's bricks and stones, through the swamp mud, and through the sulfurous mist above the rift valley, echoing throughout the entire East African Rift Valley. On the basalt walls on both sides of the rift, rocks that had solidified over millions of years during volcanic eruptions began to crumble, and swarms of dark red bats perched on the walls let out terrified cries, bursting out of their nests in droves, forming a dark red cloud that blotted out the sky.
The seal has shattered.