Xuanqing Guard

Chapter 257: Chapter 257: Domain

"I’ll guarantee you’ll make it out alive."

Nie grinned as he spoke, then started chugging wine again. Very soon, his face was flushed red, but his eyes grew even brighter and sharper.

"Nie, you seem to know the origin of this place? Care to enlighten me? And why did you stop me from rescuing our colleague just now?"

"Heh, this was originally a secret of the Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute, but after this incident, I doubt it can be kept much longer. Fine, there’s no harm in telling you."

Nie paused, then continued, "This is the Sword Emperor’s Tomb. And if I hadn’t stopped you just now, your colleague would be dead by now."

Sword Emperor’s Tomb? What the hell is that?

Shen Hao didn’t really react, but he basically got the idea; just as he’d speculated before, underneath Caiyuan Village lay a tomb, and the tomb owner, as Nie said, was someone called the ’Sword Emperor.’

But to have the title ’Sword Emperor,’ he probably wasn’t any ordinary cultivator. And from Nie’s words, the Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute had long known there was a tomb here and kept it secret. Only now the secret seems blown.

Still, Shen Hao didn’t get why Nie, or why the act of trying to pull Yang Ming out of the Illusion Realm just now would have killed him.

Seeing Shen Hao’s puzzled face, Nie kept sipping his wine and explained, "Don’t get it? Ha, the fact that you managed to break free from the Cloud Sword Domain on your own means your soul strength is at least thirty to forty percent higher than your cultivation realm should normally allow. Didn’t you notice a tugging force on your soul the moment you escaped?"

Tugging force?

Hearing that, Shen Hao immediately recalled, and his expression changed a bit. Indeed, at the instant he escaped the Illusion Realm, he’d felt a tearing force aimed at his soul. It was strong, but not strong enough to actually harm him. freēwēbnovel.com

"Looks like you remembered. That soul-tearing force doesn’t really matter to your soul strength—maybe just an instant’s discomfort, nothing serious. But not everyone’s like you, with soul strength thirty or forty percent above their realm. Think about it: if those guys received your ’help’ and managed to escape the Cloud Sword Domain, what do you think would happen?"

Rip! Their souls would be torn apart on the spot—they’d die instantly."

Hearing Nie’s explanation, Shen Hao broke out in cold sweat.

Nie had no reason to lie about something like this. Besides, Shen Hao could easily reason it out: if his soul hadn’t been strengthened by the Black Beast Tattoo, he’d have died the moment he left the Illusion Realm just now.

"Is it related to cultivation?"

"Of course. Whether it’s Qi Refining Realm, Gathering Spirit Realm, Primordial Pill Realm, or even Profound Sea Realm, once you enter the Cloud Sword Domain, you get pulled into the Illusion Realm right away. The Illusion Realm itself isn’t hard to break out of—what’s hard is having at least thirty percent higher soul strength than your cultivation should allow. Otherwise, unless you can forcibly break through the Cloud Sword Domain left behind by the Sword Emperor, you’re just waiting to die."

Cloud Sword Domain? That must be the official name for this giant restriction, right? So Shen Hao thought.

Besides, this Cloud Sword Domain sounds terrifying, but it’s not a complete killing trap; there’s still a sliver of vitality left—it all depends on the person. If you’re not the right one, it’s just a dead end.

Nie poured the remaining wine from the jar into a silver gourd on his waist; that small gourd, just fist-sized, somehow held over half the jar’s wine. Shen Hao’s eyelid twitched at the sight—an expensive, rare storage magical artifact just for holding wine?! Are all sect folks this extravagant?

Once the wine was stored, Nie tossed the empty jar aside, shook the silver gourd in his hand, and looked thoroughly pleased.

"Your luck’s not bad. This time around, the array structure in the Sword Emperor’s Tomb hit its timeframe and started reconstructing, bringing the tomb to light. It made a bit of noise, but it wasn’t an unstoppable slaughter—those trapped here won’t all die. As long as they can survive till this place seals up again, the Cloud Sword Domain will automatically withdraw, and they’ll be fine."

"How long do we have to wait?"

"Quickest, ten days or so. If slow, over a month."

Shen Hao: "..."

Gathering Spirit Realm cultivators might last half a month without food or water, but Qi Refining Realm people max out at eight or nine days; ordinary folks with no cultivation will drop in three or four. Even if Shen Hao’s storage bag holds some supplies, there’s nowhere near enough to feed everyone. Is he supposed to go hungry himself?

"Heh, don’t worry. There’s a village ahead, full of food—we won’t even finish it all ourselves. Come on, since you’re here, I’ll take you in for a look. Now that you’ve escaped the inner Illusion Realm of the Cloud Sword Domain, there aren’t many restrictions on you anymore; just be careful not to wander into the dangerous zones and you’ll be fine."

"Can’t get out?"

"Of course not. Once the Cloud Sword Domain activates, it’s entry only, no exit. Either break it by force, or wait as I said. But you don’t seem to realize your situation right now."

Forget it, fate brought us together, you’ve bought me drinks twice and both times good wine, so I’ll explain a bit more.

Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute discovered the Sword Emperor’s Tomb centuries ago and kept it hidden. This village was built by their earliest members to avoid drawing attention. And since the Earth Phase theories are so vague, once the village was established, even the top Gated Clans of the Jingjiu Dynasty dared not forcefully seize it, so it’s survived till now.

Every three years, the Sword Emperor’s Tomb has a window during which the restriction array opens, allowing one person in—a rare opportunity. Many at Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute scramble for it.

Coincidentally, this year is that three-year window, and I was the one chosen. But it just happened to overlap with the array structure’s self-deconstruction and rebuilding phase—the tomb surfaced, and since I arrived early, I get a head start."

If you’re lucky, you might benefit too."

After hearing all that, Shen Hao’s mind was a mess—he realized he’d stumbled into an ’opportunity’ that wasn’t meant for him at all. And from Nie’s words, was this place about to be swarmed soon?

"Will a lot of sect people come?"

Nie: "Of course. But low-cultivation folks are useless. High-cultivation ones can’t necessarily maintain soul strength thirty to forty percent above their realm. The ideal group is probably sect folks with Primordial Pill Realm Perfection cultivation and high soul strength—their sects will show up. Any lower is pointless, any higher too rare."

Shen Hao understood. The restrictions on soul strength basically meant the Cloud Sword Domain limited who could enter by cultivation realm. The lower your realm, the easier it is to get in.

To break it down: say the normal soul strength for Qi Refining is ten—if you can hit thirteen or fourteen or above, you pass the Cloud Sword Domain’s test. But if Gathering Spirit Realm’s normal soul strength is a hundred, the domain demands at least a hundred thirty. The higher your cultivation, the greater the excess soul strength needed.