Chapter 658  : The Secret of the Ancient Times

“Master, what’s this?”

A’Xiu moved closer and saw the book, but she couldn’t read the messy words inside it at all.

“This is the chronicle of the ancient times. It records some of the events that happened at the Sword Palace,” Chen Fan said as he kept on reading.

The person who had written this book was called Li Shang. His words showed an impression that he had gone through a lot, leading readers back to the era thousands of years ago where wars were being waged all over.

The Sword Palace used to have more than three thousand disciples and only one remained in the end. How desperate was that? No wonder Li Shang said he would kill himself on Mount Shu.

“It was Sky Immortal Li Shang. He was the last sword cultivator of the Sword Palace. He followed the Deities of the ancient times and left our realm. I can’t believe you found his last words here,” Qian Yexue walked next to them and said in surprise.

“Do you know where the ‘Path of Heaven’ is?” Chen Fan asked.

“The Path of Heaven?” Qian Yexue frowned. Unexpectedly, this Goddess of the Snow God Palace also hesitated. She continued, “I’ve read all the ancient books in our palace but never have I heard about the Path of Heaven. Everyone is still thinking how those Deities disappeared!

“Some say they died after using up their lives, some claim that they went to another world while others say they flew beyond the universe.”

At the same time, Chen Fan only nodded.

He believed what Sky Immortal Li Shang said was true. After all, he must have gone through the space passage in order to leave Earth, and the Path of Heaven should really be a universe portal. He just wasn’t sure where it sent him.

“Qian Yexue is still a disciple after all. I guess only the senior members of the sects in the Realm of Kunxu know about such a great secret,” Chen Fan thought and kept reading.

The following content was mainly about different events of the Sword Palace, starting from the Old Man of Nine Abandonments building the Sword Palace to how the Sword Palace thrived under the rule of the Sword Masters, and finally some intermittent events after the Battle of Deities began.

“What exactly is the Battle of Deities?” Chen Fan frowned and asked.

“The Battle of Deities broke out towards the end of the ancient times. The world was undergoing great changes then and cultivation was really difficult for many Sages. Then, enemies from foreign lands invaded and a large amount of Deities were killed. We wonder if it was the Gods from the West, including the Saints of the Christian Church, who came...” Qian Yexue said.

These were all well-known rumors so she didn’t hesitate to tell Chen Fan.

“Gods from the Western World and the Christian Church?”

Chen Fan shook his head.

The vision he had wasn’t something Qian Yexue could imagine. He could see through the secrets behind history just based on a few words.

“Thousands of years ago when the Spirit Qi on Earth started to thin out, the Deities in the East and the Gods in the West must have gone to war to fight for cultivation environments. However, such wars wouldn’t possibly kill Sky Immortals and leave only one of them behind.

“Would the countries in the world risk the lives of their people for oil and energy? Only when they encounter life and death would they do whatever it takes. The ‘foreign lands’ mentioned are not related to the Western World or the Christian Church, but more likely...”

Chen Fan pondered for a while and stopped thinking about it.

Chen Fan had seen too many aliens and visitors from other races so he wasn’t surprised at all. And yet, the Chronicle of Mount Shu alerted him.

If alien races could invade the planet back then, who knew whether they would come back thousands of years later?

If they could even kill Golden Core Cultivators, there would surely be some warriors above the Golden Core level among their races.

“Looks like I can’t be too confident. I must achieve the Connate Level when I get back, then start looking for the Path of Heaven and ways to enter the Golden Core Level at the same time,” Chen Fan thought.

“If you’re not sure about it, I will go to the Realm of Kunxu to see some of the senior members,” Chen Fan said as he closed the Chronicle of Mount Shu and left.

“Wait, you don’t want the ‘Sword Art of Nine Abandonments?’” Qian Yexue asked anxiously when she saw Chen Fan ignore the Sky Immortal Art on the other side of the stone table.

This was a Sky Immortal Art countless sects in the Realm of Kunxu had always dreamt of!

The Snow God Palace, the Azure Mystic Sect and the Heavenly Thunder Sect would die for it. This was the reason why they had sent so many elites to the human world.

“The ‘Sword Art of Nine Abandonments?”

Chen Fan smiled and took the sword art. He glanced over it, then gave it to Xie Yan and said, “Take it. There are some extra techniques in this book, compared with the other one you’ve seen. It’ll be enough for you to reach the Golden Core Level. There are some predictions for high levels in the end, so it looks like the Old Man of Nine Abandonments didn’t achieve the Nascent Soul Level after all!”

“Thank you, Master.”

This time, Xie Yan didn’t panic. He bowed and placed the sword art in his bag.

Seeing how generous Chen Fan was, Xie Yan knew the “Sword Art of Nine Abandonments” wasn’t something special. He only wanted to serve the North Qiong Sect well and learn the truly powerful arts from Chen Fan.

“You gave the ‘Sword Art of Nine Abandonments’ to a servant?”

Qian Yexue was dumbfounded.

Those from the Black Water Sect were also stunned.

Such a cultivation art was supposed to be the secret art of a sect and was something that only the Sect Master, some of the seniors and descendants could keep. There wasn’t even one in the mortal world, and yet, Chen Fan gave it to someone else easily.

“Xie Yan is the guardian of the North Qiong Sect. Please show some respect.” Chen Fan flicked his fingers.

Qian Yexue was enraged.

But then, she thought that Chen Fan might have done it in front of her on purpose and would ask Xie Yan to give it back after they returned.

“Our Ancestral Master would not ask me to keep such a peerless art even though I’m like a daughter to him. Chen Beixuan must be pretending,” Qian Yexue thought.

Then, Chen Fan and the others searched the entire Sword Palace.

Apparently, the Sky Immortal Li Shang had taken all the treasures in the Sword Palace with them when they left. Only the nine half-completed swords and some Spirit Medicines were left.

“The Sword Palace was a place where Sky Immortals gathered. There should be more treasures,” A’Xiu said.

“The Sword Palace was established thousands of years ago. Some Earth Level Deities must have already entered before. The Starry Sword Array might be able to stop us but not the experienced Earth Level Deities and they should have taken everything they found. The ‘Sky Sword Talisman’ must be the last protection they couldn’t break,” Qian Yexue explained.

The others immediately became gloomy.

The Sword Palace of Mount Shu had less treasures than an Earth Level Deity’s palace!

Chen Fan had already walked to the center of the square. There was a Malice Earth Well with endless black flames inside. It was the core of the array which absorbed Malice Earth Qi and lifted the Sword Palace above the clouds, like its engine.

“What is he doing?”

Qian Yexue looked at Chen Fan with shock.

Chen Fan then took out the Chronicle of Mount Shu and touched it gently.

A layer of white aura then enveloped the book, and the four words “Chronicle of Mount Shu” transformed into a sword, which was like the pivot of the world and was extremely heavy.

“This is...”

Everyone’s eyes popped out.

“There’s always a hub or core that’s used to control the entire array and the Sword Palace is no exception. Why would they keep a simple chronicle in the forbidden area of the sect together with the cultivation art?” Chen Fan said.

Qian Yexue blushed with embarrassment and was speechless. She had wondered why Chen Fan had taken the book.

Chen Fan put his hand on the book and shouted, “Go!”

A sword then came out from the book and dived into the Malice Earth Well. The well started to boil; the air vibrated and the entire Sword Palace was shaking.

“Senior, will the palace collapse?” someone yelled.

Chen Fan didn’t care at all. He kept infusing Dharmic Powers into the book and saw a black fire pillar shoot out from the Malice Earth Well into the air, forming a door-shaped hole.

“If I’m correct, a Golden Core Cultivator has to use either Void Dimension Crystals or other energies to crack space. There isn’t any other way to maintain the existence of a space, except using the Malice Earth Qi.”

Chen Fan cracked a smile.

And the others were stunned.

“Master... would this be the treasure vault of the Sword Palace?” A’Xiu said.

Those from Kunlun and the Black Water Sect were thrilled. How many treasures would there be in the treasure vault of an ancient sect? The amount must be earth-shattering! Even if Sky Immortal Li Shang took most of them when they left, those sects in the Realm of Kunxu would still die for the remaining ones.

Even Qian Yexue froze.

Chen Fan expanded the limits of her imagination again and again. She even started to doubt whether the others would laugh at her if she spoke.

“I guess.”

Chen Fan put his hands behind his back and entered the treasure vault.

The space a Golden Core Cultivator created together with external powers was much larger than that in the Blade Strengthening Gourd. It was as large as a basketball court and there were many elixirs, Dharma Artifacts and all sorts of refining materials. Chen Fan even saw piles of Divine Crystals which had apparently been seized from the other sects.

But the most conspicuous was a pile of black stones.

“Spirit Stones and a lot of them! I guess there are dozens of thousands?” Qian Yexue said in shock. Even large sects like the Snow God Palace was unable to collect such an amount of Spirit Stones even after a few thousand years!

“Right, these are the real rewards of the visit!”

Chen Fan cracked a smile. With so many Spirit Stones, it would be a piece of cake for him to enter the Connate level, and he could also start doing what he had been planning.

“Pass on my order. Close the Sword Palace. I need to shut myself in!”

Right before Chen Fan entered the Sword Palace, news about the battle on Qin Chen Mountain had started to spread.

It immediately caused a great furor across the world.