Chapter 1393: Chapter 1393: Dig Through

Confusion was written all over Zen's face as he continued to walk. Why were they currently in this poorly lit place?

They should be headed for the Killing Sword Mountain, not in this cave. Alas, there they were.

He thought for a while. Maybe the Killing Sword Mountain was inside a cave?

They stopped in front of a huge door that was bluish-grey in color, its surface carved with various exquisite patterns. A thin layer of dust had accumulated on the patterns' grooves and creases, as if it had been deserted for a very long time.

Although Finch had never entered this giant door before, he was still very familiar with the surroundings outside.

With a casual wave of his hand, a strong gust of wind blew past, and swept away all the dust!

With the dirt out of the way, the patterns on the giant door were now fully visible. Zen saw what appeared to be a large spider carving, which seemed to have thousands of legs. Apparently, the patterns he saw before were the spider's textured legs.

He was honestly surprised to see the patterns.

Back when they had stepped foot inside the cave, a strange aura permeated the surroundings. Even the huge door emitted such a menacing aura as well.

However, warriors who practiced sword skills were usually honest and moral, since immoral doings would affect their own sword hearts.

Now, Supreme Lord Sword was probably the strongest swordsman in the universe, but why did he set up such a door?

Zen couldn't help but feel something strange, but he gradually began to speculate.

The supposedly mysterious Killing Sword Mountain was said to have many huge secrets. But if the present clues were any proof, Zen gained nothing from those secrets.

Thus, Zen thought that the secret might have something to do with the fact that Supreme Lord Sword became a True God as well as the thing that Shania had mastered.

“Zen, you can go in now.” Finch pointed to the center of the gate, where the head of the spider sculpture was. “According to the manor leader's instructions, those who carry the Whispering Sword need to put their arm into the mouth of this spider sculpture to open the door.”

Zen glanced at the vivid and almost realistic spider's head. A pair of compound eyes, which shone with a strange glow under the light of the Glint Pearl, seemed to be carved from the many precious stones. He felt that he was face to face with a real, thousand-legged spider and not a relief sculpture...

After Zen nodded, he floated over to the spider's head and extended his arm inside it, while he simultaneously activated the sword-shaped mark on his arm.

“Crack!”

At that moment, it was like something had been triggered as the spider's mouth closed, and bit down on Zen's arm!

Yet Zen didn't dodge because he thought that it was impossible for the bronze sculpture to pierce his skin. However, the sharp pain he felt in his arm suggested otherwise.

It felt like a really sharp, pointed object punctured through his flesh, but he couldn't see it clearly because the mouth part was now closed.

Regardless of what it was, it must be very special since it had easily pierced through his divine weapon body.

Not forgetting his arm, Zen reacted instinctively as he brandished his other fist in an attempt to smash the sculpture into pieces.

“Oh, no! Stop it!” Finch shrieked. He quickly stepped forward and stopped Zen's next move. “This is the manor leader's way of identifying the Whispering Sword. If this relief sculpture gets broken, I'm afraid that the door will never open!” he said.

Zen's lips curved down into a frown, but he suddenly felt that the sharp object had retracted itself from his arm.

Just as he was trying to figure out what that was, the huge bronze door slowly creaked open with a loud sound. A strong, malicious aura from the Killing Sword Mountain immediately gushed out after, as if there was a vicious creature that lurked inside it. 𝘙àＮȰ₿Èṣ

Everyone who was standing outside the door was affected by the malicious aura, especially Freya. She looked burdened as all the color was drained from her face.

“Bow-wow...”

The two Baleful Celestial Hounds that were previously quiet began to bark relentlessly, with occasional roars.

“This is the malicious aura from the Killing Sword Mountain...”

There was no doubt that the intense aura utterly shocked Zen. He had been to the Killing Sword Mountain twice before, but he knew that it was filled with such a bad aura. Also, he stored his own aura within it and prevented himself from being affected by the malicious aura.

“The door has opened. Only you can enter it,” Finch said with a faint smile. A green rod then appeared in his hand, as a faint curtain of light diffused outwards and wrapped around Freya and the members of the Sword Manor. The light prevented them from being affected by the malicious aura.

Without a second thought, Zen moved forward and entered the giant door. The door closed behind him with a loud creak the moment he went inside. Such a sound was quite ear-piercing in the empty environment.

This was Zen's third time in the Killing Sword Mountain. This time, he was there with his physical body, which enabled him to feel all the strange things in the place.

'I shouldn't have left Freya outside, ' Zen thought to himself. Ever since he had arrived at the Sword Manor, everything seemed to have gone smoothly.

He thought back about his journey in the sword schools and the market, and his encounter with Caiden. He found that everything had been quite easy.

While there was nothing wrong with the behaviors of the members in the Sword Manor, Zen still felt a bit uneasy. However, he couldn't quite point out why.

Since the door was closed already, it would be better to finish Supreme Lord Sword's test as soon as possible. He hoped that his Emotion Closing Godly Way would become perfect. The final step to complete it was right in the Killing Sword Mountain, and he had no room to retreat.

“No wonder everything was so dark the last two times I entered the Killing Sword Mountain. The cave is indeed very dark.”

Not long after, the Killing Sword Mountain appeared in front of Zen.

It wasn't actually quite tall. According to Zen's prediction, it should only be around two to three thousand feet tall, which he honestly found quite small.

Yet the closer he got to the Killing Sword Mountain, the more he felt that something was wrong. It was still the same mountain, but it was missing some key objects.

“The swords... have disappeared...”

Back when Zen had competed with Rocher in swordsmanship, he had only managed to enter the Killing Sword Mountain for the first time, after he had comprehended the consummate sword intent.

The second time he entered was through the means of an illusion, created by Supreme Lord Sword.

In both of those times, the Killing Sword Mountain had been covered with countless swords which were inserted from the foot of the mountain up to its apex. However, Zen had seen none of those swords now.

Although he was confused, he kept moving and reached the mountain in no time due to his impressive speed. After he circled around the foot of the mountain, he followed the ridge and soon reached the mountaintop.

Zen didn't find anything out of the ordinary from start to finish. It seemed that apart from this mountain, there was nothing else in the cave.

Was this still the Killing Sword Mountain?

Since Supreme Lord Sword had asked him to come here and temper his own swordsmanship in order to correct his final flaw in the Emotion Closing Godly Way, there had to be something that he did not know about.

As Zen floated on top of the mountain, he thought for a while, before he looked at the Killing Sword Mountain with raised eyebrows.

“The malicious aura!”

When Zen hadn't found anything on the mountain, there was an intense, murderous aura within the cave. The malicious aura turned out to be from inside the Killing Sword Mountain!

Did that mean he had to go inside the Killing Sword Mountain?

As Zen thought more of it, he didn't hesitate anymore.

“Swish! Swish! Swish!”

Three rays of sword light intersected with each other, and formed a triangle on the mountain peak. He didn't use much power, and the sword light only reached about 10 feet below the mountain peak.

Once that was done, Zen stabbed his sword to the side and with a slight budge, he pried out a piece of broken mountain rock from the mountain peak.

The moment Zen pried it off, he felt a majestic, malicious aura burst forth from the gap he had made. He could almost see the red mist, which came along with a strange fragrance.

The fragrance smelled very sweet even if it smelled like blood, but not too repulsive.

Then, he discovered that the bottom half of the soft, clay-like soil was actually bright red in color. It looked like it was a mixture of blood and dirt.

“Just what is this Killing Sword Mountain?” Zen asked, truly perplexed. His face twisted into a more serious expression. He launched three sword strikes, and then the three rays of sword light travelled downwards even further. Soon enough, the hole he had dug up started to cave in, and it seemed like he had successfully bored through the Killing Sword Mountain.