I had no intention of entering the martial world.

Chapter 25 The Sword Awakens

The Jiangling Prince's Palace is situated with its back to the Yangtze River, and part of its buildings are built on the water. The entrance marked on the map is located below the lotus pond in the palace's rear garden.

Lu Chenzhou hid the boat in the reeds on the shore and then submerged into the water.

The lotus pond was murky, filled with silt and weeds. Following the map, he swam to a rockery at the bottom of the pond—at the base of the rockery was an inconspicuous opening, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

He crawled inside.

Inside was a narrow, man-made waterway with a slow current. After swimming for about ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), stone steps appeared ahead—the waterway had ended.

Lu Chenzhou surfaced.

This is an underground stone chamber, not large, about three zhang square. The four walls are smooth bluestone, with several luminous pearls embedded in them, emitting a cold, eerie light. In the center of the chamber is a stone platform, with a recess on it, shaped... just big enough to hold a sword.

He swam over, took the Azure Sword out of the oilcloth, and compared it.

Perfectly fitted.

It seems this is indeed where the sword was originally hidden.

But what Lu Chenzhou cared about even more was the inscription on the stone platform.

It wasn't Chinese characters; it was a very ancient rune. He couldn't understand it, but the jade pendant in his arms began to heat up again—this time it wasn't resonance, but more like a kind of…translation?

He gripped the jade pendant and concentrated.

Those runes began to twist and recombine in his consciousness, eventually transforming into characters he could understand:

"The Azure Sky guards this place, and the Heavenly Gate is forever sealed. Future generations must guard this place carefully and not disturb it. If it is disturbed, the Heavenly Gate will open, and the world will descend into chaos."

Tianmen.

It's Tianmen again.

Lu Chenzhou frowned. The Three Swords Seal a hundred years ago was to seal the Heavenly Gate. So why is someone now trying to open it?

What exactly is Eunuch Qin's "Tianmen Project"?

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard a sound coming from the other end of the stone chamber.

It was very light; it was the sound of footsteps.

Someone's coming!

Lu Chenzhou immediately darted behind the stone platform and held his breath.

The footsteps grew closer, accompanied by voices:

"...Are you sure this is the place?"

"No mistake. That beam of light just now came from this area."

Two voices, one male and one female.

The man's voice was deep and official. The woman's...

"What did the Prince say?"

"The prince said that the item must be found, either alive or dead."

Your Highness? The Prince of Jiangling?

Lu Chenzhou's heart sank.

At this moment, the two men had already entered the stone chamber.

By the light of the luminous pearl, Lu Chenzhou could see their faces clearly.

The man was a middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in the uniform of a royal guard, with a long sword at his waist and sharp eyes.

Woman...

Lu Chenzhou's pupils contracted.

It was the woman in purple I met in the alley last night.

She had changed into a plain white dress, with a pale purple cloak over it. The hood had been removed, revealing a face of unparalleled beauty—her eyebrows were like distant mountains, her eyes like autumn waters, her lips naturally red, and her skin naturally white. But what was most striking was the cinnabar dot between her brows, as red as blood, like a third eye.

She was so beautiful she seemed otherworldly.

But it was also unusually cold, unlike that of an ordinary person.

Her gaze swept across the stone chamber, finally settling on the stone platform.

"The sword is gone." Her voice was soft, yet carried a certain penetrating power. "Someone got here first."

The guard's expression changed: "How is that possible? Only Your Highness and you know about the mechanisms here..."

"Nothing is impossible." The woman in purple walked to the stone platform, reached out and touched the empty groove. "The sword wasn't taken long ago; there are still water stains in the groove."

She turned her head to look in the direction where Lu Chenzhou was hiding.

"Come out."

Lu Chenzhou was startled—had he been discovered?

But he didn't move.

The woman in purple waited for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

The laughter was pleasant to hear, like pearls falling onto a plate, but to Lu Chenzhou, it carried a chill.

"Not coming out? Then I'll ask you to come out."

With a flick of her wrist, three silver needles shot out, heading straight for the back of the stone platform!

Lu Chenzhou could no longer hide.

He leaped up, his iron sword drawn, and with three sharp clangs, he precisely deflected the silver needles. At the same time, he landed at the other end of the stone chamber, putting distance between himself and the two men.

"It's you?" The woman in purple looked at him with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

Lu Chenzhou didn't speak, but simply gripped his sword tighter.

The guards had already drawn their swords and shouted sternly, "Who goes there! How dare you trespass into the forbidden area of ​​the Prince's Palace!"

"Let him speak." The woman in purple raised her hand to stop the guard, her gaze falling on the sword in Lu Chenzhou's hand—not the Qingming Sword, but his own iron sword. "You took the things from the stone platform?"

Lu Chenzhou remained silent.

"Not going to speak?" The woman in purple stepped forward slowly, each step following a certain rhythm. "Then let me see who you really are."

Her figure suddenly swayed!

fast!

So fast that it was just a white blur!

Lu Chenzhou only felt a blur before his eyes, and the woman in purple was already in front of him, her right hand pointing like a sword, aimed straight at his throat!

This finger strike, seemingly light and airy, carried a sharp sword aura at its tip. Even before it touched the skin, one could already feel a stinging sensation.

Lu Chenzhou dared not take the blow head-on, so he dodged to the side and at the same time slashed his iron sword diagonally towards her wrist.

But the woman in purple's hand, as if boneless, twisted strangely, dodging the sword's edge, and then pressed her index and middle fingers together towards his chest's Tanzhong acupoint!

The speed at which he changed his moves and the difficulty of his angles far surpassed all the opponents Lu Chenzhou had encountered before.

He had no choice but to retreat again.

If we retreat, we will lose the initiative.

The woman in purple followed him like a shadow, her fingers flying everywhere, instantly sealing off all his escape routes. Each finger precisely targeted his vital points, each finger carrying a chilling aura.

That's not ordinary internal energy, it's... sword energy?

Lu Chenzhou was horrified.

This woman can actually use her fingers as swords and unleash sword energy!

Moreover, her sword energy and the Azure Nether Sword Energy within his body seem to... originate from the same source?

The thought flashed through his mind, but the battlefield allowed no room for distraction. Lu Chenzhou was already backed into a corner, with nowhere to retreat.

"Seven Killings Style: Greedy Wolf!"

He no longer held back, his sword stance shifted from defense to offense.

This move was the most dangerous one Lu Jinghong had taught him—a life-or-death struggle, leaving no way out. The sword light flashed like a wolf, heading straight for the purple-clad woman's heart!

A hint of surprise flashed in the purple-clad woman's eyes, but she didn't stop. With a flick of her left hand, a white ribbon flew out from her sleeve, coiling around the sword like a serpent. At the same time, her right index finger pointed at Lu Chenzhou's brow!

Attack where the enemy must defend.

If Lu Chenzhou continued thrusting his sword, his brow would be struck. With this woman's skill, one strike would be fatal.

He had no choice but to sheathe his sword.

But the instant he sheathed his sword, the woman in purple's white silk ribbon had already wrapped around his wrist, and with a forceful pull—

Lu Chenzhou was pulled forward!

The woman in purple had already placed her left hand on his chest.

It was not an attack.

It's... a feeling.

Her palm was placed on Lu Chenzhou's chest, where the jade pendant was emitting a faint warmth.

The woman in purple's expression changed.

"The Azure Jade Pendant...is on you?"

She withdrew her hand, took two steps back, and stared at Lu Chenzhou with a complex and unreadable expression.

There was shock, there was doubt, and there was also a trace of... emotions that Lu Chenzhou couldn't understand.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Why do you have the Azure Pendant?"

Lu Chenzhou finally spoke: "And who are you? Why do you know about the Azure Jade Pendant?"

The two looked at each other, waiting for the other to answer first.

In the end, the woman in purple gave in first.

"My name is Yuehua," she said. "I am a guest of the Jiangling Prince's Palace."

"Guests?" Lu Chenzhou didn't believe it.

What kind of guest could freely enter and leave the forbidden area of ​​the Prince's Palace? And even command the Prince's Palace guards?

Yuehua seemed to sense his suspicion and smiled faintly: "Believe it or not. But I can tell you—the Azure Destiny Sword and the Azure Destiny Pendant are not things you should touch. Hand them over, and I might let you leave alive."

"What if I don't pay?"

"Then you won't be leaving this stone chamber today."

As soon as he finished speaking, four more people walked in through the entrance of the stone chamber.

They were all dressed in the uniforms of the Prince's guards, but their demeanor was completely different—their eyes were sharp as eagles, their breathing was long and even, and their temples were bulging high, clearly indicating that they were all masters who cultivated both internal and external skills.

Four, plus the previous one, that makes five.

There is also an unfathomable moonlight.

Lu Chenzhou gripped his sword tightly.

He knew that today's hurdle would be very difficult to overcome.

But strangely, he felt no fear, no tension, and not even any other emotion.

There was only a cold, clear sky, like the snow that never melts on the summit of Zhongnan Mountain.

"Make your move," Yuehua ordered.

Five guards pounced at once!

The blade flashed like snow, and the palm strikes were like thunder.

Lu Chenzhou moved.

It's not moving backward, it's moving forward.

He charged forward to meet the first guard's blade, and just as the blade was about to strike him, he ducked unpredictably, sliding past the blade while simultaneously thrusting his iron sword in a backhand strike—

"puff!"

The sword tip pierced the guard's ribs and emerged from his back.

One move, and he was dead.

But the attacks from the other four had already arrived.