Yang Ye didn’t know how long had passed before he finally felt his feet touch ground.

He opened his eyes slowly and glanced at the surroundings. He noticed that he was underground now. However, he wasn’t covered beneath the ground as he could still look up and see the sky. But he realized that he was extremely deep underground because the sky was merely round 30m wide. Based on his estimations, he was over a few hundred or thousand kilometers below the ground.

At this moment, there were numerous stone houses around him, and every single one of them was floating in the air.

He was standing on a floating stone platform instead. He took a step forward and looked down. He saw a black pagoda standing over 100km below him, and he saw a sword on the top of it!

The Sword Spirit’s main body! Yang Ye’s pupils constricted. He was just about to jump down. However, an old man appeared before him. Yang Ye’s expression changed slightly when he saw the old man because it was actually a mid-grade Half-Saint!

“You’ve come to train?” asked the old man.

Yang Ye nodded and said, “It’s my first time here, so I don’t really know much. Please do provide me with some guidance.”

The old man replied, “See those houses in the surroundings? There’s pure energy within them. It’s where you cultivate. Moreover, every single one of those houses has a passageway which leads to the lava below, and there are pure Firecrystals there. You can give it a try if you’re confident in your strength. Besides that, the pagoda below is the Pagoda of Confinement, it’s where the defiant profounders are sealed. Don’t go near there or you’ll die before you even realize it.” The old man vanished once he finished speaking.

Yang Ye frowned as he stood there, and he didn’t act rashly. Because he sensed that there were at least 10 formidable auras around the pagoda. They were at least Half-Saints, and it was even to the extent that he sensed some obscure yet formidable auras. He felt that they were mid-grade Half-Saints!

Yang Ye pondered deeply for a long time before he decided to wait for a good opportunity to show itself or until he could think of a better plan. Even though he had 11 Half-Saint Sword Servants now and one of them was even a mid-grade Half-Saint, they were definitely insufficient to go against the experts who were down there. He didn’t have an advantage in both quality and quantity!

Yang Ye glanced at the stone houses, and then he casually entered once of the vacant houses. Strands of extremely pure energy immediately struck him when he stepped through the door, and it delighted him.

He immediately sat down cross-legged, and then he swallowed a 1,000 year old Firecrystal and started to absorb both the energy around him and the energy within the Firecrystal.

He was at the peak of the third rank of the Monarch Realm, and he intended to seize this opportunity to advance into the fourth rank. Actually, the third or fourth rank of the Monarch Realm made no difference to him. However, it was a process, a process he had to go through. He had to rise gradually to the ninth rank of the Monarch Realm and break through to the Half-Saint Realm. It was a necessary process, and it couldn’t be completed quickly. Otherwise, his foundation wouldn’t be solid!

With the pure energy that came from 2 sources, Yang Ye’s breakthrough was extremely smooth and easy, and he’d succeeded before even 6 hours had passed.

Om!

Suddenly, a sword howl resounded from outside the room. At the same time, Yang Ye felt the ancient sheath start trembling violently.

Yang Ye thought for a moment, and then he changed his clothes and restored his original appearance. At the same time, he withdrew a mask and wore it. It was important to him to keep the identity he’d created, Yang Man, to be used in the future, so he couldn’t allow it to be destroyed. After he finished doing all of that, his figure flashed and left the stone house before he looked down at the Pagoda of Confinement. It wasn’t just Yang Ye, many others had walked out from their rooms and were looking at the pagoda.

Meanwhile, a voice resounded, “The defiant profounders are attacking. Return to your rooms!”

It was a Half-Saint who spoke these words. Even then, not a single one of the people here intended to obey him.

The sword below was trembling even more frequently, and it was growing stronger as well.

An old man appeared before Yang Ye and the others. He glanced coldly at the and said, “Are all of you still not going to get back in? Do you want to die?”

Meanwhile, a young man said, “Senior, you can just ignore us. Since we were able to come here, we’re naturally not ordinary people. I presume they are of the same mind as me, and they’re very curious towards the defiant profounders as well. Senior please allow us to watch and witness the ability of the defiant profounders, so that we can mentally prepare ourselves. Alright?”

The old man gazed at the young man for a short while before he spoke again, “Fine, Wuxin. Since you want to watch, then watch.” The old man vanished once he finished speaking.

“Wuxin! The 3rd on the Hallowed Rankings!” Someone cried out involuntarily with shock.

The youths in the surroundings instantly shot their gazes over to the young man, Wuxin. After all, the Hallowed Rankings was the most influential ranking in the entire Hallowed Grounds, and the top 10 geniuses were true extraordinary geniuses. The top 3 were even more terrifying because they could even surmount their realms of cultivation and kill Half-Saints!

Yang Ye glanced at Wuxin. Yang Ye still remembered the former 3rd on the Hallowed Rankings, Xiahou Xuan. Xiahou Xuan’s strength could be said to have been extremely terrifying, and even he had almost been unable to defeat Xiahou Xuan. So, Yang Ye was quite interested in this new 3rd ranked genius.

Wuxin gazed at the enormous pagoda below while a wisp of excitement flashed through his eyes. He said, “Everyone, the ultimate goal of our cultivation is to kill the defiant profounders. Defiant profounders might be emerging in a while. Do all of you dare to kill the defiant profounders with me?”

No one answered him. The weakest amongst the defiant profounders was at the Half-Saint Realm. So, kill the defiant profounders? That was a joke to them! After all, defiant profounders weren’t just Half-Saints, they had undying bodies.

“Count me in!” It was Yang Ye who spoke these words. He was worried about lacking an excuse to approach the pagoda, yet it just so happened that Wuxin had given him such an excuse.

Everyone here shot their gazes towards Yang Ye, and they were slightly stunned when they saw him wearing a mask. One of the men said, “Are you aware of the defiant profounders’ strength? Wuxin is the 3rd on the Hallowed Rankings, and he has killed many Half-Saints on his own. To be honest, he dares to head down there and fight them because he possesses the strength to do so, but you….”

Yang Ye said, “I appreciate your concern. But since I dare to head down there, then I’m naturally confident in my ability. Moreover, have all of you thought about it? The defiant profounders are about to escape from the seal. Could it be that all of you are going to shrink back as well when that happens?”

If only a few of them were to charge down there, then it would be like having huge targets painted on their backs. So, it would be extremely difficult to approach the Sword Precursor. However, if a huge group were to charge down there together, then he’d have a better chance.

“That’s right!” Wuxin continued, “The defiant profounders are about to escape the seal, so why don’t we seize this opportunity to fight them. We can use this opportunity to determine the gap between us and the defiant profounders, so that we can be ready when all of them escape!”

“Wuxin is right! Count me in!” One of the men stepped forward.

After that man stepped forward, a few more stepped forward in succession.

Meanwhile, Wuxin gazed at Yang Ye and said, “Brother, your aura is very powerful. I presume you’re ranked on the Hallowed Rankings as well, right?”

Yang Ye shook his head and said, “I’m just an independent cultivator, and it was only good luck that allowed me to come here and cultivate.”

Wuxin glanced at Yang Ye. He understood that Yang Ye didn’t intend to reveal his identity, so he just nodded and didn’t speak another word.

Suddenly, a sword howl resounded from below. It was sharp and ear piercing to the point their eardrums hurt, and they couldn’t help but frown.

Yang Ye’s expression turned solemn beneath his mask. Because he has the Sword Spirit with him, he was able to sense the emotions of that sword. It was filled with unwillingness, rage, violence, resentment….

Yang Ye’s heart couldn’t help but tremble when he sensed this. He really understood how the Sword Spirit felt. After all, no one could avoid feeling resentful from being sealed for 100,000 years. However, he was quite worried. He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to control it once he rescued it. If that happened, then it might even cause him to suffer backlash, and that would really be no different than courting death.

But even then, he still had no choice but to rescue the Sword Precursor. Because it was the Sword Spirit’s main body, and he couldn’t give up even if he only had a 0.001% chance of success.

“Dogs! I’m finally free! Hahaha!” Suddenly, roaring laughed resounded from beneath the ground, and then a few levels at the top of the pagoda exploded apart before almost 100 figures shot out from within. As soon as they shot out from within the pagoda, they immediately flashed towards the sky. However, it wasn’t long before over 100 white robed experts from the Hallowed Grounds obstructed their paths.

“Free? Since you’ve come out, then leave your lives behind!” The white robed old man who led the group roared furiously as he led the group towards the defiant profounders.

A battle erupted. All sorts of attacks surged incessantly through space. Space shattered apart before recovering to its previous state, and then it started to start shattering right after.

The countenances of many youths who watched from above had turned pale. At this moment, they understood that such a battle wasn’t something that they could interfere in at all. Especially when they saw the defiant profounders coming back to life!

There even was slight hesitance on Wuxin’s face. He’d killed Half-Saints, but there was a difference in strength between Half-Saints. Those Half-Saints down there were on a completely different level than the Half-Saints he’d killed in the past.

“Everyone! Kill the defiant profounders! Attack!” Suddenly, a voice resounded. The others looked over and saw the masked man was already charging down….

Wuxin felt embarrassed when he witnessed this scene because even someone at a realm of cultivation lower to his own had dared to charge down there, yet he was actually shrinking back a little.

Wuxin took a deep breath, and then he said, “Everyone! Fight with me!” He charged down as well.

At this moment, Wuxin had spurred on quite a few, and over 20 charged down with him.

The expression of the white robed old man instantly changed drastically when he saw Wuxin and the others charge down, and he roared furiously, “Get the fuck back! Do all of you….”

Bang!

However, his voice stopped abruptly because he saw a masked man slice a defiant profounder in two with a single swing of his sword!

The masked man was Yang Ye, of course. He was extremely swift, and he fought his way towards the top of the pagoda. He simply swept through any and all obstructions all along the way, and his sword energy would either repulse or injure any who stood in his way. It wasn’t long before the others noticed with astonishment that Yang Ye had arrived at the top of the pagoda.

The white robed old man was slightly stunned by this, and then his expression changed. He roared furiously, “Leave immediately! The divine sword has a spirit of its own! It’ll protect itself!”

Sure enough, a strand of sword energy suddenly shot out from the sword when he approached it. Yang Ye’s expression changed drastically, but he wasn’t able to dodge it in any. Unexpectedly, the sword energy passed right through him and shot off to slash a defiant profounder behind him into two.

Yang Ye was stunned for a moment, and then joy filled him. His figure flashed over to the sword, and then he took the sword’s hilt in his right hand and pulled forcefully….

He was stunned again. Because it didn’t even budge!

Yang Ye quickly grabbed the hilt with both his hands, and then he pulled once more with all his strength….

However, the sword still didn’t move at all!