"Underearth Forest? What sort of place is it?"

Yin Long and Jin Wang may be familiar with Underearth Forest, but that didn't mean that everyone would know what it was. Xiao Yin Yu came from the other side of the planet, her province had its own dangerous lands and the like so she just like Yin Long didn't know about the lands in her Province, she didn't know about the dangerous lands in his home province.

"What sort of land... it is one of the three most dangerous places in the Sunsong Province, only matched by the Skywater Marsh and the Sun's Burial Chamber. We're pretty close to one of the walls so the strength of the beasts here isn't too great, but there's no telling how strong the ones living around that central mountain are."

Three great dangerous lands, which in turn also meant that they were rife with opportunity and resources. Two of them were centred around the home of the Lang clan while the final one was located close to the capital of the province, where the new emperor had made his home. But the Lang clan was already in the midst of its heavy decline so it had been several hundreds of thousands of years since they last properly ventured into the Underearth Forest or the Skywater Marsh so Yin Long didn't have any recent information about exactly what beings lived there now.

"Sunsong Province... I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that we didn't end up further away, at least we have a smidgen of information about this place."

The fractured space spread out to cover the entire galaxy they lived in, countless planets were included in its web so it wouldn't be strange if they had ended up in someplace that neither of them had ever heard about. But whether it was through luck, the unseen hands of fate, or an unknown interloper, they had ended up in a place that couldn't be considered too far away from their known areas.

"So, now we need to think about what to do next. Returning straight away is foolish since Tao Tiankong might be waiting so from what I see, we've got three choices ahead of us. The first is that we leave this place and find a safer place to cultivate, the second is that we stay right here and cultivate quietly with what we have on hand, and the third is that we try to move about to see if we can find anything useful. As they say, the greater the danger the greater the reward."

Yin Yu quickly adapted, she didn't know the exact danger level of this forest, but for it to be noted as one of the three great dangerous areas was enough to make it clear that even she could die here if she was careless. But conversely, it also meant that this was a place where even she could reach a whole new level of life, it all depended on their luck, skills, and determination.

"Is there even a point in asking that? I just had to sacrifice all of my swords, throw them away one by one. I am not content, I am angry. I don't know what you'll do, but I'll stay here for a bit longer. I'll hone my sword even sharper, I'll keep grinding away at it until it's sharp enough to cleanly pass through Tiankong's neck, I owe my blades at least that much."

Yin Long didn't even need to think before he answered. He wasn't the type of person to show all his emotions on his face, but right now, he was a bit angry. He felt anger towards the same source as his regret, his own weakness that had cost him his blades. Here he could grow strong enough to never feel anger like that again, strong enough to never need to sacrifice another blade again.

Like a sword was honed down to a single sharp edge, he would hone himself down to a single edge, one that could cut through Tiankong's neck and continue on all the way to the peak of existence. Because he was a sword, and his was a sword that would reach the peak of creation and turn even the entire universe into a single blade.

Yin Yu felt a light tingle run through her body as she looked into Yin Long's black eyes. That steadfast and determined look was like lightning, it didn't give up, it never took a step back, it never accepted being second-best. That was the look of a ruler, the look of the Prince of Fallen Leaves.

"Alright, then stay here it is. There's no better way to hone our skills than to use them in live combat, and the bodies of the Demonic beasts we hunt will be rife with energy for our cultivation. We can also train our minds since we'll have to stay vigilant at every moment. We are warriors, so it is in the throes of death and blood that we can find our path and grow."

A warrior, that was exactly what Bai Xiang had called Yin Long when he sent him into the outer rim of Underearth Forest to find himself in the throes of death and blood. He had been the first to recognize the heart that rested within Yin Long's chest, the warrior surrounded by death and blood. And now, Xiao Yin Yu became the third person to recognize it.

"Alright, I expected the answer, but it's still nice to hear it confirmed. Goldie, you've got the best nose out of all of us, I'll entrust the path to you."

Yin Long gave a simple nod of his head before he turned to Jin Wang. He could extend his senses to encompass a little more than the surrounding 500-metres, but beyond that he would have to rely on his own vision. It was extremely good for getting a picture of the surroundings, but it was far from as good as finding beasts and the like as Jin Wang's nose, which wasn't limited to a measly 500 metres.

Jin Wang nodded his head somewhat solemnly, Yin Long entrusting the future path to him also meant that he was placing their lives in his paws. If he messed up and wrongfully assessed the strength resting at the source of the scent he followed then there was a very real chance that they might die.

But at the same time, he also saw this as just par for the course. Yin Long was the alpha, the man who had subdued even this golden lion. And if the alpha couldn't even trust the other members of the pack, then those members had no home in the pack. Jin Wang had a home in this pack, he deserved to stand at the side of the alpha, for while one had a sword that would take in even the entire universe, the other had a maw that would envelop the entire universe.

Jin Wang's nose started to twitch straight away, his senses practically pushing themselves into overdrive to find targets, to find things that smelled pleasant for his alpha. He glanced sideways at Yin Yu once and then decided to also search for things that could be useful to this possible second mate. After all, Yin Long was his alpha, the ruler of the pack, and how could a ruler be sated with just a single mate? It was par for the course, just like Yin Long's trust in him was.

He started to move shortly after he started to sniff around, a certain scent that matched his alpha entering his nose. Yin Long didn't ride on Jin Wang's back as they moved, riding on Jin Wang's back meant that he would need a second or two to dismount before he could engage with any possible enemies.

And sure enough, it didn't take long before the first beast attacked them, a four-armed monkey with brown fur dropping down from a branch above them. Its two tails ended in short sickle-like blades that lashed out towards Yin Long and Jin Wang's heads, aiming to kill them before they could even react.

But what a shame it was that Yin Long's senses had been stretched out from the very start, a three-dimensional map of the surroundings constantly moving about within his mind. Yin Long's hand stretched out the moment the monkey made its first move, but rather than point it at the monkey, he held it towards Yin Yu.

"Lend me some lightning."

Yin Yu acted immediately, azure lightning arcing out from her hand and charging towards Yin Long's outstretched hand. His soul surged out and surrounded the lightning, wresting control of it away from Yin Yu as an azure sword dancing with lightning formed in his grasp. She had seen him do this multiple times already but it had yet to stop amazing her. Everything he touched became a sword, even an attack launched by his enemy could become his weapon. It was mystical and fantastic, and it was part of what made Yin Long so versatile and deadly that even she felt slivers of dread.

The monkey was about as strong as Yin Long, that's why it had targeted him and Jin Wang first. But if there was one thing Yin Long didn't fear then it was cultivators at the same level as him. His sword flashed out and deflected the incoming sickle, his wrist flicking as he instantly redirected his swing and beheaded the monkey. There was no room for using his techniques or the like here, the monkey couldn't even handle a single move.

It fell lifelessly to the ground with two dull thuds, its head bouncing slightly. Yin Long bent forward slightly and placed a finger on the back of the headless corpse, his law of blood drawing out all the blood in the corpse as he pulled back his finger. The orb of blood hovered in front of him as his soul surged out, turning the orb into a new crimson sword.

Yin Yu saw that this sword was also covered in the faint pattern of scaled leaves, the same mark that appeared on Yin Long's body when he had used the Netherworld energy. But she didn't ask about how they were connected, because it really was just like she had stated earlier, it no longer mattered.

The trio didn't manage to get much further before another beast attacked them, a large antlion collapsing the land beneath them. Yin Long's hand reached out once more, pointing at Yin Yu.

"Lend me a bit of wind as well."

Yin Yu's Qi started to move before he even finished his statement, wind gathering above Yin Long's palm. His soul surged out and formed another cyan sword, the blade immediately stabbing downwards with a slight twist, a spinning plume of wind piercing straight through the beast. And just like the previous one, its blood was drawn out and added to his newly-formed crimson sword.

They were so close to the walls that the beasts living here were only those that had reached the Immortal Door realm, barely better than the beasts living on the outskirts above. There was nothing he could gain from them, only their flesh and blood would be somewhat useful to their group.

Jin Wang moved somewhat perpendicular to the wall rather than away from it so Yin Long was a bit curious where exactly he was trying to take them that he had judged could be useful. But after walking for nearly half an hour, easily dispatching any beast that came their way, Yin Long saw what it was that Jin Wang had been guiding them towards.

"This..."

He was a bit lost for words as he looked at the area in front of him, a gorge had been torn into the land. But while the gorge was at least a few tens of metres long, it was barely a handful of centimetres wide, its edges perfectly straight. Even if he couldn't detect the faint fluctuations of the law of swords on it, he would still be able to tell that this wasn't something left behind by a claw, a sword had carved this gorge. And it should be at least fairly recent judging by the fact that he could still feel the law of swords on it.

"A sword scar? Seems like we're not the only ones here right now. Looking at how deep the cut is, I imagine that the one who left it is quite powerful, they should be at least around my level."

Yin Yu had sharp eyes so she could see a bit more from the gorge than Yin Long, she was at least confident that the one who left this wouldn't be any weaker than her. But while she could see more than Yin Long, there were some things that only Yin Long could see. And the thing he could see right now that she didn't was the sheer beauty of this sword scar. It moved in a straight line, but it seemed to contain all the might of the ocean, waves upon waves stacked together to form a single beautiful cut.

"Exquisite...Really, that's all I can say..."

This cut had been left behind by a technique he couldn't even begin to imagine, that was a fact that Yin Long was keenly aware of. And because of that simple fact, he all the more desired to learn it. This was something he could add to his own sword style, this was something he could learn a tremendous amount from.

He stepped forward somewhat softly and crouched down by the thin gorge, his arm reaching out as his fingers gently brushed against the edge of it. But the moment his fingers brushed against the gorge, a strange sensation overwhelmed him.

It was as if his entire body was suddenly drained of all liquid, his throat dried up, his tongue and lips turning numb, as if they hadn't been used in several days. And above all those sensations he felt one more clearly than anything, pain. His throat, his lips, his tongue, his stomach, they all screamed at him. They ached for water, they screamed for a drink, anything to get rid of this horrid dryness, this horrible thirst.

His hand shot back on instinct, but the sensation lingered for a bit, the aching pain of thirst seemingly doing its best to encroach on his mind. But that sensation luckily receded before long, before it could properly assault his mind. But traces of the pain still remained, the dryness, the thirst that seemed like it was fine with him slicing open his wrist and drinking his own blood.

Never before had he felt such vivid pain, such thirst that it seemed like it would push him to do whatever it took to extinguish it. But perhaps it was because it was this vivid, he couldn't help but stretch out his hand once more. His fingers brushed against the gorge again, his lips and throat drying up once more as the unearthly thirst assaulted his mind again.

He didn't pull back his hand this time, he allowed the pain to wrack his body and mind as every fibre of his body screamed for some water, or any liquid to sate it. And as he enveloped himself in that emotion, he understood, but at the same time, he also didn't.

"Pain... This is a sword of pain... But how did the wielder infuse this much emotion into it?"