Lol I wrote this chapter out of order. Whose gonna watch the eclipse tmw?
Lineir took a fairly linear path into the jungle. Though the darkness would have been terrifyingly stifling to any mortal, there was nothing it could conceal from Lineir's cultivator's eyes, or Mei's divine sense. Regardless, despite his power, he was in foreign territory and it was unclear exactly where he was. By Mei's best guess, he had been sent to some sort of transition realm. It was a realm where the laws were slightly more restrictive or perhaps merely on par with the regular laws of a mortal realm, yet not quite the Realm of the Gods. When the array had shutdown, Lineir had been cast off somewhere in between.
Kaw Kaw Kaw
The chitter of birds and other wildlife surrounded Lineir as he entered deeper and he employed several stealth techniques such that no wildlife would ever have a chance of detecting him. There would be little chance of anyone noticing his coming until it was too late. Thus was the advantage of being a stealth based fighter. You should always have the advantage of the first strike.
"Hmmm...I sense an ominous presence permeating this forest. Yet, it seems completely devoid of threats. Indeed, only mortals would find it in the least bit dangerous. Any cultivator would not be scared of anything I've seen so far. How...oddly peaceful." After being chased and harassed by celestial beings and the senior generation at every turn, Lineir felt a little weirded out by how peaceful it was. His guard was up due to the fact that he did not know where he was, but despite the creepy atmosphere, so far nothing had warranted his concern.
Gradually over time the lush tropical atmosphere began to change. There was a slight upwards tilt to the ground as jungle began to gain elevation. Lineir was traveling higher. However, he was still quite a ways away from the enormous volcano which smoked in the distance. Suddenly he noticed something which piqued his curiosity.
"Interesting...." In the middle of the forest, seemingly at random there was a gate. There was no signage or anything which might mark the owner, but the gate was well wrought and contained a hint of divine sense. Lineir could sense that this was no mortal's home. He considered moving on without disturbing the residence, but figured that he had to find out where he was somehow. Additionally, the gate had no signs of any restrictive techniques. It actually appeared somewhat abandoned with overgrown veins creeping in between the intricate spikes. When he examined the spikes which made the gate he was unable to determine the material which they were formed from. However, at his touch the gates were actually extremely tough. It had to be said, if the gates had been made by any mortal material, his casual touch would easily distort the material if he wished.
"Yep...definitely not mortal."
He opened the gates which surprisingly swung open easily. Several vines which had grown inbetween the spikes snapped in the process.
Pa Pa Pa!
When the gap was big enough, he slipped inside and continued. Now, though there were still trees and overgrown vegetation everywhere, there was a slick cobblestone path. On closer examination, the cobblestones were actually some form of dark crystal. Each of his steps wrung out gently, interrupting the jungle. So far, the entire area seemed abandoned, though the feeling of unease continued to grow. Where were the guards? Why was this estate in such good condition yet no one seemed to be home?
This estate was bizarrely secreted away in the middle of nowhere. It seemed to contain no signs of life, and no threats. What was the meaning of this? Gradually, the path led Lineir into the center of the Estate. Secreted in the center of the estate was a great tablet. On this tablet which radiated an evil and tyrannical air was a strange script. It read,
"An end to an end and a beginning to an end. The era of the Heavens has waned for so many eons. Now it is the time for us Hells to rise up again! The Pillars are falling one by one and though the mortals and Immortals hold us back now, the Heavens have already retreated. The Ascendance War is upon us and our enemies already cower in fear! Why not charge forth in this eon with all your might then??"
The tablet stood there. It was ancient and worn smooth by the ages but the tyrannical scripture on the tablet had not been diminished in any way by the passage of time. There was a sort of slight sheen to it. As if the stone was not mere stone but something else....perhaps some sort of crystal almost. Around the tyrannical tablet was a formation formed from 9 blades. On the foremost blade there was a jade slip dangling from a string on the hilt. Carved on the jade slip were the words.
"Welcome to the Secret Estate of The Bladelord. I leave behind this Nine Void Blade Sealing Formation for any mortal lucky enough to enter this place. Whether or not you can comprehend this good fortune is up to your own destiny as decried by Fate. Meditate on this formation and you may even gain my legacy." Lineir read from the jade slip. Instantly he was ecstatic. Whoever's estate this was, they were clearly an extremely powerful existence if they could seal such a tyrannical tablet. He immediately began to prepare to meditate on the intricacies of this formation. Now he finally understood why this area had been devoid of monsters or evil beings. It was the Secret Estate of The Bladelord! And it was designed to be safe for mortals to come and gain his legacy so of course it would be perfectly safe. His mind put to ease he ignored the ominous feeling coming from the sealed tablet and began to study the nine blades.
"Mmm....I see...and the 3rd blade overlaps with the second to create the..." Though Lineir's powers of perception were quite high he had no background in formations. Unfortunately, Mei also had no such powers of perception and Lineir didn't even bother asking that idiot Mizuchi. However...just when he felt like he had comprehended a bit of the formation he heard a snort. Looking around he realized it was Mizuchi.
"What? I know you are unable to figure out this formation, you said it yourself, you have no non combat related skills." Lineir snapped at her, temporarily ignoring her status as a Deathblade due to his irritation at being interrupted when he was right on the edge of a break through...
"Sorry, don't mind me go on." Mizuchi said and Lineir continued meditating. As he was on the verge of a break through once again though...
SNORT!
This time it was unmistakably intentional. He rounded on her again, extremely close to telling her to shut up.
"Can you not?? I know you don't care for these legacies and such but for a mere lower realm person such as myself this is critical for my future development!" Lineir put on the air of a scholar studying for the imperial examination and even Mei snorted at this one. She still remembered the boy who had wanted nothing more than to eat rice everyday. Mizuchi hearing this finally could contain it no longer and burst out laughing,
"HAHAHAHAHAHA you really think the Bladelord's legacy is the Nine Void Blade Sealing Formation? Also you think that he would leave such a formation for mortals to study? HAHAHAHAHAHAAHA" And on she laughed, Lineir began to grow a bit red as he realized something was up.
"Well? Why wouldn't he?" He asked indignantly. He had been meditating on this formation for several hours now and with nothing to show for it due to all these interruptions.
"First of all, the Bladelord is one of the strongest sword users of the old era. His legacy is definitely not a sealing formation. What would a combat god know of sealing hahahaha? Everyone knows he is famed for using an array of nigh infinite swords to devastate the Celestial Armies and wage war upon the Heavens and Hells!" Mizuchi was practically weeping with laughter at this point and Lineir grew even more red when she put the nail in the coffin with her final statement,
"Additionally, do you really think he left this sealing formation for mortals? How the hell could a mortal ever comprehend a formation? And if he did leave it for mortals why could you enter when you are clearly already a cultivator? This is obviously not the resident of the Bladelord at all." She said and Lineir had to put out one last objection.
"But why leave behind this Estate then?" He asked and Mizuchi chuckled girlishly finally calming down a bit.
"Who knows? My guess? It's probably just one of those weird eccentrics who enjoys messing with mortals. He left behind a basic sealing formation and employed the name of the Bladelord. Maybe he had a grudge and was hoping the mortal would grow up and enter the higher realms and ruin the name of the Bladelord by trying to show off this utterly worthless sealing formation. Or he was just having fun. Over the countless eons how many nonsensical things do you think have occurred?" She posited and Lineir sighed. Though he had to admit her points were valid he still didn't want to believe that this Secret Estate was a bust.
"Even Fate must have it out for me to teleport me to such a worthless place randomly so I could make a fool out of myself." Lineir muttered. "What am I just supposed to leave now?"
However...Mizuchi gave him a different plan.
"You can get that old fogey back before you go idiot. Why don't you pull up those nine blades and destroy his estate a bit? That way no one will be deceived by this again. There's no way that immortal is even around anymore this place is clearly unbound. Despite how tyrannical that tablet looks there's no real fluctuations from it whatsoever. It's just there for show. Destroy the blades and trash this place!" She said and Lineir pondered it for a bit. However, he was still reluctant to incur the wrath of yet another elder level figure, especially in a place that he had little understanding of.
"Yea...I don't think that's a good idea." He said but then Mizuchi pulled out her greatest argument.
"Those blades are top treasures compared to all of your equipment. Garbage in the upper realms still but way better than the junk you're using." She said and Lineir sighed. All of his equipment was scavenged from the weaker Chosen he had defeated during the 1000 Chosen Cups Trial. It was a motley assortment made worse by the fact that he hadn't gotten the chance to scavenge he bodies of the top Chosen he had defeated before the Te clan elder had appeared.
"Ok...if this senior is really playing a joke on me then I might as well take these blades as payment for all the wasted time. I won't trash the rest of his estate though...." Lineir tugged on the foremost blade and it remained stubbornly stuck in the ground. Mizuchi out of character helped him pull it up.
"Let me help sever the array..." She said and when Lineir placed her in the formation suddenly there was a buzzing noise as the entire thing stopped working. Delighted Lineir grabbed one of the blades but it suddenly shattered into pieces at his touch. He complained to Mizuchi,
"You're too uncareful Mizuchi! You destroyed the sword as well! Are all these swords going to break when I touch them now?" He sighed. While he was carrying two extremely powerful swords already he could at least trade the nine blades for some protective or supporting gear when he had the chance. But now he had a bunch of worthless arcane dust.
RUMBLE!!!!!!!!