This level yielded no harvest.
Upon reaching the second level, there were Nascent Soul Pills, Fifth Grade Creation Fruits, and Fifth Grade Spirit Treasures, all of which were decayed and unusable.
In the third layer, it was utterly barren, with no sign of any elixirs, Spirit Treasures, Talismans, Array Plates, or Array Flags.
The fourth layer, utterly empty.
The fifth layer, utterly empty.
The sixth layer, utterly empty.
The seventh layer, utterly empty.
Because the Joy Demon attacked, treasures from the vault were awarded to the cultivators who participated in the battle, under the direction of the Supreme Elder.
If they won, the treasures served as rightful rewards, improving the bat power of the participating cultivators.
If they lost, keeping the vault intact was pointless; might as well give them as spoils to the enemy.
Therefore, the five subsequent layers were entirely empty.
Walking on Sword Island, Lu Xuanji searched for leftover treasures.
At the Pill Hall, there was an alchemy furnace of Fifth Grade quality; a few reached Sixth Grade. But when Lu Xuanji tapped it with a palm, they shattered like scrap metal, and inside remained some residues of elixirs long spoiled.
He opened a nearby Medicine Nourishing Gourd containing a Seventh Grade Elixir, preserved for five thousand years.
Yet, when he opened the gourd, a stench spread, and the Seventh Grade Elixir had already decayed, making it unusable.
In the Artifact Hall, he found some Magical Treasure blanks and a few pleted ones, but a mere tap caused them to shatter.
In the Spiritual Beast Garden, where once demon beasts like the Immortal Crane, White Tiger, and Nine-tailed Fox were reared as mounts, it was now utterly empty.
In the Talisman Hall, the ink for talismans had long dried up, and the stone stele marking the Hall itself was eroded beyond recognition.
In the past, there were numerous Treasure Swords embedded on Sword Mountain, but he casually pulled one out, and with a gentle tap, the sword shattered.
Spirit Treasures need maintenance, nourished by Qi and Blood, tempered with True Qi. But due to long-term isolation and lack of effective preservation, over numerous millennia, these Spirit Treasures lost their spirituality, their power waned, and they shattered with a light tap.
In the Medicine Garden, searching for some Spirit Medicine yielded only ashes on the ground.
Over the long years, the Spirit Medicines withered to ashes.
He began to gather the ash, using it as excellent fertilizer for cultivating soil.
"I’ve e too late!"
"Had I e ten thousand years ago, I might have found some intact elixirs and Magical Treasures; but now, eroded by time, the elixirs have decayed, the Treasures shattered, and ultimately unusable." Lu Xuanji sighed as he walked, eventually arriving at the Ancestral Hall.
In the Ancestral Hall, top figures born from Sword Island across generations were enshrined.
To enter the Ancestral Hall, Harmonization cultivation at the very least is required.
Inside the Ancestral Hall, a statue stood enshrined above.
Three statues were the most prominent, occupying the central position, each twice the height of any other statues.
These three statues were of Pure Yang Daoist Monarch, Two Ritual Daoist Monarch, and Feiyu Daoist Monarch.
Pure Yang Daoist Monarch donned a refined robe, resembling a scholar, and was the master of the Pure Yang Sword. Standing there, gentle in disposition, like a refined gentleman, historical records describe this Daoist Monarch as having the kindest nature and a congenial temperament.
Two Ritual Daoist Monarch stood there with a domineering aura, like a Sword Monarch ruling the world, terrifying in presence. Sword Island reached its zenith in his era.
Feiyu Daoist Monarch, a woman in a blood-red robe, resembled a female scourge, a demoness.
In that era, the Sword Sect began declining, barely maintaining its place among the ten great Immortal Sects. After Feiyu Daoist Monarch emerged, she unleashed a massacre on Sword Island, and again on Immortal Island, and once more on the Demon Dao lineage.
Wherever she went, rivers of blood followed; she was a veritable scourge.
"Three ancestors, and all the past ancestors, Xuanji pays respect to you all. Although I am neither a disciple of Sword Island nor a Sword Cultivator, and my swordsmanship is poor, I still offer some incense here for you."
Lu Xuanji said, taking out three sticks of incense.
Incense smoke curled, mist enshrouded.
He lit them and inserted them into a nearby incense burner, bowing thrice with clasped hands.
Then, he prepared to leave.
"Youngster, hold for a moment!"
Just then, a voice came, gentle in tone.
"Who is it?"
Lu Xuanji exclaimed in shock, looking around but failing to find the source.
"Look behind you, I am Two Ritual Daoist Monarch!"
The voice continued.
Lu Xuanji turned around and saw the statue of Two Ritual Daoist Monarch seemingly "e alive", speaking.
"Senior, it is Two Ritual Daoist Monarch!"
Lu Xuanji asked.
"Indeed, it is I!" Two Ritual Daoist Monarch spoke: "Many years after Sword Island’s destruction, a cultivator still es to Sword Island to pay homage. Alas, how touching! Are you a remnant of Sword Island?"
"I am not!"
Lu Xuanji replied: "I just happened to enter here."
Two Ritual Daoist Monarch inquired: "Are you a Sword Cultivator?"
"No!" Lu Xuanji said: "Once a senior guided me, but later remarked that I was a ’decayed wood in Sword Dao’. I lack sincerity and passion for Sword Dao. As long as it’s useful, it doesn’t matter if it’s a sword, a stick, a long saber, or a Great Cauldron, as long as it can defeat the enemy, there’s no difference."
"A decayed wood in Sword Dao, yet you arrived on Sword Island, intriguing, intriguing!" Two Ritual Daoist Monarch laughed: "And at this moment, I happened to finish cultivation, sensed the incense offerings, and through cause and effect, I felt your presence, descending with a strand of spirit. You are indeed intriguing; in your thunderous aura, I sense the bait’s aura."
"Cause and effect as lines, desire as bait, fishing is like fishing out people, those willing bite. On you, I perceive no less than ten lines of cause and effect...Someone is scheming on you, with quite a number, some I can see through, some I cannot, indeed intriguing! Intriguing!"
Lu Xuanji frowned slightly, about to ask who was scheming on him.
Two Ritual Daoist Monarch said: "On the eighth level of the treasure vault, there is a Void Treasure Chest left by me before ascension, containing some small gifts, which you can have as a present!"
Lu Xuanji frowned, "There is no reward without hard work, why is Senior doing this?"
Two Ritual Daoist Monarch replied: "I merely left a chess piece at random, this piece may perish during the Nascent Soul Stage, or it could soar to great heights, it all depends on your creation. Success brings joy, failure means insignificant loss. As for whether you will take it or not, it’s as you wish!"
"Doesn’t Senior’s bestowal of opportunity require a test?"
Lu Xuanji asked.
"A test?" Two Ritual Daoist Monarch laughed: "Tests are meaningless! Over the years, I have seen numerous people with heavenly talents, extraordinary prehension, steadfast Daoxin, and many with incredible luck, yet many faded into obscurity. Human calculations are inferior to celestial ones, celestial calculations not as good as not calculating at all."
"Many Immortals, though they believe their Dao practice profound, perceive countless threads of destiny, yet the more they claim to know, the more unknown remains, the less clear the future bees."
"Let everything follow its fate!"
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