The Spirit-Treasury Gate

Dark clouds roiled, and by dusk the ink-black masses pressed so low they nearly scraped the ground. A violent storm was about to break.

Not a single figure could be seen in the streets. The vast Heavenly Emperor City seemed plunged into deathly stillness; every sound had vanished.

An indescribable oppression descended from the dark heavens toward the earth, as if a layer of sinister gloom had instantly enshrouded the land.

At Xiao Chen's residence, Hai Yuntian and Fatty Zhuge took a hasty leave. Their expressions were not good. They told Xiao Chen not to go out easily when the storm came at night.

When asked why, neither could say clearly. They only said it was an old tradition handed down in Heavenly Emperor City—every year there were one or two such special storms, and no one, whether commoner or powerful practitioner, should venture out, lest they be frightened.

As he left, Hai Yuntian lowered his voice: "The old folks say this city might really be the legendary Heavenly Emperor City; the name wasn't chosen at random. Stay safely indoors. Nothing will happen. The city's residents are long used to it—only once or twice a year."

With that, he and the fat man hurried away.

The clouds pressed lower and lower, seeming to touch the ground. But still there was no thunder—only a heavy, crushing pressure, as if ten thousand great mountains were slowly descending.

Every street and lane was silent. Heavenly Emperor City seemed to have lost all sound, as if struck mute.

A nameless dread rose from the depths of the soul.

Keke and the Little Defiant Dragon grew very restless. They seemed to sense something terrible in the making, constantly gazing up at the pitch-black sky from the courtyard.

Xiao Chen felt the scene was familiar. When the Dead City had appeared on Dragon Island, the atmosphere had been similarly oppressive and terrifying.

The Dead City?

Heavenly Emperor City?

A flash of insight cut through his mind. Legend said no one knew when Heavenly Emperor City had been built; there was simply no record, only that it seemed to have existed for endless ages. Yet the tall, ancient city walls never needed repair.

Could it be that Heavenly Emperor City and the Dead City on Dragon Island were from the same era?

If so, this city had already weathered countless ages since that distant past.

Was it truly an ancient, mysterious city that had existed since time immemorial?

Xiao Chen had a feeling his conjecture might be true.

Keke and the Little Defiant Dragon stared warily at the dark sky, their expressions grave.

Xiao Chen also felt a powerful unease. But the feeling was still different from when the Dead City had appeared on Dragon Island. At least there was no death aura here—only a deep, soul-rending awe, as if a vast living entity was slowly awakening from an ancient slumber.

Boom…

Heaven and earth suddenly resounded with thunder and lightning. Bolts of electricity crisscrossed the dark sky, tearing through the earlier oppression.

Torrential rain poured down. A curtain of water bridged heaven and earth. The storm had begun.

The howling wind was terrifying, rattling the tiles on the roof as every drop was blown back into the air, forming cascading waterfalls.

All of this was visible only in the flashes of lightning. When the thunder passed and darkness fell, there was only the terrible sound, and no sight at all.

Ink-black! The world seemed draped in an opaque black cloth.

At that moment, the black broken knife at Xiao Chen's waist suddenly trembled violently, as if it would cut through the sky and fly away.

Xiao Chen was astonished. This broken knife—ink-black, unusually heavy, yet never showing any extraordinary qualities—was quivering today. How strange.

The broken knife was only a foot long yet weighed several hundred jin. But without pouring in primal energy, it could not cut even common iron, much less divine weapons. It had always seemed utterly ordinary, never displaying anything special.

Of course, divine blades could not cut it either.

It seemed to bully neither the weak nor fear the strong.

Xiao Chen reached out and firmly grasped the hilt, holding it tightly. He felt the broken knife's vibration. A wave of ancient, age-old气息 seemed to wash over him, and then he sensed a peerlessly sharp saber aura!

A streak of brilliant light directly sliced through the void and cut into the darkness, slashing toward the pitch-black sky.

Silently, without a ripple of disturbance, the endless darkness seemed to simply swallow the blade-light.

At that moment, Xiao Chen suddenly felt a sharp battle-intent surge from the broken knife straight into his heart, and an instinct drove him into the courtyard. He began to swing the knife in practice.

Shua, shua, shua…

The blade-light flashed like snow-white lightning, tumbling through the darkness and racing through the downpour. The broken knife in Xiao Chen's hand seemed to have come alive, like an ink-black dragon writhing and spewing forth divine light!

What the broken knife transmitted to Xiao Chen was less a fighting will than a sword intent! It was not a true sword technique, but it expressed to Xiao Chen a state of mind—an intent that belonged to the blade.

It could be understood but not conveyed in words. Xiao Chen sank into a wondrous state. Though no one guided his practice, relying solely on the blade-intent felt in his heart, he swung and slashed freely.

The broken knife arced like a rainbow. Its pitch-black body shone with brilliant divine light. Xiao Chen felt he could not stop wielding it, that he had to express a soaring murderous and battle intent.

Boom…

Thunder and lightning shook the heavens and earth. Xiao Chen swung the knife alone in the pouring rain. Blades of light shot into the dark sky, fierce and unstoppable.

At that moment, accompanying the ear-splitting thunder, Xiao Chen heard faint, indistinct sounds of battle. In the flashes of lightning, ancient figures appeared in the endless dark sky—clad in antique armor, wielding divine weapons, locked in fierce combat amid the clouds!

Keke and the Little Defiant Dragon also rushed into the rain, watching the sky with intense tension.

Xiao Chen did not stop swinging the knife. He gazed at the heavens, slashing while observing the vague, fleeting battle.

With a soft hum, the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree atop Keke's head suddenly blazed with brilliant light. A golden beam shot into the high sky—it was the Golden Divine Halberd, its killing aura surging! It glittered with dazzling gold, as if a blaze of golden flames danced around it.

Then came a muffled explosion. Black mist roiled, and a dark-iron seal also shot out from the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree, instantly flying up into the dark sky.

The Golden Divine Halberd and the Dark-Iron Seal were ancient sacred relics lost on Dragon Island. That day when Keke had recklessly caused trouble, these two ancient artifacts had shattered mountain peaks and nearly brought disaster.

Xiao Chen had never imagined they had followed them off Dragon Island. Nor had the little white beast ever considered it. Now she was so excited she kept babbling happily.

Xiao Chen was also astounded. That two sacred relics had been hidden within the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree was entirely unexpected.

As the Golden Divine Halberd and the Dark-Iron Seal charged into the pitch-black sky, the phantom figures of the ancient battle within it all faded in an instant. Then the rolling thunder vanished, the wind stopped, and heaven and earth plunged into darkness.

The two great ancient killing weapons—the Golden Divine Halberd and the Dark-Iron Seal—seemed to have vanished with the lightning and the phantoms, never to reappear.

"Ya-ya…"

Keke, the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree still on her head, called out anxiously in the rain. Seven-colored divine light enveloped her; not a single raindrop could touch her.

After a few last flashing strokes of the knife, Xiao Chen sheathed it and stood still. The blade-intent in his heart had been fully expressed. Gazing up at the pitch-black sky where the rain still poured, he could now be certain: Heavenly Emperor City was an ancient city that had existed since time immemorial. How else could it possess such mysteries?

At this moment, the vast oppression enveloping heaven and earth bore an eerie resemblance to the Dead City on Dragon Island—minus the deathly aura.

An abnormal silence. Though there was no thunder, the rain began to fall without sound. Water seemed to appear on the ground from nowhere. A dead stillness reigned over heaven and earth.

But in this utterly anomalous atmosphere, Xiao Chen seemed to hear a shattering sound from within his body. The barrier of the Spirit-Treasury realm broke through completely in this suffocating silence!

It was as if some shackle had been snapped. From his initial, unstable entry into the Spirit-Treasury realm, he now fully and completely ascended into that domain—the unsteady state was consolidated and sublimated!

Strands of precious light swirled around his body. His bones emitted a fierce series of cracks; flesh and bone writhed wildly. This was the natural reaction of the body during true metamorphosis.

The Spirit-Treasury—opening one's own inner treasure—from now on, divine abilities would emerge!

At that moment, Xiao Chen's first divine ability after breaking into the Spirit-Treasury realm manifested.

Melt Weapon into Body!

The broken knife in his hand seemed to melt, transforming into a brilliant cascade of saber aura that merged into Xiao Chen's body.

Xiao Chen was greatly startled—not because he did not understand the phenomenon, but because he knew this ability was extraordinarily rare. He had never imagined his first major divine ability would be the legendary Melt Weapon into Body, the treasure body that all practitioners dreamed of!

But after the shock, he thought it over and it was not truly unexpected. He had always walked the path of refining a treasure body, and the accompanying divine ability naturally related to that path.

Melt Weapon into Body—legend said it could dissolve any divine weapon into the body. This was only the initial stage. As cultivation deepened, one could completely dissolve the weapon, making it melt into the flesh and blood, so that part of the body could entirely replace the weapon's original properties.