Unorthodox men had a heart of steel. When the sage didn’t see the river filled with red autumnal leaves, it was like a traveler’s eyes were filled with blood.

Ye Que didn’t cry. Though his journey was doomed to be perilous, he didn’t think that he wouldn’t be able to return. He had said everything that he had to say and met everyone that he had to meet last night. Thus, he left this morning without bidding farewell.

Out of the things the Qian siblings gave him, he took nothing except for a spice bag. There would be many treasures in the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum and an abundance of golden Divine Energy in the Spiritual Sea. He also had his 13 Spring and Autumn Swords in his heart. These were more than enough for him.

With his hands clasped behind his back, he left Luoyang City amid the exquisite morning sunshine and the bleakness of the autumn air.

The ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum were northwest of the city, hidden in the depths of towering mountains. It was said that snow wouldn’t melt during winter and heavy downpours were accompanied with impenetrable fog during summer. The mountains were covered in dense forests infested with vicious beasts. Ordinary people who entered the forests would never walk out alive.

With a precise map smuggled out of the palace in hand, Ye Que traveled by foot for three days before finally arriving the spot marked with a red dot.

The entrance of the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum was located in a gorge.

There, he found a long and narrow path splitting a lofty mountain—so tall he couldn’t see its peak—in half as if it was as sword breaking into the sky. The path formed a canyon.

A three-meter-tall stele towered over the entrance of the canyon. It was inscribed with the words: “Death to all those who enter the Imperial Mausoleum!”

Though he could already see the colors of autumn, it was still warm throughout his journey here. However, the temperature fell sharply when he reached this place.

He stood at the entrance of the canyon and stared at the scenery from a distance. A burst of cold wind hit him straight on the face. The grass under his feet was a dark green color yet the grass inside the canyon was already yellowing. The stark difference made it look as if both places seemed like two different worlds.

“Death to all those who enter?”

“Then let me try this perilous land in the vulgar world and see what it’s like. There’s no way it’s worse than the graveyard of the fairyland,” Ye Que muttered to himself. He strolled past the boundary between the green and yellow grass and entered the gorge.

The Spiritual Sea inside him stirred.

The Divine Energy wandering overhead took the shape of a golden python. With a shake of its tail, his Spiritual Sea recovered its tranquility.

“Formation!”

“I must’ve stepped past the edge of a large formation earlier. To think that I didn’t notice that there’s a formation here at all!” Ye Que’s expression finally turned grave. This was indeed the birthplace of the River Soldiers. Sure enough, there were ruins here.

“I think this formation is designed to restrict visitors’ realm. No wonder the news said that people who wish to enter the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum must not only be cultivators, but also cultivators between the realms of Psychic and Starburst. Commoners and high-level cultivators both would perish if they enter!”

Ye Que slowly walked along the long and narrow path in the gorge while inhaling and exhaling Qi. Soon enough, his breath condensed to form a frosted fog. The walls of the gorge, already sparse in the first place, were completely void of vines. The only things that remained were some dried-up and wilted branches dancing in the wind.

His vision gradually dimmed. When he looked up, all he saw was a sky that resembled a strip of white ribbon.

The howling of the cold wind in the gorge rang next to his ears. He could increasingly smell an acrid scent at the tip of his nose.

His Divine Mind stirred and a small sword that emitted blue radiance instantly emerged from the door of his heart. The sword hovered in the air. What Ye Que summoned was the fourth sword of the 13 Spring and Autumn Swords, Straw Dog. The light of the Straw Dog sword was the brightest. Without a torch in hand, the sword was the most useful at times like this.

Ye Que’s Divine Mind could effectively replace his sense of touch but not his vision. He still needed the right amount of light to see.

With the Straw Dog Sword illuminating his path, he would see star-like red speckles of blood on the walls of the gorge every few steps he took. He took several steps forward and wiped the wall gently with his fingers. It was blood no older than a few days.

“Looks like someone’s here,” Ye Que thought.

Someone was already here?

Ye Que had underestimated the actions of all those large sects. This place hadn’t simply been visited by someone else. In fact, Ye Que was probably the last one to come to this place and cross the gorge. The youngsters in the Psychic and Starburst realms from other sects had arrived in this place several days ago.

The object at stake was no other than the Divine Tool, River Soldiers. Who would be willing to see it fall into another’s hand?

Sometimes, a single misstep could create a world of difference.

Another burst of cold wind blew. Ye Que’s eyebrow suddenly jumped. The Spiritual Sword hovering in the air, the Straw Dog Sword, suddenly stood upright. The tip of the sword was slanted to the left. Then, the sword swiftly slanted right and flew with a sharp howl.

Ear-piercing, mournful cries came from both sides of the forge approximately five meters in front. The dark blue Straw Dog Sword performed several sword styles in the air, prompting the mournful cries to stop with a grunting sound. Suddenly, a wisp of gray light emerged in the sky.

“Ghost?”

“To think I’d stumble across a ghost before I even really stepped onto the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum!” Ye Que muttered to himself as he stared at the gradually dissipating grey light in the distance. It was no wonder only cultivators were allowed to enter. Never mind entering this place, commoners might not even be able to make it out of this small gorge.

Ghosts were people who couldn’t enter the wheel of reincarnation after their death, resulting in their soul being left behind in the mortal world. Since this was the Imperial Mausoleum of the glorious Tang Empire, Ye Que guessed that most of the ghosts here were commoners who died tragically back when they were building this mound. Just by looking at the imposing state of this gorge, he could imagine the Imperial Mausoleum being a spectacularly glorious existence.

In the span of an hour, he encountered no less than one hundred ambushes from ghosts before finally making out of the gorge. Aside from the star-like speckles of blood, he didn’t see any sign of cultivators or their corpses.

Upon second thought, he found this to be reasonable. Those who dared to come here was inevitably well-known figures from the various sects. The insignificant ghosts couldn’t do anything to the cultivators as long as they practiced caution. The most useful trait of these ghosts was likely preventing commoners from going forward.

His vision swiftly widened after walking out of the gorge and the damp scent in the air disappeared as well. When he looked up, the blue sky greeted him. When he looked down, he saw a forest that extended as far as his eye could see.

Perhaps it was because the sky was gradually darkening. Perhaps it was because the trees were gradually wilting. The forest he saw seemed to be dyed with a faint red color.

It was the color of the sky that was faint.

It was the color of the maple forest that was red.

By now, he had already walked for three days. Seeing as he was just entering the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum, he didn’t hastily charge into the forest.

Seeing as the Divine Tool wasn’t born yet, he was in no hurry. Speedy travel wasn’t necessarily a good thing, just as slow travel wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

He made a small deviation away from the entrance of the gorge and walked to the side for several hundred meters. Then, he found a cavity in the wall of the gorge that would shield him from the wind. He prepared to stay the night there. Countless bloody lessons taught him that no matter where he was, traveling at night was many times more dangerous than traveling during the day.

The darkness of the night imperceptibly evoked the longing deep in the hearts of humans, and perhaps even demons.

Bloodthirstiness, violence, darkness, and massacre often took place at night.

Ye Que made a simple examination of his surrounding radius of several hundred meters and found nothing abnormal. He did discover several sweet potatoes, though.

The sky darkened at frantic speed in the mountains. It was merely overcast earlier but it was soon completely dark.

Ye Que had already built a bonfire in front of him using maple trees. Inside the cavity in the wall of the gorge, he was protected from the night wind. He sat cross-legged next to the bonfire, staring at the gentle swaying of the red flames as they emitted crackling sounds.

Ye Que picked up a twig and poked at the two sweet potatoes placed in the flames. He was recalling what the old housekeeper of the General’s Manor told him: “Tell Ye this: River Soldiers.”

“There’s no doubt the old housekeeper’s death has something to do with the Devil Race. The venom was proof. Then how did Ye Zhengru die? Is it the Devil Race’s doing? But if it’s them, why would they guide me to find the Divine Tool, the River Soldiers? What connects all these?”

The aroma of the sweet potatoes that carried a hint of maple gradually permeated the air.

Ye Que fished a roasted sweet potato out of the bonfire. Using his fingertips to hold the sweet potato, he slowly tore away the slightly burnt skin. He lowered his head and began to slowly eat its steaming white flesh. The radiance coming from the flames shone upon him, casting a shadow on his face every now and then.