SWDnovel Chapter 186 Core Secrets
Chapter 186 Core Secrets
Lin Chen sheathed his sword with steady movements, without any unnecessary pauses or checks. His breathing was the same as before, and his steps remained unchanged.
He knelt down beside the corpse of the Bloodbone Demon. The storage ring was made of some kind of black bone. He probed its interior with his spiritual power; the space was small but neatly arranged. Several secret letters from the evil race, sealed with wax, were stacked in a corner; a yellowed tattered scroll sat alone to one side, its cover bearing four ancient characters—"Primordial War Chronicles." The edges of the paper were worn and frayed, and some of the writing on the corners of the pages was blurred by water stains, but the main content was still intact. As he opened the tattered scroll, the sound of the paper rubbing together was particularly clear in the empty hall.
The fragment contained more complete information than he had anticipated. The events of the first arrival of the extraterrestrial evil race in ancient times, the initial battles fought by human warriors, and the process of the first Martial Emperor unifying the ancient martial arts alliance—these were already known. But the latter half of the fragment recorded even more details: a trusted family close to the Martial Emperor leaked the defense plans on the eve of the evil race's full-scale invasion, causing the simultaneous fall of three lines of defense and the encirclement of the martial arts alliance's elite forces at the outset of the war. That family's surname appeared multiple times on the fragment—Qin. The betrayal wasn't a one-generation affair, but rather the entire family's generations of waiting for an opportunity to completely dismantle the human resistance from within. The first Martial Emperor dispersed the Star Martial Core into a legacy hidden among humanity because he knew the frontal battlefield was untenable and could only place his final hope in his future successor.
Lin Chen closed the tattered scroll, put it into his inner pocket, and placed it next to the ancient jade tablet he had found in Black Wind Valley. The moment the two items touched, he felt a brief resonance emanate from his inner pocket, which quickly subsided. The Blood Bone Demon was dead, but the scroll contained more information than he had initially expected. The Qin family wasn't just one of the branches in Black Wind Valley and the secret realm; they had been there since ancient times, always lurking, always waiting for an opportunity to exploit within the human defenses.
Hurried footsteps echoed outside the hall; it wasn't just one person. Before the group had even fully entered the hall, Su Muyue was already at the forefront. She stumbled slightly as she crossed the threshold, her gaze first sweeping over the Blood Bone Demon's corpse lying on the ground, then stopping abruptly as it fell upon Lin Chen. Her gaze moved from his shoulder to his hand, then from his hand to the dried bloodstain at the corner of his mouth. She stared for a moment, then remained silent.
Lin Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb. "It's nothing, I broke through."
Su Muyue looked at him, her fingers clenching and unclenching, her tone becoming calm: "Taking back the corpse of a Void Breaker can serve as evidence. The Alliance also needs to confirm that he is indeed dead." She finished speaking and lowered her head, sweeping her gaze across the patch of ground at his feet that still shimmered with silver light, as if to make sure he hadn't overlooked any important details. Leng Feng walked up behind her, glanced down at the Blood Bone Demon's corpse, and didn't linger after confirming the location and force of the fatal wound. Chu Fan squatted down in front of the murals on the palace wall, copying the array patterns, his fingertips hovering above the stone surface, moving inch by inch along the lines. Su Ling'er was examining the collected spiritual herbs, holding the dried stems up to the light-transmitting cracks to observe them, then bringing them close to smell the cut surface.
When they left the ruins, the battle outside had subsided. The remaining evil cultivators had completely scattered after the Blood Bone Demon was slain, and the casualty figures for the youth army were not overwhelming. On the way back to Tianlang Pass, Lin Chen walked at the front of the group, his Star Sword held horizontally before his saddle. The bloodstains on his armor plates had been dried by the wind, gleaming a dark iron color in the sunlight. The remaining evil cultivators had scattered in all directions after the Blood Bone Demon's death, failing to organize any decent resistance. The gates of Tianlang Pass had already opened before the group arrived. Han Polu stood in the center of the gate, his posture as upright as a pine tree. Behind him were rows of guards and youth army soldiers, stretching all the way into the depths of the gate, neatly arrayed. When Han Polu clasped his hands in a fist salute to Lin Chen, he slapped the front of Lin Chen's armor plate with his palm, his voice crisp: "Commander, you broke through to the Earth Martial Realm and killed the Blood Bone Demon. This battle was worthwhile." He paused for a moment before withdrawing his palm, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded.
The good news reached the Martial Arts Alliance. Message slips were relayed between Tianlang Pass and the Alliance headquarters, and several orders were issued simultaneously. Lin Chen was promoted to Deputy Commander of the Northwest Defense Line, in charge of the Tianlang Pass garrison and the Youth Army; his cultivation resources would be replenished later. When the news reached the rear cities, military camps and academies across the region were abuzz with discussion, and the number of young martial artists signing up for the army increased significantly within just a few days. The armory and supply depots of Tianlang Pass began receiving supplies in batches; grain, weapons, and battle materials were transported into the inner walls of the pass. Repair work on the walls resumed, with bricks and planks being carried up the walls daily, gradually narrowing the breaches.
But Lin Chen wasn't entirely absorbed in his victory. The tattered scroll he'd brought back from the ruins lay flat on the table, its edges smoothed, spread out in the spot where he checked it daily. The Qin family's lineage, the evil race's infiltration routes, the inside story of the ancient martial arts alliance's demise—more and more of this information was piecing together, but some gaps remained. Some details recorded in the scroll matched the ancient jade tablet, but its full purpose was still unclear; it was only mentioned in certain passages, without any instructions on how to use it. He circled several locations on the map with charcoal, from Qing Shi Border City to Black Stone Mountain, from Tianlang Pass to Meteor Mountain Range. Connecting them, he could see that the evil race's route wasn't chaotic, but rather an inward advance along an old defensive line. That defensive line was no longer marked on the map, but its name was mentioned in the scroll.
A gentle evening breeze blew in from outside the gate, carrying the distinctive scent of dry earth from the wasteland. Lin Chen stood by the window, the Star Sword leaning against the corner of the table, its gleam completely extinguished, appearing as nothing more than an ordinary iron sword. He reached out and lightly touched the scabbard, the touch warm and steady against his fingertips. The wind blew two pages of the tattered scroll on the table, stopping at the blank space on the last page. The Earth Martial Realm was not the end, but a new beginning. The door behind him was closed, footsteps echoing outside—someone was carrying supplies, others were changing shifts, all in their designated places, waiting for him to finish reading and leave.