Chapter 256 - Evil and Vicious

Son of the current headmaster?

Zhong Yue didn't follow Nan Qianfang, he stood steadfastly and looked at the copper palace. The seals on it seemed very familiar to him as he soon realized that they were placed down by the old man himself!

The headmaster sealed his own son away?

Zhong Yue was stunned, Why did the headmaster seal his own son in such a place?

Xin Huo suddenly said, “Whoever is in the palace, he is still alive, and very, very strong.”

“How strong?” Zhong Yue asked.

"Stronger than Gu Hongzi, and stronger than the four successors of Swords Gate. He is somewhere around the grade of magnates."

Zhong Yue was shocked, being sealed for so long and still possessing such strength, wouldn't it mean that the headmaster's son was already a magnate before he was sealed away?

The headmaster’s son is so strong, so why is he sealed away?

"Junior Martial Brother Zhong?" a voice came from the back, it was Nan Qianfang who realized that he wasn't following her. She turned back to look for him.

Zhong Yue then asked her, "Senior martial sister, why did the headmaster seal his son? The Feng Clan have only a few tribesmen, but every one of them is incredibly talented. The headmaster's son is outstanding even among such a group. Why was he sealed?"

"Because he had committed a grave transgression."

Nan Qianfang hesitated for a moment before saying, "It hasn't been long since you joined us so you wouldn't know his history. He was already sealed in here by our headmaster a hundred years ago. May junior martial brother follow me."

She led Zhong Yue forward and said, "His name is Feng Xiaozhong, the headmaster had given him this name with the hope that he will be a filial son and a loyal guardian of the human race. But the name was, after all, just a name. Feng Xiaozhong was incredibly talented, a gifted child in the ways of cultivation, but it wasn't long before that talent became our curse…."

Zhong Yue listened to her carefully — Feng Xiaozhong's talent allowed him to cultivate at an incredible speed, becoming a magnate at a young age. But his extraordinary talent had bred hubris and treacherous ambition. He soon became a venomous snake. In order to study and research cultivation techniques, he snuck into the Eastern Sea, captured a few experts of the dragon race and dissected their bodies so that he could study their body structure, their bones, internal organs, brains, the flow of their blood and every other thing else. He did this all so he could uncover the secrets of their cultivation and visualization.

He also tried to find out why could the spirits still existed for so long even after the cultivators' death. For that, he tortured their Yuan Shen and split their souls and spirits apart so that he could study on them.

Not only that, but he had also snuck into the West Barren and did the same thing to celestial race experts. He also stole the godly statues. And the South Barren was no exception; he dissected a few martial masters, studied their mortal bodies and Yuan Shen, trying to crack the code behind the mortal bodies of the martial masters.

When Feng Xiaozhong's nefarious actions were discovered, there were hundreds of Qi Practitioners hanging in his palace. It was a gruesome scene; their mutilated bodies and internal organs were exposed to the air while they were still alive!

Some of the Yuan Shen were restrained, chopped into few pieces, or chained by the soul weapons so that their movements were restricted. Some of the Yuan Shen were dissected with their five realms extracted out, and some were separated into soul and spirit so that he could study the coalescing process of the soul and spirit.

This was the greatest scandal of the Great Wilderness' Swords Gate. However, if it were only those, he would at most be punished but not sealed away. The main reason for him to be sealed away was that he had been studying the demon race's cultivation techniques and experimenting them on humans, killing thousands of them in the process. He then went on to salvage the remains of their mangled their souls and blood essence to craft demonic soul weapons!

"... when Feng Xiaozhong was exposed, he quibbled that the humans he used were purchased from the monster and celestial race. He tried to justify himself by saying that they were not humans of the Great Wilderness and that they would inevitably die either as a food or specimens for his research one way or another. So why not use their meager existences to serve his research? What need was there to condemn him?"

Nan Qianfang sighed, she said, "The headmaster then told him, no matter where they come from, humans are humans. As an honorable member of the Feng Clan, killing your own people is wrong. If it he only did to other races, the headmaster wouldn't have been so incensed. But he didn't, he did such things to his own people, that was when the headmaster decided not to defend him anymore."

Zhong Yue turned and looked at the copper palace, he thought, This Feng Xiaozhong is really vicious and evil, but also sly and cunning. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been long before he was exposed.

There were many skills and totem patterns in this world that were derived from the dragons', monsters' and celestials' mortal bodies. Zhong Yue once thought of capturing a Jiao Dragon and dissecting it to study its body structure so that he could perfect his own skills; but he decided that it was too cruel and so opted not to.

However, not only did Feng Xiaozhong put his desire and thoughts into actions, he had even crossed the bottom line.

If he hadn't used his own people, the headmaster might have been that mad, and would most likely go to some lengths in covering it up for him.

Zhong Yue thought in his heart, Killing our own kind and salvaging their bodies and souls to forge into a soul weapon, this is far too excessive!

Nan Qianfang walked to the next copper palace and said, "This is where Tian Myriad Mother's mortal body is, although her mortal body is dead, it is still incredibly strong. It can be used to craft a divine weapon!"

Zhong Yue looked over at this copper palace, he thought, I suppose her mortal body is the only reason for her to be here as a deputy hall master of the Seal Suppression Hall? Her mortal body is already dead, she couldn’t go back and live in her mortal body anymore. But she can still forge her mortal body into a soul weapon, and also purify her bloodline and modify Shui Qingyan’s mortal body into the real Tian Myriad Mother. The headmaster tasked me to take over Senior Martial Sister Nan’s place as the hall master of the Seal Suppression Hall, now it seems like he wants me to suppress her?

"Junior martial brother, this copper palace holds the thing that came out from underground beneath Swords Gate."

Nan Qianfang sat on the mountain god Yuan Shen's hand as it walked on the metal chains to the front of a copper palace. She said, "During the first eruption of the Devil Soul Yin Effluvium, the strongest demon god's shattered soul broke through the forbidden land and escaped from it. It nearly destroyed the whole of Swords Gate. At that time, our second headmaster was in power; he fought a vicious battle with the demon god's shattered soul before finally sealing it away. But the Swords Gate suffered a great loss, more than half of the Qi Practitioners died. The second headmaster headed into the forbidden land, leaving behind words that he would fight for the Swords Gate's next 500 years of survival. But he never came out…."

Zhong Yu nodded silently. He had seen the skeleton of the second headmaster in the Devil Soul Forbidden Land.

Not only that, but he had also seen the skeleton of all the other headmasters. They had all entered the Devil Soul Forbidden Land of their own free will, each carrying with them the hope of securing five hundred years of peace for the Swords Gate and Great Wilderness.

Some people contributed way more than they could to the Swords Gate; while others were only parasites on the Swords Gate who only knew how to demand without contributing anything at all. Such people would never be qualified to be the headmaster of Swords Gate!

Zhong Yue thought in his heart, he followed behind the old lady as she introduced more of the copper palaces and their origins to him. There were some entities sealed in the copper palaces that were incredibly strong; some even existed way before the establishment of Swords Gate. Even Nan Qianfang had no idea whether or not they were still alive.

"What a treasure, this is a treasure vault…."

In Zhong Yue's psyche ocean, Xin Huo's eyes brightened up and he said, "Brat Yue, this place is a huge treasure vault! If you can release them and refine them, the benefits you can get are unimaginable!"

Zhong Yue shook his head, every one of the existences in the palaces was extremely dangerous, Letting any one of them out would cause havoc in Swords Gate, or even more, the Swords Gate might face total destruction!

“Xin Huo, don’t play around.”

"This isn't playing around, some of these old brats are dying of age, while some have already died. Continuing to seal them would have no use anymore. Furthermore, it would only be a waste of space."

Xin Huo tempted him, "You as the hall master of the Seal Suppressing Hall, isn't clearing the junk away part of your job?"

Zhong Yue was intrigued by this proposal. He then asked Nan Qianfang on the side, "Senior martial sister, the things inside the palaces, if they are dead, should we move them out?"

Nan Qianfang looked at him and said, "It is indeed part of your job as the hall master of the Seal Suppression Hall. But junior martial brother, you should know that if the thing inside is not dead yet, opening the seal would only result in your death. Not only that, but the Swords Gate will also have to endure the consequences of your reckless actions. To be honest, I've been here for a hundred years, and I've never once cleared off a copper palace. If junior martial brother is daring enough, I have a list passed down by the previous hall master; he recorded the entities were inside these palaces that were confirmed to be dead and could be moved out; but he never dared to do it and so passed the list down to me."

She removed a sheepskin and Zhong Yue had a look at it, there were a few palace names on it, along with their positions, the entities sealed in it, and the times of their death.

"You must be very cautious in clearing the dead stuff. If the copper palaces are still sufficient, there is no such need, but if you really must, the dead bodies of the creatures can be placed in the palaces outside of the mountain."

Nan Qianfang was apprehensive. She waited a few more moments before walking over to the last copper palace. She said, "This copper palace is not dangerous like the others, it was the hilt of a sword that was sealed."

The last copper palace was the biggest, placed in the middle of the whole space and was over a thousand feet tall, it was purely majestic!

“Sword hilt?”

Zhong Yue was puzzled, the other copper palaces either sealed the extremely dangerous creatures or entities; so why would the core of the Seal Suppression Hall seal a supposedly harmless sword hilt?

“Junior martial brother will know once you open the copper palace.”

Nan Qianfang said smilingly, “When I was still the hall master, I’ve been in there quite often. Just remember to seal it back once you’ve finished looking.”

Zhong Yue cast out the jade seal and opened the seal on the copper palace, and the door slowly creaked open. There was nothing inside of the copper palace save for the hilt of a massive sword planted in the ground as if there were a sword that pierced through the copper palace into the underground of Swords Gate.

The sword hilt was a thousand feet tall, Zhong Yue wondered who could have been that strong to forge it. The sword hilt exuded the air of ancientness and majesty as if it were an emperor who had lived through a myriad of times and eras. Having seen the vicissitudes of life, it was even older than the Swords Gate!

"This sword does not belong to the Swords Gate. It was here long before our ancestors had arrived at Swords Gate."

Nan Qianfang said, "The first headmaster said that this sword has pierced right through to the core of the Devil Soul Forbidden Land. The whole Swords Gate Mountain was formed by this sword's Sword Qi. And so, this sword shall not be taken out or otherwise, the consequences will be dire to the whole human race. However, this sword is a divine sword itself. Even the headmaster can't pull it out; so, I'm not particularly worried about allowing you to look at it, because you can only look, and you can't pull it out."

Zhong Yue stared at the huge sword, and he was dazzled. He suddenly thought of the sword tip of the huge sword he saw in the Devil Soul Forbidden Land!

They were parts of the same sword, the sword hilt of the sword being here while its body pierced through the whole mountain down to beneath the ground. Its tip penetrated right through the giant heart in the core of the Devil Soul Forbidden Land!

"Junior martial brother, I've told you everything you need to know about the Seal Suppression Hall. It's time for me to leave and enjoy the rest of my life. I hope that the Seal Suppression Hall I've spent my life guarding over will remain safe and sound in your hands."

Nan Qianfang and Zhong Yue walked out of the hidden space. She then said, "If junior martial brother were to be met with any snags and needs any advice, I'll be in the Nan Lu Clan's tribe."

Zhong Yue thanked her and watched as the old lady walk away; she was a hero worthy of one's heartfelt respect, having spent the brightest days of her life serving the Swords Gate in the darkness of the Seal Suppression Hall.

“Brother Yue!”

While lost in his thoughts, a familiar voice suddenly sounded out in his ears. He looked over, and his face slowly broke out into a smile.

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