Chapter 253: Three Strange Phenomena! Source of the Undead Army!

Chen Xuan heard the young man's words and wasn't too surprised by his reaction.

Throughout the entire war, there were two factions that had suffered the most.

First was the sect that had been destroyed by the demonic faction, kickstarting the war between the two forces.

Then there was the Sword Forging Sect.

Although this sect had not been completely destroyed and most of its disciples were still alive, it was all but ruined.

After all, the other sects had at least been fortunate enough to have some Nascent Soul cultivators survive.

For example, the Jade Pure Sect still had many Elders and Peak Masters alive.

The Sword Forging Sect, on the other hand, had lost every single one of its Nascent Soul experts.

The gathering that led to everything had been on their own initiative.

It made sense that they would disappear alongside the ancestors and Sect Leaders of the other sects.

It was no wonder that the young man showed such a pained expression. After all, no matter how strong one's will was, it was difficult to remain completely indifferent after watching one's sect fall into such a state.

Of course, although Chen Xuan understood his feelings, he wasn't planning to offer him any comfort.

He had his own matters to deal with.

As such, without mentioning his real purpose for coming here, he looked toward the endless army of undead and continued speaking.

"I wonder if you know where these creatures came from."

"I can sense that they aren't like the corpses refined by demonic cultivators."

"They seem to be empowered through some other method rather than ordinary corpse-refining techniques."

Hearing his words, the young man showed a flash of surprise.

He looked at Chen Xuan with a strange expression, seemingly wondering how this mysterious expert had discovered it so quickly.

However, that expression quickly disappeared.

"Your Excellency truly has keen insight. Indeed, these undead are not the work of those demonic cultivators."

The young man paused briefly before continuing.

"To be honest, even we don't know where these undead came from. They appeared suddenly, not long after the disappearance of the Sect Leader and the ancestors."

"At first, they only emerged in a few locations. Yet as time passed, they began showing up increasingly frequently."

The young man's expression became somewhat complicated.

"It was as though they had always been hiding somewhere, waiting for the right moment to emerge."

Unfortunately, although he spoke about the large number of undead, he didn't seem to know anything else.

Neither how they came to be nor what their purpose was.

Although Chen Xuan was disappointed, he wasn't surprised by this result.

The Sword Forging Sect was currently at its weakest point.

In his opinion, it was highly likely that the man before him was already one of its most powerful remaining members.

With his strength, combined with the power displayed by the undead earlier, it made sense that he had failed to discover anything.

Even if one had enough courage to investigate, there was a difference between being willing to investigate and actually being capable of finding the truth.

As for the fact that no Nascent Soul cultivator from another sect had arrived to investigate further, the reason was quite simple.

They all had the same attitude as Tang Yuechen.

A place that had practically "devoured" so many powerful cultivators was obviously not a good place.

No one would dare to risk coming here and perishing, even if the chances of that happening were very small.

The disappearance of so many powerful cultivators had already been enough to make everyone wary.

Recalling how Tang Yuechen had refused to let him come here in the past, Chen Xuan nodded imperceptibly.

Then, he shifted his attention back to the young man.

He asked several questions, including whether he knew what had happened that led to the Sect Leader's disappearance, as well as whether there were any other strange events.

Unfortunately, the young man had no answer to the former.

As for the latter...

"Besides the emergence of the undead army, there are two other noteworthy phenomena."

"First is the appearance of random attacks," the young man explained.

"No one knows how they came to be. However, people have witnessed the sky parting and random attacks descending from within."

"These attacks are completely random. Some are so weak that even ordinary people can withstand them. As for those that are stronger..."

The young man glanced at Chen Xuan.

"Even Nascent Soul cultivators will be in danger of falling."

"Of course, no one has dared to confirm this yet," he added.

Seeing that Chen Xuan showed no reaction, the young man continued.

"As for the second phenomenon, it is equally strange, although not as deadly."

"Recently, a large number of cultivators have experienced their Dao Hearts shattering."

"No one noticed anything wrong at first, feeling it was simply the result of the other phenomena. But as more and more people succumbed to Heart Demons, including those who possessed extraordinary willpower, we began to suspect that something was wrong."

The young man continued.

"The most frightening part is that we couldn't find any obvious pattern. It didn't matter whether their cultivation was high or low, nor did it seem to matter where they were."

"Once their Dao Hearts were affected, there was almost nothing we could do."

Whether it was because he hoped that Chen Xuan would resolve the problem or simply because he was afraid Chen Xuan would be dissatisfied, his explanation was lengthy but straightforward.

He spoke about almost everything he knew.

It was only half an hour later that he finally finished speaking, his mouth nearly becoming dry in the process.

Looking at the young man, Chen Xuan nodded in satisfaction.

Although the information wasn't enough to reveal the truth, it was still useful.

At the very least, Chen Xuan now had a clearer understanding of the strange phenomena occurring within the Sword Forging Sect's territory and should be safer in his next travels.

He thought for a brief moment before waving his hand.

As his mind stirred, an item flew out of his spatial ring.

He threw it toward the man.

"This is a sword technique I obtained when I was still weak."

"Although it is worthless to me now, it should be extremely useful to you. Especially given the current situation of the Sword Forging Sect."

As he spoke, Chen Xuan glanced at the other disciples standing not far away, seemingly intentionally yet also casually.

Then, he didn't say anything further.

With a wave of his hand, his sleeves fluttered as he took flight, moving toward the Azure Dragon and the undead army.

Soon, he had disappeared far into the horizon.

Only the Sword Forging Sect disciples remained behind.

"Senior Brother, has that expert left?" One of the Junior Sisters asked curiously.

In response, the young man nodded.

He looked at the book in his hands. The moment he saw the title, his eyes flashed with excitement.

However, seeing his fellow disciples coming closer, he didn't dare to examine it at the moment.

Before anyone could notice, he had already hidden it inside his spatial ring.

"Let's go."

"This place will be taken care of by Senior. We should hurry to the next outbreak location."

He spoke with a stern expression.

Although the other disciples seemed unwilling, faced with his authority and recalling how he had spoken with the mysterious Elder, they decided to suppress their thoughts for the time being.

--

On the other hand, Chen Xuan didn't know what the Sword Forging Sect disciples were thinking, nor did he care to learn more about them.

The reason he had left behind the technique was simply that the young man had been helpful.

As for what decision he would make afterward, Chen Xuan didn't care.

His gaze returned to the undead army.

The endless tide of undead was continuously crushed beneath the Azure Dragon's attacks, their formation repeatedly torn apart and pushed back.

Yet whenever a large number of undead were destroyed, more would emerge from the distance.

It was almost as though their numbers were truly endless.

Chen Xuan didn't interfere.

He simply flew above the Azure Dragon, slowly getting closer to the source behind everything.

The closer he and the dragon got, the more clearly he could sense the strange aura surrounding the area.

It was faint and difficult to detect, almost as though it had merged with the surrounding space.

Even his divine sense had to probe carefully before it could vaguely lock onto its direction.

Chen Xuan had to admit that it was no wonder everyone had failed to discover the reason behind the undead's appearance.

Even with the Azure Dragon's strength, it took nearly half an hour of slaughter before they finally reached the source.

Along the way, countless undead had been destroyed beneath the Azure Dragon's claws.

Yet even after traveling such a long distance and eliminating such a terrifying number of creatures, the source had remained hidden until now.

Chen Xuan guessed that even if an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator had been here, they would have been unable to reach this place.

Perhaps they would have been forced to retreat long before this point.

'Thankfully, that doesn't include me...'

Chen Xuan thought as he lowered his gaze.

Immediately, a peculiar structure was reflected in his eyes.