Inside the No Righteous Sword, there are six different colored light dots: red, blue, white, orange, purple, and green.

At this moment, they are all stationary, not moving at all.

Yu Guiwan squinted her eyes, wanting to awaken the avatar left by the Baize Divine General, but was stopped by the Qingfeng Sword.

"Let's observe a bit more."

The voice of the artifact spirit was very solemn, as it was the first time she encountered such a situation.

Those light dots representing the key beads, once merged into the sword, wouldn't stop, like fish returning to water, excitedly swimming all around.

Why did they suddenly stop?

Suddenly, the light dots began to glow with a very faint light.

If not firmly locked by divine sense at close range, even the Emperor Realm cultivators might not notice.

"The light dots... no, it's the keys that are shimmering," Yu Guiwan's voice became solemn.

The Qingfeng Sword Spirit did not respond but recorded everything using the Jade Slip.

Until three breaths later, the six key beads stopped shimmering and resumed their movement within the No Righteous Sword, as if the previous events were merely an illusion.

"Please continue watching, Senior Sister, I will pursue her." The Qingfeng Sword transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the sky.

This 'her' naturally refers to the Baize Divine General.

Yu Guiwan focused intensely, and within moments, the Qingfeng Sword returned.

The artifact spirit remained silent.

But the Senior Sister knew, given the Baize Divine General's temperament, if she hadn't come personally, it implies the problem isn't significant.

Or perhaps the problem is substantial, but Baize has no solution or doesn't know how to solve it, and can only choose to continue observing.

"Rest, Senior Sister, I'll keep watch," said the Qingfeng Sword.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"Senior Sister, you exaggerated."

The Qingfeng Sword continued to watch.

One day.

Two days.

Three days.

In the blink of an eye, a week has passed.

The No Righteous Sword showed no further anomalies, instead, Ruan Tang reached the Venerable Realm during this period.

To achieve the Venerable Realm after only cultivating for a year from zero, even the most talented prodigy couldn't dream of it; it's outright fantastical.

But for Ruan Tang, it seemed so natural. As long as she absorbed enough spiritual energy, she would break through.

As for bottlenecks.

What are those?

Even the heavenly tribulation was light and perfunctory when it descended, so weak it couldn't kill even a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The Qingfeng Sword Spirit suspected that if not for the obligatory heavenly thunder during a cultivator's tribulation as a Heavenly Dao Law, the tribulation wouldn't bother to be perfunctory.

"Above the Venerable is the Celestial Venerable, and above the Celestial Venerable is the Immortal Venerable..."

The Qingfeng Sword inexplicably felt a bit frustrated and forcefully struck Xu Qingfeng's tombstone.

Clearly, she's Xu Qingfeng's woman, yet it's this sword watching over her, what kind of nonsense logic is this?

Fortunately, Ruan Tang is still some distance from the Immortal Venerable Realm, hopefully the Celestial Venerable Tribulation, Immortal Venerable Tribulation won't be so perfunctory, right?

Let them be slightly stronger, make Ruan Tang endure some hardships to keep her from ascending the White Jade Stairway.

The Qingfeng Sword thought this, scanning the No Righteous Sword, and the artifact spirit's pupils suddenly contracted.

Because the six keys in the No Righteous Sword stopped moving and emitted a faint glow.

Just like last time, it lasted only three breaths, and the Qingfeng Sword recorded it via Jade Slip.

Comparing the two, they're nearly identical!

Because the position of the six key beads' halt wasn't random, it seemed determined.

Hesitating for a moment.

The Qingfeng Sword chose to awaken the avatar of the Baize Divine General.

Baize woke up, carefully examining the two recording Jade Slips, his expression serious: "If we connect the six key beads with lines, it resembles an incomplete character."

"What character?"

"Cloud Water Rust."

"..."

It's related to Cloud Water Rust characters.

The Qingfeng Sword Spirit directly gave up thinking; even the Emperor Realm couldn't comprehend the Immortal Scripture, there's no point in her, an Emperor Artifact, trying.

While Ruan Tang, who decoded many Cloud Water Rust characters, after breaking through to the Venerable Realm, did not rush to cultivate but instead picked plums on the mountain with Yiyi and Ping'an.

She's planning to brew several jars of wine.

To drink when Yiyi gets married and Ping'an takes a wife.

At nightfall, Ruan Tang took her children back to the back mountain.

Baize handed the recording Jade Slip to Ruan Tang, who hesitated: "It resembles Cloud Water Rust characters."

"Can you decode it?"

"No."

Ruan Tang shook her head: "It's incomplete."

Baize was not surprised, she had heard the Supreme Emperor say before, the No Righteous Sword was not the sword of the Other Shore Cultivator Gu Yan.

But in the First Era, Tian Gui Yuan Yin and Ji Ming among other Emperor's Palace powerhouses orchestrated a deadly trap, slaughtering numerous Immortal Domain powerhouses, using the resentment and rich blood of masters of myriad races to forcibly open a crevice in the Realm Gate.

From the crevice of the Realm Gate, behind the door lay a chaotic mist.

And there was a sword that crossed the Realm Gate into the Immortal Domain.

Because of this sword, internal strife ensued, one of the founders of the Emperor's Palace, Tian Gui, left, and the Emperor's Palace was later renamed Nine Kings' Palace.

By chance, the No Righteous Sword fell into Gu Yan's hands, later reached Xu Lai's.

The Supreme Emperor and Sikong Jiu once believed the No Righteous Sword came from the Other Shore, possibly to deliver an item within the Cloud Water Rust characters to someone.

Unfortunately, something went wrong.

Emperor Realm cultivators across different eras consecutively obtained and decoded the Cloud Water Rust characters, seizing the fortune.

Baize suddenly suspected those thirty-six Cloud Water Rust characters were merely a decoy, the real fortune was the Cloud Water Rust formed when the No Righteous Sword and eight beads merged.

"Wait."

Baize softly said: "If I've guessed correctly, the last two key beads will arrive here through various coincidences."

"Let's hope for that."

Ruan Tang gently spoke.

This avatar of Baize soon closed its eyes, the No Righteous Sword continued to be guarded by the Qingfeng Sword.

Ruan Tang glanced at the No Righteous Sword, placed a small bowl of plums before her husband's tomb, then turned and returned to her room.

The cool night felt like water.

The back mountain of the Heavenly Court was silent.

One could faintly hear Ruan Lan's snoring from the adjacent room.

After putting Yiyi and Ping'an to sleep, Ruan Tang opened the door to get some air and saw her senior sister Yu Guiwan sitting before Xu Lai's tomb, speaking softly.

The voice was small.

Ruan Tang couldn't hear clearly, she stepped forward toward her senior sister.

But just then.

A yellow river flowed from the sky, its bottom made of exquisite azure sand.

Beautiful yet eerie under the moonlight.

Yet Senior Sister Yu Guiwan seemed unable to see, continuing to whisper.

The Qingfeng Sword guarding the No Righteous Sword didn't see, and the sleeping Ruan Lan group naturally couldn't see either.

Ruan Tang felt a strange notion, as if this yellow river was specifically for her, and indeed it was.

The azure sand fell at Ruan Tang's feet, like a pathway.

Following this path, Ruan Tang saw an old man rowing a small boat smile at her, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Miss Ruan, don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person," the old man smiled kindly.

Ruan Tang didn't feel scared, she carefully scrutinized the old man, then her gaze shifted to the turbid yellow river.

Elder Huang Quan was slightly surprised, not expecting her to be so composed.

He was about to say something when he saw Ruan Tang bend down, fill a small jar with Yunmeng Blue Sand, and shake it in front of her eyes.

"??? "