Chapter 3002: Silence Within, Chaos Outside!

Despite the roaring sword winds and the looming fracture above, the Grand Elder looked utterly calm.

"Grand Elder!" one of the high elders called out, his voice sharp with worry. "What’s happening? Has someone attacked the sect or the Sacred Ground?"

Another elder glanced at the growing tear in the sky. "That sword intent—it’s not from this world! Has something gone wrong inside? Is Lin Mu safe?"

But Grand Elder Huo did not turn around. His eye remained fixed on the horizon where the light of the rift flickered like lightning behind storm clouds.

"He is safe," the old man replied at last, his voice deep and sure. "That much, I can assure you."

"Then what in the heavens is causing this upheaval?" High Elder Yan Dao asked, now fully recovered from his previous wound and present at the summit.

"It’s the Sacred Grounds," Grand Elder Huo answered. "Or rather... it is responding."

His words made the others freeze.

"Responding? To Lin Mu?" Elder Chu Ming asked, his brows furrowing deeply. "That’s impossible! The Sacred Grounds has never reacted like this before, not even when the previous Patriarchs stepped within."

The sky cracked again, sending ripples of power across the mountaintop. The faint outline of a colossal sword seemed to shimmer within the rift above—ephemeral and ghostly, yet terrifying in its grandeur.

"It is no longer reacting," the Grand Elder said quietly. "It is submitting."

Those words hung in the air like thunder.

The elders stared at him in stunned silence. They had seen many things in their lives—wars, celestial beasts, battles between sects—but never had they imagined the Sacred Grounds itself, a place forged by the hands of long-gone ancient sword immortals, would yield before a mere disciple.

"He’s... changed something inside, hasn’t he?" murmured Elder Lian Ke, his long beard trembling slightly in the wind.

Grand Elder Huo nodded. "Indeed. Something fundamental. I felt the tremor the moment it occurred. A sword of great might descended. It shattered the monolith."

"The monolith?!" gasped Elder Feng Xia. "That’s the embodiment of all Sword Dao Embryos within the Sacred Grounds!"

"Yes," the Grand Elder replied. "And yet, it fell."

Silence returned.

"But how... how could he do something like that?" another elder asked. "Has he truly surpassed what even the founders envisioned?"

"I do not know," Grand Elder Huo said softly. "But I felt it. A blade made not of steel or spirit—but of pure will. Something ancient... and yet born anew."

The sky pulsed again, this time slower, as if the chaotic energies were beginning to stabilize.

The fracture had stopped widening.

And though the sword intent remained thick in the air, it had shifted—no longer hostile or wild, but calm, like the stillness before a storm or the deep silence in a master’s meditation.

The Grand Elder finally turned to the others, his eye sharp as ever. "Lin Mu has not just walked the path of swords. He has reshaped it."

A hush fell over the group.

The implication was clear: the Sacred Grounds had not only accepted Lin Mu—it had been altered by him.

"Keep the disciples safe," he continued. "Let no one near the summit. And do not interfere with the Sacred Grounds, no matter what you see or feel. If Lin Mu could shatter the monolith, then what he’s about to gain... may surpass all of us."

"And if he fails?" one elder asked quietly.

The Grand Elder closed his eye, a trace of solemnity on his face.

"Then the world will lose a light it was not ready for."

But inwardly, he had no doubts.

The fracture in the sky was not a crack from destruction.

It was the opening of a gate.

And Lin Mu... was soon about to step through.

The elders stood upon the snow-capped peak of Mount Sky Sever, eyes locked on the expanding fracture in the heavens.

What began as a mere fissure had now widened into a Spatial rift, parting the very fabric of space. From within that rift, the sword became visible—an awe-inspiring, infinite blade stretching from one horizon to the other.

It was unlike any sword they had ever seen.

Massive, majestic, immeasurably long, and yet not entirely physical. Its form shimmered between reality and concept, like an ancient truth glimpsed in a dream. Parts of it were mist, others light, and the edge... the edge was the very path that Lin Mu had been walking all this time within the Sacred Grounds.

The elders felt a chill as that realization slowly dawned.

"We... We were walking on that?" Elder Chu Ming whispered, eyes wide in disbelief. "That razor edge... it was the sword itself?!"

A ripple of shock passed through the elders. No one had ever truly questioned what the "path" in the Sacred Grounds was. It had always been assumed to be a manifestation of sword will, or a formation pathway crafted by ancient techniques. But to realize now that the very path was the edge of a divine sword—that was something else entirely.

Even the oldest of the elders were stunned speechless.

And yet the true question now loomed:

What was that sword?

None of them could say. Even among the elders, there were few who knew the full truth of the Sacred Grounds’ origins. Many simply assumed it was an ancient inheritance left by the sect’s founder. Others whispered it was connected to a fallen celestial realm. But now, as they looked upon that impossible blade in the sky, those speculations rang hollow.

Before anyone could voice their doubts, a new voice rang out—firm, resonant, and deep as thunder rolling through the heavens.

"That, my disciples... is none other than the Formation Spirit of the Sacred Grounds. The very heart of our legacy."

"That is the Xian Sword Spirit."

Every head turned.

The elders’ eyes widened in recognition. Standing just behind them, on the edge of the summit’s highest plateau, was a man who radiated such profound sword intent that the very clouds around him parted.

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