Just like with every floor before, Cheng Yunsu, along with Chang Yuan and his son, emerged behind Lu Chao.
At this moment, the four of them, their nerves stretched taut, gazed into the space of the seventh floor.
In the next instant, Lu Chao’s expression froze.
He spoke in a low voice, "There’s no one here either. No one has been here. There are no traces of auras or footprints."
That’s right. It seemed no one had set foot on the seventh floor for nearly two hundred years.
The people from Red Sword City hadn’t made it through.
To them, the seventh floor looked much the same as the previous ones—a dark space filled with a strange, eerie aura.
At this, the group relaxed slightly.
Chang Yuan, however, remained anxious. "Lu Chao, if the people from Red Sword City haven’t entered the seventh floor, does that mean they’re still trapped in the Illusion Realm?"
Lu Chao nodded, his expression grave.
"It’s strange. The last time, Marshal Fan and I were trapped in the same Illusion Realm, but I didn’t run into the people from Red Sword City this time."
It was almost certain that the people from Red Sword City were still in the seventh floor’s Illusion Realm.
But Lu Chao couldn’t figure out why their paths hadn’t crossed.
"In any case, this isn’t a bad thing for us."
"There seem to be skeletons up ahead in the darkness. Let’s go see if we can find anything valuable. We also need to find a place to hide so we can rescue Sister-in-law Chang after the people from Red Sword City get here."
"And remember, don’t leave any trace of your aura or footprints."
Lu Chao gave his instructions quickly. They couldn’t leave any footprints or auras behind. That way, when the people from Red Sword City arrived, they wouldn’t be discovered immediately, giving them an opportunity to rescue their captive.
And so, Lu Chao led the other three as they stepped lightly into the darkness of the seventh floor...
"Lu Chao, could this be the last floor? Have we reached the deepest part of the Azure Flame Sect’s Forbidden Land?" Cheng Yunsu suddenly asked.
Lu Chao shook his head. "It’s probably not the last floor. My feeling is that the forty-nine Battle Arrays are still far from complete. We’ll know for sure if we find a Barrier leading to an eighth floor."
Lu Chao’s breakthrough to the seventh floor had been incredibly smooth...
This was mainly due to the pamphlet on Soldier Dao insights that Marshal Fan had sent him a few days ago. The Marshal had been just one step away from clearing the seventh floor himself, and he had also obtained a Soldier Dao Fragment from a skeleton on the 6th Floor.
That pamphlet was the product of his extensive research over this period.
It was the very reason Lu Chao had been able to reach the seventh floor so quickly.
As they advanced, the Barrier to the eighth floor gradually emerged from the darkness, proving that their journey was not yet over. The thought made Cheng Yunsu’s skin crawl...
"Is the Azure Flame Sect’s Forbidden Land meant to be this hopeless?"
She continued, her voice heavy with unease, "Forget about whether there’s a way to contact the Green Bone Palace or a map leading to it in the depths of this Forbidden Land... even if there is, can we really get to it quickly?"
It was too difficult. There was an eighth floor after the seventh, and who knew how many more there were after that.
Then there was the matter of leaving the Forbidden Land. It was obvious that escaping the seventh floor would also mean facing another terrifying, murderous Illusion Realm.
"This just goes to show how powerful the Azure Flame Sect once was."
Lu Chao just smiled faintly. By now, they could see about a dozen skeletons lying at the foot of the eighth floor’s Barrier.
Just like the ones on the 6th Floor, these skeletons were all clad in Azure Flame Sect attire.
From their clothing, it was clear they were the same as the others: masters who had entered the Forbidden Land during the great turmoil that befell the Azure Flame Sect two hundred years ago.
By now, Lu Chao had a clear picture of what had happened to the Azure Flame Sect two hundred years ago.
The Sect Leader and the core experts had been ambushed and annihilated by the Cyan Sword Great Empire. Afterward, the Azure Flame Sect descended into chaos, and many more died, including some who tried to claim the treasures within this Forbidden Land.
Most had died on the 6th Floor. The stronger ones, of course, died here on the seventh—the very skeletons before them now.
"Let’s see if there’s anything on these skeletons..."
The group began searching the bodies and quickly found six Storage Rings.
Marshal Fan had only found two Storage Rings on the 6th Floor, but here they found six. This was further proof that this group of a dozen or so had been far more powerful than the last.
Without hesitation, Lu Chao immediately sent his consciousness into one of the rings and dumped its entire contents on the ground.
He did the same with the rest, until all their contents were piled up.
Then, the group began to sort through the pile...
"Lu Chao, I found a few bottles of Azure Flame Bone-Refining Pills!" Cheng Yunsu exclaimed in delight.
The words had barely left her lips when she noticed Lu Chao hadn’t responded. Looking over, she saw him staring intently at a small, black-and-gold-covered booklet. Inscribed on the cover were five words... Azure Flame Nine Palace Array Map.
As Cheng Yunsu walked over, Lu Chao was just opening it to the first page.
Cheng Yunsu was slightly surprised. "There’s not a single word on it. What is this?"
Instead of answering, Lu Chao sent a stream of his consciousness into the first page.
In the next instant, Cheng Yunsu saw the first page of the Nine Palace Array Map begin to emit a faint golden glow. Lu Chao’s eyes were wide.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths passed...
The golden glow from the first page slowly faded, and Lu Chao’s deep voice followed...
"This is it. The Soldier Dao Battle Array for every floor of the Azure Flame Sect’s Forbidden Land."
"The first page corresponds to the first floor."
"If you infuse it with your consciousness, the details of the first floor appear, and you can learn how to break the array."
’Doesn’t this mean we can find out how many floors are in the Forbidden Land? We can learn the Soldier Dao Battle Array for every floor and break through them with ease!’
Without hesitating, Lu Chao immediately began flipping through the Nine Palace Array Atlas. But when he got to the seventh page, he found it was the last one.
"How can it be gone? There are definitely more than seven floors," Cheng Yunsu asked.
Lu Chao examined the atlas closely...
A cold glint flashed in his eyes. "There were two more pages, but someone tore them out. You can see the traces where they were ripped."
Her mouth fell open...
Cheng Yunsu murmured, "So that means there are two floors left in the Forbidden Land, but we’ll still have to figure them out on our own... Who would tear out the last two pages?"
Lu Chao, of course, had no answer to that question. He gently closed the Nine Palace Array Atlas.
"There probably aren’t any more skeletons beyond the eighth floor," Lu Chao murmured. "It’s because those two pages were missing. That’s why the people who came here two hundred years ago died, unable to reach the very end of the Forbidden Land."
But just as the words left his lips, Lu Chao’s eyes suddenly flew wide, and he stared back toward the Barrier of the seventh floor...
He spoke rapidly, "Put everything away! Someone’s broken through the seventh floor and is coming in!"
At his words, the others had no time to speak...
They just scrambled to put everything back into the six Storage Rings they had found.
Once everything was packed away, Lu Chao spoke quickly again, "Everyone hide amongst the skeletons and completely conceal your auras! First, let’s see who’s coming. Be ready to enter the eighth floor with me at a moment’s notice."