Yu Ci halted at the periphery of the "Canopy," taking a few steps around the ceaselessly surging mists, yet he never truly entered its midst. He pondered; the force that had blasted him away two days prior clearly originated from there. However, at that time, it was suppressed by the "Great Tree" of Return Village, revealing only a relatively superficial level of power—the "sledgehammer" blows he had felt.

But now, the roots of Return Village were evidently severed, as if a great tree had its roots cut off, unable to draw up sustenance, and thus this entity began to manifest its inherent Sha aura.

Extremely dangerous!

Yet, the opportunity lay within.

Return Village seemed like a space carved out separately, banished to some unknown region. Perhaps it was billions of miles from the Sword Garden, or some other unfathomable distance—Yu Ci was unfamiliar with this realm. But one thing he could confirm was that there must be a "shortcut" here that connected to the Sword Garden, similar to the path from the Eastern Marquis's Tomb to Guixu.

And that "shortcut" might well be deep within the "Canopy," right beside the "Upper True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture."

Yu Ci felt this was highly probable, and if he could find it...

He activated his Storage Ring, gingerly extracting a dark, heavy sphere that radiated warmth with a slight shake. Yu Ci quickly steadied the bead and carefully returned it to the Storage Ring.

This bead, transformed from the Heavenly Calculation Bead, had become the source for collecting Plague Sky Demon Seeds and igniting the Demon Fire. Originally controlled by the Pan Emperor's Three Swords, the condensed demons within had now been devoured by the Divine Bronze Mirror, and the Demon Fire was extinguished by the azure light emitted from the Treasure Mirror.

However, upon Yu Ci's inspection, although the demon bead was slightly damaged, the ember within had not been extinguished. Moreover, it was intermittently absorbing the Essence of Cultivators infected by the Plague Sky Demon Seeds, reigniting the Demon Fire to its most ferocious state.

Having taken possession of the bead, Yu Ci followed Xuan Huang's advice and wrapped it in a layer of Talisman seal, albeit with limited effect. Now, the bead itself was like a sealed oil barrel, with the fire seed wrapped in a "thin paper"—the moment the fire seed burned through the "thin paper," the "oil barrel" would explode.

Yu Ci hoped it would behave, ready for when he needed it most. If necessary, he would use the Demon Fire to burn through the Void Barrier, but all this would have to wait until he truly found the "shortcut."

Regulating his breath, Yu Ci confirmed he had a more precise sense of the entity at the center of the "Canopy," and then he advanced with his sword in hand.

He realized that since entering the Sword Garden, changing swords seemed to have become his most frequent activity. Unlike the effects under Illusionary Appearance, Yu Ci couldn't form a sword with his thoughts alone. The Nine Luminaries Dragon Abyss Sword Talisman was slightly too fragile, so he had no choice but to consider the collection of the Pan Emperor's Three Swords.

Alas, there was no second blade like the Slaying-Flood-Dragon Sword, which required no ritualistic refinement to wield effectively. The sword in his grasp now, a hastily consecrated substitute forged over the past two days, may have been of decent quality, but its simple refinement was insufficient to unleash the full potency of the blade. It might even impede the flow of the sword's intent—put simply, it was rather unwieldy in use.

Yu Ci, indifferent to the name of this sword, moved slowly and cautiously step by step.

This was not his first venture into this realm... nor his second. Over the past couple of days, his explorations here were not as frequent as those before Hao Dian's Former Residence, but he had made a handful of attempts nonetheless, each not quite yielding the desired outcome, yet granting him a sliver of insight.

As he stepped into the coiling mists, a formidable aura swept from the center of the "canopy"—perhaps it was from the "Upper True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture"—and upon the slightest contact with his external aura, an immediate transformation ensued. A sharp pain struck his eardrums as if pierced by an acute Sword Resonance, while the peerless Sword Energy, already permeating the fog, surged forth in a sweeping tide.

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"Ha!"

Yu Ci exhaled forcefully, his roar bursting forth from his throat with explosive ferocity. The sword, still sheathed, rang out as it was drawn half a foot; its Sword Energy condensed into a flash of azure light, scattering into the mist to collide with the oncoming Sword Energy, igniting a series of sharp, fragmented sounds that fused into a piercing screech.

The residual Sword Energy pressed against his chest, causing Yu Ci's upper body to dramatically arch backward, yet his feet did not retreat an inch.

Far from retreating, his spirit soared at that moment. The sword, not fully drawn, was like a bow pulled taut, brimming with intent yet unreleased, drawing upon every ounce of his strength. Stimulated thus, the exquisite sensation he had experienced before the Illusionary Appearance returned: the piercing sword intent now intertwined with the resplendent majesty of a thousand-zhang Heavenly Dragon.

Facing the oppressive Sword Energy head-on, he slowly straightened up and began to advance. The unparalleled Sword Energy could not halt him; the might of the Heavenly Dragon merged with his divine intent, the control of vital energy flowing into his limbs and bones, transforming his aura completely.

The Sword Energy emitted by the "Upper True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture" adjusted as well, but this time Yu Ci indeed seized the initiative.

As the saying goes, "Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger," and Yu Ci's rapidly changing aura naturally exerted tremendous control over the mist and clouds. Influenced by this, the mist and vapor before Yu Ci undulated ceaselessly, and this tremor spread throughout the entire "canopy" in an instant.

How could the Sword Scripture at the center of the "canopy" allow such a disturbance?

Instinctively, it radiated pressure, striving to reassert dominance over Yu Ci's abruptly ascending Sword Interval Dragon's Majesty. Regardless of the outcome between them, the surrounding mists were already twisting, collapsing, and dispersing in all directions at the moment of impact, and in the blink of an eye, the "canopy" lost its form.

Yu Ci squinted his eyes, for he saw a beam of light.

At first, it was a flickering speck, winking twice, followed by straight and sharp lines. Heaven and earth served merely as a backdrop to these lines; at this moment, the world seemed to lose all sources of light, casting a dark curtain, with only the lines emerging, intersecting, and transforming.

Then the lines took on a curvature, branching out into more lines of varying thickness and length. Yet the emergence of each line enriched the "curtain" with its imagery. Yu Ci gradually came to understand that these were patterns and characters, unique symbols etched and illuminated by Sword Energy, a projection of that central object amidst the cloud-qi on the brink of collapse.

In the span of a fleeting thought, the trajectory of the sword finally pieced together a character that Yu Ci recognized, written in Ancient Seal Script Text:

Upper True Nine Heavens!

These mere four characters, amidst the rise and fall of the Sword Light, were already brimming with a grandeur beyond measure. Yu Ci's eyes widened involuntarily, but before he could gather his thoughts, a buzzing sound resonated, and it seemed as if his head had swelled a hundredfold! Millions of nerves cried out on the verge of rupture.

With a muffled groan, blood streamed from Yu Ci's nose and mouth. He had no time to wipe it away, as an unimaginable volume of information was pouring through the four characters of "Upper True Nine Heavens." In the blink of an eye, his Sword Intent Dragon's Majesty was in disarray, and his Divine Soul was nearly bursting at the seams—if one were to remove the "nearly," it wouldn't take much longer.

"I can't hold on any longer!" Yu Ci finally realized that the "Upper True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture" was beyond his reach; Xuan Huang's concerns were indeed justified.

With all his Heart-Mind forced to focus here, if the Sword Scripture were to unleash another wave of Sword Energy, even fleeing for his life would be difficult for Yu Ci.

"I must find a way to transform."

Yu Ci, struggling against the blackening of his vision and the chaos of his thoughts, painstakingly took out the Black Sunk Demon Bead he had prepared earlier, ready to throw it at all costs. As for damaging the Sword Scripture or the like, whether it could be done or not, who cared about that now?

He raised his hand to throw it, but at the worst possible moment, a peak of information surged over him, and his grip weakened, causing the demon bead to drop to the ground and roll far away, fortunately not exploding beneath his feet.

Reflexively, Yu Ci tried to retrieve the bead, but as he bent down to do so, his legs could no longer support his body, and he fell face-first to the ground. Yet, it was this very fall that seemed to trigger some mysterious mechanism; in the depths of his Divine Soul, in a corner, something immense began to announce its existence.

The dispersing information seemed magnetic. The vast information contained within the "Upper True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture" changed direction, pouring down without any buffer, the two forces colliding.

Yu Ci's vision darkened once more, but the intense stimulation helped him regain a sliver of sensation. At that moment, he suddenly discovered, deep within his Divine Soul, more precisely, in a certain region of his memory, a majestic Iceberg stood tall. Compared to the memory from months ago, the Iceberg seemed unfamiliar, having expanded to an inconceivable size.

As for the pressure of the Sword Scripture... where was it?