After being reborn, the villain comes with a spoiler tag.

"This pillar is named 'Heavenly Gate'."

Dao Yi stood with his hands behind his back before the pillar, his posture as upright as a pine tree, his voice carrying an unusual solemnity.

"It is the tallest pillar in this area. Legend has it that one can climb straight up to the heavens along it, hence the name."

The surface of the stone pillar is covered with sword marks of varying depths. These marks have endured for a long time and are ancient, yet they still exude a sharp sword intent, as if even time cannot erase their meaning.

But among all the sword marks, one stands out—it runs diagonally upwards from the middle of the stone pillar, like a nimble dragon, its end disappearing into the clouds, about a finger's width wide, with edges as smooth as a mirror.

Even from several feet away, Huo Yu could feel the ancient and persistent sharp sword intent emanating from it.

That sword intent was extremely pure. In front of this sword intent, all the sword intents on the stone pillar, and even in the entire stone forest, paled in comparison, just as the stars lost their brilliance in front of the bright moon.

"This sword mark is the Heavenly Gate Sword Book, left by the Nameless Sword Master before his ascension."

Dao Yi's voice, unlike its usual unrestrained and carefree tone, became exceptionally serious. He stared at the sword mark, his eyes revealing deep respect.

"The Nameless Sword Master attained enlightenment through the sword, creating the 'Nameless Sword Manual.' Before leaving this world, he left no sword manual as a legacy, only this sword mark and a sentence: 'This sword cannot be explained in words; those with the right affinity will comprehend it.'"

Dao Yi's voice echoed through the stone forest, but only reached Huo Yu's ears, because the other person present seemed to still be there, but in reality, his mind had already gone to another world.

At this moment, Long Yucheng had entered a profound and mysterious state of meditation.

He tilted his head slightly, his eyes fixed on the towering stone pillar, the illusory image of the sword mark clearly reflected in his pupils. In his perception, all the sounds and sights around him were gradually fading away, as if he were in an independent space.

His vision was filled only with that sword mark, which was like a black hole, constantly drawing his consciousness in and expanding deep within his mind until it eventually occupied the entire world.

In a daze, Long Yucheng seemed to have become the stone pillar in front of him.

He "saw" a blurry figure standing in mid-air. The person was dressed simply, his face hidden behind the light of time, and the long sword in his hand was even more ordinary, without any spiritual light flowing through it, as if it were just an ordinary iron sword.

But the moment that person raised his sword, the entire world held its breath, and it seemed as if only this one person and his sword remained in the world.

The figure moved in the next instant.

He simply made a horizontal slash, without any fancy starting moves, his movements as unpretentious as a child learning swordsmanship for the first time.

However, this seemingly ordinary sword strike allowed Long Yucheng to witness a magnificent scene as if the world had been created.

—Where the sword blade passes, space shatters like a mirror, the river of time freezes at this moment, and countless stars are born and annihilated on both sides of the sword's edge. Only this sword remains eternally unchanged.

This sword strike carried no spiritual energy fluctuations, yet it caused Long Yucheng's soul to tremble. It discarded all external splendor and embellishment, leaving only the purest sword intent, pointing directly to the origin of the sword path.

That sword intent was like the rising sun piercing through the morning mist, or like the ancient starry sky casting its clear light. It was the simplest sword strike, yet it encompassed all the sword intents in the world.

"So, this is what a 'sword' truly is..."

Long Yucheng murmured to himself, his voice carrying a hint of shock and sudden realization.

Before this sword, he felt as insignificant as dust, as if he could be swallowed up by its intent at any moment. At the same time, he seemed to have touched the ultimate essence of the sword, experiencing an unprecedented clarity and understanding.

……

As Long Yucheng immersed himself in the profound insights of the Heavenly Gate Sword Manual, Huo Yu and Dao Yi stood quietly on either side, protecting him and guarding the pass.

The stone forest was utterly silent, without even a whisper of wind. Time seemed to stand still here, and everything was frozen in this silent moment.

A light snow began to fall from the sky, but not a single snowflake could land within the stone forest. The moment the swirling snowflakes touched the air above the stone forest, they were silently annihilated by countless intertwined sword intents, turning into glittering specks of light that vanished without a trace.

In the silence, Dao Yi suddenly spoke, his tone casual, as if he were merely starting a conversation out of boredom:

"Li Hanyi has been a disciple of the Xuantian Sword Sect for over two hundred years, but her talent in the sword path is mediocre. In terms of strength, she can only be considered the lowest among her peers in the Nascent Soul stage. She is aloof and has been working alone for the past two hundred years, with almost no one in the sect having a close relationship with her."

His tone was flat, as if he were talking about something insignificant.

Huo Yu remained calm and showed no reaction.

Dao Yi didn't mind his silence and continued speaking to himself:

"Until ten years ago, she made rapid progress in swordsmanship, became popular among her peers, and gained increasing prestige among the younger generation. If Jian Zheng and I hadn't repeatedly examined her and confirmed that there were no signs of possession, anyone would have suspected that there was a different soul inside her body."

Huo Yu understood the undisguised warning in Dao Yi's words. He nodded slightly, his slender fingers unconsciously stroking a piece of wood in his sleeve.

Just moments ago, after the battle between Long Yucheng and Li Hanyi had ended, Huo Yu received a telepathic message in his mind:

"I know what's on the island, during the full moon."

The person who transmitted the message was none other than Li Hanyi.

Huo Yu gently stroked the wooden piece in his sleeve with his fingertips, his fingertips tracing the lines left by time on it.

Before he could find out why the Heavenly Dao Value and the Cross Annotation that should have belonged to Bai Xue had been transferred to Li Hanyi, the other party had already come knocking on his door.

The "island" she referred to was, of course, the location recorded on the wooden tablet.

The full moon, midnight, is a time of day—there are still twenty days until the next full moon.

This period of time is neither too long nor too short; it's just enough for those with ulterior motives to lay out their plans, and also enough for those who are vigilant to make thorough preparations.

With Li Hanyi's Nascent Soul stage cultivation, the sound of her divine sense transmission naturally could not escape the notice of Dao Yi, who was in the Divine Transformation stage. That's why there was that seemingly casual and nonchalant chat just now, which was actually Dao Yi subtly warning Huo Yu.

A dark glint flashed in Huo Yu's eyes as his mind raced, connecting the various clues one by one: Li Hanyi's sudden change, the abnormal shift in Heavenly Dao Value, and the wooden piece given by the young man in the Mahayana stage...

Every link in the chain is suspicious. All the clue providers seem to be unrelated, yet they all point in the same direction, as if an invisible hand is controlling everything.

The person who orchestrated this was clearly the mastermind who had been hiding in the shadows all along, but this time, it seems that Huo Yu has been temporarily designated as the protagonist of the next act.

Huo Yu tapped the wooden piece in his sleeve with his knuckles, a cold smile playing on his lips. Since the other party had extended such a generous invitation, he naturally had no reason not to go.

The stone forest was silent, with only the flow of sword intent. Huo Yu's face showed no change, and his gaze fell back on Long Yucheng, who was in meditation.

The young man looked up at the sword marks on the stone pillar, his figure frozen like a sculpture, as if he had merged with the stone forest. His eyes, reflecting the sword light, seemed to pierce through time and space, staring at some distant being.

Dao Yi also fell silent, and the three of them stood silently in the stone forest, creating a strange scene in the interplay of light and shadow.