Rise of the Sword Son-in-Law

"Run!"

Xu Ping’an didn’t say a word and grabbed Li Qingyi, racing directly into the valley.

Although he hadn’t seen the giant Fiery Pit Viper, he felt an intense sense of crisis. This near-death sensation sent chills down his spine.

So, he made a snap decision and headed into the valley.

Right as he sprinted out, the massive reddish shadow behind him also sprang into action, biting fiercely towards where Xu Ping’an had just been.

Li Qingyi was utterly stunned.

Initially, she didn’t react and got pulled along by Xu Ping’an. Just as she tried to break free from his grip,

the python struck.

At that moment, its gaping mouth was less than half a meter away from her.

She could clearly see the patterns on the python’s teeth and even the intense, lingering stench hit her full in the face.

Li Qingyi was completely shocked.

A Fourth Rank giant Fiery Pit Viper?

If Xu Ping’an hadn’t pulled her along to run just now, she would have been swallowed whole.

Xu Ping’an glanced back and his heart skipped a beat.

He had thought it might be Third Rank, but it turned out to be Fourth Rank.

This was a serious problem now.

Without any hesitation, he picked up Li Qingyi again and sprinted forward.

The giant Fiery Pit Viper pursued them relentlessly from behind.

Luckily, numerous trees in the valley obstructed it, otherwise, with Xu Ping’an’s speed, he would have been caught within a hundred meters.

However, those trees were no match for the giant Fiery Pit Viper. The trees toppled aside as Xu Ping’an ran for his life, using Ghost Cloud Step to its extreme, close to reaching the realm of divine mastery.

Even so, the distance between them and the viper was shrinking.

Li Qingyi didn’t struggle. She knew now that if Xu Ping’an left her behind, she would have only death awaiting her.

"Damn it, this beast is too fast. If this goes on, it’ll catch us sooner or later," Xu Ping’an muttered anxiously to himself.

If they kept running like this, they would be caught before long.

"Xu Ping’an, quick, there’s a cave over there," Li Qingyi suddenly pointed toward a cave on a distant cliff face.

Xu Ping’an glanced at the cave and without saying another word, bolted toward it immediately.

The Fiery Pit Viper followed suite.

Fortunately, Xu Ping’an dove into the cave just a moment before the Fiery Pit Viper could reach him.

Since the cave opening was too small, the Fiery Pit Viper was blocked outside.

"That was close," Li Qingyi said, watching the Fiery Pit Viper continually slam against the cave entrance, her heart pounding.

Xu Ping’an also let out a deep breath.

He, a once-Immortal Emperor, nearly ended up in a snake’s belly, which was utterly humiliating.

"Thank you for saving me, but next time, don’t carry me as you run. I’ve already recovered half my strength," Li Qingyi turned to Xu Ping’an and said.

Xu Ping’an couldn’t be bothered with her and turned to look at the cave.

The entrance to the cave wasn’t large, but the interior was quite spacious.

There were even some furnishings inside; it seemed someone had been cultivating in seclusion here before.

"It’s actually a cultivation cave residence, interesting. I just don’t know if there will be any treasures," Xu Ping’an said as he looked around the cave dwelling.

Clearly, this cave dwelling wasn’t naturally formed but artificially created.

It was divided into four rooms in total: three inner chambers and one outer chamber.

The place they were in now appeared to be the outer chamber.

After looking around, Xu Ping’an only found some weapon-grade Mysterious Iron and a few Low Grade Spirit Stones used for lighting in the outer chamber.

The spiritual energy in the Spirit Stone had been depleted a long time ago.

"So poor? The person who cast this cave dwelling couldn’t have been very powerful, at most a Fourth Rank," Xu Ping’an sighed.

"Why are you so sure? What if he took things away when he left?" Li Qingyi asked.

Looking at Li Qingyi as if she were an idiot, Xu Ping’an said, "Look at these sword marks on the wall. They’re about a foot deep. To make marks of this depth, the strength wouldn’t exceed the Fifth Rank. If it were a Fifth Rank Cultivator, a single strike would leave marks at least three meters deep."

"Is the Fifth Rank that strong?" Li Qingyi asked.

"Of course, there’s a huge gap between every two ranks. The difference between the Fourth and Fifth Rank is massive," Xu Ping’an said.

Li Qingyi gave Xu Ping’an a surprised look. This guy seemed to have a deep understanding of a Cultivator’s power.

A Fifth Rank expert would be at the level of the Beichen Sword Sect’s Sect Master, a powerhouse she had never seen take action. How could this guy be so clear about it?

"Let’s go over there and check it out; it looks like an Alchemy Room," Xu Ping’an said.

After finishing speaking, he walked into one of the inner rooms.

Just as Xu Ping’an had said, it was indeed an Alchemy Room, with a Pill Furnace placed in the center of the inner room.

Next to the Pill Furnace was an old cabinet that housed bottles and jars.

Xu Ping’an picked up some Medicine Bottles to check, and most of them were empty, with only six bottles containing Elixirs.

Exactly one pill per bottle, Xu Ping’an opened them to look and a surprised expression appeared on his face.

"They’re all Poison Pills; three Low Grade Third Rank Pulse-breaking Pills, one Intermediate Grade Third Rank Scorpion Pill, one Superior Grade Third Rank Thousand Insect Pill, and one Intermediate Grade Fourth Rank Spring Fragrance Pill," Xu Ping’an laughed.

Especially this last one—it was actually an aphrodisiac.

Such Elixirs were generally used to induce mating in Demon Beasts, but of course, they could also be used on humans.

Unexpectedly, the owner of this cave dwelling had refined so many Poison Pills.

Li Qingyi looked disgusted, "So he was an evil cultivator, refining so many Poison Pills."

Xu Ping’an chuckled. Refining Poison Pills made one an evil cultivator?

The young girl was still too naive.

"This Pill Furnace isn’t bad either!" Xu Ping’an directly stored the Pill Furnace into the Storage Token.

Li Qingyi looked on in amazement.

This guy actually had a Storage Space treasure?

Xu Ping’an ignored her and went to another inner room to take a look. This room was a Cultivation Technique Room, which did contain several Fourth Rank Cultivation Techniques.

Unfortunately, he didn’t rate any of them, and gave them all to Li Qingyi.

The same went for the Combat Techniques.

However, he did take a Myriad Poison Pill Manual that contained many Poison Pill Recipes. This did interest him.

As for the last inner room, it was a living quarter, and there was nothing to gain there.

However, Xu Ping’an still found a skeleton on the stone bed in the living quarter. Without a doubt, this skeleton should be the master of this stone chamber.

At the sight of the remains, Li Qingyi was initially shocked and then stepped aside.

But the next moment, Xu Ping’an’s action almost made her pop her eyes out.

Because she saw Xu Ping’an actually searching the corpse, or to be precise, fishing something out from among the bones.

"It’s actually this thing. How could it be here?" Xu Ping’an took out a broken piece of a Bronze Mirror from the skeleton’s remains, with extreme astonishment on his face.

The Heaven Peering Mirror?

Wasn’t this the Heaven Peering Mirror from his previous life?

How could it be here?

And it was shattered?

Who did this?

What exactly happened within the five hundred years after his death?