The moment the stone door of the secret chamber closed, Lin Zhaoyue could still feel the lingering warmth of Ye Fan’s palm on her fingertips. "Elder Chén and the others should be here soon." As she turned around, the cloud patterns on the scabbard of her Taichu Sword rose and fell with her breath, like snow driven by the wind.
The four walls of the secret chamber were embedded with night pearls, and their cold white light fell upon her brow, making the tight curve of her expression clearly visible. Ever since they parted ways at the outer mountain, she had gone through seven ledger books in the bamboo grove and discovered that half a month ago, Zhao Wuji had traded three crates of dark iron for the "Array-Breaking Awl" from the Heavenly Saber Sect.
With his back to her, Ye Fan was placing the Jiuxiao Huanpei flat onto the stone desk. The dark patterns on the zither body glowed with a golden light under the illumination of the pearls—a mark of the decade he had spent nourishing it with his Inner World. "What the Heavenly Saber Sect wants is the remnant volume of the *Classic of Myriad Beasts* that I have," he said in a deep voice, his knuckles pressed against the center of his brow. "Because of the struggle for the heir apparent by the adopted son of the Yè Family back then, Zhao Wuji has waited twenty years for this day."
Chapter 165