Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
That human figure was trapped inside the ray of light as he landed inside the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation. The Tiangang Swordmaster glanced over – it was a youth in black clothes.
The youth wasn’t unconscious, but it there was nothing he could about his current situation. Still, his expression was normal, and his eyes were deathly silent. He seemed as calm as he could be.
The Tiangang Swordmaster didn’t recognize this youth before him. However, he immediately realized something was amiss once he used his consciousness to study him.
There seemed to be a vast and terrifying sword mind that appeared both virtual and real at the same time hidden within his body.
That sword mind was colossal like the skies above, and it seemed to be able to accommodate everything in the world. Even though the Tiangang Swordmaster hadn’t come into contact with it before, he knew of its name. “The Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword of the Heaven’s Gate? It’s not just the sword mind and swordplay – there seems to be another form of existence. That feeling…”
The Tiangang Swordmaster was the kind to remain calm even if the world crashed down beside him. There was hardly anything that could make him lose his cool, but at this moment, his expression changed. “…The Nine Heavens Sword that was never truly forged, but had its foundations laid?”
He turned towards the Cang Ming Swordmaster, astonished. “Where did you find such a person?”
The Cang Ming Swordmaster replied plainly, “When you left the mountain for the Barren Expanses, I have travelled the world outside Mount Shu myself.”
He glaned at Ji Wenrui and the Lixiong Swordmaster below them, and the Shaoyang Swordmaster as well. “You should know that once my sword heart was reformed and my mastery regained, Wenrui and the others won’t know a thing if I truly wanted to hide things from them. Wenrui sent the Shaoyang Swordmaster to monitor me – it was all a futile attempt.”
The Cang Ming Swordmaster shook his head. “Back then, my emotions hadn’t completely settled down and there was still much confusion inside my mind. I made a decision to leave the Greater World and stay in the Divine Lands no longer. I didn’t venture into the Barren Expanses like you did – instead, I sauntered along in the heavens and the void above with no aim in mind at all.”
“Who knew that I happened to witness this fellow defeating a demon using the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword Technique inside a middle world. He was quite careful as well – he completely avoided all other people and never took any prisoners. However, he was but a nascent soul stage cultivator and how could he know of my presence? Everything fell into my eyes and I captured him out of a moment’s curiosity.”
“I inspected him afterwards and discovered that he wasn’t just practicing the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword Technique. His body contains the shadow of the Heaven’s Gate Sect’s Nine Heavens Sword itself, and it’s halfway through its cultivation.”
The Cang Ming Swordmaster chuckled and said, “The Great Void Sect, us, and everybody else in the world has been searching for the Nine Heavens Sword for many years and we’ve travelled to the corners of the world in our various attempts, yet they’ve all been to no avail. I was also taken by surprise.”
He surveyed the darkness of the void around him. “It seems like the universe as its own reasons and profundities – perhaps its destined that the Saintly Celestial Sword shall be reborn.”
The Cang Ming Swordmaster’s face grew a little solemn as he spoke. “The leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders laid the Saintly Celestial Sword to ruin, and we have no way of re-forging it.”
“Even if we used the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation before us to re-forge the Saintly Celestial Sword, it’s still an uncertainty whether it can return to its former glory, let alone coming back stronger.”
The Canming Swordmaster shook his head. “The Lightning Swordmaster and the Heavenly Master Swordmaster may had breakthroughs. However, their foundations all came from the Saintly Celestial Sword Qi. This Nine Heavens Sword is different.”
“If we sacrifice this incomplete sword, we can truly re-forge the Saintly Celestial Sword and allow it to come back even more powerful than before.”
The youth trapped in the ray of flowing light was Chu Yang of the Ethereal Mountain.
The Tiangang Swordmaster watched Chu Yang with a faint look of surprise. “He truly contains the Nine Heavens Sword in his body? The Nine Heavens Sword has returned to the world?”
The Cang Ming Swordmaster said, “This sword is still incomplete, and it’s still merged with this youth’s soul. If I hadn’t inspected him closely, we won’t have been able to see the secret behind it even if had seen in on a typical day. However, he’s arrested by my sword Qi right now and everything else is meaningless.”
The Tiangang Swordmaster directed his consciousness to sweep over Chu Yang’s body and his eyebrows quivered. “He doesn’t just possess the Great Nine Heaves Holy Sword Technique – he possesses skills that are a combination of the Blood River lineage and swordplay. Yet, the foundations of his mantra are from the Ethereal Mountain…”
To the Tiangang Swordmaster, the Ethereal Mountain was a tiny existence that didn’t attract his attention at all. Even though the Ethereal Mountain was one of the small-sized sects that had been reliant on the Celestial Sect of Wonders over recent years, they never fell into the eyes of people like him and the Cang Ming Swordmaster.
Still, both of them were well-informed and they were acquainted with most mantras and spells belonging to the great many sects of the world. They were never too concerned in typical days and they didn’t expend any effort to remember them either. However, if the need rose, they would instantly be able to recall all the information hidden in the recesses of their memory.
The Cang Ming Swordmaster nodded his head and said, “You are correct. He’s from the Ethereal Mountain Sect. But who would have known that a shithole like that can produce a jewel like him?”
“The Ethereal Mountain Sect has been following behind the Celestial Sect of Wonders over the years. Even if nobody could tell that there was something off with this guy, the leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders certainly could. However, he left this sword inside this youth from the beginning to the end and he never took special care of it – he just let it rot and destroy itself.”
“Yet, I have discovered its existence. This is fate.”
The Cang Ming Swordmaster laughed into the sky and said, “I have already checked – there are no traps or whatnot related to the leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders on his body. Today is the day the Saintly Celestial Sword of Mount Shu shall return to the Greater World!”
The Tiangang Swordmaster watched him as if he was a complete stranger. “Junior Cang Ming – have you lost all faith in the swordplay of Mount Shu, from the bottom of your heart?”
“You are no different from Jie Luoshi all those years ago!”
The Cang Ming Swordmaster shook his head. “I have never lost my faith in the Saintly Celestial Sword Qi. However, blind faith and stubborn confidence is hubris. All rivers run into the ocean and the oceans take all that there is – what’s wrong with what I’m doing?”
The Tiangang Swordmaster’s lips were tightly pressed together and he didn’t utter a word. However, his consciousness was still bouncing back and forth inside the void. “All rivers may run into the ocean and we can use different means to obtain the same result – that is correct. However, the ‘sea’ at the bottom of your heart is no more.”
The Cang Ming Swordmaster said plainly, “Further discussion is meaningless, senior Tiangang, and reality and the truth shall prove that I am correct.”
He gripped the Cang Ming Ancient Sword with his right hand as his left hand began to cast a spell. Chu Yang’s shadow vanished into the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation as the white lights in the sky grew ever so vast.
The Cang Ming Swordmaster pointed with his sword, and a sprawling sword radiance that resembled the ashen underworld surged outwards and swept towards the Tiangang Swordmaster.
The two of them were already out of the Greater World and were positioned inside the limitless void. However, it suddenly seemed like there was a blue sky above their heads at this moment.
The radiance from the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation merged with the Cang Ming Swordmaster’s sword mind and provided a great boost to his power.
The Tiangang Swordmaster was expressionless as he shook the Tiangang Ancient Sword in his hands. A single slash lit up the void as he locked horns with the Cang Ming Swordmaster once again.
However, the moment Chu Yang and the shadow of the Nine Heavens Sword was sent into the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation, there was an obvious transformation in its power. It started tremble a little, but even when it was destabilized, it became more mystical and fearsome.
The power from the mountain defense formations of the nine sword sects were continuously sucked into the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation. The formation power of these sects had already reached a point beyond their typical limit, causing the people directing the sword formations to grow deeper in suspicion and doubt.
The sound of a sword being sharpened rang loud from within the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation. The sword mind coming from within was becoming stronger, as if it was going to convert the everything around into a world of sword Qi.
At this point, Zhuge Zhan immediately felt the change in circumstance as he lunged towards the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation.
His blonde eyebrows furrowed as he muttered under his breath, “Eh? The power of the sword formation is too strong. It has energy remaining to resist my attack even when it’s aiding the Cang Ming Swordmaster against the Tiangang Swordmaster?”
This old man had an explosive temper that erupted when he was met with resistance. His retracted his hands to his bosom and began to cast another spell – a million rays of Divine Sunlight began to concentrate around his body and he immediately unleashed his Divine Sunlight Dao Fruit.
Zhuge Zhan’s Divine Sunlight Dao Fruit flew into the sky as the heavens separated to reveal the blinding Sun star. Heaven and earth was eclipsed for a moment as immense energy surged all around – this was the most powerful spell in Zhuge Zhan’s arsenal, the Glorious Sun Holy Shine.
The sprawling heaven and earth, the boundless void space and the sea of stars in the sky appeared to withdraw into the darkness, as if they had never existed in the first place.
Only the Sun remained. It was the only true source of light, the only true and supreme radiance, and the only dictator of the world.
The region around Mount Shu sank into a darkness that resembled the eternal night and the only other source of light that was left was the white pillar of light that belonged to the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation – and there was a single streak of radiance plummeting down from the heavens above.
Zhuge Zhan flipped his palm and the Scorching Sun Spear appeared in his hands. He drew upon the dazzling radiance of the Glorious Sun Holy Shine and unleashed an incredibly powerful strike on the body of the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation.
Even though the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation was powerful, most of its energies were directed to help the Cang Ming Swordmaster in his duel against the Tiangang Swordmaster. A gash suddenly appeared in the pillar of white light as it was struck by Zhuge Zhan’s spear.
The Cang Ming Swordmaster’s eyes grew ever so cold. “Even though I didn’t intend to fully antagonize the Celestial Sword of Wonders right now, at this point…”
As he was thinking to himself, the Tiangang Swordmaster’s sword mind and sword Qi became increasingly violent and hostile. The Tiangang Swordmaster’s voice rang out beside his ears. “Don’t force me to kill you, Cang Ming!”
“Everything will change if we finish this! If we fail, and even if you don’t kill me and the Grand Moon Swordmaster and the others, there will be others who will be more than happy to end us. What good will that do for you and Wenrui and the others? How will you live with yourself?” The Cang Ming Swordmaster howled as he slashed his sword left and right while he pointed towards the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation with his other hand.
The rotations of the sword formation became faster and faster. However, it wasn’t trying to retaliate against Zhuge Zhan – it was catalyzing the re-forging of the Saintly Celestial Sword.
The Cang Ming Swordmaster said coldly, “I don’t care if I die under your blade or in other people’s hands. If the Saintly Celestial Sword is not reborn, I will not rest in peace!”
The two most senior supreme elders of the Mount Shu Sword Sect tore apart the void above the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation. In the Divine Lands below, after Zhuge Zhan broke off a corner of the sword formation, rolling white light came back in force to retaliate against him.
The Divine Sunlight around his body transformed into a sprawling rainbow that blurred the edges of the world and blocked off the rays of white light.
He broke open a hole in the sword formation with the explosiveness of his Glorious Sun Holy Shine. However, if he didn’t continue forward and remained in this standstill, the vast and dense sword formation would be able to win this battle of endurance in the end.