Chapter 20 - Back to the Archaic Times, Sword Inheritance

All through the night and day, Wu Chi sat in front of the Shadow, his body still like a clay sculpture.A sound of cracking rang from Wu Chi’s body. Zhou Boyan, who was beside Wu Chi, heard the cracking sound clearly.

She stood up and looked at Wu Chi with concern but didn’t find anything wrong with his body.

Wu Chi’s eyes were still closed and he did not seem to have noticed any changes in his body, even his breath remained unchanged. So, Zhou Boyan thought that it was just her unwanted worries that led to her hallucination.

Although Wu Chi’s eyes were tightly closed, and he looked as if he was in a deep meditative stage, he was aware what the sound of cracking was.

This signified that he had succeeded in comprehending the Shadow’s sword intent.

In the moment of enlightenment, Wu Chi had formed his own wisp of sword intent inside his body, and in so doing, completely expelled Luo Kun’s sword .

The sword intent is proud and domineering. Once a wisp of sword intent has been formed inside one’s body, it is impossible for the sword intent to coexist with any other kind of external force, which in this case, is the sword . The result is that both these forces clash against each other.

Luo Kun’s strength was far greater than Wu Chi’s. If Wu Chi had formed his sword intent elsewhere, it was highly possible that his own sword intent would be crushed by Luo Kun’s sword . Even if his sword intent were to resist Luo Kun’s sword , the damage done from this clash would create too much burden for his body to handle, and he would immediately die on the spot.

On the contrary, he was beside the Shadow right now. Although the wisp of sword intent inside his body was weak, this sword intent was heavily influenced by the Shadow and would of course, gain the Shadow’s recognition. Almost instantaneously, the Shadow merged with him and destroyed Luo Kun’s sword .

With the corrosion of the sword  removed, Wu Chi finally opened his eyes.

However, before he could say anything, the Shadow glowed, and before he could explain to Zhou Boyan, his hands had uncontrollably moved towards the Shadow.

With his newly formed sword intent that had the same attribute as the Shadow, he had gained the sword’s recognition, and triggered the refinement process.

Still, Wu Chi and Zhou Boyan were uncertain whether understanding the sword intent would truly make the refinement a smooth sailing.

If you fail to get the sword’s approval, the sword would not accept another similar existence inside your body, so the Shadow’s sword intent inside you would be removed, and this process would lead to death.

The Shadow can only have one master. If that person, who interacted with the sword, isn’t the master, the sword would turn hostile towards that person. For instance, if Zhou Yuanting were still alive, Wu Chi would instantly be obliterated upon coming in contact with the sword.

Boom!

The moment Wu Chi came in contact with the Shadow, the sword intent inside the Sword Pavilion suddenly increased manifolds. This overwhelming presence made Zhou Boyan, a cultivator at the Transcendent Mortal realm, almost lose her footing, and had to step back a few steps in order to balance her body.

In an instant, the sword intent suddenly rushed into Wu Chi’s consciousness, and directly targeted his soul!

However, this was not an attack, but the start of an inheritance!

Wu Chi didn’t know about this either. Even Zhou Yuanting hadn’t anticipated this outcome!

After Zhou Yuanting had received the Shadow, he was able to understand the Shadow’s sword intent solely through practicing. The point was, he didn’t receive the sword’s inheritance. Wu Chi, however, had opened the door to the Shadow’s inheritance, be it by a stroke of luck, or his own abilities.

At this moment, Wu Chi seemed to have stepped into a vast land. An expanse where real dragons soared in the sky, kun peng traversed the boundless sea; a land that reflected the vicissitudes of life, and death lurking everywhere.

This was not an illusion, but a real archaic time!

Back to the archaic times!

Wu Chi saw a blurred figure, that blurred figure tore down the sky with its sword, slayed the dragon, tore down the nine heavens, feast on kun peng, and reigned over the world!

Its sword broke through the heavens and split the land open.

With a sword, that blurred figure fought against the entire world for humankind!

This strength was akin to a… god!

Although Wu Chi was only a bystander, he felt his blood boiling at this scene.

However, at the next moment, Wu Chi felt the blurred figure’s gaze that was filled with reminiscence of the past slowly fell on him.

Suddenly, this dreamland was cracked into pieces.

The terrifying sword intent frantically rushed into Wu Chi’s body.

This is the inheritance of an ancient divine sword! It doesn’t consider whether you can bear the burden of the power or not. As a result, if you can’t bear the power of the sword… only one result awaits you— death!

A tinge of pain appeared in Wu Chi’s eyes, and his body became distorted: blood was uncontrollably seeping out from his skin.

The sword intent was crushing down upon his body!

His entire body was tempered by the surging sword intent!

The reason Wu Chi was still alive was due to him taking the Marrow Cleansing Elixir from before. If it hadn’t been for the elixir that had tempered his body to some extent, his body would have burst, and his life would’ve been lost.

Even so, this degree of pain was far from what the tempering pain from taking the Marrow Cleansing Elixir can match up to.

Compared with the pain from taking the elixir, the pain from the beginning of the tempered made him feel like he was being cut by knives.

And for Wu Chi, this is just the beginning.

“Wu Chi, how are you?”

Seeing blood coming out from all pores on his body, Zhou Boyan anxiously cried out, but she received no response.

Under the pressure from the Shadow, she had to move away from him and couldn’t approach him at all! The ferocious sword intent was enough to crush everything that came close to the sword. Zhou Boyan even thought that even if Luo Kun were here, he wouldn’t dare approach the raging sword either.

She didn’t know why the Shadow had such an abnormality, her father never mentioned any of this to her before.

The tempering process lasted for a whole day. By the time the process had ended, Wu Chi’s clothes had already turned into powder. Although Wu Chi bled a lot during the process, his entire body was reborn, like a polished jade.

For Wu Chi, the real danger was coming next!

After successfully refining the Shadow did Wu Chi notice that his initial understanding of the Shadow’s sword intent was shallow, like a drop of water in the ocean, and what he’s experiencing now was the Shadow’s true sword intent.

Countless swords appeared inside his mind, and these swords turned into invisible swords that would attack him. He must resist these invisible swords for as long as possible.

Once he was unable to resist, every invisible sword attack will directly damage the soul, and if he were to continue to get hit by this attack… his soul would soon be destroyed!

Wu Chi never thought that refining the Shadow would be such a dangerous task!

Of course, he had no time to regret anything now.

Every inch of potential inside his body was squeezed out to the extreme, he must give it his all, he can’t turn back now!

Soon, Wu Chi’s mind became serene, and he forgot about everything!

He forgot his reasons to refine the Shadow, forgot the crisis he’s in, and even forgot that he was refining the Shadow!

The only thing on his mind was the endless sword moves, and the fierce and invisible sword attack that was targeting him.

At this moment, Wu Chi’s peerless talent in the sword had truly surfaced. He had to adapt to every change in the sword technique because one mistake, and his soul will be destroyed!

In the next day, the endless barrage of sword attacks finally stopped, and the process of sword refinement finally started.

Nevertheless, the beginning of refinement does not mean that the danger was over.

Wu Chi’s memory was filled with so much new information, but this information didn’t belong to him. After all, an inheritance doesn’t mean that your strength will suddenly skyrocket overnight; you have to slowly digest the knowledge and familiarize with it until the inheritance becomes a part of your own strength.

Now, the only process left was to imprint his own sword brand into the sword.

This signified that he was becoming a genuine sword practitioner— a swordmaster!

If you can’t comprehend the sword intent, you’ll never be able to take this step!

It was no exaggeration to say that none of Wu Chi’s acquaintances, even his master, was a real sword practitioner.

Of course, Luo Kun could be classified as one, but he barely touched the threshold of a swordmaster.

Otherwise, a real swordmaster would be able to kill Wu Chi by utilizing the sword .

For others, even if the refinement were to fail, at most they’ll lose the chance to get the Shadow.

However, Wu Chi had triggered the ancient inheritage of the Shadow. There was no path of retreat. Once the refinement fails, his soul would be obliterated by the Shadow, signifying death!

…

“Brother Luo, three days have passed. What should we do now?”

Looking at the darkening sky, Deng Mao asked hesitantly.

They had done so much, but Zhou Boyan still remained unmoved, which was unacceptable to them.

His eyes full of unwillingness, Luo Kun was silent for a long time, until he opened his mouth and spoke word by word.

“Destroy the Sword Pavilion now! Trigger the Sword Pavilion’s mechanism… even if the Shadow were to be destroyed… we can’t hesitate anymore!

“But… Brother, why not wait for a little longer?” Deng Mao was still a little reluctant, this result was too disappointing for them.

“We can’t wait anymore! It’s been far too long now, we can’t hide our actions if we were to stay! Destroy the Sword Pavilion now! We’ll leave during the night and act as if we’ve never been here before!”

After a pause, Luo Kun’s face turned icy, and he said calmly, “Kill all these people of Shadow Sword Villa for me, I don’t want to see a single soul left here! Remember, don’t leave anything alive!” Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Nʘvᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Good!”

Nodding, Deng Mao turned around and ordered his men.

At the same time, Luo Kun took a step forward, and delivered a cut towards the seal of Sword Pavilion.

The seal became damaged, and light appeared everywhere, encompassing the area around the Sword Pavilion.

…

Zhou Boyan felt the tremor of the Sword Pavilion, she looked towards the seal in disbelief.

No one knew more about the consequences of breaking the seal than she did.

When the seal is attacked, its counter mechanism will destroy the entire Sword Pavilion, and even the Shadow will be destroyed by the impact.

This was her plan from before, to perish along with the Shadow.

If it was before she wouldn’t care much about the Sword Pavilion and the Shadow getting destroyed, but now she had regained her hope, how would she let the Sword Pavilion be destroyed?

However, the seal that was laid out by Zhou Yuanting before his death, its resilience was questionable. Now under Luo Kun’s attack, the seal couldn’t last long.

Zhou Boyan’s eyes involuntarily fell on Wu Chi again.