Chapter 906: Seven Wounds Sword Ultimate
Right now, Chen Cang was experiencing great pain and terror.
He was in pain because his current life was worse than death, and he was afraid because he did not know if he would invent a new way to torture him.
Who was he?
He was one of the Twelve Ultimate Swords of Swordsgrave, the “Seven Wounds Ultimate Sword” Cheng Qishang.
As the title implied, the Twelve Ultimate Swords of Swordsgrave referred to twelve swordsmen whose swordsmanship had reached the pinnacle within the Swordsgrave.
The Twelve Ultimate Swords might not be the strongest or most powerful warriors within the Swordsgrave, but they were definitely the most talented swordsmen who had reached the pinnacle in a specific sword art.
Naturally, someone who had reached the pinnacle of a certain sword art was strong even if their cultivation level or combat strength weren’t the greatest.
Cheng Qishang was one such person. He was a genius who reached the pinnacle of one of the thirty six sword arts of Swordsgrave, the “Seven Wounds Sword Art”, before he was thirty. No one else in the history of Swordsgrave had ever reached this level. Hence, they named him the Seven Wounds Ultimate Sword.
Cheng Qishang wasn’t most famous for his talent in swordsmanship or his title, however. It was his training methods.
Cheng Qishang’s training methods could only be described as abnormal and cruel to the extreme. He would do anything and everything that would improve his swordsmanship. He wasn’t afraid of death, danger, or pain.
Once, Cheng Qishang sat in a cave of poison to temper his sword body. He allowed himself to be eaten by the Five Poisons without eating, drinking, moving, or even reacting for an entire month. By the time he emerged from the cave, all that was left of him was bones[1].
Once, Cheng Qishang severed his own meridians and became a beggar to temper his sword heart. He ate leftovers, tasted cold food, endured hunger and cold, and suffered oppression and disgust. He lived like this for twelve years before he fixed himself.
Once, Cheng Qishang dug out his own internal organs and polluted it with filth and sickness to temper his own sword intent. He was plagued by all sorts of diseases and injuries for decades, and he wasn’t fully healed even to this day.
This was just the tip of the iceberg that was the insane feats Cheng Qishang had put himself through to hone his sword.
Cheng Qishang loved training. He also loved teaching and training other Swordsgrave disciple in the way of the sword.
Cheng Qishang treated them like how he treated himself.
In other words, he was ruthless to them as much as he was ruthless to himself, sometimes more.
Cheng Qishang especially enjoyed torturing others using methods that anyone in their right mind would consider most inhumane, tragic and brutal. He called it “training”.
For example, he had left disciples in a pit latrine and fed them literal shit.
He had locked people in a lightless sealed room with no one but themselves to make company with.
He had humiliated the parents of a disciple and slaughtered their closest friends and family right before their eyes.
Actually, scratch that. He was far, far worse than a demon.
Cheng Qishang watched Chen Cang trembling all over as he tried to hold in the pain. He covered his mouth, coughed twice, and said slowly, “No need to hold it in. Pain should be screamed, you know.”
“It doesn’t hurt.” Chen Cang squeezed through gritted teeth. Literally. He was afraid that he would scream if he opened his mouth.
If he did scream, then what awaited him was only more inhuman torture.
“It doesn’t hurt? Good. You’ve improved.” An eerie, evil smile spead across Cheng Qishang’s lips. “You’re much better than those trashes, aren’t you? I didn’t even give them much guidance, and they were already screaming like they wanted to put a hole in the sky. They do not possess the sword bone and pride of a Swordsgrave disciple at all.”
“...”
“Do you know what happened to them?”
Before Chen Cang could answer, Cheng Qishang said, “Trashes like them do not deserve to be a disciple of Swordsgrave. So, I refined them into wood coal. You know, the wood coal that’s burning under your pot right now? That’s all they are good for.”
Chen Cang trembled. He nearly broke there and then.
Cheng Qishang continued, “You are a disciple of the Swordsgrave. Your bones must be hard like a sword, unbending no matter how much pressure they’re under, and your pride must be pure like a sword, unblemished no matter how much filth buries it.”
“I will remember your teachings, senior brother,” Chen Cang replied through gritted teeth, his voice carefully controlled so that not so much as a squeak escaped his throat. Otherwise, who was to say he wouldn’t follow in the others’ footsteps?
“You say that, but your response is weak. Do you think I’m wrong, or do you have something against me?” Cheng Qishang looked Chen Cang up and down with a smile that did not reach the eye.
“Absolutely not!” Chen Cang forced down his pain and said loudly, “It is this junior brother's honor to be tutored by you! This junior brother is grateful beyond imagination!”
“Mm. Good. Glad to see that my teachings haven’t gone to waste.” Cheng Qishang nodded in satisfaction. “Since it doesn’t hurt, allow me to spice things up a little.”
A mosquito flew out of Cheng Qishang’s sleeve and landed on Chen Cang’s skull. Then, it plunged its long proboscis into his scalp.
At first, Chen Cang only felt a little itchy. He did not feel anything else.
He was confused when Chen Qishang explained, “This mosquito is called the Heguang Mosquito. The Heguang Mosquito possesses no offensive power, but it does boast one very interesting quality: it can magnify a person’s senses several fold in a short time.”
Cheng Qishang had just finished when Chen Cang realized that the pain had suddenly become several times worse than before.
“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
Chen Cang was at his limits to begin with. His tongue snapped in half between his teeth, and a bloodcurdling scream escaped his throat.
1. Wow, a literal skeleton warrior! ☜