Chapter 133

9.18 - But the task has only been completed halfway!

translator: xiin

editors: BlueBug & Misogi

This mysterious secret realm did not have a name. It once belonged to an unknown swordsman. After the swordsman found his dao, he turned his estate into a secret realm and then scattered five stones engraved with parts of the map all over the world, hoping that in the future, some predestined person would be able to break the seal to the secret realm and obtain his inheritance.

A swordsman's inheritance was naturally related to his swordsmanship. But the person who would be able to enter his secret realm had to be a person of great strength, and anyone who would be strong enough to enter would already have developed their own swordsmanship, which naturally differed from his. He wanted to find a successor, but ultimately was unable to achieve his goal.

According to the outline that the author supplied, Yu Shaofeng and Chi Jian ultimately managed to enter this secret realm, despite not being strong enough, through a series of mistakes and accidents. They had only obtained minor achievements along the path of the sword and had their own sword intent, but had not yet touched the realm of creating their own sword dao. They were precisely the successors that matched with that Venerable Swordsman's inheritance, so this secret realm became the stepping-board for their rapid development. The people who had driven them into the secret realm were immediately slaughtered when they came out, and then these two began to kill in all directions. Although they were still hunted at the end because their strength was not strong enough, things like the path of the sword was something that one only had to step on, and understanding would naturally follow. In the later stages—after the two of them accepted the inheritance—they escaped from many pursuers and killed many opponents.

Xue Ling knew what was going to happen in the secret realm, but he still had to make a trip. Intuition told him that there was something odd about the secret realm, and when they arrived in front of the secret realm, this feeling became increasingly evident.

The five stones contained a map that guided people to find the secret realm, and they also served as the key to enter. But even with the key, one still needed enough strength to open the seal that surrounded the secret realm, and it was for this reason that they needed Chi Lan to join them on this journey.

According to the directions they were given, Xue Ling and the group was already standing in front of the secret realm. The secret realm seemed peaceful on the surface, but for some reason, it gave Xue Ling a strange feeling. According to the timeline that was outlined in the plot summary, this place contained nothing other than the inheritance, but the aura that the secret realm was emanating gave off a sense of extreme danger.

Chi Lan seemed to have noticed this too. He narrowed his eyes and reached out to hold Xue Ling's hand, but Xue Ling brushed him off.

Xue Ling's movements were ruthless, but there was no expression on his face. He only spoke in an odd tone, "Something is wrong."

Chi Lan was already very satisfied that he could keep this person by his side. He did not have any other requirements regarding Xue Ling's moods right now; they still had a long time ahead, and he would naturally be able to properly coax his disciple. He soothingly placed Xue Ling behind him for protection, and glanced at Yu Shaofeng and Chi Jian. "You two step back. I will open up the secret realm now."

Their present location was not concealed. If they didn't quickly open up the secret realm and enter it, they might catch other people's attention, and the probability that they would be able to clear out the secret realm alone would become much smaller.

Yu Shaofeng split the five stones so that everyone had one. Only those who were holding the stones would be able to enter the secret realm.

Electric light flashed on Chi Lan's fingertips. A tiny spark of fire was nestled within the light - it was not obvious, but as the lightning became stronger and covered a larger and larger area, the small flame also spread out and turned into a burning dragon composed entirely of fire.

The lightning wrapped around the dragon's body and ran along its scales. Each and every scale flashed with lightning. At some point, the entire sky had become covered by the gathering clouds, and this piece of the sky was threatening to fall down as the fire dragon threaded its way amongst the clouds. Every time it rose up, it brought along with it the roaring sound of thunder.

This kind of scenario would definitely alarm other cultivators, but the movements this time were too huge, and nobody dared to come close and investigate what was going on. Anyone who understood even a little bit about the ways of the world would be able to guess who this particular powerhouse was.

In the cultivation world, there was only the Venerable Crimson Flame that had a fire and lightning spiritual root and had the ability to make such a big battle array.

Since he was here, then even if there was benefits as big as the sky to be had, it would not be their turn to obtain it. And it was also because of this that nobody tried to come close even when the fire dragon broke through the boundary seal.

The crowd could only look on as the dragon passed through a void and the four figures that had been hovering in the sky all disappeared. The dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, and everything was eventually restored to how it had been. The practitioners grouped up into twos and threes and discussed it, and finally came to the conclusion that the four of them had probably entered a secret realm.

"Host, they're all in energy states right now. All you have to do is control that power."

Xue Ling nodded and thought about how to reunite this power back into his own body. Although it was said that he had lost his tails, in fact, it was his power that had been lost. The 'tails' he retrieved were not physical tails, but rather forms of energy. When he fused the energy back into his body, his original body would then naturally grow back one of his tails.

These energies were scattered, but once he remembered that it had all originally been his, it became much easier for him to control. Xue Ling concentrated, and gestured in mid-air. He pinched his fingers together in a subtle gesture, then he slowly closed his eyes and allowed his original power to seep into this world.

He physically existed in another world, and when he borrowed the strength of his body, he normally only used the power that was embedded in the body he was currently using. But now that he was allowing his own power to seep in, it took a lot of effort to channel it inside.

When this power touched the barrier surrounding this world, Xue Ling could feel an obvious resistance. Fortunately, it seemed to understand what he wanted to do, and the resistance slowly disappeared.

Xue Ling's eyelashes flickered slightly. He did not open his eyes, but his head turned slightly to face a certain direction.

A man stood there. Currently, his lips were curved as he guided Xue Ling, teaching him how to compress his strength.

Because Chi Lan's body had been suppressed at this time, the original Su Xuanyan's soul was able to wake up. He only needed to take one glance around before he immediately understood all that had happened. He took in Xue Ling whose aura was going somewhat out of control as he tried to reabsorb his power and his brow wrinkled; after he approached, he picked up the system that was crouched anxiously next to its host, wanting to help but unable to get involved.

"My... My Lord! " The system really had no idea who this person was, so it could only address him in this way.

"His strength is currently unstable. He must return to the system space immediately, otherwise this small world will be unable to withstand this power and directly explode."

The system looked surprised and its voice was shocked as it said, "But the task has only been completed halfway!"

"I will draw out a strand of his soul that will stay in this world. It will not have much impact on your task. Bring him back to the system space first, and I'll deal with things on this side..."

The system was not a system that would obey just anyone. It had just been about to refute, when it received orders in its mind from the Ten Directions World. Although it was somewhat unhappy, the system still did what the Ten Directions World told it to do.

The Ten Directions World said, "Do as he says."

"If he's like this now, the more energy he retrieves, the more concerns there will be about his control over it. If he can't grasp control over all the energy and maintain a certain level of balance within his body, flaws will arise in his body. Next time, don't look for two tails at once." Su Xuanyan lowered his head and kissed Xue Ling, who had already reverted back to his original form because of the rioting energy in his body. The little fox's body was even smaller than the transformed system's furry body, his four tails hanging listlessly behind him while two other tails that were formed out of pure energy swayed wildly. Only by turning these energies back into genuine tails would Xue Ling be able to transform back into his human body again.

The system was still muddleheaded as it responded, extracting its host's soul and bringing it back to the system space.

As for the man who had been left behind to clean up the mess, he looked at the empty shell that Xue Ling had left behind and sighed helplessly. There was a pale soul at his fingertips - this was a part of Xue Ling's soul, or rather, a sliver of his consciousness. Leaving it in this world would ensure that the remaining plot would not be completely destroyed. After completing all this, he placed Xue Ling's body beside Chi Lan's, withdrew a portion of his own consciousness from his body, and inserted it into Chi Lan's body.

He was different from Xue Ling. Xue Ling's identity could be changed in the middle, but it was not the same for him. He must be the same person from beginning to end to ensure that he would not make any mistakes.

This world was unable to bear his presence for a long time, so the man left as quickly as he could. What he was doing now was only enough to ensure that the plot would stay on the track that they had plotted out for it, but nothing else could be guaranteed. These strands of their souls would not contain their memories, and when they woke up, they would become the real Xue Ling and Chi Lan of this world. Their relationship might perhaps turn a bit strange, but there was not much Su Xuanyan could do about it.

His little fox's wellbeing was the most important thing. As long as he was okay, even if splitting their souls could lead to minor mistakes in the next world, he would be willing to bear the blame.

well, this arc came to an abrupt end (kind of like the original plot in this arc too, haha). wanna make guesses on what the next arc will be about?

i stayed up really late last night to read a BL novel called 'The Turing Code'. unfortunately, nobody has picked it up to translate it yet, but i did end up if you guys are interested. it's not to my usual tastes since it's Modern Day with a little more angst than i'd like, but it was very good. deep and thoughtful (in ways that WTMT isn't, lol) with moments of hilarity to lighten up the mood.