Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The Nine Heavens Sword transformed into a ray of light, and the Saintly Celestial Sword in the middle of the sword formation purred the moment the Nine Heavens Sword burst out from the Primordial Sword Stone.
This faint hum caused the entire Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation and the world it formed to shudder, and even the Tiangang Swordmaster outside the sword formation could feel it.
The Cangming Swordmaster forced back Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Zhan inside the sword formation. He turned and blocked the Nine Heavens Sword’s escape route in a flash as a streak of green light enveloped it once more.
Under the forceful influence of the green light, the Chu Yang’s muffled grunts could be heart from the Nine Heavens Sword. The light shadow of the ancient sword continued to quiver, and specks of light glimmered within.
The Cangming Swordmaster wanted to use his own sword mind and to bypass the Nine Heavens Sword to annihilate Chu Yang’s nascent soul.
Chu Yang was one with the Nine Heavens Sword, and their level of intimacy was unprecedented. The Cangming Swordmaster’s attempt to destroy his nascent soul would cause some form of damage to the Nine Heavens Sword as well, but he couldn’t be bothered with so much anymore.
Even though he didn’t know Xiao Yan was the one on the way, the Cangming Swordmaster knew by observing Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Zhan that it was likely some powerful individual from the Celestial Sect of Wonders was on the way. This meant that time was of the essence for him as well.
The unexpected changes with the Nine Heavens Sword’s light shadow had already destabilized the re-forging of the Saintly Celestial Sword.
At the same time, Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Zhan pounced forward once more. Luo Qingwu’s Taiji Diagram and the sword radiance that was flickering above it suddenly changed its stance and concept of power.
The Original Spirit Sword of Extremity’s sword radiance vanished, and another formidable sword mind was unleashed. Various mantras and great Dao congregated into this sword, and this sword slashed down like natural law dishing out divine punishment to the world.
This was the lineage of the Heaven’s Gate Sect’s Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword Technique!
The Cangming Swordmaster’s eyes flashed and he instantly recognized how bad the situation was. He could feel that the Nine Heavens Sword light shadow he sealed back into the Primordial Sword Stone beginning to tremble vigorously as it chimed harmoniously with Luo Qingwu’s sword on the outside.
At this moment, the void all around quivered in rhythm and it felt as if natural law itself was quaking along.
What made the Cangming Swordmaster even more fearful was that the Tiangang Swordmaster abruptly changed his tactic from outside the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation. He didn’t try to force his way in anymore – instead, he tried to use his own Saintly Celestial Sword Qi to infiltrate the sword formation.
In terms of understanding of the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation, the Cangming Swordmaster was superior to the Tiangang Swordmaster. However, the Tiangang Swordmaster was ultimately higher in level of mastery and the Cangming Swordmaster could lose control of the sword formation to the Tiangang Swordmaster with just a single lapse in concentration.
At this point, the Cangming Swordmaster could only grit his teeth and stabilize the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation before anything else while he used the Primordial Sword Stone to suppress the Nine Heavens Sword. He still had to handle Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Zhan at the side, and he could only adopt defensive measures and hope that the Nine Heavens Sword’s light shadow would continue to be arrested inside the Primordial Sword Stone.
Both sides entered an impasse, but the Cangming Swordmaster was gradually starting to re-stabilize the sword formation. The white jade sword inside the sword formation drew upon boundless volumes of Saintly Celestial Sword Qi and continued leeching off the spiritual energy and sword Qi of other great sword sects as it stopped the Tiangang Swordmaster in his tracks once more.
However, right at this moment, the Cangming Swordmaster, Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Zhan felt a determined willpower coming from the Primordial Sword Stone.
The Nine Heavens Sword appeared to materialize into solid form for just that moment as large volumes of light surged, and a figure shot into the sky from within the sword radiance – Chu Yang!
His physical body and his soul had been laid to ruin, and both his nascent soul and his cosmic form were severely damaged as well. However, at this crucial moment of life and death and through the repeated trials of misfortune and suffering, he seemed to have finally liberated himself of his burdens. He was like an unsheathed sword as he radiated brilliantly.
Chu Yang had never had this feeling before, as if the great concepts of the world were just right next to him and all he had to do was reach out.
Yet, he was a hair’s breadth away from the abyss of death as well. It was as if he was stuck in between the netherworld and the heavens, and that strange feeling made him think about a lot of things. There was a single streak of spiritual light that resembled the eternal stairway to heaven that erected before him, leading up into the clouds.
There was a giant gate at the end and pushing open that gate and seeing what was beyond would change everything.
Chu Yang suddenly threw away all the considerations and worries in his mind as if he were tossing away the chains on his body. He relied solely upon his galvanized and determined resolve and tried his best to break through into the giant gate.
His nascent soul merged with his cosmic form and transformed into a ray of flowing light as he flew upwards.
The ray of light trembled incessantly during the entire process. Bits and pieces dropped here and there, as if the entire body was about to crumble.
A revelation appeared in Chu Yang’s head. “I have understood enough, and I can open that giant gate successfully. However, my current state is too weak. Pushing open that door will also lead to my demise – I won’t be able to reach the immortal soul stage.”
Even though he understood, his movement didn’t stop as he continued on his hopeless and final attempt at breaking through. He channeled as much determination as he could into this endeavor, and he was unwavering in the face of impending doom.
At this moment, the Nine Heavens Sword suddenly dulled and the solid-like blade transformed back into a shadow in the blink of an eye, and infused into the flowing light that was Chu Yang.
A bell rung in Chu Yang’s consciousness as he finally broke through the door to the immortal soul stage.
The mystical laws of the world and the great Dao of heaven and earth chimed in his ears. The flowing light that he transformed into broke apart inside the void and transformed into countless numbers of runes and glyphs that received the baptism of natural law.
Everything was black around him. It was the world inside the Primordial Sword Stone, but there were lines and patterns of reason that were subsequently absorbed by Chu Yang and the Nine Heavens Sword.
“Bastard!” The Cangming Swordmaster’s chiding voice boomed inside this dark world. It was like rolling thunder as it echoed around and didn’t rest for a long time.
The Saintly Celestial Sword Qi was back, and it wanted to murder Chu Yang inside the Primordial Sword Stone.
An enormous amount of sword radiances appeared in the glyphs and runes formed by Chu Yang. They were like the natural laws of the world as these sword radiances condensed together and returned in the state of the ancient sword as if clashed against the incoming Saintly Celestial Sword Qi.
The ancient sword’s lights grew dim as it was forced backwards. Yet, it managed to stop the streak of Saintly Celestial Sword Qi.
That countless flickering sword radiances and runes suddenly congregated together and transformed into another unassuming long sword. There were streams of light patterns spiraling around on the blade.
The shadow of the Nine Heavens Sword descended and combined with this longsword. The long sword shuddered and released a bright and crisp ringing sound.
The ringing of the sword resembled a person in song.
“The ground and dust of the vast endless world, the ever-changing world and the truth of dreams. I am the master of my thoughts, and my sword shall astonish even the divine beings in the sky.”
Even though the Nine Heavens Sword integrated into it, there was a large volume of unique concepts contained within the sword radiance. It was similar to the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword of before, yet it appeared vastly different and was charged with a mystical concept of power.
Both the Cangming Swordmaster and Luo Qingwu, who were both sword cultivators, felt their hearts skip a beat.
“Have I grown old, or have the times changed? I have just met two unprecedented prodigies of swordplay one after another today…” The Cangming Swordmaster’s eyes were turning cold. However, the pressure from the Tiangang Swordmaster from the outside was getting stronger and arrested the power of the Saintly Celestial Primordial Sword Formation.
Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Zhan’s assault didn’t stop either. Sword minds surged about inside the Primordial Sword Stone, and three powerful individuals combined their efforts until a single beam of sword radiance finally broke through the Primordial Sword Stone’s imprisonment.
The appearance of the sword was finally revealed between the spiraling sword radiance. The body of the sword was nine feet and nine inches long, and it was six inches wide. The blade’s surface was engraved with golden inscriptions, and these inscriptions had blood-colored and white-colored pictures on them as well. Mystical radiance flowed about on the body of the sword, and they were blue like water as if they were the rivers in the sky.
The Cangming Swordmaster and Luo Qingwu watched on as their eyes sparkled. “The Heaven’s Gate Sect’s Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword and its immortal soul avatar should be a nine-feet-long sword, and the blade should be nine inches wide. There are other differences in outward appearance…”
The Cang Heaven Spell Blade of the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword mantra was one of the nine treasures of the ancient Heaven’s Gate Sect, and its appearance should be similar to the immortal soul avatar formed with the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword technique.
The ancient sword spiraled around in the light and reverted to the figure of a black-robed youth – Chu Yang.
Chu Yang stepped across the void. His expression was indifferent, as if he was lost yet enlightened, light and darkness intertwined in his eyes and changed continuously before they returned to calmness.
All that was unclear was in the past, and it was like he was riding a dream. He did anything he wanted and felt anything he wanted to feel. He was determined yet paranoid, and his eyes only saw what he wanted to see.
It felt as if he had just awoken from a dream of grandeur, and in that moment, he swore to defend what he had lost.
The dangerously resolute youth of the past was no longer there, and the successor was a person that knew how to control his impulses and define his preferences. His emotions were no longer all over the place, and he was now deep and scheming.
There were too many powerful individuals in the world, and the Ethereal Mountain was too weak. Even if the Ethereal Mountain wasn’t destroyed by Wu Qingrou in his memory, between the feud between the Great Zhou Empire and Mont Shu, the Ethereal Mountain could easily become collateral damage between the conflicts of superpowers.
Following the passage of time, events gradually unfurled in a different way from his memory. However, Chu Yang was still plotting and scheming carefully, and helped his sect as if he was treading on thin ice and he finally reached where he was today.
He was full of vigor and had always been a warm person at heart. However, in order to protect his sect and his family, he had to suppress the romantic side of him as he knew he couldn’t indulge to his heart’s content. The sprawling world was in front of his eyes, but he had no choice but to tie himself down.
It was only in that moment that Chu Yang finally tossed away all his burdens and focused on breaking through to the immortal soul stage with all his heart. All his schemes and his plotting were thrown to the back of his head.
Now that he was in the immortal soul stage, he crossed the checkpoint of everyone’s dreams and obtained longevity and freedom.
Even Chu Yang’s old memories never brought him to the position he was in today. This was an unprecedented state, and he was elated as much as he felt strange and uncanny.
However, his exhilaration immediately returned to composure in the blink of an eye. It was as if the radiance of a legendary sword unleashed itself for that one moment before it returned into the sheath.
“Everything that’s happened before have never been a burden to me. That’s what I hold most dear,” Chu Yang smiled faintly, “All the effort I’ve put in, including reaching the immortal soul stage, and the path ahead of me is all so I won’t lose what I hold most dear.”
“My master, my sect, and… her.”
Chu Yang didn’t glance towards Luo Qingwu. He roared into the air, and his newly formed immortal soul avatar shed its human form and transformed into a golden ancient sword that was nine feet and nine inches long. Blood-red and white patterns intertwined as blue sword radiance flashed while he launced himself against the Cangming Swordmaster alongside Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Zhan!
