“Immortal’s End!” Jian Juexian subconsciously identified the weapon.
There was no sense of distinction between him and the sword. It became one with him as soon as it entered his hand, as if it was destined to be his. The characters in his name literally stood for “sword end immortal”, a natural fit for a sword called Immortal’s End.
As his shadow charged over once more, Jian Juexian slashed down with a streak of purple haze and cleaved it into two.
The shadow that’d caused him no end of trouble did not appear again.
Jian Juexian looked dumbly at the sword in his hand. He didn’t ask Lu Yun where he’d obtained it. This was the sword of the Ingress Sword Island forefather, one of the four swords that condemned immortals.
Four great sword daos existed on the island—the paths of immortal condemnation, immortal entrapment, immortal slaughter, and immortal end. Jian Juexian was the master of the immortal end path. Their corresponding swords had vanished with the forefather, and to think one of them would reappear in a stranger’s hand on this day!
No wonder he’d kept wanting to bring this young man back to the island!
“DIE!!” Jian Juexian roared and struck out with a flaming purple wave, shooting sword qi in all directions.
Every shadow within half a kilometer perished, including the mammoth shadow in the air and Xing Wuliang’s shadow.
Jian Juexian retracted the sword and gaped at the meter length of gleaming edge in his hands, sinking into an inexplicable mental state.
“Jian Juexian can open the doors to the sequence of swords. He is a Nihil World Sovereign under the path of immortal end, so he can use this very sword to enter sequence,” Mo Yi’s voice rang in Lu Yun’s mind.
She’d given the sword to Lu Yun so he could give it to Jian Juexian. Lu Yun knew that despite being present in the Disordered Hell, she still possessed a marvelous connection with the world of immortals that he wasn’t able to fully fathom.
“Will it affect Daoist Ingress to lose his sword?” he frowned.
In many people’s eyes, the highest level of sword dao was the absence of a sword in one’s hand and heart. However, a mighty sword was always a potent addition to one’s strength. What talk of sword dao could there be without a sword?
“You’re too focused on form over function.” Mo Yi shook her head lightly. “Ingress himself is the dao of four swords. He can manifest them at any time if he’s willing.”
Lu Yun carefully turned over her words in his mind.
“The Immortal’s End is like the Glacial Fire Hammers that the overlord of Ice gave to you. They’re both keys to sequence. While you cannot enter sequence with the hammers, Jian Juexian can do so with the sword.”
“Nihil World Sovereigns do not repeat the same path…” Lu Yun lowered his head and mumbled, “But Jian Juexian walks the path that Daoist Ingress once walked.”
“Ingress is not a Nihil World Sovereign, he never was. He never walked that path.” Mo Yi’s voice echoed in his heart like the morning drum, ringing in both volume and meaning.
“That’s right… Nihil World Sovereign is a dao of the fourth realm and ‘ingress’ is a dao of the original Hongmeng. He walked the dao to its peak and activated sequence,” Lu Yun murmured to himself. “But all daos lead to the same end…”
Mo Yi stood within the Disordered Hell and raised her head to Lu Yun outside of it, not saying anything.
“No dao originally existed beneath the heavens. They came into being after people traveled down their paths,” she suddenly said after a long pause and sat down again. She resumed fishing and ignored Lu Yun.
“Yes… all of the daos in existence are a result of people walking that particular path. There is no formula dao in the fourth realm because no one’s walked that path yet,” Lu Yun heaved a long sigh of ease. He was finally hitting upon the truth.
His dao heart had been knocked askew after listening to Jian Juexian, but Mo Yi’s conversation re-stabilized it. That Nihil World Sovereigns didn’t repeat the same path didn’t preclude wielding the same dao; it meant that they didn’t walk the exact same path to the same dao. The legacy in the Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor wasn’t a great dao, but the way to walk it.
Create a great dao myself?
That was difficult beyond belief. The all-encompassing formula dao that Lu Yun and Qing Yu jointly created had failed to take root in the fourth realm. It hadn’t traversed the realm to become one of the great daos that everyone could cultivate.
Daoist Ingress, however, had created four sword daos himself. Jian Juexian walked his path of immortal end, but he did so in his own manner.
……
Jian Juexian unequivocally eliminated the shadows in the surroundings, including the enormous shadow in the air. Immortal End’s was a sword that could sever even shadow dao, to say nothing of the shadows under its control.
The surroundings thus purified, the sky returned to normal and dim light scattered from above, not at all warm or illuminating. Despite that, everyone’s shadows returned to their feet. Everything seemed to be back to how it should be.
Jian Juexian didn’t move; his eyes were closed and he remained in an extended position of reaching forward with the sword. He was carefully savoring the sword dao within the weapon.
“Do I need to give it back to you?” He opened his eyes and looked at Lu Yun piteously. He’d asked to borrow the sword before, so naturally, he had to return it.
“Keep it.” Lu Yun waved him off.
Xing Wuliang’s jaw dropped. He could see how terrifying Immortal’s End was—it was a powerful connate treasure many times stronger than his Horizon’s Edge! Feng Feifan had so easily given it to the young man with a sword?
Truth be told, it disgruntled him slightly. He now saw Feng Feifan as a full Star Sect disciple, so all of his treasures were naturally the faction’s treasures. To so easily give it to an outsider like this…
“It belonged to Ingress Sword Island to begin with, I’m just returning it to them. He kept inviting me to join them only because of that sword,” Lu Yun gave a plausible explanation.
“I see.” Xing Wuliang nodded and looked at Brightheart. “Are you really Brightheart?”
“Nope.” She shook her head.
“Then who are you?!” Panic and dismay flooded the man’s face. He was angry, concerned, and a little bit wary. If she wasn’t the Brightheart World King, where was the real Brightheart? Was she alright?
The woman burst out laughing when she saw Xing Wuliang’s expression. “Who do you think I am?”
“She is indeed the Brightheart World King that we know.” Lu Yun patted his shoulder. “She’s also a stunning genius. If you don’t work harder, she might be a Nihil World Sovereign when you make it to Void World King.”
Xing Wuliang looked dumbly at Lu Yun.
“The Brightheart World King’s true strength is greater than the Divine Fire World King’s, she’s almost a Nihil World Sovereign.” Jian Juexian put Immortal’s End away and returned his sword to its scabbard. “She didn’t display her true strength before, probably because she was being mindful of your feelings.”
