In the sky, black clouds rumbled and gathered as the howling wind roared angrily, causing the entire sky to quickly darken.
The winds rustled in the forest, and the branches moved.
Chu Liuyue stood up with the sword hilt in her hands and looked up. Her clothes blew up with the wind, and her black hair flew everywhere.
In the entire piece of land, she was the most eye-catching spark of fire.
Her eyes stuck closely to the tumbling black clouds.
The next moment, a close to transparent figure appeared in front of her—it was her ancestor!
He stood in the air with his hands behind his back. Even though he was just a remnant of his consciousness, his aura was still stern and intimidating.
His gaze swept past Chu Liuyue and finally landed on the Cloud-Sky Copper Sword before he nodded in satisfaction.
After close to a month’s worth of refinement, the originally thick and heavy Cloud-Sky Copper Sword became smaller. The layer of copper outside had been completely sharpened away, revealing the peacock-blue sword heart within.
Even under the dark sky, it was still deep and pure, glowing with a faint light.
“Girl, this move determines if your sword will successfully be refined or not!”
Chu Liuyue’s entire body tensed up as she solemnly nodded. “Ancestor, please—”
The next moment, Shangguan Jing stepped on thin air as his figure was like a released arrow that went straight toward the sky.
Immense suppression was suddenly released from his body, and an immeasurable amount of Heaven and Earth Force crazily gathered within the clouds. In the blink of an eye, it immediately became a spiral.
That spiral started expanding at an observable speed as it swallowed all of the black clouds in the surroundings.
Looking down from above, it was as if a gigantic black eye had suddenly appeared in the skies.
Darkness, depth, and vastness.
Chu Liuyue’s heart jumped. Ancestor is only a remnant of his consciousness now, yet he’s still so capable. Even a stage-nine warrior might not have his imposing aura.
A doubt flashed across her heart rapidly: Back then, did Ancestor really fail in breaking through…?
However, this thought only flashed across her mind once.
At this point, the Cloud-Sky Copper Sword in her hands suddenly started shaking.
Buzz!
Chu Liuyue lowered her head to take a look. There seemed to be a dark-blue spark that quickly slid across the Cloud-Sky Copper Sword.
As time passed, the sword body vibrated even more violently. As if it was summoned by some intense strength, it almost escaped her hands.
Chu Liuyue held the sword tightly and raised it up high.
Her palms were starting to become numb. Luckily, this close to a month of sharpening had increased her physical strength by quite a bit. If not, it would be hard to even hold onto this sword.
Hong long!
A shockingly loud sound was heard.
She looked up!
In the sky, the gigantic black spiral started to turn slowly, and that sound came from within!
A snake-like lightning bolt crazily swam within the rich darkness.
Chu Liuyue tightly pressed her lips against each other as she quickly circulated her inner force, almost as if she was going to burst.
The next moment, the imposing lightning bolt struck down from the sky and went straight for Chu Liuyue.
Huala!
That lightning bolt seemed to tear the sky. Wherever it passed, a black space crack was rapidly pulled apart.
It was as if there was a pair of invisible hands tearing the sky apart.
Hong!
The next moment, the eye-catching silver landed on the Cloud-Sky Copper Sword—the glow of light was dazzling.
Chu Liuyue’s figure and half of Yan Lin Peak were almost instantly covered by the blinding light.
Chu Liuyue felt her hands shake as a terrifying force immediately flowed through the Cloud-Sky Copper Sword and her body.
Excruciating pain extended from her hands and affected her entire body. All the muscles, blood, nerves, and bones in her body seemed to be torn open at this moment.
A burning smell permeated throughout the air as small blood blisters appeared on her skin. It looked extremely frightening as the burnt black and the red intersected.
Chu Liuyue clenched her teeth and didn’t even yell out in pain.
Shangguan Jing—who was standing in mid-air—furrowed his brows tightly and gradually clenched his fists when he saw this scene. “You must hang in there… Girl…”
Normally, one had to be a top warrior to dare to trigger lightning bolts and use their own physical bodies as the conductor to refine a Yuan instrument. However, the current Chu Liuyue wasn’t even a stage-five warrior.
Her actions were extremely risky, and the pain she had to endure was much more than others.
One’s ability to endure the first lightning bolt usually determines the success or failure of the entire process. As long as she can tolerate this… Shangguan Jing’s expression suddenly changed, and he looked up.
From far away on Qing Yuan Mountain, a youngster’s figure was running over. It was Qiang Wanzhou!
Two days ago, Chu Liuyue already knew that the sword refinement was reaching its end, so she told Qiang Wanzhou in advance that she had to stay at Yan Lin Peak to refine the sword. Moreover, she had already reminded Qiang Wanzhou back then that he couldn’t come near Yan Lin Peak no matter what.
After she finished what she had to do, she would naturally go back. Hence, Chu Liuyue refined her sword without even closing her eyes for a day and a night, and Qiang Wanzhou also stood for a day and a night at Qing Yuan Mountain.
Originally, everything was still fine. But when Qiang Wanzhou saw the lightning bolt land and directly strike Chu Liuyue’s body, he was stunned. He finally couldn’t hold back anymore, and he rushed over.
However, Yan Lin Peak was already covered by that lightning bolt’s strength as the terrifying forces were crazily killing each other. The nearby forests were implicated, and they were all destroyed.
One could almost say that it destroyed everything in sight.
Qiang Wanzhou clenched his fists and hurriedly circulated his force.
Just as he was about to barge in forcefully, an invisible barrier suddenly appeared in front of him. At the same time, a low and burly voice landed in his ears. “If you don’t want to be her burden, move back immediately!”
Qiang Wanzhou knitted his brows and looked up, but the lights flashed before him, and they were crazily moving. Hence, he couldn’t see anything—even Chu Liuyue’s outline was very blurry.
He felt very conflicted and was about to disregard everything and rush up when that voice sounded again. “She’s making a sword for you.”
Qiang Wanzhou forcefully paused mid-step as shock flashed across his eyes. He had once heard Chu Liuyue mention this, but when he saw Chu Liuyue enveloped by the lightning bolt, he couldn’t even recall it.
Hearing this now, he suddenly realized something—The pain and torture Chu Liuyue is suffering now is because of me!
Regret, self-reproach, pain… It was as if an invisible hand tightly squeezed his heart, making him unable to breathe.
“Not only can you not help if you go over now, but you will also waste her efforts. Then, all the pain she has endured would be for nothing!”
Every single letter and word was like a hammer that struck hard on Qiang Wanzhou’s heart.
He clenched his fists tightly, and his knuckles turned white. Finally, he took a step back.
