Proofreader: Arya
TN: This chapter tackles the concept of time travel, kinda complicated
“You look worried, what is it?” Ye Fei Li asked.
“Nothing” Gu Qing Shan shook his head.
A guess is only a guess, there’s no need to tell everyone.
However, it’s essential to quickly increase my strength right now.
The mountaintop mansion.
Gu Qing Shan locked himself in his room.
The Chao Yin Sword was on his knee.
“Come” Gu Qing Shan muttered.
The Chao Yin Sword let out a ‘wu wu’ sound and went into his body.
It flew into his Thought Sea, hovering next to the Earth Sword.
Gu Qing Shan observed it to make sure everything seemed normal.
Finally, he could completely place the Chao Yin Sword into his Thought Sea.
Almost at the same time, a notification popped up in Gu Qing Shan’s vision.
[You’ve successfully stored two swords into your Thought Sea]
[Sword saint awakening Quest 2: Like arms and legs (completed)]
[Initiating Quest 3: Forged a hundred times over]
[Quest objective: Manipulate two flying swords at once and train with all Sword Styles you know once]
Reading the Quest, Gu Qing Shan scowled a bit.
Not counting Secret Art, he knows over 1000 types of regular Sword Styles.
Even if he trains without rest, it will probably take a few days to finish this Quest.
He thought for a bit and asked: “System, my understanding of the sword has already exceeded that of my past life, can I awaken by myself without your help?”
[Ting]!
The System replied.
[These are the last memories of your past life that are still locked, if you’re willing to give up these memories, converting them into energy, you can directly awaken without needing to go through the Quest method]
“The last memories… are they all Sword Styles? Or are there anything else important that I haven’t remembered?”
[They are all Sword Styles] the System answered.
Gu Qing Shan calmed down a bit.
He asked: “How long do you estimate it will take to complete all the sword saint awakening Quests?”
[Remaining Quests: 98. With how strong you are; it will probably only take 2 months to fully complete]
98 Quests!
2 months!
Gu Qing Shan almost fell down from his own bed.
Sure, 2 months to be able to recover his cultivation as a sword saint is already very fast.
But that’s not enough.
In Reality, the descent of Hell is already upon them.
In Shen Wu world, he’s about to enter a never-before-seen world.
He doesn’t have two months to wait!
The planet will have already gone cold by the time he had finished with all the Quests.
I need to become stronger right now!
Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit and asked: “Can’t we arrange something? For example, I’ll breakthrough again with my own power, then you give me back all the sword saint Sword Styles?”
The System answered very seriously: [This time only, you must not breakthrough on your own and finish the System’s Quests before anything else]
“Why is that?”
[Because you once killed a Demonic God in the future timeline as a sword saint, that particular Demonic God at that exact moment became a turning point in destiny]
The System continued: [This turned into a mark that space-time put on you, once you lose this mark, something terrifying will happen]
“How does that work?”
[The timeline is only a measurement tool for space-time itself on the real world. When you travel from the future back to the past, the world of the future suddenly lost a unit of energy exactly your size]
[But that is fine, since the world’s Law had put that mark on you when you travelled back in time, using the mark as a way to keep track of you and recognize that you are still you]
[It will always leave a hole in the timeline for the unit of energy that is you, to guarantee that the real world’s total amount of energy is preserved]
[But, if you happen to lose this mark, the world’s Law will no longer be able to recognize you, it’ll judge according to the total energy of this part of the timeline that you are a unique existence that doesn’t belong to the world]
[When that happens, not only will the world’s Law do everything in its power to get rid of you, the Laws of the Past and Future will also react accordingly ———perhaps the demonic gods will notice you as a person without a destiny, or a second ‘you’ will appear]
“The second ‘me’?” Gu Qing Shan was surprised.
[Correct, that will be an existence that is exactly the same as you ——because the all-important mark that’s supposed to represent ‘you’ in the timeline has disappeared, but you haven’t died. This will make the world think that it had lost a unit of energy your size, thus overcompensate by recreating another unit of energy to preserve the Law of energy conversion]
[Furthermore, the Laws of space-time becoming chaotic will surely attract the attention of powerful demonic gods, as they love this more than anything else]
[They will find you]
Gu Qing Shan asked: “If it’s as you said, then the mark that keeps track of me is the fact that I killed the Demonic God, as well as my power level and memories of that time?”
[That is correct]
Gu Qing Shan sighed: “Seems like using the Quest method to reawaken as a sword saint is the safest method”
[Correct, to ensure the world’s Law and the timeline is undisturbed, you only have two choices]
[One, using the Quest method to recollect your memories, comprehend the sword saint’s Sword Styles and become a sword saint again]
[Two, turn all your memories into power, become a sword saint right away, but you will lose those Sword Styles]
Gu Qing Shan fell silent.
I won’t make it in time doing it the old-fashioned way with Quests
If I choose the second method, I can exchange all the Sword Styles from my past life into energy to directly breakthrough and become a sword saint again.
——-my understanding of the sword at this moment has already far surpassed that of my past life.
Then I won’t need those Sword Styles.
As long as I become a full-fledged sword saint, the power of my sword phantoms will greatly increase.
I will no longer need hand seals to control the swords, only my thoughts.
That way, the attack speed and usage of techniques will increase many times over.
The next time I meet the black cloaked skeleton, I can directly chop off all his limbs before he could even react.
Gu Qing Shan abruptly asked: “Can I temporarily put off my swordsmanship and increase my cultivation first?”
[You cannot] the System directly answered.
“Why not?”
[This is a moment where caution is of utmost importance, you need to first reach the same level of sword cultivation at the same point in your cultivation to ensure that the world recognizes you as ‘you’ returning, and not anything else]
[That way, you will thoroughly integrate into this timeline, where you will no longer be noticed specifically by the Laws of space-time and destiny, thus not drawing the attention of the demonic gods]
“Then what if I become Sainted realm in the future? Will I also have to endure the same restrictions and limit?”
[Because in the previous life, you didn’t manage to reach Sainted realm, from Sainted onwards, you can do as you please, this is a completely blank future for you to write]
“I understand”
Gu Qing Shan didn’t hesitate anymore and spoke: “I don’t need any Sword Styles; I want to breakthrough right now”
[Are you sure?]
“I’m sure”
Following this confirmation, a lot of data began to scroll across the War God UI.
[Detected user to have two excellent swords of unparalleled quality]
[Detected user to be able to store them in your Thought Sea]
[Detected user to be able to use hand seals to manipulate the flying swords to attack]
[The most basic requirements for awakening as a sword saint has been fulfilled]
[Cross-checking with the space-time mark]
[Confirmed unique character]
[Backing up user’s memories from the previous timeline one final time]
[Backup complete]
[Closing space-time backdoor permanently]
[Cutting off timeline association permanently]
[Destroying all evidence permanently]
…
Gu Qing Shan silently watched all this.
All he read were a few lines of text, but he couldn’t help but feel shocked as he did.
Cold sweat began to build on his back.
This was an unconscious reaction from his sixth sense.
As he closed his eyes, he felt himself walking on a tightrope over a bottomless abyss.
And this was the very last stretch of the line.
He faintly realized that this was the most dangerous moment.
As long as nothing goes off the rails, nothing gets noticed, then there will be no more problems with his rebirth.
A mere few minutes of waiting seemed like a century.
[Ting]!
[You’ve thoroughly rebirthed]
[No space-time ripples detected]
[No anomalies detected, this was a perfect rebirth]
Gu Qing Shan exhaled from relief.
A safe landing.
A few words appeared on the System UI.
[You have consumed all memories of sword saint Sword Styles to use as energy for your awakening]
[You have awakened]
[You are now a sword saint]
Gu Qing Shan blankly stared at the very last line.
Finally, he’s back without any troubles.
He’s back at the most basic state of sword saint.
Opening his palm, he then clenched his fist.
A foreign, yet familiar power filled his body.
No need to seek out anything else, no need for anymore breakthroughs, this was originally his own power.
To resist against the looming threat, he needs this type of power!
This was the peak of his previous cultivation.
From now on, there are no more past experience for him to rely on.
His following path of cultivation will be completely new without a road to tread on.
Gu Qing Shan inhaled deeply.
His thoughts moved and summoned the two swords from the void of space.
Without using any hand seals, the Earth Sword automatically swung itself, executing the Kai Shan Style.
The Chao Yin Sword turned into a blurry shadow, perfectly performing the Wind Slash Style as it danced back and forth.
The two swords were as animated as flying birds, in perfect control down to the finest movements.
“Come” Gu Qing Shan muttered.
The two swords obediently descended and hovered by Gu Qing Shan’s left and right.
