Firmament Sword

A single strike of Sword Qi could carve a deep trench in the ground. Some strikes hit the castle, slashing deep gashes into the hard megaliths. The sight was utterly terrifying.

Master Mao was also fighting with all his might, leaving more and more wounds on the youth’s body!

Eventually, from the blood loss, the youth began to sway unsteadily.

Despite his powerful True Essence Protection, Xu Luo had beaten his young face until it was a swollen, red mess.

The youth knew that if this continued, he might actually die here. He finally snapped. With a furious roar, he soared into the air. Tears welled in his eyes, his body radiating boundless killing intent. His young, swollen face was a mask of indignation as he bellowed, ”Xu Luo, you just wait! Make sure you stay alive, because one day, I will take your life with my own hands!”

”Heh heh, you could do that right now, you know,” Xu Luo taunted. He was also swaying unsteadily, his entire body soaked in blood.

For a Tier Eight Great Sword Master to be able to stand and trade taunts with a Tier Nine Sword Venerable, not losing an inch in presence, was nothing short of a miracle!

The youth shot Xu Luo a look of immense hatred, then flew away. He let out a long, grief-stricken cry, a sound full of anger and resentment that gradually faded into the distance.

Xu Luo let out a long breath and grinned at Master Mao. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, his body swayed, and with a THUD, he collapsed to the ground.

Huangfu Chongzhi and the others swarmed forward, quickly carrying Xu Luo back to be treated.

Nearby, Master Mao could no longer hold back and broke into a violent coughing fit, spitting up mouthfuls of crimson blood!

It wasn’t just Xu Luo who had been forcing himself to keep fighting; Master Mao... had been doing the exact same thing.

At that moment, Little Fatty and the others had no time to wonder where this incredibly powerful cat had come from or why it was so familiar with Xu Luo. They scrambled to carry Xu Luo back and begin treating him.

The other onlookers only dared to approach after the killing intent in the area had dissipated. Staring at the shattered ground and the crisscrossing gashes on the castle’s megalith walls, they were all struck with horror.

They had never even heard of a battle of this caliber. It was impossible to imagine that such terrifying experts existed in the world!

Just then, Mo Yun stopped Sui Yan, who was about to go help care for Xu Luo. ”Fifth Brother,” she said, ”the forest... should we go check on it?”

An endless killing intent flickered in Sui Yan’s eyes. He had been blaming himself for not being strong enough. If he had been, he could have trapped and killed both of the attacking Sword Venerables in that forest, and Third Brother would never have been injured.

Hearing Mo Yun, Sui Yan nodded. ”Alright. I’ll go with you.”

...

By the time Xu Luo woke up, three days had already passed.

Huangfu Chongzhi had used a large quantity of precious, Top-Grade Medicinal Materials on Xu Luo, finally managing to save his life.

Master Mao had also been heavily injured, but the recovery abilities of the Heaven-Swallowing Fox clan were astonishing. He had woken up on the second day but remained lying by Xu Luo’s bedside, not saying a word.

It made them wonder if this silent creature was the same noisy cat from the battle.

”Heh... I’m alive again?” Xu Luo opened his eyes, and seeing everyone’s concerned faces, he couldn’t help but joke. He could feel that his internal organs had fully recovered and sighed to himself. ’The transformation my Kaiyang Star Soul brought to my body is just too powerful.’

Xu Luo knew perfectly well how severe his internal injuries were. ’In the past, these injuries would have been fatal.’

”Third Brother, are you okay?” Xu Jie asked, his face etched with guilt. ”It’s our fault for being so useless. We could only let you take them on alone...”

Xu Luo smiled. ”Don’t say that. After all, monstrous experts like that are rare. We were just ’lucky’ enough to run into one. You were all able to watch the fight, and I’m sure you gained some insights. Since I didn’t die, there’s no need to blame yourselves.”

Sui Yan added from the side, ”Third Brother, none of the enemy’s five thousand soldiers survived. They’re all dead.”

Standing nearby, Mo Yun’s face was a little pale. She would never forget the horrific scene she witnessed when she and Sui Yan entered the forest with their men.

The hornets were gone, as were the giant white ants. It was as if those creatures had never been there in the first place.

All that remained were ghastly white skeletons strewn across the ground. Not a single shred of flesh remained on any of them!

Looking closely, even the membrane covering the bones had been gnawed clean.

Not one of the five thousand soldiers of the Noble Legion escaped. They all died in this forest, just a few hundred meters from their destination, meeting a miserable and terrifying end without ever even glimpsing their foe.

The soldiers with Mo Yun were all elites from the Great Yan Kingdom, veterans of a hundred battles. What horrors had they not seen? And yet, ever since emerging from that forest, every one of them was pale-faced. Many had been having nightmares for days, utterly terrified by what they saw.

And as for Fifth Master Sui, who had walked through the jungle with a frown, occasionally bending down to poke at the ghastly white bones, they held him in the utmost awe and fear.

After this battle, in Xu Luo’s fief, many people’s reverence for Sui Yan now surpassed even their reverence for Xu Luo.

’If you offend Third Master... the worst that can happen is death. But if you provoke Fifth Master, you won’t even leave a complete corpse behind!’

”Is that so? Heh heh,” Xu Luo said with a light chuckle. ”Now... if I’m not mistaken, the Da Han Empire... is truly in for a massive uproar. I’m afraid that not even Hao Liancheng will be able to keep a lid on it!”

Huangfu Chongzhi nodded. ”The complete annihilation of the Noble Legion will definitely have a greater impact than the loss of any other Da Han Army. I heard the legion included many scions from top noble houses within Da Han, and even the primary heirs of several great families.”

”So... did we... accidentally... get famous again?” Little Fatty asked from the side, his mouth twitching.

Huangfu Chongzhi gave a resigned smile. ”In a way, yes. The credit for this victory belongs mainly to Fifth Brother, and secondarily to Third Brother. But to the outside world, it will surely be seen as the work of all five of us.”

”It’s not just in outsiders’ eyes. Even to ourselves, this victory wasn’t achieved by just the two of us,” Xu Luo said seriously.

Sui Yan nodded emphatically beside him.

Huangfu Chongzhi gave a wry smile. ”This time was truly different. To be honest, at first, I didn’t think much of Fifth Brother’s preparations.”

Xu Jie scratched his head, admitting sheepishly, ”Yeah, I didn’t think Fifth Brother’s preparations would have such a massive impact either.”

”Fifth Brother, this time, I’m well and truly impressed!” Little Fatty said bluntly. But then he added, ”Just you remember, though. One day, when I’m stronger than you, I’m still gonna beat you up to vent!”

”I’ll be waiting,” Sui Yan replied coolly, pursing his lips.

Xu Luo laughed. ”Fifth Brother really pushed his Mechanical Skill to the absolute limit this time. I believe that if we try to trap people with it again in the future, it won’t be nearly as easy.”

Everyone nodded, and a thoughtful expression appeared on Sui Yan’s face as well.

”Are you all done talking? If so, get out. Master Mao has things to say to this kid.” Master Mao, who had been lying to the side, suddenly spoke up, but only to shoo them away.

Huangfu Chongzhi and the others exchanged glances, then nodded with a smile. Even Little Fatty, the most curious one of them all, uncharacteristically refrained from asking questions and left with the others.

Once outside, Little Fatty wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with lingering fear, ”Damn, that cat is terrifying. After it spoke, it just kept staring at me... I was about to ask what kind of cat it was, but its aura suddenly pressed down on me so hard I couldn’t speak. Third Brother really is the boss... where did he find such a scary helper?”

Everyone finally understood. They had just been wondering why Little Fatty had behaved himself for once. Normally, he would have been dying of curiosity if he couldn’t ask his questions, but it turned out he had simply been suppressed into silence.

Huangfu Chongzhi remarked, ”We can basically confirm that the youth from the other day is at least a Tier Seven or Eight Sword Venerable, maybe even a Tier Nine Sword Venerable! How could a cat that fought him for so long, continuously inflicting wounds, be an ordinary Spirit Beast?”

Xu Jie added, ”Didn’t you notice? For the past few days, whenever it’s near Third Brother, Xiaohai has been hiding far away, not daring to even approach.”

”Third Brother’s experiences are far beyond our imagination,” Xu Jie said, looking at Little Fatty. ”Fourth Brother, you need to watch what you say and ask in the future.”

”I... I was just curious!” Little Fatty whined, looking aggrieved. ”Besides, we’re all brothers. What can’t we talk about?”

Sui Yan glanced at Little Fatty. ”Idiot. If someone asked about the intimate details between you and Lan Xin, would you tell them? Because we’re curious too!”

PFFT!

Huangfu Chongzhi and Xu Jie almost spat out their laughter. They never expected the quiet, reserved Sui Yan to crack such a deadpan joke.

”Sui Xiaoshi, she’s your sister-in-law!” Little Fatty looked like he wanted to jump up and send Sui Yan flying with a kick. In the end, though, he just pouted and grumbled, ”Fine, I won’t ask. Sigh... Third Brother really isn’t the same as us anymore...”

”Fourth Brother, don’t you ever say that again,” Huangfu Chongzhi said, looking at Little Fatty with a stern expression. ”If Third Brother was the kind of person who disregards brotherhood, he would have left this secular world and joined a higher-level sect long ago. He’s staying with us precisely because he values our bond and wants us to improve together. The truth is... if we don’t advance quickly, we’ll eventually become a burden to him.”

”Yeah,” Xu Jie said. ”This time, all we could do was watch him risk his life against that enemy. I feel terrible about it. Damn it, we’re all human, so how can those people be so incredibly powerful at such a young age?”