Firmament Sword

”Don’t worry, Lianyi. He’s just an old con man. Watch me expose him, and then I’ll treat you to some pine nuts!” Xu Luo said with a smile.

”Brat, you are too insolent! Do you really think I’m too merciful to kill? You are mistaken!” The old man was enraged. His voice boomed like thunder, his movements were like lightning, and with an aura of immense pressure, he struck out at Xu Luo with his palm!

BOOM!

Lianyi and Ji Bingyu, who were standing to the side, were both knocked back by this immense force, their faces turning pale.

As far as they were concerned, Xu Luo was in mortal danger.

Lianyi had already drawn her sword. Resisting the immense pressure, she charged toward the old man. She would rather sacrifice her own life than stand by and watch Xu Luo die.

Ji Bingyu hesitated for a moment, then also drew her sword and charged forward. In her eyes, Sister Lianyi’s friend was naturally her friend, too.

’A friend is in trouble. How can I not lend a hand?’

Xu Luo, however, had a relaxed and carefree expression. Using the Shaking Light Step, he dodged the old man’s thunderous blow and said with a grin, ”An old pine should be upright and straight. It’s the first time I’ve seen one as shady as you.”

”What the hell do you know? Ten thousand years of solitude... even a silent man would be driven mad by the loneliness,” Master Tao’s voice rang in Xu Luo’s ears.

Xu Luo pursed his lips, then sent a telepathic message, ”Don’t you want to say something to it? Don’t blame me if I really do chop it up for firewood in a bit.”

”Aha! Be my guest!” Master Tao didn’t fall for the act, saying maliciously, ”If you’ve really got the guts, then go on and chop it down. Don’t you dare spare it on my account. There’s no love lost between me and that old thing!”

Xu Luo said, ”You said it, not me. Don’t regret it later.”

As he spoke, the aura around Xu Luo suddenly changed. A vast and powerful Star Power erupted from within his body.

Then, Xu Luo’s body was enveloped in a divine light. Bathed within it, he was like a star in the heavens, giving off an imposing, unattainable aura!

At that moment, the Seven Star Sword in Xu Luo’s hand seemed to come alive. It emitted endless killing intent and transformed into a blue dragon with menacing horns, slashing directly toward the old man.

SWOOSH!

The ferocious blue dragon roared and lunged for the old man’s face!

Although it looked like a long blue dragon, in essence, it was a single strand of Sword Qi containing a monstrous killing intent!

Incredibly sharp!

The old man immediately dodged to the side, and the blue dragon grazed past his eyebrow as it slashed past him.

Silently, it carved a massive trench in the earth, dozens of meters deep and hundreds of meters long!

The old man felt a sharp, burning pain from his eyebrow.

He was startled, not expecting the young man’s strength to be so great. Then, he did something that left Lianyi and Ji Bingyu dumbfounded... He turned and ran!

His running speed was at the Grandmaster level. He fled at a pace completely inconsistent with his apparent age, crossing a mountain ridge with nearly every step.

The scene reminded Xu Luo of the old ginseng he had seen running for its life when he first entered the Small World...

Before Lianyi and Ji Bingyu could even snap out of their daze, Xu Luo had already chased the old man and vanished over the vast horizon.

The two looked at each other blankly, then glanced at the peaches in their hands.

Ji Bingyu gave a shy smile. ”Sister... this peach?”

A thought flashed through Lianyi’s mind before she smiled and said, ”Since he said so, we should just eat them! After we’re done, we can find a place to go into seclusion and refine the energy of the two Chaos Peaches. I bet we’ll see a huge improvement!”

”Wow, that’s great! I hope I can break through to the Fourth Layer of the Transformation Realm. Then... I’ll be one step closer to Dharma Heaven and Earth!” Ji Bingyu said with an excited expression.

Lianyi smiled faintly, glanced in the direction Xu Luo had disappeared, and said, ”Let’s go. We can eat as we walk. We were in such a rush just now, I couldn’t even taste it.”

”Mhm, I’m going to savor this one properly...”

...

Xu Luo gave chase. This Ancient Pine Tree was not only a master of deception, but its escape skills were also at the Grandmaster level.

Even with the Shaking Light Step, a movement technique considered second to none, he still couldn’t catch up after a long chase!

There were even a few times he almost let the old fellow get away. Its skills in escaping and hiding were brilliant. If not for the Shaking Light Step’s unparalleled speed, plus the fact that he had Master Tao as an ’inside man’, Xu Luo feared he truly would have been unable to track this Ancient Pine.

The Ancient Pine Tree was actually even more frustrated. It had been trapped in this Small World for far too many years—so long that it couldn’t even remember how long it had been.

Its greatest pastime was to transform into a human and then run around the Small World spreading rumors and pulling scams, specifically targeting powerful creatures with Holy Beast bloodlines or some Top-Grade Treasure Medicines.

It scammed whatever it could. It was never picky.

Because this Small World had been virtually devoid of human presence ever since the fall of that great ancient sect from the Ancient Era, the Ancient Pine, relying on this unique skill, had actually managed to fool many powerful creatures.

In the last few thousand years, it could no longer find any creatures in the Small World to scam. The mere mention of its name made many powerful beings grind their teeth in hatred, wishing they could chop it into firewood piece by piece to vent their anger.

Thus, the Ancient Pine had remained quiet for several thousand years, no longer running around pulling scams.

That is, until recently, when humans began to enter this Small World. Then, just a few days ago, a large number of them suddenly flooded in.

While bringing endless clamor to a Small World that had been sealed by the ages for countless years, this also made the Ancient Pine feel that its spring had come again!

It was just that its luck was truly atrocious. Its very first scam after coming out of retirement after several millennia, and it ran into a real opponent.

Even now, the Ancient Pine Tree had no idea how this human youth had seen through to its true form.

’Demanding tens of thousands of pounds of pine nuts right off the bat... Why don’t you just go and die?’ The Ancient Pine Tree was rendered speechless by the human youth’s greed.

It had always considered itself quite greedy, but it had only wanted two peaches. Who would have thought this human youth would demand tens of thousands of pounds of pine nuts from the get-go?

’What does he think pine nuts are? Stones on a mountain? Water in a river? Does he think they’re just everywhere?’

The Ancient Pine Tree thought indignantly as it sprinted for its life. Finally, it couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted, ”I say, human brat, that’s enough! We have no grudge against each other. You’ve been chasing me for so long, aren’t you tired? Are you really not afraid that I’ll use an Ancient Great Forbidden Skill to suppress and kill you?”

”You know an Ancient Great Forbidden Skill? That’s perfect! In a bit, not only will I be taking tens of thousands of pounds of pine nuts, I’ll take that Forbidden Skill, too!”

Xu Luo looked ecstatic, his expression exaggerated, like a beggar who had just stumbled upon an unguarded mountain of gold.

”I...” The Ancient Pine Tree choked with anger, feeling the urge to spit blood.

’I really don’t know if this young human is just that confident, or if he’s a complete idiot... with no sense of self-preservation!’

”Fine!” Seeing that it had failed to shake the human brat even after crossing countless mountains, traversing several great rivers, and even daring to cross a deadly Great Marsh, the Ancient Pine Tree finally gave up on escaping.

It stood there, looking at Xu Luo with a frustrated expression. ”Brat, how did you see that I wasn’t human?”

”Ahem... Song Banban, long time no see.” Master Tao chuckled, emerging from Xu Luo’s body and transforming into a peach tree over ten meters tall that looked vaguely... human-like.

Xu Luo stared speechlessly at the Ancient Peach Tree and teased, ”Didn’t you say you could transform into a human, too?”

”So it was you, you old coot! I knew it! How could a wet-behind-the-ears human brat possibly see through Master Song? Dammit... Tao Pingping, you’re actually helping a human against me! This is going too far!” The Ancient Pine Tree stomped its foot, furious.

Hearing Xu Luo’s words, it couldn’t help but sneer, ”Him? A rotten old peach tree mastering a high-level technique like transformation? In his dreams!”

”Hmph, Song Banban, you have nothing to be proud of. So what if you got lucky, found an ancient tome, and mastered the art of transformation? Weren’t you just chased all over the place by a human youth, fleeing with your tail between your legs?” the Ancient Peach Tree retorted, not to be outdone.

Only then did Xu Luo realize that the Ancient Peach Tree couldn’t transform either, and that this Ancient Pine had mastered the art only after a great fortuitous encounter.

”That’s still way better than being a human’s sidekick!” the Ancient Pine retorted with a cold laugh.

Xu Luo felt lines of frustration form on his forehead. ’These two are both so shameless,’ he thought. ’And their names are so tacky... Tao Pingping... Song Banban. Are those even names?’

”Who told you Master Tao is his sidekick? Master Tao got tired of staying here and wanted to see the outside world, so I’m just traveling with this little human friend. You, on the other hand, you old con man, this is all you amount to. If you wanted Master Tao’s peaches, you could have just traded for them!” the Ancient Peach Tree sneered.

”Pah! Last time, this master traded five thousand pounds of pine nuts for just ten of your peaches! You’re a much bigger swindler than this master is!” the Ancient Pine Tree said, looking at the peach tree with disdain before bursting into laughter. ”I have to say, your attempt at looking human is truly hideous! HAHAHAHA!”

”If you keep mocking Master Tao, Master Tao is going to get angry!” the Ancient Peach Tree said with a cold laugh. ”Master Tao has already broken the seal. Song Banban, aren’t you terrified?”

”That’s right, you actually managed to break free from the Behemoths’ seal? That’s impossible!” The Ancient Pine Tree narrowed its eyes, which darted back and forth. It had to be said that if the Ancient Peach Tree didn’t know its secrets, even if Xu Luo had X-ray vision, he would never have been able to see its true form.

The Ancient Pine Tree muttered to itself, then had a sudden realization. It looked at Xu Luo in surprise and said, ”So it was you who broke Tao Pingping’s seal. How did you do it?”

Seeing the fervent glint that suddenly appeared in the eyes of the old man the Ancient Pine Tree had transformed into, Xu Luo, though not understanding why, had a feeling: ’This Ancient Pine Tree... seems very eager to know!’

”You want to know?” Xu Luo asked with a smile.