Firmament Sword

The ancient scripture had existed for countless years. The characters on its cover were mottled and faded, making them nearly illegible.

Strangely, the moment the ancient scripture landed in Xu Luo’s hands, the Star Power in his body began to stir restlessly.

It was as if it had resonated with the scripture. A massive amount of Star Power flowed from Xu Luo’s hands into the ancient book.

A golden light instantly flashed across the scripture’s cover. Three ancient characters, as if carved from gold, materialized there.

This change stunned everyone present.

Even Sect Leader Xiahou Kaiyuan couldn’t help but give a wry smile, thinking, ’So this is what they call a person of great destiny. This is it!’

Over the past million years, this ancient scripture had passed through countless hands, yet not once had a new owner caused such a phenomenon the moment they received it.

’It seems this boy might truly be the key to saving Celestial Brilliance from its dire straits!’

Xu Luo focused his gaze and saw the three golden characters on the scripture’s cover: Southern... Wilderness... Scripture!

”The Southern Wilderness Scripture?”

Xu Luo murmured the name aloud.

BOOM!

A monstrous aura suddenly erupted from the ancient scripture, startling all the great figures present.

They all hastily went on guard.

Immediately after, a desolate and ancient presence began to spread. There was no sound, no thought, yet it gave everyone an immersive sensation, as if they were there in person.

It felt like being transported to a primeval land—a barren, impoverished place with almost no life, constantly battered by natural disasters.

The Ancient Ancestors, holding scriptures, were praying to the heavens for peace.

On that primeval land, there was red water, black water, giant two-headed, two-legged beasts... and enormous eagles whose outstretched wings blotted out the sun.

It bore no resemblance to the current world. Only from those Ancient Ancestors could one find a familiar, kindred aura.

After a long moment, Xiahou Kaiyuan finally came to his senses. He let out a long breath and said, ”The ancient scriptures are truly extraordinary!”

Just its aura alone could make one experience a scene from hundreds of millions of years ago. This was enough to prove how remarkable the Southern Wilderness Scripture was.

The other Elders also nodded, their eyes filled with envy as they looked at the Southern Wilderness Scripture in Xu Luo’s hands.

This was Luo Tian’s destiny. Even if they were envious, they wouldn’t dwell on it. In their hands, the scripture would be useless, unable to unleash even ten percent of its power. Only in Luo Tian’s hands could it truly recapture its former glory!

It took Tang Xiao a while to recover. He muttered, ”That’s incredible! A phenomenon like this the moment the scripture touches your hand... It took me a full three years after getting the Great Wilderness Scripture before I could even feel a trace of its aura and open the first page... If the Great Wilderness Scripture had ended up with you, wouldn’t you have been able to unleash even greater power right away?”

As he spoke, Tang Xiao’s mouth twitched. He was loath to admit it, but he had no choice.

He had his pride and his dignity.

His outwardly carefree demeanor didn’t mean he was truly insensitive.

At this moment, Jiang Botao spoke from the side, ”Foolish! With this kind of ancient scripture, even the most brilliant genius would find it difficult to fully comprehend one in their entire lifetime. Since the Great Wilderness Scripture in your hands resonated with you, it means it has acknowledged you! How could you even think of giving up on it?”

The other Elders nodded in agreement with Jiang Botao.

Only then did Tang Xiao come to his senses. He said with some shame, ”Senior Brother Luo’s talent is just too terrifying. It’s hard not to feel inferior.”

”You are you! Everyone has their own destiny!” Xiahou Kaiyuan said sternly. ”In this world, there are streams and rivers, lakes and seas! In essence, they are all water; their quality is the same. But their quantity... that is where the difference in size lies!”

”Sect Leader, I understand now. Thank you for enlightening me!” Tang Xiao said, bowing earnestly to Xiahou Kaiyuan.

Xu Luo felt the urge to immediately open and read the Southern Wilderness Scripture, but he knew it was better to act more low-key in front of these great figures and all the Heavenly Brilliance Disciples.

Putting the Southern Wilderness Scripture away, Xu Luo once again thanked the great figures.

Xiahou Kaiyuan offered some final words of encouragement to both Xu Luo and Tang Xiao before departing.

The tumultuous Celestial Brilliance Annual Competition had finally come to an end!

The disciples in the stands were reluctant to leave, even after a long while. The thrilling and spectacular final battle had shown them the true peak strength of Celestial Brilliance’s younger generation. It also strengthened the resolve of these young disciples to train hard.

The ultimate goal of every annual competition was to inspire the younger generation to strive for more.

Upon returning to his residence, Xu Luo immediately went into seclusion. He was impatient to begin studying the Southern Wilderness Scripture.

Xu Luo had always focused on close-quarters combat. In terms of technique-based attacks, he didn’t have many outstanding methods besides the Seven-Star Dharma Aspect.

The Southern Wilderness Scripture directly filled this gap in his repertoire of techniques.

After witnessing the power of the Great Wilderness Scripture, Xu Luo was full of anticipation for the Southern Wilderness Scripture.

He was especially thrilled that the Star Power within him could resonate so strongly with the Southern Wilderness Scripture.

Ever since entering the Divine Domain, his identity as Beidou’s Eighth Star had drawn less attention, causing Xu Luo himself to gradually overlook it.

But today, after his Star Power resonated with the Southern Wilderness Scripture, Xu Luo finally realized once again that his own origins were very likely tied to this world in some mysterious way!

The scripture was ancient. Just holding it caused it to automatically resonate with the Star Power in his body. The three characters for ”Southern Wilderness Scripture” on the cover shimmered with a golden light, as if carved from gold.

The scripture was incredibly heavy. It took Xu Luo a great deal of effort to open the Southern Wilderness Scripture to its first page.

”Beyond the South Sea, to the west of the Chishui River, and east of the Flowing Sands, there lives a beast. It has a head to its left and a head to its right, and is known as Ti. There are three azure beasts joined as one, and they are known as Shuangshuang.”

Only this short passage was displayed. As Xu Luo read it aloud softly, an Illusion Realm suddenly appeared before his eyes.

A boundless ocean stretched out before him. Its waters were azure blue and calm, the light shimmering beautifully upon its surface.

With a single thought from Xu Luo, the sea began to churn, though there was no wind. As he controlled it with his mind, the waves grew larger and larger!

In the end, it became a terrifying scene of a monstrous flood!

”This is astounding!” Xu Luo muttered to himself. He could feel his power and Spiritual Power draining rapidly as his mind commanded the sea.

Xu Luo knew this was a necessary consequence of using the Southern Wilderness Scripture.

Otherwise, Tang Xiao wouldn’t have struggled so much during their fight.

Next, Xu Luo saw a red river. It was a great river, one that seemed to flow with blood!

Xu Luo’s Divine Thought stirred. A river manifested before him, hanging in the void. It emanated a startling, bloody aura as it flowed on its own.

Xu Luo reached out, and a drop of the blood-colored river water appeared on his fingertip. Detailed information about the drop naturally surfaced in his mind.

’This one drop of Blood River Water... could fill an entire great lake!’

Xu Luo was shocked. At the same time, he felt a corrosive power emanating from the drop of Blood River Water.

’This isn’t ordinary river water!’

’It contains a terrifying corrosive power. If I weren’t its master, I’m afraid this finger... would have already been corroded down to the bone!’

Xu Luo was horrified. He had a feeling that the ancient scripture in his hands was even more powerful than the Great Wilderness Scripture in Tang Xiao’s possession!

’I understand...’ Xu Luo murmured. ’It must be because my affinity with the Southern Wilderness Scripture is higher. That’s why... everything recorded in this scripture can unleash greater power in my hands!’

’If Tang Xiao’s affinity with his Great Wilderness Scripture reached my level, I believe the techniques he could cast... would also be absolutely terrifying!’

’For example... if he had this level of affinity during our battle, then me, without the Southern Wilderness Scripture and relying only on the Soul Scripture Stele... I truly might not have been his match!’

This wasn’t to say the Soul Scripture was less powerful than the Great Wilderness Scripture, only that their focuses were different. The Soul Scripture primarily targeted a person’s spirit, having a greater effect on the Divine Soul.

The first half of the Soul Scripture was the ’Liberation’ volume, which could free the soul from its shackles. The second half was the ’Transcendence’ volume, which could allow the soul to truly transcend, becoming an immortal existence!

That was the true value of the Soul Scripture!

As for the Great Wilderness Scripture and the Southern Wilderness Scripture, their power lay in their ability to manifest everything recorded within them into reality.

The higher one’s affinity with the scripture, the greater the power one could unleash!

Xu Luo continued reading the scripture: ”East of the Flowing Sands, there is a beast. With a head to its left and a head to its right, it is called Ti... There are three azure beasts joined as one, and they are known as Shuangshuang.”

As he read ”East of the Flowing Sands,” a vast, endless desert appeared before his eyes. What was terrifying was that this desert behaved like water. Some parts of it flowed like a river of sand; others formed gigantic whirlpools, like a man-eating beast opening its maw; still others churned up monstrous sand waves that threatened to bury everything!

To the east of this desert was a behemoth. It had two heads and a ferocious, terrifying appearance. It roared at the sky, and its cry was powerful enough to shatter the stars!

With a single kick of its leg, a huge mountain peak instantly crumbled!

Not far from this beast, three other azure beasts were tangled together. They were bizarre and incredibly ugly, and they constantly cried out, ”Shuangshuang... Shuangshuang!”

Their cries intertwined with the roars of the two-headed beast, creating a deafening cacophony.

At this point, Xu Luo felt the power in his body draining rapidly. He quickly stopped reading, and the illusion before his eyes instantly vanished.

Xu Luo let out a long breath and murmured, ”I wonder who created this scripture back then. This isn’t a scripture at all! It’s clearly an entire world... sealed alive within this book! And then... all the beings in this world were transformed into words, so that anyone who can resonate with these words can summon everything from that world!”

”In this world... I’m afraid only a god could accomplish such a feat, right?”

Xu Luo said in awe.