Heartache

The monster's spit only made Wei Yuan ache slightly, then added another patch of scorched earth to the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. Unmoved, Wei Yuan had his faceless warriors hold off the surging tide of guards while he burrowed underground, collapsing that small world in mere moments. The scene before him shifted once more. Wei Yuan found himself standing on a plaza of white jade, in the center of which stood a cloth-robed swordsman. His hair was disheveled and unkempt, his beard overgrown for who knew how long, and he held a nine-foot broadsword shaped like a door plank. As Wei Yuan appeared, the cloth-robed swordsman slowly opened his eyes. Deep within his pupils, swirling sword qi actually churned! Wei Yuan's hair stood on end in an instant, knowing he had met a lifelong nemesis! Without a word, he shot an immortal sword into the sky. A flash of white light erupted in the air, and a pure white sword intent blanketed the entire plaza. Wei Yuan then pointed a finger, sending over a hundred immortal swords streaking toward the swordsman like a flock of birds. The swords were of every variety and grade—White Silk, False Sun, Sorrow, a vast and colorful assortment. Above the cloth-robed swordsman's head, a sword-wielding figure suddenly manifested. That dharma idol was clad in coarse cloth and barefoot, its form indistinct; all its brilliance and splendor were concentrated into a single sword! The swordsman raised his broadsword and traced a circle through the air in a slow sweep. His movement seemed sluggish yet was astonishingly swift; before Wei Yuan's swarm of immortal swords could even cover half the distance, the circle was complete. The hundred-plus immortal swords instantly lost control, plunging into the invisible circle one after another. Channeling his greatsword, the swordsman thrust forward, piercing directly into the swarm of flying swords. In that instant, a feeling of enduring ten thousand years of vicissitudes surged through Wei Yuan's heart. All the immortal swords seemed to lose their spirituality to time, severing their connection with him. Every sword froze midair, shattered, and then dissolved into smoke and dust. Wei Yuan's hundred immortal swords had been annihilated by a single strike from the cloth-robed swordsman! Wei Yuan finally recognized it: the cloth-robed swordsman was using the Xu family's closely guarded secret, the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns. Who was this swordsman, and how did he know this sword technique? The several Xu family elders Wei Yuan had encountered before had never been taught this art. If they had known even half a move, they likely would not have fallen so quickly. Wei Yuan's scalp tingled. This was an enemy—a formidable foe unlike any he had faced before! Without a pause, the cloth-robed swordsman wrapped his sword around his waist, spun in place for a full rotation, and swept his greatsword outward, unleashing a wave of sword qi that surged like a raging sea! Wei Yuan instinctively dropped into a crouch on his knees, hands thrusting forward. In an instant, more than ten square cauldrons materialized before him, stacked layer upon layer. Amidst the tidal surge of sword qi, these cauldrons could hold out for only a fleeting moment before being shattered. Yet as old cauldrons broke, new ones were born. Wei Yuan held out by sheer grit for three breaths before the cauldrons could no longer keep pace with the rate of destruction, and the sword qi's aftershock struck him. Within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, a thousand-zhang sword trench suddenly gouged into the earth to a depth of over a dozen zhang. This strike fell not far from Jade Mountain, nearly grazing the edge of the fertile soil. He could not simply take a beating passively! Wei Yuan leaped up, waving his hands to hurl hundreds of objects at the cloth-robed swordsman—among them cauldrons, bells, pagodas, and twenty to thirty miscellaneous flying swords. The cloth-robed swordsman brought his sword back across his chest. A gleam of radiance flashed along the greatsword, growing brighter and brighter until the entire blade resembled the rising sun, its brilliance overpowering Wei Yuan's pure white sword intent. Yet the cloth-robed swordsman was not trying to blind his opponent as Wei Yuan might; he was executing a secret technique, and the greatsword's might was climbing rapidly. Opening the Heavens with a Single Stroke from the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns! This stance required a special immortal sword. Once unleashed, it could unseal the blade and reveal its true power. It was one of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns' three great lethal techniques, renowned far and wide. As the greatsword unsealed, all the assorted objects Wei Yuan had hurled froze in midair, clattering down and dissolving into nothingness. A pang of pain flashed through Wei Yuan's consciousness—his Dao Foundation was damaged. Yet this bit of pain meant nothing to him. Two propulsion tubes appeared in his hands, and using their thrust to shift sideways, he dodged a magnificent torrent of sword light slashed down by the swordsman. That beam of sword light was ten zhang wide and three hundred zhang long. Without the propulsion tubes' thrust, dodging it would have been near impossible. Wei Yuan landed and casually deployed a blade-and-shield warrior while he himself sprinted in a circle around the swordsman. The moment the blade-and-shield warrior appeared, it hunched low, sheltering its entire body behind sword and shield, charging toward the cloth-robed swordsman like a rampaging bull. The blade-and-shield warrior possessed late Dao Foundation cultivation. Charging with full force, it finally earned a second glance from the swordsman. Resting a hand against the flat of his blade, the swordsman planted the greatsword into the ground. The blade-and-shield warrior attempted to bypass the greatsword, yet no matter how it sprinted, it only drew closer to the weapon. Finally, with a deafening clang, it crashed violently against the sword's surface! The cloth-robed swordsman remained unmoving as a mountain, while the blade-and-shield warrior staggered backward. With each backward step, its blade, shield, and armor fell away one by one, followed by its limbs and head, until the entire figure collapsed into a pile of rubble. A small hollow seemed to open in Wei Yuan's heart, and he understood that the blade-and-shield warrior derived from Song Chao had been utterly annihilated. Yet its all-out strike had yielded a result after all: the cloth-robed swordsman's aura diminished by a notch. Though not by much, it gave Wei Yuan a glimmer of hope. Continuing his sprint, Wei Yuan deployed another faceless warrior. A ring of light blossomed before the warrior, followed by a jet of the Rushing Water Blade Art blasting straight at the cloth-robed swordsman. The swordsman merely drew a circle in the air with his finger. The stream of water plunged into the circle and vanished, diverted to parts unknown. The Rushing Water Blade Art cast by the faceless warrior naturally differed from Wei Yuan's. Its power was only equivalent to an ordinary Dao Foundation cultivator's full-strength blow, and the water stream contained only basic water blades, unable to carry countless golden blade particles like Wei Yuan's. Thus, the cloth-robed swordsman had not even moved his sword, simply drawing a circle with a finger to divert the blade. Any response was good! Wei Yuan circled to the swordsman's flank and rear, deploying another faceless warrior, followed by a second and a third. In the blink of an eye, five faceless warriors stood arrayed, five torrents of rushing water blades firing simultaneously at the cloth-robed swordsman. The cloth-robed swordsman remained unhurried, tracing five circles in succession to divert every stream. Yet none of the faceless warriors ceased their technique. Diverting the Rushing Water Blade Art cost dharmic power as well. Moreover, this seemingly effortless technique was of a remarkably high rank—a dharma idol grade art—consuming even more power than the Rushing Water Blade Art. Whether the faceless warriors moved or cast techniques, they drew upon Wei Yuan's Dao power. In essence, Wei Yuan and the cloth-robed swordsman had entered a contest of attrition. Noticing that the cloth-robed swordsman's aura was gradually diminishing again, Wei Yuan sprinted ceaselessly, deploying several more faceless warriors in passing. This time, they carried honeycomb flying sword launchers aimed at the cloth-robed swordsman, unleashing volley after volley of Green Silk Armor-Piercers in focused fire. Wei Yuan chose not to fire them all at once, knowing a simultaneous volley would be useless; the swordsman would need only his opening stance to annihilate all the swords. Therefore, Wei Yuan shifted to continuous waves of attacks, refusing to give the cloth-robed swordsman room to counterattack. The cloth-robed swordsman flicked his finger against the blade. A chime like a great bell resounded across heaven and earth, jolting Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness and leaving his mind momentarily blank. Every Green Silk Armor-Piercer fell to the ground. The swordsman then leveled his greatsword, flames igniting along the edge, and slowly thrust it into the void ahead. This thrust appeared thoroughly unremarkable. The fire burning upon the blade looked like mere mortal fire, carrying the desolation of dusk approaching and paths coming to an end. The entire world filled with a bleak and lonely chill, casting a long, solitary shadow behind the cloth-robed swordsman upon the ground, despite the absence of a sun in the sky. Embers of the Former Dynasty—another widely renowned strike from the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns. Sparks of burning embers abruptly materialized around Wei Yuan. His battle armor inexplicably fractured and crumbled to pieces, while several sword scars tore out of nowhere across the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. Wei Yuan felt sword intent arriving from all directions, from nothingness, from the past and the future, leaving him utterly defenseless. Cuts opened across Wei Yuan's body out of nowhere. Had his physical body not been extraordinarily robust, he would have long since been sliced into seven or eight pieces. The cloth-robed swordsman withdrew his sword and stepped forward, trailing the greatsword behind him. He suddenly appeared beside Wei Yuan, brushing past him. The edge of the greatsword inexplicably swept across Wei Yuan's body, defying all reason. Slashing diagonally across Wei Yuan, this stroke carved a horrific gash from shoulder to hip, nearly cleaving him in two. It bared a row of jade-hued ribs, his internal organs clearly visible! Before Wei Yuan could even react, several severed segments of intestine tumbled out, while the cloth-robed swordsman had already returned to his original spot. Gripping the hilt with both hands, the swordsman turned on his heel to face away from Wei Yuan, casually hoisting the greatsword onto his back. Should this sword strike fall upon turning back around, it would surely split the earth and tear the heavens! At the brink of life and death, Wei Yuan disregarded even the gaping wound across his torso. Flailing his hands, he conjured hundreds of faceless warriors, each bearing a flying sword launcher, firing countless Green Silk Armor-Piercers at the cloth-robed swordsman from every direction! The cloth-robed swordsman turned and raised his sword. The greatsword slowly lifted, and by the time it reached its apex, the swordsman had turned halfway around. His movements were distinctly measured, neither hurried nor slow, yet faster than every single Green Silk Armor-Piercer! As the sword reached its peak, so too did its momentum. Just as the entire small world resonated with this strike, the greatsword suddenly halted! The pause came without the slightest warning, leaving even Wei Yuan stunned. All the Green Silk Armor-Piercers veered upward, rushing like moths to a flame toward where the greatsword pointed. Only after that single pause did the greatsword slash down with an unmatched, terrifying fury several times fiercer than when it first gathered momentum! For an instant, Wei Yuan even doubted whether this grotto-heaven could withstand the blow. The stench of death already lingered at the tip of Wei Yuan's nose, yet he became calmer than ever before. First, he stimulated everything that could be activated within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, then tilted his head slightly to prevent the greatsword from cleaving directly through his sea of consciousness. This strike could not be dodged. Wei Yuan prepared to unleash all seven strands of immortal tree sword qi in counterattack, hoping it might slay the swordsman's physical body. Then he would elevate his destiny with the Red Lotus Bodhi to see if he could seize a sliver of life. Finally, he would endure with his Dao Foundation alone—to see if this heaven-cleaving broadsword could sever the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. The greatsword fell, yet the immortal tree sword qi was nowhere to be found! Shock and fury gripped Wei Yuan. Without the sword qi to counterattack, he could not drag this cloth-robed swordsman down with him in mutual destruction. His teacher and Eldest Senior Sister were still inside the formation; if they encountered this swordsman, their chances of survival would be slim to none! He had never imagined that the immortal tree would fail him at such a critical moment! Hatred burned in Wei Yuan's heart; had he known today would come, he should have refined that wild tree into medicine long ago! At this moment, Wei Yuan could only await death, his heart filled with bitter indignation. Just then, within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the young girl who had stood motionless all along opened her eyes. All the otherworldly fortune plunged into her body like a great whale taking in water, and a gleam of light appeared within her two pupils—one black, one white. She reached out and grasped; all seven faint-red strands of immortal tree sword qi flew into her hand, coalescing into a slender, bright red immortal sword. With a single stride, she stepped out from the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. Holding the seven-foot immortal sword, trailing afterimages behind her, she turned into a ribbon of brilliant red sword light. In an instant, she pierced through the cloth-robed swordsman's body and appeared behind him. She sheathed the sword, took a step forward, and returned to the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, standing motionless once more as her eyes slowly closed. The broadsword's edge descended, nearly grazing the tip of Wei Yuan's nose, and carved deep into the ground. For the first time, a spark of vitality appeared in the cloth-robed swordsman's eyes as he cast a deep look at Wei Yuan. From the beginning until this moment, he had resembled a cold killing machine, but now, he seemed to possess the soul of a living human. With a sudden shift of his hands, he detached the hilt of the greatsword, seemingly intending to hand it to Wei Yuan, before his entire body began crumbling into sand. Almost on instinct, Wei Yuan lunged forward and grabbed the cloth-robed swordsman, pulling a translucent swordsman figure from his body and sending it into the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. An invisible suction emerged from the full moon, drawing the swordsman's silhouette closer. From the shadows, a three-eyed avian head emerged and swallowed the swordsman in one gulp. The avian head paused for a moment, then spat something out. Out of thin air, a mental manual appeared in Wei Yuan's mind: Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns (Incomplete). Before Wei Yuan could even register his shock, his eyes fell upon the bright red, seven-foot immortal sword planted beside the young girl. It hadn't reverted to immortal tree sword qi? Could it be... it had become a genuine immortal sword? A brush of Wei Yuan's divine sense revealed the sword's name: Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword. This was an innate treasure, bestowed its name by heaven and earth at its birth. Looking at the manual for the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns, and then at the Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword, whose rank clearly surpassed the Immortal Sword Great Sun, Wei Yuan—who only moments ago had braced his Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains to endure a heaven-cleaving strike—felt the turn of events had come rather too suddenly. His poor heart couldn't quite take it, pounding with a sharp, throbbing ache. Looking down, he only then realized that his chest and abdomen had been cleaved open, and a deep slash marked his heart, nearly slicing it in two. It was only right that it hurt.