In the early morning, sunlight streamed through the carved window lattices, spilling golden radiance across the floor.
Wei Yuan sat upright in his study, engrossed in reading a storybook.
Just then, the demonic blade flew in, hovering steadily before him. "My lord summoned me?" it asked.
Wei Yuan set down the storybook in his hand. His expression calm, he spoke slowly. "Things were quite hectic yesterday, so I haven't had the chance to ask about your abilities and background in detail. First, tell me what you can do."
The demonic blade trembled slightly, a hint of smugness in its voice. "I have two main abilities. The first is called Spurring Steeds a Thousand Li. It allows me to allocate a portion of karmic luck to empower a chosen mount, making it much more powerful and even easier to steer and control—just like Lei Dong."
Wei Yuan nodded slightly, a spark of curiosity in his eyes, and prompted, "Go on."
"The second is called Piercing Willows Across Ten Thousand Li. As long as my divine intent locks onto a target, no matter how far away or how small its form, a single strike can completely slay it!"
These two were the demonic blade's primary abilities. Beyond that, it was both ethereal and corporeal, possessing the characteristics of an immortal artifact. Its edge could shift between illusion and reality at will, capable of easily slicing gold and severing jade, as well as extinguishing Dao power and spirituality. It was truly a blade made for slaughter.
However, upon hearing about these two abilities, an inexplicable sense of oddity welled up in Wei Yuan's heart. Pausing for a moment, he continued, "Then tell me of your origins. But before that, sign this first."
With that, he held out a specially made sheet of jade paper.
The demonic blade looked at the jade paper presented before it, filled with doubt. Sweeping its divine sense across the page, it saw thousands of densely packed clauses, mostly regarding the prevention of betrayal and the oaths to be fulfilled should betrayal occur.
At first, seeing "Should this oath be violated, may heavenly thunder strike down," the demonic blade did not care in the slightest; ordinary heavenly thunder was not something it put in its eyes.
Immediately following, however, several lines of fine print caused its expression to change instantly: *The thunder referenced herein includes, but is not limited to, Radiant Sun Heavenly Fire Flame Thunder, Nine Heavens Purple Clarity Divine Thunder, Jade Empyrean Grand Clarity Immortal Thunder...*
This part the demonic blade could more or less understand. But further down, "body cast into the Yin-Yang Grand Furnace"—though the literal meaning was clear, it had no clue what it specifically entailed. Explanations of "Yin and Yang" in Daoist canons were as numerous as ox hairs, making it impossible to discern.
Further below were terms like "body entering the full moon," "heart entering the full moon," "spirit entering the full moon," and "Three Corpses entering the full moon." The demonic blade wondered in bewilderment: what was so terrifying about ascending to the moon? Could there be man-eating monsters up there?
Just as the demonic blade was reading intently, it suddenly heard Wei Yuan speak coldly, "Have you been looking so long to find loopholes? Hmph, such treacherous intentions deserve death!"
The demonic blade was startled and hurried to defend itself: "I merely do not fully understand. These clauses are truly profound and obscure; I only wished to study them closely."
"No need to study them. There are no loopholes. Sign it," Wei Yuan said in a tone that brooked no argument.
"Then how should I sign it?" the demonic blade asked cautiously.
"Separate a wisp of your natal spirituality and origin soul to leave an imprint upon it, and that will suffice."
The demonic blade hesitated for a moment, but in the end, it gritted its teeth and stamped its divine sense onto the jade paper. With that press, it instantly felt as though a bug had bitten it viciously, an excruciating pain piercing to the heart. At the same time, it felt as though something vital had been stripped from it.
Wei Yuan was thoroughly satisfied. He naturally would not tell the demonic blade that if the title of this contract were magnified a thousand times, every single stroke and character would turn out to be another clause. Stamping an imprint with one's divine sense and origin soul meant consenting to forfeit a portion of divine sense as collateral.
Seeing that the demonic blade had signed the contract, a faint smile appeared on Wei Yuan's face. He said gently, "Very good. Once you have signed, you are one of us. Now, tell me of your origins!"
"Originally, I was a strange stone that flew in from beyond the heavens and accidentally strayed into this realm. Afterward, I was picked up by an unknown divine beast. Day after day, the divine beast nurtured me with spiritual energy, and gradually, I developed spirituality.
"Then one day, several immortals arrived together. Joining forces, they repelled that divine beast and took me away. Later, they cast me into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, where I lost consciousness. By the time I woke up again, I had become what I am now, blessed with divine abilities."
Wei Yuan nodded and then asked, "Since you possess spirituality, do you have a name?"
Wei Yuan's question held hidden significance and was of vital importance. When immortals forged treasures, they would solemnly bestow a name upon them. Some high-grade immortal treasures were even named by heaven and earth itself, and this name was often the key to controlling them.
The demonic blade replied, "I passed through the hands of three immortals in succession, and my name was changed three times as well. At present, my name is Qiyue."
Wei Yuan asked again, "Then where is your previous master now? Why were you left wandering outside?"
"On that day, the immortal master suddenly said: 'A visitor has arrived from beyond the heavens; I shall go and return shortly.' But once he departed, he never returned. Immediately afterward, the immortal abode suddenly exploded, and all of us magical treasures serving the immortal master were cast down from beyond the Nine Heavens.
"I landed in this vicinity, slowly recovering by absorbing karmic luck. Then one day, a great stroke of karmic luck fell out of nowhere right onto my head. After that, I met Lei Dong and took him as my mount. Later still, I met my destined lord—which is to say, you."
Wei Yuan pondered privately that this was most likely Hongye's karmic luck dispersing, a portion of which was obtained by the demonic blade.
Having questioned it this far, he had learned roughly all he needed to know. Thus, Wei Yuan suddenly shifted the topic and asked, "And who might Fengxian be?"
The demonic blade trembled violently, nearly plummeting out of the void. It murmured to itself, "Fengxian? Th-this name sounds so familiar..."
Wei Yuan gave a cold snort and tossed the storybook in his hand before the demonic blade. Looking at it, the blade saw the title was *A Romantic History of Three Men*. Judging by the title alone, it could muster no interest.
Wei Yuan flipped the book to Chapter Three, where a line of text leaped vividly into view: *"...having drifted for half my life without finding an enlightened master. ...If my lord does not disdain me, this humble one wishes to bow and acknowledge you as my adoptive father!"*
"Th-this... what is going on?" The demonic blade was astounded.
"Indeed, what is going on?" Wei Yuan countered.
"I only felt that the two characters 'Fengxian' were very familiar, yet I cannot say when or where I heard them. As for those words earlier, upon seeing my lord, they simply welled up from the bottom of my heart naturally."
Wei Yuan continued, "You could very well have fled. Why throw yourself into the net and fall into my hands? Wouldn't it be better to find another mount and live carefree and happy?"
The demonic blade replied earnestly, "My lord bears an aura familiar to me, clearly originating from the same source."
"From the same source? What do you mean by that?"
"I came from beyond the heavens, originally a strange stone. My lord carries the aura of the place where I originated."
Wei Yuan pondered for a moment, then manifested the aura of the Nether Cold Realm and asked, "Is it this?"
The demonic blade swayed horizontally, indicating no.
Wei Yuan then manifested the aura of the Desolate Realm obtained from Tianyu; the demonic blade again indicated no. Otherworldly fortune was also ruled out. Finally, Wei Yuan manifested the aura of the minor world he had just fished up. This time, the demonic blade rocked forward violently, nearly slicing into Wei Yuan.
Stormy waves churned in Wei Yuan's heart. The previous form of the demonic blade had actually originated from that bizarre world. And that bizarre world had been fished up by the shadow in the moon, while he himself had obtained the demonic blade here—it seemed this was by no means a coincidence.
Then Wei Yuan thought a layer deeper. It was the loss and scattering of Hongye's karmic luck that had allowed the demonic blade to awaken, and allowed rising talents among the Shamans like Lei Dong and Tianyu to obtain karmic luck. Without Lei Dong, the demonic blade might never have surfaced into the world, nor would Wei Yuan have acquired it.
Could it be that Hongye's defeat and downfall were not accidental either?
If even a peerless, astonishing genius like Hongye could not escape the arrangements of fate, who in this world could ever break free from the shackles of destiny?
The more Wei Yuan thought, the more alarmed he became. He felt he needed to seek guidance from True Monarch Yanshi once more. Yet with Eldest Senior Sister's matters still unresolved, he truly felt embarrassed to disturb the True Monarch.
Treating and curing Ji Liuli would most likely depend on Dream Eater. And to meet Dream Eater, he first had to dig through Nether Iron Mountain; after digging through Nether Iron Mountain, there would surely be a massive battle; to charge out of the realm and find Dream Eater, he would still have to clash with Shu Li and win...
Wei Yuan felt a profound headache. Eldest Senior Sister's Dao Heart involved a bit too much.
Chapter 628