A Wonder of Heaven

In the next moment, it seemed Shuo Feng was about to be cleaved in two by Li Fan's sword light. Yet right at that instant, Shuo Feng swung his sword once more. *Clang!* The sword light struck the wooden sword, producing a sound like a mallet striking a great bell. The two held in a brief stalemate. A split second later, the sword light suddenly reversed direction, lunging abruptly toward Li Fan. And what was more... Its speed was faster, its momentum even sharper! Locked on by the sword light, he could not dodge. Li Fan had no intention of exposing his true strength, and this probing strike had already served its purpose. He therefore extended his right hand, revealing his water-attribute grotto-heaven directly and channeling the power of his grotto-heaven domain to suppress the sword light. *Boom!* After being reflected by the wooden sword, this sword light—which had originally come from Li Fan—seemed imbued with an extra touch of the sword's "sharpness." Even when trapped by the grotto-heaven domain, its forward momentum remained unbroken. Emitting a tremendous roar, it seemed determined to shatter the restraints placed upon it. Li Fan gave a cold snort and applied a bit more force. Only then did he completely suppress it. Looking toward Shuo Feng again, he saw that the youth had not seized this chance to attack. Instead, as if something had gone awry within himself, he was trying to soothe the violently trembling wooden sword. "Let us end this sparring match here! I am two full major realms above you, yet we fought back and forth—I have already lost," Li Fan sighed deeply and shook his head. "A favored son of heaven is a favored son of heaven after all. Foundation Establishment fighting Nascent Soul..." "It is far beyond what mortals like us could ever hope to match." Li Fan appeared rather dispirited. Exhaling a long breath, Shuo Feng, having subdued the wooden sword once more, could not help comforting him upon seeing this: "Fellow Daoist, you need not take it to heart. The fact that I could manage this much is mostly due to this wooden sword." Perhaps because Li Fan's displayed temperament suited Shuo Feng's taste, or perhaps because Shuo Feng had nothing to fear to begin with. After hesitating for a moment, Shuo Feng said with no small measure of pride, "To be honest with you, Fellow Daoist, this sword..." "Is a wonder of Heaven!" "Your defeat was no fault of your skill!" Shuo Feng gently stroked the blade of the wooden sword, a trace of infatuation flashing across his face. Hearing this, Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly. Pretending to be utterly shocked, he stared fixedly at the unremarkable wooden sword in Shuo Feng's hand. "A wonder of Heaven?" "Fellow Daoist, surely you jest? Wonders of Heaven align with the Heavenly Dao, ethereal and untraceable, never manifesting in the mortal world. The only one known to the public is the legendary Yanfa Jade." "Could this ragged sword actually be a wonder of Heaven as well?" Li Fan deliberately remarked. Shuo Feng chuckled softly. "I built my foundation with it, so how could I be mistaken? This wonder of Heaven is called 'Sword.'" As he spoke, Shuo Feng lightly flicked the wooden sword, carving a flourish of blade blossoms. "Sword?" Li Fan felt a jolt in his heart. "Could it be that this item is the embodiment and condensation of the Xuanhuang Realm's laws of the sword?" he could not help asking. Shuo Feng nodded and pointed the wooden sword toward a lush, leafy tree not far away. Under Li Fan's watchful gaze, an ethereal transformation instantly occurred within the tree. A gentle breeze blew past, and the leaves falling from the branches drifted in the wind. When one brushed past another tree, it was actually like a peerlessly sharp sword slicing through the air. The tree was severed at the waist on the spot. Another gust of wind whipped up, sending leaves swirling through the air. The tree enlightened by the wooden sword was like a peerless swordsman continuously unleashing sword strikes. One after another, the trees beside it crashed to the ground. This bizarre scene left Li Fan completely stunned. "Perhaps... what you say is indeed true!" Li Fan stammered slowly, pretending to be shaken by shock. Shuo Feng smiled faintly. "Of course. I obtained this item from the ruins of the ancient Heavenly Sword Sect, braving a narrow escape from death." Looking at the wooden sword in his hand, Shuo Feng recalled the scene from that day: "If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, Fellow Daoist, you could never imagine the shock in my heart. The Heavenly Sword Sect's Sword Tomb has over a million swords buried there. Yet all those ancient swords, thrust haphazardly into the ground without order, were all slightly bent toward the very same direction." "Like paying homage to an emperor among swords." "And in the very center of that million-sword tomb, I found it." A flicker of pride crossed Shuo Feng's face. "At that moment, I knew that disregarding my mother's objections and insisting on cultivating anew had been an utterly correct choice." "Otherwise, how could I have encountered such a fortune?" *Heavenly Sword Sect, Sword Tomb...* Li Fan stared at the wonder of Heaven, Sword, countless thoughts flashing through his mind. In the end, however, he abandoned the thought of immediately using the Insect Binding divine technique to claim the item as his own. "A wonder of Heaven..." Li Fan's eyes were full of envy. Then he asked with some bewilderment, "Such a confidential matter, yet you casually told a passerby like me? Aren't you afraid I might spread word of it and make it known to everyone?" Shuo Feng waved his hand dismissively and said proudly, "I have always done as I please. You clearly knew my identity, yet during our spar just now, you still held nothing back and gave your all. Excellent!" "Besides, what if you do tell others? Having obtained such a divine object, if one cannot show it off and instead sneaks around concealing it, how is that any different from walking by night in embroidered robes?" "Still, carrying a rare treasure will inevitably draw the covetous eyes of others..." Li Fan paused, seemingly still struggling to understand. "Covetous scoundrels?" Shuo Feng suddenly burst into hearty laughter, his domineering arrogance on full display. A suit of shimmering golden armor manifested across his body, radiating an intense pressure that even made Li Fan involuntarily step back a short distance. "Though this wonder of Heaven of mine is exceptionally rare, it is useless to cultivators at Dao Integration and above." "Below Dao Integration, who could possibly harm me? And even against a Dao Integration powerhouse, they might not necessarily break this armor's defense." Shuo Feng pointed at the armor on his body, speaking with a somewhat conflicted expression. Li Fan could only remain speechless. *So this is the confidence of a top second-generation immortal in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals...* *Still, this works out well. Without you being this confident, trying to coax information about this wonder of Heaven from your mouth would have taken quite some effort.* Suppressing the thoughts in his heart, Li Fan looked at Shuo Feng, who had already put away the golden armor, and asked again, "Although your wooden sword is indeed extraordinary, Fellow Daoist, I still feel its actual performance seems to fall a bit short of the legendary wonders of Heaven." "Could it be that you have not yet fully mastered it?" Hearing this, a look of helplessness surfaced on Shuo Feng's face. "You are observant indeed, Fellow Daoist! A wonder of Heaven is truly extraordinary. Even though I built my foundation with it, I still cannot fully control it. At times, it even slips out of my grasp." "Nearly injuring you just now was an example of this." Hearing those words, Li Fan suddenly remembered the scene he had witnessed in his previous life: the battle between Shuo Feng and Su Xiaomei.