An Immortal's Successor

Mingtai's body trembled so violently that he could not utter a single word. The Immortal Fairy had acted with caution, well aware that her existence was a secret that could not be revealed to outsiders. She had exercised deliberate restraint, dispersing her immortal rhyme onto each spirit sword in a manner that Mingtai and the others could not perceive. Yet she had overlooked one thing: Mingtai was capable of sensing the changes within the spirit swords. He could feel the spirit swords rejoicing and leaping with delight, yearning to submit to Lu Yang—a youth blessed with a sword spiritual root, an immortal sword, and an immortal sword's spirit! If they followed Lu Yang, perhaps they, too, might one day become immortal swords and give birth to sword spirits of the immortal artifact grade! For every spirit sword, this was a tremendous, once-in-a-lifetime fortune! Mingtai stared at Lu Yang in utter disbelief. *Lu Yang possesses a sword spirit of the immortal artifact grade?!* How had he managed that? Had such a grade of sword spirit ever existed in history? If not for the fact that he was now in human form, he would have wanted to become Lu Yang's sword himself! Tower Master Guan and the others could not sense the thoughts of the sword spirits as clearly as Mingtai could. "How is this possible? Why is Lu Yang so popular with them?" They were thoroughly bewildered. This was not something that having a sword spiritual root alone could explain. Back when Daoist Buyu attended the Sword Inquiring Ceremony, he had merely earned the recognition of a small fraction of the sword spirits. Daoist Buyu had caused quite a sensation back then, but compared to Lu Yang now, the two could not even be mentioned in the same breath. The other sword cultivators stood frozen in place, their gazes blank as they stared at Lu Yang. Standing at the entrance with his back to the light, he looked almost like a god. They had exerted every trick in their arsenal and failed to gain the recognition of even a single spirit sword, yet Lu Yang had merely stood there and released his aura, and the spirit swords of the treasury had swarmed toward him in droves. Xue Shilou wore a numb expression as he dazedly blurted out a question: "Weren't we told that choosing a sword depends on karmic affinity?" *Could Lu Yang share that much affinity with every single spirit sword in the treasury?* Although it was Lu Yang's first time coming to the Sword Treasury to choose a sword, seeing this vast army of spirit swords and watching Mingtai's reaction made him realize something was amiss. This spectacle probably had little to do with him; it was almost certainly caused by the Immortal Fairy, that counterfeit sword spirit. The Immortal Fairy said excitedly, "Little Yangzi, Little Yangzi, hurry and take them all away! Now there's a place for the souls of those prisoners on Prison Peak!" She still had not forgotten about the prisoners on Prison Peak. "Don't worry about your identity jade token not having enough room—don't we still have the Green Blade Sword's pocket world? That's plenty of space!" The Immortal Fairy had truly planned ahead, even considering how to cart the spirit swords away. Naturally, she was delighted. Little Yangzi was a Pillar of State minister of the Great Soybean Dynasty; these spirit swords were his subordinates, which meant they would rightfully belong to the Great Soybean Dynasty. When it came to matters concerning the Great Soybean Dynasty, the Immortal Fairy was always sharp. Lu Yang was speechless. *Fairy, you've certainly thought of everything, but have you considered how the Sword Tower will react?* Just as Lu Yang was pondering which sword he should choose as his sidearm, Mingtai suddenly let out a cry of surprise beside him. "Even *that* sword is reacting?!" Snapping back to reality, Lu Yang followed Mingtai's gaze and saw a sword still thrust into the ground of the Sword Treasury, completely out of place among the other soaring blades. Yet that sword was trembling continuously, clearly reacting to Lu Yang as well. "Is that sword very formidable?" Lu Yang asked in confusion. Mingtai wore a solemn expression. "I can control every spirit sword in the Sword Treasury—except for that one." "That sword did not originate from the Sword Tower. Rather, it was something Mas—the First Tower Master obtained by chance. Its grade is not inferior to my Hanguang Sword, and it well deserves the title of an immortal sword." "The First Tower Master was unmatched under heaven in the Sword Dao, yet he never gained that sword's recognition. Having no other choice, he stored it in the Sword Treasury, hoping someone with affinity would claim it in the future." "That is also how the Sword Treasury came to be." Gazing at the trembling, nameless immortal sword that seemed desperate to burst from the earth, Mingtai said slowly, "Yet ten thousand years have passed, and the sword has simply remained there, never responding to any sword cultivator's call—until your arrival, Senior Brother Lu." Lu Yang was astonished to hear that it was an immortal sword as well. "Eh? Why does this sword look so familiar?" The Immortal Fairy looked at the nameless immortal sword with only its hilt exposed, gradually matching it with a sword in her memory. "I remember now! Isn't that Liu Ningxuan's Chengying Sword?!" The name Liu Ningxuan sounded familiar to Lu Yang. Suddenly, he remembered. Liu Ningxuan—a peerless genius of the Sword Dao hailed as the greatest in ancient times, supreme in both the zither and the sword. He had created the technique Unity of Man and Sword. During his battle against the Immortal Fairy, he underwent the ultimate sublimation, fusing into one with his sword, never to be separated again. Nowadays, whenever people brought up the strongest sword cultivators, they often mentioned Liu Ningxuan and the Sword Tower Supreme in the same breath. The Seven Stars Sword Set he had obtained from the Good Fortune Mystic Realm was a set of swords Liu Ningxuan once used! At this thought, an ominous premonition struck Lu Yang. Just as he was about to question the Immortal Fairy further, the Chengying Sword shot into the sky, radiating an aura that set hearts pounding, instantly scattering the neatly ranked spirit swords. A figure floated out from the Chengying Sword—who else could it be but Liu Ningxuan! Dressed in ancient attire, Liu Ningxuan appeared before everyone in the form of an immortal sword's spirit. His furious gaze swept across the crowd before finally settling on Lu Yang, his expression hostile. "It was you who just released the aura of Immortal Ying Tian!" "...Immortal Ying Tian?" Lu Yang had not expected Liu Ningxuan to bring this up the moment he emerged. Liu Ningxuan let out a cold sneer, his eyes turning frigid. "Still trying to deceive me? Back then, Immortal Ying Tian forced me to use Unity of Man and Sword just to flee with my life, turning me into this monstrosity—neither human nor ghost! How could I possibly mistake his aura?!" Lu Yang understood. Liu Ningxuan's memories had also been tampered with. The mastermind behind the scenes had altered his memories so that his final battle had been fought against Immortal Ying Tian. Although Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi also had their memories erased, they shared deep ties with the Immortal Fairy; even though they had forgotten completely, the moment they saw her, she still felt familiar. The same applied to Liu Ningxuan. He and the Immortal Fairy had been mortal enemies—how could he truly forget that? Due to all these factors, he had mistaken the Immortal Fairy's aura for that of Immortal Ying Tian. "If I am not mistaken, brat, you must be the successor of Immortal Ying Tian." Lu Yang felt that Liu Ningxuan had a rather massive misunderstanding about him. Yet in the eyes of onlookers, the situation looked entirely different. Even Liu Ningxuan said Lu Yang was Immortal Ying Tian's successor—how could that be false? "No wonder Lu Yang is so formidable! It turns out he received the inheritance of Immortal Ying Tian!" "An immortal's successor... terrifying..." The people of the Sword Tower nodded in succession; all of Lu Yang's remarkable feats now had an explanation. "No wonder Lu Yang could fight Young Cult Master Lu to a draw! It turns out both of them are successors of immortals!" "Hm? You brat, you're a sword spirit who took human form?" Liu Ningxuan noticed Mingtai beside Lu Yang, and killing intent began to rise in his eyes. After being gravely wounded by the Immortal Fairy, he had used Unity of Man and Sword to flee with his life. This caused the Chengying Sword to become badly damaged, reduced to a ruined blade, while he fell into a deep coma. Over the years, the Chengying Sword changed hands multiple times, encountering several master forgers and sword masters who recognized its extraordinary nature and gradually repaired it, allowing him to awaken. By that time, it was already the Great Yu era. Currently, Liu Ningxuan was in the state of a sword spirit. A sword spirit existed eternally, which was what had allowed him to survive until now. Unlike an innate sword spirit like Mingtai, he was an acquired sword spirit. An innate sword spirit could take human form, whereas an acquired sword spirit could not; for the rest of his life, he could never leave the Chengying Sword. Thus, he despised innate sword spirits above all else.