Sand... Sand...
Four mbers of the Dragon Clan took step after step toward Wu Xiaode.
Wu Xiaode watched their identical movents and expressions, feeling a chill creep up his back.
He couldn’t wait any longer!
"Use card ’Eternal Night’s Star,’ target: ’Heir of the World Tree.’"
Wu Xiaode chanted silently in his heart.
He held the Book of the Dead in his hands but did not open it; instead, lines of prompt runes appeared on the pages:
"Card ’Eternal Night’s Star’ used."
"Effect:
"Causes ’Heir of the World Tree’ to skip the cooldown period, reaching the best result: completely rested."
"Current card can be released three tis, after which it will enter a cooldown of seven days."
"Please note:
"Card ’Heir of the World Tree’ activated."
"Cover this card over one of your skills; it will instantly increase the skill by one level for an hour."
"Please select the target you wish to release."
Wu Xiaode was silent for a mont.
In fact, he had many powerful skills.
If he unleashed the card’s power on "Eternal Night’s City," could he escape from the four Dragon Clan mbers in front of him?
Or should he release it on "Rage"?
Amidst hesitation, the four Dragon Clan mbers had already approached him.
"Respected Great Mage, please lead the way. We must find that young girl."
"Rest assured, should any temple stand in our way, I will take action."
They said in unison.
Wu Xiaode barely managed a smile and said, "Alright, let’s go."
—He could almost feel his body becoming immobile.
This was strange.
The opponents hadn’t made any move, nor had they released any power.
But he felt sowhat unable to move.
...An instinctual fear?
It was ridiculous—why was sothing like this happening to him?
"Great Mage, that book in your hands seems to have the rare power of the Death World... quite a rare sight indeed."
"Join us."
The four spoke together.
A sense of unnad crisis erged in Wu Xiaode’s mind.
The feeling was like a fog enveloping him, causing everything about him to begin fading away.
Wu Xiaode felt his consciousness start to blur.
Damn it!
The opponents had only said a sentence!
Why was it affecting him to this degree?
In a trance, the Human Emperor’s voice echoed in Wu Xiaode’s ears again:
"...Enhance the swordsmanship you know. That is your only way to survive."
The only way to survive.
Normally, Wu Xiaode would never easily trust others.
But the Human Emperor was his ntor.
As the saying goes, one can eat well just by listening to others.
When you’re in the jianghu, you should heed the advice of the big shots.
Wu Xiaode took a deep breath, trying hard to focus his last thread of thought.
Lines of prompt runes imdiately appeared in the Book of the Dead:
"You used ’Heir of the World Tree.’"
"Your swordsmanship ’Long Moon Sparse Shadows’ has been forcefully elevated by one level."
"Current swordsmanship raised to:
"Secret Sword: Torrent."
"—Reincarnation Swordsmanship."
The whole world beca silent.
The winds and snow seed to have lost their sound, and all things and beings maintained their silence.
—As if so fate that could sway the entire world was happening, they had no choice but to hold their breath and wait for the outco.
"Sword Intent."
The four Dragon Clan mbers said, surprise in their eyes.
The next second.
Boom—
A skyward Sword Qi tore the dream apart, revealing layers of illusory lights and shadows outside.
Wu Xiaode gritted his teeth, grinning and said:
"What are you, neither human nor ghost?"
Before he could finish speaking.
The Desert Sword "clang" flew up from his waist and he grasped it in his hand, swinging with all his might—
—Secret Sword, Torrent!
The vast sword aura surged from the blade, turning into a majestic river, enveloping everything around it as it soared into the sky, tearing through layers of Void and world, flying towards the unknowable end of space.
The world struggled to heal for a long ti.
Wu Xiaode stood in place, staring at the four Dragon Clan mbers struggling within the endless sword aura.
In the face of such an unreasonable force—
No matter how bizarre, terrifying, and powerful they were, they could only helplessly be swept away by the torrent of Sword Qi.
Dozens of breaths later.
Wu Xiaode ca back to his senses from the shock beyond imagination.
The sky—
was healing at an incredibly slow pace.
Yet within tens of miles around, the mountains had not been touched by the sword aura at all.
—Truly a subtle and exquisite sword strike!
"Buzz."
The Desert Sword flew back and forth in the air, seemingly excited about that strike, still reveling in the grandeur of a mont ago.
Only when Wu Xiaode waved his hand did it fly back and settle into its scabbard.
Lines of glowing text followed:
"’Heir of the World Tree’ effect has expired."
"Your swordsmanship has fallen back."
"Current swordsmanship: Long Moon Sparse Shadows."
A deep regret erged in Wu Xiaode’s heart, leading to a sudden enlightennt.
"What an incredible strike..."
"I guess that strike was just the beginning, it must have been ant for so purpose."
"Pity... I cannot see it."
Wu Xiaode shook his head, steadied his mind once more, and was about to go find Chris and Gjestastav when the Book of the Dead suddenly flipped open.
On the altar wall, a slip of paper appeared out of nowhere.
What?
There are still Heroic Spirits issuing missions in this dreamscape?
Wu Xiaode couldn’t resist and reached out to remove the note, only to see several lines of small characters written on it:
"The dreams of the Ancient Dragon King have always been under strict surveillance; any coveter would be killed without exception."
"Your sword forced the watcher away—"
"But you’ve got rely about three hours of ti."
"Go explore the Ancient Dragon King Ruins, and find the breakthrough for the final seal for Gjestastav in advance."
"If you succeed, perhaps you will have the opportunity to take away sothing unspeakable."
"—Human Emperor."
It turned out to be a commission from Master.
Rather than a commission, it was more like a hint.
This indeed was a good idea.
While Gjestastav was still breaking through the second layer of the seal, he would go ahead and find the breakthrough point for the third layer.
That way, once Gjestastav broke through the second layer, she could directly move on to the third.
Much more efficient!
However—
Deep down, he still felt a little annoyed.
—Master must know sothing.
In addition to him, Kaling Yekatina of "Babylon" must also know sothing.
But they wouldn’t say.
These people were really infuriating.
However, he indeed needed to help Gjestastav break free from all the seals as soon as possible.
Otherwise, if that monster ca again—
The re thought was terrifying.
"Commission accepted," Wu Xiaode recited.
The note imdiately turned into a ray of light and entered his body.
Instantly.
The information left by the Human Emperor erged in Wu Xiaode’s mind.
Looking towards the north, he murmured softly:
"It’s over there..."
After speaking, his figure flashed and he soared away.
This ti, Wu Xiaode didn’t bother showing off.
He flew at full speed, streaking through the vast Void like a bolt of lightning, battling the wind and snow on his way to his destination.
Twenty minutes later.
Wu Xiaode landed on the icy, snow-covered surface of an icy lake.
This was the place.
By diving along the icy lake, he could quickly find the entrance to the Ancient Dragon King Ruins.
Just as Wu Xiaode was about to act, he noticed a hole appeared on the ice.
A slender figure erged from the hole.
—It was that Jiao!
It hadn’t been long since it had transford from a one-horned black snake into a Jiao, so its body was still only over two ters long and seed sowhat weak.
"How co you’re here? Did you co especially to greet ?" Wu Xiaode laughed.
The Jiao affectionately circled around him a few tis, then suddenly opened its mouth and spewed out.
A stark white cold air stread from its mouth, materializing directly above the icy lake into an ice crystal door.
"You want to—go through this door?" Wu Xiaode asked.
The Jiao nodded.
"But I’m heading to the Ancient Dragon King Ruins, can this door lead there?" Wu Xiaode asked again.
The Jiao nodded once more.
Wu Xiaode pondered for a mont, then nodded and said, "Well, you an well. I’ll go and have a look."
He pushed open the door of ice crystal and his figure vanished inside.
The Jiao imdiately followed suit.
...
Elsewhere.
A world entirely composed of a blood-colored expanse.
The world was vast and boundless.
There was only a small raft floating on the surface of the sea.
A man wearing a bamboo hat, holding a fishing rod, sat on the raft drifting with the waves.
In a mont.
The blood-red ocean suddenly roared.
A fierce and biting cold air burst from the depths of the sea, raising rolling blood waters and causing a small-scale rain to fall from the sky.
Seeing this, the man with the bamboo hat casually reached out and captured that cold air.
"This sword...is Torrential," he muttered softly.
"Sir, how did this sword fare? Is there a judgnt?" A woman’s voice echoed from the Void beside the man.
The man smiled and said, "This Sword Qi is divided into three phases."
"Three phases? Clearly it was one sword, finished with a single slash, yet soone actually divided it into three phases?" the woman’s voice said in surprise.
The man explained:
"The first phase of the Sword Qi is half illusion, half reality, with a probing intent. It seems that the person who used it was not a Sword Cultivator, thus, he did not have much confidence in this sword and appeared ready to employ other moves at any mont."
"The second phase Sword Qi is sowhat turbulent and unstable as if the sword user was shaken by his own strike."
"The third phase is where ’it’s done with a slash’—"
"The sword user realized no other techniques were needed to win, hence he executed the strike with his full strength."
The woman sighed and said, "Why does this person have so many thoughts for just one sword strike."
"He’s quite a character," the man said.
He gently flicked the fishing rod.
Thud.
The hook landed on the raft with sothing attached to it.
—It was a tentacle with three eyes.
Caught by the fish hook, it landed on the raft, still twisting ceaselessly, as if constantly seeking a way to escape.
"Now that you’re here, don’t think of leaving," said the man with a smile.
However, the tentacle suddenly spoke:
"Let go, you Doomsday—"
Hum!
A sound of sword ringing.
The entire tentacle was imdiately sliced into blood water, flowing down from the raft and into the blood-colored sea.
"Sir, that creature has infinite identities. Is cutting off this arm of any significance to the situation?" asked the woman’s voice.
"It doesn’t an much to , but... it’s to buy that swordsman a bit of ti," the man said indifferently as he shook the fishing rod again.
The hook fell back into the blood sea.
—No one knew what it would fish up next.
Under a proud sun.
The sky was clear.
The little raft gradually drifted away with the undulating waves.
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