Su Changfa slowly came to from his unconsciousness. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw two Celestial Net Hall warriors twitching and convulsing under Yang Kai's hand, and he thought he must still be dreaming. He closed his eyes again and drifted back to sleep.
But soon enough, his eyes snapped wide open, and he stared forward in astonishment.
"Life is beautiful, yet fragile. It seems you two don't understand that. The ignorant are destined to become relics of the age. Let me show you what the true essence of power really is!" Yang Kai rose slowly to his feet, flicking the blood from his hands, and cast a cold gaze toward Zhan Boxiong.
"Mortal Stage Seven?" Both Hong Xiu and Gu Kangning couldn't help but widen their eyes. The aura of power radiating from Yang Kai's body was unmistakably that of Mortal Stage Seven.
Wasn't he only at Stage Four? When had he reached Stage Seven? Had this kid been hiding his strength all along?
But even so—even at Mortal Stage Seven, what could it change? The three of them, all Earth Stage Three veterans, had already been beaten half to death. A single Mortal Stage Seven cultivator would be utterly powerless to resist. And on the Celestial Net Hall's side, there was not only Zhan Boxiong at Earth Stage Seven, but several other Earth Stage powerhouses backing them up. Yang Kai alone could never hope to hold them off.
"You insolent brat! How dare you spout such arrogance!" Zhan Boxiong was furious. In the blink of an eye, his side had lost two men to this kid, and his reputation had taken a massive hit. Truth be told, the explosive power Yang Kai had just displayed had caught him off guard as well. A Mortal Stage Seven warrior instantly killing two at the peak of the Mortal Stage—that was a feat not just anyone could pull off.
Only the most outstanding prodigies could跨阶 kill opponents above their level.
The current chief disciple of the Void Spirit Sword Sect had been unknown and unremarkable until now. His sudden display of such ability immediately set Zhan Boxiong's mind racing with speculation. Perhaps this young man had cultivated the Void Spirit Sword Sect's true Void Spirit Art! If he could capture him, he would obtain the sect's greatest secret.
No matter how strong this brat might be, he was still only Mortal Stage Seven. Zhan Boxiong himself was at Earth Stage Seven—a full major realm above. There was no way this kid could be his match.
The hatred over his grandson's death, and his covetous hunger for the true Void Spirit Art, solidified Zhan Boxiong's resolve to personally take this young man down.
Even as he spoke, his figure blurred forward, lunging toward Yang Kai. The spiritual power of the Earth Stage surged from him, crashing toward Yang Kai like a tidal wave sweeping away mountains.
"Master, our Void Spirit Sword Sect's ancestors actually left us a great gift—we simply never discovered it before." Yang Kai suddenly spoke these cryptic words, then reached out and grabbed at the empty air, shouting in a low voice: "Come, sword!"
Crack...
A sound like something shattering rang out, and Su Changfa and the others turned toward it. They saw that the long sword worn by the ancestor statue not far away had suddenly split open with a web of fine cracks.
Su Changfa's eyes went wide. Something seemed to click in his mind, and his expression turned to one of intense excitement.
Crack, crack, crack...
As the sound echoed through the hall, a streak of sword light suddenly shot out from within the statue, flying into Yang Kai's waiting hand.
It was a long sword suffused with an ethereal, otherworldly glow. The blade was three feet and three inches long, its flat surface like a mirror—clear enough to reflect one's own face. The design was fluid and elegant, and at its edge, it seemed as though even the void itself could be cleaved apart.
"The Clear Void Sword!" Gu Kangning blurted.
Hong Xiu's expression shifted to one of sudden understanding: "So it was here all along. The records in the archives really were true."
This Clear Void Sword was, of course, not the true Divine Weapon. The real Clear Void Sword was one of the Ten Great Divine Weapons, and only those of immense fortune and destiny could hope to wield it.
The sword Yang Kai had obtained from within the statue's hidden compartment was a replica of the divine weapon.
The Void Spirit Sword Sect's archives recorded that the Clear Void Sword's original master, in his later years, had expended vast manpower and resources to forge a replica of the Divine Weapon and leave it for future generations.
However, even though the archives contained this record, ever since that Clear Void Sword master's passing, no one had known where the replica had ended up. Now, after a thousand years, the younger disciples who read those accounts in the archives had all assumed the replica had been lost or destroyed.
Who could have guessed it had been hidden inside that statue the entire time, concealed right under everyone's noses?
The replica Clear Void Sword was naturally incomparable to the true Divine Weapon, but its power was still nothing to scoff at.
"A Spirit Weapon?" Zhan Boxiong, who was closing in, narrowed his eyes—then immediately broke into wild delight. "I never imagined that a little sect like the Void Spirit Sword Sect could be hiding such a treasure! Ha ha ha, the heavens truly smile upon me!"
"Boy, a Spirit Weapon like this is wasted on you. Hand it over to me!" With that, Zhan Boxiong reached out and grabbed toward Yang Kai.
Warriors were ranked by stage—Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Spirit—and the weapons of the Divine Weapon World followed a similar hierarchy. Below Divine Weapons were Spirit Weapons, Heaven Weapons, Earth Weapons, and Mortal Weapons.
The long sword Yang Kai had worn before was merely a Mortal Weapon—essentially a human-grade blade. It had already been destroyed during his earlier fight at the tavern.
Divine Weapons could not be forged. They were born naturally from the heavens and earth of the Divine Weapon World. So even though the original Clear Void Sword master had reached a level of cultivation bordering on the miraculous and had gathered the rarest materials in the entire world, he still couldn't create a true Divine Weapon. All he could produce was a Spirit Weapon!
The might of a Spirit Weapon was enough to raze cities and topple nations—though, of course, that depended on who wielded it. A weapon was ultimately a lifeless object, and how much of its power could be unleashed depended on the strength of the one holding it. Yang Kai, a mere Mortal Stage Seven warrior, could barely hold this Spirit Weapon without the searing sword intent lacerating his body, leaving him drenched in blood with his flesh torn open and curling back.
On the other side, Wan Tianhe of the Tiger Roar Gate, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, also showed a flicker of interest. A Spirit Weapon was right there—who could remain unmoved?
But just as he was about to move in to join the scramble, a sudden jolt ran through his heart. An instinctive sense of danger stirred within him—as though if he truly made a move, something terrible would happen.