At the moment the door opened, the sword spirit of the Kunlun Sword suddenly had an extremely ominous premonition.
But as a sword spirit, just as Chao Zhaoyue had said, it simply had no way to refuse the entry of someone acknowledged by the Grand Patriarch as a successor.
When Chao Jinsui stepped in, she had already sensed that something was wrong. The moment she entered, her perception of the Kunlun Sword grew even stronger.
The sword spirit repeated its old trick: “You are not suited for the Kunlun Sword.”
It still wanted to mock her, but Chao Jinsui spoke first, her tone very gentle:
“Sword spirit, you’re right. I went back and reflected carefully—indeed, I am lacking something.”
With a light tap of her toes, she flew straight toward the Sword-Forging Pool!
Last time, when she had never realized that she was already the Grand Patriarch’s successor, she had been easily repelled, because subconsciously she had thought of herself as a guest;
But this time, her mindset had completely changed. After realizing she was already the successor, sure enough, this time she was not repelled!
She grabbed the hilt of the Kunlun Sword and sneered, “What I lack is that I’m too reasonable.”
The sword spirit was also stunned!
But Chao Jinsui did not take the sword away directly. Instead, with a turn of her wrist, she placed the Kunlun Sword into the Sword-Forging Pool.
She spoke faintly, “Sword spirit, do you know that in the human world there is a kind of tool specially used to scrub chamber pots?”
The usually arrogant sword spirit cried out in terror, “What are you going to do?! Stop!”
Her tone was especially gentle, “I just suddenly feel that the Kunlun Sword’s design is still a bit too plain. Such fine refined iron—turning it into a chamber-pot brush should be quite nice.”
The sword spirit roared in fury, “The Kunlun Sword is the number one sword under heaven! It was once the Sword Saint’s personal weapon, with illustrious battle merits—how dare you, you unfilial descendant!”
She said faintly, “What number one sword? Since I can’t obtain it anyway, I might as well destroy it directly.”
“Tell me, how will people address you in the future? Chamber-pot brush sword spirit? Guardian spirit of the chamber pot?”
Sword spirit: pupils trembling violently!
She said softly, “That’s right, you’ve always been unwilling to be taken away by others. It must be exhausting to keep deceiving people. Why don’t I help you? As long as you become a chamber-pot brush, no one will want to take you away anymore. It would be a once-and-for-all solution, little sword spirit?”
That beautiful hand was about to place the sword into the Sword-Forging Pool!
At the critical moment—
The sword spirit let out a miserable cry, “Don’t—”
She sneered, “Come out!”
After a long while, the sword spirit finally floated out.
Its voice carried no discernible age, nor did it sound very human, yet the sword spirit itself actually looked like a child. It obediently transformed into a red dot and merged into her sea of consciousness.
Suddenly, she felt a sense of mental connection with the Kunlun Sword. The mark of the Fumo Sword in her sea of consciousness gradually dissipated, replaced by a golden Kunlun Sword.
Immediately after, a tidal wave of memories surged into her mind. Her head throbbed with pain, her body swayed, and she braced herself against the edge of the Sword-Forging Pool.
She felt that within her sea of consciousness, a sword manual had suddenly appeared.
Still the familiar cover of the Kunlun Sword Art, yet when she opened it, what she saw was not words, but a human figure. It was a small likeness of the Grand Patriarch. That phantom demonstrated every move and every stance; on that tiny page, each motion carried the momentum to swallow mountains and rivers—this was the true Kunlun Sword Art!
She did not hurry to explore the new changes within her sea of consciousness.
But after that surge of memories poured in, she immediately understood why the Grand Patriarch had left the Kunlun Sword behind.
Starting from the Grand Patriarch’s era, sword cultivators had already begun to go astray. Their pursuit of sword techniques and sword moves had become increasingly varied and extravagant.
The Grand Patriarch, however, disdained all of it. Spending a thousand years, he created his own sword art, forming his own school—pursuing a return to simplicity, turning complexity into simplicity, attaining the supreme realm of the sword path, even glimpsing the path to ascension!
A thousand years of painstaking effort—of course he did not wish for his inheritance to be cut off.
But this sword art was not something ordinary people could cultivate. He left behind the Kunlun Sword and this trial with the intention that later members of the Kunlun Sword Sect could enter the trial. As long as they met his conditions, they could take away the Kunlun Sword and carry forward his school.
All of a sudden, she felt a faint trace of sympathy for the Grand Patriarch.
—After all his careful calculations, who could have predicted that although his school spread widely, it unfortunately became a toilet-side read sold all over the cultivation world—ten copies for one spirit stone.
The Grand Patriarch did not actually care much about the Kunlun Sword Sect. He did not even mind what the new master of the Kunlun Sword would do. He had only one requirement for his successor: inherit his will and carry forward the Kunlun Sword Art.
She opened her eyes. A flash of golden light glimmered in her pupils—a tiny reflection of the Kunlun Sword.
Among the many small sects in the cultivation world, the foundation upon which they established themselves might be nothing more than two or three sword manuals.
In comparison, the Grand Patriarch’s collection could only be described as “vast”!
Chao Xiaotu said resentfully, “If you empty out the Kunlun Sword Sect, Father won’t let you off!”
Chao Zhaoyue glanced at her, smiling without smiling. “What are these books worth? The Kunlun Sword is about to be taken away, and you’re still worrying about this?”
Chao Xiaotu glared at him resentfully. Of course she knew Chao Jinsui was inside taking the sword!
Seeing the unwillingness written all over her face, he said casually, “If you have the ability, you can try too.”
Chao Zhaoyue had only spoken offhandedly, but the moment he turned around, Chao Xiaotu actually ran into the sword formation!
Chao Zhaoyue was stunned, the book in his hand falling to the ground.
Chao Zhaoyue: “Who gave her that kind of confidence?”
Chao Jinsui: “Is it possible she just wants to take the chance to run away?”
As soon as her words fell, a thunderous rumble came from outside the forbidden ground.
Someone was forcing their way in!
A flash of golden light flickered in her eyes. “Go!”
Chao Zhaoyue’s Lanyue Sword cleared the path. They flew out of the forbidden ground and shot straight toward the outside of the sect!
Like two flying cranes, flashing past in an instant!
But just as they reached the cliff’s edge, the next moment, the sect-protecting grand array activated!
A golden dome appeared out of thin air, like a semicircular fortress, enveloping the entire Kunlun Sword Sect within it.
Chao Taichu had clearly prepared for this long ago!
Now, the Kunlun sect-protecting grand array covered this entire stretch of heaven and earth.
This grand array obeys only the Sect Master’s command. As long as one remains a disciple of Kunlun, without the Sect Master’s approval, they cannot leave the ten-li radius covered by the array! This is the fundamental reason why the Kunlun Sect Master is so difficult to shake.
Because he alone controls the lifeline of all Kunlun.
The last time the sect-protecting grand array was activated was thousands of years ago, when Kunlun faced the danger of sect annihilation;
This time, the grand array was activated merely to deal with his own pair of children.
Truly, what great fortune!
To be treated by the “home” she had lived in for a hundred years as the greatest flood beast, to be hunted down without mercy.
She made a swift decision, “Zhaoyue, go first! Find Yan Xueyi!”
Chao Zhaoyue did not waste words. He leapt off the cliff and sped away!
✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦
Chao Jinsui stood atop the cliff, turned around, and looked at the crowd chasing after her.
Chao Taichu stared fixedly at Chao Jinsui, his gaze as if he wanted to devour someone alive.
—He had not even noticed that Chao Xiaotu was missing.
He sneered, “Hand over the Kunlun Sword! Otherwise, don’t blame me, your father, for being merciless to you!”
He could not allow her to take away the Kunlun Sword. Even if today he bore the charge of killing his own flesh and blood, he would absolutely not let her leave!
He had to cut down this grave threat and send it over the cliff before she became a colossal force!
Chao Taichu: “Do you know that the Kunlun Sword is the array core of the sect-protecting grand array? You rebellious child, daring to attempt to take away the array core! You want to destroy Kunlun!”
She looked at the densely packed Kunlun disciples who had chased up behind him:
“So this is what he told you—that the Kunlun Sword is the array core?”
No wonder, no wonder at this moment they stood ready in strict formation, killing intent surging, sword qi arcing like rainbows, united as one!
“Hand over the Kunlun Sword!” “Turn back while there is still time, Young Sect Master, you can’t really destroy Kunlun!”
Standing atop the cliff, she lifted her eyes toward the golden light of the sect-protecting grand array in the sky, her tone very gentle:
“Do you truly believe that is Kunlun’s sect-protecting grand array?”
Everyone was stunned.
Her demeanor did not seem like that of someone standing on a cliff, nor someone forced into a dead end:
“Kunlun’s sect-protecting grand array has always been people.”
For ten thousand years, what protected Kunlun’s eternal foundation was not this array, but generation after generation of Kunlun disciples.
Ten thousand years ago, the number one sword sect under heaven—how high-spirited it was!
With a single sword, the Grand Patriarch split mountains and established Kunlun’s ten-thousand-year legacy. She had witnessed the Grand Patriarch’s dominance as the number one sword under heaven; from his memories, she had glimpsed the bearing of the once greatest sect.
Her voice suddenly turned cold and sharp: “The Kunlun of today—where is even a trace of backbone?”
—When enemies come to their doorstep, they do not even dare to descend the mountain;
—To curry favor with allies, they discard every shred of dignity;
—To capture the Young Sect Master, they even activate the sect-protecting grand array that should only be used when facing sect annihilation!
“What is the use of guarding such a massive dead thing!”
“Taking away the Kunlun Sword will not destroy the sect-protecting grand array, because this array has long since ceased to exist.”
The sect-protecting grand array has always been in people’s hearts.
At that moment, heaven and earth fell silent.
They suddenly realized that something had been irretrievably lost.
Even Chao Taichu felt an unease beyond his control.
Chao Taichu suddenly raised his hand—
The next moment, the sect-protecting grand array transformed into a gigantic golden sword and slammed fiercely toward the figure atop the cliff!
Never had he felt such dense killing intent!
The power of the Kunlun Sword Sect’s sect-protecting grand array could well be imagined! How could a mere Nascent Soul cultivator possibly withstand it!
On the cliff, the girl’s robe whipped loudly in the wind.
Facing the giant sword, she seemed like a tiny ant.
—Yet even a mayfly can shake a great tree!
A clear cry rang out, “Sword, come!”
The next moment, atop the cliffs of Kunlun, the earth shook and the mountains trembled!
The Kunlun Sword Sect, built upon sheer precipices, seemed to suffer an earthquake. Amid a tremendous rumbling collapse, many people panicked and took to their flying swords, barely managing to keep their footing.
It was that sword!
That colossal heaven-supporting sword, sealed in dust for ten thousand years, roared to life and rose from the ground!
The palaces built along the cliff shattered like scraps of paper!
It was the Kunlun Sword!
This was the true Kunlun Sword!
The Kunlun Sword streaked like a meteor, shrinking midair into a perfectly sized blade, landing in her palm.
She flicked her wrist, forming a sword flourish. With one sweep, boundless golden light burst forth, and in midair it collided violently with the gigantic golden sword formed by the sect-protecting grand array—one that had nearly crushed her to death!
