Martial Cultivator

Chapter 998.3: 300 Years Too Late - Part 3

Those shattered flying swords dissolved into sword qi, but were not extinguished. Instead, they quickly gathered again, chasing forward from behind.

Countless flying swords surged forward one after another, disregarding life and death.

This scene was very much like the frontier army of Great Liang over the past two hundred years. They could not possibly be unaware of the gap between themselves and the demon race, but even with such a vast disparity, no one had ever thought of giving up.

Giving up was the easiest thing in the world.

Perseverance was the hardest.

The Demon Emperor remained expressionless, simply taking another step forward.

The sky lowered by another fraction.

Countless flying swords shattered again, and the Sword Sect's Sect Master’s face grew even paler.

This number one figure of sword dao in the world let out a sigh. He should have had a sword of his own.

Just one sword that belonged to him would have been enough.But even at this moment, that sword belonging to him had yet to arrive.

There was some regret, yet at the same time, the Sword Sect's Sect Master also felt a sense of joy.

He had found the meaning of his sword practice, and his mind was incomparably clear.

“Yang Furen, lend me a sword!”

Suddenly, the Sword Sect's Sect Master laughed loudly. “Last time when I drew my sword against His Majesty, you refused to lend it. Now that I draw my sword against the Demon Emperor, you should lend it this time, shouldn’t you?”

These words spread across the cloud sea. A strand of sword intent carried his voice, instantly traveling across regions, departing from Ying Prefecture and heading south, rushing at extreme speed toward Yellow Dragon Prefecture.

......

......

At Sword Qi Mountain, a thunderous voice rang out.

The Mountain Lord Yang Furen had originally been in high spirits today, intending to personally forge a flying sword. At this moment, hearing that voice resound across the sky, he was startled, then rolled his eyes. “Drawing your sword against the Demon Emperor, is it impressive?”

Previously, when the Sword Sect's Sect Master had come to Sword Qi Mountain to borrow a sword, he had been refused. Since then, Yang Furen had looked down on him, even forbidding Sword Sect disciples from coming up the mountain to take swords. It was only later, after Chen Chao mediated and Sword Sect disciples headed to the Northern Frontier, that he lifted the ban.

Now that the Sword Sect's Sect Master was borrowing a sword again, Yang Furen remained silent.

“Mountain Lord, the flying swords in the mountain are being drawn...”

Very soon, a disciple of Sword Qi Mountain came to report. Yang Furen glanced at him and said, “Let them go. Aside from those treasured flying swords, the rest may leave as they wish.”

Yang Furen was also a perceptive man. In this battle, regardless of whether the Sword Sect's Sect Master won or lost, those flying swords were destined not to return.

A battle between such powerhouses, how could it possibly end lightly?

“Mountain Lord, but those...”

That person still wanted to persuade Yang Furen. Even if the finest flying swords were kept behind, Sword Qi Mountain had accumulated an unknown number of flying swords over the years, were they all to be lent out now?

“Perhaps twenty or thirty percent might still come back. It doesn’t matter. As long as people are still here, we can forge them again. If materials are lacking, we’ll go ask Great Liang and the Sword Sect for them.”

Yang Furen waved his hand. The mountain-protecting grand array of Sword Qi Mountain opened, and countless flying swords shot up from the ground at this moment, cheering and darting toward the north!

Yang Furen sighed with emotion, “Look at this, these damned flying swords have long been waiting for his call. The title of the number one sword user under heaven isn’t just for bluffing people, it can even bluff swords.”

Countless flying swords rose into the sky at this moment, a magnificent sight to behold!

Yang Furen smiled as he watched this scene. “If one day you really can kill him, then every sword on this mountain can be lent to you.”

But in the next moment, this mountain lord of Sword Qi Mountain sensed a particular aura. He left his spot and arrived at the Sword Cleansing Pool.

The flying swords here were incomparably quiet.

He walked past the swords planted into the ground, sensing the faint, almost inaudible hum of swords.

Finally, at a certain place, he sensed a trace of sword intent.

It was a flying sword covered in rust, sitting all this time in the most remote corner of the Sword Cleansing Pool. Even Yang Furen, who was thoroughly familiar with the origins of every flying sword on Sword Qi Mountain, could not recall for a moment which senior had forged this sword, nor which sword cultivator had once used it.

He pondered for a long time, and finally recalled something.

Three hundred years ago, when Sword Qi Mountain opened the furnace to forge that once-in-a-century Hundred Year Sword, the one who initially presided over the forging was his grand martial uncle. He had been the most talented swordsmith of that generation, unmatched in forging skill, but also notoriously unconventional.

In those past years, he had forged many special flying swords. Some had been taken away by certain sword cultivators, while others had remained as overlooked remnants.

The forging of a Hundred Year Sword was an extremely important matter, and Sword Qi Mountain had naturally attached great importance to it. At that time, the mountain lord had strictly ordered that grand martial uncle not to create any complications. But in the end, during the forging process, he still had his own ideas and carried them out, resulting in the forging of a failed sword during that attempt.

A single forging of the Hundred Year Sword was destined to use the finest materials, and even gathering those materials required Sword Qi Mountain to spend a hundred years.

That failure was nothing short of a catastrophic disaster for Sword Qi Mountain.

Thus, the mountain lord at the time flew into a rage. Not only did he punish that grand martial uncle according to the mountain rules, he also personally rekindled the furnace and used the remaining materials to forge a new Hundred Year Sword.

As for that failed sword, it was cast aside in the most remote corner of the Sword Cleansing Pool. Over all these years, no sword cultivator had ever taken it away.

“What was your name again?”

Yang Furen looked at that flying sword, frowning. He thought for a long time. When this sword had been forged, his grand martial uncle had already been imprisoned, and no one else had the mind to care about this failed sword, so it had never even been given a name.

Coincidentally speaking, when Yang Furen was young, he had gotten along fairly well with that grand martial uncle and had a few casual conversations. That grand martial uncle seemed to have told him the name of this flying sword.

Yang Furen gripped the hilt of that failed sword and gently pulled it out. Only then did he recall its name.

"Heaven Contempt?"

Yang Furen nodded and smiled, “That’s right. Back then, grand martial uncle’s intention was that once this sword was completed, all the flying swords under heaven would lower their heads.”

Just as Yang Furen was speaking, that flying sword trembled again.

Yang Furen looked at the sword in his hand and asked seriously, “What? Have you found your sword master?”

The flying sword trembled slightly, as if responding.

Yang Furen smiled, “Understood. The first time he borrowed a sword, in your eyes, he was merely someone skilled with the sword, acting only for himself, so he was naturally unworthy to hold you. Now he is different. Now he has the qualification.”

As he spoke, Yang Furen reluctantly loosened his grip, “In the end, it can still be counted as a Hundred Year Sword. Giving away such a good sword, I am truly quite unwilling.”

As Yang Furen released his hand, that flying sword trembled as it flew toward the sky, slowly departing.

Yang Furen raised his head and waved toward that flying sword, “Go on. Three hundred years, and only now have you found your sword master. It is already very late, so don’t be too late.”

As if hearing Yang Furen’s words, that flying sword suddenly accelerated, transforming into a streak of sword light and disappearing from Yang Furen’s sight.

Tears welled in Yang Furen’s eyes as he laughed loudly, “Grand Martial Uncle, you were not wrong. You truly forged a peerless sword. It’s just that the one qualified to wield it came three hundred years late!”

......

......

Countless flying swords surged forth from Yellow Dragon Prefecture toward Ying Prefecture.

And at that battlefield, the Sword Sect’s Sect Master’s situation had already become extremely perilous. The Demon Emperor was determined to leave, and the Sword Sect’s Sect Master found it very difficult to stop him.

At this moment, those flying swords finally arrived at the battlefield like a swarm of locusts.

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master took a deep breath, but in the next moment, his eyes widened.

Because among those tens of thousands of flying swords, there was one rust-covered flying sword that arrived later yet reached him first, coming to his side.

After hovering in place, the flying sword trembled.

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master looked at that flying sword, startled, then reached out and grasped its hilt.

The sword’s cry rang across the heavens!

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master ran his hand across the blade. The rust upon the blade all fell away at this moment.

Revealing a snow-white blade.

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master’s eyes filled with tears as he murmured, “Late by three hundred years? Not late at all."