novelraw Chapter 21 – Understanding the Sword
Chapter 21 – Understanding the Sword
[Seven years later, after swinging your sword millions of times, you begin to sense something, which excites you greatly.]
[During this time, Aunt Wang comes to propose a match, wanting to introduce Erya, the village flower, to you. She claims Erya is beautiful and virtuous, the most outstanding girl in Mang Village, with suitors almost breaking down her door. Aunt Wang says Erya has taken a liking to you and doesn't require much of a dowry, just a few pounds of cured meat as a token.]
[You recall the fourteen-year-old girl, already stout and strong, and you shake your head, refusing.]
[Eight years later, Foolish Ye's family dog gives birth, and to repay your kindness for gifting him meat, he brings you a puppy.]
[You accept it.]
[Foolish Ye says that once the puppy grows, it can help you hunt, saving you a lot of time in finding prey.]
[Nine years later, your dog has grown, and with its nose, your hunting time in the mountains is nearly halved.]
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[You grow fond of it.]
[You give this good dog a name, "Fan Fan."]
[Ten years later, your Fan Fan is cooked by someone.]
[Foolish Ye tells you that last night, several unidentified men in black came to the village and butchered Fan Fan.]
[You are furious, but hearing about the men in black makes you instinctively wary.]
[You inquire Foolish Ye for information about them.]
[Foolish Ye angrily states that after arriving in the village, they dug up the ancestral graves at the village entrance and were asking around with a portrait this morning...]
[Your heart sinks.]
[You immediately bid farewell to Foolish Ye and head into the back mountain with your sword.]
[Not long after leaving, you encounter an Elder in Brocade Robes, who stops you and questions you thoroughly, then takes out a portrait, asking if you've seen the person in it.]
[You shake your head, denying it, saying you haven't seen them.]
[The Elder leaves disappointed.]
[Your pace quickens because the portrait is unmistakably of you, but due to the Ancient Jade, the Elder apparently didn't recognize you.]
[Most importantly, the Elder's aura is overwhelming, giving you a terrifying sense of invincibility.]
[This feeling, you've only sensed from the Innate Realm Experts in the Alpha Battalion.]
[Since that encounter.]
[You understand that the mastermind has started targeting you again.]
[After six years, their power has risen another level, even able to command Innate Realm Experts to hunt you down.]
[To practice your sword in peace, you choose to retreat deep into the mountains, severing all ties with the outside world.]
[Time flies, years pass in the blink of an eye.]
[Twenty-five years later, after swinging your sword billions of times, you still struggle to make progress...]
[Thirty-five years later, countless times of drawing and swinging your sword, practicing day and night, gradually calm your restless heart, and you feel an unprecedented peace...]
[Forty-five years later, after finishing your sword practice, you sit atop the mountain, gazing at the sunset, and seem to gain some insight.]
[Fifty-five years later, as you age, your mindset undergoes a drastic change. In your youth, after mastering the world's greatest sword move, your heart was only focused on perfecting the sword technique, never having time for anything else.]
[Now, you enjoy the breeze, the bright moon, the sunset...]
[For the first time, you feel you might have missed too much.]
[Now, your vital qi and blood are declining, your hair is white, and the once-beloved sword is rusted and worn.]
[This day, you remember the story Lu Yi told you about the swordsman.]
[This day, you sit atop the mountain, looking at the rusty sword in your hand, and laugh for a long time. When tired, you casually swing the sword, thinking of many things. The dumplings your parents made in your past life, Mo Xiang's smile in the sunlight, the silly look of the dog in Mang Village wagging its tail...]
[Except, you didn't think about your sword technique.]
[In a daze, you hear a gentle voice: "Your nature is really unlike that of my fellow countrymen..."]
[In a stupor...]
[You are being soul-searched...]
[You died.]
Reading the simulation text, Chen Shi furrowed his brow.
This familiar way of dying...
Could it be the mastermind acting again?
And judging by this setup, it seems they've been watching him for a long time, but the simulated version of himself didn't notice.
But this doesn't quite add up.
If it was truly the mastermind's doing, wouldn't they have taken him out immediately, as usual? How could they let him live so long?
And what does that last "fellow countryman" mean?
Is the person from the same place as him?
That shouldn't be!
This body was born in the Song family, generations of slaves, where would a fellow countryman come from?
Could it be...
A fellow countryman from his past life on Earth?
A thought suddenly popped into Chen Shi's mind.
[Ding! Generating simulation rewards, the host may choose one.]
[①, Perfected Bone Refining Stage cultivation (including Mid-Grade Bronze Bones).]
[②, Green Talent · Sword Maniac.]
[③, Falling Snow Sword Technique · Proficient Level (Yellow Grade - High Quality Martial Technique).]
[④, Ancient Jade (Profound Grade - High Quality Spirit Artifact).]
[⑤, Three Sword Talismans (Profound Grade - Low Quality Jade Talisman: Consumable).]
[⑥, Heaven and Earth Sword Slash · Beginner Level (including ten percent Sword Intent) (Earth Grade - Supreme Martial Technique).]
[⑦, Iron Sword (Yellow Grade - Mid-Quality Magical Artifact).]
Seeing the simulation rewards.
Chen Shi's attention was immediately captured.
This time, the items are top-notch.
Just speaking of the Profound Grade Spirit Artifacts, any one of them is priceless. As long as it's at the "Spirit Artifact" level, even the lowest, it can be considered the foundation of some second-rate power.
Many Innate Realm Experts in Great Wei might not even have a Spirit Artifact.
This situation is mainly due to the depletion of spiritual energy and the increasing rarity of natural treasures.
Especially refining materials.
Their birth environment is much more demanding than spirit herbs.
Profound Grade Spirit Herbs can survive in thin spiritual energy, at most extending their maturity cycle by seven or eight times.
But Profound Grade refining materials are different. Spiritual energy is just a basic condition for their birth, and they also require various miraculous geographical environments. Each one is truly a "heavenly material."
Now, with the depletion of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, many Secret Realms and miraculous places have disappeared.
Just like the back mountain of the Divine General's Manor.
It's said that thousands of years ago, it was called Wind and Thunder Mountain, a paradise of a top power. At that time, Wind and Thunder Mountain was shrouded in clouds and thunder all year round, producing a heavenly material called Thunder Stone, which was a "Earth Grade Divine Material" coveted by countless refiners, used to greatly enhance the quality of Spirit Artifacts.
But with the passage of time and the depletion of spiritual energy, the once Wind and Thunder Mountain has long become a legend, leaving only an ordinary mountain forest.
The so-called Earth Grade Divine Material has become extinct.
The lack of materials, the scarcity of talent, the severance of inheritance... Profound Grade refiners have inevitably become legends.
This has led to the existing Profound Grade Spirit Artifacts being mostly passed down through generations.
Using one lessens one.
And now!
His simulation rewards include four Profound Grade Spirit Artifacts!
One of which is even Profound Grade - High Quality!
Those three Sword Talismans are also terrifyingly powerful. According to what Lu Yi said in the simulation, one is equivalent to the full-force strike of an early-stage Innate Realm Expert!
With this in hand.
If he encounters that masked man in black from the first time again, he could easily slay him!