novelraw Chapter 21 : Chapter 21
Chapter 21 : Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Cai Suhong was somewhat bewildered. The first Mystic Realm she had ever entered had been arranged entirely by the System, and she herself did not know the specific details of it.
She immediately questioned the System.
The System pretended to be dead.
Left with no choice, she went to ask Lang Qingyun.
“I am not sure either,” Lang Qingyun said. “He helped a bullied grandfather and grandson in a teahouse. Someone recognized his sword—Frostflight Sword.”
As for the rest, he did not know.
The two people inside the Mystic Realm had already begun to move.
The young man still wore the Frostflight Sword at his waist. He first looked at the other man’s hands, then at his face, and asked, “Are you Cheng Zhan?”
One year ago, Cheng Zhan had appeared out of nowhere and challenged Cui Shao, the master of Cuishan Fortress. With a single strike, he cut through Cui Shao’s Cui Mountain Blade—and through the fortress master’s neck as well.
Over the following year, he went on to challenge fifty-one more skilled fighters. Among them were men of great reputation as well as those infamous throughout the land. Some were willing to fight him, others were not. Including Fortress Master Cui, all fifty-two of them met the same end—they died at Cheng Zhan’s hand.
“Yes,” Cheng Zhan replied.
There was a murderous nature about him. The whites of his eyes were streaked with blood. When he stared at someone, it did not look like he was looking at a person—it was more like a butcher examining cattle brought before the knife. His gaze lingered constantly at vital points: the throat, the heart, beneath the ribs.
He had killed many people. Those people had relatives and friends.
Many came seeking revenge. Many more came hoping to claim the bounty on his head.
The young man, however, carried no killing intent at all. He even looked relaxed, with a spark of curiosity in his eyes. Even as Cheng Zhan’s blade-like gaze nearly seemed ready to carve him apart, he remained utterly unconcerned.
“I came to compare swords with you,” the young man said.
Cheng Zhan’s eyes suddenly turned red. He drew his weapon from its sheath and charged at the young man.
His movements were simple and swift. The sword tip carried a cold killing intent as it thrust toward the young man’s heart.
Though he had drawn the weapon from a saber sheath, the weapon itself was actually a sword—a sword shaped somewhat like a long saber. Both edges were sharpened, thin and coldly sharp.
The young man also drew his sword.
The blade was white as snow, with delicate frost patterns. It was a beautiful sword, and also a resilient one.
Yet the moment it touched Cheng Zhan’s sword, a notch was carved into it.
The young man abruptly retreated. Staring at the notch in his blade, he frowned as if troubled.
“Your sword is very sharp.”
Cheng Zhan had been forced to widen the distance and stopped.
“I will not change swords.”
He too was staring at the notch in the Frostflight Sword.
Everyone who had fought him before had their weapons broken during the very first clash. After that, they could only fight with their bare hands. Shaken in spirit and deprived of their weapons, they would lose their lives within three to five moves.
This young man was the first person whose weapon had not been broken in the first clash.
It was not because the Frostflight Sword was particularly sturdy.
It was because his movement technique was too fast.
“I did not ask you to change swords,” the young man said.
He looked at Cheng Zhan. The ease in his eyes faded, replaced by gravity and seriousness.
“I came to compare swords with you. Naturally, you should use the sword you are accustomed to.”
Cheng Zhan’s sword was too vicious.
In a fight against him, one could not allow any part of their blade to touch his edge. One could only strike against the spine of his sword. Yet a sword was barely three fingers wide—one slight turn of the wrist could flip the spine into the edge.
His swordsmanship was equally vicious.
It was a style born solely to kill. It left no retreat and no margin. Once struck by a single blow, there would never be another chance.
Battling an opponent like this imposed immense restrictions.
Yet the young man still had not lost.
Because his sword was simply too fast.
In such a perilous battle, a single mistake could cost one’s life.
Yet he had not made a single mistake.
Every strike of his sword landed precisely on the spine of Cheng Zhan’s blade. And when he was fast enough, he could glimpse flaws within techniques that seemed to have no flaws.
But that was still not enough.
He could outpace Cheng Zhan’s sword techniques, yet he could not block Cheng Zhan’s sword itself.
That blade, capable of slicing through iron like mud, could make many weaknesses cease to be weaknesses.
From dawn until sunset, the Frostflight Sword bore only that single notch.
Sweat had appeared on the young man’s forehead, but his eyes remained calm.
The bloodshot veins in Cheng Zhan’s eyes, however, grew heavier and heavier. The killing intent around him became increasingly terrifying.
His sword grew frenzied.
His openings grew larger.
Yet his swordsmanship also grew more dangerous.
Suddenly, a sharp glint flashed in the young man’s eyes.
He advanced directly toward Cheng Zhan’s murderous strike.
The Frostflight Sword touched the spine of the long sword and slid along the blade toward the guard, twisting around it in a strange manner and locking the sword.
The twilight fell upon the blades, reflecting a dazzling flash of light.
The flash vanished in an instant.
The Frostflight Sword had snapped.
Cheng Zhan’s long sword had left his hand.
In that lightning-fast moment, the long sword had already changed owners.
Having lost his sword, Cheng Zhan let out a terrifying howl and lunged at the young man like a madman.
“Give it back!”
The young man raised his foot and kicked him away.
The kick was far from light. Cheng Zhan fell to the ground and lay there for quite some time before climbing back up.
When he finally stood again, the frenzy in his eyes had faded. He even looked clearer-headed than when they first met.
He looked at the young man with a complicated expression.
“Why did you not kill me?”
The young man smiled. He looked just as relaxed and cheerful as he had at the beginning.
“I came to compare swords with you. I did not come to kill you.”
Cheng Zhan fell silent for a long time.
“I have killed many people.”
“None of them happen to be my relatives or friends. I have no intention of avenging anyone,” the young man said casually.
He was still studying the long sword in his hand.
A strange muttering sound came from Cheng Zhan’s throat. The way he stared at the young man also became strange.
The young man looked at him, his voice carrying a peculiar calm.
“When I first began practicing the sword, I already understood something: when I take up a sword, I must be prepared to lose. When I prepare to kill someone with a sword, I must also be prepared to die by another person’s sword.”
“No one is incapable of defeat. No one is incapable of death.
“But comparing swords does not necessarily mean killing someone.
“Your swordsmanship is too vicious, and this sword is too sharp. You will inevitably fail to hold back your hand. Go back and change to another sword.”
The young man stored the long sword away.
“You broke my sword. I defeated you. This sword now belongs to me.”
He turned and left, truly having no intention of taking Cheng Zhan’s life, nor caring about the bounty on his head.
“If you take that sword, you will kill people too!” Cheng Zhan shouted hoarsely behind him.
The young man laughed loudly without turning back.
“I already kill people.”
But whom he would kill—and whom he would not—what did that have to do with this sword?
Cai Suhong and Lang Qingyun silently watched the figure from the distant past.
Suddenly, Lang Qingyun said, “Are these two Mystic Realms connected?”
Cai Suhong answered awkwardly, “I am not sure either.”
Lang Qingyun did not pursue the question further, but judging from his expression, he did not believe her.
Cai Suhong understood perfectly. If she were in his place, she would not believe it either.
But she truly did not know!
At this moment, she was interrogating the Mystic Realm System.
“Talk! What exactly is going on here?”
The Mystic Realm System shamelessly replied, “Did you not ask for high returns? A high-return Mystic Realm naturally has to be a little different.”
Cai Suhong said, “You said something earlier—‘we are the System Behind the Scenes for the Mystic Realms of the world.’ Does that ‘we’ include me?”
The Mystic Realm System felt like crying.
It really had not meant to exclude Cai Suhong, but right now, this mastermind behind the scenes was not it.
The real mastermind behind the scenes, Shuang Wenlü, was still thousands of miles away upon a snowy peak.
As the Mystic Realm System excavated the old echoes within the universe, the memories Shuang Wenlü had long lost finally began to grow clear.
It was like steam evaporating from a mirror’s surface—within the vast mist, a reflection gradually emerged.
Shuang Wenlü suddenly sighed softly.
Inside the Mystic Realm, the young man who had already walked away did not see what happened afterward.
After he left, the blood vessels in Cheng Zhan’s eyes grew denser and denser. His face twisted violently. Just before he seemed about to collapse completely, he trembled as he reached for the broken Frostflight Sword beside him and plunged it into his own chest.
Cai Suhong and Lang Qingyun were stunned by this sudden turn of events.
“Is there some kind of secret hidden in this Mystic Realm?” Cai Suhong asked seriously as she began interrogating the System again.
The Mystic Realm System rolled its eyes.
“There is no secret. This is just an ordinary Mystic Realm. That is why the rewards are so high.”
Ignoring its sarcasm, Cai Suhong continued, “What secret?”
“How would I know?” the Mystic Realm System said. “I have not been in this universe for long. You are the one who was born and raised here.”
Cai Suhong did not believe it.
“If you did not know, how could you dig up something like this from the past?”
The Mystic Realm System replied, “If I knew everything and could do everything myself, why would I bring you along? Would it not be better if I kept all the rewards for myself?”
Cai Suhong had no reply.
She muttered, “I still feel like you know more than I do.”
The Mystic Realm System ignored her. It looked at the sword aura inside the space, preparing to firmly cling to a powerful backer.
Thousands of miles away, Shuang Wenlü half-closed his eyes, gently tapping his fingers on the sword hilt.
A vast and ethereal sword intent swept across the entire Suizhou, yet not a single living being noticed it.
With the help of the Mystic Realm System, he had already recovered the old echo of the Blood-Rust Blade from the era when he first entered the Dao.
Now, through that echo, he intended to truly find this Blood-Rust Blade.