When Earth Awakened, I Became a Sword Saintess

Chapter 24 : Five Rounds of Resurrection

24: Five Rounds of Resurrection

This weekend, Yuyin also got a taste of what it was like to be a homebody. Although she was more than familiar with being a shut-in before she was reborn, it still felt like second nature to her.

From Friday until she drifted into a drowsy sleep in the early morning, she personally guided Xiao Yuan as she led their small monster army through the forests, hills, and mountains, searching for a suitable weapon technique. They encountered a few minor skirmishes but didn't find any techniques.

She woke up on Saturday morning, took a shower, did some flexibility exercises in her room, and then entered the God-Devouring Chess to search for techniques again.

In the afternoon, they encountered a gray-skinned, fat pig demon wielding a mace and discovered a mace combat technique.

But Yuyin felt that a mace was not suitable for her at all, and the technique was clearly less profound than the Ancient Temple Leg Technique.

By late at night, Yuyin's Primordial Energy value had risen to eighty-six from her chess pieces sweeping through the mountains and forests. But besides a meteor hammer technique that was barely better than the mace one, she still hadn't found a good technique.

At this point, Yuyin's number of chess pieces had doubled compared to before Friday. Moreover, besides the Night Patrol Little Ghosts that had been promoted to 2-Star, she had also recruited an Ox Ghost that morning. This was the same Ox Ghost she had seen a few nights ago on her way home, carrying a large blade and striding across the clouds and mist hanging over Magic City.

This was an Ox Ghost of the Blue Grade, which cost three Soul Charm Points to Charm, one whole grade higher than the Green Grade Demoness.

So far, the chess piece grades Yuyin knew of were White, Green, and Blue, with Soul Charm costs of one, two, and three respectively.

To this day, Yuyin had never failed a single attempt at Charming a chess piece.

Further on was a vast expanse of mist and a mountainous region with peaks thousands of meters high. Yuyin didn't know what this mountain range was called. Since it was to the east of the deep forest, she tentatively called it the East Mountain.

The East Mountain was three hundred li east of the starting point.

This was a danger zone. The Little Ghosts that had previously probed it had been killed by whatever was inside, sent directly back to the resurrection point.

But Yuyin felt it was worth the risk. Even if they were all wiped out, they could resurrect. The only loss was time, and wandering around outside might be an even greater waste of time.

Besides, her military strength was now what it used to be. Not only had the number of chess pieces doubled, but with a powerful tank like the Ox Ghost, their combat power was significantly enhanced.

Enter the East Mountain.

The East Mountain was deep and shrouded in heavy mist. Among the towering ancient trees, unsettling calls echoed, making one's heart palpitate.

However, Yuyin had a bird's-eye view, making it easier to grasp the overall situation.

Within the East Mountain, there were Mountain Ghosts. These were fierce ghosts clad in aprons made of ancient beast hides, wielding ancient wooden clubs or other heavy weapons. Encountering one could be handled by surrounding and killing it, but encountering two or more was dangerous.

There were even Female Mountain Ghosts, whose cries caused the chess pieces to feel fear.

Not long after venturing deep, they encountered a group of one female and two male Mountain Ghosts, who also seemed to have tamed a panther with a snake's tail and eagle feathers. It was incredibly ferocious.

Yuyin wanted to command her troops to retreat, but they were not as fast as the enemy. They could only fight a desperate battle. In the end, they killed one Mountain Ghost and wounded another, but only three of their own pieces survived: Xiao Yuan, the Demoness, and the Ox Ghost. They fled out of the East Mountain. The enemy seemed unwilling to give chase beyond its borders.

So, Yuyin had the chess pieces wait in a relatively safe area. After all her own pieces had resurrected, they killed their way back in. The fully resurrected army then killed the weakened Mountain Ghosts and the panther, taking their revenge.

But this battle was not in vain. Yuyin gained a large amount of Source Spirit, and one squad of Winged Snakes was promoted to 2-Star, becoming a squad of cyan-green pythons, each now sporting two pairs of wings.

In this way, they advanced with difficulty, constantly losing pieces and finding themselves in a dire predicament.

By now, it was already early Sunday morning.

Led by Xiao Yuan, the ragtag monster army discovered a corpse in a mountain col.

A corpse?

Yuyin found this strange. In this place, when demons and monsters died, they turned into Source Spirit. Where would a corpse come from?

The corpse, leaning against an ancient tree, was desiccated and weathered, with a few strands of white hair still clinging to it. Its tattered clothes were so faded their original color was indiscernible. An ancient bronze longsword was stabbed into the corpse's abdomen, pinning the entire body to the ancient tree.

“This is…”

Yuyin's consciousness flew closer. She saw the corpse's desiccated hands gripping the hilt of the sword.

“Did he stab the longsword into his own abdomen?”

“Did this corpse… commit suicide?”

As her consciousness drew near, Yuyin felt a strong sense of terror. Even though she was just a consciousness and couldn't be harmed, she could still feel the terrifying aura emanating from the corpse.

Surely, he must have been a formidable expert in life. For such a powerful person to end his own life in this way?

This sword…

Yuyin instructed Xiao Yuan to have the Little Ghosts approach and investigate the corpse and the sword.

Just as the ghosts drew near, the sword suddenly tore free from the hands and flew out of the corpse, hacking and slashing toward the ghosts.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Too fast.

In a single encounter, three squads of ghosts, including the 2-Star ones, were all slain!

The monster army fell into chaos. Yuyin was also completely unprepared.

The corpse had clearly been dead for many years. Why did the sword still kill on its own?

But the sword was too sharp. Before Yuyin could even react, it had slain several more chess pieces. She immediately ordered her pieces to retreat, but the sword gave chase from behind. The Blue-Grade Ox Ghost, thinking itself the strongest fighter in the army, swung its great blade to fight the sword, only to have its blade parried. The sword flashed again, and the Ox Ghost died.

In the end, only Xiao Yuan managed to escape a hundred paces away. The sword did not continue its pursuit, flying back to rest on the corpse. By now, the corpse's hands no longer gripped the hilt so tightly.

Yuyin wanted to get to the bottom of this sword's secret, so she had Xiao Yuan wait on the spot for the other chess pieces to resurrect.

More than three hours later, the resurrected chess pieces arrived.

Yuyin instructed Xiao Yuan to enter the area again, this time prepared for battle.

Sure enough, the sword flew out again. The monster army began to attack the sword, but what damage could their weapons do to an ancient, refined longsword?

They were no match at all, being cut down with irresistible force, scattering and fleeing for their lives.

Yuyin sensed that the sword's flight path and slashing movements were somewhat strange, not like a typical flying sword, but more as if an invisible swordsman were wielding it. This was the truly strange part.

Just as Yuyin realized this, the female will sounded.

“Polaris Sword Art discovered. Do you wish to begin recording?”

“Yes!”

Yuyin answered without hesitation. Such a mysterious, extraordinary ancient sword, its technique surely could not be mediocre.

Yuyin sternly ordered her chess pieces to attack the sword with all methods, regardless of losses, to coax the sword into revealing different moves. She herself began to record the sword technique through the golden female apparition.

Only Xiao Yuan and the Medicine Maiden did Yuyin keep in the rear to provide support and attack, positioned to retreat to a safe distance at any moment. After all, Yuyin couldn't bear to send the girls to their deaths, even if they were just chess pieces.

And so, wave after wave of monster chess pieces came one after another, dying and resurrecting, resurrecting only to die again, dying to resurrect once more… After about five full rounds of resurrection for all the monster chess pieces, she finally managed to record the complete Polaris Sword Art.

By this time, it was already late on Sunday night.