Chapter 56: Sword Dao Genius (6) |
Ever since learning that Su Chen had been defeated by the disciple of the Sword Demon from Heavenly Sword Sacred Land, Shen Tianyi had changed. He seemed unable to accept that the legendary physique of Imperial Sword Manor had been so easily overcome.
"Chen'er… you have truly disappointed me."
Shen Tianyi's gaze was icy. He staggered into the ancestral hall of Imperial Sword Manor. There, he unearthed a black iron box from beneath the floor. As though he had made up his mind about something irreversible, he left the hall with the box in hand.
Several months later, lightning cracked across the sky, and torrential rain poured down in sheets.
Shen Lianxin felt an inexplicable restlessness, as though some great calamity loomed on the horizon. He glanced at his wife beside him, then at Shen Ping'an reading quietly in the pavilion. Both were safe and well. Only then did it occur to him that he had not seen Shen Tianyi in a very long time.
After a moment's thought, he told his wife and son he would step out for a while and left. He arrived at Shen Tianyi's residence.
The mansion stood empty. A faint metallic scent of blood lingered in the air.
Shen Lianxin hurried forward and pushed open the door to the main chamber. In the center sat the black box. He snatched it up and opened it. The words inscribed inside sent a chill straight through his bones.
[Bloodline Sword-Forging Method]
…
Rain pattered steadily; the wind moaned through the peaks. Within three feet of the white-robed youth, the world seemed to still into its own domain.
Su Chen's eyes were cold and indifferent. The three-foot azure peak slid from its sheath into his hand. Countless abandoned swords jutted from the desolate mountain around him, creating a scene of utter bleakness. Ahead stood a massive cauldron. Molten crimson heart-rock magma bubbled and flowed within it.
Su Chen watched as Shen Tianyi cast a sword cultivator—whose four limbs had already been broken—into the cauldron. Using the man's body and essence, he forged a single razor-sharp treasure sword.
The blade gleamed like fresh snow, suffused with faint dao runes. It was an excellent sword.
"Good grandson, what do you think of this blade?"
Shen Tianyi tossed the newly forged sword to Su Chen.
Su Chen caught it. The weapon was as thin as a cicada's wing yet brimmed with terrifying power.
"Truly an excellent sword," he replied.
Shen Tianyi laughed.
"If you defeat me, Grandfather will forge the greatest sword Imperial Sword Manor has ever produced—for you. But if you lose, the defeated have no right to keep the Imperial Sword Body."
Su Chen lowered his gaze, eyes deepening with shadow.
'Has this old man lost his mind just because I lost to the Sword Demon's disciple?'
Su Chen felt utterly speechless. The old man's mentality was far too fragile. If he was so capable, why didn't he go challenge the Sword Demon of Heavenly Sword Sacred Land himself?
Shen Tianyi moved. Every sword on the barren mountain hummed in response. Thousands upon thousands of discarded blades shook off dust and rust in an instant. Cold gleams erupted as they rose like a river of steel.
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Shen Tianyi intended to strip Su Chen of the Imperial Sword Body.
Su Chen, of course, would not stand idly by.
"Grandfather, it's time for a new manor lord in Imperial Sword Manor."
Su Chen had set his sights on the position of manor lord as well. Profound Connection first layer against Profound Connection fourth layer. Under normal circumstances, defeat was certain.
But…
Golden qi suddenly surged from within Su Chen's body—sacred and majestic. It coalesced into the illusory form of a true dragon that coiled from his feet up to his waist and finally encircled his head. Brilliant golden pupils glared outward, impossible to meet directly. Golden gang qi swirled protectively around him.
Imperial Apex Shock-the-World Technique!
In his previous life, he had comprehended it but never cultivated it deeply. With the Prison-Suppressing Sovereign's inheritance already at hand, practicing the Imperial Apex Shock-the-World Technique had seemed pointless—and might even have drawn his master's displeasure.
In this life, however, he had secretly cultivated it all along. Even during his fight with Yan Chong, he had kept it completely hidden.
Shen Tianyi froze for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed heartily, filled with gratification.
"My good grandson—you actually possess such cunning."
His gaze turned ravenous.
Once Pandora's box had been opened, only endless greed remained.
Su Chen's eyes stayed calm. He raised his sword toward the sky.
"Calamity Dust, First Form: Cease Conflict."
The Calamity Dust Sword Art was the technique Su Chen had comprehended after clashing with the young sword demon. Though it consisted of only a single move for now, that one move encapsulated every path of martial dao he had walked up to this day.
The thousands upon thousands of abandoned swords froze in midair as though time itself had stopped. Bit by bit, from tip to hilt, they dissolved like wind-scattered sand, vanishing without a trace.
Shen Tianyi looked down at himself. Only half his body remained standing in the void. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"I… lost."
Hundreds of years of cultivation had been defeated by his own grandson. A trace of unwillingness lingered in Shen Tianyi's heart. His body plummeted into the cauldron. The searing magma swallowed him whole in moments.
Shen Lianxin, arriving too late, witnessed the scene. In the pouring rain, it was impossible to tell whether the streaks on his face were rainwater or tears.
"Fated calamity… fated calamity…"
His entire body trembled. His own son had killed his own father—what kind of twisted affair was this?
"This was Grandfather's own choice."
Su Chen stepped to Shen Lianxin's side.
Shen Lianxin lifted his head and looked into Su Chen's face. That face was cold as frost, without the slightest ripple of emotion. In it, he saw Shen Tianyi's shadow—only sharper, more ruthless, more heartless.
Was this person truly still his child, his own flesh and blood?
Shen Lianxin let out a bitter, miserable laugh. Then he turned and left Imperial Sword Manor.
Su Chen never learned where he went.
After Shen Tianyi's death, Su Chen ascended to the position of manor lord as he had intended.
Within Imperial Sword Manor—apart from the deceased Shen Tianyi, the departed Shen Lianxin, and Su Chen himself—there remained three other Profound Connection realm cultivators: one steward and two chief guards.
The manor's sword guards were all elite. With Su Chen's growing fame, many sword dao prodigies arrived seeking to join, drawn by his reputation.
One year later.
Su Chen stood before the cauldron once more. The magma inside gradually receded, revealing a pitch-black divine sword wreathed in faint, ghostly dark flames. This blade had been forged from Shen Tianyi's lifetime of sword dao cultivation. It possessed innate spirituality and could only be wielded by someone of Shen bloodline.
Su Chen grasped the hilt. Black flames immediately crawled up his arm, spreading to his neck in writhing, serpentine patterns along his veins. Yet he felt no pain at all. His eyes brightened with approval. "Excellent sword. From now on, your name is Dustreturn."
Dust to dust, earth to earth.
With Dustreturn in hand, Su Chen left the barren mountain. In the blink of an eye, ten years passed.
Since Shen Lianxin's departure from Imperial Sword Manor, no word of him had ever returned.
Su Chen had remained in secluded cultivation within the manor. His cultivation advanced from the first layer of Profound Connection to the third. Crossing two layers in ten years was already an astonishing speed. Breaking through to the Void Refining realm in the future now seemed almost inevitable.
"Brother, you've come out of seclusion?"
Shen Ping'an hurried over at once. In these ten years, the boy had grown into a tall, imposing young man with an air of dignity. He had also become one of Su Chen's most trusted right hands.
Su Chen nodded. "During the two years I was in seclusion, did anything major happen?"
Shen Ping'an gave a wry smile. "Brother, the task you entrusted me with is complete. Both the Azure Phoenix Dynasty and the Eternal Joy Dynasty have agreed to submit to Imperial Sword Manor and become our subordinate powers.
"But… the Cloud Abyss Dynasty has the intervention of the Flying Star Sect. They've been causing trouble nonstop. Even Elder Shen Kai was injured. The sect master of the Flying Star Sect even declared openly that the Cloud Abyss Dynasty is under his protection. He said that even if you personally went to their door, they would make sure you never returned."