Chapter 109: Witness of the Era (6) |
Su Chen left the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land.
The Sacred Son of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land never acted. He allowed Su Chen to depart freely. They did not belong to the same era. This was a figure from the same generation as Wang Yunfei. Like Cao Tianming of old, the Sacred Son of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land pursued pure sword dao with unshakable self-confidence.
Su Chen shook his head. He did not believe this Sacred Son could defeat Wang Yunfei. Yet as long as this Sacred Son lived, the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land would prosper for thousands of years. Should he fall… the sacred land would be finished. The current Heavenly Sword Sacred Land had grown overly reliant on external objects. The once-pure ideal of sword dao had long since faded.
Su Chen gave a wry smile. Cao Tianming had once spoken of sincerity in the sword—that had been the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land's founding principle. Who could have foreseen that the sacred land of today had already lost that original spirit?
Su Chen gently stroked the Dustreturn Sword in his hand, feeling a complex emotion rise within him. This blade had been forged from his sixth-life body. Tempered by Shen Daoyuan's sword qi over countless years, it had evolved into a true divine weapon of the sword path, faintly imbued with a saintly aura. It stood only one step away from becoming a true saint artifact.
Unfortunately, that final step had never been taken. The rise of the Imperial Sword Dynasty had offended too many powers. They refused to allow Shen Daoyuan to advance further and joined forces to ambush and kill him.
The Dustreturn Sword trembled faintly, emitting a mournful hum. Thousands of years had turned so many things to dust—buried in forgotten, withered places.
Su Chen continued his journey onward. Not long after, a single piece of news swept across the entire Southern Barbarian Lands.
A mysterious azure-robed youth riding a white horse had, single-handedly, crushed the younger generation of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land so thoroughly they could no longer raise their heads. He had even seized the legendary divine weapon of the Imperial Sword Dynasty that once ruled the Southern Barbarian Lands—the Dustreturn Sword!
The Heavenly Sword Sacred Land concealed far too much. They hid the fact that Mu Wunian—holder of the Dustreturn Sword—had been defeated. They concealed Su Chen's identity as a member of the Central Continent's Wang Clan.
Instead, they quietly spread rumors, borrowing the hands of others to kill. Even if they failed, they intended to make Su Chen's life miserable.
Sword cultivators from across the land gathered. Many were willing to take the risk—kill the youth and seize the Dustreturn Sword!
Su Chen stretched lazily. The white horse beneath him stomped down, crushing the skull of yet another black-robed assassin who had collapsed gasping on the ground.
This was already the thirtieth group of attackers they had encountered on the road. Ahead lay the greatest power in the Southern Barbarian Lands—the Ascension Sacred Land. It was currently the strongest force in the Southern Barbarian Lands, and even across the five domains of Heavenly Profound, it ranked among the top.
Yet when Su Chen arrived at the gates of the Ascension Sacred Land, he found…
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"Young Master Wang, forgive us—we already know your purpose. But… you are one step too late. Most of our true disciples are currently away from the sect on missions. They have gone to vie for an opportunity. The remaining disciples are hardly worthy opponents for you… What do you think? Would you prefer to wait for our true disciples to return, or perhaps come back another day?"
Su Chen looked at the smiling, amiable elder of the Ascension Sacred Land and immediately fell speechless.
This was far too coincidental. Were they treating him like a child?
The Ascension Sacred Land had simply sent all their true disciples out on "training expeditions." No one could have possibly known in advance that Su Chen was coming to pay a visit… technically flawless.
But Su Chen understood perfectly: as long as he remained within the Ascension Sacred Land for even a single day, those true disciples would never return.
The ordinary inner disciples and the lower-ranked true disciples on the prodigy list were beneath his notice. He had no interest in bullying them. He had come to the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land under a hidden identity for one reason only—he could not swallow the grudge.
In his sixth life, he had fought and bled for the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land. When the Imperial Sword Dynasty fell, not only did they stand by and watch, but they even kicked him when he was down.
Though he was no longer Shen Chen, the karma of the Imperial Sword Dynasty still demanded repayment. He bore no personal enmity toward the Ascension Sacred Land and had no intention of provoking them needlessly. Their stance was clear: they couldn't defeat him, but they could hide.
After the ruthless way he had dismantled the Heavenly Sword Sacred Land's younger generation, no sect wanted their own disciples to suffer the same fate. And after he had carved a bloody path straight from one sacred land to another, his infamous reputation preceded him.
Su Chen could understand their caution… yet he still sighed inwardly.
Back when Gu Yandan—once the most domineering figure of his era—became Sacred Lord of the Ascension Sacred Land, something had changed. The sacred land no longer acted with the same unrestrained arrogance. Perhaps after witnessing so many familiar faces fall in the great war between the Western Regiens and Southern Barbarian Lands—after seeing nearly every peerless prodigy of his generation perish—Gu Yandan had begun to value survival above all else.
"However… His Highness the Sacred Son returned to the sect not long ago. If Young Master Wang has any interest, I can pass word to him."
Su Chen's eyelids lifted slightly. Then he turned and left without another word. They wanted him—a Profound Connection realm cultivator—to challenge someone from Wang Yunfei's generation? A peak Void Refining expert, possibly even one who had already stepped into the Nirvana realm, bearing a divine physique?
That wasn't a spar. That was suicide.
Su Chen had no interest in seeking abuse. The Ascension Sacred Land's response told him everything he needed to know. The rest of the Southern Barbarian Lands' powers would likely react the same way—finding every excuse to be "absent" the moment he arrived.
The Southern Barbarian Lands held no further appeal for him.
There were geniuses in this era who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Wang Yunfei, but in the Southern Barbarian Lands, only the Ascension Sacred Land possessed a divine physique talent. Unfortunately, they had chosen to hide him away rather than let him face Su Chen. There was nothing Su Chen could do about it.
The journey from Central Continent to the Southern Barbarian Lands had taken two full years of detours and delays.
Now, Su Chen set his course for the Eastern Wasteland.
Why the Eastern Wasteland?
The Northern Desert was simply too far from the Southern Barbarian Lands. As for the Western Regions… his little sister from his previous life, Zhou Hanchan, was almost certainly still alive there. She possessed the Devouring Divine Physique—something even more terrifying than the Primordial Taotie Physique. The technique she cultivated seemed more refined and complete than the Heaven-Devouring Earth-Swallowing Divine Art. And lurking somewhere in that domain was an old monster who filled even Su Chen with dread.
Stirring up trouble there without sufficient preparation could easily lead to an unclear, unjust death—even the Wang Clan would be powerless to intervene.
Half a year later, Su Chen arrived in the Eastern Wasteland. The first thing he did upon arrival was gather information.
Five hundred years had passed since his second-to-last life. The Eastern Wasteland's overall landscape had not changed dramatically. The only truly regrettable news was this:
Five hundred years ago, the Peerless Pill Venerable—once hailed across Heavenly Profound as the cultivator with the greatest chance of becoming an Alchemy Saint—had ventured into the extraterritorial void in search of a breakthrough opportunity… and never returned to the Prison-Suppressing Sacred Land.
The loss left countless Eastern Wasteland powerhouses grieving to this day.