Chapter 328-329 On How to Conquer System Fairies and Make Them Your Wives 328-329 |
The next morning, Sword Maiden woke up early and saw Chen Yin, his eyes dark with fatigue, sitting beside the bed.
“You’re awake,” she said, her amber eyes clear and bright. “I’m an adult now. Can you teach me swordsmanship?”
“No.”
“Why? Are you breaking your promise?”
“I sent you there to experience human emotions! To see how they treat their loved ones!” Chen Yin said, exasperated. “And you only saw them… mating?!”
“Isn’t that what humans do? I can’t cook or sew.”
“I didn’t ask you to learn! I asked you to feel! Didn’t you feel anything when you saw them eating together as a family?”
Sword Maiden shook her head.
Chen Yin gave up. Teaching her about human emotions was a lost cause. “Forget it. Do whatever you want.”
After she left, Chen Yin sighed, ruffled Luo Luo’s hair gently, and went to Master’s dwelling. …Maybe she left something about Sword Maiden behind.
He couldn’t find a way to restore her memories, so he could only search for clues.
Master’s dwelling was filled with scrolls and texts, piled haphazardly. She read everything, from ancient cultivation manuals to erotic novels.
As he was examining his fifth erotic novel, a familiar scent wafted towards him.
“Senior Brother, what are you reading? Let me see—”
He turned around and saw Xiang’er, who had just entered the room and was now looking at the book in his hand, her eyes wide with surprise.
Chen Yin: “…”
Xiang’er: “…Seriously, Senior Brother?” She pouted. “We have a perfectly good Junior Sister right here. Why are you reading… that… alone?”
“…It’s a misunderstanding. Would you believe me?”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. It’s not embarrassing.”
Chen Yin sighed and tossed the book aside. “Senior Sister said you went to the Demonic Path. Is the Demon Lord awake?”
“Not yet, but I found something else.”
She handed him a scroll, and Chen Yin’s eyes widened as he saw the name written on it.
“Mo Wuyou,” he murmured.
“The legendary Demon Venerable,” Xiang’er said softly. “According to their records, all the Demon Lords are his direct descendants.”
Mo Wuyou’s… descendant?
But wasn’t he Gu Changliu’s Senior Brother? The monk’s disciple?
How had he become the Demon Venerable?
“There’s a message on the back, hidden within a seal, only visible to those of his bloodline or those who practice the ‘Quenching Nether Mantra’.”
Xiang’er pointed at the mark on the back of the scroll, and a line of text appeared.
…The divine sword, Eternal Light, can slay gods and sever the Dao. Changming has a spirit, and the descendants of the Demonic Path shall serve it. The life force of all creation is tied to this sword.
“Changming… has a spirit…?” Chen Yin murmured, his eyes widening in realization.
“The Eternal Light Sword… it’s missing its sword spirit.”
That’s why Gu Changliu and Mo Wuyou couldn’t complete it.
He closed the scroll, a thoughtful expression on his face.
He thought of Sword Maiden.
“Did the Immortal Venerable hide her away… because of this? Is Sword Maiden… the sword spirit of the Eternal Light Sword?”
“Who’s Sword Maiden?” Xiang’er asked, curious.
“We found her in the Heavenly Path Perilous Domain, in a secret realm created by the Immortal Venerable. She’s filled with Sword Qi, but she has amnesia. Now that I think about it… perhaps she’s the sword spirit.”
Xiang’er’s eyes lit up. “Then we can save Master!”
Sword Maiden’s sensitivity to the Eternal Light Sword’s aura wasn’t a coincidence.
But Chen Yin was still puzzled.
If she wasn’t human, he and Shen Shuanglian would have sensed it.
Although her body was a chaotic vortex of Sword Qi, and her memories were fragmented, she was still a living, breathing person.
He had never seen a sword spirit before. “Can a sword spirit be… human?”
He had assumed it would be some kind of ethereal being, attached to the sword.
And there was something else that bothered him.
If Gu Changliu and Mo Wuyou had already figured out how to create the complete Eternal Light Sword, and even created its sword spirit,
Why hadn’t they completed it?
And why had they parted ways, one becoming the Immortal Venerable, the other the Demon Venerable?
He had many questions, but he didn’t have time to dwell on them.
He had to repair the sword and save Master. Nothing else mattered.
“Come on, let’s go get her.”
In the main hall of Master’s dwelling…
Sword Maiden sat on the floor, tilting her head slightly. “Are you really going to give me that… sword fragment?”
Chen Yin nodded seriously. “If I’m right, you’re the sword spirit of the Eternal Light Sword. But just in case, I’ll only give you a small piece. If you remember anything, tell us immediately.”
Sword Maiden’s attention was completely focused on the fragment in his hand. She didn’t seem to be listening.
Chen Yin handed her the fragment.
Her eyes lit up, and she ate it, like a delicious treat.
Then, her body trembled, and she started to fall.
Chen Yin caught her just in time.
“What’s wrong?!” Xiang’er gasped, her hand covering her mouth.
Chen Yin didn’t answer.
He frowned, then looked down at his hand.
…It was covered in cuts, his skin sliced open by invisible blades of Sword Qi.
Blurry images flickered before Chen Yin’s eyes. A dimly lit room, a roaring fire, two familiar figures arguing.
“Gu Changliu, you’re insane!”
Gu Changliu, no longer the carefree youth, his face now etched with lines of worry and exhaustion, his eyes like dying embers, looked at Mo Wuyou, who had lost his usual calm demeanor, his expression now fierce and almost demonic.
“Anyone can be the sword spirit, but not her!”
“…I have no choice.” Gu Changliu’s voice was weary and hoarse. “She’s the most suitable candidate.”
“No!” Mo Wuyou’s eyes blazed with anger. “Don’t tell me ‘sacrificing one to save the world’ is your idea of righteousness!”
Gu Changliu didn’t answer, his gaze distant and unfocused, his body slumped with exhaustion.
“You’re more insane than I am! How can you do this to—?”
“Senior Sister Mingluan?” Gu Changliu chuckled dryly. “And what about you? She waited for you until her dying breath. But you weren’t there. Where were you?”
Mo Wuyou fell silent.
“Someone has to bear the burden of this sin,” Gu Changliu said, walking towards the fire, its flames reflected in his weary eyes.
“I’ll do it. Alone.”
The blurry image shifted, and Mo Wuyou seemed to freeze as someone approached.
“I volunteered,” a young woman’s voice said, clear and resolute.
“I’m not afraid.”
Mo Wuyou looked at her, his expression a mixture of pain and anger, then he turned away. “I won’t forge this sword. If you insist on this madness, then do it yourself.”
He turned and left.
Gu Changliu watched him go, then turned back to the young woman, a gentle smile on his face. “It’s okay. I expected this. But even without Senior Brother, I can still forge the sword. It will just take longer. Don’t worry. You’re brave. And I’ll be brave with you.”
He ruffled her hair affectionately.
The young woman’s gaze lingered on his face, then she asked, her voice soft and hesitant, “Will you… die?”
“…Everyone dies,” Gu Changliu’s smile turned bitter. “I should have died a long time ago, with Senior Sister. But… I have to finish this sword. It’s not just about the Triennial Heavenly Tribulation… it’s about the future of humanity.” His voice grew stronger, his eyes filled with a newfound resolve.
Mount Yu. Master’s dwelling.
Chen Yin sat cross-legged at the entrance, Xiang’er and Luo Luo beside him, their faces filled with worry.
“How is she? Has the Sword Qi subsided?”
Chen Yin shook his head. “…No.”
It was getting stronger.
Ever since Sword Maiden ate the fragment of the Eternal Light Sword, she had fallen unconscious, her body radiating a powerful and chaotic Sword Qi, so intense that even Chen Yin could barely contain it. It was ancient, primal, and terrifyingly sharp, like a blade honed over millennia. Even a Grand Clarity Realm expert would be severely injured by a single touch.
He had brought her to Master’s dwelling, hoping the protective formations would help.
But her condition hadn’t improved.
The Sword Qi swirling around her had intensified, forming a massive vortex above the dwelling, its aura comparable to that of a Heavenly Tribulation.
“It was just a small fragment…” Chen Yin murmured, his brow furrowed. “Is the Eternal Light Sword, with its sword spirit, really that powerful?”
“I hope Sword Maiden is alright…” Luo Luo whispered, her ears drooping.
“Senior Brother!” Xiang’er suddenly exclaimed, grabbing his hand excitedly. “The Demon Lord is awake!”
Chen Yin’s eyes lit up.
“…I see,” the Demon Lord said, his voice weak and raspy, his face pale, as he looked at the communication token hovering before him. “So in the end, our hopes rest on the Eternal Light Sword. I suppose my earlier words were prophetic.”
“What do you know?” Chen Yin asked, his voice sharp.
“…My ancestor was Mo Wuyou, the Demon Venerable,” he said, his voice filled with a quiet sadness. “It’s a closely guarded secret, known only to our direct descendants. It’s not a glorious story. Do you know why the Immortal Venerable and the Demon Venerable were enemies?”
“…Because of their different beliefs?”
“No. It was much simpler than that,” the Demon Lord, Mo Xun, said. “The Demon Venerable, in a fit of madness, slaughtered an entire city. And that city… was the Immortal Venerable’s wife’s hometown.”
Chen Yin’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s how Mo Wuyou, once a renowned prodigy, became the feared and hated Demon Venerable, hunted by all of humanity. And the Immortal Venerable’s wife, heartbroken by the loss of her family, married him.”
A fit of madness…? Why?
Chen Yin suddenly remembered something and fell silent.
“What about Sword Maiden?” Xiang’er asked.
“Years after his wife’s death, the Immortal Venerable finally found a way to forge the complete Dao Sword. He needed a sword spirit. He searched the world, and the one he chose…” Mo Xun paused, then changed the subject. “Six months after their wedding, the Immortal Venerable’s wife became pregnant. A year later, she gave birth to a daughter. Her name… was Gu Mingyue.”
Xiang’er gasped, her hand covering her mouth, and Luo Luo’s eyes widened in horror.
Chen Yin’s breath hitched in his throat. “…No…”
“He…”
“He used his own daughter… as the sword spirit?”