Chapter 1338: Two Killed in Succession (Third Update)
Within the Academy of Enlightenment, talents gathered in abundance. Earth Virtue Primordial Lord Gongsun Yan, Cloud Luo Emperor Wei Suifeng, Village Chief Su Muzhe, as well as Yun Juanshu, Yu Chenzi, and others were all rare geniuses hard to find in the world.
At that moment, the Village Chief was playing a game of Go with the Nether Abyss Crown Prince, simultaneously discussing sword techniques and divine abilities. Yu Chenzi sat nearby observing the match. When Xiao Chujue entered, the Village Chief stood up, disrupting the board, and said with a smile, "Everyone, this is Xiao Chujue, a peerless genius I discovered recently. His swordsmanship is divine!"
The Nether Abyss Crown Prince was very displeased and grumbled, "You, old man, when you can't beat me at Go, you resort to tricks. Yu Chenzi, you tell me who won this game."
Yu Chenzi said humbly, "My Go skills are shallow; I cannot tell. Xiao Chujue is indeed a prodigy of swordsmanship. He once visited Dao Lord Lin Xuan and managed to comprehend the Dao Sword up to the seventeenth chapter within half a year. Dao Lord Lin Xuan also praised him highly."
The Nether Abyss Crown Prince looked Xiao Chujue up and down: "That impressive?"
"His performance is comparable to Jiang Baigui back in the day."
The Village Chief was also very satisfied with Xiao Chujue. Taking the stack of books from his hands, he said, "Chujue's aptitude and comprehension are both outstanding. Back then, Jiang Baigui learned the Dao Sword and Buddhist teachings with equal ease, grasping things by analogy, which is why he became the Sword God of his era."
The Nether Abyss Crown Prince recalled Qin Mu and asked curiously, "Comparable to Jiang Baigui? That's the talent of a sage born once every five hundred years. Then how does Chujue's aptitude compare to Mu Tianzun? Mu Tianzun is also a swordsmanship genius. I've seen his sword techniques—they're incredibly powerful. I've heard he even created Sword Eighteen and Sword Nineteen!"
"Mu'er's aptitude and comprehension aren't top-tier; he's slightly inferior to Jiang Baigui and Chujue."
The Village Chief said, "What makes him strong is his intense curiosity. He has to investigate anything unknown."
He opened the texts, which were all his own works, containing insights on Sword Twenty and the realm of the sword domain.
Although Xiao Chujue was an unparalleled genius among the younger generation of Yankang, he had only been born for a short time. Meanwhile, Yankang's sword techniques and swordsmanship evolved rapidly—learn the old, and new ones emerged. Even he found it difficult to master everything in a short period.
Especially swordsmanship.
Yankang's sword techniques and divine abilities numbered in the billions! Their attainments in the sword path were also astonishingly profound. Among them, the most formidable was the Academy of Enlightenment's dean, Su Muzhe, Mu Tianzun's original swordsmanship enlightenment teacher.
After the Kai Emperor traveled through Yankang and fed back Sword Twenty to Yankang, Village Chief Su Muzhe's swordsmanship reached an unprecedented height. Especially after the Dao Realm spread to Yankang, it greatly elevated him.
He became the dean of the Academy of Enlightenment because he authored texts to spread the Dao. A single work, "Basic Sword Techniques Comprehensive Explanation," clearly explained Sword One through Sword Twenty.
In addition, he also wrote "Sword Canon," "Sword Domain," and, in collaboration with the Butcher and the Deaf Man, "Dao Realm" and "Dao Domain." These books, if placed decades ago, would have been secret manuals capable of throwing the world into chaos!
Even if taken to the current Heavenly Court, they would spark rivers of blood!
If spread across the myriad realms, they would cause unimaginable slaughter and calamity!
Yet the Village Chief and the others had made them public, not prohibiting others from reading them. In Yankang, as long as one studied at the academies and had sufficient ability, they could enter the library to view and learn.
Whether one could learn, enter the Dao Realm through the Dao, or cultivate a Dao Domain or Sword Domain, still depended on individual ability.
This young god named Xiao Chujue had been at the Academy of Enlightenment for over a year. His talent in swordsmanship was terrifyingly high, but even so, he had not yet learned Sword Twenty or comprehended the Sword Domain. That was why he sought guidance from the Village Chief.
The Village Chief opened the text, found Sword Twenty, and said, "Sword Twenty was created by Kai Emperor Qin Ye, who comprehended it from Sword Eighteen and Sword Nineteen. When you learned Sword Nineteen, you should have understood that mastering it allows one to enter the Dao through the sword. Among billions of cultivators in the world, only about a hundred can learn Sword Nineteen. But Sword Twenty has higher requirements. It demands that one first cultivate the Sword Domain, achieving the realm of the sword domain, before Sword Twenty can be mastered."
When he said this, even Yu Chenzi and the Nether Abyss Crown Prince were bewildered. The Nether Abyss Crown Prince murmured, "Brother Su, isn't your 'Basic Sword Techniques Comprehensive Explanation' the most fundamental book? Why does it require mastering the Sword Domain first to learn it?"
"Wrong!"
The Village Chief laughed. "To learn the 'Basic Sword Techniques Comprehensive Explanation,' you first need to study the book 'Sword Domain.' To learn 'Sword Domain,' you first need to study 'Sword Canon.' And to learn 'Sword Canon,' you need to first study one thousand two hundred and eighty-two volumes of swordsmanship classics."
The group was horrified.
The Village Chief continued with a smile, "But Chujue has already achieved entering the Dao through the sword. His foundation is solid. What he lacks isn't the basics but a deeper understanding of the sword path. And for that, he needs a top-tier grandmaster of swordsmanship."
He drew his sword and said calmly, "Xiao Chujue, let me be your whetstone, to help you advance further in the sword path. Draw your sword!"
Xiao Chujue bowed, took a step back, and fiercely drew his sword!
The sword light shot straight into the sky. His swordsmanship was majestic and grand, bearing an extraordinary aura, as if he were about to rule the world and wield the supreme sword!
The Nether Abyss Crown Prince and Yu Chenzi cheered in unison, praising, "What a magnificent bearing!"
At that moment, an arrow light flew in. Before the three powerhouses could react, the arrow light had already shattered Xiao Chujue's sword and pierced into his brow!
Boom—
Xiao Chujue's body exploded. Without the restraint of flesh, his primordial spirit suddenly expanded, like a great emperor commanding the heavens!
A second, third, fourth, and fifth arrow light followed in rapid succession, so fast that one could barely react!
The Nether Abyss Crown Prince, being one of the earliest Emperor Seat realm existences, instinctively manifested his Black Tortoise primordial spirit, intending to block the subsequent arrows. But when he saw the primordial spirit erupting from Xiao Chujue's body, he froze, stammering, "Heavenly Emperor—"
The Village Chief's sword was aimed at the second arrow light. Hearing this, he forcibly halted, his heart pounding with shock: "The Heavenly Emperor's primordial spirit? This Xiao Chujue is..."
Boom boom boom boom—
The other four arrow lights struck the Heavenly Emperor primordial spirit's forehead. Four consecutive explosions rang out in the sky, each one farther away than the last. Suddenly, an incredibly terrifying tremor erupted outside the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace. The five arrow lights had shot Xiao Chujue out of the palace, their power fully unleashed. The dazzling light illuminated the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace so brightly that there were no shadows!
Within the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace, one after another, the powerhouses of Yankang soared into the air, staring in shock at the blinding light erupting in the distance, their hearts filled with astonishment.
Earth Virtue Primordial Lord Gongsun Yan pressed her palm downward. Green leaves stretched across the sky, shielding the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace and the people living on the land.
With a thought, she looked toward the distant Upper and Lower Capitals of Yankang, where another terrifying burst of power erupted.
Gongsun Yan activated her true form, the branches of the Primordial Tree swaying, also protecting the Upper and Lower Capitals. She asked, "What happened? Who attacked the Yankang Upper Capital and the Earth Virtue Heavenly Palace?"
No one could answer her.
Suddenly, Yu Chenzi flew up, landed before Gongsun Yan, and bowed, saying, "Reporting to the Primordial Lord, this matter should be related to the Heavenly Emperor's split soul reincarnating into Yankang to steal the fruits of reform. A Heavenly Lord of the Heavenly Court discovered this and shot the Heavenly Emperor's reincarnated body. It has nothing to do with Yankang."
Gongsun Yan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Since it has nothing to do with Yankang, there's no need to pursue it further. Everyone, continue with your own affairs."
The crowd acknowledged, but the scene was truly shocking, leaving them unsettled for a long time.