Chapter 987: The Thirty-Third Heaven Sword Domain
As Qin Mu's pupils began to contract, the sword in his hand had already thrust out. As this sword struck, its form transformed into the Imperial Peace-Securing Heaven Sword!
This was a sword path, born from witnessing the world's injustices, gods and demons running rampant and harming the people, feeling compassion for the suffering masses who could not control their own destinies—a sword path created from such sentiments!
Peace-Securing Heaven: to pacify the world's injustices, to settle the world's inequities, to slay the wicked and treacherous, to butcher the demons and monsters, to set right what is wrong.
Emperor Kaihuang had never expected that his opponent's first move would be his own very first sword move when he had entered the Dao through the sword.
When he had entered the Dao through the sword, the aftermath of the Supreme Emperor Calamity had not yet settled. The Kaihuang Era had not yet arrived. He was still a young man then, a brash youth filled with chivalrous spirit, wielding his sword as he roamed a world overrun by demons, monsters, and fiends.
He had witnessed the Primal Realm being twisted and sealed by a magnificent power. One by one, the various heavens vanished and fell silent, leaving only a small portion of the Primal Realm remaining.
Although the Primal Realm at that time was many times larger than the later Yankang and the Great Waste, it was still far too small compared to the true Primal Realm.
To fold the Primal Realm, to seal the Primal Realm—what a majestic and overwhelming power that was!
He had seen the ruins of the Supreme Emperor, the lofty and magnificent remnants of the Supreme Emperor's Heavenly Court, the collapsed halls and palace walls, the bones of gods and demons buried beneath the walls.
He often pondered the buried history among those ruins.
He had also seen people wailing in the midst of war and suffering—husbands and wives, women and children, the elderly.
He had seen gods and demons running rampant without restraint, monsters and fiends taking advantage of the chaos, and divine beings driving the surviving people of the Supreme Emperor to build grand altars, then forcing these people onto the altars as sacrifices to the gods of the Heavenly Court.
He still clearly remembered the fawning, flattering, and hideous faces of those gods and demons as they offered the people as sacrifices to the higher deities.
The Imperial Peace-Securing Heaven Sword was born from this.
With chivalrous spirit in his heart, he wielded his sword to pacify the world.
This move was from his earliest period. When he created this sword path, he had not yet encountered Qin Mu, nor had he traveled back to the early years of the Dragon Han Era.
The technique was not as perfected as his later sword path techniques; it could even be said to be somewhat crude. However, this move was the one among his Thirty-Three Heavens Sword Path that possessed the most complete ambition, the most soaring heroic spirit—and there was no equal!
When the Imperial Peace-Securing Heaven Sword was executed by Qin Mu, wielding the sword with chivalrous abandon, using violence to suppress violence, the sword path of a young heroic swordsman burst forth from his blade. In an instant, it awakened Emperor Kaihuang's memories of those bygone days. Unconsciously, the Carefree Sword in his hand seemed to carry him back to the past.
What he executed was also the Imperial Peace-Securing Heaven Sword, the same sword technique as Qin Mu's. As he performed this move, he once again felt the wind howling, his body swaying in the breeze.
That was the feeling of his youth—passionate and surging, believing that he possessed the power to reshape heaven and earth hidden within his small frame. No matter the wind and waves, no matter the hardships and trials, nothing could bring him down!
All difficulties, obstacles, setbacks, and tribulations were the driving force that pushed him forward and made him stronger!
He wanted to protect the people on this disaster-ridden land, to make them unafraid of gods, unafraid of demons, to allow them to stand tall and live without having to kowtow to the whims of gods and demons.
Beneath their swords, the mountains and rivers of the Imperial Peace Heaven crisscrossed and intertwined, sword light turning into rivers that roared and surged.
Within Jade Capital City, in Emperor Kaihuang's Heavenly Court, every god and demon, whether old or new, watched this scene with unblinking eyes.
Although Qin Mu appeared as a youth, Emperor Kaihuang had long become a middle-aged man, filled with the majesty of an emperor. Yet what they saw now seemed like two spirited young swordsmen, brimming with youthful vigor.
The sword was like a rainbow, the Dao like a painting. With a single sweep of the sword, a thousand miles of majestic mountains and rivers surged forth.
Within the mountains and rivers, sword qi rose like peaks, sword light shimmered like the ripples on a lake's surface, sword qi curled like clouds rolling and unrolling, and sword radiance split the sky like crashing waves!
Their sword lights overlapped and suddenly erupted. Many of the younger generation of gods and demons hastily fled the inner city of Jade Capital.
Because their sword light had shattered the Chengtian Gate, sweeping all the way from the Vermilion Bird Gate to the Black Tortoise Gate, from the Anfugate to the Yanxi Gate, from the Hanguang Gate to the Anli Gate, from the Shunyi Gate to the Jingfeng Gate, from the Zhide Gate to the Anshang Gate.
Sword light burst forth from these gates, collapsing these heavenly gates. Palaces and buildings were shattered and broken apart in the sword light, replaced by the magnificent scenery of the Imperial Peace Heaven!
The Taiji Palace, the Yeting Palace, the Eastern Palace—all were instantly replaced by towering mountain ranges. The Xiude Hall, the Fuxing Hall, the Changle Hall, the Daning Hall—all were replaced by a seamless expanse of lake and sky.
Suddenly, their sword lights converged, wrapping around them and transforming into a flowing stream of teleportation light.
This was an extremely brilliant scene. Their bodies did not move, yet their flying swords revolved around them. The bright blades of the flying swords reflected various teleportation runes.
The teleportation runes reflected from the flying swords onto their bodies, activating the teleportation divine abilities. Sword light wrapped around their forms as they rapidly shuttled through the air, like two rainbow beams of lightning streaking across the sky, clashing with a clang each time they met.
With every collision, the sword light blazed like the sun, dazzlingly bright. Countless sword qi shot out in all directions like perfectly straight beams of light.
The outer city of Jade Capital below immediately suffered. The roofs of the Pingkang Hall, Xuanyang Hall, Xingdao Hall, Kaihua Hall, Guanglu Hall, and other divine halls were riddled with holes as beams of sword qi shot into them.
Using sword techniques to execute teleportation divine abilities left even a master of mathematics like Su Maiqing dazzled and clapping in admiration.
More of the younger generation of gods and demons fled the outer city. Before they could even find their footing, they saw Qin Mu and Emperor Kaihuang's figures halt in midair.
With a thunderous roar, the second move of the Thirty-Three Heavens Sword Path erupted!
The Grand Brightness Heaven-Equalizing Sword!
This sword was born when Emperor Kaihuang, in the midst of quelling the chaos of gods and demons, transformed his chivalrous spirit into a towering ambition, vowing to stand equal to heaven and change this unjust world!
The world's injustice was not caused solely by the chaos of gods and demons. The chaos of gods and demons in the later period of the Supreme Emperor Calamity was merely the surface. The true injustice was this very heaven!
He wanted to stand equal to heaven, to change this unfair world!
This sword illuminated his heart and his resolve, causing the two of them in the sky to rise like two towering mountain ranges, soaring higher and higher, straight into the sky, straight into the clouds, straight beyond the heavens!
The Sun Guardian of the second heaven of Carefree Village, Shou Yannuan, could no longer hold back. Hot tears streamed from his eyes, turning into two fire dragons that flew out of his eye sockets.
He had no tears. He was the Sun Guardian, having refined a body of pure Yang holy fire. Even when moved to tears, even when overwhelmed with emotion, what flowed from him was blazing fire.
This sword awakened not Emperor Kaihuang, but him.
It awakened him and all those who had fought side by side with Emperor Kaihuang, vowing to change this unfair world!
Back then, they were young and green, bursting with boundless energy, filled with fervent passion, loyal and righteous, without a shred of regret!
Unlike today, when they were full of complaints, cursing heaven and earth, grumbling endlessly!
Amidst the scorching fiery tears, the sword case on his back rang with the sound of swords. One by one, the Great Sun Divine Swords chimed with a clear, bright ring. Their hilts trembled constantly, washing away layers of rust, revealing their sharp edges once more.
At the peak of the sky, the sword light exploded, transforming into the third heaven's sword path—the Clear Brightness Heart-Searching Sword. This was a sword of self-reflection, mirroring one's true heart, never forgetting the original intention.
By then, Emperor Kaihuang had gained some fame in the shattered Primal Realm. He had become complacent and lost himself, suffering a great defeat. Many of his followers and comrades had died or been wounded. Green hills buried loyal bones, and broken swords marked the souls of righteous men.
This sword was a self-warning sword. The sword light shone down from the sky, as clear and transparent as the Clear Brightness Heaven, reflecting the upturned faces of everyone in Emperor Kaihuang's Heavenly Court.
Many people saw themselves in that mirror-like sword light. Some saw their own dejection, some saw their resentment, some saw their unwillingness, some saw their own degeneration.
At this moment, they looked directly into their own hearts, seeing their Dao hearts riddled with scars.
The sword light seemed not to be the collision between Qin Mu and Emperor Kaihuang, but the collision of their Dao hearts, the recognition of themselves.
The Young Guardian Fang Youji wiped away his old tears, but no matter how he wiped, he couldn't clean the tears streaming from his eyes.
Qin Mu and Emperor Kaihuang executed the fourth heaven's sword path—the Primordial Embryo Heaven-Stabilizing Sword. This was the sword of rebirth after calamity, the sword they used to reorganize their ranks, rally their spirits, and rebuild their Dao hearts after suffering heavy casualties!
The martyrs and pioneers of the Kaihuang Era, after that, reignited their fighting spirit, contending with heaven, battling gods and demons, refusing to admit defeat. Their primordial embryos were reborn, and they fought once more.
Many of the older generation in Emperor Kaihuang's Heavenly Court, seeing that sword light in the sky, that sword path, that spirit, felt as if they had returned to that era. The surging, twisting heroic spirit in their hearts swelled once more.
It had been a very, very long time since they had felt this way.
Their twenty-thousand-year persistence, their twenty-thousand-year faith, their twenty-thousand-year efforts—all had turned to bubbles and shadows when they retreated to Carefree Village. In the twenty-thousand years of Carefree Village, they had become yellowed memories, growing increasingly blurry.
And now, everything was awakened!
The fifth heaven's sword path burst forth. The Primordial Brightness Literary Elevation Sword erupted from the hands of Qin Mu and Emperor Kaihuang. This was the sword technique created when Emperor Kaihuang, after returning from the early years of the Dragon Han Era, reformed the old and established the new, determined to change the system, intending to create an era of a hundred schools of thought contending and a hundred flowers blooming for future generations and the younger generation.
At that time, they had embarked on a path of reform.
"Literary elevation" did not mean cultivating literature; it meant cultivating the heart through literature.
Using literature to elevate heaven, using literature to carry fortune, using literature to bear the Dao—to establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a destiny for the people, to pass on and continue lost knowledge, to create new knowledge!
In the sky, the battle between Qin Mu and Emperor Kaihuang continued. Every move, every sword path, embodied the spirit of the Kaihuang Era. This spirit was what the old ministers of Emperor Kaihuang's Heavenly Court had experienced. It was their former spirit, the representation of that fervent and fiery era.
Now, seeing Qin Mu and Emperor Kaihuang execute such sword techniques, they felt as if they were reliving that period. Dust-covered memories were awakened, dissipated heroic feelings were summoned back, and cooled blood began to boil once more.
The Kaihuang Era had never been the era of Emperor Kaihuang alone. It was the era of all those who had reformed during that time.
The spirit of that era had never been the spirit of Emperor Kaihuang alone. It was the spirit of all those who had reformed during that time.
From when had they tied this era to a single person?
From when had they tied the spirit of this era to a single person?
From when had they blamed the sin of relocating Emperor Kaihuang's Heavenly Court to Carefree Village on a single person?
From when had Emperor Kaihuang remained the same Emperor Kaihuang, while they were no longer the same as before?
In the sky, the battle between Qin Mu and Emperor Kaihuang grew fiercer and more intense. They had already clashed up to the thirty-third heaven's sword path—the Supreme Purity Realm Dao Sword.
With this sword, Emperor Kaihuang had formed a sword path domain, achieving invincibility in the sword path throughout the world.
However, it was precisely when he created the Supreme Purity Realm Dao Sword that the Kaihuang Calamity erupted. The series of events that followed all occurred after the creation of this Dao Sword.
In the sky, the collision of the two sword domains was terrifying beyond measure. Yet Qin Mu and Emperor Kaihuang remained locked in opposition, unable to determine a victor.
The power of the Supreme Purity Realm Dao Sword was exhausted. Both of their sword lights paused slightly. At that moment, Emperor Kaihuang's Carefree Sword rose again, and Qin Mu felt a chill run down his spine.
After the Supreme Purity Realm Dao Sword, there was still a thirty-fourth heaven!
—Seeing other people's travel photos makes me so sad. Piggy needs monthly tickets to be comforted, so I won't cry! Please give monthly tickets~