Chapter 335: Ten Thousand Swords Form an Army
As the Soul Wood in Nan Ke's hand shone brightly once more, the beast tide, which had been momentarily stunned into silence by the emergence of the ten thousand swords, erupted into frenzy again.
Deep within the beast tide, that massive figure remained as steady as a mountain.
It was a Jian beast, a legendary Jian beast.
The word "legendary" was used because, according to the records in the Dao Canon, this type of demonic beast had been exterminated countless eons ago by humans and demons at a tremendous cost. It was also because this beast was so incredibly powerful that it had become a myth.
The Jian beast possessed combat strength at the upper level of Star Gathering. Although its spiritual awareness was unawakened and it lacked true intelligence, making it not entirely equivalent to a human expert at the upper level of Star Gathering, in the mountain forests and wilderness where it lived, it absolutely had killing power equal to or even greater than that of a human expert at the same level. This was because it was an extremely rare demonic beast skilled in long-range attacks.
The Jian beast's body was as massive as a mountain, naturally covered with an extremely hard layer of armor, and the tip of its single horn could shatter solid rock.
Its greatest characteristic, and the one that most terrified its enemies, was the long, slender tail covered in black bristles behind it. When it crouched, the tail coiled into a pile on the ground. But when it encountered an enemy or prey, that long tail would rise up, wrap around the horn on its head, forming a bowstring, and its body would become a giant bow.
This was a wondrous thing, but even more difficult to understand was that the arrows used by this mountain-like giant bow were actually the fine bristles on its tail. No one knew what material those black bristles were made of. On the Jian beast's body, they were as soft as cotton, but once shot from the tail bow, they became as hard as iron, as fast as lightning, and utterly impossible to dodge!
With combat strength at the upper level of Star Gathering and such bizarre and elusive attack methods, countless experts had been killed by this terrifying beast during the human and demon conquest of the continent. The Jian beast's fearsome reputation grew day by day, to the point where some began to suspect whether it had the blood of a unicorn in its veins. Of course, this speculation did not gain much acceptance. Countless one-horned demonic beasts lived in the cloud-shrouded mountains and abysses of the continent. How could a sacred creature like the unicorn leave behind such bloodthirsty descendants?
Looking at the Jian beasts in the beast tide slowly straightening their massive bodies, like peaks rising from the ground, Chen Changsheng's hand holding the Demon General's Banner Sword felt cold. Across a distance of dozens of li, he could almost see the beast's eyes—a pair of tiny, grain-sized pupils emitting a faint, eerie glow, making them appear especially terrifying.
This was just a feeling, but he was certain the beast could see his eyes. Otherwise, how could it threaten him from so far away?
Chen Changsheng knew that this terrifying beast would soon launch an endless stream of long-range attacks at him. But before dealing with those hair arrows containing infinite power, he had to solve many other problems, such as the faint chirping sound coming from the front of the Divine Path and the thunderous, earth-splitting roar rising from within the beast tide.
The chirping sound was very faint. If one didn't know how terrifying the owner of this sound was, it might even seem a bit cute.
Chen Changsheng remembered clearly that in the Four Seas volume of the Dao Canon, a powerful demonic beast was recorded as making this very sound.
That beast was called the Earth Sun. It had a thin body, yellowish-brown fur, and extremely long fangs and neck. It could stand like a human but ran on all fours with incredible speed. Its claws and teeth were incredibly sharp, capable of breaking anything. It was extremely bloodthirsty and cruel, with a preference for eating humans. Most terrifying of all, this beast was exceptionally skilled at burrowing underground, almost like a magical earth escape technique, making its movements extremely difficult to track. Even opponents much stronger than it would often be caught off guard, sneak-attacked, and then devoured alive in a gruesome scene.
What made him most wary and uneasy, however, was the thunderous sound within the sea of beasts.
The thunder was the sound of the grassland ground splitting open—not from sword intent, but from a beast of immense strength tearing through the earth and roaring in fury.
He looked at the terrifying, mountain-like figure in the beast tide and knew that the beast had not fully stood up yet. It was bending over, searching for a weapon. Its weapons could be mountains, or the hard rocks beneath the wet, soft soil. The larger and heavier the rock, the more convenient it was for it to use.
This beast was called the Mountain Toppling Boar. It stood twenty-eight zhang tall, with a long snout and coiled horns, possessing unimaginable brute strength. When enraged, it could even push over mountains, using hills as weapons, gravel as stars, and spitting gale-force winds like blades. It was ferocious and unmatched, ranked third on the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion's Earth Beast List!
...
...
The Jian beast, the Earth Sun, and the Mountain Toppling Boar—all names worthy of entry into the Dao Canon, all extremely powerful and terrifying demonic beasts that had become legends or were forgotten. Yet who could have imagined that in today's world, long since ruled by humans and demons, these beasts still existed within the grasslands of the Garden of Zhou?
The world rules of the Garden of Zhou imposed mandatory restrictions on the cultivation levels of humans, but they did not seem to affect these demonic beasts. No wonder, for hundreds of years, all human cultivators or demons who entered the Never-Setting Sun Grassland had never been able to leave. They had likely all become food for these terrifying beasts.
A single black bristle, coming from the edge of the sky, nearly knocked the Demon General's Banner Sword from Chen Changsheng's hand. The chirping sound near the mausoleum and the thunderous roar from the distant grassland entered his ears, turning his face unusually pale. In an instant, he felt the arrival of death.
Earlier, these high-level demonic beasts had remained silent because of that shadow. Now, with ten thousand swords hovering in the air and Nan Ke dancing amidst the lingering rain, they fell silent no longer. Three unimaginably powerful auras began to emanate before the mausoleum, growing increasingly ferocious and violent.
Chen Changsheng was only at the upper level of Penetrating Obscurity. Even with ten thousand remnant swords by his side, this fact could not be changed. These three demonic beasts at the upper level of Star Gathering had overwhelming superiority in both realm and strength. He could barely even resist their pressure. What was he to do?
Looking back now, as they traveled from the edge of the grassland to the Zhou Mausoleum, if Nan Ke hadn't used the Soul Wood to command the beasts not to attack in order to track them, they would likely have died on the road long ago. As for why Nan Ke didn't have the beasts lead the way? They had some guesses.
"These demonic beasts don't seem to fully obey you."
Chen Changsheng looked at the massive shadow in the sky, imagining the legendary beast behind it that had half a foot into the sacred realm. After a moment of silence, he spoke to Nan Ke.
The lingering rain fell from the broken clouds in the sky, pattering down. Nan Ke's eyes were closed, her black hair wildly dancing behind her petite body. The Soul Wood floated before her, growing brighter and brighter, as if about to become transparent. She paid no attention to his words, or perhaps didn't even hear them.
The beast tide continued to surge toward the mausoleum. The nearby grassland, which had just been stained blood-red, was quickly covered again by the black sea.
The eerie chirping sound grew fainter and fainter. This did not mean the terrifying Earth Sun had retreated; on the contrary, it meant it was preparing to launch an attack.
The Mountain Toppling Boar, in the watery marshes of the grassland, finally found a stone ridge several zhang long. It straightened its body, and a hill appeared within the beast tide.
At the rear of the black sea, the Jian beast silently watched the mausoleum. Its grain-sized beast eyes emitted a faint glow, fixed on Chen Changsheng. Its slender tail coiled around the horn on its head, pulled extremely tight, with at least several thousand black bristles densely arranged upon it.
Chen Changsheng could not defeat these three high-level demonic beasts, but he felt no fear. His eyes remained bright, like the brightest point of light among the ten thousand remnant swords hovering in the air around the mausoleum.
Around the mausoleum, a cold wind stirred faintly, and the ten thousand swords hummed softly.
In the distance, the beast tide was like a sea, and the great beasts were like mountains.
The Mountain and Sea Sword flew back before him, trembling slightly.
Stillness and motion were both unsuitable; the swords and the beasts would eventually clash.
If these remnant swords acted on their own, contending with the beast tide as scattered soldiers, they would likely fall one by one and be destroyed.
But now, he was here.
Ten thousand swords formed an army—some as soldiers, some as vanguard, some as the central formation. He was the general.
How was he to lead these ten thousand swords into this battle?
He did not know. Even though he had read the Dao Canon thoroughly since childhood and memorized countless cultivation secrets treasured in the National Academy, he still could not learn ten thousand sword techniques. No one could do that. So how was he to control these ten thousand swords and unleash their maximum power?
He gripped the yellow paper umbrella, sensing the information conveyed by that sword intent.
Entering the grassland, arriving at the Zhou Mausoleum, the emergence of the Sword Pool—all of it was connected to that sword intent.
Perhaps that was the answer.
...
...
He perceived the pride and steadiness within that sword intent.
Pride and steadiness were two completely different emotions, even subtly conflicting. It was basically impossible for both to appear simultaneously in a single sword or a single person.
Strangely enough, Chen Changsheng felt that this mixture of pride and steadiness within the sword intent was familiar to him. Not the familiarity of reciting the Dao Canon backward, but true familiarity—familiarity from having seen it with his eyes, felt it with his heart, and even fought against it.
It was simple for him to figure out. This was the sword intent of Mount Li. He had felt it from those young geniuses of Mount Li—Guan Feibai, proud and arrogant to the point of coldness; Gou Hanshi, steady and gentle, thus approachable; Liang Banhu, silent and taciturn, thus trustworthy; Qi Jian, possessing all three traits.
So this sword intent came from Mount Li. He looked at the yellow paper umbrella in his hand and fell silent.
Until now, he still did not know that this sword intent belonged to the legendary Sky Covering Sword, but he knew what he had to do.
Even if Zhou Dufu were resurrected, he could not use ten thousand sword intents to control ten thousand remnant swords and execute ten thousand sword techniques. Chen Changsheng certainly could not either. But he could use this sword intent from Mount Li to control the ten thousand remnant swords and execute the ten thousand sword techniques of Mount Li. The only problem he needed to solve was how to simultaneously control ten thousand strands of divine sense.
If only one problem needed to be solved, then that problem was often the hardest to solve. Even the most imaginative scholars of the Li Palace School of Metaphysics would not believe that anyone could split their divine sense into ten thousand strands. There was no point in even trying. But Chen Changsheng wanted to give it a try.
He gripped the handle of the yellow paper umbrella with his left hand, rapidly channeled his divine sense, and used the sword intent within the umbrella to spread out into the sky around the mausoleum. In an instant, he made contact with those remnant swords and clearly sensed the residual sword intents within them. Those sword intents were already weary or weak; some were so faint they were barely detectable.
With respect and determination, he asked those sword intents to temporarily step aside and hand over control.
The domineering Mountain and Sea Sword agreed.
The reserved Zhai Sword agreed.
The ten thousand swords in the sky around the mausoleum all agreed.
...
...
(One more chapter.)