Chapter 648: Dust to Dust, Ashes to Ashes

Ever since Realman Cangyue of Heavenly Summit Mountain fell, a considerably long period of time passed during which no swordsman emerged on the Chenping Continent who could be described as truly breathtaking.

And this indirectly led to the gradual decline of the sword dao on the Chenping Continent.

It was at this moment that Sang Zhe burst onto the scene with his Ru Long Sword Canon and his dual-sword style, swiftly carving out a place for himself on the Chenping Continent.

Even the Heavenly Summit Mountain Daomen Xingzou at the time, upon meeting Sang Zhe, could not help but remark that Sect Leader Sang was destined for great things, and might even have the potential to touch the Immortal Ascension Realm.

But Sang Zhe flashed across the scene like a shooting star during his prime. At the height of his power, Sang Zhe wanted to forge an immortal sword for himself. He went through immense hardship to find an immortal artifact embryo from the Martial Immortal Mountain Range in the Western Region of the Chenping Continent, and requested that the Eighth-Generation Ascended Steward of Heavenly Summit Mountain at the time, Realman Lingxuan, Gu Jing, forge the immortal sword for him.

One had to understand that forging an immortal artifact required a minimum price of several thousand years of nurturing by an Immortal Ascension cultivator.

This was undoubtedly an extremely troublesome matter. Everyone believed that this Eighth-Generation Ascended Steward of Heavenly Summit Mountain would surely reject Sang Zhe's request.

But unexpectedly, Gu Jing agreed to Sang Zhe.

Things could never be that simple. Although Gu Jing agreed to Sang Zhe, saying he was willing to forge an immortal sword for him, he also stipulated that before forging the sword, Sang Zhe must first help him with a task.

That task was to collect the King Cores of ten ninth-realm great demons.

The "foundations" of first-realm through seventh-realm demonic beasts were all called Demon Cores, while the "foundations" of eighth-realm and ninth-realm great demons were called King Cores.

The demand Gu Jing placed on Sang Zhe was far more dangerous than Sang Zhe's request to him, and far more difficult as well.

Everyone thought Sang Zhe would reject this Eighth-Generation Ascended Steward's demand, believing that Sang Zhe should not take such a reckless risk. Once he stepped into the Immortal Ascension Realm, he could forge an immortal artifact himself.

But once again, unexpectedly, Sang Zhe agreed to Gu Jing.

An immortal sword.

Those two words held an immense allure for Sang Zhe. Especially after he had genuinely obtained the embryo, his craving to possess an immortal sword completely consumed the man that was Sang Zhe.

Sang Zhe was one of the strongest Dao Union cultivators in the history of the Chenping Continent. With his strength, defeating an ordinary ninth-realm great demon should hardly have presented any complications.

In that era, the ninth-realm great demons active on the Chenping Continent numbered more than ten in total as far as was known.

In fact, rampant demonic beasts had always been the norm in the desolate, uninhabited wildlands of the Chenping Continent.

It was only when the path to immortality was severed eight thousand years ago that those eighth-realm and ninth-realm great demons seemed to become restricted as well, gradually fading into obscurity.

As for more than ninety thousand years ago, Sang Zhe's initial phase went quite smoothly. Within fifty years, he had defeated six ninth-realm great demons and successfully obtained six King Cores of considerable quality that were perfectly intact.

But when he hunted the seventh ninth-realm great demon he had selected, a slight mishap occurred.

Although Sang Zhe successfully slew this seventh ninth-realm great demon, he himself also suffered severe injuries, forcing him to recuperate for a considerable period before he could continue hunting the eighth great demon.

However, in the forty-seventh year of Sang Zhe's recuperation, news struck like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, spreading throughout the entire Chenping Continent.

Gu Jing, the Eighth-Generation Ascended Steward of Heavenly Summit Mountain, had fallen.

Upon learning of this, Sang Zhe felt as though the sky had collapsed. When he sent a written inquiry to the Ninth-Generation Ascended Steward of Heavenly Summit Mountain regarding his agreement with Gu Jing, that Ninth-Generation Ascended Steward only wrote five characters in his reply:

"What has this to do with me?"

Sang Zhe's dao heart shattered, and not long after, he fell with deep resentment.

The Ru Long Sword Sect, which had rapidly carved out a place for itself in the cultivation world of the Chenping Continent, also declined along with Sang Zhe's fall.

The Ru Long Sword Canon was lost, but the "dual-sword style" did begin to spread widely throughout the cultivation world of the Chenping Continent. However, without a suitable sword canon to complement it, the dual-sword style proved to be rather useless.

Yet even now, over ninety thousand years later, the Chenping Continent still had many swordsmen obsessed with the dual-sword style. Because for swordsmen, sometimes the dual-sword style did indeed make it easier to gain the upper hand when sparring with other swordsmen.

...

Facing the question He Qingling had just posed to him, Li Haowen first lowered his head slowly, casting his gaze upon the two swords at his waist.

Although the two long swords at his waist were currently wrapped in bandages, he could still see through the tiny gaps the black and white colors of the blades revealed within.

"No, I am not a swordsman of the dual-sword style."

Li Haowen answered.

"Then Senior Lin, the reason you carry two long swords with you is..."

He Qingling asked, trailing off hesitantly.

"Because one of those swords belongs to a person from my past."

Li Haowen said.

"A person from your past..."

He Qingling murmured to herself, then as if suddenly realizing something, she stood up from the round table and bowed in Li Haowen's direction:

"My apologies, Senior Lin. This junior has overstepped. It is only because I have always been curious about the dual-sword style that I asked Senior such a question."

"It's fine."

Li Haowen's reaction was quite indifferent, he merely shook his head gently:

"That was all a very, very long time ago."

"But since Senior Lin still carries that Senior's sword by your side to this day, it already shows that this person was someone extremely important to you."

He Qingling said:

"This junior means no offense. I simply believe that as cultivators, we should face our true hearts directly."

This daughter of the Xuan Sheng Sect Leader had lived a life of smooth sailing throughout her twenty-odd years. Although she possessed the proper etiquette befitting a cultivator from a top-tier cultivation sect.

But if she spoke too much, her overly "direct" nature would inevitably reveal itself completely.

Upon hearing these words, Li Haowen was briefly taken aback as well, and then this middle-aged man, who had always seemed so weighed down by grievances, revealed a faint smile for the first time in a long while.

"Yes, when I think about it carefully, the time I have spent alone has already far exceeded the time I spent together with my master and my junior brothers back then... I should have gotten used to it by now."

Li Haowen said.

"In this world, some people deserve to die, and some people do not. But often, the ones who die first are precisely those who did not deserve to die..."

As he spoke, Li Haowen paused for a moment again, then continued:

"But in the end, everyone must return to dust, and the dust must return to the earth."