Nine Yang Sword Saint

As he raised his arms upward and concentrated the mystic qi in his hands, Yang Dingtian was able to generate a reaction force that pushed him down to the ground he was floating on.

It was dark all around Yang Dingtian. He didn’t know how far he was from reaching the surface below him, so he was just kind of hoping that his feet would eventually find somewhere to stand on.

Then he started falling down even further. It was ten meters, a hundred meters, and then several hundred meters.

After a while, Yang Dingtian felt something hard with his feet, like a solid flat surface for him to stand on. And with a just little more push, he was finally able to stand on his two legs again.

Right when Yang Dingtian made his landing, his surroundings suddenly brightened up with intense white light.

“Ha…” Yang Dingtian took a deep breath as he quickly scanned around him.

Where was this? A palace that belonged to the Gods?

So right now, Yang Dingtian was standing inside this gigantic palace-like building. There were exactly five doors in all directions, each standing at the height of a mountain.

Whatever this building was, it was probably about a hundred thousand square meters wide, much bigger than many soccer fields combined. Yang Dingtian was about two hundred meters from the ground now, and he wasn’t quite sure just exactly what he was standing on.

Without a clue of what was happening, all Yang Dingtian could do was to keep looking around by rotating his head.

What in the world was this place? How was it so big? A palace of this size was nowhere to be found, even in the Heaven Cloud City or the Yin Yang Sect.

By speaking of which, the five doors around Yang Dingtian were all in different colors.

One of them was red; the second one was blue. One door was marked gold, while the other was one purple. The last one, which was most unique one out of them all, was constantly shifting from red to blue to white.

Just what treasure could be lying behind these mysterious gates?

As Yang Dingtian was still contemplating to himself, he heard the sound of a wind blowing from above.

Dugu Fengwu came down. She probably saw the flash of light and decided to join Yang Dingtian’s company.

With an effortless flick of an arm, Dugu Fengwu pushed herself out of the zero gravity zone, which caused her to land right next to Yang Dingtian.

Dugu Fengwu, too, was in awe at what she was witnessing.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Dugu Fengwu sighed, “Yang Dingtian, but I don’t know what it is with you and your ridiculous luck. You’re supposed to die from that fall, but you ended up surviving it and found this secret realm.”

“Secret realm?” Yang Dingtian called out in shock, despite wanting to avoid talking to Dugu Fengwu, “This is a secret realm?”

****************

“Well, it’s pretty obvious…” Dugu Fengwu scanned around with her eyes, “This is a grand palace that’s several thousand kilometers below the surface. You tell me. If it’s not a secret realm built in the ancient times, which sect in our time do you think would’ve done something like this?”

Yang Dingtian was exhilarated. He was lucky enough to find the grade nine inferno, lucky enough to craft his own youngling sword, a legendary one, at that, and it seemed like fate still had more to offer him.

The secret realms were some of the most precious and mysterious locations inside this world. While their origins were far too old to be in the record, no one knew who exactly built them, nor did they know where to find it. In other words, one had to be lucky enough to stumble upon one.

However, luck was not the only requirement. One must also be courageous enough to withstand the challenge presented by the secret realm.

Whoever it was, there were only two outcomes for entering a secret realm. You either perish, or you gain a power that far exceeds your potential.

Take Ximen Wuya, for example. As he was not exceptionally talented in any way, nothing fruitful came to him even after a decade of studying the grade nine secret scroll. However, after he began his venturing and found a secret realm, he became one of the strongest men in the whole realm. If it wasn’t for rescuing Yang Dingtian, he could’ve even become the strongest man there was.

The same thing happened to Dongfang Bingling. At just thirteen years of age, this proud girl chose to study the grade nine secret scroll despite her inexperience.

Although Dongfang Bingling’s meridian was unmatched by anyone else, she, too, made little to no progress in the first few years. With Dongfang Niemie out of the Ying Yang Sect, everyone took her for a girl with nothing but her looks. She was ridiculed and disrespected. Someone even tried to force himself on her.

Because she couldn’t handle living her life like this, she chose the same path as Ximen Wuya. That was, she left her home and traveled to the outside world.

When she returned after three years, Dongfang Bingling was already a Martial Mystic. Two more years later, she climbed her way up to being a Martial Ancestor, then straight to becoming a Martial Supreme.

She was twenty years old by then! Such things were unheard of before. One Martial Supreme was enough to shock the world, but no one expected someone so young to be in such a high position.

Dongfang Bingling’s life skyrocketed after that. Her status became that of a goddess or a star that was so far up high in the sky that no one could touch it.

While no one knew what exactly happened during Dongfang Bingling’s travel, a popular guess was that she found and used a secret realm.

Enough flashbacks. It should be clear how precious the power of a secret realm was now. In other words, Yang Dingtian was given an opportunity. If he was considered worthy by this place, he could potentially gain power so great that it far exceeded his potential.

“Didn’t you say there was something dangerous here?” Yang Dingtian asked, “It seems kind of peaceful here.”

Doom.

Right after Yang Dingtian said it, the ground below him suddenly started to rumble.

Without any warning, a giant hand emerged from the ground and came straight at Yang Dingtian and Dugu Fengwu. Although it wasn’t directly aimed at them, the wind produced by its movement was already enough to make them fall down even further to the ground several hundred meters below.

So that’s what Dugu Fengwu was worried about. It turned out they were standing right on top of a giant’s head.

This giant, which was about three to four hundred meters tall, had one eye on each of its head. The hammer in its right hand was about the size of an entire house, and it was looking right at the two tiny creatures, who were now right next to its feet.

“Identify yourself. Unidentified intruders will be unconditionally eliminated …” Whatever this giant was made of, there was a certain mechanical tone to its voice, like it was synthesized from computer software or something. This voice was also very muffled, in a very obnoxiously loud kind of way, almost in par with the scream of the Heaven Flame Phoenix earlier.

“The guardian will commence his countdown. Please identify yourself…”

“Nine…”

“Eight…”

“Identify yourself. Unidentified intruders will be unconditionally eliminated …”

“Seven…”

“Six…”

“Access will not be permitted if you are not a VIP member of Five Elements Hall…”

“Uh, ah, can you take down this giant?” Yang Dingtian looked over to Dugu Fengwu, who was breathing just as hard as he was.

“Well… What do you think?” Dugu Fengwu rolled her eyes. “Well,” Yang Dingtian kept asking, “How does it compare to the Heaven Flame Phoenix?”

“What point is there to compare them? Look, a slap from that thing is enough to kill a master. As for you, I’m really not sure what’s the best way to describe it, but calling you an ant wouldn’t be an overstatement here.”

The foul mouth of this demon woman. Even on the brink of death, Dugu Fengwu was still thinking of ways to insult Yang Dingtian.

“Five…”

The giant was still counting.

“Four…”

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

“You are not a VIP member, and you will not be granted access here. All trespassers will be unconditionally eliminated…”

“Unconditionally…” The giant said as it swung its hammer towards Yang Dingtian and Dugu Fengwu.

Yang Dingtian wanted to escape to the door, but he couldn’t move his body. It was like he was already carrying the weight of this giant before it even made contact.

Strangely, Dugu Fengwu wasn’t trying to fight back. Her eyes were just locked onto Yang Dingtian.

“What? Trying to get a good look at me before you die?” Yang Dingtian asked sarcastically.

“I’m thinking if I should kill you right here,” Dugu Fengwu replied.

Yang Dingtian didn’t know what to say. Both of them were about to die now, and this demon woman was still thinking about killing him?

The hammer was coming closer. It wasn’t fast, but the size of it made it impossible to dodge from it. Dugu Fengwu inquired, “Since we’re about to die here, just tell me honestly: Did you actually violate me?”

Yang Dingtian wasn’t in a mood to give a sensible answer, “Agh!! If I knew how unlikable and annoying you are, I’ll violate you, kill you, violate you again, kill you again, violate and kill…”

The hammer was right on top of Yang Dingtian now. If Yang Dingtian had to describe it, it was like having a mountain drop right on top of you. And forget about being squeezed into meat sauce. Nothing would be left when this giant was done with its task.

“Is this really it?” Yang Dingtian thought to himself, “Please, I don’t want to end like this. Not like this…” As he clung desperately onto his dear life, something came to Yang Dingtian’s mind: the teardrop-shaped ornament Ning Ning gave him.

If it weren’t for this piece of ornament, Yang Dingtian would’ve never scared away the Fire Demon Violent Lion back at the Ten Thousand Blood Pool. As far as he remembered, the thousand-year-old beast didn’t even dare to take a look at it.

This three-headed giant was much, much stronger than that lion. There was no doubt about that. To be fair, Yang Dingtian had no idea the same trick would work for a second time.

Well, it was either try or die!

As the hammer was coming right down on Yang Dingtian, he took out the ornament, inserted his mystic qi into it, and quickly, it began to emit a beautiful, crystalized glow of light.

At the same time, the hammer froze right on top of Yang Dingtian and Dugu Fengwu’s heads. There were just three inches of distance between him and imminent death.

The giant, who was having no hesitation with its task just then, was now looking kind of confused. As though searching far into its own memory, all three of its eyes were staring blankly at the ornament.

On the other hand, Yang Dingtian and Dugu Fengwu were standing right where they were, like prisoners waiting for their trials.

So this was what a secret realm was like. You are either welcomed into it, or you get crushed in a matter of seconds.