Chapter 74: Celestial Sword of the Nine Swords

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Celestial Sword of the Nine Swords

After studying the map in his hand a dozen times over, Su Han couldn’t help but look up at the sky, a feeling of gloom washing over him.

’So... what on earth gave me the delusion that I could master this entire Secret Realm just by holding a map?’

’I mean... I can master the Secret Realm just fine without a map!’

Clutching the map, Su Han flew to the peak of the tallest nearby mountain and stood there, surveying his surroundings.

Based on years of experience gleaned from being hopelessly bad with directions, he knew that when you’re lost, the simplest and most direct method is to find the highest point. From there, you should be able to see all possible paths at a glance.

However, after he took in the surrounding scenery, the gloom on Su Han’s face only deepened.

This Secret Realm had existed for who-knows-how-many millennia, and the vegetation had grown to an unbelievable density.

From the ground, all you could see were tree trunks. From up high... all you could see were treetops.

In a situation like this, forget standing on a mountaintop—Su Han doubted he could find his way even if he were flying high in the sky.

’Looks like this is forcing my hand. Time for my secret weapon.’

Sighing in resignation, Su Han flew back to the ground. He calmly put the map away, then reached down... and took off one of his shoes.

He tossed the shoe lightly into the air. It rose to its apex, then began to fall under the pull of gravity.

THUD!

The shoe landed, its toe pointing to his left.

’This way it is!’

He put his shoe back on and flew off in that direction.

After flying for a while, he suddenly felt that his surroundings looked a little familiar.

He looked down and saw, not far ahead, the distinct mark left by his shoe.

’Hmm... I flew in a circle.’

He took off his shoe again, tossed it lightly, and flew in the direction it pointed for a quarter of an hour.

Then he stopped, tossed the shoe, and continued flying.

And so it went.

He would toss the shoe, fly in the indicated direction for fifteen minutes, stop, toss it again, and fly on.

He lost count of how many times he repeated the process, and the entire morning slipped away in a flurry of activity.

After flying all morning, he stopped to pop a few Elixirs into his mouth to restore his energy. Suddenly, a very serious question occurred to him.

’I’ve been in here all morning, so why haven’t I seen a single soul?’

’Could it be... that the major powers haven’t entered the Secret Realm yet?’

Or perhaps... He tossed his shoe again and flew off in the new direction.

He had been flying for less than fifteen minutes when he came to an abrupt stop.

Not far ahead of him, a "small tree" several hundred meters tall, with a trunk so thick it would take six or seven people to encircle, was shimmering with a golden light.

’What a great start!’

To think he’d found a Skill Tree on his very first day! The foul mood from being lost instantly evaporated, replaced by sheer delight.

He took out his Flying Sword, flew into the air, and trimmed the branches of the large trees surrounding the Skill Tree to prevent them from catching fire.

He cast the skill Rain of Fire, and a great blaze... failed to light up the entire Skill Tree.

Su Han was speechless.

’So, a Skill Tree being this thick and tall isn’t necessarily a good thing.’

Frowning, Su Han fired off two more Rain of Fire spells in quick succession, finally managing to light up the entire Skill Tree.

Skill Tree (Activated).

Seeing the first Skill Tree he’d encountered in this Secret Realm now activated, Su Han opened the Skill List with a flicker of anticipation.

Available Skill 1: Nine Swords (Fragment).

Available Skill 2: King’s Dominating Aura (Nation).

Su Han was speechless.

’This list of available skills... feels strangely familiar.’

’Don’t tell me this Skill Tree was also left behind by the Old Ancestor?’

Muttering a wild guess to himself, Su Han, who had never given a damn about something like King’s Dominating Aura, immediately ignored the second option and focused on the first.

’The name Nine Swords sounds great. It just screams prestige.’

’First of all, nine is the ultimate number. Heaven has Nine Layers, the world is divided into the nine provinces of Jiuzhou... Dammit, I can’t make any more stuff up.’

’Okay, so the name is actually a bit lame, but it has to be better than that completely useless King’s Dominating Aura, right?’

’After all, it was listed above King’s Dominating Aura...’

Comforting himself with that thought, Su Han made his choice. The skill transformed into a wisp of Dao Rhyme and merged into his Sea of Consciousness.

As he absorbed the skill, an image appeared in his Sea of Consciousness, as if he were personally witnessing a figure made of light demonstrating an earth-shattering form of Swordsmanship.

One sword strike to shatter mountains and rivers, a second to make the stars fall, a third to shake heaven and earth, a fourth... and that was it.

The sequence repeated, over and over. As the figure of light performed the moves, it seemed to be muttering something. Though there was only image and no sound, Su Han had the distinct illusion that he could hear its voice.

’And more importantly... why does this figure of light look so strangely familiar?’

After staring at it for a long moment and comparing it to the image in his memory, Su Han nearly started cursing out loud.

’Son of a bitch!’

’It really is you, Old Ancestor!’

’Why are you everywhere? You’ve been dead for over a thousand years, can’t you just lie peacefully in your coffin and enjoy your retirement?’

’Why do I keep running into your eccentric ass everywhere I go?’

Soon, the information transfer for the Nine Swords (Fragment) skill was complete. Su Han immediately began to inspect the skill’s description.

The version of Nine Swords demonstrated by the suspected Old Ancestor’s light figure wasn’t nearly as incredible as the hype in the skill description suggested.

One sword strike didn’t shatter any mountains and rivers, a second didn’t make any stars fall, and a third didn’t cause heaven and earth to tremble.

Still, for the Old Ancestor to hype it up so much, Su Han couldn’t help but feel a sliver of anticipation for the real thing.

Skill: Nine Swords.

’First off... it’s not a Celestial Chosen Technique, not a Causality Technique, not a Forbidden Magic, and not a Secret Magic. It’s just an Ordinary Skill.’

’One-star review!’

(Fragment)

’Oh, and I missed the word "Fragment" in the parentheses. An Ordinary Skill, and a fragmented version at that. Another one-star review.’

He read on.

Fragmented version of the Divine Technique, Nine Swords. Contains the Three Swords of Heaven, Earth, and Man.

’It’s called Nine Swords but it only has three. Another one-star re—... wait... hold on, what kind of technique?’

His train of thought froze. His eyes automatically flicked back up, rereading the short description below the skill’s name.

Di... vine... Tech... nique... Nine... Swords...

"Divine Technique?"

Su Han’s eyes flew wide open. ’A Divine Technique... Other than Celestial Chosen Techniques, Causality Techniques, Forbidden Magic, Secret Magic, Ordinary Skills, and Mutated Skills, a completely new skill category had finally appeared in my Skill Tree.’

A Divine Technique.

’Just hearing those two words, you can feel the sheer prestige, can’t you?’

Brimming with anticipation, Su Han examined the more detailed skill description.

Nine Swords of Celestial Sword: Unleash Heaven’s Killing Intent, Moving Stars and Changing Constellations. With the Celestial Sword, all Stars are Extinct.

"Holy shit! That’s insane!"

After reading the description for the Nine Swords of Celestial Sword, Su Han couldn’t help but swear. Based on the description, the power of this single strike was basically on par with his Celestial Chosen Technique, Celestial Punishment.

And then...

"Are you fucking kidding me..."

Su Han swore for a second time after he clearly read the line of small text in the parentheses following the description.

(Skill Cooldown: 36,525 days.)

(Note 1: The cooldowns for the swords within Nine Swords are separate.)

One hundred years!

This Stars Extinct strike had a cooldown of one hundred years.

What Su Han found most unbearable was that, fine, a hundred years is a hundred years, but why the hell did it have to include the leap years in its calculation?

’36,525 days? Did the damn Skill Tree transmigrate from Earth too? Is it using the Gregorian calendar or something?’

A hundred-year cooldown basically made this a one-time-use skill.

After all, a hundred years from now, he’d likely have grown strong enough to unleash a strike capable of causing Stars Extinct on his own, without needing a skill.

Fortunately, just as Su Han was about to start cursing again, his eyes fell upon the second note.

(Note 2: Celestial Spirit Power can be used to permanently reduce the cooldown of the Celestial Sword.)

P.S. (Note 3: Recommendation votes can reduce the cooldown on new Chapter releases.)