Chapter 484 - 483: Shadow of the Sword Ancestor

Chapter 484: Chapter 483: Shadow of the Sword Ancestor

Chapter 483: Shadow of the Sword Ancestor

Luo Wusheng did not respond to the voice in his mind.

Because right now, aside from Little Yuli beside him, none of the girls could immediately receive his reply.

High-level manipulations of time were extremely difficult to explain. That mysterious voice already possessed the baffling ability to rewind time and redefine victory and defeat—yet Yue Xuanji had gone even further with an even stranger maneuver.

—She had "saved" the moment when Luo Wusheng previously succeeded in leaving this space and establishing contact with the outside world, then "projected" that most advantageous instant for him into the present.

If that was still a little hard to grasp... well—if, at the beginning, being inside this space was like being isolated with no signal, then now it was as if several phone lines had been dragged outward, the other side had spoken a single sentence—and time itself had frozen.

The signal was not cut, but the call had entered a state where every second was stretched into infinity.

And the "phone lines" were the changes that had appeared on his body.

Those changes had been hidden within the flow of time by a certain white-haired loli, only to surface now that he himself had come under the influence of temporal power.

’I can understand Xiaoyao being tied to me by the Red String of Causality. I can also accept that little pink fox refined a trace of the ancient phoenix essence through me and managed to hook onto the signal. Even Shuangxue using the sword embryo created from our dual cultivation is barely within reason... but why did the Empress bring out the scabbard instead of the Human Emperor Sword itself? No matter how you look at it, a Divine Artifact should be more suitable for hiding in time, right?’

Ah—no, wait. If it were the Human Emperor Sword itself, then the karmic link she used to pull him out would probably be messed up...

But why did Little Yuli’s side come out entirely? Does she not need to care about karmic links at all?

...Fine. Maybe that’s just what it means to be the protagonist.

You always show up at the very center of events.

Luo Wusheng could not clearly perceive the precise details of that white-haired loli’s operation, but once again he deeply realized that her love for stirring up trouble was one thing—her methods and abilities were probably unmatched even among the world’s top-tier cultivators.

’Still... the Ancestral Netherkin Tail Essence she got from the little pink fox is the Zhu Long essence used to control time... tsk tsk. Looks like manipulating time isn’t going to save her loli form after all—at least not for now?’

He muttered inwardly, then finally halted the spread of his thoughts.

Turning his attention inward, he examined his current physical state.

He was no longer a purely spirit-like existence. Massive spiritual energy surged from that illusory fox tail, forcibly constructing a temporary flesh-and-blood body and robes of condensed spiritual energy around his neither-living-nor-dead form. From the golden, divine scabbard flickering with light, the faint shadow of a star-mist dragon emerged, echoing with a single point of starlight within his dantian. The golden radiance intensified, and the protective power it released forcibly stabilized the temporary body formed of spiritual energy.

The Human Emperor Sword could only unleash its true might in the hands of a human bearing dragon fortune, and its scabbard was the same.

Though the dragon fortune on Luo Wusheng was only a sliver he had inexplicably obtained long ago in exchange for a piece of Star-Moon Jade, it was nonetheless genuine.

"Amitābha... is this the final method the benefactor can produce?"

The illusory river vanished at some point, and the mysterious voice spoke calmly from all directions.

"What, are you scared?" Luo Wusheng deliberately let out a mocking laugh, though there was no mirth in his eyes. He swayed slightly as he rose from the clouds. "That’s understandable. If today alone you directly lose a Buddhist dharma-form and a clone capable of acting outside while unaffected by heavenly tribulation... that shouldn’t be a small loss for you, should it?"

"Talking tough" is easy, actually doing it is far harder.

A terrifying pressure had already descended upon Luo Wusheng moments ago, like the weight of ten thousand years of time itself, pressing so heavily that the temporary flesh-body he had just constructed from spiritual energy nearly collapsed.

The other side had once again revealed a fragment of its true power. And even though Luo Wusheng was no longer as helpless as before, it still did not seem enough to contend with it.

"Disturbing this poor monk’s thoughts is meaningless... I did not come to fight to the death. I only intend to return the deviated line to its proper course. Benefactor, why persist in such obsession?"

"What, you want me to obediently wait for your true body to descend in the future so you can actually kill me?"

Luo Wusheng’s expression was flat.

"To be honest, I’m rather curious how you plan to achieve this so-called ’returning things to the right track’... Seal me back to the Golden Core realm for a year?"

After he spoke, the mysterious voice fell silent for a moment.

"Benefactor is stalling for time...?"

Those words instantly put Luo Wusheng on guard, yet the mysterious voice continued as if unconcerned:

"No matter. This poor monk can explain these matters to you."

"To return the deviated line to its proper course is not especially difficult for me. You have just experienced it yourself... The moment of deviation occurred barely a month ago. Time is sufficient to wash away all the changes that took place then. Supplemented by this poor monk’s method of severing affinities, I can prevent the alteration of your fate at that time, and then rewrite the various traces you have left in the outside world over this past month."

Hearing this, Luo Wusheng let out a short laugh.

"Rewrite traces in the past? That doesn’t sound as simple as you’re making it. I’ve done quite a lot this past month, entangling plenty of karmic links. Just this Netherkin chaos alone—I intervened directly or indirectly more than a few times. If you want to change that..."

As he spoke, his words suddenly stuck.

"This poor monk can use a heaven-veiling technique so that everyone in the world believes it was the Daoist Sect Master who stepped in to quell the Netherkin chaos."

The voice from all directions replied calmly.

The corner of Luo Wusheng’s mouth twitched.

"Did you settle the Daoist Sect Master’s appearance fee?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, you’re a monk. Why are you so fixated on a small fry like me? If your six roots aren’t clean, I can recommend Red Blossom Pavilion. My Demonic Artifact Pavilion happens to have business ties over there, if you go, I can even get you a bone-breaking discount."

"This poor monk has no such worldly desires."

The voice echoing among the clouds did not mind Luo Wusheng’s nonsense.

"As for why it is you... it is because you were originally this poor monk’s."

A chill ran straight down Luo Wusheng’s spine.

What kind of outrageous statement was that?!

Before he could open his mouth to defend his innocence, a sharp, girlish voice sounded behind him.

"Pah! Luo Lang belongs to Little Yuli!"

A small hand suddenly slipped into Luo Wusheng’s arm, yanking him into a mass of softness.

The adorable little girl clung to the person beside her like she was guarding food, pressing him tightly against herself while making an extremely fierce expression. In her other hand, she waved a wooden sword through the air.

At the same instant, Luo Wusheng felt the crushing weight of time that had been pressing down on him vanish without a trace.

In its place came a profound and wondrous sword intent that enveloped the area around him.

He could sense that before this sword intent, even the aged, weathered sword aura he had inherited by imitating the Sword Emperor seemed insignificant.

It was as though this intent were the very source of all swords in the world—the ultimate of the sword path.

But that was only the beginning.

Luo Wusheng saw a Daoist figure: a woman in plain robes step lightly forward as a phantom.

She held an utterly ordinary wooden sword. Her features could not be seen, yet she seemed merged with heaven and earth.

Faintly, an illusion arose in the mind.

So long as this figure held a sword in her hand, she would be the progenitor of the sword path—the ultimate truth of the Dao.

The Sword Ancestor!

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Note: Link to the character Illustration:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD