Chapter 371: Slaughter! Destruction! Immortal!
Translator: Swammped Editor: Hitesh_
The last King Will Sculpture was that of the Gold Hand King.
Unsurprisingly, Gold Hand King mastered in hand arts. Apart from the Sword Dao and Blade Dao, although the other Life and Death King's wills weren't far apart, they had some subtle differences. For example, if a man who mastered in staff techniques were to take the trial of receiving Gold Hand King's will, he would certainly not obtain as good a result as someone who mastered in hand arts.
Counting from backward, the second sculpture was already destroyed, and there were three big words written on the flagstone.
Splitting Earth King.
The following intact sculptures were of the Wind Cloud Blade King, Godly Whip King, Silver Spear King, Dual Sword King, Tyrant Fist King, Chasing Wind King, Diamond King, Demonic Eye King…
The third was Iron Sword King, and the first was a Life and Death Emperor, the Star Emperor.
Each of the intact sculptures seemed completely ordinary, but when one focussed one's mind and tried to feel the sculpture's existence, they seemed to come alive. Above the sculpture of the Gold Hand King, a golden halo appeared as a gargantuan hand seemed to press down, leaving nowhere to escape. The Wind Cloud Sword King's blade strike seemed to change the color of the heaven and earth as winds surged and clouds gushed forth. Godly Whip King's long whip streaked across the sky like the legendary rain dragon. Silver Spear King's silver spear pierced the blue dome of sky, slashing a silver colored meteor. The Dual Sword King held a sword in each hand; they crisscrossed, severing vitality itself. Tyrant Fist King's fists filled his field of view, encompassing the heaven and earth. Chasing Wind King's attack was without a shape or form, representing the pinnacle of fast. The Diamond King majestically swelled his muscles- his every move filled with boundless might.
The third sculpture, Iron Sword King allowed Ye Chen to feel what swordsmanship truly was. An ordinary slash of the sword severed mountains and cleaved rivers. Everything before his eyes seemed ephemeral.
As for the Star Emperor, Ye Chen couldn't describe it in words. He couldn't see the former's being, and could only see a dark sky covered with stars. At every moment, there were comets falling down, crashing into the world. From this sculpture, Ye Chen experienced a trace of the heavenly dao will, irresistible. He alone was equal to all the other ten.
"So, this is the aura of a Life and Death King? Hm, there are some words left behind the broken second sculpture."
The second sculpture had already been used, called the Profound King.
At the lower right corner of the flagstone were two lines written in small letters.
"Of the eighteen, fifteen remain. I won't pick Star Emperor, as Profound is enough. Use the Profound Door, transcend Emperor, and charge the Heavenly Dao- by Yan Qingxuan ."
Yan Qingxuan, Xuan Hou?
'It's Xuan Hou!'
These words were actually left by the world famous Xuan Hou!
Xuan Hou's title came from her name itself. Yan Qingxuan- the word Xuan sounds exceedingly close to Xuan. However, now it seemed that the meaning behind it was not merely that. Profound King also contained the world Xuan, and she mentioned the words Profound Door, which combined its three folds meaning into the Xuan of Xuan Hou.
(Tl: Xuan in her actual name, Yan Qingxuan, is- 萱(lily), and Xuan in her title is- 玄(mysterious), which is also the Xuan in the title of Profound King(玄妙). Her title Xuan Hou could be interpreted as After Profound.)
These two lines contained the grand ambitions of Xuan Hou.
'Of the eighteen, fifteen remain' meant that fifteen sculptures remained intact of the total eighteen; 'I won't pick Star Emperor' refers to not accepting the test of Star Emperor's sculpture. Not that she didn't dare; it was clear that she had the ability to accept the test, but she gave it up. 'Use the Profound Door, transcend Emperor and charge the Heavenly Dao' - it could be easily guessed that Xuan Hou already had her own dao, which was called the "Profound Door". With this dao, she could transcend Emperors of Life and Death and charge the illusory heavenly dao.
"She is a powerful woman who seeks to reach the peak."
Ye Chen sucked in a deep breath. He could imagine that Xuan Hou back in the day. She hadn't had attained Life and Death realm yet, and she might not even have entered the Sea of Soul realms. However, she didn't have the slightest doubt that she would rise above the masses and even left behind such majestic words- wishing to transcend Emperors using her own dao.
As of now, she had already accomplished half of it. Under Void Emperors, who would dare to say that they had surpassed her? Even more frighteningly, Xuan Hou's life had merely just begun.
Of course, as one's strength increased, their scope of the world would also unfold. Ye Chen had long been aware that True Spirit Continent was not this world's center, and Life and Death Kings were also not merely limited to what were seen on the surface. There were many hidden, centuries-old monsters and old demons. The moment they returned, True Spirit continent would undergo a major upheaval.
"Two amongst the ten sculptures are Kings of sword dao. Let's begin with the Dual Sword King!"
Retracting his gaze, Ye Chen arrived before the sculpture of Dual Sword King.
Dual Sword King was a cold-looking middle-aged man. His hair were tucked beneath a golden crest, and he was wearing a close-fit battle robe, wrist guards on his wrist, and two swords at each side of the waist. These two swords were not identical- the left one was rather broad while the right one was rather long. He could faintly discern the murderous aura on them.
"I wonder what kind of sight Dual Sword King's sword intent would be!"
Ye Chen's expression suddenly turned grave. The longsword in his Sea of Soul faintly shook, and an overwhelming sword intent spread over the sculpture.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
As the sounds of kill pounded in his ear, a light figure walked out of the sculpture.
As soon as this figure appeared, Ye Chen knew this was image of Dual Sword King's will. A frightening pressure covered the heaven and earth. Even the void crumbled with rumbling sounds, unable to sustain it.
The next moment, Ye Chen's pupils narrowed as he saw the will's image pulling out the two swords from its waist. The two swords crisscrossed and slashed out at an unimaginable speed, splitting open two cracks in the space. Ye Chen couldn't even move his fingertip.
Chi!
In a flash, Ye Chen's body disintegrated into thousands of pieces, and blood droplets collided against each other in the air, splattering everywhere like a huge blood flower.
"Haha, my slaughter sword dao will is everlasting! Die!"
"My will is immortal and inextinguishable, my soul is eternal. So what if your sword dao will exceeds mine by a thousand times? It's merely a wisp of your remaining will. It can't affect reality. Everything is an illusion. Everything is fabricated. Recombine!"
Amidst the splattered flesh, his eye corner spurted out blood and lips issued out a roar. A frightening light was emitted out of his eyes as his sword intent spread out with a rumble.
Suddenly, thousands of flesh pieces recombined and formed a complete body.
"Immortal sword will… What nostalgia! Who are you to Battle King? That's not right. Sword will can't be passed on. Every individual has their own will. This should be will you have comprehended from the Battle King. Battle King, oh Battle King! Why would you call yourself Battle King even when you have such accomplishments in the sword dao. I know you always wished to call yourself Sword King, or even Sword Emperor. But alas, the Sword King was the title of ancient tyrants. Emperors nowadays are merely weak, puny Kings of the ancient times, and a Sword King can beat all sorts of paragons under the heavens."
The sculpture said mumblingly. After a few moments, it looked towards Ye Chen, "Your will is very young, you ought to be a little devil. So little devil, what is your goal here."
Ye Chen couldn't tell whether the former could hear him or not, so he said resolutely, "My goal is very simple, to become strong step by step."
"Haha, I can't hear your voice, but I can sense your will. Little devil, go chase after the Sword King! Once you become a Sword King, nobody in the world would be your opponent. To this day, nobody has been able to surpass ancient Sword Kings in terms success in sword dao."
Buzz!
After saying these words, the will image transformed into countless light fragments, and the sculpture had numerous cracks extending through it before collapsed.
Looking at the rubble, Ye Chen said inwardly, "Slaughter sword will… What an amazing sword will! If he were still alive, the will would have been able to affect reality, and I would have died thousand times over. He has already died, so without any support, the will could only exist in the void. However, if I were deceived by the illusion, I would have truly died."
Closing his eyes, Ye Chen sensed the feeling he had just a moment ago.
Dual Sword King became famous by relying on his two swords. One was to kill, kill anyone and everyone before his eyes, and the other was to bring carnage under the heavens. These two swords combined to form the blood-stained King.
After a while, Ye Chen opened his eyes.
"This is not my sword dao, but I can learn from it."
Ye Chen strode to the third sculpture, the Iron Sword King.
Iron Sword King sculpture's expression was calm, with a trace of desolation. A simple iron sword was casually embedded in the ground, standing tilted at a distance of one meter from his palm.
After calming his state of mind for a moment, Ye Chen spread out his sword intent onto the sculpture.
The image of sculpture's will walked out step by step, but it didn't attack Ye Chen. Instead, it raised its head towards the sky and said, "Nightfall!"
Ye Chen's gaze remained steady.
"The sword will on your body carries an immortal nature. In the younger generation, only Battle King had such potential, but you're not him. Your will is much more reserved. His will... It was never so self-exalted. Perhaps you're his successor."
Iron Sword King's words made Ye Chen aware that this person became famous before the Battle King. At the time of his death, the latter hadn't achieved such a legendary status.
"My will is destruction sword will… One slash exterminates all matter. Let me attack while it's night!"
Clank!
Pulling out the iron sword image from its side, the will image calmly stood in place. After experiencing Slaughter Sword Will, Ye Chen's heart was calm without any ripples.
"Destroy!"
With a swing of the sword, heaven and earth ceased to exist and everything turned to primal chaos.
Ye Chen had an estimation of Iron Sword King's sword will. However, as soon as the latter swung his sword, he immediately realized that the latter surpassed Dual Sword King in terms of sword intent by two folds. He couldn't even tell if Battle King's accomplishments were higher than him or not.
Body…as well as the soul…
Disintegrated in an instant.
Ye Chen couldn't sense his own being, feeling muddled. His five senses completely disappeared, drifting with waves as if he'd completely disappeared from this world.
A speck of light shone, the quintessence of Ye Chen's will.
'Immortal!"
"Immortal!"
"Recombine!"
Within the darkness, Ye Chen's five senses gradually recovered. But, he didn't have a body. With a roar, the image of his will condensed, and it began contending against the Destruction Sword Will.
"Not bad! You've grasped the quintessence of immortal, firmly believing yourself to be immortal from beginning to end." Iron Sword King's will image nodded with a smile.