Chapter Thirty-Two: The Broken Sword’s Lingering Grief
“Void! Heaven!”
The two ancient characters seared themselves onto Lin Mo’s retinas like white-hot brands, burning deep into his chaotic sea of consciousness. Each brushstroke of those words carried a sorrow and defiance that pierced through ten thousand years of time, resonating violently—painfully—with the cold, throbbing “stone” within his chest.
Void Heaven!
The Scripture of Void Heaven!
Void Heaven... the Immortal Lord?!
This name exploded in his disordered mind like thunder! Countless scenes—broken, blurry, illogical fragments—rushed over him like a great, uncontrollable flood, threatening to drown him.
Burning banners! A shattered black war spear! Thick, scalding golden blood splattering across his face! A blurry figure howling with laughter atop a mountain of corpses, holding aloft a sword that streamed with rivers of stars... And—eyes! A pair of eyes, wide open even in death, hollow and fixed upon the heavens, filled with endless unwillingness! Why did those eyes feel so familiar?
“Ugh—!” Lin Mo howled in agony, clutching his splitting head as if it might burst. The pain stabbed through his skull like a billion heated steel needles. Those chaotic images and voices came and went in an instant, leaving only deeper confusion and soul-rending pain. He could not distinguish whether those unwilling eyes were his own reflection or a brand from a former life. He only knew that this name, this place, this sword... and the cold “stone” in his chest... were bound by a tie that could never be severed.
Buzz!!!
At the very instant Lin Mo’s mind was shaken by that name and the chaotic fragments, the icy remnant of the Void Heaven Scripture in his chest, as if fiercely agitated by the lonely, razor-sharp sword will emanating from the massive sword scar, began to tremble with an unprecedented intensity. A cold and ferocious suction, steeped in desperate yearning, locked instantly onto the pitch-black ancient sword buried in the depths of the sword mark, with only its hilt and a sliver of blade exposed.
The suction was wild! Overbearing! It devoured the last shreds of Lin Mo’s will in an instant. His body, like a puppet controlled by a great invisible hand, sprang up from the cold ground. His right hand—corroded and mangled by Soul-Eating Stone Leeches—moved of its own accord, driven by a near-religious frenzy, reaching out furiously for the dust-covered black hilt.
“Don’t touch it!!!”
At the same moment, Su Li’s shrill cry exploded in the small stone chamber.
She was even closer to Lin Mo. The instant the words “Void Heaven” and the ancient sword appeared, the shock in her gaze was instantly replaced by an even deeper, almost greedy fervor. That speck of dark gold dust! This sword, likely directly connected to the Immortal Lord of Void Heaven! The mission of the Sect of Joy… a heaven-sent opportunity!
She paid no heed to the ghastly wound at her bleeding temple or the searing pain in her wrist, sliced open by bone shards. The moment the suction from the Void Heaven Scripture remnant seized Lin Mo, her intact left hand—like a long-coiled viper—struck out with a last flicker of pink energy and a hint of soul-bewitching power. Her aim: the black sword hilt!
Faster! Even faster!
Two bloodstained hands, each driven by a different will and greed, lunged through the frigid air toward the hilt of the ancient sword that had lain silent for millennia.
Lin Mo’s hand burned with the cold yearning of the Void Heaven Scripture remnant.
Su Li’s hand blazed with the burning greed of the Sect of Joy.
They were but a hair’s breadth away.
Just as their fingertips were about to touch the dust-laden hilt—
Buzz!!!
A sword will, dormant for ten thousand years, utterly lonely and sharp beyond imagination, burst forth from the depths of the sword scar—from the hilt of the pitch-black sword—as if an ancient, slumbering beast had been fully awakened.
It was not a physical shock, but a pure will, a razor’s edge that could slice through all things.
Hiss—!!!
As if billions of invisible ice blades were unsheathed in an instant!
The hands of Lin Mo and Su Li froze the moment they touched the terrifying sword will.
The expected sensation of gripping the hilt never came.
---
Lin Mo felt as if his right hand had been thrust into a mass of burning steel needles! An icy, unstoppable force, carrying an unparalleled, cutting will, surged along his arm’s meridians and stabbed into his body. Wherever it passed, his meridians felt as if they were instantly slashed to ribbons by countless tiny blades. The agony made his vision go black and his throat rasp with broken sounds.
“Ah—!” Su Li’s scream was even more desperate. Her left hand, wreathed in pink light, recoiled as if it had touched an invisible brand; the pink glow vanished instantly. Deep, bone-revealing wounds scored her pale hand, as though carved by the sharpest blades. Blood gushed forth, and the sword will’s icy edge drove itself through the wounds, stabbing coldly into her consciousness.
Both were sent flying backward, as if struck by invisible hammers.
Bang! Bang!
Lin Mo crashed heavily into the cold rock wall, his torn back suffering fresh trauma. His vision swam with flashes of light, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Su Li landed amidst jagged rubble, her left hand streaming blood, her body curled in pain; the wound at her brow throbbed violently, and the pallor of death seemed to thicken around her.
The pitch-black ancient sword still lay quietly embedded in the deep sword scar, not even the dust on its hilt disturbed. Only for a fleeting instant did a faint, mysterious glow seem to flicker across the dark patterns on its guard. The terrifying sword will that had erupted, after driving the two back, quickly receded like the tide, returning to the silent, razor-edged aura that filled the stone chamber.
Silence. A deathly silence. Only the harsh, labored breathing of the two and the faint drip of their blood onto the stone could be heard.
Lin Mo slumped against the wall, his right arm wracked with pain as if slashed by countless icy blades, every breath a knife to his organs. He stared fixedly at the black sword, his bloodshot eyes full of terror—and a strange, indescribable excitement. The cold sword will that had surged into him a moment ago brought not only agony, but also caused the Void Heaven Scripture remnant in his chest to beat with an eerie, almost harmonious steadiness, as if the sword will had temporarily quelled the remnant’s ferocity and restlessness.
Su Li struggled to prop herself up amid the rubble, gazing at the deep, bone-exposing wounds on her left hand, her eyes full of fear, anger—and a deeper longing. This sword… so terrifying! And yet… so powerful! If only she could control it…
At that moment—
“Uh… mm…”
A faint, dreamlike, intermittent sound, without warning, drifted from the corner of the stone chamber—from the place where the bloodless skeleton sat cross-legged!
The sound was so slight, yet it exploded in the deathly stillness like thunder.
Lin Mo and Su Li instantly froze, their hair standing on end. They whipped around, eyes locked on the skeleton.
The skeleton still leaned against the rock wall, its pale skull bowed, empty sockets gazing at the ground. No flesh, no sign of life.
Yet the sound had clearly come from there!
A hallucination? Or the lingering resentment of this accursed place?
As they stood, uncertain and alarmed—
Buzz!
A weak but unmistakable spiritual ripple, like a dying candle in the wind, drifted slowly from the skeleton’s forehead—if a skeleton could have a forehead. It was filled with exhaustion, sorrow, and a sense of release that spanned endless years.
Then, an ancient, rasping voice, as if made from the friction of countless motes of dust, sounded directly in their minds.
“Those who come after…”
The voice was broken, so faint it seemed as if it might vanish at any moment.
“I… am the Sword Keeper… a remnant will…”
Sword Keeper?! This skeleton… was the guardian of the ancient sword?! Lin Mo and Su Li’s hearts leapt into their throats.
“Lord Void Heaven… fell… I am ashamed…”
The ancient voice quivered with boundless grief and guilt.
“This sword… ‘No Return’… my lord’s blade… the remains…”
---
The Sword of No Return! The personal weapon of the Immortal Lord of Void Heaven?! The skeleton was guarding… the lord’s remains and sword?! Lin Mo’s heart felt as if struck by a heavy hammer; the Void Heaven Scripture remnant in his chest throbbed violently.
“Hate… Hao Tian… usurped the Dao… ‘Defier of Immortals’… a thief of the heavens…”
The voice sharpened, seething with hatred.
“The Abyss of Buried Immortals… not a battlefield… a trap… a crucible for refining immortals…”
A trap?! A crucible?! Lin Mo and Su Li’s pupils shrank—The Abyss was not the site of the final ancient battle, but a trap?!
“My lord… saw through… we did not believe… and so…”
The voice grew weak and sorrowful again.
“The sword… has a spirit… recognizes only the Dao of Void Heaven…”
“You who come after… if you inherit the Dao of Void Heaven… you may take the sword… break this crucible…”
“If… not… approach, and… perish…”
With that, the voice fell silent. The faint spiritual ripple vanished completely, like a spent flame. In the corner, the pale skeleton seemed to have exhausted its last strength—a faint crack sounded as a few ribs snapped, the whole frame sagging, more ashen than before, on the verge of crumbling into dust.
Deathly quiet returned.
Lin Mo and Su Li stood like stone statues, stunned by the earth-shattering revelations imparted by the skeleton’s dying will.
The Immortal Lord of Void Heaven perished here! His sword: “No Return!”
Hao Tian usurped the Dao of Void Heaven?! The title “Defier of Immortals” was a theft?!
The Abyss of Buried Immortals was a trap—a crucible for refining immortals?!
The sword has a spirit, recognizing only the Dao of Void Heaven?! Any not of that lineage who approach will die?!
This tidal wave of revelation battered their minds. The Void Heaven Scripture remnant in Lin Mo’s chest thumped wildly, chaotic memories surging, his head splitting with pain. Hao Tian… usurpation… trap… these words branded themselves deep into his consciousness like burning irons.
Su Li’s face flickered with shock, greed, and apprehension… At last, her gaze fixed hungrily on the pitch-black “No Return” sword. Only the Dao of Void Heaven? Lin Mo… he had the Void Heaven Scripture remnant inside him! He’d even triggered a resonance with the sword! He… was the key?!
A wild thought seized Su Li instantly! So gravely wounded, she had no hope of surviving this peril alone. This sword… was the only hope! Lin Mo… was the key to drawing the sword! She must control him, use him!
Just as a fierce gleam flashed in Su Li’s eyes, and she endured the pain in her hand and brow to launch herself at Lin Mo once more—
Boom—!!!
The entire stone chamber—no, the very bedrock of the Abyss of Buried Immortals—shuddered violently, more terrifyingly than ever before.
A thick, cold, venomous crimson glow, reeking of destruction and hatred, oozed in through the cracks and debris at the entrance to the crevice where they’d fled.
At the same moment, a monstrous will, ravenous and violent as a primordial demon god newly awakened, swept through the chamber and instantly locked onto Lin Mo and Su Li.
The blood cocoon! It had found them!