From a loser to an immortal sage

Chapter 496 The Final Step in Awakening the Divine Artifact

I stared at the sword suspended in the center of the cave, the key pendant on my chest burning so hot it almost burned through my inner clothes.

The spirit's words were still swirling in my mind—"It's waiting for you," but what is it waiting for me to do?

Awaken the sword that seals the evil, or fulfill the last wish of the female immortal who forged the sword with her life?

"Now only the final step remains," Elder Qingfeng's voice suddenly rang out.

I turned to look at him. He was holding the Bagua plate that was split in two, his fingertips pressed between the cracks, his knuckles turning white from the force. "I accidentally broke the seal before, and now I must use your spiritual power as a guide to make the sword recognize its master."

"The slightest mistake..." His Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't finish his sentence. However, the smell of rotting flesh mixed with scorched earth outside the cave completed the second half of his sentence for him—the slightest mistake, and the evil creature would take the opportunity to emerge.

Wen Chen's palm suddenly covered the back of my hand.

His palms, calloused from years of martial arts training, were surprisingly hot: "I'll stabilize your spiritual meridians." I looked up and met his deep, unwavering eyes, where a familiar resolve surged, like when he shielded me from three blows in the mass grave, like when he used his natal sword to cleave through the dark clouds during the tribulation.

Suddenly, I calmed down and gently squeezed his hand back: "Okay."

Zi Ling took out a string of green jade prayer beads from her sleeve and gently placed them at my feet.

Her silver bells jingled in the strange wind outside the cave, and fine beads of sweat clung to her eyelashes, yet she still smiled at me: "Sister, this is a heart-protecting bead I forged from thousand-year-old cold jade. If the spiritual power backfires..." Before she could finish speaking, a gust of wind swept in withered leaves, and she hurriedly grabbed the offering table, the pearl hairpin in her hair wobbling and nearly falling off.

I took a deep breath and slowly closed my eyes.

As spiritual energy rose from the dantian and flowed along the spiritual meridians, a stinging sensation was felt—perhaps the foundation had been damaged by forcibly breaking the formation earlier.

But when I touched the key pendant on my heart, the stinging pain suddenly turned into a warm current.

The patterns on the pendant clearly appeared in my mind. They were sword-shaped engravings that I had never noticed before, and they were now resonating with the vibrations of the sword in the center of the cave.

"Begin." The ethereal immortal's voice was like the morning mist of a spring mountain. When I opened my eyes, he was gazing at the sword, his withered fingers lightly stroking the air. "It awaits your blood."

I was taken aback.

Wen Chen's hand tightened suddenly, and I could feel his spiritual energy surging violently, almost bursting out of his body: "No."

“This is the necessary path to recognize a master.” Elder Qingfeng sighed, and the cracked Bagua plate suddenly emitted a faint light. “When the female immortal forged the sword, she used her heart’s blood as a pledge.”

"Yao's keychain..." He looked up at me, "It was originally her keepsake."

I suddenly remembered the scene when I first saw the keychain.

It was in a dilapidated temple in a small town. I was so hungry that I was dizzy. I found a small iron box under the offering table. Inside, besides this pendant, there was half a moldy steamed bun.

At the time, I thought it was just some beggar's keepsake, but now I realize that the tiny inscription on the bottom of the box—"For those destined to be born in the future"—was actually the handwriting of the female immortal.

"I'll do it." I withdrew my hand, a bead of blood forming on my fingertip.

Wen Chen paused for a moment, but ultimately did not stop me. He simply gripped my hand tighter, and his spiritual energy seeped into my body like a stream, stabilizing my surging blood and qi.

The moment the blood droplet touched the sword, the purple light wrapped around my wrist as if it were alive.

I heard the sword's cry suddenly rise higher, like a sob suppressed for a thousand years finally finding an outlet.

An image exploded in his mind—raging flames engulfed the sky, a female cultivator in white knelt on scorched earth, her long sword embedded in the earth's veins, blood flowing down the sword's spine, staining the entire land.

Her voice, mingled with the clang of swords, pierced through a thousand years: "With my flesh and blood as the chain, with my soul as the guide, I await the destined one to arrive, to release me from my predicament, and to rid me of my calamity..."

"Yao Yao!" Wen Chen's voice trembled.

I then realized that I was kneeling on the ground without even noticing, my back soaked in cold sweat.

The purple light on the sword had completely subsided, and it now hung quietly above my palm. The once unfamiliar inscriptions were now as clear as if etched into my very bones: "Exterminate Evil."

"Did it work?" Zi Ling tiptoed closer, her fingertips about to touch the sword, but she was repelled by a beam of light.

She stuck out her tongue and retreated behind Elder Qingfeng, her eyes sparkling. "Sister's sword is so beautiful."

"It's not mine." I gently stroked the sword, and the Demon Slayer suddenly trembled slightly, as if in response to my words, "It belongs to the Female Immortal Venerable. I merely..."

"To complete what she couldn't finish." The ethereal immortal took a new bamboo leaf from his sleeve. This time, the leaf landed on the sword, but instead of igniting, it emitted a faint blue light. "She waited three thousand years, and finally, she has waited."

The strange wind outside the cave had stopped at some point.

In the silence, I suddenly heard the sound of chains snapping from a very, very far place.

Wen Chen's body tensed instantly. He released my hand, and a golden net of spiritual energy spread out, protecting me in the center.

His jawline tightened into a cold, hard line, and his gaze fixed on the outside of the cave was like ice: "Something's approaching."

Elder Qingfeng's Bagua compass suddenly shattered completely with a "crack." He staggered two steps, and as he grabbed the cave wall, blood seeped from his fingertips: "This pressure... it's at least at the Nascent Soul stage."

Zi Ling's silver bell rang again, this time not from the wind, but from her trembling hand clutching it: "Sister, this aura... is colder than before..."

I gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword tightly, and a warm tremor emanated from its blade, as if it were saying, "Don't be afraid."

In the darkness outside the cave, something was moving; the sound of crunching on dry branches grew clearer, mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible laugh, like an owl, or perhaps...

"Watch out!" Wen Chen suddenly pushed me aside.

A dark shadow burst through the hole, and the wind it stirred up extinguished all the candles on the offering table.

In the darkness, I saw a pair of blood-red eyes, like two inextinguishable will-o'-the-wisps, slowly approaching.

Suddenly, the red light in those eyes in the darkness intensified, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

The sword was burning hot in my palm, and the blade vibrated so fast it almost cut my skin—but it wasn't pain, it was more like some kind of urging.

"It's Mo Yu." Wen Chen's voice was like shattered ice colliding. His back, which was blocking my way, tensed like a bowstring, and his fingertips moved so fast that they left afterimages. "He has been chasing this sword for three hundred years."

My throat tightened.

The image of the female immortal forging a sword with her life three hundred years ago still surged in her mind, and at this moment it suddenly overlapped with fragments of memories—back then, evil things wreaked havoc on the six realms, and in the end, they were sealed in a sword by an unnamed female cultivator.

As for Mo Yu... I've seen this name in the ancient books of the Ten Thousand Demon Cave. He is the most loyal servant of evil creatures, dedicated to finding opportunities to break their seals.

"Do you think this will stop me?"

A sinister voice brushed past my ear.

I turned my head sharply and bumped into a cloud of black fog.

The black mist, carrying the smells of rotting corpses and rust, almost suffocated me.

When their vision cleared again, a man dressed in a black brocade robe was standing in the center of the cave.

His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was adorned with silver skull ornaments, and his left index finger rested on the spine of the Demon-Slaying Sword, his nails turning bluish-black.

"Mo Yu!" Zi Ling's silver bell clattered to the ground.

Her hand, which had been supporting Elder Qingfeng, suddenly tightened, her knuckles turning white. "You...you weren't locked at the bottom of the Abyss?"

"That old man's soul-locking chain?" Mo Yu scoffed, casually tugging at his right hand—only then did I notice half a charred chain wrapped around his ankle. "Three thousand years couldn't imprison the Evil Lord, let alone three hundred?" His gaze swept over me, then suddenly narrowed. "Interesting, you bear her blood pact."

Wen Chen's spiritual power suddenly surged in like a wave, protecting me entirely within his spiritual shield.

He turned to look at me, his eyes not filled with his usual composure, but with an almost violent vigilance: "Yaoyao, hurry up and exterminate the evil."

He wants to seize the evil lord within the sword, but your blood pact...

"It's alright." I licked my dry lips and dug my fingers deep into the hilt of the Demon-Slaying Sword.

The tremor of the sword suddenly became long and gentle, as if soothing me. "The female immortal said, 'When the destined person arrives, she will relieve my distress and remove my calamity.' Now that I have received her key, I should also accept her karma."

Mo Yu's fingernails drew sparks on the sword's spine: "Cause and effect?"

The little girl certainly knows how to talk a good game. He suddenly flicked his sleeve, and black mist, like a venomous snake, darted towards Wen Chen's spiritual barrier. "Then I'll show you what true cause and effect are—"

"Qingfeng!" The ethereal immortal's shout was like a heavy hammer blow.

Only then did I notice that Elder Qingfeng had knelt in the corner of the cave at some point, his hands pressed on the shattered Bagua plate, blood dripping from his forehead onto the center of the plate.

His white hair was stuck to his face with cold sweat, yet he continued chanting the incantation, his voice trembling: "Heaven is Qian, Earth is Kun, borrow the two principles to suppress evil!"

Suddenly, the fragments of the Bagua plate emitted golden light, cutting Mo Yu's black mist in two.

Ziling seized the opportunity to pounce on me and put the string of green jade prayer beads on my wrist: "Sister, these beads can protect you from three backlashes!" Her hands were as cold as ice, but her fingertips were still gently stroking the back of my hand, just like when she used to treat my wounds in the medicine shop when I was a child.

Wen Chen's spiritual shield cracked with a "crack".

He groaned, blood seeping from his back—only then did I realize that he had just shielded me from most of the impact of the black mist. "Wen Chen!" I gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword tightly, my spiritual power surging forth from its blade.

This time there was no stinging pain, only a scalding power exploding along my meridians, as if the divine soul of the female immortal was resonating with me.

Suddenly, the demon-slaying beast emitted a clear, dragon-like cry.

Mo Yu's hand was jolted away, and his pupils shrank sharply: "Impossible!"

The sword's ritual of recognizing its master is not yet complete...

“It’s finished.” I heard another female voice mixed in with my own, clear and cold as frost, “Three thousand years have passed, Mo Yu, it’s time for you to go to the Abyss of No Return to join your evil lord.”

Suddenly, thousands of stars fell from the cave ceiling.

I looked up and saw golden runes rising from the Demon-Slaying Sword, each one like a memory etched into my mind by the female immortal.

The black mist around Mo Yu began to dissipate, and he staggered backward, a look of terror appearing on his face for the first time: "You...you're not her reincarnation, you are..."

“I am Xiao Yao.” I gripped the sword tightly, “but I held this sword for her.”

As the last golden light enveloped Mo Yu, he let out a piercing scream: "Just you wait and see!"

The evil lord will not let this go! Before he finished speaking, he was swept away by the golden light and left outside the cave, leaving only a ground covered with silver skull ornaments, gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

The wind outside the cave quieted down again.

Zi Ling collapsed to the ground, covering her mouth and sobbing; Elder Qingfeng lay amidst the fragments of the Bagua compass, eyes closed, panting heavily; while the ethereal immortal twirled a fresh bamboo leaf, gazing at the night sky outside the cave and chuckling softly, "They caught it after all."

Wen Chen turned around, and I then noticed that his shirt was soaked with blood.

I rushed to touch his wound, but he grabbed my hand and pressed it to his chest: "I'm fine, my natal sword blocked seventy percent of the damage." His thumb stroked the jade prayer beads on my wrist, "But you..."

"Take this!" Zi Ling suddenly pointed at my palm.

I looked down, and my breath suddenly stopped.

The ancient patina on the sword had disappeared, revealing a moon-white scabbard.

A blue lotus was embroidered on the scabbard with gold thread, and at the junction of the hilt and the scabbard, three small characters slowly emerged in the moonlight—"Cloud Shadow".

“Cloud Shadow?” I reached out my fingertip and gently touched those two words, as if touching some long-forgotten memory.

The image of the female immortal flashed back in my mind: she was kneeling on scorched earth, with a city destroyed by evil fire behind her, and the two words were clearly written on the scabbard of the sword in her arms.

"This is..." Wen Chen leaned closer, his voice extremely soft, "...the name of the female immortal?"

I shook my head.

The keychain suddenly felt hot against my chest; this time it wasn't a burning pain, but rather a kind of pulling sensation.

I took out the pendant and found that a line of small characters had appeared on the back of the pendant at some point, exactly the same as the "Cloud Shadow" on the sword sheath.

Zi Ling tiptoed to take a look and whispered, "Sister, perhaps this is..."

"Shh." I held her hand down.

Moonlight streamed through the cracks in the cave, illuminating the sword sheath. The two characters "Cloud Shadow" glowed warmly, as if waiting for me to unlock a secret that had been dormant for three thousand years.

Wen Chen's fingers covered the back of my hand, the warmth of his touch pulling me back to reality: "Whatever it is, we'll investigate together."

I nodded, but my gaze remained fixed on the "cloud shadow".

A night breeze swirled up a withered leaf, which gently landed on the sword sheath. Then, an invisible force lifted it up and carried it into the night sky outside the cave.

Cloud shadows, cloud shadows...

How many stories are hidden in this name?

The last wish of the female immortal, the threat from Mo Yu, and the key pendant on my heart...

I gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword tightly; the "Cloud Shadow" on the scabbard burned in my palm, as if to say: The answer is almost here.