Chapter 1112: Four Swords As One
Proofreader: Papatonks
“Senior!”
Zhuo Fan shot to his feet, awake. Qiao’er jumped in joy, “Dad, you’re back!”
“Kid, you’re up at last. You only have a scratch here and there and collapsed from exhaustion. Even so, you were out for a whole week. For a moment there I thought you lost your will, never to rise again, ha-ha-ha…” Sea Ao laughed in glee, “The next thing you know, you wake up like nothing!”
Zhuo Fan saw black before his eyes and touched their seal. What bothered him most was the lack of any trace of his wife’s energy. He rushed, “Qingcheng! What about Qingcheng, Senior Sea Ao?”
“You mean the girl? You saved her so take it easy.”
“Me?!”
“Yeah.”
Sea Ao explained after seeing the confused expression he had on, “To save you, she took the thunderflame into her body. Just as her soul was about to fade away, a Sovereign path came out of you, shielding the last vestige of her soul from annihilation. It was the only thing that stood in the way of her rejoining the mere spiritual energy of the world around us.”
Zhuo Fan’s brow shook hard, looking pale and dismayed, “Sovereign path? Isn’t that what legends talk of only as the ultimate skill of the Sovereign Stage, one form that gives eternal life? How come I have it?”
“You don’t know?”
“Of course not. I’d have used it from the start if I did, not to waste time running all over the place.”
“In that case, I know even less.” Sea Ao shrugged and grinned, “It’s said only a Sovereign can wield a Sovereign path, as in the Ten Sovereigns. Hardly a feat possible by a Dao amateur like you. Does that mean a Sovereign resided within you to protect your little old life? He-he-he, that’s quite the backing, kid. Now, who on earth are you, exactly?”
Plagued with confusion, Zhuo Fan was lost. But then he snapped back as he recalled the hazy elder.
[Has he always been protecting me?]
[But who was he? Why would he appear only as my life is about to be extinguished?]
His mind was drowned in question with no answer, questions he could only put aside for now. He instead asked Sea Ao in worry, “What about Qingcheng’s soul? Where is she?”
“I threw it in the Sacred Domain.”
“Sacred Domain?”
“Yes.” Sea Ao grinned, “Boy, you and the lass’ luck is out of this world. Did you know the North Sea had a connection with the Sacred Domain?”
Zhuo Fan mulled over, “From Dragon Ancestor’s map, close to the North Sea is indeed a World Wind Tunnel, but I didn’t know where exactly.”
“He-he, then let me tell you about Heavenly Rebirth Lake!”
“The lake in legends saying it can have someone reborn?” Zhuo Fan’s heart jumped in shock, “It’s only a myth in the Sacred Domain, a mere hearsay, and mostly taken as a mere story. But after looking through the Nine Serenities Secret Records, I knew it to be Rebirth Sovereign’s seat of enlightenment. It twisted time and space, and as long as just a sliver of your soul remains, rebirth is possible, into an easy life. Only its hard barrier makes it impossible for all but the fated to enter. The other nine Sovereigns were no different. Such a miracle of creation was actually here in all places. Go figure.”
Sea Ao nodded, “Every Sovereign has their own unique ability, seat of enlightenment. None may enter but themselves. Maybe because of your thunderflame in relation with the Divine Eye of the Void, you tore a gap in the barrier. Don’t you find it connected how it was the Heavenly Rebirth Lake here of all places? It offered the lass the chance to be reborn. The other option would be ending up as a cripple if not outright dying from having but a sliver of soul remaining.”
Zhuo Fan pondered and finally nodded with a smile.
[That’s why that senior told me to live to see her in the Sacred Domain. Qingcheng is already there. Then I will survive until we see each other once more.]
[But who was he? How did a Sovereign end up within me? Why would he give everything to help me? Why would he choose nothingness just to help me save Qingcheng?]
[Regardless of it all, this is one immense favor I have to return. The only question is if I’ll ever get the chance…]
Zhuo Fan finally showed a wide and bright smile, his heart at peace.
[She has yet to pass on, waiting for me out there for the moment we’re together again.]
Taking a deep breath, Zhuo Fan’s deathly outlook now turned vibrant with hope and vitality. He aimed for Sacred Domain to fight, but now he had another reason, love.
Hum~
Zhuo Fan’s mindset shifted just as faint sounds reached their ears.
Zhuo Fan started as he sensed the source to be the Vaulting Demonic Sword. On its blade there was also the blazing black thunderflame.
“He-he-he, it must hurt, right? While you, kid, were taking a week-long nap, the sword was being burnt all this time.”
Sea Ao smirked looking at the shaking blade, teasing, “Kid, I don’t know how you got such an idiotic sword spirit. The 6th grade sacred weapon was made by Sword Sovereign with the rarest of ores from the five danger zones. Not even your thunderflame can so much as scratch its blade. Yet the swords taking on your thunderflame very soon got snuffed. Just look at the other three swords, becoming dead in just an hour. Only this sword spirit fueled the fire with its spiritual energy and let the thunderflame burn it for seven days. Talk about the pinnacle of stupidity, enduring so much pain and anguish.”
Hum~
The sword gave an indignant shake while also showing its impatience as the flames crackled with much force.
Zhuo Fan was connected to the sword spirit and sensed it, smirking, “I get it. You sure are ambitious. Let’s give it a try!”
“What are you talking about?” Sea Ao looked out of it as he stared at Zhuo Fan.
He took the ring from Qiao’er and his hands shone with glittering sacred stones, taking flight and burrowing into the ice and snow.
Se Ao watched from the side. In six hours, the array was done and Sea Ao gnashed his fangs, “Refining array? What for?”
“Can’t you tell, senior? What else but refining?”
Zhuo Fan chuckled, signaling, and the demonic sword skipped into the array, with the other three divine swords flying inside.
Zhuo Fan was then focused, making signs as he shouted, “Heaven, earth, mystical and nature; earth, water, wind and fire; with the thunderflame as medium four swords unite, with my sword spirit controlling the shift!”
Boom!
Zhuo Fan then ended with pointing at the array, unleashing a reverberating explosion that shook the whole of the domain. The thunderflame on the demonic sword slipped into the array, surging with strength from the power of the array. It grew so high, one might think it would puncture heaven itself.
The four sacred swords enveloped in the black blaze began to melt.
“Boy, do you have it in you to refine sacred weapons?” Sea Ao looked stunned, “We’re talking about the 6th grade sacred weapons that the Sword Sovereign made, and you think you can refine them?”
Zhuo Fan shook his head, “My skills are mere parlor tricks compared to Sword Sovereign, but I’m not trying to refine his sacred weapons, now am I? I only want to combine them, to fulfill my sword spirit’s wish.”
“That’s impossible. The Sword Sovereign needed the five sacred beast powers to refine them. I even helped him get them. That is the reason these five sacred weapons are our bane. He also had the same idea, of combining the five powers while refining them, to make a Sovereign weapon. But with the powers in conflict, everything came to waste. You expect to succeed where he failed?”
“He failed because he lacked something, something I happen to have.” Zhuo Fan was gravely releasing black energy in waves at the array as he pushed out his palms, “Demon Transformation Art!”
Whoosh~
An inky black like the darkest night descended, swallowing the four divine swords, now warped under the constant torment of the thunderflame.
The demonic sword exploded in a scarlet and bloody light, using it to envelop the three swords. As the thunderflame and the black energy ate away at the three blades, the amalgamation within the bloody bubble twisted and melted into one entity, in the form of a black sword.
Sea Ao stood agape, remembering to shout after a long time, “I totally forgot you combined the five sacred beast powers. How hard could melting sacred weapons be? Sacred weapons are tough, with no mortal flame able to scratch them while the thunderflame is the supreme power of the world. Using it to melt the bodies and the demonic method to merge the sword styles, the thing Sword Sovereign failed becomes achievable in your hands. Kid, you sure are something.”
A humming was heard and a black blade with blue, red, green and golden stripes flew out of the inferno. Zhuo Fan gripped it in his hands.
“It’s not me, but the Nine Serenities Sovereign and the Sword Sovereign. I am merely standing on the shoulders of giants.” Zhuo Fan beamed, “Senior Sea Ao, I shall never forget what you did for me today. Farewell. I need to get back to Sacred Domain…”