Chapter 289: The Cheating
Killing aura was also referred to as the malicious aura.
The gestures and expressions of soldiers and bandits, who had killed many people with their swords and knives, were filled with a malicious aura. As they had murdered numerous people, they were bound to be tainted with this killing aura.
Sometimes, the killing aura was so powerful that it could confuse the human mind and distract them on the battlefield.
If a person were corrupted with an intense killing aura, it would negatively affect his martial arts cultivation. At a critical time, that person could also be possessed by his inner demon and be trapped in the endless thought of killing methods forever.
Once upon a time, there was a young man named Trent Yu. He hailed from the Yu Clan, one of the top seven noble clans in the Eastern Region. Trent Yu practiced these killing methods. As he increased his practice in killing methods, Trent Yu's character turned increasingly cruel, and his killing means also became more vicious. In a short while, he had massacred innumerable people at random.
At first, the Yu Clan protected Trent Yu. After all, at that time, all things were dominated by power and strength, and the practice of killing methods had obvious benefits to the promotion of strength. In fact, its power was extremely terrifying. According to Trent Yu's growth rate, he would soon become the backbone of the Yu Clan. Therefore, they allowed Trent Yu to kill randomly.
However, as time went by, Trent Yu killed more and more people, and once, he even killed two men from the Yu Clan. Then, the members of the Yu Clan realized that Trent Yu had gone crazy and that the killing aura had entirely dominated him. He had, by then, become an egoistic killing machine.
Sadly, by the time they learned of the facts, it was already too late. The power of the Yu Clan was insufficient to arrest Trent Yu. Thus, the Yu Clan united with the other six top noble clans to carry out the encirclement and arrest of Trent Yu. However, he killed a majority of the members who had volunteered to help. This act, in turn, increased his killing aura.
After that, Trent Yu only continued to grow stronger. Finally, Cloud Sect was alerted. As a result, the sect immediately issued a hunting order and sent its top ten saints, and three elders to hunt him.
Nevertheless, despite being hunted by so many powerful masters, Trent Yu managed to escape.
At that time, Trent Yu was considered a murderous demon in the Eastern Region. While he was on the run, he kept killing innocent people. No matter which prefecture and county he fled to, Trent Yu would massacre people to cultivate his killing aura.
This man had become a nightmare for all the people in the Eastern Region.
Even the leaders of Cloud Sect felt as though they were at their wit's end and that they had no way to deal with Trent. At this time, Trent Yu went missing. No one knew where he was and why he had disappeared.
Many people guessed that either Trent Yu was hiding somewhere to escape being hunted or he was practicing his killing methods in a hidden corner.
Three years passed, and no one had any information about Trent Yu. Until one day, a woodcutter in the W County found Trent Yu's remains and his bloodstained sword when he was on the way to a mountain to cut wood.
It turned out that Trent Yu was not hiding. Instead, while practicing, he had been possessed by his inner spirit demon. As a result, he had gone mad and been killed by his killing aura.
There is a proverb that says: As a man sows, so shall he reap. Although the practice of the killing method could sharply improve a person's martial arts, its deadly side effect was that the power was so strong it was beyond a person's ability to control it. Trent Yu had killed too many people with his sword, and it was bound to bring him bad karma!
The killing aura was indeed Trent Yu's greatest strength, but it was also his biggest nemesis—one that could kill him.
Zen did not choose the killing way to practice his sword skills. However, it was fate that led him to figure out the sword intent at the consummation grade. For the same reason, he unwittingly entered the Killing Sword Mountain.
Or, the unfathomable God of fate gave Zen a hint that sooner or later he would go on the path of killing, which was why it was arranged for him to enter the Killing Sword Mountain.
The Killing Sword Mountain was a sacred place for swordsmen. It was one of the three swordplay holy lands.
As it was a sacred place for trillions of living creatures, only a few lucky people would be chosen to enter. So, the Killing Sword Mountain was of great use to swordsmen.
As long as the swordsman inserted his sword into the Killing Sword Mountain, he could establish a connection with it, release his killing aura, and deposit it in the special place of the Killing Sword Mountain. That way, he would not be subjected to the attack of the killing aura during his practice!
And when the swordsman needed the killing aura, he could get it back from the Killing Sword Mountain.
The Killing Sword Mountain was like a bank where a person could deposit and withdraw his killing aura, kind of like real banks in the Eastern Region where a person could deposit and withdraw cubic crystals.
Also, according to the rules of the Killing Sword Mountain, the higher the place where the sword was inserted, the more malicious aura the swordsman could deposit and withdraw!
It was necessary to know that the killing aura was a very valuable asset, and it was also called the malicious aura. When it was used to drive many cultivation methods, it would significantly improve a disciple's power. Especially when a disciple was practicing a unique cultivation method that would use malicious aura, it would generate an oddly good effect.
For example, if a streak of malicious aura could increase the power of a cultivation method by one degree, then two streaks could double the power of the cultivation method, and so on.
However, there was always a limit to the malicious aura owned by disciples who practiced the killing method. Moreover, they needed to be careful about being attacked by the malicious aura and to prevent themselves from being controlled by their inner spirit demon.
Therefore, the practice of killing method was regarded as a double-edged sword! Powerful though it was, it could at any moment cause damage to anyone who practiced it.
However, the swordsman who entered the Killing Sword Mountain was able to store his malicious aura in it! In this way, he could avoid the damage caused by the malicious aura, which was the main purpose of the Killing Sword Mountain. It was also the reason why the Killing Sword Mountain was considered a sacred place for swordsmen.
The lucky swordsman, who inserted his sword into a place of high altitude, could deposit and withdraw more malicious aura.
This was Zen's first time at the Killing Sword Mountain. To be able to enter Killing Sword Mountain was already a matter of great luck for him. It was unknown whether he would be able to enter the Killing Sword Mountain again. Maybe a person only got one opportunity to access the mountain. It was possible that even after making a huge breakthrough, Zen might not be able to enter the Killing Sword Mountain.
Just like the Iceni, an ice sword master, perhaps his strength was now very strong, and according to general knowledge, he was supposed to insert his sacred weapon higher than on the edge of the ridge. However, he did not get the chance to enter the Killing Sword Mountain, so his sacred weapon could only be firmly inserted on the edge of the ridge, without any higher improvement.
So this time, Zen was determined to insert his sword in a higher place.
When attacked by the spirit of the sacred weapon, Zen did not reserve his strength. He exercised his highest martial arts and top-grade weapon.
The people who owned sacred weapons were influential enough to rule a region. According to Zen, Iceni might have had strength equivalent to that of people like the top leader of the Cloud Hall.
Even if the sacred weapon contained the sword spirit and only a little of Iceni's spirit, it would be difficult for Zen to defeat him even after employing all his skills.
“Ice Freeze All! Just watch me freeze you!” Iceni's spirit said arrogantly.
Then, he summoned the sword spirit to attack Zen. As soon as the sword attack was launched, Zen felt cold. Even his consciousness seemed to be freezing. His surrounding space was filled with a chill, and he could see ice crystals forming.
Zen was not afraid of fire and heat as his body could resist different kinds of flames. However, there was no way for him to deal with the cold. As he was surrounded by such extreme cold, his speed was significantly reduced, and he had no way to fight harder.
“Lift up the sword!” Zen said quickly.
With his sword lifted, soon, the malicious aura of his sword spirit, Lily was released.
That malicious aura turned into pieces of silk thread and split the ice crystals in an instant!
With the help of the malicious aura, Zen's sword broke Iceni's cold attack.
“That's impossible! Your malicious aura can't be so strong!” Iceni's spirit said, startled. Since Iceni was able to step into Killing Sword Mountain and he also practiced killing swordplay, he had a thorough understanding of the malicious aura.
The malicious aura in Zen's body was not strong at all, but the malicious aura in his sword was powerful.
What Iceni didn't know was that Zen's sword spirit had just been condensed and that the malicious aura was not Zen's, but from his sword spirit, Lily.
“Poof!”
“Snap, snap, snap...” the sound of something breaking echoed across the mountain.
After Zen broke Iceni's extreme cold attack, he lunged his sword toward Iceni's spirit. The sound of shattering glass reverberated through the mountain as Iceni's spirit had been pierced by the sword.
Soon afterward, the sacred weapon returned to its original place, and a large number of blue light spots gushed out of the sacred weapon and flew into Zen's body.
“This killing aura, or malicious aura, is so powerful! No wonder the woman from the Demon Night could carry a low-grade mysterious weapon up the mountainside,” Zen muttered in excitement. He now finally understood that she could insert such a low-grade mysterious weapon in the mountainside because she relied on her extraordinarily strong malicious aura!
“If that is so, then the Killing Sword Mountain will be beneficial to me. Should I insert my sword in it now?” Zen mumbled as he thought of the possibilities. Since he had defeated Iceni's spirit, Zen now crossed over the mountainside and stood on the ridge, a level higher than before.
He looked up and found that although there were not many sacred weapons, as compared to the number of fairy weapons, the number of sacred weapons in front of him was enough to make him skeptical. Since Iceni's sword spirit, hidden in the first sacred weapon he encountered, was so powerful, it was not hard to imagine how much stronger the sword spirits from other sacred weapons would be.
“Zen, I think today's progress is enough. It is truly amazing that you were able to reach the ridge. The Killing Sword Mountain is filled with countless talents, and the master of every sword you see is a talented swordsman. These masters have figured out the sword intent at the consummation grade. You only have the strength of a cultivator at the second grade of the nature level. Now, you are able to break through these barriers and insert your fairy weapon alongside these sacred weapons. This is an outstanding achievement,” the cyan dragon said slowly. “Equally, I am afraid that you won't be able to defeat the next sword no matter how hard you try.”
A sacred weapon not far from Zen flashed a golden light. It was a broad-edge sword that was wider than Zen's body and over seven feet long. To be able to handle such a sword, the master must be a colossus. What stressed Zen more was that on the surface of the broad-edge sword, there was still a hint of reddish energy. If Zen guessed correctly, that energy would be malicious aura that had been compressed to an extreme extent. Even a simple glimpse of the sword was terrifying to Zen.
Zen was self-aware. He knew that with his current strength and the malicious aura of his sword spirit, he was able to defeat Iceni's sword spirit, and to walk up the ridge. Indeed, this was a good result and perhaps, the best he could do at the moment.
However, Zen did not seem to be ready to stop at this point.
He took two steps back and gripped the Streamer Sword firmly. Then, with a deep breath, he sprinted forward.
“Zen, oh, my...” the cyan dragon in Zen's mind said helplessly. He knew exactly what Zen was planning on doing.
Since he hadn't made a successful breakthrough, Zen threw his sword forward hard.