A dimly lit corridor. A man, a cat, a blade.

The Tiance Army soldiers in the corridor silently watched Chen Ji and Wuyun on his shoulder, their expressions a mix of surprise and uncertainty. When the overwhelming blade light had just cleaved down from the beam, they had all assumed an official was hiding there, never expecting it to be a black cat.

How could it be a cat?

And how could a cat unleash a blade aura?

Xiaoman stared at Wuyun in a daze, murmuring, “My lord, Wuyun has become a spirit…”

Wuyun glanced at her, then its cold gaze swept around before settling on the heavy sword-wielding soldier.

It let out a soft meow: “Careful, he’s very strong.”

Chen Ji gasped, remaining silent. Anyone capable of leading soldiers to capture the Crown Prince alive must be formidable. He hadn’t expected that even after waiting so long with Wuyun for the perfect moment, they still hadn’t managed to kill their opponent.

At that moment, the heavy sword-wielding soldier spoke, “This little beast is…”

Wuyun, perched on Chen Ji’s shoulder, let out a meow.

The heavy sword-wielding soldier frowned. He distinctly felt the black cat speaking to him. “What is this little beast saying?” he demanded.

Chen Ji calmly replied, “It says to call it the Heavenly Lord of Universal Thunder and Celestial Manifestations!”

The next moment, Wuyun leaped lightly onto another beam and darted to the left; Chen Ji swung his Whale Blade in a horizontal sweep towards the heavy sword-wielding soldier, moving to the right.

As the Whale Blade slashed, the heavy sword-wielding soldier raised his sword to block, but the expected clang of metal never sounded.

Chen Ji feigned an attack. The instant the soldier moved to block, Chen Ji sprang, pushing off the wall for leverage, and leaped over the soldier’s head, charging towards the Tiance Army soldiers behind him!

The heavy sword-wielding soldier executed an upward backhand slash, but the Whale Blade seemed to have been waiting there all along. This strike, instead of hitting, propelled Chen Ji even further away!

Amidst the silent understanding of the man and the cat, Xiaoman looked left and right, realizing no one had discussed a plan with her! After a moment of hesitation, she finally chose to avoid the heavy sword-wielding soldier and seek out Wuyun!

Xiaoman fought along the corridor, while Wuyun ambushed from above, displaying an exceptional coordination. The blade light descending from the beams came at tricky angles, leaving the Tiance Army soldiers helpless for a time.

A monastic soldier stepped on a comrade’s shoulder and leaped towards a beam. He grabbed the wooden beam with one hand, looking left and right, searching for Wuyun’s trace.

But as he turned his head, he was met by a sharp, crescent-shaped blade light.

The monastic soldier, still gripping the beam with his left hand, shattered the blade light with a slash of his right, his eyes continuing to search for Wuyun.

But the beam was dim, and Wuyun was so black it didn’t reflect any light at all; he simply couldn’t find Wuyun anywhere!

The monastic soldier’s heart sank. This black cat was a natural-born assassin!

He turned back, intending to jump to the corridor, but as he did, he saw Wuyun had silently appeared on the very beam he was gripping, looking down at him.

Without a sound.

Wuyun raised a paw, and a blade flashed. The monastic soldier’s head was severed, and his body fell from the beam, startling Xiaoman in the corridor.

At the other end of the corridor.

Chen Ji, surrounded by a dense crowd, fought with his Whale Blade. However, the five-foot-five-inch blade was too long and difficult to wield in the confined space.

He then executed a backhand slash, pinning a Tiance Army soldier to the wall, and quickly pulled out the dagger tucked into the soldier’s waist.

A Tiance Army soldier swung his blade. Chen Ji stepped forward, grabbed the opponent’s wrist, and sliced the blade across the tendons of his hand.

The Tiance Army soldier’s hand went numb, and the pudao he was holding clattered to the ground.

Before the opponent could react, Chen Ji pulled him closer by the wrist. The dagger in his hand flickered like a serpent’s tongue, delivering two rapid stabs: the first pierced the heart, and the second pierced the throat.

The falling pudao still hadn’t hit the ground. Chen Ji raised his foot and kicked it precisely on the hilt.

With a whoosh, the pudao shot forward, striking a Tiance Army soldier squarely in the abdomen.

The Tiance Army soldiers’ hearts tightened. They hadn’t expected the dagger to be so alive in Chen Ji’s hands; in comparison, their own pudao felt clumsy.

Chen Ji then grabbed another Tiance Army soldier, holding him by the neck as he retreated, while silently piercing the soldier’s spleen in his lower back with the dagger, all the while scrutinizing everyone.

The heavy sword-wielding soldier, seeing Chen Ji avoid him, sneered, “Human strength has its limits. Your hand gripping the blade is already trembling, and your steps are no longer steady. How much longer can you last?”

Sweat dripped from his chin. Chen Ji gasped, “As long as I can.”

With that, he shoved the soldier in his grasp and turned back to fight again!

The tower-like soldier dragged his heavy sword, advancing towards Chen Ji. But Chen Ji, fighting and retreating through the dense crowd, moved further and further away from him.

The heavy sword-wielding soldier was not in a hurry; instead, he patiently waited for Chen Ji to exhaust himself.

Heartbeat.

Chen Ji’s heart thumped like a furiously beating drum, and the blood pumped through his veins created a rushing sound in his head.

Breathing.

Chen Ji’s lungs burned from inhaling too much cold air.

He had lost count of how many people he had killed that day; he only remembered fighting endlessly, from midday until the sun had set in the west.

The setting sun cast rays through the staggered guest room doors and windows into the corridor, creating alternating sections of light and shadow. Chen Ji fought and retreated within this interplay of light and darkness, his form alternately illuminated and obscured.

In this shifting light and dark, Chen Ji grew increasingly tired, his movements slowing. He could only awkwardly fend off attacks, no longer able to retaliate and kill.

Maybe I should just sleep. If I sleep, it will all be over.

He had once believed that he could consciously calculate every single strike, every angle, speed, and force, perfectly, to achieve the best outcome.

Just like teachers in school would constantly remind them: “First grade is crucial, second grade is crucial, third grade is crucial, fourth grade is crucial…” as if every step in life was critical, and no step could be wrong.

Yet after watching him use his blade, Liang Gour said he wasn’t suited for blade practice.

But what was the Way of the blade?

Liang Gour had said that when you seek self-preservation, you have already abandoned your blade.

The next moment, Chen Ji roared, endured a hard cut to his thigh, and flipped his dagger to stab the attacker, exchanging injury for a life.

He could be seen summoning his last reserves of strength in the corridor, fighting in a daze, stumbling, trading seven wounds for three lives.

The Tiance Army soldiers felt Chen Ji was like a rabid dog at that moment, full of openings, yet none of them could be exploited, for to do so would mean their own death.

The heavy sword-wielding soldier, seeing his subordinates hesitate, roared furiously, “Are you scared already? Useless! Get out of the way!”

The Tiance Army soldiers scattered to the sides, watching as he took heavy strides, raised his massive sword high, and cleaved it towards Chen Ji from five paces away.

A flash of sword light appeared, cutting through a gap in the crowd, like wind whistling through a canyon.

In a rush, Chen Ji pulled a Tiance Army soldier in front of him as a shield. With a crashing sound, he and the soldier he had pulled were sent flying, landing on the floor.

Chen Ji pushed away the soldier’s corpse lying on top of him, then turned his head and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The sword aura surged; this single strike had managed to wound his lungs and other internal organs, even through the human shield.

The tower-like soldier dragged his heavy sword, approaching. Chen Ji ignored his bodily pain, propped himself up, and stumbled backward.

But the corridor was circular, and as he ran, he saw Xiaoman fighting, and his Whale Blade still pinned to the wall.

It was as if he had circled back with nowhere left to run, returning to the starting point.

Chen Ji suddenly stopped, his fingers tracing the hilt of the Whale Blade.

I’m going to die…

As he pondered, the heavy sword-wielding soldier swung his sword again.

Just as he raised his heavy sword above his head, the Sword Seed within Chen Ji’s tattoo suddenly flared with wild energy.

As the heavy sword descended, the Sword Seed buzzed out, skimming along the wall towards the soldier.

Chen Ji abruptly pulled the Whale Blade from the wall. Holding the hilt with one hand and pressing on the blade’s spine with the other, he held it upright in front of him, forcefully blocking the furious sword wind.

With a loud crash, Chen Ji was sent flying backward again, unable to even crawl up.

But a muffled groan came from the heavy sword-wielding soldier a few steps away!

The heavy sword-wielding soldier looked down at his shoulder, where blood was gushing. If he hadn’t moved so quickly, that strike would surely have pierced his heart, but what was that just now…

A Sword Seed!

Indeed, it was a Martial Temple Sword Seed! He hadn’t been wrong in his earlier guess in the main hall!

The heavy sword-wielding soldier looked at Chen Ji with astonishment. “Who are you?”

Chen Ji lay on the ground, staring blankly at the ceiling. “Who am I…”

He found he couldn’t answer for a moment.

He was Chen Ji, a high school graduate who had accidentally stumbled into this world, then by chance became an official, and later somehow ended up in Guyuan. Yet, that answer felt wrong.

Xuanyuan was once his friend, Feng Huai and Feng Lie had called him teacher, and someone had gone to great lengths to smuggle him down from the Forty-Nine Heavens. How could he just be a high school student?

But who was he, truly?

Chen Ji suddenly felt a searing pain in the tattoo on his waist, as if lava was flowing beneath his skin, burning and branding a totem onto him.

The scalding, molten current within the tattoo finally broke free, flowing through his limbs and bones.

One by one, the wounds on his body visibly closed, leaving only faint scars; his pale cheeks instantly regained their color and became ruddy again.

Power.

His lost power surged back. It turned out, each tattoo represented a life.

Chen Ji slowly straightened up, leaning on his Whale Blade.

The heavy sword-wielding soldier again demanded with a sinister growl, “Who exactly are you? How do you possess the Sword Seed initiation?”

Chen Ji didn’t answer, instead falling back into thought. Only the sounds within his surging blood seemed to cry out, boiling in the depths of his being.

Who am I?

Heaven and Earth coexist with me; all things and I are one.

The Mountain Lord;

And also the World’s Arms Master.

Fight valiantly, victory eternally!

Chen Ji lowered his stance and charged furiously towards the heavy sword-wielding soldier, dragging his Whale Blade.

The heavy sword-wielding soldier’s eyes widened in fury. He cleaved his sword downward towards Chen Ji. Chen Ji darted to the left side of the corridor, dodging the furious sword wind, and appeared before his opponent!

The heavy sword and the Whale Blade clashed, emitting a deafening roar.

Chen Ji abruptly released his grip on the hilt and brushed past the soldier. After clashing with the heavy sword, the Whale Blade spun, as if sprouting wings, and followed Chen Ji around to the soldier’s back!

Chen Ji exerted himself in a grasp, seizing the spinning Whale Blade’s hilt mid-air, and swept it horizontally in a continuous motion!

The heavy sword-wielding soldier countered with a backhand upward sweep. His thick, iron-forged longsword once again blocked the Whale Blade…

But by the time he regained his senses, a black Sword Seed, as thin as a cicada’s wing, was already flying straight for his chest.

*Hiss*. The Sword Seed pierced through his body, and all sounds faded into silence.