181: Chapter 180 Slaughtering the Blood and Bone Remnants

The warship plowed through the waves, and the night had deepened.

Jiang Hanzhou sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, but he did not immediately begin to regulate his breathing.

He closed his eyes, and his Divine Sense sank into his Sea of Consciousness.

Deep within the Sea of Consciousness, that Heart Blade floated quietly.

The dark golden blade was about three feet and three inches long, its surface densely covered with winding, dragon patterns, within which a faint, blood-colored light circulated.

At the hilt, the outline of a dragon head was vivid and lifelike, its mouth wide open, biting onto the blade.

Along the edge of the blade, a cold glint flowed incessantly; just looking at it made his Divine Soul prickle with pain.

He quietly perceived the existence of this Heart Blade.

It was not a physical entity, yet it was better than one.

It used the heart as a furnace, the spirit as fire, the Dragon soul as bone, and Dragon essence as flesh and blood; it was a pure blade of the Divine Soul.

Jiang Hanzhou's thoughts stirred slightly.

The Heart Blade trembled gently, then began to swim slowly within the Sea of Consciousness.

It did not move quickly, yet it carried an indescribable rhythm.

With every movement, the dark golden dragon patterns on the blade flashed; with every flash, a trace of extremely faint sharpness escaped from the edge, leaving a shallow mark in the Sea of Consciousness.

Those marks were the imprints of where the Heart Blade had "slashed."

Jiang Hanzhou stared at those marks, lost in thought.

He suddenly recalled the scene just now when the Heart Blade shattered the remnant Dragon soul—

That slash had no blade aura, no sharpness, no fierce energy.

It was just a gentle slash.

And the Dragon soul shattered.

It was not cut apart; it disintegrated.

That disintegration was not physical destruction, but an "erasure" at the level of the Divine Soul.

It was as if that Dragon soul should not have existed in the first place, and the Heart Blade merely touched it, making it realize its own "non-existence," so it truly ceased to exist.

Jiang Hanzhou's pupils contracted slightly.

He vaguely understood.

The characteristic of the Heart Blade was not to "slash the body," but to "slash the soul."

It caused no harm to the Physical Body, but against the Divine Soul—it possessed absolute suppressive power.

This suppression was not a matter of strength, but a difference in essence.

Just as fire can burn wood and water can extinguish fire, this was a natural restraint.

The Heart Blade naturally restrained all things of the Divine Soul.

Whether it was remnant souls, vengeful spirits, the Divine Sense of a Cultivator, or the demonic thoughts of monsters, before the Heart Blade, they would all be suppressed, weakened, and slashed into nothingness.

He opened his eyes and looked down at his hands.

His hands were intact, without any abnormality.

But he knew that from now on, he had gained a true trump card.

Those Cultivators who excelled in Divine Sense attacks, those monsters surviving in the form of remnant souls, those old monsters clinging to the Physical Bodies of others—

If they dared to strike at him, they would have to taste the flavor of the Heart Blade.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes again.

As his Divine Sense sank into his Sea of Consciousness, he began to meticulously polish this newborn Heart Blade.

Although the Heart Blade had taken shape, it was not yet stable enough.

The absorbed fragments of the Dragon soul and the power of the Dragon essence still needed him to nourish them repeatedly with his heart and spirit and temper them with his True Intent before they could truly become a part of the Heart Blade and truly merge with his heart and spirit.

He immersed himself in the process, guiding the Heart Blade to swim through the Sea of Consciousness over and over again, nourishing its blade with the Tidal True Intent, and tempering its edge with the Golden Sharpness True Intent.

Time flowed slowly.

He did not know how much time had passed.

He looked down into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.

That Heart Blade was now floating quietly.

The dark golden dragon patterns on the blade were clearer and deeper than before. The cold glint at the edge was also sharper and purer than before.

His thoughts stirred.

The Heart Blade trembled gently, then transformed into a streak of dark golden light, darting across the Sea of Consciousness!

The speed was astonishingly fast, so fast that even his Divine Sense could barely keep up!

Three breaths later, the Heart Blade floated again in the depths of the Sea of Consciousness, its body vibrating slightly, as if showing off its speed to him.

A smile slowly curled the corner of Jiang Hanzhou's mouth.

It was done.

The Heart Blade was completely stable and merged with his heart and spirit.

From now on, with just a thought, the Heart Blade could be unleashed at any time.

He stood up and pushed the door open to leave.

...

On the third deck of the warship, in a spacious cabin.

Huo Qingfeng was sitting in front of a wooden table, holding that communication mirror, his expression uncertain.

On the mirror surface, Elder Wu Yong's face had just vanished; the call had ended.

He stared at the bronze mirror for a long while, then slammed the table hard:

"Damn it!"

This slap was extremely heavy; the entire wooden table shook three times, and the teapot and teacups on the table clattered, almost overturning to the floor.

He stood up and paced back and forth in the cabin, cursing:

"Double contribution points? Forty points? It sounds like a lot, but that's something I risked my life for! And that opportunity to comprehend a Heaven Rank Cultivation Technique—it sounds nice, but it requires following them to mop up the remnants! What does 'remnants' mean? That dog Blood Bone Venerable is already dead; what good could his remnants be? They must be his Disciples and grand-Disciples who Cultivate evil arts! Maybe there are even people from the Ten Thousand Gu Sect!"

The more he spoke, the angrier he became, and his pace grew faster:

"And the conditions of the Sea Quelling Department—why? Why do we have to follow them to mop up just because they saved us? We are Disciples of the Dragon Abyss Palace, not soldiers of the Sea Quelling Department!"

He stopped his pacing, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly:

"However... following the Sea Quelling Department should be safe. A figure like Xu Zhaoyang could crush that Bone Dragon with one palm. Following him is safer than us going to mop them up ourselves..."

He scratched his head, looking conflicted:

"I have to discuss this with them. The six of us accepted the mission together; I can't make the decision on my own."

He pushed the door open and headed toward the second floor.