81: Chapter 81 Main Hall

Lingxiao Heavenly Palace, Main Hall.

Just as Bai Yu stepped through the gates, his footsteps suddenly paused.

"Revered Master?" Luo Bingli sensed something was wrong.

"Something has happened to Old Seven." Bai Yu turned and looked toward the back mountain.

There, a faint Sword Intent was raging out of control.

Jin Wusuan's expression shifted, and his abacus clicked instantly: "Something's wrong. This fluctuation of Sword Intent... it's Senior Brother Ye's Natal Sword Qi!"

"Wasn't he in seclusion to break through to the God Emperor Realm?" Gu Dusheng frowned.

"He's suffered a Qi Deviation." Bai Yu's figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

---

Back Mountain, Sword Tomb.

This was the cultivation grounds specially prepared by the Lingxiao Heavenly Palace for Sword Cultivator Disciples.

The ground was bristling with broken swords left behind by generations of Disciples, each one recording a piece of comprehension regarding the Dao of the sword.

At this moment, in the center of the Sword Tomb.

A man dressed in green robes sat cross-legged.

His face was lean and haggard, with a hint of coldness between his brows, and he held a snow-white longsword in his hand.

Countless fine cracks were spreading across the blade.

Veins bulged on the man's forehead, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, yet his eyes remained tightly shut as if he were trapped in some nightmare.

"Ye Gucheng." Bai Yu landed before him and pressed a hand to his brow.

A flood of information rushed into his mind.

Heart Demon Tribulation.

And it was the most troublesome kind—Obsession turning into a demon.

"The events of five hundred years ago..." Bai Yu's eyes darkened slightly.

That year, Ye Gucheng was still just a newly initiated young Sword Cultivator.

He had watched with his own eyes as his Revered Master was besieged and killed by enemies.

And he could do nothing.

He could only watch helplessly.

This sense of powerlessness had transformed into the greatest obsession on his path of the sword.

It had also become his current Heart Demon.

"Old Seven," Bai Yu said softly, "Revered Master is here."

A golden light flashed in his hand.

His entire consciousness sank into Ye Gucheng's mental world.

---

Inside the mental world.

This was a world of blood-red.

The ground was piled high with corpses, and the air was thick with the heavy scent of blood.

In the sky, a black sun hung high, radiating an oppressive aura.

Bai Yu stood amidst these ruins, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings.

"Qingyun Mountain from five hundred years ago." He recognized this place.

Back then, Ye Gucheng's Revered Master had died here.

"Revered Master..."

A trembling voice came from deep within the ruins.

Bai Yu turned around.

A youth was kneeling on the ground, his hands death-gripping a broken sword.

His eyes were bloodshot, tears mingling with blood, and his whole body was shivering.

"I... I'm too weak..."

The youth's voice was hoarse.

"If only I were a little stronger..."

"Revered Master wouldn't have died..."

Bai Yu walked over and crouched down.

"You are already very strong."

The youth snapped his head up.

The moment he saw Bai Yu, he froze.

"M-Revered Master Bai?"

"It's me." Bai Yu nodded.

"How could you..." The youth tried to stand up, only to find his legs were shaking.

"I've come to take you home." Bai Yu reached out his hand.

The youth looked at that hand, and tears welled up once more.

"But... but I..."

"You did nothing wrong," Bai Yu interrupted him.

"Five hundred years ago, you were just a newly initiated Disciple."

"Facing a siege by those in the God King Realm, your survival was already a miracle."

"But..." The youth gritted his teeth.

"There are no 'buts'." Bai Yu's voice was calm.

"The past is in the past."

"The current you is already at the Peak of the God Emperor Realm."

"You are strong enough."

The youth fell silent.

After a long while, he shook his head.

"Not enough."

"Still not enough."

He stood up, tightening his grip on the broken sword.

"I want to become even stronger."

"Strong enough to..."

He looked at Bai Yu, a trace of madness flashing in his eyes.

"Strong enough to reverse time and save Revered Master."

Bai Yu's brow furrowed.

"Old Seven, you..."

Before he could finish his sentence.

The youth's figure suddenly distorted.

In the next second.

A black sword light erupted from within his body.

The youth's appearance began to change.

The green robes turned into black robes.

His delicate features became cold and stern.

The broken sword in his hand transformed into a longsword as black as ink.

"Bai Yu."

The Black-robed figure spoke, his voice icy.

"You're too late."

"He is already mine."

Bai Yu stood up, looking at the Black-robed figure before him.

"Heart Demon."

"Exactly." The Black-robed figure smiled.

"Five hundred years of obsession, five hundred years of resentment."

"It swallowed him up long ago."

"The current him..."

The Black-robed figure raised his sword, pointing the tip at Bai Yu.

"Only wants to become stronger."

"The kind of strength that comes at any cost."

Bai Yu was silent for a moment.

Then, he also smiled.

"Then let me see."

He raised his hand and grasped at the Void Realm.

A golden longsword appeared in his palm.

"During these five hundred years..."

"Just how much stronger have you become?"

The sky of the mental world darkened completely at this moment.

The Black-robed figure—or rather, Ye Gucheng controlled by the Heart Demon—had Sword Intent surging frantically from his body.

It was killing intent purified to the extreme.

Without any Impurities.

There was only the sword.

"Bai Yu," the Black-robed figure's voice was calm.

"Do you know?"

"For five hundred years, I've thought every day..."

"If the me back then had my current strength."

"Would Revered Master still be alive?"

Bai Yu did not answer.

He only tightened his grip on his sword.

"So I cultivated without ceasing," the Black-robed figure continued.

"Constantly becoming stronger."

"From God King to God Emperor, and then to the Peak of the God Emperor Realm."

"I thought..."

He paused.

"I thought that as long as I was strong enough, I could change everything."

"But I was wrong."

The Black-robed figure looked up at Bai Yu.

"Because no matter how strong I am..."

"The past cannot be changed."

"Revered Master..."

"Is still dead."

As soon as he finished speaking.

The Black-robed figure moved.

A flash of sword light.

It was so fast that even space itself didn't have time to react.

This strike had already surpassed the limits of the God Emperor Realm.

It even touched the threshold of the Quasi-Immortal Emperor.

But Bai Yu simply turned sideways.

A slight lean.

The tip of the sword grazed past the edge of his clothes.

"Your sword is fast," Bai Yu said calmly.

"But..."

He turned his wrist.

The golden longsword struck second but arrived first, pointing directly at the Black-robed figure's throat.

"Still not fast enough."

*Ding—*

The Black-robed figure's sword instantly returned to defend, blocking the strike.

The moment the two swords collided.

Terrifying Sword Qi diffused in all directions.

The entire mental world was trembling.

"Not fast enough?" The Black-robed figure sneered.

"Then what about this strike?"

His figure flickered.

Instantly vanishing from the spot.

In the next second.

Nine sword lights slashed down simultaneously from different directions.

Each one was real.

Each one carried a lethal Sword Intent.

"Nine Swords Strike," Bai Yu's eyes sharpened.

"Old Seven, you've mastered this move."

He took a deep breath.

The golden longsword in his hand erupted with a dazzling light at this moment.

"Then I shall also..."

"Get a little serious."

*Boom—*

A golden sword light soared into the sky.

Instantly transforming into countless sword shadows.

Each sword shadow accurately struck down a black sword light.

*Ding, ding, ding, ding—*

Nine consecutive crisp sounds.

All nine sword lights were blocked.