226: The Emperor's Sword Commands Ten Thousand Swords

Li Chengqian's gaze bypassed these people and landed on the Demon Lock Tower deep within Shu Mountain, which was already dilapidated but still exuded an ominous aura.

He could clearly feel a thick, foul, evil aura, full of resentment and hatred, continuously spreading outwards from the ruins of that tower, eroding the entire Shu Mountain and even the surrounding world like a plague.

He took a step, ignoring the Shu Mountain Disciples kneeling on the ground, and walked directly towards the Demon Lock Tower.

Wherever he passed, the evil aura that had originally permeated the air instantly evaporated and purified, like ice and snow meeting its nemesis, by an invisible, even more domineering Imperial Dragon Qi!

The originally gloomy and oppressive sky cleared up.

Sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone on him, enveloping him in a golden, Holy Light.

All the Shu Mountain Disciples who witnessed this scene were stunned.

They felt that they were not prostrating before a mortal emperor.

But a Sun God walking among mortals!

Soon, Li Chengqian arrived at the ruins of the Demon Lock Tower.

The pagoda, once towering into the clouds and suppressing thousands of demons, had now completely turned into a pile of broken walls and rubble.

Bottomless cracks, like ugly scars, covered the tower body.

A black hole, filled with pure malice, appeared at the original base of the tower, continuously spewing out black evil Qi.

“Is this the place?”

Li Chengqian walked to the black hole and looked at it with interest.

“Reporting... reporting to Your Majesty,” a Shu Mountain Elder replied tremblingly, “The Evil Sword Immortal... escaped from here.”

“What happened after he escaped? Where did he go?” Li Chengqian asked.

“He... he has no fixed form and can transform into evil Qi, scattering with the wind. We... we don't know where he went,” the Elder lowered his head in shame.

“However, many... many terrible messages have come from the towns down the mountain.”

“Oh?”

“Many common people went mad for no reason, some even... even personally killed their family members. There were also villages where everyone hanged themselves on the crooked neck tree at the village entrance overnight... the scene... the scene was too horrible to look at.”

“Moreover, a terrible panic is spreading like a plague. Everyone lives in fear, afraid that they will be next.”

“Hehe.”

Li Chengqian smiled after listening.

“Interesting. This is raising fear and collecting power.”

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the thousands of Shu Mountain Disciples still kneeling on the ground.

“Don't your Shu Mountain claim to be a Sword Immortal School?”

“Why, when something like this appears on your own territory, do you just kneel here and tremble?”

His words made the faces of all the Shu Mountain Disciples turn liver-colored, ashamed beyond words.

“Alright, all of you get up.”

Li Chengqian waved his hand impatiently.

“Since you call yourselves Sword Immortals.”

“Then let me see if your swords are worthy of the word 'Immortal'.”

“Show me all your swords.”

“Show... show your swords?”

Thousands of Shu Mountain Disciples looked at each other, completely unaware of what His Majesty the Emperor intended to do.

Even Daoist Qingwei and several Elders were bewildered.

Is this the time to show swords?

The Evil Sword Immortal is nowhere to be found, causing endless slaughter in the human world. Shouldn't the most urgent task be to quickly find his location and then find a way to eliminate him?

“Your Majesty...” Daoist Qingwei mustered his courage and cautiously asked, “May I ask Your Majesty's profound intention in this action?”

“Profound intention?”

Li Chengqian glanced at him and smiled.

“No profound intention.”

“I just think that to deal with a guy who calls himself a 'Sword Immortal', one naturally has to use a sword to resolve it.”

“Since your swords are not enough, I will personally forge a sword for you that can slay demons and monsters.”

Forging a sword?

Everyone present became even more confused.

However, Li Chengqian was already too lazy to explain to them.

He slowly raised his right hand, reaching towards the sky.

He didn't take out any physical object, but as his palm lifted, the entire Shu Mountain, and even the entire world, seemed to be controlled by a supreme will at this moment!

“Swords, come!”

Li Chengqian uttered two words faintly.

These two words were not loud, but they seemed to contain some supreme Law, an absolute command that all “weapons” in this world could not disobey!

“Buzz—!”

“Buzz buzz buzz—!”

The next second, a scene that all Shu Mountain Disciples would never forget occurred!

The immortal swords they held in their hands, the long swords they wore at their waists, the ancient swords they carried on their backs... at this moment, all of them seemed to be endowed with life, emitting intense hums of extreme longing and excitement!

They were no longer controlled by their masters, broke free from the restraints of their scabbards, and transformed into streaks of light, soaring into the sky!

Not just the Disciples' personal swords.

Within the Shu Mountain Sword Pavilion, those ancient divine weapons, sealed by generations of Ancestral Masters and possessing illustrious reputations.

Such as the Demon Suppressing Sword, the Demonic Sword, Xihe, Wangshu... at this moment, all of them broke through thousands of years of Seal, transforming into even more brilliant and powerful sword lights, howling out!

Thousands, tens of thousands... countless sword lights converged from all directions of Shu Mountain, forming a magnificent river of steel composed of thousands of Flying Swords above Li Chengqian's head!

All the sword tips pointed uniformly at the young Emperor with his hand extended below.

That was not an attacking posture.

But a kind of... worship!

It was thousands of weapons offering their humblest loyalty to their supreme monarch!

“This... this... this...”

Daoist Qingwei and the Elders of Shu Mountain were completely dumbfounded.

They looked at the spectacular scene of ten thousand swords coming to worship in the sky, their minds blank, unable to even speak.

Ten Thousand Swords Returning to the Ancestor?

No!

This was no longer Ten Thousand Swords Returning to the Ancestor!

This was words becoming Law, commanding ten thousand swords!

This was the supreme authority possessed by the Lord of Weapons, Emperor Gouchen, in legends!

Who... who exactly is he? !

This thought flashed wildly through Daoist Qingwei's mind, and a guess that even he found terrifying gradually surfaced.

Li Chengqian felt the sharp Qi contained within the thousands of Flying Swords and nodded with satisfaction.

The power of these swords themselves was not too strong.

But they were the carriers of Shu Mountain's thousands of years of Legacy, and each sword carried the belief of generations of Shu Mountain Disciples to “slay demons and monsters, and protect the human world.”

This “belief” was what he truly needed.

“Not enough, still not enough.”

Li Chengqian shook his head.

The belief of Shu Mountain alone was not enough to forge a divine sword that could cut down “concepts.”

His gaze pierced through endless time and space.

He saw the endless “resentment” and “anger” rising from the villages below Shu Mountain, where people had been harmed by the Evil Sword Immortal and their families destroyed.

He saw, in the distance, the “worry” and “prayers” rising in the hearts of hundreds of millions of people of the Great Tang Empire upon hearing news of evil spirits wreaking havoc.

He saw the majestic and vast supreme national Luck of the entire Great Tang Empire, representing “order,” “peace,” and “prosperity”!

Very good.

These were all Materials for forging the sword.

A cruel smile appeared at the corner of Li Chengqian's mouth.

“In my name, gather the thoughts of all beings, condense the Luck of the nation!”

“Today, I want to show that Evil Sword Immortal.”

“What is a true 'sword'!”

He suddenly clenched his fist!

“Merge for me!”

Above the sky, the river of steel composed of thousands of Flying Swords instantly boiled!

An invisible, golden Imperial Dragon Qi soared from Li Chengqian's body, like an invisible giant hand, enveloping the thousands of Flying Swords, along with the beliefs of all beings and the national Luck gathered from all directions of heaven and earth!

Then, it began to forcefully smelt and forge in an extremely domineering manner!

He was going to forge here, in front of everyone, an unprecedented Sword of the Son of Heaven, belonging to him, the Human Emperor of Great Tang!

“Rumble—!”

Above the sky, the golden nebula composed of thousands of Flying Swords, the beliefs of all beings, and the national Luck, began to churn and compress violently under Li Chengqian's will.

“Clang! Clang! Clang!”

Sounds of hammering, as if from primordial chaos, resounded throughout the world.

Each sound caused the golden nebula to shrink a bit, and the light it emitted to become purer and more brilliant.

That was not forging by mortal fire, nor smelting by immortal methods.

That was the direct forging of “Dao” and “principles,” using the Human Emperor's supreme will as a hammer and Emperor Gouchen's authority over weapons as an anvil!

Everyone in Shu Mountain stared blankly at the miraculous scene in the sky.

They could feel that although their personal swords had lost their form, their “sword souls” were emitting joyful hums within that golden nebula.

They were undergoing an unprecedented transformation and sublimation.

And the Shu Mountain Disciples also felt a mysterious connection being established between themselves and that nebula.

Their belief of “slaying demons and monsters, and protecting the human world” was being continuously extracted and integrated into that great forging.

Their power was being lost, but their spirits, at this moment, became more uplifted and resolute than ever before!

They were no longer afraid, no longer confused.

Because they knew that they were participating in a great undertaking worthy of being recorded in history!

They were offering their swords and their hearts to their monarch, to this guardian of the human world!

“So... this is the true 'Dao'...”

Daoist Qingwei knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

He had cultivated for a thousand years, always believing that the Dao was about purity and inaction, being detached from worldly affairs.

Only today did he understand.

The true Dao is about entering the world, about protecting, about bearing the wishes of all people, and shouldering the responsibility of the world!

Compared to the magnificent Dao of His Majesty the Human Emperor before him, the “Dao of Ruthlessness” pursued by his Shu Mountain was simply a huge joke!

Just as the divine sword was being forged on Shu Mountain, emitting golden light in all directions.

Hundreds of miles away, a bustling town had become Hell on Earth.

Black evil Qi enveloped the entire town, and the streets were filled with mad people biting and hacking at each other.

There was no reason in their eyes, only pure chaos and malice.

And in the center of the town, atop a pile of countless corpses, a blurry, distorted human figure made of pure black Qi lay comfortably, enjoying this “feast” he had personally created.

Fear, hatred, despair... these wonderful negative emotions surged from all directions, transforming into the purest nourishment, making his illusory body more and more solid, and more and more powerful.

He was the Evil Sword Immortal.

“Hahahaha! Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!”

The Evil Sword Immortal let out a piercing, maddening laugh.

“Humans are such fragile and interesting creatures!”

“Just a gentle push, and they will walk towards destruction, then offer me this supreme delicacy!”

“Once I've sucked up all the nourishment here, I'll go to the next place! Soon, the entire world will become my playground! I will become the only God in this world!”

He was immersed in his beautiful fantasy.

Suddenly.

His distorted body suddenly stiffened.

An indescribable terrifying pressure that made him tremble from the depths of his Soul swept over from the distant sky without warning!

What kind of feeling was that?

It was like darkness meeting the sun, like chaos meeting order, like evil meeting... its natural enemy!

That power was pure, vast, domineering, and utterly unreasonable!

Wherever it passed, the black evil Qi that enveloped the entire town was instantly evaporated!

The mad common people also fell to the ground, unconscious, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads.

“No! This... what is this?!”

The Evil Sword Immortal shrieked in terror!

He felt his power rapidly dissolving under the illumination of that golden light!

For the first time, he felt “fear”!

He suddenly looked up, gazing in the direction from which that power came—Shu Mountain.

In the distant sky, an indescribably huge, majestic divine sword, composed of the purest golden light, had completely taken shape!

It hung silently between heaven and earth, its blade wreathed with the faith Dragon Qi of hundreds of millions of Great Tang people, engraved with supreme divine runes representing “order” and “protection”!

It seemed to be the Incarnation of this world's “principles,” the manifestation of its “Laws”!

It was the ultimate weapon born specifically to judge “evil” and “wickedness” like him!

“I've found you.”

A cold, majestic, emotionless voice crossed hundreds of miles of space and directly resounded in his mind.

The Evil Sword Immortal trembled all over; he knew that it was the owner of that sword delivering his final judgment.

“No! I am immortal! I am the Evil Sword Immortal! No one in this world can kill me!”

He let out a hysterical roar, his entire body's black Qi surging wildly, attempting to escape from this place.

However, it was too late.

At the peak of Shu Mountain.

Li Chengqian slowly raised his hand and grasped the hilt of the “Sword of the Son of Heaven” that he had personally forged.

He didn't even look in the direction where the Evil Sword Immortal was.

He simply, from afar, swung his sword down towards that world polluted by evil Qi!

“In my name.”

“ 斬！”