Chapter 3960: Heavy

All humans on the battlefield headed for the Eighth Night Pillar, which had been riddled with holes by the numerous spikes of Ci Liu and its subordinate bugs.

When they saw that the Eighth Night Pillar was trying to escape, the sea of insects boiled and frantically assaulted the blood-colored pavilion.

Ci Liu continuously shot out spikes, and Xue Lou’s face grew increasingly pale. Even so, he managed to hold his ground.

After the Eighth Night Pillar shot towards the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, the man removed his blood-colored pavilion, gathering all of the surging blood energy within it. His eyes grew fierce and crazed as he radiated an air of absolute arrogance. “You’ve attacked for long enough! Now it’s my turn! Blood Tower’s Eight Styles!”

As his voice rang out, the color of blood dyed outer space, surging toward the insect horde and then engulfing it.

Right after using the Blood Tower’s Eight Styles, Xue Lou’s body was pulled toward the Eighth Night Pillar by an unseen force. A spirit thread connected the man to the Night Pillar. Without that, he would have never been able to catch up, and staying behind would have definitely resulted in his death.

As the Blood Tower’s Eight Styles spread out among the bugs, Xue Lou seized the opportunity to climb onto the Eighth Night Pillar with the spirit thread. Gan Mo and the others quickly moved to help him, only to discover five sharp spikes embedded deep in his back. They had nearly torn him apart.

While he had managed to survive, Xue Lou had been gravely wounded.

Fortunately, the Eighth Night Pillar had managed to escape from the insects and was now on its way back to the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

The battlefield that belonged to the Third Night Pillar lay four units above the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

Even when sent out at the high speed of an Immortal, Master Qing Cao’s retreat orders still took some time to reach such distant locations.

The Third Night Pillar still had not received their new orders, and it would take at least several more months to arrive.

Kang Tian was still pursuing Hua Yan back and forth across the battlefield, with the latter slaughtering one human expert after another, fueling Kang Tian’s hatred. In addition to the Third Night Pillar’s experts, the cultivators of Deathmound’s fourth peak had also come to this battlefield.

The overall strength of the Third Night Pillar was inferior to the Eighth Night PIllar’s, which had several of Greater Sancte Blood Tower’s disciples. In particular, Xue Lou was an incredible powerhouse.

The Third Night Pillar only had Kang Tian and one other peak Dukkhan, though that person had undergone a Seed Transfusion. The two of them were not enough to maintain control over the entire battlefield, which was why Deathmound had sent additional support.

The master of Deathmound’s fourth peak was Gu Jing, whose sword ruthlessly diced through his enemies as he slaughtered the bugs and his blade swept across the battlefield. Without the fourth peak’s experts, the Third Night Pillar would have been crushed long ago.

...

It was indeed several months before Master Qing Cao finally approached the Third Night Pillar’s battlefield. However, his eyes were met by the peaceful scene of a calm insect swarm. There was no fighting or any commotion at all. It was utterly still.

Had the Third Night Pillar already retreated?

No. Master Qing Cao could see the Third Night Pillar floating in space with an enormous creature twined around it. It was Chang.

Chang, one of the Nest civilization’s four Insect Lords, was coiled around the Third Night Pillar. There was no life on that Night Pillar.

Master Qing Cao stared on in shock from far away. The Third Night Pillar had been completely annihilated.

...

In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, the Seventh Night Pillar was famous for its Sword Pilgrimage Grounds, which had marks from countless sword techniques. They had been carved there by famous masters throughout history. As long as the Seventh Night Pillar was a part of the Nine Odysseys, cultivators would always visit it to study the sword techniques left on it.

Unfortunately, most of the techniques that were left behind were of a higher level than what most people could comprehend. The Seventh Night Pillar did not hoard such things, but some of the sword intents were too overwhelming for the average cultivator.

Most people were incapable of even accessing the places where those sword techniques had been carved down.

Gu Duanke sat in front of a stone wall, staring straight ahead.

The stone wall before him was covered with scars from various sword techniques. Each slash and technique had been infused with the swordsman’s heart and soul. There was no one else around, as Gu Duanke had driven them all away.

Just a few days earlier, news of the Third Night Pillar’s destruction had arrived.

Gu Jing had been on the Third Night Pillar.

The moment that Gu Duanke received that news, he had come to the stone wall and stared at it, not allowing anyone to disturb him. No one knew what the man was thinking.

Only after ten days passed did Gu Duanke draw his sword. Clenching the hilt tightly, he spun the long sword in his hand. A palm strike sent the sword deep into the stone wall, strange patterns slicing into the stone near where the edge had cut in. Those slices were not deep, and they could not compare to the scars of the other sword techniques carved on the wall. However, the strange, shallow cuts somehow caused all the other sword intents on the wall to grow dim, as though they were being suppressed.

Gu Duanke was widely acknowledged as the greatest swordsman in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, and he was even known as the Sword Sovereign of the Nine Odysseys. Even so, the man had never revealed his true sword intent, as no one had ever been able to force him to use his sword a second time.

Some people could see the gap between them and Gu Duanke in just a glance.

When facing someone stronger, Gu Duanke did not draw his sword. When facing someone weaker, no one could force him to use a second attack. What he had just used was his true sword intent, the Zensword.

The world only knew Gu Duanke for his Broken Sword Intent, which granted all living beings the meaning of a broken sword; it severed blades, sealed edges, erased forms, and shattered intents. But in truth, that intent was derived from the Zensword. His sword did not kill—it only broke techniques.

When stabbing the wall, Gu Duanke had used both his Zensword and Broken Sword, leaving the combined sword intent in the stone wall for a fated person to find. At the same time, he pushed the entire stone wall off of the Seventh Night Pillar.

“Odyssey Commander?” Jian Hong shouted, not understanding what Gu Duanke was doing.

Many cultivators across the Seventh Night Pillar looked at Gu Duanke.

The man sighed. “The sword intents on this wall should not be confined to the Seventh Night Pillar. If the day comes when the Seventh Night Pillar fails to return home, all of the heart and soul poured into this wall by our predecessors will be lost.

“From this moment on, I am no longer of the Seventh Night Pillar, and the Seventh Night Pillar will no longer be the home of the Sword Pilgrimage Grounds.” With that, Gu Duanke slammed the stone wall onto the ground outside the Seventh Night Pillar. He then stepped into the void and vanished.

Gu Duanke arrived at the Frightened Sparrow Terrace.

In the past, the territory of the Greater Sancti could not be accessed without absolute necessity.

Things had recently changed. With humanity at war, Greater Sancte Awe Gate had ordered that any matter concerning the war could be delivered straight to the Frightened Sparrow Terrace.

At this moment, Lu Yin was sitting on the terrace, occasionally sweeping his consciousness over the land below. It was a convenient place from which he could scan the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, even if it was a bit far above the ground.

This also made it convenient for Greater Sancte Awe Gate to share any important news with Lu Yin as soon as it arrived.

Upon arriving, Gu Duanke went over and sat down beside Lu Yin in a very casual manner.

Lu Yin did not look at the man. He already knew that Gu Duanke would come, because Gu Jing was dead.

Word of the Third Night Pillar’s annihilation had caused a great uproar when it reached the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

After all, that news meant that Deathmound’s fourth peak had been destroyed along with the Third Night Pillar.

There was no doubt that there was some sort of connection between Gu Jing and Gu Duanke. Although Gu Jing had always desired to surpass Gu Duanke and become the Sword Sovereign of the Nine Odysseys and even to kill the older man, the relationship between the two was far from ordinary.

“Mr. Lu, could you do me a favor?”

“Tell me.”

“Go retrieve the Third Night Pillar from the battlefield.”

Lu Yin’s gaze shifted. “Do you want me to retrieve the Third Night Pillar, or Gu Jing?”

“It’s the same thing. He’s dead, but the Night Pillar should at least be brought back. That would also be an accounting for him.”

Lu Yin finally looked over at Gu Duanke. “What is your relationship with Gu Jing?”

Gu Duanke pondered for a moment before speaking slowly. “Throughout one’s lifetime, how many true friends can one have?”

Lu Yin did not answer. The question did not need any response.

“Not many. This is especially true for cultivators, whose friends will be pitifully few. Do you have a friend you can entrust with anything?

“I had one. Her name was Jing. She was a direct woman who never had any schemes. She had a quick temper, loved to punish wrongdoing, and always promoted what was right and good. Such a person could not survive in the world of cultivators, but luckily, she possessed an exceptional talent for the sword. Whenever an enemy went after her, she would experience a breakthrough in front of them and then cut them down. In her own words,” Gu Duanke gave a wry smile as he reminisced. “‘This saves me the time of searching for you. Thank you. At least you did one good thing before dying.’”

Lu Yin arched a brow. Those words instantly painted a mental picture of the woman named Jing.

Such a person, and yet her name was Jing... as in Gu Jing?

“We met because of a misunderstanding. Both of us were geniuses with the sword, and we fought each other until the misunderstanding was resolved. In the end...

“...we became sworn siblings.”

“...” Lu Yin could not help but glance at Gu Duanke.

“Jing possessed an incredible talent for the sword, and she simply went with the flow of things. On the other hand, I was obsessed, and my obsession went to my very bones. We knew each other for a long time and frequently sparred for extended lengths of time. As time passed, she was no longer able to help me improve my sword, so I started to seek out other opponents on whom to test my sword. I was relentless. During those duels, there were times when I could not hold myself back, and my blood debts grew. Who is right or wrong is not questioned between cultivators. That is what I believed back then, but I was wrong.”

Gu Duanke closed his eyes, overcome with regret. “Who says that right and wrong are never questioned? Did those people deserve to die just because of me? Just to complete my sword intent? They had their lives of their own, and there was no hatred, so why did I kill them? I was wrong. I was absolutely wrong. And for those wrongs, Jing paid for me.

“For every duel I won, she would lose one. She followed in my footsteps. Without my knowledge, she even adopted a child. To pay my debts, she willingly accepted a Seed Transfusion, using that power to settle whatever I owed. By the time I learned what she was doing, it was too late.

“She took on all my sins and made amends for my mistakes. Ultimately, she was cut down by another’s sword.”

Gu Duanke fell silent.

Lu Yin also said nothing. This was a woman who demanded respect, even if she had been rather foolish.

Everyone had their own manner of dealing with things, and regardless of whether she had been foolish, Jing had succeeded.

“When I learned of her death, I achieved great enlightenment and put down my sword. It took thousands of years for me to truly let go. When I took up the sword again, my sword intent had transformed, from the Zensword to the Broken Sword. I no longer needed to fight others to improve, and I still progressed every day. My sword intent grew stronger with every moment, until I became the Sword Sovereign of the Nine Odysseys.

“In all the Nine Odysseys, there is no one who can compete with me in the way of the sword, aside from the unfathomable Greater Sancti.

“Still, I am not happy at all. I am tired. I have long since wanted to lay down my sword and retire from the world. If not for being unable to let go of the Seventh Night Pillar, I would not have lasted for so long.

“That lasted until I learned of his existence.”

Lu Yin finally interjected, “Gu Jing?”

Gu Duanke nodded. “His name was not originally Gu Jing. He’s the child that Jing adopted. He watched with his own eyes as Jing, for my sake, tested her sword again and again, suffering defeat after defeat, right until her death. His hatred for me was written deep into his bones.

“I’ve long known who he was, and yet I had to pretend to not know his origins. I publicly praised his talent for the sword and even accepted him as my disciple. I am the one who gave him the name of Gu Jing and nurtured his growth.

“Unfortunately, before I knew of him, he had already accepted a Seed Transfusion. Otherwise, his future would have ended up much differently.”

Lu Yin was puzzled. “So, why did he join Deathmound?”

Gu Duanke explained, “Because he believed that he could gain no further improvement in comparison to me. Even I myself do not understand how I improved by laying down my sword for thousands of years and achieving great enlightenment. My mindset is not something that he could ever comprehend. That is why he joined Deathmound, to walk the same path that I once took.

“He never sought out opponents to test his sword against, but as part of Deathmound, he could focus on killing only those who deserved death. None who break the taboos of our megaverse are weak, and those people became whetstones for his sword. He hoped to one day surpass me, and even kill me in order to avenge his adoptive mother. I have also been waiting for that day.”

Lu Yin stared off into the distance. This story was a heavy one.

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