Chapter 108: The Divine Sword of Exorcism

Yang Shengtian, having lost his golden halberd, was so furious that his eyes turned red, emitting a strange glow. In his memory, ever since he had served as a general in the Barbarian Kingdom, he had never been defeated by an enemy in such a humiliating manner. And today, he had been bested by an old man! If this story got out, he didn’t know how shameful it would be.

The angrier he became, the stronger the red light gleamed from his eyes. He fixed an angry glare upon Master Xuan Zhe.

Master Xuan Zhe, unafraid, carefully observed Yang Shengtian’s eyes, trying to determine whether the red glow was indeed the manifestation of the soul-possession technique described in ancient legends—where the angrier and more agitated the person, the brighter the red light and the heavier the killing intent.

At this moment, Xuan Zhe saw that the more enraged Yang Shengtian grew, the deeper the red glow became, and the stronger the killing aura radiated from his eyes.

“As the ancients foretold, the soul-possession technique manifests these very traits!” Xuan Zhe thought to himself. He recalled that this forbidden sorcery had not been practiced for centuries, for once mastered, the cultivator would lose the ability to bear offspring. The secret method had been lost to the world, so who could still wield such a technique? Where had they obtained the formula? And knowing full well that practicing this art would lead to extinction of one’s lineage, why would anyone dare to cultivate it? What was their true purpose?

At that moment, Yang Shengtian’s eyes widened unnaturally, his irises filled with crimson light, glaring furiously at Master Xuan Zhe. “You foul old Daoist! I originally respected you for your age and refrained from using my trump card, but now you have taken my golden halberd and tossed it aside! This is utter disrespect to my divine weapon! Very well, I shall be no more polite!”

Raising his left hand, the discarded golden halberd rose into the air and floated back into his grasp. Then, with his right hand, he summoned a mystical bow out of thin air. Clutching the bow tightly, he leapt backward onto the little black beast beside him and said, “Old Daoist, prepare to receive my attack!” With that, he tossed the mystical bow into the air.

Wings sprouted at both ends of the bow, flapping rapidly as it soared above Master Xuan Zhe’s head.

Seeing the mystical bow appear, Master Xuan Zhe’s heart stirred with emotion. Silently, he mused, “It truly is my disciple Wei Xiaofan! Indeed, it is Wei Xiaofan! That bow is all too familiar to me. Shortly after I brought Wei Xiaofan and Wei Xiaoping to Qingfeng Temple, one night a divine being mysteriously appeared at their dwelling and gifted Wei Xiaofan this mystical bow. Wei Xiaoping received a mystical sword—the Demon-Slaying Sword—from the same divine being. When the brothers first obtained their divine weapons, they came to me the next day, eager to learn how to wield them. Especially Wei Xiaofan, for his bow had no arrows and he did not know its use. It was only after I studied it that I discovered how to harness its power and taught him. So, I am intimately familiar with this bow. But now my beloved disciple dares to call me a foul old Daoist! How has it come to this? Who has turned him into such a person? Did he go to Shi Hui Kingdom to serve as a general? Who took him there...?”

Seeing the mystical bow hovering above Yang Shengtian’s head, Master Xuan Zhe knew what was coming next—a relentless assault from the bow. Aware of its formidable power, he did not dare to underestimate it. From his back, he drew the Exorcising Sword to counter the incoming attack.

This Exorcising Sword was something Master Xuan Zhe had obtained by chance when he was eight hundred and eighty years old. At that time, he was cultivating a technique called the Perfect Sphere Divine Skill and had reached the eighth level. To advance further, he required more vital energy than his body possessed. Thus, he needed to journey to the highest peak of the Wild Continent—Qingyun Mountain—and meditate from the early hours before dawn until five in the morning, absorbing the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, as well as the essence of the sun and moon, to replenish his energy. This process had to be repeated for nine hundred and eighteen days to fully restore his vitality.

One night, while meditating at three o’clock in the morning, he suddenly sensed a brilliant light streak past like a meteor. Thinking a demon was attacking, he opened his eyes, only to see a sword-shaped object flying before him. A sword that could fly! What other divine artifact could this be?

Immediately, Master Xuan Zhe leapt up and followed the sword’s trajectory for about a quarter of an hour until it disappeared into a cave, at which point the radiant light vanished.

At the cave’s mouth, pitch darkness swallowed all sight. Summoning his power, he ignited some leaves for light and stepped inside.

The cave’s entrance was about the size of two doors or windows, but a few steps in, the space suddenly opened wide, roughly the size of ten houses.

Inside lay various tools for cultivating martial arts and magic, as well as alchemical furnaces, all ancient and decayed by over a thousand years.

In one corner stood a skeleton bent upright. In front of it was a giant slab of stone the size of a table, into which a sword about three fingers wide was thrust.

Master Xuan Zhe approached the sword and stone. The stone was weathered and aged, but the sword was spotless, faintly glowing.

The sword’s hilt was suspended with an ancient divine wood inscribed with four lines. Whispering the words, Master Xuan Zhe read: “Since fate has brought us together, this sword I gift to you—to slay demons and sever evil! Remember well, remember well!” The inscription was signed: Supreme Ancient Sage.

Upon finishing, Master Xuan Zhe knelt before the skeleton and bowed repeatedly—sixty-three bows in total.

When he reached the eighteenth bow, the skeleton suddenly crumbled before him.

After gathering the bones, Master Xuan Zhe found an ancient divine wood and fashioned a coffin. He cleaned the remains and buried them, then turned his attention to pulling out the ancient sword.

Though the sword was only embedded one-third into the stone, it took Master Xuan Zhe most of his spiritual power to extract it.

During the process, the sword’s hilt and blade emitted a dazzling divine light, illuminating the entire cave and forcing him to close his eyes against the brilliance.

Once freed, he carefully examined the sword, noting four characters carved on the blade: Exorcising Divine Sword.

No sooner had he looked than a scabbard appeared out of thin air, sheathing the sword, and the entire blade trembled violently, as if trying to escape his grasp.

After a while, the sword began to pull Master Xuan Zhe outward and then dragged him into the air.

Fortunately, he had previously received a sacred incantation from his master—the Subduing Things Divine Curse. Reciting it slowly tamed the sword.

After many trials and studies of both the curse and the sword, he learned to control it fully. From then on, whenever he grew weary walking or flying, he would place the sword beneath his feet and allow it to carry him.

When Wei Xiaoping and Wei Xiaofan received their mystical weapons from the mysterious figure, Master Xuan Zhe immediately tested them alone against the brothers. Though Wei Xiaoping’s Demon-Slaying Sword and Wei Xiaofan’s mystical bow were powerful, in the end, they still fell short of the Exorcising Divine Sword.

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