Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2578: Chapter 2573: The Crystal Revealed at Last

The tides between offense and defense have shifted.

This is why, when you gain the upper hand, you should either spare people, or completely wipe them out.

After Sword Saint Ah Fei pulled away to create distance, the two of them didn’t immediately start fighting again.

But the situation of facing each other from afar was already completely different from before.

The most obvious change was that Tool-man Ah Fei had reverted from shadow form, while his opponent had returned to his original appearance.

Of course, for Fu Qian at this moment, this change no longer stopped him from observing both sides at the same time.

After all, just like the Creator of Wisdom reminded him, his own side was also deteriorating—his Extraordinary Perception was flaring up more and more frequently.

Compared to his opponent, whose form hadn’t changed much, Tool-man Ah Fei’s current look was undoubtedly far more impactful.

Broken limbs still hung there, yet he no longer had the slightest look of a beaten dog—on the contrary, he was so sharp he hurt to look at.

Just watching for a bit made it feel as if killing intent pierced straight through your corneas, leaving your whole body cold.

At the same time, the stance of that mutilated body somehow carried a different kind of elegance.

The broken arm he had just raised to block the attack still hadn’t been lowered.

Which in turn made it easier to notice the weapon that had appeared, floating in the Void there.

Very long, yet very plain, without any ornamentation from end to end—almost reminiscent of that first thing he’d picked up off the ground, something that barely even counted as a sword.

And it didn’t even seem to have a physical body; it was like an illusory projection.

Yet this very weapon was exuding killing intent far more exaggerated than that giant sword from earlier.

In front of it, both weight and sharp blade seemed laughable.

Could this be that supreme realm of having no sword in the hand but a sword in the heart?

Looking back at how Brother Ah Fei’s weapons had been upgraded along the way, Fu Qian couldn’t help but sigh.

Of course, the most important thing was that this simple naturalness actually reminded people of a certain old acquaintance.

The Academy’s Fungus Sword Saint.

Although Tool-man Ah Fei still looked miserable, and he wasn’t wearing that particular face, just like the weapon in his hand now he gave off a high-end feeling of taking the spirit while discarding the form.

Meanwhile, his opponent, who had been "face-sticking" him, suddenly looked a bit clumsy.

What can you say—worthy of Sword Dao Second Phase. Although this change also seemed to herald some sort of transformation—

More Sword Saint than Sword Saint Ah Fei, had Fu Qian’s tool-man finally abandoned himself entirely and fused with Sword Dao through all that killing along the way?

"For example, why didn’t he level up alongside him?"

Theoretically he’d just achieved fruition, though Fu Qian didn’t exactly appreciate it; sighing, he pointed at Sword Saint Ah Fei and spoke to the Creator of Wisdom.

"...Why?"

Even without a "face," you could still tell the latter wasn’t very happy, tacitly acknowledging that Tool-man Ah Fei had indeed upgraded, and directly throwing the question back.

"Because his opponent right now is absolute correctness. If you want to produce something even more correct, you’ll need some work."

Fu Qian didn’t mind at all, and answered seriously.

Based on his earlier speculation about the correction principle, the Second Order Ah Fei, who had now completely erased himself, was undoubtedly the purest form this position could achieve.

So unless you directly否定 the Sword Dao, there shouldn’t be any room left for correction.

And Fu Qian believed that for the Creator of Wisdom, that deeper level of negation should at least cost quite a bit more effort.

"So what? Same question as before—will this change your final outcome? Or do you still not believe that I’m Immortal?"

He seemed to have given the "right answer," to the point that the Creator of Wisdom was driven into firing off a triple question in a row.

"That word is unlucky. Don’t throw it around."

Hearing the word "Immortal," the more experienced Professor Fu hurriedly offered a kind reminder.

He remembered very clearly that all the people who had declared that in the past died in increasingly miserable ways.

Heh heh...

The Creator of Wisdom only let out a string of chuckles; there wasn’t the slightest ripple on the folds of its brain.

Hiss—

Unfortunately, no matter how big your head is, the world doesn’t bend to individual will. Aside from his optimistic attitude being somewhat commendable, this response did nothing to change what came next.

With a distinct sound, Second Order Ah Fei had already appeared in another position; his movement changed as well, and the sword he’d been holding high finally came down.

But the greater change occurred behind him.

A certain invisible figure holding a giant sword had been midway through a dodge when it suddenly stopped reacting altogether.

Crack!

The next instant it even lost its outline.

Fu Qian heard a strangely crisp sound; that humanoid figure shattered with a roar, and was no longer invisible.

No need for Extraordinary Perception; he could directly see the shattered pieces—crystal?

Those remains, now solid, showed not a drop of blood; instead, they’d smashed into a glittering spread across the ground.

...

They really were crystals.

For Fu Qian, he didn’t even need to get close to confirm it; this was exactly something he’d been eagerly awaiting on this trip.

The crystal Curse or blessing, suspected to be the direct cause of the Academy Exploration Team’s annihilation, had only appeared after they pushed forward to Depth Three, and in such a scene.

Indeed, just do good and don’t ask about the future—but why did this future show up?

To know what is so, and why it is so, Fu Qian was equally interested in the cause behind this harvest.

Unfortunately, on the one hand, the person involved had zero interest in providing an explanation.

After shattering a soul with one sword, Second Order Ah Fei didn’t even look back; he just kept striking a pose in place.

"How is that possible..."

As for the other hand, this seemed to fall right into the Creator of Wisdom’s knowledge blind spot; staring at the debris all over the ground, it likewise couldn’t understand.

"I think there may be multiple factors. For starters, it’s related to Sword Dao."

Fortunately, with a seasoned academic lead as the Sea-Calming Divine Needle, Fu Qian gave a slight nod and offered his hypothesis.

"Based on my experience dealing with them, the authority corresponding to this Divine Road carries extremely heavy killing intent; it seems capable of directly dismantling Extraordinary Forms."

He wasn’t just making this up; it was based on his battle with the Fungus Sword Saint back at the Academy.

After taking that one strike, he’d summed up the experience—the building corresponding to his Extraordinary Form felt like it was being violently demolished.

If it had been someone of slightly lower Ranking, they might have been hacked straight into a pile of Extraordinary Materials—just like this.

This glittering spread on the ground even looked a bit like Thorn Blood, that thing he’d been asked to find on his first trip to Shangjing.

Wherever you put it, people would probably treat it as some heaven-sent treasure, right?

"But that one explanation isn’t enough; we still need to answer an important question—why is everything decomposed into just this one kind of material? Isn’t the type a little too uniform?"

Drawing on all the things he’d seen over the past few days, Fu Qian wasn’t satisfied with a simple explanation and kept digging deeper.

"How is that possible—"

Unfortunately, the Creator of Wisdom seemed to have turned into a broken record, letting out an even more anguished cry.

Following the sound, they saw that the massive thinking core was also turning glittery.