God Emperor

Along the pathway, grotesque pieces of broken swords were seen plunging out of the ground. Some were buried deep under, while some barbed fragments were left scattered on the ground.

The number of swords they stumbled onto was ever increasing, pilling closely across the black wilderness. The amount was uncountable even with the spiritual power of a Half-Saint. An ocean of swords was the term to describe the view.

Some of the swords were as tiny as a needle but had exquisite craftsmanship which made them stand out among the others.

Some were ten meters long, broader than a door frame, like a sword belonging to a giant.

…

These were only the ones visible on the ground. No one knew how many more were buried underneath.

The moment Zhang Ruochen and Ling Feiyu stepped into the area, all the swords on the ground sensed the arrival of a Sword Saint. In response to that, they were vibrating, giving out a wobbling sound.

The swords had their tips pointing at Ling Feiyu, wobbling, as if they were paying her respect.

The arrival of a Sword Saint must be celebrated with the worship of all swords.

Above their heads, among the fluffy clouds, an old man’s voice was heard. “Why is the Keeper of Heaven-Burier Sword here in the crypt of the Taotian Sword’s line of keepers?”

Ling Feiyu took out the Taotian Sword and held it in her hand. She replied, “I’m not here to disturb the forefathers. In fact, there is a scum in the line of the Taotian Sword Keepers, who has been colluding with the Immortal Vampires to save Lord Pluto.” The term ‘scum’ made Zhang Ruochen feel uneasy.

Bam!

From afar, an energy strike blasted out of the sky and transformed into sixteen man-like ghostly figures.

In that split-second, Zhang Ruochen felt sixteen sources of energy pulling down on his body, plunging him into the ground.

Zhang Ruochen used all of his energy, channeling his Holy Qi to resist the sixteen downward pulling forces, while staring at the sixteen figures standing afar. He wondered, What’s going on? The grand and great-grandmasters from the line of the Taotian Sword are still alive?

One of the figures with a bigger body frame said in a deep groaning voice, “How could Xuanji choose a scum who’d collude with the Immortal Vampires?”

“I have faith in Xuanji’s choice of successor. Our successor will always choose the rights over the wrongs.”

Another figure that was shorter and skinnier shifted his gaze to Ling Feiyu and asked, “Girl, you claimed that our current Keeper of the Sword colluded with the Immortal Vampires. Do you have any evidence?”

Had the rest of the world found out someone addressed Ling Feiyu as “girl,” they would probably drop their jaws.

Ling Feiyu answered, “No evidence.”

The sixteen figures boiled over her reply.

“How could you accuse the Taotian Sword Keeper, our successor, of colluding with the Immortal Vampires without any evidence?”

“Little girl, if I were still alive, you could have been charged for false accusation with death penalty.”

“I’ve told you to trust Xuanji!”…

Zhang Ruochen was staring at the figures from afar, listening to the many voices of reprimand. Prickles crawled up over his scalp, he could not believe he was witnessing a bunch of souls reprimanding Ling Feiyu.

Ling Feiyu frowned slightly, but without any sign of anger, “It is because I don’t have any evidence, I brought him here in the hope that fellow forefathers would help communicating to the sword spirit of the Taotian Sword, to confirm if the allegation is true.”

The sword spirit of the Taotian Sword was extremely brilliant. As long as Zhang Ruochen carried the Taotian Sword with him, the sword spirit would know everything that he ever did.

A lot of information could be acquired through the sword spirit.

The short and skinny figure grabbed the Taotian Sword with a swift movement.

An hour later, he burst into a laughter so loud that it was heard throughout. “Girl, you are embarrassing yourself by questioning the integrity of the Taotian Sword Keeper.”

“I have spoken to the sword spirit. Not only did he not collude with the Immortal Vampires, but he killed many of their Half-Saints. One of them was from their royal bloodline.”

“How can you accuse someone with such honourable character? I can’t take this.”

The other figures murmured in anger and frustration.

One hunched figure said, “One must not tolerate such humiliation. Apologize! This matter cannot be taken lightly.”

“Fight! We must fight for the honour.”

“Insulting the Keeper of Taotian Sword is not tolerable.”

…

Of course, Ling Feiyu believed their words. The six Keepers of Swords of different bloodlines had been guarding the Pluto Sword Tomb for generations. The continuation came from one single belief – never let Lord Pluto escape.

Having this in mind, Zhang Ruochen had proven his innocence.

That would make the other sword keeper, Xiang Zhenfeng, the suspect.

While they were discussing, Zhang Ruochen finally figured out what was going on.

The sixteen forefathers were dead indeed.

A saint’s saint soul had a unique substance which allowed it to be preserved for a long time, some for a hundred years, some for a thousand.

But the saint’s ‘consciousness’ was the hardest to preserve.

When a saint died, his consciousness could only be preserved for a short while. Once the consciousness was gone, the saint soul would become a dead soul.

Even the Golden Dragon, with the cultivation of Supreme Saint, had a consciousness that only lasted for 800 years.

The consciousness of sixteen generations of Taotian Sword Keepers was well-preserved even to now. This had to do with the special power residing in the Sword Tomb.

“I can’t believe after so many years since their death, they still keep their mission as a sword keeper in mind. Their honor must have meant a lot to them when they were still alive.”

Zhang Ruochen coughed and looked upwards to the sixteen figures floating among the clouds. He bowed to them respectfully and said, “Disciple Zhang Ruochen is here to pay respect to all forefathers.”

The figure with hunchback replied impatiently, “You can bow to us during your free time. Right now, you have a greater responsibility.”

“What responsibility?” Zhang Ruochen asked curiously.

“Are you kidding me? You have been falsely accused and beaten, aren’t you angry at all? Don’t you want to defend your dignity?”

The forefather must have found out from the sword spirit how Ling Feiyu had broken Zhang Ruochen’s bones, which explained his anger.

Zhang Ruochen glanced at Ling Feiyu for a moment, then answered in an awkward tone, “With my cultivation at the moment, defending my dignity is one thing, but…”

“No more ‘but,’ I can help you to crush her.”

As the voice diminished, the hunched figure flew towards Zhang Ruochen.

“Saint Soul Possession.”

The next moment, Zhang Ruochen rose to mid-air. Slowly, he felt an intense wave of Holy Qi wrapping him up, infusing him with energy so strong, as if he could split the world in half with one strike.

From afar, the scene would look like a giant holy shadow standing in the middle of the pile of oceanic swords, emanating a majestic aura of power.

Zhang Ruochen was afloat at the forehead of the holy shadow, his body and the saint soul were indivisible, with the Taotian Sword being the binding medium.

The old man’s voice was once again heard in his ears. “That’s great! You have acquired the cultivation of Five Elements Chaotic Body, and are protected by the Mark of Gods. You can have as much energy as you want from me.”

“How does this happen?”

Zhang Ruochen was in complete shock, as he had never imagined his forefather’s saint soul could attach to his body.

“In the Sword Tomb, the six Keepers of Swords are allowed to borrow energy from the forefathers’ saint souls, so long the sword is with him,” the voice explained.

“The greater your cultivation is, the more saint souls you can borrow.”

“I can borrow all sixteen forefathers’ saint souls at once?” Zhang Ruochen asked curiously.

“Of course, but with your current cultivation, to be able to withstand the energy of a saint soul is considered marvellous already.”

Zhang Ruochen was amazed by this, and he thought to himself, Possessing only the power of three saint souls would have allowed me to be indestructible, what’s more would be possessing sixteen of them.

The forefather knew what Zhang Ruochen had in mind, so he reminded him, “Don’t be too surprised, if it weren’t for this special power the Sword Tomb is blessed with, Lord Pluto would have escaped from here a long time ago.”

“Eight hundred years ago, the Blood Empress tried to save Lord Pluto, but was defeated by the six Keepers of Swords with the united efforts of all saint souls.”

“Undeniably, the saint souls of all forefathers can only be kept in the Sword Tomb. The moment the soul leaves, its consciousness will be gone forever.”

After listening to what the forefather told him, Zhang Ruochen thought: The mission of the six Keepers of Sword is to repress Lord Pluto?

He did a quick calculation in his mind. The year Lord Pluto was held in prison was the year of the birth of the first Keeper of Taotian Sword.

“Let’s fight! You have to teach the little girl a lesson to defend our dignity,” the forefather groaned in his deep voice.

Zhang Ruochen stared at Ling Feiyu, his eyes now possessed by an urge to battle. “Alright, let’s fight.” Zhang Ruochen did not hate Ling Feiyu by any means, except for her being too bossy sometimes.

Even then, Zhang Ruochen never wanted to challenge her, not to mention teaching her a lesson.

His urge to fight was solely his desire to comprehend sword techniques at a higher level.

The best timing to do so was when the saint soul was possessing his body. This would benefit him the greatest.

Other sword warriors would never get this opportunity.

The thought of fighting a Sword Saint left him all excited; he could feel his blood boiling in his body.

Ling Feiyu rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you, the keepers of the Taotian Sword excessively ambitious? He’s only a Level One Half-Saint, even with the additional strength of a Sword Saint, how much can he take advantage of? Do you think you can defeat me?”

Indeed, Saint Soul Possession allowed one to obtain the strength of a Sword Saint, whether or not he could bring it to play would be fully dependent on Zhang Ruochen’s sword techniques application.

In terms of understanding sword mastery, battling experience, and other factors….with none of these he was ever comparable to a Sword Saint.

He was only a Level One Half-Saint after all. If he could perform ten percent of the Sword Saint’s strength, he should be applauded already.

Under such circumstances, Ling Feiyu showed no fear at all. She just thought that the Taotian Sword’s keepers were ridiculous.