Legend of Swordsman

“Jian Wushuang, let me remind you not to underestimate Emperor Golden Snake too much,” Emperor Fengxiao suddenly quipped.

“Oh?” Jian Wushuang looked in surprise at him.

“He has always kept a low profile among the 108 Divine Emperors, such that everyone considers him to be the weakest among them. However, nobody knows how strong he really is. After all, he has never fought a life-death battle, whether against humans or demonic beasts,” Emperor Fengxiao noted.

“I have had some dealings with him. Even though we’ve never fought, I always felt that his strength wasn’t as simple as it looked. He might have exchanged blows with you before, but I can assure you that he wasn’t using his full strength.”

Jian Wushuang’s gaze became slightly fixed upon hearing this. He never imagined that Emperor Fengxiao would give such a high estimation of Emperor Golden Snake.

“In any case, the outcome of the life-death duel in a month’s time will depend on your skill. I have two things here that should assist you somewhat.” Emperor Fengxiao took out a Jade Slip and a purple-golden fruit which gave off an enchanting fragrance.

“What are they?” Jian Wushuang looked doubtfully at the two items and was in no hurry to receive them.

“This Jade Slip contains some of my Dao attainments, and also many occults from the Waterdrop Sword Principle which I meditated upon. It’ll be helpful as a reference for your Dao meditation.” Emperor Fengxiao added, “This is called a Soul Fruit. I obtained two of them by chance during my time wandering the Monster Territory, and have already consumed one.”

“A Soul Fruit is a very special Natural Treasure and can be used to elevate one’s ‘soul’.”

“I’d only ever awakened two Sword Souls, but after consuming the Soul Fruit, I awakened a third. As for your Sword Souls… they’re very peculiar, or should I say, frightening, but there’s still plenty of room to grow. The Soul Fruit will definitely be useful to you.”

These words jolted Jian Wushuang’s heart.

Emperor Fengxiao’s Dao attainments, occults from his meditation of the Waterdrop Sword Principle, and the Soul Fruit.

These things were not just useful but extremely useful to him.

But why was Emperor Fengxiao willing to give him such precious things?

Previously, Emperor Fengxiao had also unconditionally given him the token of the Fourth Level of the Earth Core Palace, which was extraordinarily valuable and incomparably well-regarded among the Divine Emperors. Jian Wushuang had asked himself why the former took such great care of him even though they did not have a preexisting relationship.

“Take them.”

Emperor Fengxiao held the Jade Slip and Soul Fruit in front of Jian Wushuang and smiled. “I was greatly inspired by your display of swordsmanship during the Divine General assessment. If not for that, I might never have mastered the sword movement which I painstakingly studied, and I would never have made such a fast breakthrough regarding the bottleneck that was troubling me in my Sword Principle cultivation.”

“You helped me a great deal. These are my gifts to you.”

Jian Wushuang only now understood that the swordsmanship he displayed during the Divine General assessment had inspired and thereby helped Emperor Fengxiao. That explained why the latter would be so caring toward him.

“Thank you so much.” Jian Wushuang expressed his gratitude before less courteously accepting the items.

“You have a month to prepare. Go and get ready. I wish that you’ll get through safely.” Emperor Fengxiao glanced at Jian Wushuang and made his leave without saying any more.

Jian Wushuang made his way down to the campsite, where Qing Huo came up to him as soon as he landed.

“Brother Wushuang, what happened?” Qing Huo frowned.

“I’ll be fighting a life-death duel with Emperor Golden Snake in a month’s time,” Jian Wushuang replied.

“How’s that possible?” Qing Huo was astounded. “How did Emperor Golden Snake gain the approval of 17 temple masters for it?”

“They only approved because Temple Master Golden Mountain personally intervened and the Monster-exterminating League found out I’m an outsider,” Jian Wushuang answered.

“Temple Master Golden Mountain?” Qing Huo showed a slight change in countenance.

“Qing Huo, I’m going to leave East Camp.”

“Alright. You only have a month, so go and get prepared,” Qing Huo solemnly said.

Nodding, Jian Wushuang promptly went and applied to leave East Camp. The process was very simple and only took half a day. After handing over all of his responsibilities in the camp, he made a swift departure.

“A month may not be long but it’s also not too short. I must find a way to increase my strength during this time,” Jian Wushuang muttered to himself. The first thing he did was to find a private place where he could thoroughly study the Jade Slip that Emperor Fengxiao gave him.

The place he chose was the Sky Solitude Mountains.

The mountains were vast in range and had few passersby. After finding a spot in one of them where he sat cross-legged, he took out the Jade Slip and began to look through its messages.

The Jade Slip contained Emperor Fengxiao’s Dao ideas and attainments, and also several of his thoughts regarding the Waterdrop Sword Principle.

It was a very diverse mix of messages.

It took a long time for Jian Wushuang to look through all of the messages in the Jade Slip.

“So, this is what Dao is really like.” There was a hint of enlightenment in his eyes.

He had many longstanding questions about Dao as he had never come into contact with it and did not understand it at all. All he knew was that it was highly intriguing. In the Divine Land for instance, Su Ming’s Illusory Sword Principle and Blind Emperor’s Heart Sword Principle were profound like none other.

It was only now, having looked through Emperor Fengxiao’s thoughts and attainments, that he understood.

Dao is an evolved form of Origin!

When one’s understanding of Origin reached a certain level, the Origin would evolve into the higher level Dao.

This type of evolution had a very complicated process which could only be completed if one had unique understandings of and attainments in Origin.

For example, Emperor Fengxiao derived the Waterdrop Sword Principle from his understandings of the Waterdrop Origin.

But there were still things Jian Wushuang could not understand.

“According to Emperor Fengxiao, he combined the Sword Principle and Waterdrop Origin to develop the Waterdrop Sword Principle, which I find a little odd even though it’s a Dao.” He frowned tightly.

It seemed to him that Origins were Origins and Sword Principles were Sword Principles – that the two were completely different.

The latter should purely be evolved from the former. Instead, Emperor Fengxiao’s Waterdrop Sword Principle was not a pure evolution of the Waterdrop Origin but required the addition and support of the Sword Principle in order to be developed.

“The Waterdrop Sword Principle… seemingly deviates from the essence of the Waterdrop Origin.” Jian Wushuang shook his head involuntarily.