Chapter 287: Excalibur
“For the next strike, you will be defeated by This King’s Sword Truth!”
The moment Shi Xiaobai said this, points of near-transparent golden dots of light floated up from the ground as they rapidly surged towards Shi Xiaobai.
The golden points of light gathered and merged into Shi Xiaobai’s body. A translucent golden light enveloped Shi Xiaobai in a membrane.
Two golden vortices appeared in his black eyes.
“This King’s Sword Truth—Excalibur!”
There was a sudden hint of divinity in Shi Xiaobai’s voice.
Shi Xiaobai had been defeated by Sunless six hundred and fifty-three times in their consciousness sparring. He went from only knowing sword techniques to grasping sword intent. He was also extremely close to creating a Sword Truth that was unique to him.
And at this moment, against Heartless, who had activated his Sword Truth, [Heartless], he had suffered one defeat after another, to the point of being powerless to resist. But through this, Shi Xiaobai completed another metamorphosis.
Growing from failures, that was Shi Xiaobai!
He had created a Sword Truth that belonged to himself!
This Sword Truth was born out of failure, so Shi Xiaobai wanted to call it Success, but he suddenly thought of a sword technique which the loli sword spirit had previously mentioned to him. It was a sword technique that left a deep impression on him—Excalibur1!
Hence, the thought of naming his Sword Truth [Excalibur] could not be stopped.
Victory born out of countless defeats. Wasn’t that exactly the most persistent and resolute victory?
For victory, he was willing to steadfastly progress forward despite thousands of failures. This was…Excalibur!
This was a symbol of Shi Xiaobai’s divine kingship, and it was also Shi Xiaobai’s Sword Truth!
Near-transparent golden light enveloped Shi Xiaobai. His aura soared to its maximum as he ‘activated’ his Sword Truth!
Heartless was deadpan. He had frozen all his emotions. Even though the scene in front of him was horrifying and thrilling, he would remain indifferent!
However, his aura was similarly soaring. This was because he wanted to end the duel with the next strike!
Black gasses emitted from the ground as they circled Heartless’ psionic sword.
Heartless raised his sword high as black mist shrouded it. Slowly, a gigantic black sword projection appeared.
“Heaven Shrouding!”
Heartless yelled as he held his sword with both hands. From more than ten meters away, he slashed at Shi Xiaobai!
“Eclipse!”
A humongous black sword projection fell from the sky as it shrouded the heavens. The sword projected was like a gigantic black mountain as it crashed down at Shi Xiaobai!
This black sword projection nearly covered every inch of the arena. Surging sword intent emanated from the sword projection as countless sword beams stirred, as though it was tearing apart space itself!
Shi Xiaobai could not avoid it!
But he would not avoid it as well!
With sword in his left hand, the golden points of light around Shi Xiaobai’s body surged towards the psionic sword. The white psionic sword emitted a dazzling golden light, as though it was a treasured sword made out of gold.
All the psionic power in Shi Xiaobai’s body spewed out at the instant. It was constantly being gathered, compressed and converged to a single point. The golden psionic sword’s sword tip immediately burst out a light more glaring than sunlight!
Why was it Excalibur?
By using all his strength, exhausting his everything, concentrating his commitment to victory, he would slash out the final strike with absolutely no regrets!
This was the Excalibur Shi Xiaobai understood. He may have not seen this strike before, but he could create it himself!
He recalled the moment when the blond woman with coiled hair produced that strike that made him possess the thought of “This King wants to learn swords”. He then used the line of thought with how Turtle-speed Divine Punch constantly compressed psionic power, and the inspiration from compressing all his strength through the use of One Second Shura. By combining three factors together, he created a sword technique that belonged to him alone!
This strike was Shi Xiaobai’s full strength. It was meant for victory, leaving no room for escape!
This was the finale strike!
This strike was Excalibur!
More and more golden points of light gathered towards the sword’s body as psionic power that was continuously compressed made the sword’s edge appear even more dazzling!
Suddenly, a gigantic golden sword projection rose to the sky!
At the same time, the black sword projection of Heaven Shrouding Eclipse that Heartless had slashed out came crashing down like a mountain.
The golden sword projection went past the black sword projection, as though sunlight tearing through the haze!
Shi Xiaobai’s eyes grew brighter as though they were shimmering stars!
“Excalibur!”
Shi Xiaobai roared as he slashed out!
The gigantic golden sword projection slashed vertically, splitting the black sword projection into two!
“Boom!”
The golden sword projection exploded as though a star had gone supernova. The golden light burst out, filling the world. The fragments of the black sword projection were instantly engulfed!
The golden light enveloped everything, as though gold was the only color in the entire world.
Shi Xiaobai’s psionic sword shattered and the glow from his body dimmed. His mind went blurry as his feet went limp. He nearly fell backwards. Through the expedient use of Unleaking Turtle Aura, he prevented himself from fainting.
He had created his own Sword Truth, and from the foundation of his Sword Truth, created a sword technique that belonged to him!
This strike was named Excalibur by him!
Although this strike did not possess the terrifying power that came from using ‘One Second Shura’, Shi Xiaobai had used all his mental efforts in an instant to create such a strike.
This strike could only be used once in a short period of time. There was no turning back. It was truly the finale strike!
The dazzling golden light filled the world for a few moments before it slowly dissipated. And Heartless, who had been enveloped by the golden light was slowly revealed.
At this moment, Heartless was already lying on the ground. His clothes were torn and the upper half of his body was naked. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing slightly. It appeared as though he had fainted.
An authoritative voice immediately resounded above the arena.
“The duel is over with Shi Xiaobai emerging victorious. The victor will be sent to the fifth level in ten seconds and the loser will be sent out of the training ground!”
Upon hearing this, Shi Xiaobai revealed a smile. He struggled to take a few steps towards the black and white swords.
The two swords simultaneously issued crisp sword hums.
When Shi Xiaobai neared the two swords, he frowned and discovered a problem.
His right hand had been sealed by the Absolute Choice’s punishment. He temporarily could not use his superpower in his right hand, preventing him from transforming the two swords into energy to store them.
At this moment, he could only use his left hand, so how could he hold two swords in one hand?
It was tiresome just thinking of it!
“Both of you, fuse together!”
Shi Xiaobai stared at the black and white swords as he said in an incontestable manner.
…
…
Half a minute later, Shi Xiaobai had arrived in the fifth level. His mind gradually turned lucid as he surveyed his surroundings. He discovered himself in a sparse forest. The ground beneath him was slightly muddy and there were the faint sounds of bird chirping.
Shi Xiaobai was holding a sword in his left hand. It did not look any different in terms of appearance compared to a normal sword, but there was something extremely odd about this sword. This was because the sword was constantly changing its color.
One moment, it would be pure white, and the next moment, it would be pure black. At times, it would be a mix of black and white, as though the black and white colors were scrambling to be the sword’s only color.
This sword was of course the…fusion of Holy Radiance and the black sword!
When Shi Xiaobai said in an incontestable manner, “Both of you fuse together!”, the two swords had really fused together. However, after their fusion, they entered a competition for the color of the sword’s surface. Clearly, the two swords were very reluctant about the fusion.
Shi Xiaobai was very pleased with the two ‘sensible’ swords.
Shi Xiaobai stood there for a moment waiting and soon the authoritative voice boomed in his head.
As usual, the rules of the level’s trial would be announced upon stepping into each level.
“Welcome to the Nine Revolutions Transcendental World’s fifth level, Land of Life and Death!”
“In Land of Life and Death, on every trial-taker’s shoulder will appear a Life Epaulette. If the Life Epaulette is shattered, the trial-taker will be transported out of the tower!”
“Every ten minutes, there will be one trial-taker whose Life Epaulette will transform into the Death Epaulette. The assessment program will inform all trial-takers in the Land of Life and Death the identity of the trial-taker with the Death Epaulette, as well as the information of the trial-taker’s location for up to ten seconds.”
“Once trial-takers with the Life Epaulette succeed at destroying the Death Epaulette, it will be considered as a successful clear of the level and the trial-taker will be sent to the sixth level. Every Death Epaulette can only have one destroyer. Simultaneous destruction will be considered null and void.”
“If the trial-taker wearing the Death Epaulette is able to prevent the Death Epaulette from shattering for ten minutes, the trial-taker will be considered as having cleared the level and the trial-taker will be sent to the sixth level.”
“The fifth level’s Level Lord, [Death Aristocrat], has been awakened. It will descend in eight hours. Please make haste!”
“Gentle reminder, do not easily trust anyone. Wishing you the best of luck!”
When Shi Xiaobai heard this, he could not help but glance at his shoulder. And indeed, an epaulette had appeared on his shoulder.
It was a silver epaulette the size of a coin that had no patterns.
This epaulette was the Life Epaulette. He would be eliminated if it was shattered.
This level’s ruleset…was probably one of the most cruel ones out of the five levels so far.
Only one person could clear the level every ten minutes. The trial-taker who had his epaulette changed to a Death Epaulette was equivalent to a fugitive on the run. The trial-taker had to ‘survive’ for ten minutes in order to clear the level. The remaining hundred or two hundred trial-takers would be equivalent to pursuers. They would definitely gather to kill the Death Epaulette trial-taker in order to clear the level.
The assessment program would even provide the pursuers identity of the fugitive, as well as ten seconds of the fugitive’s location.
In this trial, the fugitive would find it difficult to survive, while the pursuers needed to compete with another hundred or two hundred people, only for one person to clear the level. If the Death Epaulette was simultaneously shattered, it would be void. Therefore, even a 0.01 second advantage was something to strive for.
The cruel competitiveness of this level’s trial was obvious.
After Shi Xiaobai considered the rules, he lay down on the ground for a moment. Although the side effects were not as exaggerated as using ‘One Second Shura’ after he slashed his self-made Excalibur strike, his psionic power was somewhat drained. He needed to recover for a moment.
Shi Xiaobai rested for several minutes.
Suddenly, the authoritative voice resounded in the sky, throughout the world.
“The thirty-first round shall begin immediately. Death Epaulette wearer has been randomly chosen. The wearer’s name is Ye Sheng.”
When the voice faded away, an image immediately appeared in Shi Xiaobai’s mind. There was a freckled youth fleeing in panic amid the mountains.
At the same time, a gigantic map appeared in his mind. There were only two points on the map. One point was motionless, while the other was moving extremely fast.
Shi Xiaobai immediately understood. The immobile point was him, while the rapidly moving point was the freckled youth who had become the fugitive.
The assessment program had indeed provided the identity and location of the fugitive.
Shi Xiaobai could not help but stare with widened eyes.
This was because he discovered a fascinating thing.
The freckled youth was nearing him, and running straight towards his position.
Holy shit, was this some welfare that was given to him?
Should This King just sit here and wait, or to sit here and wait?
1. A literal translation of Excalibur in Chinese is Vow of Victory