The dim light of night was like the water, the starlight was bright.
Xiao Chen was flying at high speed in the sky of the Celestial City. He flew past a few nocturnal birds and arrived in front of an old residence.
This was an old residence with several hundred years of history. The wall was made up by piling ash-colored mountain rocks. The tall rocky wall seemed very rough. And the buildings within the wall was also not at all tastefully chosen. All of them were made by piling up polished boulders. There’s no gold nor glazed tiles. Let’s not even mention if it was richly ornamented, it was simple and unadorned. It was hard to believe how this kind of huge, ancient, and rocky residence would appear in the flourishing Celestial City. It was excessively simple and plain.
This was the Solitary family’s sole residence in the Celestial City.
The number of people in the Solitary’s family was very scarce. There was always one descendent in each generations, but it only lasted until Dugu Jianmo’s generation. The history changed for the better, the Solitary family actually bore three children in this generation, and all of them were male.
Dugu Jianmo’s eldest brother left the house with a sword at the age of fifteen. There’s no news about him for eighteen years straight. Even Dugu Jianmo’s second brother left the south at the age of thirteen. He crossed over the Terra Empire at a young age and entered the even wider North territory. He entered the legendary land of the illustrious heroes. He left for sixteen years and never returned to the south.
Dugu Jianmo was independent since childhood. When his big brother left to travel to the other end of the world, he was only four years old. When his second brother traveled to the distant land, he was only six years old. The entire old residence was lifeless. There’s no servants nor playmates. There was only his uncommunicative father who sat by himself in the sword chamber all day long. Since five years old, not only his clothing, he even had to take care of his own food.
Without any familial love nor friendship, he grew up by his lonesome self without any cheers and laughs.
When Dugu Jianmo was ten years old, after his father passed all the sword skills to him, he left and never returned like his grandfather and great-grandfather, leaving no traces behind. As for his mother, he had never seen her before. The three brothers were personally brought home from the outside by their father.
Dugu Jianmo’s childhood was dull gray. Only his father and himself lived in such a big ancient castle. And after ten years old, the only thing accompanying him was a sword. ⌈1⌋
He was this lonely since childhood. As far as he was concerned, the sword was more important than his life. It was his only friend since childhood. The sword was his other half!
The ancient castle was very dark. The buildings completely made out of piling boulders were very tall and blocked a wide expanse of the gentle moonlight. It made this place seem very gloomy.
Within the ancient wall, in front of a huge castle, an imposing figure was standing there, alone. The simple and unadorned sword was pierced into the bluestone floor. Dugu Jianmo was looking up at the starry sky motionlessly. His entire person seemed like a wood statue.
After a good while, he sat on the ground cross-legged, with his back facing the ancient yet huge castle. He pulled the sword out from the ground and placed it on his knees. He gently stroked it over and over with a very devoted expression.
Dugu Jianmo was feeling very unsettled tonight. The ancient castle made him recall a lot of things. All these dull memories could make one feel lonely.
The memories from childhood resurfaced in his mind. When he was two years old, he tumbled on the ground and was badly bruised, everyone ignored him. When he was three years old and fell into the bone-chilling glacier, his father fished him up and didn’t comfort him at all. He was tossed aside at the ice-cold ancient castle to whimper alone. When he was five years old, he had to take care of his own food. When he was extremely hungry, he even wolfed down half of the raw goose meat. When he was six years old, he had to bear the pain of the sword piercing his bones. When he was seven years old, he was thrown into the desolate region and forced to face the wolves alone. He always returned with blood covering his entire body… Of course, what he recalled the most was still the loneliness. It had accompanied him for twenty two years!
His past was dull gray and lonely… when Dugu Jianmo was young, he always fantasized a kind and beautiful mother appearing beside him sometime in the future, with a lively and kind-hearted big sister to talk with him unceasingly.
However, all of these were nothing more than fantasy! Only the ice-cold sword had accompanied him for twenty two years.
Xiao Chen entered the sky of the ancient castle and calmly swept his eyes over the bottom. He quickly found the lone figure under the shadow of the huge castle. He could vaguely see two crystal clear tears rolling down Dugu Jianmo’s cheeks. This made Xiao Chen very surprised. As ruthless as Dugu Jianmo — he was killing without batting an eye on the dragon island — he actually had this kind of unknown side.
“Ah!!!” All of a sudden, Dugu Jianmo faced upwards and let out a shout. He seemed to be in a frenzy. His black hair flew up as the sword in his hand caused the space to distort. A mysterious domain shrouded the shadow of the castle in that instant. The entire castle was shaking violently accordingly.
“Sky Mastery, Heavenly Body; Earth Mastery, Dragon Rise; Humanity Mastery, Temporal Upend!” At this moment, Dugu Jianmo recovered his former expression, grave and stern. His ice-cold tone reverberated in the ancient castle, “Sword! It is my only way of life! Sweep the whole world with the sword! Turn the Heaven and Earth upside down!”
Xiao Chen slowly descended. He stood in front of the huge ancient castle and looked straight at Dugu Jianmo.
With a single sword, he overpowered everyone in the south and it was difficult to find anyone on his level among the peers. Dugu Jianmo already put away the domain and thrusted his sword into the bluestone ground in front. He fixed his eyes on Xiao Chen coldly.
Without any words, the both of them understood each other’s way of thinking. Right now, they were at the stage of overcoming an obstacle. They were at the most crucial point of breaking into Historia realm.
I am unparalleled! This was their common way of thinking. In regards to power, they were already at the peak stage of Ninth Celestial Layer. They only needed to cut off the devil’s whispers in their heart to realize the genuine breakthrough and open up the treasures in their body.
Defeat every opponents. This was their common way of thinking at this stage.
Right now, it was basically needless to say anything. There’s only one thing to do, fight!
Rips!
The sword that was stuck in the ground suddenly started to tremble. After that, it flew towards the sky by itself. The originally dull sword left a streak of rainbow as it illuminated the night sky.
It was too bright!
The divine radiance was dazzling. As if the sword had a soul, it cycled around the sky and violently slashed at Xiao Chen. The sword-qi was like a light beam. It was just like one after another lightning falling from the sky. The light from the lightning was harsh and dazzled the eyes. The blazing sword-qi interweaved and formed a deathly net. Its momentum was extreme.
Xiao Chen emitted two cold glints from his eyes and said in shock, “The Daoist School’s Airborne Fencing?!”
“The Airborne Fencing is nothing. In the face of my Solitary swordplay, it’s just a minor art!” Dugu Jianmo was like a greater demon. Standing in front of the huge castle, he wore a cold and proud expression.
Xiao Chen pulled out the jet-black broken sword and slashed eighteen times in succession. The sword-qi was as dazzling as a cluster of shooting stars falling on mother earth. The ancient castle was brightly illuminated.
“Clang! Clang! Clang…!”
The clashing sound of metals lingered on. The broken sword and metal sword clashed unceasingly. A series of sparks burst forth.
All of these happened at lightning speed. Xiao Chen’s body already transformed into a faint radiance. The broken sword and metal sword even burst forth with one ray of light after another. It appeared as if a lot of huge waterfalls were flowing backwards. Those aura and radiance of the sword-qi were dancing across the sky, boundless and majestic.
The ground was fissured, the ancient castle was shaking.
After thirty three strikes, the metal sword cut through the air and returned to Dugu Jianmo’s hand. The instant he grabbed the metal sword, it was as if Dugu Jianmo had been granted the second soul. His entire person seemed to have suddenly become much taller. It gave people an extremely bizarre feeling, as if a lofty giant had suddenly appeared in thin air. It gave people an incomparably huge pressure.
“Whoosh……”
Cold glint streaked past as Dugu Jianmo took a step forward. The metal sword produced an ear-splitting whistle as it was waved by him. That was because the speed was really too fast, making the sound of cutting through air sounded like the whistle of the ghost. The thick and solid sword-qi surged forward like a thunderous Milky Way. It was unstoppable. This space was practically almost split open by he sword-qi.
Three pavilions not far away instantly collapsed due to the overflowing sword-qi. The dazzling sword radiance was really too tyrannical. The boundless power was unimaginable. The air shook violently, as if the space itself might be ripped apart at any time.
A cold glint flickered in Xiao Chen’s eyes. He grasped the sword with both hands and jumped up high. After that, he faced the sword-qi with a vertical slash.
“Cling! Clang!”
The sword-qi and blade-qi clashed. It was as if the metal sword and broken sword had clashed together. That was a clear metallic sound, so much so that it was carrying the ringing sound of the metal.
A glaring light burst out in the sky. It made people unable to open their eyes. The intense energy swept across the sky like the raging waves. Even the mother earth fissured unceasingly.
It was as if the heaven and earth had turned upside down!
Xiao Chen streaked across the sky and continuously hacked at Dugu Jianmo with the broken sword, aiming directly for his waist.
When facing Windfeathers, it’s a must to use the fist. While facing Dugu Jianmo, even if he didn’t have a double-edged sword, he must use the single-edged sword!
The broken sword left behind a streak of rainbow as it was swept diagonally downward. It was dazzling.
Dugu Jianmo raised the sword diagonally. The metal sword clashed with the broken sword. An exceptionally eccentric power spiralled upward. Xiao Chen felt as if his entire arm had been struck by a thunderbolt. A blazing ray of light enveloped his arm from the metal sword. The broken sword narrowly flew out from his hand.
“Clang!”
The battle-qi suddenly broke out and made the light of the broken sword even more glaring. Xiao Chen forced that spiralling power back, then he instantly jumped and used the dragging sword technique to hack at Dugu Jianmo’s neck.
A black light swept past, but it only hit the afterimage. Dugu Jianmo raised his sword towards the sky as he stood on the bluestone surface motionlessly. However, the surrounding space already distorted. Following closely, that place turned into a piece of darkness and his figure disappeared. The metal sword had spread out a domain!
As he reached the maximum height of the jump, Xiao Chen dived down fast. At the same time, the Sealed God light screen transformed into a battle armor and covered his body. The divine flame was throbbing. That was not a domain, yet it was not weaker than a domain.
God Slayer, Chaotic Patterns, Death Blow, and Demon Suppression. Xiao Chen could already use them in battles unhindered. He needn’t deliberately integrate them into the sword skill anymore.
He swoop down in a perfectly straight line. The broken sword was aimed at the Baihui Acupoint at the top of Dugu Jianmo’s head.
The dazzling sword radiance was as boundless as the vast ocean. The pressure pressed down from everywhere. The mother earth began to sink with a “rumbling” sound!
The sword radiance enveloped a radius of one hundred feet. Everything within the range was destroyed and sunk two meters deep. Dugu Jianmo stood in the caved in hole motionlessly. Just now, he waved his sword nine times in succession and routed all the sword-qi that charged towards him.
Unparalleled metal sword!
He was unwilling to waste any ounce of strength. In the end, he only moved his body a little sideways. He didn’t want to make any unnecessary movements at all and just waved his sword towards the sky.
“Clang!”
The glaring rays of light possessed a powerful force of impact and produced an ear-splitting sound!
The broken sword in Xiao Chen’s hand and the metal sword in Dugu Jianmo’s hand clashed fiercely. Dugu Jianmo’s lower half was forced into the underground by that powerful impact. On the other side, Xiao Chen was lifted up by that huge power. However, Xiao Chen forced himself to fall in that very instant. With somersault, both of his legs stamped towards Dugu Jianmo’s chest.
“Hah!” Dugu Jianmo let out a cold snort. The surrounding floor completely burst open. He jumped up and lifted his metal sword to confront the approaching kicks.
Xiao Chen quickly shifted horizontally and stepped on the metal sword with both legs. Then he turned around and swept his sword downwards. Quick and fierce, steady and brutal. The sword radiance fell on mother earth like a comet and illuminated the entire ancient castle. It was so dazzling that one was unable to open their eyes.
Dugu Jianmo stamped the ground fiercely with his two legs. With a big quake, one huge fissure after another spread out in all directions. Two huge castles nearby collapsed with a loud rumble. His entire person quickly sunk into the ground and the shock blew Xiao Chen away.
Within the rolling smoke and dust, Dugu Jianmo walked out from the huge pit, one step at a time. He fixed his eyes coldly on Xiao Chen. His domain was not effective, it almost made him suffer a loss. While watching Xiao Chen’s light armor attentively, he wordlessly nodded his head.
“Fastest Under the Heaven!” These four words seemed to possess unlimited magic power. Legend said that among the swordplay of the Solitary clan, there’s a swordplay that was claimed to be the fastest in the world!
With a loud shout, Dugu Jianmo’s figure suddenly disappeared. Xiao Chen was unable to catch his silhouette at all. However, his keen spiritual sense knew where the danger was coming from. He quickly brandished the sword in his hand.
“Clang!”
Just in time to resist that sharp sword-qi.
However, it didn’t stop with just that. Dugu Jianmo completely disappeared at this point. On the ruin formed by the fallen ancient castles, only the soaring sword-qi remained. At this moment, the entire ancient castle was filled with criss-crossed sword-qi.
The fastest swordplay in the world, continuous assault! There were cold glints everywhere. The figure of the person couldn’t be seen, only the blazing sword-qi were raging on.
The explosive sound transmitted outwards unceasingly. The mother earth was caving in. One sword-qi after another completely cut apart this ruin. The soaring rays of light were exceptionally glaring. Looking from a distant, the Solitary family’s ancient castle seemed to have countless lights linking up with the starry sky. On the other hand, it also looked like the heavenly flame had descended at this place.
The sword-qi were too concentrated. A tyrannical Sword Demon. A terrifying sword-play!
1. Silva: Damn… why are you making us “feel” for him? Is he going to become an ally?