Volume 4, Chapter 18 – Sacred Law

At the same time, in a space choked with hazy illusory mists, a long, narrow flying vessel was cutting forward at high speed.

This vessel was called the Cloud-Seeking Shuttle, one of the standard magical artifacts issued by Tianfu Mountain to its Dao Enforcers. Each shuttle could hold up to a hundred people inside to rest and recover. If supplies were sufficient, they could stay aboard like that for more than a year.

Right now, at the prow of the Cloud-Seeking Shuttle, in the lookout chamber, a middle-aged man in a deep blue-green robe sat upright. His brow was broad, his shoulders wide, his frame strong yet lean. With the sheathed sword strapped tightly across his back, he looked very much like one of those immortal masters from classical stories.

The middle-aged man had been sitting with eyes closed in cultivation when, all of a sudden, he opened them. His pair of jet-black, glossy eyes pierced straight through the transparent window of the lookout chamber and locked unerringly onto a tiny point in the outer void.

It was only three full seconds after he did this that that spot of emptiness began to distort. All the hazy mist there whirled like a vortex, spinning and spinning until a tiny black hole opened up at its center.

The black hole simply sat there with no further movement. But the middle-aged man seemed to have already seen through its secrets. He let out a cold snort, and the sword on his back leapt from its sheath.

A metallic hum rang out through the cabin, sharp and immense, as if the clash of metal on metal had been magnified a hundred, a thousand times over. In the next instant, the sword pierced the wall of the chamber and the barrier between the shuttle and the outside, stabbing straight toward the side—toward a patch of what looked like empty space—as it spun and carved out a slash all on its own.

This time, there was no such deafening sound inside the chamber, but in the middle-aged man’s ears, a short, strangled scream still slipped through. He practically watched, eyes wide open, as a giant, semi-transparent silhouette was forced out of the mist, its body marked with a deep sword gash.

“Beast. Get back where you came from.”

With a flash, the man stepped out of the cabin. Left hand clenched behind his back, right hand gripping the sword, his voice rolled through the void like thunder, shaking the shadowy monster and driving it back again and again.

Perhaps realizing that this prey was not easy to handle, the wound on the shadow’s body split wide. From within, a single enormous eye slid into view, fixing on the man as if it meant to etch his face into memory, while the rest of its body began to spin… spinning as it was sucked back toward the black hole.

“Trying to hold a grudge, are you?” Seeing this, the man let out a cold smile and surged forward with his sword. Without any visible effort, strands of dazzling golden light flew from the blade, weaving in midair into the shape of a giant bird of sword-qi that tore the black hole wide open in a single swoop.

Wooo… wooo…

A savage astral wind howled out from the rupture, sucking in lumps of mist as it went. The massive shadow was hacked into pieces, its body splitting into many fragments that were dragged off into different parts of the void.

Too fast.

Seeing this, the man merely frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the result.

As expected, even with a Human Dao Sacred Weapon in hand, fighting Void Demons that had become truly sentient was no easy task. They had evolved to be far too cunning.

Rеad οո KatRеαⅾіոɡСαfе

Still, it shouldn’t cause any real trouble.

He had already consulted the Void Chart. The node for the main world should be very close now. Once this run was over, he would get to enjoy sixty full years of secluded cultivation all to himself. Any future revenge from a Void Demon meant very little.

Feeling a bit more at ease, he returned to the cabin and was met with warm applause from his companions.

“As expected of Dao Enforcer Cui,” a bearded man said, hurrying up with a pleased look. “That Void Demon’s cultivation was unfathomable. If it had been any of us, we’d have been in danger from the very first exchange. Thanks to your protection, Dao Enforcer Cui, we’ve all come through unscathed.”

“You flatter me, Head Liu.” Dao Enforcer Cui’s brows drew together slightly, as if he wasn’t used to that kind of praise. “If it had come down to a true contest, I might not have defeated it. The outcome of this battle was all the Sacred Weapon. It had very little to do with me.”

“Not just anyone can wield a Sacred Weapon, can they?” But Head Liu wasn’t about to let it go. He pressed his point. “Most people couldn’t drive one even if it fell into their lap, let alone control it as effortlessly as you do. At the rate you’re going, Dao Enforcer Cui, I don’t see it taking more than a few years before you cross that threshold and forge a Sacred Weapon of your own.”

That, at least, seemed to hit the mark. Dao Enforcer Cui finally forced out a thin smile and replied politely, “I still have a long road ahead of me.”

Given his personality, even that much was a rare concession. Head Liu hurried to walk alongside him, seizing the short stretch back to the lookout chamber to chat, constantly asking and discussing one thing after another.

“We’re getting off track,” Head Liu said at last, after spending a while sharing all the information he knew about Sacred Weapons and seeing that Dao Enforcer Cui was listening carefully. He sighed. “This time, bringing my disciples and followers all this way and abandoning our old ideal of staying hidden… Brother Yuanhao, do you know the real reason?”

“I do not.” Dao Enforcer Cui shook his head, frowning again when he heard the address “Brother Yuanhao.”

But he had just listened to the man share so much information, and when you’ve taken from someone’s hand and mouth, you can’t exactly turn around and nitpick how they address you. For something as minor as a form of address, he didn’t quite have it in him to complain.

Watching Head Liu’s conspiratorial expression, Dao Enforcer Cui—Cui Yuanhao—fell into thought. He had only joined this mission because he had received a directive from Tianfu Mountain: bring the Human Dao Sacred Weapon along to provide protection. No one had told him what specific task this Head Liu was carrying out. That, in itself, was a little unusual.

Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have cared. Whatever Head Liu wanted to do was his business. Cui Yuanhao’s only concern was to complete this assignment and get back to his cultivation.

With humanity in decline, their situation in the Upper Realm was extremely difficult. In a human faction like Tianfu Mountain, all disciples, regardless of cultivation, had to regularly accept compulsory missions assigned by the sect, in a style not unlike military management.

If you wanted more personal time, more time to cultivate, more resources to cultivate with, you had to earn enough merit by completing sect missions. That was why Cui Yuanhao had joined this team.

But from the way Head Liu was acting now, this seemed to be a secret of the “earthshaking” variety.

Reaⅾ оn ΚαtReаԁіոɡСαfe

How earthshaking could it be.

Could it really be more important than the Sacred Weapons he yearned for day and night.

“Dao Enforcer Cui is now a Mystic-Transformation Immortal with the Three Flowers crowned above his head,” Head Liu said cheerfully. “You must know exactly how a Divine Pool is condensed.”

Isn’t that obvious.

Cui Yuanhao was already growing impatient inside.

Every time the subject came up, he felt a surge of dissatisfaction. He was the type with an extremely proud heart, and he had always resented the fact that humanity had no complete cultivation system of its own, which forced all human cultivators to practice Void Dao arts.

In his view, those were all techniques made for monsters.

But reality towered higher than any person. If you didn’t learn and practice them, you couldn’t grow strong. If you couldn’t grow strong, you couldn’t survive. He knew humanity had no choice.

They were not like those ancient humans who had enjoyed all the benefits of heaven and earth before the Void Tribulation, who could cross the cosmic void on their physical bodies alone, even without cultivation.

Humans of later ages were simply too frail.

“I’m not about to trot out the same old cliches,” Head Liu said, leaning closer, his expression turning darker and more mysterious. “What would you say, Dao Enforcer Cui, if I told you that in the main world… a Human Dao Sacred Law has appeared.”

“What did you say?” Cui Yuanhao’s expression finally changed.

Human Dao Sacred Law… a Human Dao Sacred Law.

He thought at once of the Heavenly Profound Sword on his back.

The reason that sword was a Human Dao Sacred Weapon was that humans and monsters had different foundations. Monsters who cultivated Void Dao arts could, in theory, break through directly to the level of great powers. For a human to do the same, they would have to completely abandon their identity as human.

What did that mean.

Rеaⅾ οn KаtRеаԁiոgСαfe

It meant that at his current stage, if he wanted to further improve his cultivation without outside aid, his only option was to undergo the Body Tribulation and become a monster completely, just like those yao-folk.

For an entire race, that was an enormous humiliation. And humanity had found a way to get around that limitation, a workaround whose foundation lay in Sacred Weapons like the Heavenly Profound Sword.

The Void Dao arts in his own body could no longer be cultivated any further. If he kept going, he would inevitably become a monster.

So they used a trick.

They repeated the entire process of condensing Five Qi and Three Flowers and forming another Divine Pool.

Only this time, it wasn’t for their own bodies to cultivate, but for their chosen weapon.

And since the weapon was not human, it did not have to worry about any of the things a human did. The depth to which it could cultivate actually surpassed that of its human bearer, and its power stood above their own.

Once a weapon like that completed its advancement, it became a Sacred Weapon, allowing a human Mystic-Transformation Immortal to keep their dignity as a human while their combat strength soared.

That was the naming convention for Human Dao Sacred Weapons. And from that, it was easy enough to infer what a Human Dao Sacred Law was.

It was the thing Cui Yuanhao dreamed about, humanity’s own cultivation system.

“In this tribulation struggle, I was originally supposed to follow Lord Zhang’s orders and pay a visit to Yujing City first. But halfway through I heard of the emergence of a Path of Qi and realized Lord Zhang meant to seize the Sacred Law for himself and steal that person’s saintly fate.”

A sharp light flashed in Head Liu’s eyes.

“But that is a bit too ugly a business, isn’t it.”

“Rather than risk such a dangerous round trip just to hand the Sacred Law over to Lord Zhang, Dao Enforcer Cui, what do you think if…”

So he was tossing the moral burden onto him.

And planning to use him as a hired blade while he schemed for this so-called Sacred Law.

Rеαԁ on ΚαtReаⅾіոgСаfе

Cui Yuanhao saw straight through him and let out a cold, humorless smile.

“What you intend, Head Liu, has nothing to do with me.”

“I only want to focus on my cultivation. As for things like this… do not bring them up again.”

With a snort, he turned and strode quickly back into the lookout chamber, leaving Head Liu alone in the corridor.

Head Liu narrowed his eyes at the firmly shut door. A moment later, a young female disciple came running up and, seeing him, let out a soft exclamation. “Master.”

“Well? What did he say?”

Once the Cloud-Seeking Shuttle’s doors were closed, they blocked any probing from outside. That was the only reason she dared discuss this directly with her master without worrying that Cui Yuanhao would overhear and make trouble.

“He refused.” Head Liu closed his eyes and slowly let out a long breath from his chest.

“Ah!” the girl gasped, her face falling into a troubled frown. “Then… what do we do now?”

“No rush.”

Head Liu’s lips curled up slightly.

“This is the thing martial fanatics love most.”

“Once it takes root in his thoughts.”

“I don’t believe he’ll be able to hold himself back.”