Volume 1, Chapter 204 – Memory Fragments

As time flowed on, the boy became a young man.

At twenty-four, he reached Great Perfection of the Heavenly Astral Realm, his name renowned across the world, becoming a famous lone swordsman.

A gifted young hero never lacked admirers, and among those who admired him were no few heaven’s favored daughters.

He had always kept such women at a respectful distance.

Love between men and women was only human nature, but he had no wish to touch it. Rather than waste time in romance and moonlit sentiment with women, he would rather spend that time practicing the sword a little longer.

Moreover, the entanglements between his parents had left him feeling that emotions were far too fragile. The only thing one could truly rely on was the sword in one’s hand.

In his life, only the sword remained.

To focus wholly on practicing the sword, he severed the seven emotions and cast aside the six desires, refusing to be disturbed by the fleeting smoke and clouds of the mortal world, leaving behind only a heart for the sword.

Over the years, countless people came to challenge him for all sorts of reasons. Among them were geniuses of Immortal Sects and divine sons of great factions.

Among those of the same realm, very few could endure a hundred moves under his hand.

As more and more people fell to him, his sword grew ever sharper. His invincible sword momentum made him unstoppable.

For reasons he himself did not understand, he rose to the top of the Prodigy Rankings and gained the nickname Sword Lord.

At the age of twenty-six, he entered the Myriad Phenomena Realm. His cultivation had caught up to the older generation’s experts, and his peers faded from his sight.

His opponents became the pillars of the various sects, and even the heads of entire factions.

…

“You mean to spend your whole life with the sword?”

A refined and elegant face, with vermilion lips and gleaming teeth, entered Shi Lan’s mind along with the fragment of memory.

Above a sea of clouds atop a mountain peak, Sword Lord sat on the ground with his sword laid across his knees. Looking at the woman before him, he said indifferently, “Why not?”

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The woman’s delicate brows drew together slightly, but soon relaxed. The corners of her lips lifted as she said,

“I will wait until the day you understand.”

“A pointless waste of spirit. Why bother?”

“You will understand one day,” the woman said with complete certainty, as though she held absolute confidence.

Sword Lord did not speak again. He slowly closed his eyes.

Not long afterward, people discovered that behind the Sword Lord, who had always walked alone, there now followed a strikingly beautiful figure.

…

In the eyes of others, Sword Lord’s path was dazzling and brilliant, but not without some regret.

He trampled prodigies beneath his feet, battled the titans of Immortal Sects, slew great demons and giant fiends, and always had a beauty at his side—yet he could never draw down the world-ending great calamity and ascend to the Emperor level.

Some said heaven could not bear to see such a genius perish, and in mercy refused to send down the great calamity.

Others said Sword Lord had already reached his limit and lacked the makings of a Human Emperor.

But no matter what people said, Sword Lord remained stuck at Great Perfection of the ninth stage of the Heaven-Man Realm for thousands of years.

As the millennia passed, Sword Lord’s influence gradually weakened, and his fame slowly faded, buried in ancient records beneath newly risen prodigies until it was nearly erased.

Sword Lord paid no heed to how others discussed him. As always, he continued practicing the sword.

What puzzled him a little was that, at some unknown point, the woman who had always followed behind him had disappeared without a trace.

He had grown used to having someone walking at his back, used to seeing her figure whenever he looked over his shoulder. After thousands of years, that habit had seeped into his very limbs and bones, leaving him faintly unsettled.

The seven emotions and six desires did not include habit.

He began to search for that familiar figure.

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Even if Sword Lord’s fame was no longer what it once had been, with the formidable cultivation of the ninth stage of the Heaven-Man Realm, one call from him still drew countless responses.

He quickly found a clue. But when he rushed to where she was, all he saw was a solitary grave.

Of course. She had only been in the Myriad Phenomena Realm. With a lifespan of merely a few thousand years, she should long since have reached its end.

Sword Lord stood before the grave, a faint ripple stirring in his heart before soon calming again.

A middle-aged man approached him respectfully and handed him a letter.

On the envelope were only four words: To Sword Lord Personally.

Sword Lord opened the envelope. The handwriting was graceful as jade, the characters drifting across the page like kites blown by the wind.

…

If my lord should ever read this letter, that alone proves that my wish has been fulfilled. My only regret is that I could not witness it with my own eyes.

My talent was dull. Even with the strength of an entire lifetime, I reached no more than the Myriad Phenomena Realm. With only a few thousand years of lifespan, I could not remain by your side forever. Whenever I thought of it, my tender heart twisted in knots, heavy and unable to let go.

All along this road, I have never felt the slightest regret. By your side were sights and grandeur beyond the imagining of ordinary people. I only lament that a thousand years passed too swiftly, and I could not wait for the day you turned back.

The Sword Lord in my heart will forever be the peerless hero whose sword subdued the prodigies and whose might shook the world.

If there is a next life, I hope to see the bearing of a Human Emperor in you.

You gave your life to the sword; I gave my life to you.

Wanfeng’s final words.

…

Sword Lord folded the letter, slipped it back into the envelope, and stood gazing at the solitary grave in silence.

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A single layer of yellow earth separated the worlds of yin and yang, blocked the road of reincarnation, and scattered all the past like smoke.

An unfamiliar emotion tried to break through the soil in his heart, yet something seemed to be missing, leaving him feeling unbearably stifled.

That profound sense of loss left a flaw in his invincible sword heart.

Sword Lord lifted his head and gazed into the distance, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

He left the solitary grave to recover the seven emotions and six desires he had severed.

…

A hand gently brushed the tombstone.

Long-lost emotions returned to Sword Lord’s heart. Looking back on the past, the complexity of his feelings was beyond words.

A trace of sorrow broke through the soil in his heart.

His emotionless sword Dao, now tainted by threads of feeling, began to collapse. Yet after that collapse, it erupted with even stronger vitality, rebuilding itself after destruction.

At some unknown moment, the sky had become covered by a tribulation cloud nearly ten thousand miles across. Within it flashed blinding violet lightning, as though it held the power to destroy the world.

After lying dormant for thousands of years, Sword Lord had finally stepped onto that road of transcendence.

…

Following the fragments of memory, Shi Lan had all but walked the path of sword cultivation together with that youth.

Those experiences felt as though she herself had truly lived through them, branded deep into her body.

Holding a sword seemed to become instinct. Those prodigies and divine sons had all been defeated by her hand.

Sword techniques, one after another, from the simple to the complex, manifested within her mind.

That invincible sword heart, that sharp sword Dao that pressed ever forward, also began to leave its traces upon her.

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As Shi Lan watched the woman named Wanfeng appear in Sword Lord’s life and remain there until her final curtain fell, she felt a little sorrowful.

Love profound enough not to perish, yet lifespan already at its end—there was no concealing the sadness in it.

As the world-ending great calamity descended in the fragments of memory and Sword Lord’s Dao began to transform, Shi Lan suddenly felt that she was being wrapped in something invisible and intangible.

This was Sword Lord’s Dao.

“If you turn back now, it is still not too late. After this, I will no longer have the power to halt the inheritance.”

Guiyun Sword Sovereign’s warning sounded beside Shi Lan’s ear.

Shi Lan did not hesitate for long before she continued accepting the fragments of memory.

After going to such lengths, stopping here would be a pity. Besides, this might be her chance to understand the cosmic starry sky in advance.

The memory fragments that followed would surely contain Guiyun Sword Sovereign’s memories of roaming the starry heavens.

The fragments of memory continued to pour in without end.

The sword Dao rebuilt after destruction was utterly different from Sword Lord’s former sword Dao, yet even more domineering.

The sword was the Dao. I was the principle.

It felt like some incomparably profound law, the most fundamental kind of power, merging with the world yet remaining independent of it. Shi Lan found it hard to understand, yet she was almost intoxicated by it.

[Anomaly detected. The host’s Dao heart is undergoing intensified change. Her Martial Dao is mutating.]

[Searching for anomaly…]

[Search complete. Host status abnormal. Correcting…]

The system’s notification rang out abruptly, instantly dragging Shi Lan out of that mysterious and ineffable state.