Chapter 50

"As of now, my strength is no longer inferior to that of a Demon Emperor."

"However, this is only when I am not mobilizing the power of heaven and earth. If I were to use the power of heaven and earth, it would still be difficult to contend for long."

"But if I hold the Wangquan Sword, I need not fear them in the slightest."

Fifteen days have passed since the Rat Shu Shu Fu Zhou was fished up.

Previously, due to the size of the figurines, Ye Xuan had not used the Rat Shu Shu Fu Zhou to manifest characters from anime, but later he had many characters custom-made at a scale equal to those in the anime, including series such as Fox Spirit Matchmaker, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Pokémon, and Honor of Kings.

Because Ye Xuan first fused with the template of Wangquan Baye, his foundation of strength originated from the world of Fox Spirit Matchmaker. To have a clearer concept of his own strength, he used the Rat Shu Shu Fu Zhou to manifest Tu Shan Honghong, whom he had wanted to manifest before but hadn't, and then the two fought once.

Tu Shan Honghong's evaluation of him was that he was not inferior to a Demon Emperor. Although the Three Thousand Flame Weight in his hand lacked the near-rule-based suppression of the Demon-Extinguishing Divine Fire—Pure Yang Flame—against the demon race, its destructive power was even greater.

Moreover, it seemed that due to the different rules of the worlds, her Insulation Claws could not ignore the damage of the Three Thousand Flame Weight.

If he held the Wangquan Sword, Ye Xuan would not be inferior to any Great Demon Emperor, even if he were in the opponent's territory and allowed them to mobilize the power of heaven and earth.

It was not just Tu Shan Honghong; he had also manifested Wangquan Wumu, Wangquan Fugui, and even Wangquan Baye, and had discussed much about the sword Dao with them, which could be considered a gain for all.

Because the characters manifested by the Rat Shu Shu Fu Zhou were based on the appearance of the figurine itself, if the figurine was in its youth, the manifested character would only have the memories of their youth.

Therefore, the Wangquan Baye manifested by Ye Xuan was also the young Wangquan Baye.

He had asked Wangquan Baye if he wanted to know his own future, but Wangquan Baye refused, reasoning that his future should be explored by himself, rather than obtaining the answer from the mouth of someone from another world.

Ye Xuan did not care about this; he had only asked on a whim, and even if Wangquan Baye knew the future, he could not change it.

It was not just characters from the Fox Spirit Matchmaker world; there were Xie Xiaofeng, Ximen Chuixue, Yan Shisan, and Dugu Qiubai from the martial arts world (game); the first Kenpachi, Unohana Retsu, from the Bleach world; Dracule Mihawk and Roger from the One Piece world; Ge Nie and Wei Zhuang from The Legend of Qin; and the Sword Saint from Chinese Paladin.

Ye Xuan had manifested many sword-wielding powerhouses from anime and Wu Xia worlds, and even some characters from novels whose upper limits were restricted by the Rat Shu Shu Fu Zhou because the world level was too high.

Although limited by the rules of the world, Ye Xuan could not practice their respective systems, but the sword Dao itself was not a technique that originated entirely from a system.

He did not need to learn; he only needed to experience the sword intent, sword logic, and sword momentum within their sword Dao during battle, and he would naturally gain more insights into the sword Dao.

This was also the reason why he did not only choose the powerful swordsmen of those worlds, but also manifested many swordsmen from Wu Xia.

In the continuous clashes, the experience and insights of every sword Dao powerhouse turned into the purest nutrients, merging into Ye Xuan's sword intent. Under the guidance of the Hogyoku, Ye Xuan's sword Dao realm was transforming at an astonishing speed.

This terrifying speed of improvement, even for Ye Xuan, was sometimes frightening, but upon careful thought, it felt like a matter of course.

His talent had already transformed after superimposing the talent of Wangquan Baye, and the fusion process of the Three Thousand Flame Weight had reshaped his body. Countless sword Dao powerhouses had revealed their own sword Dao to him without reservation and taught him, while the Hogyoku guided his potential, turning experience into growth nutrients to help him break through his limits.

Under these circumstances, it would be difficult for him to improve slowly; fast progress was normal.

Lin Miao's culinary skills also made a breakthrough with his help. Without the need for the flesh and blood of mutated beasts, just ordinary ingredients were enough to produce glowing dishes.

With the assistance of spiritual energy potions and glowing dishes, although his cultivation speed was not as fast as his improvement in sword Dao, it was not far behind.

After all, with the Three Thousand Flame Weight, he did not need to consider the problem of spiritual energy concentration; as long as his body was not satisfied, he could keep absorbing it.

During this period, Gu Che and Lin Ruoxi came again and brought several other people for him to meet, including Shen Mo, the wielder of Hyorinmaru, and Lu Jing, a user of the Flame-Flame Fruit.

Lin Ruoxi and Gu Che spoke with confidence, believing that their strength had made a breakthrough, and although they might still not be Ye Xuan's match, they could definitely force him to use his sword.

Although Ye Xuan did not feel that their strength had improved much, he did not refuse.

After all, in his battles with those sword Dao powerhouses these days, he had been beaten quite a few times, so finding a few people to bully was not bad.

Then, including Lu Jing and Shen Mo, except for Jiang Qingyao who was responsible for healing, the rest all collapsed to the ground.

Even though Lu Jing and Shen Mo said they were just there to watch the show and had not thought about fighting Ye Xuan, he did not let them off; it was just two more people, a matter of convenience.

Since they were already here, wouldn't it be boring if they did nothing?

The result was that the mental states of these future pillars of the nation, who were heavily cultivated by Da Xia, were a bit broken.

If Ye Xuan had used his sword, they would have accepted it, but Ye Xuan had crushed them using only spiritual energy.

The key was that this time there were more of them, their strength had become stronger, and the speed at which they lost was faster than before.

It turned out that after they improved, not only did they not narrow the gap with Ye Xuan, but they had widened it instead.

How could they be willing to accept this?

One by one, they swore that after going back, they would practice even harder, determined to win back what they had lost from Ye Xuan in the future.

Ye Xuan made no comment on this.

Those who practice normally wanting to catch up with someone who is cheating? Do you think you are Huo Linfei?

His life should have continued as it was now, but he had reached a bottleneck.

Calling it a bottleneck was not quite right; it was that he had reached a limit in a certain sense, and this limit required him to cross it in a desperate situation.

Similar to Aizen breaking the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow on the verge of death.

Simple fighting could no longer satisfy Ye Xuan; he needed a battle in the true sense, where both sides would kill each other without mercy, the kind that would make him feel the arrival of death.

This was not a difficult thing. None of the sword Dao powerhouses Ye Xuan manifested had not experienced slaughter. Unohana Retsu's teaching was full of the idea of killing him, but that was ultimately just teaching. Ye Xuan, who had absolute control over them, could not let them truly kill him.

Although the Three Thousand Flame Weight gave him a near-immortal physique, it was ultimately not truly immortal. If his head were cut off, he would still die.

Moreover, this limit did not mean that he could definitely cross it on the verge of life and death; without the guidance of the Hogyoku, he could only rely on luck.

(End of chapter)