Chapter 50: Sword Masters from Different Worlds, Continuously Elevating the Sword Dao

“At present, my strength is no weaker than that of the Demon Emperor.”

“But without drawing upon the power of heaven and earth, I still cannot hold out for long if they do.”

“Yet if I wield the Wangquan Sword, I need not fear them in the slightest.”

Fifteen days have passed since he fished up the Rat Talisman.

Previously, due to the size of the figurines, Ye Xuan had not used the Rat Talisman to manifest characters from anime, but afterward he commissioned custom figurines scaled exactly to their anime counterparts, including characters from Fox Spirit Matchmaker, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Pokémon, and King’s Glory, among many others.

Because Ye Xuan first fused the Wangquan Buye template, his foundational strength originated from the Fox Spirit Matchmaker world; to better understand his own power, he manifested Tu Shan Honghong using the Rat Talisman, and then fought her once.

Tu Shan Honghong evaluated him as being no weaker than a Demon Emperor; although his Three Thousand Flame Fire lacked the rule-like suppression of the Demon-Slaying Divine Flame’s Pure Yang Flame, its destructive power surpassed it.

And seemingly due to differences in world rules, her Absolute Isolation Claws could not ignore the damage from Three Thousand Flame Fire.

If wielding the Wangquan Sword, Ye Xuan would not be inferior to any Great Demon Emperor, even on their own territory where they could draw upon the power of heaven and earth.

Not just Tu Shan Honghong—he also manifested Wangquan Wumu, Wangquan Fugui, and even Wangquan Buye, and discussed sword arts with them all, gaining insights from each.

Because the characters manifested by the Rat Talisman take the figurine’s appearance as their base, if the figurine depicts them in youth, the manifested version carries only the memories of their younger self.

Thus, the Wangquan Buye manifested by Ye Xuan was the young Wangquan Buye.

He asked Wangquan Buye if he wished to know his future, but Wangquan Buye refused, saying his future should be explored by himself, not revealed by someone from another world.

Ye Xuan did not care—he had merely asked on a whim; even if Wangquan Buye knew his future, he could not change it.

Not only characters from the Fox Spirit Matchmaker world—he also manifested sword masters from the wuxia world (game): Xie Xiaofeng, Ximen Chuixue, Yan Shisan, Du Gu Qiubai; from the Bleach world: Captain Sohaku Kyouraku; from the One Piece world: Dracule Mihawk, Gol D. Roger; from the Qin Shi Mingyue world: Gai Nie, Wei Zhuang; from the Sword and Fairy world: the Sword Saint.

Ye Xuan had manifested many sword masters from anime and wuxia worlds, and even some characters from novels whose world tiers were too high, limiting their upper bounds under the Rat Talisman.

Though bound by world rules, Ye Xuan could not cultivate their respective systems, yet sword art is not entirely dependent on any system.

He did not need to learn—he only needed to experience their sword intent, sword principle, and sword momentum in battle, and naturally gain deeper understanding of the sword Dao.

This is why he did not limit himself to only the strongest swordsmen from those worlds—he also manifested many wuxia sword masters.

In continuous combat, the experience and insights of every sword master became pure nourishment, merging into Ye Xuan’s sword intent; under the guidance of the Bunkyu, Ye Xuan’s sword realm transformed at an astonishing rate.

This terrifying rate of advancement even frightened Ye Xuan at times, yet upon reflection, it seemed perfectly natural.

His talent had already transformed after stacking Wangquan Buye’s talent; the fusion of Three Thousand Flame Fire had reshaped his body; countless sword masters had laid bare their sword arts before him without reservation, teaching him; the Bunkyu guided his potential, turning experience into nourishment to help him break through his limits.

Under these conditions, it would be difficult for him to improve slowly—rapid progress was normal.

Lin Miao’s culinary skills also broke through with his help; without needing mutated beast flesh, she could now create luminous dishes using only ordinary ingredients.

With the aid of spiritual energy elixirs and luminous dishes, his cultivation speed, though not as fast as his sword advancement, was not far behind.

After all, with Three Thousand Flame Fire, he did not need to worry about spiritual energy concentration—he could keep absorbing as long as his body had not reached its limit.

During this time, Gu Che and Lin Ruoxi came again, bringing several others for him to meet, including Shen Mo, the wielder of Hyōrinmaru, and Lu Jing, the user of the Mera Mera no Mi.

Lin Ruoxi and Gu Che spoke with confidence, claiming their strength had improved; though they might still not be Ye Xuan’s match, they were certain they could force him to draw his sword.

Ye Xuan did not feel their strength had truly improved, but he did not refuse.

After all, in recent days he had taken many blows in his battles with those sword masters; having a few people to spar with was not bad.

Then, including Lu Jing and Shen Mo, everyone except Jiang Qingyao, who handled healing, collapsed to the ground.

Even though Lu Jing and Shen Mo claimed they had only come to watch and had no intention of fighting Ye Xuan, he still did not spare them; two more people was nothing—just a matter of convenience.

Since they came, why do nothing? That would be boring.

The result was that these future pillars of the Great Xia, heavily nurtured by the state, had their morale slightly shattered.

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

And this time, with more people and stronger strength, they lost even faster than before.

It turned out that after their progress, they had not narrowed the gap with Ye Xuan—they had widened it further.

How could they accept this?

Each swore they would train harder than ever upon returning, determined to win back what they lost from Ye Xuan in the future.

Ye Xuan made no comment.

If you’re a normal cultivator trying to catch up to someone on a cheat, do you think you’re Huo Linfei?

His life should have continued like this indefinitely, but he had reached a bottleneck.

Calling it a bottleneck isn’t quite right—he had reached a certain kind of limit, and to surpass it, he needed to do so in a desperate situation.

Like Aizen breaking the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow on the edge of death.

Pure combat no longer satisfied Ye Xuan; he needed a true, merciless slaughter, where both sides fought to kill each other, making him feel death approaching.

This was not difficult—the sword masters he manifested were all seasoned killers; even Sohaku Kyouraku’s teachings were filled with intent to kill him—but it was still only training; Ye Xuan, who held absolute control over them, could never let them truly kill him.

Although Three Thousand Flame Fire granted him near-immortality, it was not true immortality—if his head were severed, he would still die.

Moreover, this limit could not be guaranteed to be crossed at the brink of death; without the Bunkyu’s guidance, it depended entirely on luck.

(End of Chapter)