Chapter 164

It was a head shorter than Gu Hanyuan, but its wingspan exceeded two meters; when it spread its wings, it looked like a massive black shadow.

At this moment, it was lunging at him with a look of fury.

Gu Hanyuan speculated it might be because he had snatched its food.

Gu Hanyuan drew the Hero Sword, which collided with its sharp beak.

He was surprised to see the eagle retreat in pain, yet it was not injured.

The hardness of the eagle's sharp beak actually rivaled that of a divine weapon.

Having suffered a small loss, the eagle began to act cautiously; although its body was too large to fly,

its strength was immense, and the feathers on its body were equally hard, making it difficult even for the Hero Sword to inflict damage.

A wave of its wings stirred up a gale, blowing sand and stones so hard that one could not open their eyes.

Even every time its sharp beak pecked at Gu Hanyuan, it secretly aligned with sword techniques.

It was not until Gu Hanyuan used the "Mysterious Sword Technique" that he was barely able to suppress it.

By Gu Hanyuan's judgment, the eagle's strength was roughly equivalent to a half-step Grandmaster.

Those below Grandmaster could do nothing against it, unable to break its defense, and its strength was even greater than a Grandmaster's; it was just that its agility was poor, and when Gu Hanyuan began to use lightness skills to circle it, it was played like a top.

Sure enough, after a while, the eagle realized it couldn't beat Gu Hanyuan and called a truce; one could even feel its dissatisfaction with Gu Hanyuan using lightness skills to cheat.

"I know you understand human speech; take me to the Sword Tomb."

Gu Hanyuan had no interest in wasting time with an eagle and went straight to the point.

After its bell-like eyes flashed twice, the eagle nodded and led the way.

After Gu Hanyuan followed the eagle to the Sword Tomb, the first thing he saw was that stone tablet.

"Roaming the Jianghu for over thirty years, killing all enemies, defeating all heroes, there is no one left in the world who can resist me; helpless, I can only live in seclusion in a deep valley, with an eagle as my friend. Alas, to seek a worthy opponent in one's life is impossible; truly lonely and unbearable." The signature below was: Sword Demon Dugu Qiubai.

Gu Hanyuan looked at those words, feeling them stinging his eyes, and even felt a faint sense of trance.

The stone tablet contained Dugu Qiubai's sword intent; every word was like a sword, and the sword qi was oppressive.

Gu Hanyuan instinctively used the "Holy Spirit Sword Technique" and "Mysterious Sword Technique" to resist it.

Under the confrontation of the two top-tier sword techniques, the sword intent on the stone tablet was gradually worn away, while Gu Hanyuan's own sword intent grew stronger.

When he regained consciousness, he found that the sword intent on the stone tablet was gone, and even the words on it had become blurred.

Because the "Mysterious Sword Technique" had low compatibility, progress was slow; besides comprehending the ninth form, "Name Shaking the Jianghu," there were no further gains.

As for the "Holy Spirit Sword Technique," besides varying degrees of improvement in the power of "Sword One" through "Sword Twenty-Two," there were actually signs of comprehending the prototype of "Sentient World Sword Twenty-Three."

Gu Hanyuan had originally thought it impossible for him to comprehend "Sentient World Sword Twenty-Three," but he hadn't expected to gain something unexpectedly.

Could it be that he was still a person who lived to the extreme of emotion?

Shaking his head with amusement, Gu Hanyuan stopped thinking about it.

Instead, he had a speculation about Dugu Qiubai's cultivation base: at the very least, he was an Earth Immortal, though the specific realm was unclear.

And ten thousand miles away, an old man in plain clothes suddenly opened his eyes, his face showing confusion.

He was Dugu Qiubai; just now, he sensed that the sword intent he had left on the Sword Tomb stone tablet had disappeared, and it had been worn away.

Originally, that stone tablet was meant to find a suitable successor; he hadn't expected it to be worn away by someone.

Clearly, the person's sword dao realm was also very high; although still a notch below his, it was already an existence that could grow to contend with him.

Dugu Qiubai was somewhat excited; he had spent his whole life looking for an opponent. Among his peers, there might be those whose cultivation was stronger than his, but in the use of the sword, he was invincible.

A few years ago, several young people with decent aptitude had emerged, but they were still far behind.

This unexpected visitor clearly made him more interested.

After thinking for a while, he stopped sitting there and decided to go to Song Guo to take a look.

Gu Hanyuan did not expect his unintentional act to flush out an old monster.

At this moment, he was digging up the swords buried in the Sword Tomb.

The Green Peak Sword, the Purple Ivy Soft Sword, the Profound Iron Heavy Sword, and the wooden sword.

The Green Peak Sword was indeed a sharp sword, only a step away from being a divine weapon.

The Purple Ivy Soft Sword should have been abandoned in an unknown deep valley, yet now it lay quietly in the Sword Tomb, its quality similar to the Green Peak Sword.

The Profound Iron Heavy Sword was the only divine weapon, but it was strength-based and really not suitable for Gu Hanyuan's ethereal style; he would recast it if he had the chance.

The wooden sword was purely for Dugu Qiubai to show off; ignore it.

As for the "Dugu Nine Swords" and "Heavy Sword Technique," he had learned them all while resisting the sword intent of the stone tablet.

From Gu Hanyuan's current realm, the "Dugu Nine Swords" were entirely high-end sword intent broken down into easy-to-understand tutorials for beginners; as for how far they would eventually grow, it entirely depended on the user's comprehension.

It was no wonder Ren Woxing had always looked down on Brother Linghu Chong's "Dugu Nine Swords"—it had the form but lacked the spirit.

If it weren't for the fact that he still had some potential, it would be strange for someone with Ren Woxing's ambitious nature to bother with a talent like Brother Linghu Chong, whose stance was not firm.

The "Heavy Sword Technique," however, gave Gu Hanyuan many surprises, because if the Demon Sword were to have its seal broken, it would weigh a hundred pounds, and it would indeed not be easy to wield it as if it were an extension of his arm.

After Gu Hanyuan got everything he wanted, he prepared to leave.

The eagle wanted to follow Gu Hanyuan, but it was pushed away by him in disgust.

It was too ugly, couldn't fly, and could eat; taking it along was no different from having a burden.

As for its strength, it would be fine as a bodyguard for a girl in the future, but for himself, forget it.

Finally, Gu Hanyuan comforted the eagle, telling it to wait at the Sword Tomb and that he would come to take it away in the future.

As for how long that "future" would be, only heaven knew.

Gu Hanyuan took the opportunity to count the villain points he had gained earlier.

Brushing aside Qinghai Yixiao and the White Board Evil Star gave him 2300 villain points.

Guo Fu acting like a fangirl gave him 2900, and it opened a series of evaluations.

Clearly, Guo Fu also belonged to the category of heroines; in "The Return of the Condor Heroes," she was even betrothed to Yang Guo by Guo Jing.

However, he gained nothing from Huang Rong; although he left a deep impression, she likely still viewed Gu Hanyuan with the eyes of a mother-in-law looking at a son-in-law.

Intercepting Yang Guo's Sword Tomb gave him 3000 villain points.

As usual, he placed a divine sense tracking mark on Huang Rong and Guo Fu.

At this moment, the puppet feedback indicated that he was almost at the Tianying Sect.

Gu Hanyuan used the puppet's "Location Teleportation" and brought Zhang Wuji to the Tianying Sect.

And the puppet was sent to Fuzhou to retrieve the "Evil-Warding Sword Manual."

Yin Susu was helping Gu Hanyuan establish an intelligence system; although progress was small for now, once it developed and grew, it would inevitably be an indispensable part of his forces.

Especially after having an intelligence system, it would certainly soon be discovered that Gu Hanyuan often traveled between two places in an instant.

This kind of unscientific and un-Wuxia matter would soon arouse Yin Susu's suspicion, so he still had to comfort her well and make her one of his own.