Chapter 57: 57. Chapter 57

57. Chapter 57

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"It's over! I've never flown this fast before! Stop, stop, stop!!"

Before his words had even faded, the heavy Sword beneath his feet began to tremble due to his improper execution of the technique. Hearing this, Atian made a split-second decision to lie flat, clutching the hilt of the Sword with her right hand for dear life, while reaching out her left hand to shout at Zhao Kuo, who was still struggling with the technique: "Immortal Elder, grab my hand!"

However, Zhao Kuo had poured his entire heart and soul into controlling the flying Sword at that moment. Unfortunately, this "Danyue" beneath his feet was indeed a Life-bound Spirit Sword that shared a mental connection with him, and it was exactly like him in its ability to drop the ball at a critical moment.

Seeing the young cultivator still frantically changing techniques with sweat pouring down his face, Atian withdrew her hand and nimbly snatched up her hairpin before it could be blown away. Her meticulously styled hair bun had already come undone, and the fierce, violent wind brought on by their rapid descent whipped through her long hair and robes, carrying a familiar yet strange salty, damp scent.

That was the scent of the sea.

Ignoring the weightlessness caused by the fall, Atian hugged the hilt and looked around. She saw the scarlet sunset glow of the sky rendering the entire horizon, even spreading to the shimmering surface of the sea. Between the sky and the sea stood a massive Floating Island wreathed in clouds and mist. Through the thin veil of fog, one could vaguely see pavilions and towers, but the most eye-catching sight was a massive Broken Sword slanted into it. Points of cold light, carrying a daunting Sword Intent, pierced through the dreamlike scene dyed in orange-red.

Atian could not tear her gaze away from the Broken Sword. It was so beautiful, yet so terrifying. The terrifying Sword momentum that came crashing down like a landslide almost crushed her, yet the Sword Intent, clear as a breeze and bright as the moon, offered her the gentlest consolation.

She forgot that she was falling and would be smashed to pieces if she were not careful, and she could not hear Zhao Kuo's panicked shouting. She only stared intently at that Broken Sword, as if it were the only lover of her life.

"Splash!"

The Danyue Sword plunged into the sea with Atian and Zhao Kuo. The high-intensity impact was enough to smash a person to pieces in an instant. Zhao Kuo, who entered the water headfirst, fainted from the shock instantly, and the Danyue Sword immediately emitted a faint halo of light to protect its master.

But Atian was not so lucky. She was shaken off the flying Sword. Seawater surged in from all directions, completely enveloping her and dragging her into the colder, pitch-black depths. Strings of air bubbles rose from her nose and mouth, but these traces were quickly wiped away by the current.

No struggle, no self-rescue. Atian's mind was still immersed in that fleeting glimpse from just moments ago. Her thoughts even traversed time and space, returning to fifteen years ago.

A sea of fire filled the sky, burning everything to ash. A woman's weeping sounded like a grievance. She sat in the center of the sea of fire; tongues of flame licked her skin and devoured her clothes, yet she felt not a shred of heat or pain. Instead, a warm emotion swept through her entire body, mixed with a touch of languor that only comes after catharsis.

A man whose face she could not see came before her. He wore a dark purple long robe, the hem of which had already been burned away, leaving only tattered edges. The man bent down and gently picked her up. Some cold liquid dripped onto her cheek. Atian looked up, but in the end, she only captured a blurry light and shadow.

"You must die." The man's tone was very, very light, as if he were afraid of scaring her.

The young Atian giggled and, as usual, reached out to hug the man's arm. The man supported the young girl with his right hand and covered her head with his left, rubbing it gently, then followed the line of Atian's face all the way down, finally resting on the child's thin neck.

The liquid dripping onto her cheek fell faster, making it impossible for Atian to open her eyes.

The woman's weeping suddenly grew louder, and at the same time, messy footsteps rang out. Atian saw a figure lunging inward from outside the sea of fire, grappling with the people who were blocking her.

It's useless.

It's useless.

She cannot pass through this sea of fire.

As the woman's resistance became more violent, the hand on Atian's neck slowly tightened. The suffocation caused by the lack of oxygen made the young girl start to struggle, but no matter what, she could not shake off the shackles on her neck. Her vision began to darken, and her sight became blurry...

Then, she saw that Sword.

Raging flames coiled around the long, narrow blade, and dark gold inscriptions flickered on the pitch-black edge. Even though it hung in the deep sea, it seemed as if it could ignite even the water current.

Atian walked toward the black Sword involuntarily, her eyes unable to hold anything else. The black Sword seemed to sense her presence; the blade turned, and the red-and-black hilt was slightly offered toward Atian.

To grasp, or not to grasp?

This was not a multiple-choice question at all.

Although surrounded by flames, the hilt felt warm and smooth to the touch. Even though it was her first time seeing it, Atian found that she was not unfamiliar with it: the Sword was three feet and seven inches long, weighed one catty and ten taels, was ground on eight sides, and was indestructible...

Her fingers lightly touched the blade, and all kinds of information flooded into her mind. However, there was one most important thing she could not remember at all.

The Sword's name...

The Sword's name...

What is the Sword's name?

"Hoo-ha!"

Suddenly poking her head out of the sea, Atian wiped the water droplets from her face and looked around blankly. Even at the end of her trance, she could not recall the black Sword's name. By the time she reacted, her body was already floating upward, as if the Sword that had stolen her soul was merely a phantom produced at the moment of Life and Death.

After such a fall into the sea, the jewelry on her body had completely vanished, including the hairpin she had tried to save while the flying Sword was falling. That was a gift from Lady Bai for her coming-of-age ceremony, seemingly implying that she was about to completely sever ties with her secular life.

Atian was not a sentimental person; she felt no annoyance at the loss of the hairpin. Instead, she looked around and began to search for people in earnest.

It was not close to the shore here, and the only person she could rely on was Zhao Kuo, who had fallen with her, even though the incident of falling into the sea had already proven that this "Immortal Elder" was not reliable at all.

However, soaking in the water for a long time was not a good choice; the current would constantly drain her body heat. Fortunately, Atian's luck was always good, and it did not take much effort to find Zhao Kuo, who was also floating on the surface of the sea.

At this moment, this half-baked cultivator was still in a coma, and the Sword light emitted by the Danyue Sword was wrapping him up perfectly. From a distance, he looked like an incongruous "egg."

Atian swam to the "eggshell" and reached out to knock on it tentatively.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The "eggshell" made a crisp sound.

She circled the "egg" once, but never found a way to wake Zhao Kuo or enter the Sword light. The loss of body heat had already caused her originally rosy lips to turn pale.

Atian frowned; she was a little angry.

"If you don't wake your master up, I will snap you in two," she said to the Danyue Sword with a blank expression.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but the threatened Danyue Sword seemed to tremble, then suddenly flew up and stabbed fiercely at Zhao Kuo's butt, which was exposed above the water!

"Ah!!!"

Even a cultivator could not withstand such an attack. Zhao Kuo let out a pig-like shriek and woke up instantly.

"So, so painful! Danyue, what kind of madness are you having!" he complained, clutching his butt.

"Immortal Elder Zhao," Atian leaned over, her face full of concern, "are you alright?"

"Miss Bai!" Zhao Kuo called out in surprise. The moment the Danyue Sword lost control and fell into the sea, he knew he had caused a huge disaster. No matter how strange Bai Tian acted, it could not change the fact that she was a mortal. If something happened to her in such a fall, let alone Senior Brother, the sect would never let him off lightly.

Therefore, seeing that Bai Tian was nothing more than soaked and unharmed, he was happy from the bottom of his heart.

Seeing that Zhao Kuo was awake, Atian was not in a hurry to get ashore. She reached out and patted the young man's shoulder, pointed to the Floating Island in the distance, and asked softly: "Immortal Elder Zhao, that Sword...?"

Zhao Kuo, who had been violently awakened by his Life-bound Sword, was still dazed. He rubbed his eyes, "... You mean the Ancestor's Sword?"

"The Ancestor's Sword?" Atian repeated after him.

"Yes, that is the Sword of the founding ancestor of our Beihai Sword Sect," Zhao Kuo nodded. "Legend has it that the Floating Island where the sect is located was refined by the Ancestor after he severed the head of a dragon vein. When the Ancestor ascended, he left his own personal Sword behind to continue suppressing the dragon vein."

Speaking of this, he scratched the back of his messy head, "I don't know if the legend is true, but when I first saw this Sword, I was almost crushed into a faint. Every cultivator in this world who learns the Sword must un-sheathe their Sword when they come here; this is the 'Ten Thousand Swords Paying Homage to the Sect'."

"Ten Thousand Swords Paying Homage to the Sect..." Atian looked at the massive Broken Sword that pierced through the Floating Island, feeling dizzy and enchanted.

For the first eighteen years of her life, Bai Tian had been self-abandoning and drifting with the tide. The Bai family raised her, so she stayed; the Beihai Sword Sect summoned her, so she came; anything was fine, nothing mattered; she had long since ceased to have any expectations for the future.

But now, as she looked up at this sect-protecting treasure Sword, she discovered that every drop of blood and every piece of bone in her body was trembling with excitement, as if all these years of waiting had been for this very moment.

If one hears the Dao in the morning, one can die content in the evening.

"Ha."

She could not help but laugh out loud, from a muffled chuckle at the start to a completely unrestrained laugh, overcome with joy.

Atian's unusual behavior naturally drew the side-glance of Zhao Kuo; it was the first time he had seen this Miss Bai show such an expression, no longer the reserved smile of a refined young lady, but a truly, genuinely happy laugh.

At this moment, Atian could be described as disheveled, with bangs stuck messily to her forehead and her clothes clinging tightly to her skin, yet her smile was brighter than ever before.

Zhao Kuo's heartbeat quickened by a beat.