Chapter 160: 154 The End of the Golden Dream

It is real gold!

Real gold that does not fear the tempering of fire!

Real gold is falling from the sky!

Great Sun Gang Qi—

The white-gold Gang Qi suddenly flared intensely, emitting tongues of flame like flowers, resembling the solar corona of the sun.

The corona Gang Qi shrouded his entire body, forming a defensive posture. Countless golden specks rushed toward his face, breaking through the outermost layer of firelight and embedding directly into the Gang Qi. Although they did not harm the Sword Smith's body, they did not vanish, as if covering the surface of his body.

This scene reminded the Sword Smith of the day before, when he had also used countless golden needles to cover the surface of an enemy!

"Hehe... fall well, fall well—fall even harder!"

Ai Xin had not expected that this long-forgotten Sword Art would bring such an unexpected surprise, and he roared to the sky with a hoarse voice, lost in his excitement.

The golden rain stars suddenly turned into raindrops, then into lines of rain, falling with a clatter, and the world was a sheet of golden yellow!

"Caw!"

A phoenix cry rang out. Amidst the golden rain, a large, fiery-red bird spread its wings, sheltering the young Sword Smith beneath them. Countless golden fragments invaded the Vermilion Bird's body, but the deeper they went, the more they were melted by the raging flames, eventually vanishing into nothingness, unable to invade.

But the Sword Smith could only hide beneath the wings, unable to advance even an inch. The flowing Gang Qi puffed continuously, spitting out the fine golden fragments that occasionally broke through the wings. At this moment, he was only a few feet away from the Golden Warrior, but those few feet were blocked by the golden rainstorm, and he could never cross them.

"Haha, hahaha..." Ai Xin laughed wildly inside the Golden Warrior. With a push, the Golden Warrior sat up, allowing his line of sight to directly face the young man who was shrouded by the Vermilion Bird and in a sorry state amidst the rain.

"What? Not so majestic now? Not so boastful anymore? You weren't afraid of the Golden Mountain and the golden dragon, so how did you become a drowned rat soaked by my rain? Bah, you are also just a laughable little thief, strong on the outside but weak on the inside! Go to hell!"

He howled, and the Golden Warrior's palm suddenly changed, transforming into a golden piercing spear, stabbing fiercely toward the Sword Smith in the rain!

Seeing the golden piercing spear arrive before him, the youth raised his eyes, reached out his hand, and grasped the spear—

"Ssh—"

The piercing spear was held firmly in his hand.

On his hand, white-gold flames burned silently:

"How funny—at a time like this, you are actually still getting carried away?" The flames in his hand burned with a hiss, and the golden spear melted like wax into juice, dripping down drop by drop.

"Your gold is all fake gold, let me say it again—fake gold, only fit to be turned into water, just like you, you are a standard piece of shoddy goods! The so-called real gold only exists in the golden rain from the sky."

"Wh... why..." Ai Xin watched as the golden spear he had struggled to condense was crushed bit by bit, feeling his last shred of courage shattering piece by piece; the golden rain filling the sky instead seemed to come from another world.

"A failed Sword Guest, even if they occasionally achieve success, is merely lucky, and yet they still ask their enemy—"

"Nichi—Yanggu!"

The vermilion-red bird instantly dissipated, and replacing it was a red sun rising from the ground.

The red sun did not rise slowly; instead, it sat on the ground like a hemispherical bowl, just like a red sun that had just emerged from the mountains, with the ground as the horizon.

Although it was not yet noon, it was still filled with scorching heat. Outside the red solar disc, dazzling golden light was released. The golden rain from the sky, let alone invading the red sun, was burned to ashes even outside that layer of golden light.

Ai Xin was stunned. He had never imagined that the opponent who had already brought him to a life-and-death crisis still held such a trump card, and endless fear rose in his already riddled heart.

In despair, he could only shout: "No—Golden Rain, fall harder, a rainstorm!"

As he continued to shout, the cracks on the Treasure Sword in his hand became more obvious, reaching a certain limit—

The golden rain fell even more violently, almost connecting into curtains of gold, but the gold did not become harder; instead, it was scorched by the golden light even faster. This piece of real gold seemed about to turn into fake gold!

The dazzling golden light twisted into threads, pulling away from around the red sun. Entwining onto the sword, the sword could no longer be distinguished by its body or blade, leaving only a wisp of golden light like a thread.

It was golden light, and it was even more a sword!

Besides being a Sword Art, it was also a Sword Control Art. Only by reaching the realm of "refining the sword into silk" could one wield this powerful golden light.

The superposition of Sword Art and Sword Control Art, the Golden Silk Sword, the strongest and fastest single-target Sword Art of the Yanggu Sword!

"Sword Art—Golden Silk Sword!"

The light—had arrived!

In an instant, the golden light streaked across the golden rain curtain and reached Ai Xin's face.

Ai Xin could not move his hands or feet, but his mind stirred—

A long sword moved horizontally before him!

It was not the Golden Warrior raising the sword, but his Treasure Sword flying before him of its own accord, blocking the fatal blow for the Sword Guest!

Sword clashing against sword!

Crack—

The sound of shattering.

In the center of the Treasure Sword, a cut appeared. The cut spread, connecting to the original crack, and finally, it formed a scar that traversed the entire sword body.

Clang, half of the sword body fell off.

The sword body was shattered, but it had not lost its luster, because the Sword Guest was still alive. A shattered sword could still be mended; only the death of the Sword Guest could cause a Treasure Sword to lose its brilliance.

But that was only a matter of an instant.

The moment the sword body shattered, the Golden Warrior dissipated, and Ai Xin rolled out from within, spitting out a mouthful of black foam—whether it was blood or residue, no one knew—leaving only a charred and broken body. The golden rain filling the sky also ceased, not even leaving a single golden mark on the ground.

The Sword Smith stood before him, the red sun behind him vanished, and the sword body recovered, no longer even burning, only shrouded in white-gold Gang Qi.

Gang Qi attached to the sword; killing a Sword Guest at the end of his rope was already enough.

Ai Xin stared at the sword in his hand, lost in a trance, and opened his mouth, but not a single word could come out. His life had reached its end, and all that could burn was but cold ash.

It was just that his mouth remained open, as if he still wanted to ask something.

The Sword Smith recovered his understanding side and said, "Could it be that you still haven't figured out why only the golden rain from the sky was different, why it was the true real gold?"

"Real gold does not fear the tempering of fire. Hehe, even if it is ten-percent pure real gold, its melting point is only a thousand degrees; how could it withstand the burning of the Vermilion Bird fire? What is truly powerful is not gold, nor the imitations you piled up, but the powerful Sword Art formed by following the Sword Intent."

"That golden rain was your first Sword Art, right?"

Ai Xin's pupils shrank sluggishly, clearly very shocked.

"At that time, you truly and sincerely wanted to obtain gold, and you were truly joyful for it. If gold had fallen from the sky then, you would surely have been joyful from the bottom of your heart. That Sword Art was born from sincere joy; it is the only Sword Art that points directly to the Sword Intent. That is why it is the most powerful Sword Art. The other Sword Arts are merely deformations of the Sword Image of gold ingots."

"I told you before, the gold ingot was only the fruit of you and the Sword Intent, the bridge between you and the sword. What is the point of changing that bridge into all sorts of shapes? What you need to cultivate is the Sword Dao, and what you need to realize is the Sword Heart. After holding a sword for so many years, you have instead moved further and further away from the Sword Intent. The moment closest to the sword was the moment you first grasped a sword all those years ago. At that time, you still had a heart that could be filled with joy."

"With that, do you understand now?"

Ai Xin's gaze was somewhat dazed, and somewhat distracted. He was not a clever man to begin with, and being at the moment of death, some words he could hear, but he could no longer make sense of them.

After a long while, he opened his mouth.

"Do you still have anything you want to Ask?"

Two lines of tears flowed down Ai Xin's charred face: "Save..."

"Hmm?"

Having only said one word, his expression froze forever.

The Sword Master's long-winded discourse, no matter how incisive, had not entered his ears or his heart; at the final moment, what he thought of was not solving any doubts, but struggling to survive.

It was just that he was already beyond saving.

"He seems to have died from the backlash of his sword."

The voice came from behind.

"Hmm. The sword is broken, how could the Sword Guest live? This is the most fitting way for him to die."

Having said that, he looked up: "Right, Senior Brother?"

In the air, another youth in white flapped his wings, "You really have a talent for this; I hurried and rushed, but by the time I arrived, you had already finished. But you really talked too much at the end. In the stories you like to tell yourself, isn't there a rule that villains die from talking too much? You explained things to him for ages, nagging away—aren't you afraid he would suddenly rise up to counterattack and take you out in one go?"

Tang Zhao laughed and said, "Sorry, I considered that I am the righteous side, so it doesn't matter if I say a few extra words."

It was not that he was deliberately long-winded, but the entire process of exchanging blows with this Sword Guest was also a process of his own reflection on swords, on Sword Guests, and even on Sword Casting. It looked like he had full control, but in reality, there were undercurrents surging throughout. He had calculated against the uncalculating, and with the timing and terrain fully in his grasp, many accidents still occurred—for instance, that Golden Rain, whose power exceeded his expectations. It forced him to use a technique he hadn't used in a long time: Simulated Holding.

Although he had vague thoughts regarding the explanation of the Golden Rain at the end, he hadn't actually sorted them out; it was only as he spoke them aloud that the principles gradually became clear and understood. Rather than explaining it to this foolish Sword Guest, it was more like explaining it to himself. This was also a process of self-vigilance.

The lessons of an enemy should be used to warn oneself and illuminate the path ahead; only then could this battle be considered to have had a true harvest.

"Senior Brother just arrived?"

"Just arrived." Jiang Shenyi lowered his wings, "The Sword Art you used for Exile has no direction, so finding you wasn't easy. And after finding you, it was also very difficult to get close."

When he arrived, it was exactly when the Golden Rain was at its densest; he circled in the air several times but could not get close, and nearly had his wings cut by the golden Fragments.

Therefore, the lesson Jiang Shenyi learned was—the wings must be reinforced; they are too easy to break.

"This Treasure Sword seems to counter me; it's disadvantageous to fight."

Jiang Shenyi uses wind and thunder as weapons, which counters speed-based styles, but is countered by strong physical defense.

Tang Zhao laughed: "Actually, it doesn't counter you that much; gold is conductive, so it still takes your lightning attacks. When you encounter a rock sword, you will know what a true hard counter is."

However, while gold is conductive, the gold created by Sword Art might not be, because Sword Intent can modify Sword Art. Just like before, the Golden Rain filled with the intent of joy was not only sharp and hard, but also unafraid of high temperatures; it was almost another type of material. The mutual generation and restraint between Sword Arts is only a general rule; in the end, it depends on cultivation.

Therefore, privately, Tang Zhao did not favor Jiang Shenyi abandoning the Sword Guest path to blaze a new trail.

"How are the other two?"

"Of course they are fine; everyone retreated in time. They knew they couldn't help much in the battle, so they went to Wushu Bao to help with the aftermath. Oh, right." Jiang Shenyi suddenly revealed a smile and said, "While you two were talking, we inspected the mountain stronghold and found the gifts the bandits had hidden, which should have been intended for other Sword Masters. It was very generous; we made a good profit this time."

----------Author's Note----------

There will be an extra update tonight for the collection count.