Chapter 2289: 1045, No matter how tough or dangerous, I shall cut through it with my sword
Chapter 2289: 1045, No matter how tough or dangerous, I shall cut through it with my sword
Where did the sword embryo come from?
Everyone’s gaze turned to Han Muye.
The Lord of Yunjiang City’s face remained impassive as he stepped behind the Master of the Mountain, raising his hand to grasp a long saber, with the blade’s edge pressing against the Master’s back.
“If the sword embryo was refined by you, it is useless,” he said.
“If the sword embryo was refined by him, then you can die.”
There was no need to keep the Master of the Mountain if Han Muye had refined the sword embryo.
If the Master had refined the sword embryo, then there was no need to spare the life of a mere apprentice like Han Muye.
The Master of the Mountain raised his head and looked at Han Muye.
Han Muye also lowered his head to look at the Master, whose mouth was dripping with blood.
“Do you know why I refused to refine swords for him?” the Master’s voice rang out.
“I heard that you and Feng Yangqing once roamed the martial world together, as brothers who shared life and death,” Han Muye spoke.
He had heard various versions of this story.
Many had speculated whether the Master would ever forge a sword for the Lord of Yunjiang City capable of defeating or even killing Feng Yangqing.
“You could say that,” the Master nodded, a trace of nostalgia appearing on his face, “I truly miss those carefree days wandering the martial world…”
As he said this, a sliver of killing intent shone in his eyes: “If it hadn’t been for our master’s collapse, and Broken Sword Mountain being besieged, I wouldn’t have had to come back.”
“Heh, Yunjiang City, you have always regarded Broken Sword Mountain as your backyard, as servants to forge weapons for you,” he scoffed.
“So what?” Looking at the Lord of Yunjiang City holding the saber against him, his face cold, the Master showed a smile, “Do you wish me to refine weapons for you?”
“Ha, give up on that hope!”
“From the moment our master left his last will advising me never to return to Broken Sword Mountain, I knew that the force behind the siege was Yunjiang City,” he said.
The Lord of Yunjiang City pressed down with the blade in his hand, pushing the Master’s head lower.
His face was calm, but a hint of sharpness flickered in his eyes.
“Who refined the sword embryo?”
Han Muye stretched out his hand to point at the Master.
The Master burst into laughter, thrusting his head toward the saber held by the Lord of Yunjiang City.
The Lord of Yunjiang City sneered, pulling back the saber.
The Master, failing to hit the blade, moved agilely, flinging his arms that had been behind his back.
“Crack—”
His arm struck the long saber held by a soldier behind him, and half of his arm fell to the ground.
He had severed his own arm!
This scene ignited fury in the eyes of the Lord of Yunjiang City.
With a sweep of his saber, the bewildered soldier’s neck opened with a bloody gash, spattering blood.
The saber still pressed against the pale face of the Master, as the Lord of Yunjiang City’s eyes flashed with the intent to kill, “Good, if he fails to refine a quality sword today, there is no longer a need for Broken Sword Mountain to exist.”
The saber pointed towards all the apprentices and servants of Broken Sword Mountain as the Lord of Yunjiang City gritted his teeth, letting out a low roar, “If the sword I desire is not refined, everyone here shall be buried with me!”
——————————————
The overturned refining furnaces were set back up and ignited.
The spiritual materials were thrown back into the furnace.
The Master, his arm hastily bandaged, stood in front of the large black hammer, his gaze complex as he looked at Han Muye.
“What are you doing back here?”
If Han Muye had not returned, Broken Sword Mountain would have surely perished.
Yet the legacy of refining weapons on Broken Sword Mountain would not have ended.
But now that Han Muye had come back.
With Han Muye’s return, the legacy of Broken Sword Mountain might truly be broken.
“You taught me weapon refining, I could not simply watch you die on the mountain,” Han Muye looked up and said.
A glint of moisture flashed in the Master’s eyes, and a faint blush surfaced on his pale cheeks.
After pondering for a while, the Master seemed to make a decision and said in a low voice, “You refine the weapon, I’ll watch. Remember what I say, I’ll only say it once.”
Han Muye nodded.
The clinking of the hammer rang out as Han Muye stood before the large black hammer forging weapons, with the Lord of Yunjiang City standing nearby, holding his long saber and watching.
From time to time, the Master would whisper instructions, from the force and angle of the hammer to the temperature of the flames.
He kept on speaking, as though afraid Han Muye might forget, and sometimes he would repeat himself a few times.
The brightness in his eyes grew more intense.
Under Han Muye’s hammer, the sword embryo gradually took shape, even more resplendent than the one before.
Quenching, polishing—a gleaming sword emerged in Han Muye’s hands.
The mountain lord sighed, then relaxed.
“It’s done…”
His expression was complicated.
The Lord of Yunjiang City, having taken the three-foot-long sword, swung the weapon and turned his gaze to the mountain lord with a cold snort.
“What do you think Feng Yangqing will do if I present him with your head?”
The mountain lord’s face was filled with despair, and he remained silent.
“Lord Mayor, if you defeat Feng Yangqing with this sword and then tell him it was refined by the mountain lord, can you imagine what Feng Yangqing’s face will look like?”
Han Muye’s voice sounded from the side.
The Lord of Yunjiang City was initially startled, then burst into laughter.
“Good, I’ll return with Feng Yangqing’s head.”
The thundering hooves of the warhorse departed, leaving behind group after group of soldiers besieging Broken Sword Mountain.
By the furnace, the mountain lord sported a bitter expression, sighing deeply with sadness.
“I thought I could protect the legacy, I thought I wouldn’t harm Brother Feng with my own sword, I never expected…”
If the Lord of Yunjiang City should defeat Feng Yangqing, then the legacy of Broken Sword Mountain would surely be extinguished.
Both he and Han Muye would be cut down.
All his schemes had come to naught in the end.
Han Muye looked towards the mountain lord and said softly, “We will only know the outcome after the results come in, won’t we?”
…
Ten days later, news spread throughout the martial world that the Lord of Yunjiang City, with a treasured sword in hand, had slain dozens of martial experts and then faced Feng Yangqing in battle.
That battle churned the heavens and earth, with winds and sandy mists billowing for miles around.
In the end, the three-foot-long sword in the Lord of Yunjiang City’s hand shattered, and he met his demise on the spot.
Feng Yangqing regrouped his generals and led the martial world’s masters, already marching upon Yunjiang City.
“How, how did you do that?” the mountain lord exclaimed, looking at Han Muye, dumbfounded.
He had personally witnessed that sword, clearly refined to the utmost limit, not something that Feng Yangqing’s own sword should have been able to withstand.
“Perhaps this is the true essence of the way of the sword?”
Han Muye did not look at the mountain lord. His gaze was fixed on the mountainside.
A group of martial world warriors hurriedly followed a figure with a three-foot-long sword.
“With a sword in hand, justice and moral duty are hard to fulfill.”
“A sword has two edges, it can hurt others as well as oneself.”
The mountain lord had aimed to refine a sword capable of defeating Feng Yangqing but in doing so, lost the righteousness he held dear in his heart.
Yet, if he did not refine that sword, he would sever his own legacy.
This was a dilemma of choice.
The space before Han Muye gradually turned illusory.
Broken Sword Mountain, the mountain lord, the furnace—all seemed non-existent, yet as if they’d always been there.
“The sword in my heart has no such concerns.”
“No matter the dangers, by sword alone, I will cleave through them.”
“Ultimately, a sword is just a sword, and if the one who wields it is no longer, isn’t that sword just a piece of scrap metal?”
“Boom—”
All the scenery before Han Muye dissipated.
The mountain lord bowed to Han Muye and then vanished.
Ahead, a figure holding a three-foot-long sword shouted aloud and then threw his weapon off the cliff.
Han Muye reached out, and a corroded long sword appeared in his hand.
Sword intent infused, layer upon layer of memories within the sword emerged.
The Lord of Broken Sword Mountain perished with the sword, severing his own legacy. Feng Yangqing, bearing that sword, defeated the Lord of Yunjiang City and when he reached Broken Sword Mountain, all that remained was ruins.
Feng Yangqing discarded his sword to live in seclusion, and the world lost an unparalleled swordsman.
“Wind Spirit Sword.”
Han Muye murmured.
The true memories were in the sword. The illusions within the illusion were ultimately false.
He had saved the mountain lord and created a weapon, but it was all a fleeting dream.
As the sword in his hands broke, Han Muye stood up.
“Hm?”
Looking at a slender sword embryo on the ground, Han Muye’s eyes burst with a brilliant gleam!