Death… and me

The very moment that Chu Yang's figure vanished, the space in the room began to contort as though it was being manipulated. All of a sudden, the mysterious individual dressed in blue appeared through the distortion.

"Hmmm… Secret room…" He began to rub his chin and his eyes flashed as he continued, "Well, it looks this punk is careful enough to keep all of his precious belongings in a secret room… I shall have a look when they leave… If I am able to find the Purple Jade Essence in his possession, my work is done. I will be able to get my reward from that old geezer and I can eat and drink merrily… Hahaha… Now is the time for me to find somewhere to find a place to drink and celebrate this great finding…"

"This punk is really far too sneaky… He actually has half the mind to hide things like this. Unfortunately for him, he isn't going to be able to fool this old man…" He laughed hysterically for a moment before his figure disappeared as quickly as it came.

Thinking that he had found a major hint which would lead to his eventual success of his mission, he hastily went on his way to celebrate.

It would be far too tough to do anything if I were to just knock down the door and come rushing in. This punk is beyond careful. There is a possibility that there is some sort of hidden safety mechanism hidden inside of the chamber which could potentially result in me not being able to find anything in the end again… It pays to be careful.

It seems that the best course of option is to wait until he isn't around…

Chu Yang advanced into the secret passageway. He glanced around to make sure he wasn't being followed and began to take big strides further in. He stretched out his extremely thing strings as he walked, leaving a trail behind him. He still continued to put more even though he had already placed more than a hundred of such strings as part of a safety measure!

Moreover, given that the threads themselves were extremely thing, it was nearly impossible for an intruder to detect their presence in such dim lighting. If they were to be touched in any way, Chu Yang would immediately be aware of the presence of the uninvited guests!

This was part of an anti-spy specialty of the Nine Tribulations Sword. Moreover, since the sword spirit was currently resting, Chu Yang had no choice but to rely on such measures against the individual dressed in blue. Chu Yang chose to play it safe and take countermeasures against the mysterious person even though he didn't seem to have any malicious intent. Nonetheless, he wanted to conceal the fact that he was the master of the Nine Tribulations Sword to as few people as possible!

After all, this piece of information if released would be the source of major disaster and trouble for him!

In any case, there was actually no point in Chu Yang placing the threads because the person in blue had chosen not to follow him.

He continued to advance to the last level under the Heavenly Armament Pavilion which was a few hundred feet underground. The surrounding temperature dropped significantly as he continued to progressing even deeper.

During the construction of this place, he had made sure that the lake surrounded it on all sides and that the water would not seep in.

He made sure that the infrastructure was solid because the second fragment of Nine Tribulations Sword was being hidden here!

Chu Yang then pulled himself together and started to activate the Nine Tribulations Transcending the Nine Heavens Technique with all the strength his body could muster. Inside his dantian, the Nine Tribulations Sword's point rang out with joy. It immediately moved from his dantian and hovered at the tip of his finger.

His finger had the presence of a faint light as there was a sudden flash of light which moved over ten feet!

With a simple wave of his hand, the cold light of the Nine Tribulations Sword slashed downwards! After a couple of slashes, the tiles which laid over the ground were cut into a couple of large blocks.

There was a strange happiness which could be felt as though it was coming from underneath the ground.

It was like a child who had been gone for a long time from home finally being able to see its mother.

All of a sudden, Chu Yang's heart was filled with immense joy. He pulled the sword point back and concentrated all of his martial strength in his arms. He began to digging into the ground as he lifted large stones and mud chunks to the side.

He continued as he threw aside one block after another…

After ten continuous blocks, the stone chamber was almost filled up. On the ground, a large hole appeared.

After all the dirt and stones were pushed away, a peculiar looking spring appeared under the hole. A milky white liquid started to gush out.

However, the odd thing about the spring was that even though the milky white liquid was gushing out, it did not flood outwards. The liquid which emerged would immediately swirl in place. Even the soil which was about a palm's length away from the spring remained dry.

Chu Yang's eyes lit up with excitement. This was the exact same thing that he had experienced in his previous life. The spring had a strange powerful health effect. In the past, after he drank from it, he would feel rejuvenated and erasing all sorts of mental fatigue. Moreover, during that period of time, whenever his body would get injured, it would recover extremely quickly without any scars.

Chu Yang guessed that the effects he had experienced was related to that spring.

His only regret he had was that after he finished drinking from the spring and turned to get the second sword fragment, the spring would disappear without a trace.

This was something that Chu Yang felt extremely sad about!

However, now that he saw the spring, he got incredibly worked up. This was something extremely useful and it would be a pity if he was not able to keep it…

Without any other choice, he resorted to calling out the sword spirit, "Hey, is there any way to save this spring?"

The sword spirit sneered in a condescending manner, "This is nothing more than Vitality Spring Water. It really isn't anything great. It is only good for nourishing the sword's edge. Compared to the Crystal Spirit Spring of the seventh fragment, this is far inferior… Why are you even interested in this?

"This… while it might not be considered all that good to you… Right now… it is okay to use…" Even though Chu Yang said it was not all that good, he had said it with great reluctance. He sincerely believed that the spring before his eyes was already considered one of the best treasures!

The sword spirit looked at Chu Yang arrogantly and said, "All you have to do is to move this into the Nine Tribulations space. Do you even need me to teach you this?"

"Huh? How do you move it?" Chu Yang began sweating profusely with excitement.

"Place the tip of the sword on the top of the spring water and consciously will it into the space and it would be absorbed! Hey, I used to accompany the Nine Tribulations Sword and traversed all over the world, filled with power. However, now…" The sword spirit acted as though being with Chu Yang was an insult to its abilities. It could not help but express its dissatisfaction about its power and talent being wasted on such a weak master…

Minister Chu controlled his anger and said "Mm." He pulled out the sword point once more. With his mind directed at the space in his consciousness, he shouted, "Gather!"

"Pig! Do you have to yell out?" The sword spirit said contemptuously, "I never saw anyone as dumb as you! You are…"

"There is no more business for you here. Go back and continue reminiscing!" Looking at the spring in front of him successfully disappear, he could clearly sense a spring appeared in the middle of Nine Tribulations space of his consciousness. As it continued to gush around, Chu Yang was filled with joy. He no longer suppressed his anger and instead as he rudely chased the sword spirit away.

"You." The sword spirit angrily glared for a while and finally disappeared. This provocation by Minister Chu was not a light one.

"Little one, you dare to fight with me? While you are of many years, you are still soft!" Minister Chu felt extremely satisfied. Not only had he managed to preserve a spiritual spring, but also managed to retrieve the second sword fragment inside it. Haha, this is getting two birds with one stone.

He directed his focus into the space and appeared next to the spring water. He paused for a brief moment before carefully bringing the Nine Tribulations Sword point into the spring water.

A faint "ting" sound was heard.

Chu Yang's heart was suddenly filled with inexplicable warmth… Cough, cough, it was as if the Nine Tribulations Sword point was hugging the second fragment happily…

Chu Yang's heart shivered as his whole body was covered with goosebumps. He could not help but scratch himself.

All of a sudden, a cold feeling was emitted from his arm. It seemed to followed his meridians as it moved into his dantian.

In an instant, Chu Yang's consciousness returned to reality.

He directed his mind into his dantian and saw a shiny sword edge attached to the sword point. At the very next moment, the sword point emitted a dull pink light and the sword edge emitted a bright white light. Both of the lights then fused together.

Chu Yang felt an explosion in his head. At that moment, it felt as though his soul had exploded and scattered across the vast night sky.

Consequently, he felt a strange feeling. Even though he was deep underground, it felt as though he was flying upwards! In front of his eyes, a sharp sword edge seemed to gather all of the surrounding light and shot straight up into the heavens!

Right after, the sword edge suddenly shined brightly, eclipsing the moon and the stars in the sky!

All of the Nine Heavens, regardless of whether it was the Lower Three Heavens, Middle Three Heavens or Upper Three Heavens were simultaneously enveloped in a bright white light!

Suddenly, the memory of Meng Chao Ran judging a sword surfaced in Chu Yang's mind. He had said, "The sword's edge is the front of the sword which connects to the sword point. The edge cuts and this is the sword's front. It has the most power and is able to kill the strongest of enemies! It can be used to chop, swing, slash, sweep…"

Chu Yang had somewhat understood what he meant. It seemed as though this sword edge was a weapon made for killing. At that point, the sword edge and the sword point in his dantian fused perfectly. They fused so well that it was hard to even differentiate between the two. A bright light emitted from the sword edge in Chu Yang's dantian and shined into his consciousness.

A section of the sword technique appeared.

"The only sword edge that has been brilliant since time immemorial;

roaring at clouds and wind from east to west;

the sun and the moon are ready to assist me;

breaking hills and cutting up mountains, I roam…"

The sword edge flashed and Chu Yang was able to see a clear small imprint of the sun and on its opposing side, an imprint of the moon.

In his consciousness, the sword spirit yelled coldly, "Watch!"

A figure flew up all of a sudden and a sword appeared in its hand like a mirage. In Chu Yang's consciousness, it slowly demonstrated the ability of the sword.

This ability was different from that of the sword point; this was the sword edge's ability. Before the move was even made, a threatening killing aura filled the air. This aura was the kind which did not care about anything including both heaven and earth itself.

Whatever that was in front of the sword edge would be cut down!

"The second fragment is the sword edge. The sword edge's power is the ultimate, but also makes people the most suspicious. Therefore use it carefully!" The sword spirit coldly reminded him.

Chu Yang was no longer paying attention to what the sword spirit was saying. He was completely immersed in the mysterious sword ability…

Moreover, at the same time, his cultivation was unconsciously rising uncontrollably!

If Chu Yang were paying attention, he would have discovered that the sword edge was continually emitting a gentle force which was slowly transforming his meridians and increasing his cultivation…

Seventh grade Martial Master! Breakthrough… the beginning of eighth grade, mid-level of eighth grade, peak of eighth grade… breakthroughs constantly continued, showing no signs of stopping!

Ninth grade, mid-level of ninth grade… peak of ninth grade…

The sword edge shone as brightly as before and continued to persist. It was like a cold swordsman taking care of his enemies in front of him without even the slightest bit of hesitation. From one barrier of cultivation to another, under the sword edge's power, it was like a bunch of dumb chickens had lined up and were ready to be culled as each barrier collapsed one after the other in the blink of an eye…

Sword Great Master!

First grade Sword Great Master, peak!