Death… and me

The recovery of the Nine Tribulations Sword fragments might seem to be an easy task, but truly, it was difficult for it had been thousands of years. It was probably really easy to recover back in the day. Those fragments might have been all over the place. However, it was extremely difficult to find them now. How was this any different from a death sentence?

"Hey, I want to eat!" The hostage yelled. He continued, albeit lowering his volume, "Even prisoners have to eat. You're not going to let me starve, are you? I'm hungry…"

"Shut up!" Chu Yang shouted ferociously. He was infuriated and grabbed the hostage's shirt, "Don't think that I'm afraid to kill you! I've spared your life because you are still of some use… But if you were to make me lose my patience, then I'll have no qualms in cutting your head off!"

"Don't think that I'm afraid to die… " The man yelled back. As soon as he saw the darkness in Chu Yang's eyes, he trembled and did not utter another word.

Oh God! This person was truly a demon! As the saying goes, 'A wise man knows when to retreat'.

Chu Yang stood on his feet and walked towards the bonfire. He casually chopped off a hind leg off a dead horse, piercing it with two arrows that were left on the ground before placing it on the bonfire to roast.

The flickering light from the bonfire shone on Chu Yang's face, making it appear with waves of light and darkness simultaneously.

"Plump!" Chu Yang tossed the roasted horse leg in front of the masked man and yelled, "Eat!".

"Horse meat is too sour; I want beef!" The man replied fiercely.

"You want beef? You look like beef!" Chu Yang scorned, "It's up to you to eat it or not." Having said that, he turned and left.

The hostage looked like he was trying to gulp down a lump of anger that was stuck in his throat. He gazed at the chunk of horse meat in his hand and considered throwing it away. However, he knew that he would starve if he were to discard it. His captor would never give in!

He let out a sigh and bit into the horse leg like a scavenger. He then chewed the meat so violently that the gnashing sounds from his teeth could be heard clearly. It seemed as if he was chewing Chu Yang instead of horse meat…

On the other side of the room, Chu Yang was clearing the arrows that were left on the ground. He intended to clear the area to set up his tent and get a good night's rest.

However, after clearing some arrows, Chu Yang's face, which was faced away from the other people in the room, suddenly transformed into a strange look. Immediately, he took out his tent and stopped clearing the arrows on the ground. Unexpectedly, he had chosen to set up his tent on an area which contained the most arrows.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Back inside the tent, Chu Yang was beyond terrified. He had realized that Nine Tribulations Sword point within him reacted aggressively out of the blue just when he was clearing the arrows.

At that moment, the sword point followed his meridians and went directly to his hand that he was using to clear the arrows.

Once his hand was in contact with the arrows, a soft "pop" sound was emitted. The arrows that were in his hands had broken into tiny pieces!

Indeed, they had broken into tiny pieces! Or rather, to be more accurate, they had turned into dust instantly!

These arrows were made of fine steel!

Furthermore, these arrows were extremely lethal and could be shot over a great distance. This was because in each arrow, half of it was made of fine steel, while the other half was made of the finest ironwood. This allowed the arrows to maintain their balance so perfectly.

Nonetheless, these fine steel arrows were destroyed with no effort upon Chu Yang's contact. How could he not be surprised?

Chu Yang crawled into the tent after setting it up. He gazed at the ground which was covered with arrows, widening his eyes as he gently touched one of the arrows with his finger…

As expected, Nine Tribulations Sword point rushed to his finger and emitted a strong pull instantly. Suddenly, a speck of dark iron appeared on Chu Yang's fingertip. The rest of the fine steel on the arrow had turned to dust.

What just happened? I have never heard anything about Nine Tribulations Sword doing such a thing.

Chu Yang's eyes widened as he was filled with surprise.

When all of the fine steel arrows in the tent had turned to dust, the dark iron remains that were in Chu Yang's hand had transformed into a ball that was just the size of his fingertip.

After exercising his internal vision, he realized that Nine Tribulations Sword point, which was shining brightly now, had turned black on one tiny spot. It was so tiny that it was easy to overlook it if it weren't scrutinized carefully.

"How could this be?" Chu Yang asked internally.

"That is pure iron! Nine Tribulations Sword has swallowed all the iron essence." The lazy voice from his dantian continued, "What's so strange about that?"

"Huh? Pure iron? Iron essence?"

"Nine Tribulations Sword is the world's top divine item. There is nothing that it cannot consume, let alone the human body!" The voice explained, "Nine Tribulations Sword consumes the finest part of every item, which is their essence. For instance, the finest part of this fine steel is it's iron essence. Pure iron is then left behind. Although it is not that great, it is already the essence of all essences when compared to normal metals."

The voice continued, "This is also a benefit for the Nine Tribulations Sword master!" It paused for a moment, "One of the benefits!"

"One of the benefits?" Chu Yang's head was spinning, "Could there be many other benefits?" His eyes lit up briefly.

"Yes, Nine Tribulations Sword can automatically extract the essence of anything that is within your hands. After the essence has been extracted, the parts that are deemed unnecessary by Nine Tribulations Sword will be left behind for your disposal. You will possess all the benefits once Nine Tribulations Sword has been restored fully. However, there's no need for you to know all the benefits since the restoration will be a long time from now."

"I see." Chu Yang held the tiny pure iron in his hand and appeared to be pondering over something.

"Everything can be swallowed?"

"Most certainly! There is nothing beneath the heavens that cannot be swallowed, including the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Nonetheless, only some metals and medicinal herbs can be swallowed since only the first fragment of Nine Tribulations Sword has been found."

"Then… Can this pure iron be used to create weapons?"

"Nonsense! So long as you have sufficient materials, the sword point can be controlled to assist you in crafting any weapon that you desire. Are you aware that this pure iron is a treasure that martial artists across the world can only dream of? Any weapon that is created using pure iron is a few dozen times stronger than a weapon that is crafted using the trash that you people have!"

Chu Yang sat on the ground and thought deeply. All of a sudden, he had envisioned a great plan.

Using Du Shi Qing to enter Iron Cloud Nation was just an impromptu decision!

Prior to this, he had no concrete plans. He was simply taking things one step at a time. However, he finally had a concrete and detailed plan!

A plan had to be in-depth and logical. The heavy chunk of pure iron in his hand seemed to have sparked an idea within him, causing his eyes to light up instantly…

The following days were smooth-sailing. At times, the assassins would follow behind them slowly, while at other times, they would stay right beside them. There was nothing else they could do even though they were all unhappy.

Their original plan was to kill, yet they were acting as bodyguards now.

This army of an estimated hundred constantly remained disciplined and orderly. There was never any chaos no matter where they were. They were always quiet on the road and hardly spoke to each other.

This army was akin to a black flood that followed you in silence!

Seeing such an elite team, Chu Yang could not help but think to himself, "Iron Cloud Nation doesn't really need much, just ten thousand of these soldiers… No, not even ten thousand, just three to five thousand would be enough to take control of the world…!"