Journey to the End of the Night
Chapter 54 - 54 54 The Sword Is Present The Person Is Present

54: Chapter 54: The Sword Is Present, The Person Is Present 54: Chapter 54: The Sword Is Present, The Person Is Present His originally stern and piercing eyes seemed to be tinged with a layer of defeated gloom as he calmly regulated his breath.

Baili An took the medicine powder from Lin Guiyuan’s hand and sprinkled it over his injured arm.

He lowered his head and said, “Isn’t your name Jin Sheng?

Why do they all call you Lord Yuanli?”

The moment Jin Sheng opened his mouth to speak, he choked and coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.

He calmly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his still intact left hand and said, “My name is Jin Sheng, and Yuanli is the name of this sword.”

Baili An glanced at the dark gold longsword resting quietly on his lap without a change in expression and said with a low chuckle, “It’s a rare thing for a man to be less famous than his sword.”

Jin Sheng’s expression stalled, followed by a bitter smile, “What you say is true.

The Thirteen Swords of Tianxi, passed down through generations — as long as the sword exists, so does the person; but when a person perishes, the sword endures.”

As he spoke, his eyes shifted slightly, falling upon the pale and lean arms of Baili An, and suddenly asked, “What happened to the wounds on your arm?”

Baili An was puzzled since he did not remember being injured there.

Following Jin Sheng’s gaze, he saw two needle-point sized red dots on his arm.

The dots looked deep, not like natural birthmarks, but more as if they were left by the puncture of something sharp.

Given that he had been in a deep slumber for two hundred years, the constitution of a corpse demon should allow such minor wounds to recover in less than the time it took for an incense stick to burn.

Yet these two small red dots were etched into his skin like some kind of indelible brand.

It was precisely because Jin Sheng understood this that he had asked.

The marks were not obvious, and Baili An had not paid much attention to them until Jin Sheng brought it up today, and that’s when he discovered the two dots on his arm.

Baili An lightly tapped the two dots with his finger, puzzled, “Strange, they’re neither painful nor itchy.

When did these appear?”

Jin Sheng lowered his head to look, furrowing his brows and said, “It looks like snake bites.

Did you encounter a snake demon in the mountains?”

Only something beyond an ordinary snake could have injured the skin of a corpse demon.

After a moment of reflection, Baili An said, “I have yet to come across a single snake during my time in the mountains; it must have happened before my death.

It’s nothing serious, neither painful nor itchy.

But as for you, since you are a disciple of Tianxi, why did you choose to cultivate in seclusion in the Demon Cave, and push yourself to your current state?”

Jin Sheng smiled helplessly and said, “The Thirteen Swords of Tianxi are famous throughout the world.

The first three swords had successfully broken through and overcome their tribulations many years ago, reaching the Soul Awakening Realm.

The Sect Master has high hopes for us.

My brothers and sisters and I have been cultivating in seclusion for hundreds of years.

However, just a few months ago, my nine brothers and sisters, each at their own sword stele, managed to sense their destiny and successfully overcame their tribulations, stepping into the legendary Soul Awakening Realm — all but me…”

He paused, with a bitter, self-deprecating smile creeping onto his face.

“Only I stood still, unable to advance.

Little corpse demon, do you know?

Three hundred years ago, I was just a mortal without any knowledge of cultivation.

Imagine how happy I was when the Sect Master took me as his direct disciple and bestowed the Sword Soul upon me.

But even then, I knew that my Spirit Root was not the best choice, far inferior to even some of the inner disciples of the Xijian Sect.

It was merely due to the resonance with the Sword Soul that I became the smallest sword of Tianxi.

They say… the Thirteenth Sword of Tianxi is the most famous one.

Unwilling to accept this, I took my sword to the Demon Cave.

The Yuanli Sword was born from malice, a spirit of heaven and earth coalesced from the perennial thunderstorms of the Nine Heavens.

The greater the malice, the faster the cultivation progresses, and there is no place with a heavier aura of malice in this world than the Demon Cave.”

Baili An said, “The path of cultivation should not be rushed.

If you’re eager to progress and forcefully cultivate, it will harm both body and mind and not benefit you.

Coupled with the interference of those five disciples from the Wan Beast Palace, it’s nothing short of a miracle that you managed to survive the Heavenly Tribulation.”

He turned his head to glance at the two pitch-black corpses on the ground and frowned,

“Ordinary cultivators never seek to trigger the Heavenly Tribulation willingly.

The arrival of those five disciples is very peculiar, and when paired with the two mysterious individuals today, I believe you must have been targeted.”

With difficulty, Jin Sheng’s injured right hand made a stretching motion, and he laughed coldly, “Alongside glory, danger is always close at hand.”

Baili An finished sprinkling the last bit of the medicine powder and casually stroked the head of the young deer.

“To go into the secluded cultivation of life and death, one must keep it hidden from the outside world.

But still, someone disturbed you at the critical moment of your tribulation, which obviously means there’s an issue within your sect.”

Despite not wanting to agree with this perspective, Jin Sheng found himself unable to deny Baili An’s words.

Tired, he leaned his back against a tree, spreading his trembling right hand open, his gaze heavy and profound.

Then, with self-mockery, he said, “So undeserving of the name… ha, you’re absolutely right.”

Now, he found it difficult even to draw his sword.

He had cornered himself into a dead end – his seclusion had been interrupted, not out of sheer luck or a great destiny, but because, at the crucial moment, he had guided the heavenly lightning into the Yuanli Sword and sealed it within the scabbard.

Unsheathing the sword would unleash the punishment of the heavenly thunder.

In his current state, he could not survive the Heavenly Tribulation.

And the Heavenly Tribulation was not something that could be faced whenever one wished.

If this delay persisted, the blade that bore Yuanli would surely break, uncontrollably drawing the heavenly thunder, annihilating him without a place to be buried.

With a light snap,

His right hand was suddenly covered and grasped by an icy palm, causing Jin Sheng to look up in astonishment at Baili An.

He saw a smile curling at the corner of Baili An’s lips, his gaze calm and conveying a harsh reality.

“Every time you mention your Sect Master of Tianxi, your face lights up with inspiration.

I suppose he must be a truly remarkable person.

Since such a remarkable person chose you, it must mean he saw something in you that no one else did.

Just for his belief in you, can’t you believe in yourself?”

These calm words seemed to possess a magical power that infused Jin Sheng’s heart.

He laughed heartily and said, “Indeed, the Sect Master is an Immortal of a millennium, and his foresight is not something that these common mortals can comprehend.”

Even though Baili An’s words could not change his predicament at the moment,

Jin Sheng’s feeling of being trapped with no way out seemed to quietly undergo a significant change.

Even if it was a dead end, he was determined to carve out a new path for himself, even if it meant spilling blood and breaking bones!

The rain had stopped, and the Barrier had been repaired as if nothing had happened.

But those ancient trees struck by lightning could not grow dense again for some time.

Jin Sheng’s injuries were severe, and he had no second miraculous fruit to stabilize his condition.

Baili An believed that Jin Sheng no longer had the strength to fight.

Although the obvious threats and enemies had been dealt with, Baili An’s deep gaze fell on the brightly lit tree houses,

Convinced… the real crisis was far from over.

By now, the blood maintaining his strength and sanity seemed almost depleted.

The murmuring of his empty stomach awoke the resting young deer beside him.

It looked as if Jin Sheng had reached his limit, as he leaned tiredly against the tree and fell into a deep sleep, clutching the Yuanli Sword tightly in his arms as if it were his life.

The young deer nibbled at Baili An’s hem, then prudently raised its plump haunches.

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