Chapter Ninety-Five: The Wish-Granting War Soldier
At first, what everyone saw was a gigantic character meaning “World.” It took up fully a third of the scabbard, and no one could make sense of it.
Li Hao then moved to the other side of the scabbard, where another large character was carved into the immense sheath. The moment he saw that final character, he suddenly remembered what the beautiful girl in his sea of consciousness had said: “God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword.”
With that thought, everything clicked into place for him. The two characters near the hilt, God and Demon, together with the two on the scabbard, World-Extinguishing, formed the name of this colossal blade.
Just as the others were still pondering what “God-Demon World-Extinguishing” might mean, Li Hao suddenly said, “I understand now!”
The others heard him, but none of them knew what exactly he had understood, or what he meant by it.
Zhen Ba asked in confusion, “What does Young Master understand?”
His confusion was shared by the five others standing beside Li Hao. They all waited for him to explain.
Li Hao said, “These four characters are the name of this great sword: the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword.”
“The God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword!”
“The God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword!”
The others repeated the name over and over.
Qin Zhen could not help exclaiming, “What an overbearing name. It suits the sword perfectly.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. “Indeed!”
Looking at the massive sword, Qin Zhen thought to himself, “Such a huge sword... how is anyone supposed to use it? I wonder how heavy it is?”
He asked, “Young Master, how are you supposed to wield something this enormous?”
“Yes, yes...”
Li Hao himself did not know either. “I don’t know yet. Let me try seeing whether I can lift it.”
He flew to the hilt of the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword and wrapped both hands around the grip, which was thicker than his own thigh. Standing there, he was no more than a mosquito perched on a giant’s shoulder. No matter how hard he strained, the enormous blade did not budge in the slightest. Then Li Hao gathered all the power of his laws and channeled it into the sword, but still he could not lift it.
Seeing his helpless expression, the others began to murmur among themselves.
“What an incredibly heavy sword. Even Young Master can’t lift it!”
“Yes, yes. It’s simply too heavy.”
Their voices overlapped. Watching Li Hao struggle, Lu Yao grew anxious on his behalf. She turned to Lin Xueyou beside her and asked, “Sister Xueyou, if even Brother Li Hao cannot lift it, how can a sword this huge be used in battle?”
Lin Xueyou smiled gently at her. “Sister Yao’er, don’t worry. Since this great sword has already acknowledged Li Hao as its master, he will surely be able to use it.”
Hearing this, Lu Yao nodded. “That does make sense.”
After speaking with Lu Yao, Lin Xueyou said to Li Hao, “Little Brother Li Hao, see whether you can use your will to command the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword to shrink its true form.”
Li Hao took her reminder like a sudden enlightenment, immediately understanding why he had been unable to lift it.
He could not move it because the sword was simply far too large, and its weight had increased along with its size. In its current state, the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword must have weighed at least tens of thousands of jin. With Li Hao’s current strength in the mid-Outing Realm, he could at best manage a little over ten thousand jin.
At once, Li Hao controlled the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword through his will and silently commanded, “Smaller.”
When his intent gave the order, a miracle occurred. The sword instantly shrank by about half. Li Hao was stunned that this enormous blade was so obedient, and he said again, “Smaller!”
The giant sword shrank by another half.
“Smaller! Smaller! Smaller!”
By the time Li Hao had spoken the word five times in his mind, the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword had shrunk to about the height of a man. He said “smaller” once more, and it condensed to half a man’s height.
By then, everyone had descended to the ground, looking at the peerless divine blade before them with immense envy. A sword this easy to wield—if used in combat, any cultivator of the same realm would likely be defeated with a single strike.
Once they were all on the ground, even Lin Xueyou could not help but praise it. “Truly, this is a sword one may encounter only once in ten thousand years.”
Everyone nodded and stepped closer to the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword, watching the scarlet radiance flicker over its blade. That blood-red glow was so intense it seemed to seize the soul.
Zhen Ba said, “So the light that leaked out earlier was its doing. Perhaps it sensed that Young Master had broken through the law barrier at the cave entrance and deliberately shone so as to summon him in and test him.”
Kui Hu added, “Brother Zhen Ba makes sense. I think so too.”
Li Hao also descended to the ground. Looking at the now-shrunken sword before him, he was thrilled as well. But his excitement did not turn into arrogance, nor did he immediately try to draw the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword from the ground. Instead, he circled it once, studied it carefully, and reached out to knock tentatively on the hilt, which stood at his chest. Sensing no resistance, he finally grasped the hilt.
The moment he did, he gathered all his strength and heaved upward with all his might. But the effort was too much: his own body was tugged forward, and he nearly toppled face-first onto the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword.
Seeing such a comical scene, no one laughed. Instead, they all cried out in concern.
“Careful, Young Master!”
“Careful, Brother Li Hao!”
“Brother Li Hao, be careful!”
Seeing his friends worry so sincerely for him, Li Hao was deeply moved. At the same time, he felt a little embarrassed. He steadied himself by gripping the hilt and stood upright again.
“I’m fine. I was just careless and used too much force, which made me lose my balance.”
Only then did everyone slowly relax.
Lu Yao was still worried and asked again, “Brother Li Hao, are you really all right?”
Looking at how concerned she was, Li Hao did not tease her as he usually might have. Instead, he answered earnestly, “Don’t worry, Yao’er. I’m really fine.”
As if afraid she still would not believe him, he even jumped in place a few times, his actions so absurd that everyone burst into laughter. Li Hao, seeing their smiles, laughed along as well to ease the awkwardness.
Then he placed both hands on the hilt, now wiser than before. He began by exerting only a little force, then gradually increased it.
In the end, when he reached the peak of his own strength, he finally managed to lift the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword. Yet it still felt far too heavy, so he used his will once more to command it to shrink.
The instant the sword received his command, it shrank by another half, and its weight suddenly decreased by a third. Caught off guard by the sudden difference in weight, Li Hao pitched backward and landed squarely on the ground.
This time, Lin Xueyou and the others laughed so hard they nearly doubled over, especially Lin Xueyou and Lu Yao, whose beauty was all the more striking when they laughed like that. Li Hao got back up and, without thinking, rubbed the sore little backside he had bruised in the fall.
After the laughter subsided, no one mocked his embarrassment further. Li Hao gave a wry smile. With one hand on the hilt and the other on the scabbard, he drew the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword free.
The moment he unsheathed it, the entire cavern filled with razor-sharp sword qi. Lin Xueyou and Zhen Ba immediately activated the laws of heaven and earth to shield Lu Yao and the others.
Seeing sword qi spilling everywhere, Li Hao hastily returned the sword to its sheath. Only then did the sword qi in the cavern slowly dissipate.
After everything settled back into silence, everyone withdrew their law barriers with lingering fear.
Li Hao apologized to them, saying, “I’m sorry. My curiosity and carelessness nearly got all of you hurt.”
Lu Yao said, “It’s all right, Brother Li Hao. None of us were hurt.”
Though she said this, she still looked somewhat tense. Lin Xueyou added, “Little Brother Li Hao, don’t blame yourself. This isn’t your fault. We also never imagined that the sword qi of the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword would be this terrifying.”
The four of them, including Zhen Ba, also spoke up at once.
“Yes, Young Master, we’re all fine!”
Li Hao said with lingering fear, “It is fortunate that everyone is safe and sound. Otherwise, I truly would never forgive myself. It was only a lesson, but one with no real harm done. This sword is far too formidable. From now on, unless life and death hang in the balance, it must never be drawn. Once it is unsheathed, it will certainly wound someone.”
“Yes, Little Brother Li Hao is right. This sword is indeed strangely and frighteningly sharp,” Lin Xueyou agreed wholeheartedly.
She then asked, “Little Brother Li Hao, such a powerful war weapon should have a weapon spirit, just like your Nine Dragons War Halberd, shouldn’t it?”
Li Hao nodded. “It does. Just now I saw it briefly in my sea of consciousness. I was worried about everyone’s safety, so I withdrew from my sea of consciousness.”
Zhen Ba and the others looked at him in astonishment. “Young Master, both your Nine Dragons War Halberd and this God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword have weapon spirits?”
Li Hao did not understand why they were so startled by that. He answered in confusion, “Yes. After the battle earlier in the day, I put the Nine Dragons War Halberd into my sea of consciousness and never had the chance to release Little Brother Nine. Is it improper for a weapon to have a spirit?”
When Qin Zhen, Kui Hu, and Li Zhan heard this, they desperately wanted to rush up and give Li Hao a few slaps, but even if they were lent a hundred times more courage, they still would not dare. Lin Xueyou and Zhen Ba were equally at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
Lin Xueyou explained to Li Hao, “Weapons, like us cultivators, have ranks and distinctions. A war weapon with a weapon spirit is, in a sense, equivalent to a cultivator standing at the highest level of cultivation. But the strength of the weapon and its spirit depends on the weapon’s grade and the spirit’s own power. A weapon with a spirit is usually nurtured by its master within the sea of consciousness, and master and spirit will complement one another. A war weapon without a spirit can only be kept within a cultivator’s dantian. A war weapon with a spirit is called a wishful war weapon, while one without a spirit is called a shape-following war weapon. The difference between them is that a wishful war weapon can transform its own true form at will, or do so through the master’s will. A shape-following war weapon cannot; it can only alter its size in a simple way according to the master’s intent. A weapon spirit may be born naturally, or a living being may be attached to the weapon. A naturally born spirit can never leave the weapon, while a spirit attached within the weapon may leave at any time, so long as the master permits it.”
Only after hearing Lin Xueyou’s explanation did Li Hao finally understand everything. He also understood why the others had reacted with such shock.
But one question remained in his heart. He thought to himself, “This God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword has a weapon spirit, so why did it feel as though, when I summoned it just now, the spirit called You Xue was nowhere near as strong in consciousness as Little Nine inside the Nine Dragons War Halberd? There must be some other reason for this.”
While Li Hao was pondering the anomaly with You Xue, Qin Zhen learned that both of Li Hao’s war weapons had weapon spirits, and he was already itching with impatience. He could not help asking, “Young Master, could you grant me a tiny request?”
Li Hao asked in confusion, “What does Brother Qin Zhen want me to do?”
Qin Zhen smiled awkwardly and said, “Young Master, could you let us see your weapon spirit? I’d also like to know what kind of spirit the Young Master has.”
Hearing this, everyone else was equally eager for Li Hao to agree. Lin Xueyou had seen Little Nine inside the Nine Dragons War Halberd, but she had never seen You Xue inside the God-Demon World-Extinguishing Sword. She too was deeply curious about the spirit within the sword.