Chapter 6: The Sword Awakens and the Ants' Demise
The air in the Azure Cloud Kingdom's central square had gone from celebratory to lethal in the span of a few heartbeats. The presence of the star-shimmering carriage and the sudden appearance of Lin Feng—a youth who radiated the heat of a literal furnace—had thrown the "Grand Recruitment" into total disarray.
"You... you dare take that trash?" A shrill voice broke the silence.
A middle-aged woman in elaborate, pale-blue robes stepped forward. Her eyes were sharp and filled with a venomous light. This was Elder Han of the Cold-Moon Sect, the very person who had overseen the "testing" that labeled Su Qingchan a waste. Beside her stood a man with a goatee and a sword strapped to his back: Su Ming, the head of the Su Family and Qingchan's biological father.
Su Ming didn't look at his daughter with relief. He looked at her with a mixture of embarrassment and rage. "Qingchan! How dare you associate with these... these traveling performers? You have already shamed the Su name enough. Come here and apologize to Elder Han for wasting her time!"
Su Qingchan shivered, her hand still gripped in Ye Chen's. She felt the coldness of her father's voice—the same coldness that had allowed her stepmother to poison her heart for the last three years.
Ye Chen didn't let go of her hand. Instead, he looked at Su Ming and then at Elder Han. He let out a long, theatrical yawn that seemed to echo across the square.
"Is this the part where the 'important people' bark like dogs to show how important they are?" Ye Chen asked Xiao Hei, who was currently grooming its paw on his head.
"Meow," the cat replied, sounding equally unimpressed.
"Who are you calling a dog?!" Elder Han screamed. Her cultivation—Dharma Phase - 2nd Stage—erupted like a cold tide. Behind her, a faint phantom of a frozen moon appeared, chilling the air and causing frost to creep across the stone floor. "I am an Elder of the Cold-Moon Sect! In this kingdom, my word is law! Leave that girl and kneel, or I shall freeze your soul!"
Ye Chen didn't even blink. "Lin Feng."
"Yes, Master!" Lin Feng stepped forward, the ground beneath his boots cracking and turning into glass from the sheer heat.
"That lady is being too loud. And the guy with the goatee... he's annoying. Handle the 'younger generation' if they try to help them. If the old ones get too grabby, well... you know what to do."
"With pleasure," Lin Feng grinned. He reached behind his back and gripped the hilt of the Solar Flare Blade.
"Wait!" The Third Prince, having recovered some of his dignity (though his pants were still damp), stepped forward with several other "prodigies" of the kingdom. "Elder Han, let me handle this arrogant brat! He's just at the Foundation Establishment realm! I have reached the peak of Qi Refining, and my brothers here are all at Foundation level! We outnumber him!"
Lin Feng laughed—a booming, confident sound. "Outnumber me? You couldn't outnumber a shadow in the dark."
The Massacre of Pride
The Third Prince roared, drawing a silver rapier. "Azure Cloud Strike!"
A wave of blue sword-qi surged toward Lin Feng. At the same time, four other disciples from the Cold-Moon Sect attacked from the flanks, their weapons glowing with frost-energy.
Lin Feng didn't move until they were inches away. Then, he simply exhaled.
BOOM.
A shockwave of golden fire erupted from his body. The "Azure Cloud Strike" didn't just break; it evaporated. The Third Prince was sent flying backward like a ragdoll, his silver rapier melting into a puddle of slag before it even hit the ground. The other four disciples were blasted off their feet, their robes singed and their eyebrows missing.
"Foundation Establishment against Foundation Establishment?" Lin Feng mused, looking at his glowing palms. "Master was right. Most people really are compost."
Elder Han's face turned purple. "Insolent brat! You use a forbidden fire technique! Su Ming, help me kill this boy, and we shall reclaim the girl for the Cold-Moon Sect's mines!"
Su Ming drew his sword. "For the honor of the Su Family!"
The two of them—one at the Dharma Phase and the other at the Celestial Body - 1st Stage—charged at Lin Feng. This was a massive gap in cultivation. A Foundation Establishment cultivator shouldn't even be able to breathe in the presence of a Dharma Phase expert.
Lin Feng felt the crushing pressure. His knees trembled. His Nine-Suns qi roared in his veins, but the sheer weight of a Dharma Phase phantom was like a mountain falling on him.
"General Yan..." Lin Feng gritted his teeth, his hand tightening on his blade.
But the bronze giant in the shadows didn't move. General Yan's eyes remained fixed on Lin Feng. The boy's life wasn't in danger yet—he was just being pressured. This was a trial.
Ye Chen, meanwhile, wasn't even watching the fight. He had turned his back to the chaos, focusing entirely on Su Qingchan.
The Shattering of the Curse
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Ye Chen asked softly.
Su Qingchan was watching the fight with terror, but she looked back at Ye Chen. "My... my heart. It feels like it's being squeezed by ice."
"That's because it is," Ye Chen said. He reached out and placed a finger on her forehead. "The 'Broken Heart Curse.' It's a nasty little piece of work. It feeds on your talent, turning your sword-essence into poison. The more you try to cultivate, the faster you die."
"Can... can it be fixed?" she whispered.
"Fixed?" Ye Chen chuckled. "Kid, I'm not going to fix it. I'm going to use it as fuel."
Ye Chen didn't use a technique. He didn't recite an incantation. He simply thought a single word: [Shatter].
Inside Su Qingchan's soul, the "Eternal Divine God" intent descended like a hammer of the gods. The black, icy chains wrapped around her heart didn't just break; they were pulverized into pure energy.
CRACK.
A sound like a thousand glass swords breaking echoed through the square.
A pillar of black-and-silver light erupted from Su Qingchan, shooting straight into the heavens. The sky, which had been indigo, suddenly turned pitch black. Cold, ethereal lightning danced across the clouds.
[Ding! 'Broken Heart Curse' removed!]
[Physique Awakening: Nine-Hells Sovereign Sword Body!]
Su Qingchan's eyes snapped open. They were no longer brown; they were a piercing, ghostly silver. The rusted iron sword in her lap began to vibrate so violently that it hummed a low, mournful note.
The pressure from Elder Han's "Frozen Moon" phantom didn't just vanish; it was sliced to pieces by the invisible sword-intent radiating from the girl.
The End of the Ants
Elder Han and Su Ming stopped their attack on Lin Feng, frozen by the terrifying aura coming from the "waste" they had just been mocking.
"What... what is this?!" Elder Han gasped. Her Dharma Phase was trembling, cracks appearing across the moon-phantom. "That girl... she's a demon!"
"Demon?" Ye Chen's voice was cold now, devoid of its usual laziness. He turned around, his eyes locking onto Elder Han. "She's a Sovereign. And you... you're a nuisance."
Elder Han felt a primal fear. She realized, too late, that the man in white wasn't a mortal. He was something that shouldn't exist. "I... I am an Elder of the Cold-Moon Sect! Our Ancestor is a King-level expert! If you kill me—"
"I won't kill you," Ye Chen said, waving a hand. "I'm way too lazy for a long-distance execution."
He looked at Lin Feng. The boy was struggling to stand under the weight of the earlier pressure.
"General Yan," Ye Chen said.
BOOM.
The bronze giant appeared from thin air, standing between Lin Feng and the two elders. He didn't use a weapon. He didn't even use a hand. He simply released a huff of air through his nose.
The shockwave hit Elder Han and Su Ming like a physical wall. Their cultivation bases—the Dharma Phase and the Celestial Body—shattered instantly. Their meridians imploded. They were sent skipping across the square like flat stones on water, crashing through three stone buildings before stopping in a pile of rubble.
They weren't dead. But they were now mortals. And in a world like this, for people like them, that was a fate worse than death.
"Master!" Lin Feng panted, wiping blood from his lip. "I... I could have handled them!"
"Sure you could, kid," Ye Chen said, patting his shoulder. "But I'm hungry, and this kingdom's food looks terrible. Let's wrap this up."
He turned back to Su Qingchan. The black-and-silver pillar had faded, leaving her standing there, looking taller, sharper, and incredibly dangerous. The rusted sword in her hand had transformed; the rust had fallen away to reveal a blade of dark, starlit metal.
[Ding! Congratulations! Second Direct Disciple fully recruited.]
[Issuing Rewards...]
1. Sect Infrastructure: The Infinite Sword Pavilion (Now located on the mountain peak).
2. Resource: 10,000 Supreme Spirit Stones.
3. For Su Qingchan:
• Custom Technique: The Sovereign's Hells-Ending Slash.
• Weapon: The Nether-Void Rapier (God-Level).
• Protector: [Summoning...] Beside Su Qingchan, the shadows began to swirl. A tall, slender figure emerged. She wore a mask made of bone and robes of flowing silk that seemed to be made of shadows. At her waist hung a long, curved katana.
"Shadow-Stalker Mo greets the Young Mistress," the figure whispered, her voice like wind through a graveyard. (Cultivation: God Emperor - 9th Stage Peak).
Su Qingchan looked at the masked woman, then at Ye Chen. For the first time in years, she felt safe. She felt... home.
"Well," Ye Chen said, hopping back into the carriage and pulling Xiao Hei onto his lap. "That's two. Only eight more to go. Lin Feng, Qingchan, get in. We have a mountain to get back to, and I think I left the tea kettle on."
As the star-horses took to the sky, the people of the Azure Cloud Kingdom watched in stunned silence. The "Fallen Genius" had been taken by a God. And the Kingdom... would never be the same.