Chapter 482: Netizen Meeting?

"Have all the edicts been dispatched?" With a black wind whipping against his face, Nangong Lin’s slightly withered countenance carried a faint, cold intent to kill.

The divine sword within the Sword Tomb, which the Wentian Sword Palace had guarded for generations, had emerged into the world. Issuing edicts to invite the major clans to witness the event had thus become a matter of course.

When the time came, it would also allow them to thoroughly behold the Wentian Sword Palace's world-dominating might.

By then, the Wentian Sword Palace would sweep away every obstacle blocking their path, forcing the forces of the entire Lingzhou Continent to submit beneath this monstrous sword majesty.

Before him stood over a hundred ragged prisoners, their hands and feet bound by black chains.

Some had once been enemies of the Wentian Sword Palace, others were traitors of their clans, and there were even fanatics who had willingly offered their lives for the Palace.

Having spent countless years within the Sword Tomb, cleansed by its terrifying sword intent, they had long since shed their mortal molds. They had become the sword slaves of today—neither human nor ghost, operating solely on commands.

Perhaps since ancient times, the major clans believed this to be one of the Wentian Sword Palace's greatest hidden trumps. Yet, if they were to witness the scene before them, to see this divine sword shrouded in boundless malevolent aura—against which ordinary people could not even summon the will to resist—they would absolutely assemble their greatest strength immediately to annihilate such a threat.

But by then, it would likely be too late.

"The Holy Ancestor awakens. Now, it is fitting that our Wentian Sword Palace rules the world!" Within the sky, heavenly thunder clashed as crimson lightning serpents danced wildly, reflecting Nangong Lin's ghost-like, god-like face.

It had been an unknown length of time since legends of immortals last drifted through this world. The strength of the major clans had continually dwindled with the passing of time. Though they remained powerful compared to other aristocratic families, the major clans—where talents used to emerge like gushing fountains—now perhaps required over a thousand years just to see a figure truly worthy of being called a genius.

This was like a curse that no one could unravel. Perhaps after many more years, these long-inherited, ancient clans would vanish on their own within the long river of time.

But now...

"Only our Wentian Sword Palace is worthy of steering this vessel of a turbid world, worthy of cleaving open the eternal ages with a sword."

"Each and every bit of this shall be realized through my hands!"

"Roar—!"

A world-shaking, earth-splitting roar erupted, and the surging malevolent aura that had already turned into dark clouds obscuring the heavens poured downward all at once, like a great whale swallowing water.

At the very center of that malevolent aura, a silhouette could faintly be discerned—it was the rudimentary form of a sword.

"The Holy Ancestor emerges into the world. These sword slaves are now useless; consider them sacrifices," Nangong Lin shouted loudly. "Pass down the order to hold a seven-day sword sacrifice. After the sacrifice, when the major clans gather, that shall be the day our Wentian Sword Palace claims supremacy over the world!"

As for the major clans, let alone ascension, there was currently not a single person who even neared such a realm. In Nangong Lin's view, subduing them would require absolutely no effort at all.

And all they needed to do was kill a chicken to warn the monkeys.

...

"Say... why do so many of the humans in the games at the shop look like the Western Savages?" Zong Wu was deeply perplexed by this, and had specially formed a discussion group to debate the matter.

The Western Savages was a collective term for the barbarians of the extreme north-western regions. Most of them were descendants of barbaric tribes native to that land, while a small portion consisted of Lingzhou cultivators who had fled there as refugees from Lingzhou.

As for the reasons behind their flight, they varied across the board; even a war between sects could result in the disaster of clan extermination, to say nothing of other natural and man-made calamities.

To the west of the Lingzhou Continent lay a boundless wasteland. The environment there was extremely harsh, and most of those able to survive there were ferocious beasts that had endured since the primeval era; even the juveniles among them were largely sufficient to rival Great Martial Grandmasters or even Martial Kings.

It was worth mentioning that the overall strength of Lingzhou's martial artists was also much stronger than that of the Desolate Sea Region, even within the same realm.

This was caused by the survival environment of martial artists since ancient times—the survival of the fittest. Being able to pass down their lineage in such an environment, the martial artist community, though still appearing slightly weak, would absolutely never be as powerless as the Desolate Sea Region when facing cultivators.

Meanwhile, the wilderness of the northwestern region had always been dominated by martial artists. They forged incomparably robust physiques through fighting with ferocious beasts, forming a lineage of their own that was completely different from the mainstream martial artists of the Lingzhou Continent.

Elder Yu: "Could it be... it is said that in the legends of those barbarians, they also once had a period of prosperity. Could these be things left behind by those barbarians during the ancient era?"

Zhou Mo, the Black-Robed Daoist: "That is impossible. Compared to them, these things like guns and cannons are completely different entities. If their inheritance could warp into something like this, then this Daoist would truly be impressed."

Feng Yangzi: "I asked Daoist friends from other shops. They said that cultivators and martial artists of the same style as us share the same appearance and characteristics as we do. Yet there are some others, like these ordinary people who fight using dharma artifacts, who basically all possess the appearance of the Western Savages."

"Do these people in StarCraft not live on the stars?" Zong Wu said. "Could it be..."

He looked up at the ceiling, as if he could peer through it toward the sky: "Did these people actually fall from the heavens before the ancient era? Is it not said that stars all have something... some kind of gravity? Perhaps one day this gravity vanished, and so they fell down?"

Fortunately, Boss Fang was not lurking within this group; otherwise, faced with the imaginative holes in these people's brains, he would absolutely have to write them a massive word of admiration.

"Is it not said that the martial artists from over there are coming to the Haotian Academy soon for some martial arts exchange?"

Zhou Mo: "(Disdain) They only dare to contend in martial arts. If they switched to cultivators, there would be plenty of people to beat them into submission."

True Master Baoping: "We agreed on an exchange of martial arts. Switching to cultivators would be far too disqualifying."

Zong Wu: "Although our Haotian Academy has also produced Martial Emperors, compared to those barbarians from the northwest, I fear we are still... Sigh! This seat discussed martial arts with that old fellow Nalan Hongwu in the Penguin group, and found that their comprehension of the martial path is already extremely profound. Something about... Heavenly Sword, something about Sword Twenty-Three... it is rather formidable."

Zhou Mo: "Watch more of Feng Yun. Is it not said that the second part is out now? There is also someone called 'Di Shitian', who is even more formidable than the previous ones?"

"From the looks of it now, it seems fairly decent, but he has not revealed his true strength, so it is hard to say how he compares to the Sword Saint or Wuming," Zong Wu said. "If one could comprehend it thoroughly just by watching more, this seat would wake up laughing from dreams. I do not know what kind of luck that old fellow Nalan ran into, but this seat currently has no clue at all."

Zhou Mo: "At worst, we can hold a joint martial arts exchange when the time comes and call those people over too. I refuse to believe these barbarians can overturn the heavens!"

True Master Baoping: "To think you could actually say that aloud (Disdain). Is losing not embarrassing enough? You would even invite outside help from the Desolate Sea Region?"

"However... a joint exchange is indeed not bad. It can allow these children to spar with one another."

"People of the Desolate Sea Region...? That might not be appropriate." Zong Wu seemed to recall a certain ethereal, forbidden saying that perhaps only existed in legends.

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