The Ancient Taoist gently knocked on Hong Luoyu's head with the scabbard, producing a booming sound.
Hong Luoyu lay flat on the ground, eating a mouthful of dust.
The Taoist, with a tear mole in the corner of his eye, elegantly withdrew his sword, pondering seriously:
"Don't speak carelessly."
"However, what the thief said wasn't entirely unreasonable. Considering the methods Wang Tiance displayed in the previous era, if he hadn't made any arrangements, it wouldn't make sense."
Wu Changqing stroked his beard, saying:
"But from my old perspective, if such a person had made arrangements, he would have left clues long ago, preserving them at the cost of a full-strength strike from the Divine Weapon Zhan Lu Sword. It must be something important that he wanted to keep until now."
"Whatever it is, it must be important enough..."
"Or perhaps it's something we haven't noticed."
The Sword Spirit leisurely looked at Wang Anfeng and said:
"Well, would you like to listen?"
The Scholar in a green robe beside him had disappeared. Wang Anfeng retracted his gaze, took a deep breath, and then nodded.
The Sword Spirit smiled, waved his sleeve lightly, and the scene changed dramatically.
The world became open, the sky and earth were dim, and by the reeds on the shore of a lake, a young scholar leaning on a longsword turned around slowly, sensing the change behind him.
He seemed only in his twenties, just slightly older than Wang Anfeng at the moment, yet his brows were full of tranquility. He stood in front of Wang Anfeng, their appearances resembling each other.
However, the scholar appeared to have a hint of frivolity amidst his tranquility.
In contrast, Wang Anfeng exuded a quiet and deep demeanor, almost like looking into a mirror. In a trance, one might almost think they were the same person without paying attention.
Wang Anfeng looked at the young scholar in front of him. The scholar seemed only a year or two older than him, yet his brows were full of grandeur. Tiance General, a man who once swept through the previous era, the last Sword Master of the Divine Weapon Zhan Lu, and the one who could unleash the full potential of this divine weapon.
Wang Anfeng took a deep breath, sinking his thoughts, and listened carefully to what Wang Tiance was about to say, words he had left behind at the cost of using the divine weapon with full force to leave the last of his qualification as the master of the divine weapon.
Wang Tiance glanced towards Wang Anfeng's direction and smiled:
"I didn't expect that meeting you again would be in such a situation."
Wang Anfeng was stunned, almost thinking that the figure in front of him was real, but what he felt from the person before him was exactly the same as the shadow of the divine weapon earlier. His emotions surged, as if trying to convince himself, Wang Anfeng exhaled gently and whispered:
"This is just a reflection left behind by the Divine Artifact Spirit, not real..."
Wang Tiance raised an eyebrow, smiled slightly, and spoke softly.
"Is that so? A phantom of a divine weapon?"
Wang Anfeng lowered his eyes:
"The Qi Mechanism and presence are the same... it's an illusion, did you anticipate my reaction?"
Wang Tiance shook his head and laughed:
"Oh well, being able to see this means you're qualified."
"Then, my last words as the so-called phantom of a divine weapon."
Tiance General collected his playful demeanor, looking towards Wang Anfeng's direction.
Wang Anfeng looked up at him, in Shaolin Temple, Hong Luoyu, the Ancient Taoist, and Wu Changqing listened carefully, curious about what he was going to say.
White Tiger Hall, Great Wilderness Stronghold?
The Jianghu, or the world situation?
No matter how you think about it, whatever made someone pay a price to leave behind must be important enough. This moment of silence seemed to stretch for nearly twenty years.
Wang Tiance smiled slightly, his smile gentle, looking at Wang Anfeng, and said softly:
"In this life so far,... do you still like it?"
"Your mother and I are no longer here, have you been bullied?"
Have you been bullied?
Like a father who favors his son.
Divine Martial Mansion's Tiance General, once ruling the world, gave up his qualification as the master of a divine weapon, and what he left behind for the future Divine Artifact Spirit was just this sentence.
Wang Anfeng's body trembled.
In Shaolin Temple, several people were stunned, then fell silent.
The phantom in front of him stiffened slightly, then returned to its original appearance, like a mechanical puppet, repeating the words just spoken again and again, stiff and ordinary, without the composure of a former world-class strategist.
"I didn't expect that meeting you again would be in such a situation."
"In this life so far..."
"Do you still like it?" Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs Nove1Fire.net
Tears welled uncontrollably in Wang Anfeng's eyes.
Of course, he likes it... why wouldn't he?
He had already been to Jiangnan, traveled through the Northern Frontier, wielded his blade in the Border Pass of the Xiong City in the Western Regions, rode a horse in the desolate foreign land, heard the ancient tunes, and walked the Great Desert he had once traversed. He heard countless stories from 'him', but now, he could be a character in the story himself and roam the world with a sword.
Many of the places he has been had traces left by 'him'.
This world, these experiences, why would he not like it?
Beside him, the Divine Weapon's Sword Spirit reappeared, looked at the 'Wang Tiance' repeatedly saying a phrase, shrugged, and said:
"You guessed right, he's indeed unreal."
"Only left from that time, it's false, but he once said he absolutely wanted to surprise you, thought for a long time about a few words."
"But I don't quite understand... clearly, it's just fake, everything is just fake. At that time, he was facing the nonexistent you, and the you in front of him is just the nonexistent him. I'm not him, unable to understand his emotions, this part is just illusory and nonexistent, so, what do you think?"
"Both sides are just fake."
The Sword Spirit looked at Wang Anfeng with interest and said:
"Isn't he wasting his effort?"
"Really a fool, as people would say, a fool, right?"
Wang Anfeng didn't answer. The Sword Spirit saw the once sharp-edged young man lift his head, tears flowing in large droplets from the corners of his eyes, his expression becoming calm. He sighed and, with his back to Wang Anfeng, looked up, smiling and sighing:
"So, did that fool's thoughts convey well enough...?"
"If so, that's truly wonderful."
"At least, it wasn't a wasted acquaintance, not a wasted trust, was it?"
In memory, the question was once asked.
"Since that's the case, why not exist forever in the Zhan Lu Sword Realm?"
"Taoists, Martial Artists, emperors, ministers, aren't they all pursuing immortality? You still have many things unfinished..."
"There's no scenery to see in the world, no delicious food to eat, immortality is rotten wood, death is preferable, quieter. As for what you call regrets?"
The scholar answered irresponsibly, thought for a moment, and added.
"Zhan Lu, do you know, no truly major matter in the world can be accomplished by a single person, a single generation? I've done my utmost... it's time to exit the stage, struggling to grip onto the last moment is too awkward, unlike me."
When reciting these two words, the person's tone was so disdainful.
In the memory, the scholar, who was not yet thirty but already had greying temples, leaned on a longsword, draped in a pure white cloak, being a Sword Spirit, devoid of emotion, unable to understand human feelings. However, in the memory, the scholar's expression was complex yet indifferent.
"Old age, sickness, and death, the natural law of the world, even like you, the day will come when your sword edge breaks."
"However, that moment should still be far away, but when in thousands of years, you see someone else here, seeing the same scenery as I see now, reciting the verses I once spoke thousands of years ago, you will understand... not, but you probably won't understand either."
The scholar lifted his gaze slightly, a reed in his mouth, and spoke softly.
"This life is without regrets, born as Wang Tiance, died as Wang Tiance, the lingering soul left behind is no longer me."
"Moreover, all things in the world, only legacy is immortal..."
"Is it not... immortality?"
PS: Today's update offered...
Seven thousand four hundred words~