Chapter Sixty-Nine: Memories of Dust (Part Two)

"Let us go," the middle-aged man said to Ling Mo, his gaze fixed on the boy’s retreating figure.

Ling Mo stared blankly at the silhouette of the youth, memories of nine thousand years flooding her mind.

"In this life, our promise was but a fleeting encounter, as ephemeral as a dream. Now we gaze upon one another from afar, unable to speak, yet I wish to follow the moonlight’s flow to shine upon you." As a sword spirit, her eyes now brimmed with mist, and for the first time in nine thousand years, a tear fell.

The tear traced down her handsome face, falling softly onto the shimmering veil of light, sending ripples of radiance across its surface.

To her astonishment, the glowing barrier slowly began to dissipate. Joy welled up in Ling Mo’s heart at the sight.

She gripped her sword and sliced open the void before her, instantly appearing before the youth.

She embraced him tightly—just as a celestial thunderbolt crashed down, piercing through Ling Mo’s body.

The boy was stunned, gazing at the girl in his arms with a bittersweet smile. "Silly girl, why are you so foolish? Why have you returned?" He wrapped his one remaining arm tightly around her.

"No matter what happens, in this life and the next, wherever you go, I will follow you. Even if it means death, I will die with you!"

The youth looked deeply into Ling Mo’s eyes and sighed, "So be it. You have already intervened in this tribulation; there’s no turning back now."

"In that case, let us send this thing back to where it came from!" the boy declared with indomitable spirit.

He turned to the Law of Heaven, which had long since arrived to witness this moment. "Until fate lets us meet again."

He glanced at Ling Mo, who instantly understood.

A tremendous aura surged from both the boy and Ling Mo, drawing all spiritual energy within a radius of ten thousand miles toward them.

The boy stamped his foot powerfully against the earth, sending hundreds of tons of soil and stone flying into the air.

The ferocious might, combined with the pressure of sword intent, seemed to make the very continent of Tianxing tremble in awe!

All those who had come to witness the battle felt a knot tighten in their chests; it was as if a divine and overwhelming force from the heavens itself pressed down upon them, leaving them utterly dumbstruck!

Gazing at the figure enveloped in liquid golden sword intent, as if one man and one sword could conquer the vast heavens and earth, every person shielded by their ancestors or masters felt their scalps tingle and found themselves utterly entranced.

The heavenly tribulation, as though enraged, unleashed bolts of thunder like countless beams of destructive light!

Massive bolts of lightning, each tens of meters wide, appeared without warning, instantly striking before the youth!

Any one of those bolts possessed the power to level a city to the ground!

The boy’s giant sword, wreathed in liquid sword intent, swung again and again!

There was no technique—just relentless, fundamental sword forms.

Thrust, chop, sweep, hang, cloud, point, burst, intercept...

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!..."

Each bolt of lightning was shattered, its energy exploding in violent waves around the boy!

Those within the shields involuntarily stepped back, not daring to draw near, for the tribulation had reached a fever pitch!

"What...what is happening? I can’t see anything anymore..."

"Don’t ask...no one here can see. As long as the tribulation continues to strike, it means the Sword God still stands!"

From a distance, the space where the youth withstood the tribulation had begun to twist and tremble, radiant beams of every hue erupting in all directions.

A seemingly tiny golden figure pressed onward through this apocalyptic battlefield, ever closer to the heart of the tribulation!

The boy gripped Ling Mo’s sword, while behind him, the phantom of Ling Mo herself clasped the sword as well. The two forms slowly merged into one.

Man and sword became one.

At last, after a hundred relentless swings, the youth gathered his strength, dashed forward over a hundred meters, and the black greatsword shattered a bolt of lightning, plunging fiercely into the core of the tribulation!

A deep, resonant hum echoed as the energy shell around the thunder violently trembled!

Amid the rampaging energies of the tribulation, the boy bled from every orifice, his body drenched in blood, his face twisted with pain and fury!

"Ahhh!!—" The youth roared in rage and agony, summoning all the liquid sword intent within him to envelop himself and the black sword, like a maddened dragon determined to tear the tribulation to shreds!

The tribulation shuddered, hurling wave after wave of lightning at the boy, trying to force him away.

The youth felt his strength failing. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the sword free and plummeted from the sky...

On the ground, he stood panting, head bowed, blood staining his heels...

The golden sword intent around him, once blazing like a great fire, began to dim—like hope itself fading into darkness...

"The world calls me Sword God, Sword Immortal, but I have never known what it means to be a Sword God...

But...I am certain I know what it is to become a Sword Demon!"

The boy’s voice was hoarse and low, carrying a strange and chilling eeriness in this desolate, yellowed world, making every soul tremble.

When he lifted his head once more and looked toward the Gate of Stars, his eyes were now icy and black as the deepest abyss, as chilling as the coldest night.

"Sword Demon!..."

A despairing, frigid, wicked, murderous aura—utterly devoid of warmth—swept forth, as if hell’s deepest wrath had come to plunge the heavens and earth into eternal darkness!

All eyes turned to the man’s back, where it seemed something monstrous stirred, struggling to break free of its bonds!

In a daze, they seemed to see a Demon King from hell itself, spreading vast, shadowy wings, extending razor-sharp talons wreathed in black flames, baring its fangs and howling at the sky!

A dark inferno erupted, swallowing the youth whole in its spiral, shooting skyward like a black sword of purgatory piercing the heavens!

From afar, it was as if a colossal obsidian sword had split the sky itself!

Wave after wave of black sword intent burst forth, overwhelming the might of the tribulation itself!

All the world was plunged into darkness, with only a cold wind howling—a realm transformed into the abyss of demons, filled with death and annihilation!

Killing intent! A frenzied, tangible killing intent, surpassing anything anyone could imagine!

"What...what is that?"

Within the shield, white-robed elders and dozens of patriarchs combined their power to maintain the barrier, protecting their descendants and disciples.

Their faces were pale, and for the first time, terror gripped their hearts...

At this moment, the boy was a stranger to them all!

Had they faced him directly, they would have seen his eyes burning with the flames of the Nine Hells!

"Ah..." The youth let out a long, slow breath.

He inhaled deeply, savoring the air as if it were his first breath of freedom, relishing it as though a demon imprisoned in hell had finally been set free...