Chapter 63: Frenzied Advancement!

Within the spatial rift, the Chaos Sword emitted a piercing hum.

Ye Xiao gripped the hilt tightly with both hands, the web of his thumbs already split open by the force. The purplish-black blood veins winding around the blade writhed like living creatures, sending a heart-rending, agonizing pain through him with every tremor.

"Refine it!"

Yue Wuxia's voice exploded in his spiritual consciousness. "Do not hesitate when the vital blood enters the body!"

The tip of the sword suddenly plunged into his palm.

Ye Xiao let out a muffled groan, watching his own blood flow backward along the grooves of the blade, entangling with the purplish-black veins. Interlaced patterns of gold and red spread across the sword body, pulsing like blood vessels.

"It begins..."

The Chaos Sword trembled violently, and the gem at the crossguard suddenly shattered.

A single drop of dark golden blood hovered in mid-air, exuding a suffocating pressure. Ye Xiao drew in a breath, and the droplet transformed into a streak of light, plunging down his throat.

Boom!

It felt as though a volcano had erupted within his body.

Ye Xiao's skin instantly cracked apart, only to rapidly heal under the operation of the Blood God Scripture. His bones emitted a crisp, overburdened groan, and blood simultaneously seeped from his facial orifices.

"Palace Opening Realm, seventh level... eighth level... ninth level!"

His cultivation realm soared step by step, his meridians stretched open to more than three times their original width by the violent energy. His dantian Qi ocean churned like boiling water, and the originally thin profound Qi was rapidly condensing into a liquid state.

The Chaos Sword suddenly broke free from his control, its tip pressing against the center of Ye Xiao's brow.

A beam of golden light shot straight into his sea of consciousness via the Yin Tang acupoint, and countless unfamiliar images flashed back before his eyes!

A sword dance beneath the starry sky, slaughter amidst a sea of blood, and... a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering slash before a colossal bronze gate.

"Is this... the memory of the Chaos Sword?"

In a daze, Ye Xiao raised his hand, realizing that his movements perfectly mirrored the figure in his memory. The energy surging within his body suddenly turned gentle, flowing into his dantian like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

"Crack!"

The sound of a certain barrier shattering echoed through his soul.

The Chaos Sword chimed joyfully as it flew back into his palm. By now, the blade had turned a semi-transparent gold, with faint wisps of primal chaos energy circulating along the edge.

"Peak Palace Opening Realm!"

Ye Xiao gripped the hilt, feeling an unprecedented surge of power coursing through his blood vessels.

With a casual wave, three sword qi energies slashed out in a triangle formation, grinding the spatial turbulence a hundred zhang away into absolute nothingness.

The spatial rift suddenly twisted. The Chaos Sword automatically protected its master, its sword light transforming into a golden cocoon that enveloped his entire body. Amidst a dizzying spin, Ye Xiao was cast back into the mortal world, crashing heavily against a mountain cliff.

A familiar stench of blood drifted up from beneath the cliff.

Xu Beichen was currently slaughtering a minor sect, a crimson cloud formed from the power of the blood demon shrouding half of the mountain peak.

"Just in time to test the sword."

Ye Xiao leaped down the cliff in a single bound. Sensing the presence of the blood demon, the Chaos Sword emitted an excited, shivering hum.

Thirty zhang from the ground, the golden patterns on the blade blazed brightly, and with him in tow, it teleported directly behind Xu Beichen.

"Who?"

Xu Beichen whipped his head around, the purplish-black immortal bone on his chest lighting up with a dangerous glow.

His answer was an unpretentious, straightforward thrust.

The Chaos Sword appeared to advance slowly, yet it suddenly accelerated just before Xu Beichen could raise his defense.

"Puff!"

The tip of the sword pierced the blood-colored barrier, leaving a three-inch wound on Xu Beichen's shoulder.

Black blood splashed onto the blade and was instantly absorbed entirely.

"Ye Xiao?" Xu Beichen's pupils shrank to pinpoints. "You actually didn't die in the void?"

Ye Xiao did not answer, his sword momentum turning abruptly fierce.

When the second sword pierced forward, tiny spatial fissures emerged around the blade. Xu Beichen retreated ten zhang in a flash, the ground where he had previously stood plowed into a three-foot-deep trench by the sword qi.

Staring at the Chaos Sword, his expression flickered uncertainly. "You refined the vital blood within the sword?"

An explosion suddenly erupted from the mountain gate. Both turned their heads simultaneously to see the Sword-Guarding Elder approaching, leaning on a bronze lantern within whose flame flickered a golden light of the same origin as the Chaos Sword.

"Old bastard!" Xu Beichen gritted his teeth. "You plotted against me?"

The Sword-Guarding Elder sneered. "The advent of the blood demon was anticipated from the very beginning."

He looked at Ye Xiao. "The Sword Tomb has opened. You have only three days."

The Chaos Sword suddenly trembled violently, its tip pointing toward the northeast.

Ye Xiao sensed a certain calling, as if another version of himself was whispering in the distance.

"That is..."

"The other half of the Chaos Sword."

The Sword-Guarding Elder flicked his finger, sending out a beam of golden light. "Once the sword spirit acknowledges its master, it will naturally guide the way."

Xu Beichen suddenly exploded into action! The power of the blood demon transformed into a colossal claw a hundred zhang wide, slamming downward.

Ye Xiao held his sword horizontally to parry. Amidst a clashing ring of metal, the ground beneath his feet collapsed by three inches.

"Get lost!" The Sword-Guarding Elder tipped his lantern, a waterfall of azure flames forcing Xu Beichen back. "Go complete the master-acknowledgment first!"

Taking advantage of the momentum, Ye Xiao retreated rapidly, the Chaos Sword cleaving open a spatial rift.

The moment he leaped into the void, he saw Xu Beichen tearing through the sea of flames, the immortal bone on his chest mutating into a deep purplish-black.

"We shall fight again in three days!"

Before the void closed, Ye Xiao hurled the Chaos Sword.

The blade transformed into a golden meteor, leaving a bloody scratch across Xu Beichen's face.

Golden light guided the way in the darkness.

Ye Xiao followed the guidance forward, every step he took harmonizing with the chiming of swords.

After an unknown passage of time, the phantom of a colossal bronze gate appeared ahead.

The aura leaking from the crack in the door caused the Chaos Sword to tremble madly.

The instant Ye Xiao reached out to push the door open, a tearing, agonizing pain surged from within his body—the Blood Crow poisonous seed at the center of his brow had flared up.

"Has the three-month limit arrived?"

He dropped to one knee, watching black blood seep from his pores. The Chaos Sword flew up automatically, its tip gently touching the back of his neck.

Golden light and black blood locked in mortal combat within his meridians, Ye Xiao's skin shimmering alternately with golden radiance and billowing black miasma.

Just as his consciousness was about to blur, a clear and resonant sword cry rang out from behind the bronze gate.

Half of a transparent blade tip pierced through the crack of the door, seamlessly locking together with the Chaos Sword.

The complete longsword erupted with a dazzling radiance, and the black blood within Ye Xiao's body was instantly purified.

In a trance, he saw the phantom of Yue Wuxia materialize upon the blade, nodding slightly toward him.

"Man and sword as one..."

Ye Xiao gripped the reassembled longsword, feeling the information transmitted by the sword spirit.

When the golden light completely withdrew inward, patterns identical to those on the blade emerged deep within his pupils.

The void was suddenly stained crimson.

Xu Beichen's voice echoed from all directions: "Found you!"

Seven pillars of blood pierced through space, forming a cage.

Without panicking, Ye Xiao raised his sword, the edge tracing a flawless circular arc.

"Break."

The blood pillars snapped on cue. Stepping out of the void, Ye Xiao found himself standing before the mountain gate of the Xuanhuang Sect.

The Sword-Guarding Elder was locked in fierce combat with three blood demon elders, the flame of his lantern dimmed to the absolute limit.

"Senior, step back!"

The Chaos Sword flew out of his hand, splitting into seven in mid-air.

Seven streaks of sword light plummeted like falling stars, pinning the blood demon elders to the cliff face. The golden patterns on the blades spread along their wounds, turning the enemies into mummies in the blink of an eye.

Panting heavily, the Sword-Guarding Elder leaned over. "Has the sword spirit acknowledged its master?"

Ye Xiao nodded, then suddenly turned his gaze toward the main peak.

The sky above was twisting, forming a blood-colored vortex a thousand zhang in diameter.

"Xu Beichen is forcefully breaking through to the Fish-Dragon Realm."

The Sword-Guarding Elder's expression was grave. "Once he succeeds..."

Before he could finish, the Chaos Sword had already carried Ye Xiao soaring into the sky.

Wherever the sword light passed, the clouds parted of their own accord. At the summit of the main peak, Xu Beichen stood at the center of a pool of blood, the corpses of seven Fish-Dragon Realm experts floating around him.

"You've come just in time!" Xu Beichen laughed maniacally, spreading his arms wide. "Use the blood of the Chaos Sword to consecrate my supreme technique!"