Chapter 160: Integration of Man and Sword

Looking inside, a sword and a man were locked in a bitter struggle of attrition, neither willing to yield an inch!

Let's look at that burly demon warrior again. At this moment, every single muscle and tendon over his entire body was bulging to the absolute limit. I dare say the pressure he was bearing right then was definitely no less than supporting a small mountain. Meanwhile, the sword itself was merely vibrating, still looking thoroughly high-spirited and spoiling for a fight.

"Argh, gods, it's too powerful! No, don't kill me!"

In the end, the burly demon warrior failed to make the holy sword recognize him as its master, and the punishment he suffered was the backlash of the sword spirit.

It is estimated that his life force had already begun flowing into the body of the sword spirit at that moment. By the light of the holy sword inside the cave, one could clearly see that the burly demon warrior was aging rapidly, until nothing was left of him but a withered, empty shell before he collapsed to the ground and died!

"Who else wants to try!" The old village chief's solemn voice echoed from ahead, meaning to ask if anyone else dared to challenge the limits of life.

......

The sudden and violent death of the burly man terrified everyone present. Rather than risking one's life just to obtain a holy artifact—a losing gamble where no one wanted to forfeit their life—not a single person was willing to take even a half step forward for quite a while.

Extra A: "I'll do it!"

Cannon Fodder B: "I'll try too!"

......

Even so, there were still quite a few people willing to throw their lives away. Before half an hour had even passed, five people had already had their life force forcibly drained by the sword spirit, turning into heaps of withered shells that collapsed upon a pile of shattered stones.

"Let me do it. Rather than letting more people sacrifice their lives uselessly for this sword, let me destroy it instead!"

I stepped forward, followed closely by Bak. The imposing aura radiated by the two of us was more than enough to suppress everyone else present here, so no one dared to step forward and cause trouble.

Meanwhile, outside the cave, Xu Fu's body shuddered slightly, for he had already sensed the presence of his own kin!

A powerful supernatural energy gathered at an extraordinary speed around my body. I cast my gaze once more toward the holy artifact.

It seemed to have sensed an unknown danger. The blade emitted waves of humming and trembling, looking at once eager for battle and shivering with fear!

The sphere of light grew larger and larger, illuminating the dozen-meters-high, hundreds-of-square-meters cavern brilliantly. It glowed with a pale golden hue, yet seemed intertwined with strands of purple energy!

The howling gale whipped up the clothes all over my body, inflating my sleeves with air and exposing the dark mark branded onto my left arm by the Demon Ancestor back then.

Just as I was about to move the sphere of light toward the holy artifact, the sword underwent a sudden change. Its blade bowed toward me with a sharp swish, looking precisely as though it were kowtowing to me.

Good grief, this is too bizarre! Even a sword is capable of such human-like behavior? The Creator must be out of his mind! Given this situation, I decided to retract the sphere of light and observe it for a while first!

"Xiaodong, what are you doing? Hurry up and destroy it!" Bak shouted loudly at me from less than two meters away when he saw me suddenly pull back the energy sphere.

However, I stopped him with a wave of my hand. Because I had my own plans, and Bak understood my personality, he didn't say anything further, choosing instead to silently watch my every move.

I paced slowly toward the holy sword, reached out a hand into the air, and flashed a look at the holy sword, motioning for it to come to my hand quickly.

I was merely holding a wait-and-see attitude to begin with; after all, this sword was as stubborn as a mule and had already slain five peerless masters. Whether it would come or not entirely depended on its own choice.

"Ah, no way! I've never seen a sword like this, it acts just like a real person!"

"Indeed!"

......

Seeing the holy sword exhibit such demeanor, the people below couldn't help whispering among themselves, most of them harboring the desire to claim this holy artifact for themselves.

Only the old village chief maintained a different attitude. Looking at me with his usual composure, he said, "A fine sword belongs to those fated to have it. Young man, congratulations!"

Good grief, old man, why rush to congratulate me so early? Your truly hasn't even gotten hold of it yet, and since it's not in my hands, how can it belong to me?

Yet, upon looking at the sword again, I felt as though it were burdened with worries. Nevertheless, it finally sprang up from the ground, transforming into a streak of bright light that materialized right in my hand.

I must admit, the texture of this sword was exceptional—saying it's exceptional is stating the obvious, though, as this was a divine weapon and legendary artifact, incomparable to any mortal arms.

The sword felt extremely light upon contact, yet simultaneously gave the impression that it weighed ten thousand pounds. The humming sound emitted by the sword spirit within felt like it was conversing with the wielder, prompting me to instinctively bite my finger, causing a single drop of purple blood to well up!

What on earth? How did my blood turn purple? Because I had never bled before, I had been completely unaware of the condition inside my body.

This was simply too extraordinary! If others were to find out, I'd probably become the very first person in the world to possess purple blood.

The purple blood essence slowly dripped down, landing on the blade of the holy artifact. At that exact instant, I seemed to perceive the stream of consciousness of the sword spirit. Perhaps this was what all novels referred to as the unity of man and sword!

Contrary to what happened before, the moment my purple blood essence touched the blade, it was rapidly absorbed by the sword spirit. Shortly after, I felt as though the sword spirit had just let out a satisfied burp.

Then, patting its transparent belly with its spiritual consciousness, it communicated with me: "Not bad, royal bloodline! I've decided—from now on, I'll follow your lead!"

Good grief, what kind of conception is this holy sword spirit? A single drop of blood essence was all it took for me to win it over? Just thinking about it made me sweat profusely.

In the end, this peerless, fine sword was claimed by me without the slightest effort. However, holding it amidst the greedy and envious gazes of the crowd felt somewhat awkward.

Therefore, I patted the body of the holy sword and, mimicking Sun Wukong speaking to a weapon, said to the sword spirit, "Shrink down, shrink down!"

Haha, it truly lived up to its name as a holy artifact, obeying every command. The blade instantly shrank down to the size of a palm. Although it couldn't be tucked into my ear like the Great Sage's staff, at least it could fit into a bag.

"Hey, when are you lot coming out!" Xu Fu's hoarse and heavy voice echoed from outside the cavern, followed by the crowd echoing his call as they walked out of the cave one by one with dejected expressions.

Xu Fu said nothing more, merely sweeping his piercing gaze across me before announcing, "We're entering the next cavern!"

However, that fleeting glance of his made it feel as though I had caught a glimpse of a pair of red pupils hidden within his gloomy face!!

(The author humbly begs all friends far and wide for generous and vigorous support!)