“After being pulled out of the water, he had everything a normal person had.”
“He possessed a mature mind, learned to think, learned to speak, and learned to...”
The Sword-man paused, his gaze casting down into the darkness below, as if looking at something incredibly far away.
“...learned to refuse to accept his fate.”
The green sword-light flickered, illuminating half of his face.
Silence spread through the darkness like a thick layer of grease, stickily enveloping the two of them.
Evans didn't rush him. He looked down, but there was still nothing but bottomless darkness.
The speck of light above had completely vanished, leaving only beams of light descending along with them.
It felt as if they had been swallowed into the esophagus of some giant beast, slowly sliding down into the unknown depths.
At this moment, Ren Yi's perception faltered slightly.
He realized there was an obstacle ahead.
The passage seemed to have reached a temporary end, completely covered by a fragile shell of rock.
Between the stacked layers of the shell, there were small, fractured passages extending in all directions. Some were exposed, while others were sealed shut.
Ren Yi suddenly felt that these shells looked somewhat familiar.
They were pieced together from broken, incomplete circular and sickle-shaped lumps. He had seen those exact shapes not long ago, in that overwhelming Red Tide.
As they drew closer, Ren Yi finally realized what it was.
Those were the petrified and congealed corpses of “Meat-food.”
This was a pool of Red Tide that had died long ago.
Was the place they were heading toward actually leading to the Red Tide source?
The Sword-man landed on a section of the shell with Evans, then raised his sword.
“That young boy,” the Sword-man suddenly spoke, his voice sounding exceptionally clear in this vast, silent environment.
“...later acquired a sword.”
As he walked, he casually swung the light-sword in his hand. A wave of sword energy shot out, vanishing into the darkness to their right.
A soft hiss echoed from the darkness, followed by a rustling sound, like countless tiny fragments falling.
Evans glanced sideways but saw nothing.
But he caught a scent—slightly fishy, like rotting food.
Ren Yi's perception, however, clearly captured the scene.
That sword energy had sliced open a hidden passage.
“With that sword in hand, he left the village and began to travel the land, championing justice.”
The Sword-man continued, his pace leisurely. The sword in his hand was like a walking cane, tapping the ground with every step he took.
“He was a good person back then.”
“Helping the weak, punishing evil—he did everything exactly like the chivalrous heroes in the stories told by the storytellers.”
A patch of light appeared ahead.
No, it wasn't a light source, but some transparent, shimmering substance—like a massive block of frozen water—blocking their path.
The "water" glowed with a faint blue light, but its surface was uneven, as if countless tiny ripples had been frozen in an instant.
The faint light falling from above passed through it without any obstruction.
The Sword-man showed no mercy toward this beautiful object, decisively raising his sword and slashing down.
The massive transparent mass split down the middle, and a large amount of clear liquid gushed from the fissure, looking like overflowing light.
They walked through the crack, and after a moment, the fissure closed up behind them.
The liquid healed itself as if it were alive, restoring the complete, transparent barrier.
“Then one day,” the Sword-man's voice continued, “he stepped into another realm.”
He spun the sword in his hand, pointing the tip upward. A wave of sword energy shot from the tip, striking straight into the darkness above.
Something in the darkness let out a low rumble, like the bellowing of a bull, before quickly falling silent again.
“The people of that world called that realm—‘Entering the Dao’.”
Something crashed to the ground nearby. It looked like a giant fried egg, covered in white mucus.
It had already been sliced in half, completely devoid of life.
The passage beneath their feet changed from a straight drop to a steep slope.
Evans had to slow down. Black liquid seeped from the soles of his shoes, sticking firmly to the path of light to prevent him from slipping.
A massive object resembling a convex lens appeared ahead.
It hovered in the darkness, completely transparent, but filled with countless tiny internal patterns through which some glowing liquid flowed.
The faint light from above, which had become almost imperceptible, was suddenly focused by this lens, brightening once more.
This time, the Sword-man didn't slash it. Instead, he walked to the edge of the lens and gently tapped its side with the back of his light-sword.
Hum—
A low, bell-like chime echoed from the lens.
Cracks began to appear on the surface of the lens, spreading outward from the point of impact like a spiderweb until they covered the entire object.
Then, the entire lens peeled away like an eggshell.
They made their way through the gaps between the shards.
Evans saw his own reflection in the shards.
Not just one, but countless reflections. In every single shard, a version of himself stared back, as if his image had been imprinted onto the light.
He looked away.
“After entering the Dao, he began to pursue immortality.”
The Sword-man's voice came from ahead, his tone as calm as if he were reading from an old book.
“For a very, very long time, that was all he did.”
“Eventually, he gained a title.”
The focused light descended like a massive pillar, illuminating a huge, jelly-like region ahead.
This region occupied the entire path ahead. From top to bottom, left to right, it was completely filled with a translucent, faintly blue gelatinous substance.
The Sword-man thrust his light-sword into the gelatinous mass, then slowly rotated the hilt as if stirring a pot of thick porridge.
The massive block of jelly began to tremble, ripples appearing on its surface before it started to melt.
“The Immortal Sword Venerable.”
The Sword-man spat out the title. There was no reverence in his tone, only endless indifference.
Evans took a deep breath and followed the Sword-man into the melting jelly.
His body was briefly enveloped by the thick, liquefying gel, giving him a strange sensation of weightlessness.
“He stood at the pinnacle of the world.”
The Sword-man's voice came through the viscous gel from ahead, his tone laced with a very strange emotion.
It sounded like pride, yet also like regret.
“The highest cultivation, the strongest combat power, invincible under the heavens.”
The Sword-man suddenly slashed his light-sword.
Slash!
His voice rang out right after.
“But the Heavenly Dao does not permit immortality.”
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