Firmament Sword

Even after absorbing so much Spirit Medicine, Xu Luo felt that his Shaking Light Star Soul showed not even the slightest hint of satisfaction.

He had only managed to break through to Tier Five Knight because his Shaking Light Star Soul would feed back a tiny bit of energy after each time it absorbed a large amount.

To use Xu Luo’s own words, he was ”living on scraps.”

Otherwise, Xu Luo would still be that youth with only the strength of a Ninth Tier Sword Disciple!

To others, Xu Luo’s cultivation speed was more than just a miracle.

It was a divine miracle!

When Xu Luo reached Tier Five Knight, his Shaking Light Star Soul granted him a new Cultivation Technique. However, while he had already comprehended and mastered it, he currently lacked the ability to use it.

This Cultivation Technique was called ”Shaking Light Burst.” Once unleashed, it could instantly drain all the power within his Shaking Light Star Soul to increase his combat strength tenfold and deliver a fatal blow to his enemy!

However, it was easy to imagine that after using this technique, he would be left in a state of extreme weakness.

Unless he had no other choice, Xu Luo would never use a technique like Shaking Light Burst—one that would injure the enemy by a thousand, but cost him eight hundred.

Not to mention, he couldn’t use it now even if he wanted to.

’Perhaps I’ll only be able to use it once I reach the Sword Master realm,’ Xu Luo guessed inwardly.

But it was precisely because of the Shaking Light Burst technique that Xu Luo no longer held any resentment towards the greedy, bottomless pit that was his Shaking Light Star Soul.

At this point, Xu Luo finally felt like he had truly become one with his Shaking Light Star Soul.

Rather than it just being some strange, foreign object inside his Dantian...

Many of the daily necessities in his large backpack were nearly depleted, and the date of the Seventh Princess’s coming-of-age ceremony was drawing ever closer. Xu Luo decided to return immediately.

His backpack also contained several new Spirit Medicines, the very kind Huangfu Chongzhi had longed for but had been unable to obtain. Xu Luo planned to give them to him upon his return.

Over the past few days, Xu Luo had experienced several battles in the Black Forest, all of them against ferocious beasts. He hadn’t encountered any other Adventure Teams or Lone Rangers.

The Black Forest was simply too vast. Even though he had traveled seven or eight hundred li deep, this area was still considered nothing more than the periphery of the entire forest.

Truly powerful Adventure Teams and Lone Rangers would almost never linger here, choosing to go deeper instead. Only someone like Xu Luo, who possessed the Shaking Light Star Soul, could find Spirit Medicine in a place like this.

Who else would have the ability to find so many inconspicuous herbs in a place that had been thoroughly picked over long ago?

Though he had only fought ferocious beasts, Xu Luo had still gained valuable combat experience.

As his strength progressed, the few Cultivation Techniques Xu Luo was practicing also showed clear signs of improvement.

For example, he had now gained a preliminary grasp of the second of the Breaking Army Seven Kills—Severed Meridians!

Circulating the Shadow Shaking Heart Method, he could now absorb True Essence twice as fast as before.

His Shaking Light Step grew more proficient, and his speed... naturally grew ever faster!

If he were to encounter those people from the Black Wind Gang now, Xu Luo would definitely not be in such a sorry state as before.

Even if he couldn’t annihilate them all, he could at least retreat with ease. And that Golden King Snake... would definitely not have been stolen!

The moment he thought of it, anger flared in Xu Luo’s heart, difficult to suppress. However, he was also keenly aware that he wouldn’t be a match for them even now. He didn’t even need Du Ke, the Black Wind Gang’s Gang Leader and a Great Sword Master, to take action. Just a dozen regular Sword Masters would be more than enough to defeat him.

They had strength in numbers, while he was just one person. He could only swallow this insult for now and wait until he was strong enough to get his revenge.

”I’m not going to dwell on it. I’m still young. I’ll just consider these setbacks and grievances part of my training,” Xu Luo murmured before preparing to leave.

Just then, deep within him, the Shaking Light Star Soul suddenly gave a faint, slight tremor...

Very light, very subtle.

If Xu Luo’s bond with his Shaking Light Star Soul hadn’t deepened so much, he might not have noticed anything at all.

’More Spirit Medicine?’ Xu Luo muttered, starting to follow the guidance of his Shaking Light Star Soul deeper into the Black Forest.

He originally thought the Shaking Light Star Soul could only search for Spirit Medicine within a radius of about sixty meters, but he never expected that after following its guidance for seventy or eighty li... he still hadn’t found it!

If not for the increasingly intense pulsing of the Shaking Light Star Soul in his Dantian, Xu Luo would have doubted it had found anything at all.

’How is this possible? It can only search for Spirit Medicine within a sixty-meter radius. How did it suddenly detect something so far away?’ Xu Luo muttered to himself. He then realized he had arrived at the edge of a massive valley.

Looking down, he saw the valley spanned several hundred li. A large lake sat in its center, while the rest of the land was blanketed in a lush, dense forest of towering trees, covering it completely.

At that moment, the pulsing of the Seven-Star Soul in his Dantian grew even stronger, convincing Xu Luo that an incredible Spirit Medicine must be hidden somewhere in the vast valley below.

Otherwise, how could the Shaking Light Star Soul, which could only search within a sixty-meter radius, possibly discover something nearly a hundred li away?

As he thought about it, Xu Luo couldn’t help but get excited, his heart filled with anticipation!

’I wonder what it is,’ Xu Luo muttered as he carefully made his way down the steep slope.

It seemed as though no human had ever set foot here. Everything was pristine and untouched.

He hadn’t realized it from above, but now that he was down in the valley, Xu Luo saw that any one of the ancient, towering trees before him was two to three zhang thick and dozens of zhang tall.

Their massive canopies blotted out the sky, making it nearly impossible for any sunlight to penetrate the gloom.

The ground was covered in a thick, damp layer of dead leaves and rotten branches accumulated over many years. Because almost no sunlight reached the forest floor, it was soft and spongy underfoot, muffling his steps.

Following the guidance from his Shaking Light Star Soul, Xu Luo activated his Shaking Light Step. He skirted the large, shimmering lake and moved silently toward a location just south of the valley’s center.

”ROAR!”

Suddenly, a powerful beast roared. It was like a clap of thunder shattering the silence of a clear afternoon, and the shockwave caused the countless ravines and gullies for dozens, even hundreds, of li around to tremble.

Xu Luo jumped in fright and froze. An instant later, a piercing shriek of a bird echoed from dozens of li away.

After a moment’s thought, Xu Luo leaped more than ten meters into the air. Then, with the agility of a Monkey, he scrambled up a nearby ancient tree that stood seventy or eighty zhang tall.

In a moment, Xu Luo had climbed to the top of this ancient tree and gazed into the distance.

In the sky, dozens of li away, was a massive bird of a species he couldn’t name. Its wingspan was a full hundred meters wide!

The bird was pitch-black, a blot of dark ink against the sky, and it was currently tumbling and thrashing about.

Copious amounts of blood and a flurry of black feathers, like snowflakes, rained down from the great bird’s body.

A pale yellow figure, only a dozen or so meters long, was nothing compared to the great bird’s massive size.

But it was unbelievably agile!

That pale yellow figure clearly had no wings, but it could hover in the air. Its movements were like lightning, and its attacks were vicious.

Every attack tore a large patch of black feathers from the bird’s body, leaving behind a deep wound.

In just a few moments, that behemoth of a bird was already on the verge of death!

Teetering, it looked as if it was about to fall from the sky!

Even though they were dozens of li away and locked in a life-and-death struggle, the two combatants probably couldn’t see him here, but Xu Luo still felt a chill run down his spine!

That feeling of fear rising from the bottom of his heart was not something that could be suppressed by mere bravado!

’What the hell are these things? Hey, Shaking Light... you didn’t drag me all this way to... have me fight those two terrifying monsters, did you? If that’s the plan, you might as well just tell me to go kill myself!’ Xu Luo muttered under his breath.

Just then, the battle was decided.

The great bird let out a mournful shriek and plummeted from the sky. The yellow figure followed closely behind, also descending.

The corner of Xu Luo’s mouth twitched violently as he muttered, ”’This is no place for me... I should just turn back and go home... Compared to this, those Black Wind Gang bastards are a complete joke!’’

Suddenly!

A flash of seven-colored light suddenly entered Xu Luo’s vision!

The light vanished in a flash, and Xu Luo almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. But then, the Seven-Colored Light flickered again. This time, Xu Luo saw it clearly!

From the spot where the great bird and the yellow beast had landed, a flash of Seven-Colored Light appeared every few moments!

Xu Luo thought of a possibility, and his heart couldn’t help but beat violently.

Could it be... the Seven-Colored Light?

’Oh my god... It can’t be such a coincidence, can it? The Seven-Colored Light... for it to really appear right before my eyes?’ Xu Luo couldn’t contain his excitement.

But in his mind’s eye, a beautiful, radiant figure emerged.

”Hey, you kid, what are you doing barging into my garden?”

”This is the Imperial Palace. This is my home. You’re the one who trespassed, yet you’re asking who I am?”

”Ah, so you’re Xu Luo?”

”No, no, I never said you were useless. Look at me, I can’t even walk or stand up. Compared to that, you’re much luckier than I am!”

”If you’re useless, then what does that make me?”

”Xu Luo, can you come visit and play with me often? I’m very lonely by myself. Even though Father Emperor dotes on Shishi, he’s very busy...”

”Xu Luo, Shishi hasn’t seen you in so long...”

”Do you not want to see me? Why are your visits getting further and further apart? It’s been half a year since I last saw you. Before that, it was five months and eight days...”

”Xu Luo, it’s my Father Emperor who doesn’t like you, right? But Shishi really likes playing with you...”

From age five to thirteen.

A full eight years!

A boy and a girl, the same age and kindred spirits in their shared misfortune, became friends after a chance encounter, and then the best of friends.

Later, when the Emperor Huangfu Haoran discovered this, he issued an order forbidding Xu Luo from entering the Imperial Palace at will.

The official reason was that Xu Luo and the Seventh Princess were growing up, and it was improper for a young man and woman to be so close all the time.

In truth, everyone knew the Emperor’s real reasoning. It was simply because of Xu Luo’s frail constitution, wasn’t it?

For that domineering Emperor, his daughter could be disabled, she could be born unable to walk, but even a disabled daughter would never be married off to a good-for-nothing like Xu Luo!

If Xu Luo had been Xu Su instead, the two families would have probably arranged the marriage many years ago, right?

’It’s been three years since I’ve seen Shishi. She must be... even more beautiful now, right?’ A knowing smile touched Xu Luo’s lips.

Besides his brothers—Huangfu Chongzhi, Xu Jie, Sui Yan, and Liu Feng—if Xu Luo had any other friends, it was only the Royal Family’s Seventh Princess... Huangfu Shishi!

Despite what Xu Luo had told Lianyi that day about not caring for the Seventh Princess, the truth was, if there was anyone in the world who most wanted her to be able to stand again... the first in line would absolutely not be the high and mighty Emperor.

It would be... Xu Luo!

’But... it’s been three years. Maybe she’s already forgotten me,’ Xu Luo thought with a self-mocking smile. His gaze shifted back to the spot where the Seven-Colored Light was flashing, and a hint of madness entered his eyes.

’I, Xu Luo... must get my hands on it, no matter what!’