Firmament Sword

’With that thought in mind,’ Xu Luo slid down from the treetop. He settled onto a wide branch with his back against the tree and opened the notebook Huangfu Chongzhi had given him.

Just as he’d hoped, the notebook contained an incredibly detailed entry on the Spirit Medicine that could cure Huangfu Shishi’s illness.

”Seven-Colored Light, a plant that grows by absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. It is one of the most miraculous Spiritual Objects in the world!”

”It changes color every thousand years. The Seven-Colored Light is initially scarlet, a red as brilliant and vivid as blood.”

”After a thousand years, the Seven-Colored Light turns orange, as radiant as coral, a magnificent sight!”

”After another thousand years, the Seven-Colored Light becomes yellow, like topaz, perfectly crystal clear.”

”At four thousand years, the Seven-Colored Light is green, the color of jade, dazzlingly beautiful.”

”At five thousand years, the Seven-Colored Light turns cyan, the color of the sky, radiating a glorious splendor!”

”At six thousand years, the Seven-Colored Light is blue, an azure as deep as the heavens, nearly transparent—like a Divine Object!”

”At seven thousand years, the Seven-Colored Light turns purple. Like the auspicious purple qi from the east, mysterious Great Dao Patterns will begin to form on it!”

”After another three thousand years, upon reaching the ten-thousand-year mark, the Seven-Colored Light will transform into a white, transparent plant covered in Dao Patterns. Though it appears colorless, when light shines upon it, it rapidly and continuously cycles through the seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. It looks just like an object of the celestial immortals!”

”At this stage, the Seven-Colored Light will bloom with Seven-Colored Flowers. Every single Seven-Colored Flower, even a single petal, contains an unimaginably terrifying amount of energy!”

”Just one petal is all it would take for Shishi to truly stand up again, to be a truly healthy and happy little princess!”

”Unfortunately, a Tier Nine Spirit Beast always guards the Seven-Colored Light. By mustering the full power of the Royal Family, it might be possible to snatch the Seven-Colored Light from the beast. However, such an attempt would cause catastrophic casualties on the spot. The battle prowess of a Tier Nine Spirit Beast is simply not something people of the mortal world can match.

Secondly, a Tier Nine Spirit Beast is exceptionally intelligent and extremely vengeful. If such a terrifying creature were to fixate on you, it would hunt you down relentlessly, to the death!”

”Therefore, hoping to obtain a flower from the Seven-Colored Light is a hope more desperate than ascending to the heavens!”

”The path to the heavens is invisible and intangible; throughout history, only saints and sages have succeeded. The Seven-Colored Light grows right here in the mortal world. You can see it, yet there is no chance to obtain it…”

Xu Luo could feel the despair in his big brother Huangfu Chongzhi’s final words. He knew there was a Spirit Medicine that could save his sister, but he was powerless to get it!

The heartache of watching his devastatingly beautiful sister, a woman whose looks could topple nations, confined to a wheelchair day after day… only someone who has lived it could possibly understand.

”The beasts of the world are divided into Fierce Beasts, Vicious Beasts, Strange Beasts, and Spirit Beasts. Among the Spirit Beasts, which are the kings of all beasts in the mortal world, Tier Nine Spirit Beasts are the strongest! They possess exceptional intelligence and long lifespans. They can speak human language, take human form, and wield unparalleled combat power, their might as vast as mountains and seas!”

”The Spirit Beast guarding the Seven-Colored Light is certain to be a Tier Nine Spirit Beast!”

”Years ago, the Royal Family discovered a Seven-Colored Light from afar in the Black Forest. They dispatched a large number of experts, but before they could even catch a glimpse of the guardian, they were overwhelmed by a crushing pressure that left them breathless, unable to get any closer!”

Reading this, Xu Luo couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

’A real Tier Nine Spirit Beast… And I’m supposed to steal the Seven-Colored Light from right under its nose?’

Xu Luo looked up through the canopy at the sky above and muttered, ”You’ve got to be kidding me!”

However, from the description of the Guardian Beast, Xu Luo also realized that the creature was only present on the edge of the Black Forest because of the Seven-Colored Light.

And by the looks of it, it had been guarding this place for many years. That giant bird from before had probably discovered the Seven-Colored Light and tried to take its chances, only to lose its life for its trouble.

”So… how am I supposed to snatch food from the tiger’s mouth?” Xu Luo murmured, then continued reading Huangfu Chongzhi’s notes on the Seven-Colored Light’s Guardian Beast.

”The more powerful the Spirit Beast, the more it enjoys eating the world’s Spirit Medicines, and it especially loves Starlight…”

’Starlight… Wait a minute!’ Xu Luo’s eyes lit up. He suddenly remembered that the more powerful a Spirit Beast, the more it liked to absorb the Essence of Heaven and Earth, and Starlight contained a massive amount of Star Power!

An idea began to form in Xu Luo’s mind.

’Exceptionally intelligent… so I can’t let it see my face? Fine… then I just won’t let it see me at all!’

「Night fell.」

The stars were brilliant.

In the Cangqiong above, the Big Dipper gave off a faint light, no longer as bright as it once was.

Xu Luo sat cross-legged on the large tree, glancing dozens of miles away at the constantly flickering, seven-colored glow, which was incredibly conspicuous in the night.

’Shaking Light, oh Shaking Light, you’re the one who led me here. This time, I’m begging you. You have to help me lure away this terrifying Tier Nine Spirit Beast so I can steal the Seven-Colored Light! Once I’ve cured Shishi’s illness, I’ll let you absorb the rest of the entire Seven-Colored Light plant!’

Not knowing if his Shaking Light Star Soul could understand his plea, Xu Luo made the promise in his mind, then silently began to operate the Shadow Shaking Heart Method.

As he continuously circulated the Shadow Shaking Heart Method, the Shaking Light Star, one of the seven stars of the Big Dipper, gradually began to brighten in the Cangqiong above.

Xu Luo kept circulating the method. In his Dantian, the Shaking Light Star Soul also gradually began to emit a brilliant light… growing brighter and brighter!

BOOM!

A dazzling beam of light suddenly shot out from the Shaking Light Star in the vault of heaven!

In that instant, the entire world was shaken!

”Heavens, the Shaking Light Star has lit up!”

”The heavens are blessing our Cangqiong Kingdom!”

”Who said the Big Dipper would never again protect our Cangqiong Kingdom?”

In the distant Imperial Capital, the entire Royal Family was in an uproar. The Emperor, Huangfu Haoran, stood outside the palace gates, staring in stunned amazement at the beam of light shooting from the Shaking Light Star in the sky above.

’What does such a change in the Shaking Light Star signify?’ Unlike his subjects, the Emperor fell into deep thought as he watched the beam of light shoot down toward the earth.

The neighboring kingdoms, which had been stirring with restless ambition, were also deterred by this sudden change in the Shaking Light Star. Many of them quieted down, and the pressure on the Cangqiong Kingdom’s borders was drastically reduced.

This, however, was something the instigator, Xu Luo, had not expected at all.

”ROAR!”

A low roar echoed from near the Seven-Colored Light, dozens of miles away.

The Tier Nine Spirit Beast had noticed the change immediately.

After killing a Tier Six Spirit Beast earlier today, the Tier Nine Spirit Beast had left its heavy scent all over the area. It couldn’t believe some blind fool would dare to make a move on the Seven-Colored Light at a time like this!

Ever since it defeated a Tier Eight Spirit Beast to claim this Seven-Colored Light, no Spirit Beast had dared to cause trouble here for a very long time.

’That big, stupid bird today was just an accident…’

SWOOSH!

In the night, a yellow shadow shot like a bolt of lightning toward the distant beam of light.

’Starlight! The absolute favorite of top-tier Spirit Beasts!’

Xu Luo’s heart was in his throat. If this ploy didn’t succeed, he truly had no idea how else he could possibly get the Seven-Colored Light from under the nose of the terrifying Tier Nine Spirit Beast.

Without any hesitation, Xu Luo rose from his hiding spot in the ancient tree. Activating Shaking Light Step, he sprinted across the canopy of the ancient trees below, his body transforming into a bolt of lightning as he charged at an incredible speed toward the place flickering with a seven-colored glow!

The wind howled past his ears, stinging his face slightly, but at this moment, Xu Luo felt none of it.

There was only one thing on his mind.

The Seven-Colored Light!

’I have to get it!’

In just a moment, Xu Luo arrived before the Seven-Colored Light.

He gazed at the small plant, only about half a foot tall. Its body was white and nearly transparent, as if carved from white jade, and it constantly shimmered with a seven-colored glow.

Nervousness, excitement, exhilaration, disbelief… a torrent of emotions surged through Xu Luo’s heart.

Two flowers, as translucent as jade and emitting a seven-colored light, bloomed atop the plant. They were dazzlingly beautiful, a work of nature’s miraculous craftsmanship that surpassed any master carver in the world!

Mysterious Dao Patterns covered the entire Seven-Colored Light, adding an air of endless mystery to the wondrous Spirit Medicine.

This heavenly treasure left Xu Luo momentarily at a loss for how to even begin.

He stepped forward and gently touched the Seven-Colored Light. It felt smooth and moist like jade, not at all like a living plant!

The Shadow Shaking Heart Method inside his body suddenly began to operate on its own. The Seven-Colored Light in Xu Luo’s grasp seemed to leap out of the ground by itself, startling the unprepared Xu Luo.

But at a time like this, how could Xu Luo have the mind to think about anything else?

He rummaged through his large backpack, pulled out a big piece of black cloth, wrapped up the Seven-Colored Light, and placed it carefully inside before shouldering the pack.

Activating Shaking Light Step, he turned and fled!

The wind howled past his ears, and Xu Luo’s heart was completely filled with exhilaration.

’Shishi, you can finally… stand up again!’

…

Several hours after Xu Luo left, the beam of light from the Shaking Light Star in the Cangqiong finally began to dim.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

This was true for the people of the world, and even more so for the Tier Nine Spirit Beast!

The Tier Nine Spirit Beast had failed to catch the beam of light that contained a massive amount of Star Power. It moved too fast!

Let alone a Tier Nine Spirit Beast still in its juvenile stage, even a fully grown one that had awakened its ancestral bloodline would have found it impossible to catch.

Obtaining such a thing depended on fortuitous encounters.

Without the right opportunity, even a Tier Nine Spirit Beast… was out of luck!

However, what drove it into a maddening rage was discovering upon its return that the Seven-Colored Light it had guarded for so many years… was gone!

”AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DAMN IT! WHICH BASTARD STOLE THIS LORD’S SEVEN-COLORED LIGHT!”

”THIS LORD WENT THROUGH HELL BEATING A TIER EIGHT SPIRIT BEAST TO GET THAT SEVEN-COLORED LIGHT!”

”DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT! IF THIS LORD FINDS YOU, I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO! NEVER!”

”COME OUT!”

”GET THE HELL OUT HERE FOR THIS LORD!”

”GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT! GET THE HELL OUT HERE AND DIE!”

”MY SEVEN-COLORED LIGHT!”

”THE STAR POWER!”

”SO MANY YEARS! SO MANY YEARS! YOU’VE PISSED THIS LORD OFF TO NO END!”

”MINE, MINE, IT WAS ALL MINE! HOW IS IT ALL GONE?! AHHHHHHHHH!”

The Tier Nine Spirit Beast was going insane with rage. Within a radius of several hundred miles, all the other beasts were cowed, prostrating on the ground, so oppressed by the frenzied, tyrannical aura that they didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly.

No beast knew what had happened to make the Tier Nine Spirit Beast, which had lived in seclusion here for over a decade, so utterly furious.

After an unknown amount of time, the Tier Nine Spirit Beast finally calmed down. A savage light shot from its gem-like azure eyes, and it ground its sharp teeth with a loud GNAAASH. ”Bastard! You think you can steal this Lord’s treasure and just get away? Damned human, you left your scent behind… Just you wait! This Lord will find you! And though this Lord never eats humans… this time, I’m going to chew you up slowly, bite by bite by bite by BITE! AHHHHHH! I’ll turn you into this Lord’s droppings, piece by piece by piece by PIECE! AHHHHHH… WAHHH!”

It hadn’t gotten the Star Power, and now its Seven-Colored Light was gone. The great Lord, the Tier Nine Spirit Beast, roared at the heavens with tears streaming down its face, stomping its feet and beating its chest in despair.

Then, with a SWOOSH, it shot off. It roared continuously as it went, but it moved extremely slowly, sniffing the air with its nose as it crept forward.

If Xu Luo were here, he would have been horrified to discover that the Tier Nine Spirit Beast’s direction of travel perfectly matched his own escape route, without the slightest deviation…

”THIS LORD’S NOSE IS PISSING ME OFF! AHHHH!!” the Tier Nine Spirit Beast roared. ”WHEN WILL THIS LORD BE ABLE TO SMELL FOR A HUNDRED MILES?! AHHHH… I WOULD’VE BEEN ABLE TO AFTER EATING THE SEVEN-COLORED LIGHT! AHHHH… DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT… ONLY SIX MORE MONTHS! SIX MONTHS! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FULLY MATURE! AHHHHHH… WAHHH, DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT…”