Chapter 9: Feeding the Sword with His Body

He... he destroyed Crimson?!

The crowd was utterly bewildered. None of them had ever imagined such a thing would happen.

On the arena, even the experts fighting over the other nine swords were stunned by this sudden turn of events. One after another, they stopped fighting and stared at Li Xiao.

Below the stage, Chu Feng watched Li Xiao with shifting eyes. Yet he was not surprised in the slightest, as though everything had unfolded exactly as he expected.

On the other side, however, Xiao Shan could no longer remain calm.

Every one of the ten swords on the arena had been forged through the painstaking efforts of the Gujian Sect. He could tolerate those swords falling into Li Xiao’s hands, but he absolutely could not tolerate Li Xiao destroying them!

At that moment, Xiao Shan wanted nothing more than to rush onto the arena and kill Li Xiao on the spot.

But the Sword Homage Assembly had its rules. Once the assembly began, no one from the Gujian Sect was allowed to interfere. Whoever obtained a sword became its rightful owner.

So despite his towering rage, Xiao Shan could only stand below the arena and watch helplessly.

“I truly like that broad sword. Gu Feng, go up there and snatch it for this prince!” Chu Jingshan said, his eyes shining brightly with desire.

Gu Feng shook his head. “I will not go. In his current state, I am not his opponent.”

Chu Jingshan: “...”

“You must be joking. You are a First-Rank expert,” Chu Jingshan said in disbelief.

“I am not.” Gu Feng replied coldly and offered no further explanation.

A disappointed look appeared on Chu Jingshan’s face.

On the arena, after destroying Crimson, Li Xiao turned to look toward another sword.

The people currently fighting over that sword shuddered inwardly the moment they met Li Xiao’s indifferent gaze beneath his hanging hair.

Several of them immediately withdrew from the struggle.

Li Xiao let out a cold laugh and strode over with the broad sword in hand.

The others who were unwilling to give up exchanged glances, then attacked Li Xiao together.

Two Second-Rank experts and three Third-Rank experts surrounded him in a tight encirclement, each unleashing his strongest attack.

Li Xiao stood motionless in place with the jet-black broad sword in hand, his features sharp and severe, like a demonic god descended into the mortal world.

The instant those five stepped within a one-foot radius of him, Li Xiao moved.

The broad sword in his hand swept up, and a flash of cold light sliced through the air.

All five men had their chests caved in by a massive blow. They spat blood and were sent flying backward, collapsing onto the ground, unable to rise for a long time.

One strike!

Just one strike had defeated all five of them!

Chu Jingshan was so shocked that he remained speechless for a long while. He now fully believed Gu Feng’s earlier words.

Li Xiao walked up to that sword and once again swung the broad sword in his hand, shattering it.

The mournful cry of the blade rang across the arena, while the red light within Li Xiao’s broad sword flickered even more violently.

Li Xiao closed his eyes, a trace of pleasure appearing on his face. Then he opened them and turned toward the next sword.

When the crowd below saw this, their eyelids twitched. They had already guessed what Li Xiao intended to do next.

Seeing two swords already destroyed, Xiao Shan felt his heart bleeding.

As Li Xiao made it clear that he intended to continue, Xiao Shan could no longer care about those worthless rules. He rose to rush onto the arena—but Gu Feng’s quiet voice stopped him.

“I advise you not to go up there. With only early-stage Innate strength, you are no match for Li Xiao as he is now.”

Hearing this, Xiao Shan immediately halted.

“But... but if he keeps this up, this Sword Homage Assembly will be ruined!” Xiao Shan growled unwillingly.

“If a few worthless swords are destroyed, then so be it. What is there to regret?”

“Once Li Xiao recovers from this strange state, you can make your move then.”

“Trading ten worthless swords for the broad sword in his hands is a profitable deal.” Gu Feng glanced at Xiao Shan with disdain and spoke indifferently.

Hearing this, Chu Jingshan’s face lit up. He lifted a hand and said, “I think Gu Feng makes perfect sense. We will do as he says.”

“Very well...” Xiao Shan replied bitterly.

While they were speaking, Li Xiao swept through the arena with unstoppable force, killing over a dozen men and destroying three more swords.

The red light within his broad sword blazed brighter and brighter, like a beating heart sealed inside the blade, eerie beyond measure.

After witnessing Li Xiao’s terrifying might, everyone withdrew from the arena and left the remaining five swords to him.

And so, what had originally been a lively battle for the swords became the bizarre spectacle of the entire crowd standing below the stage, watching Li Xiao destroy sword after sword.

On the arena, Li Xiao gathered the remaining five swords together. Then, with repeated swings of the broad sword in his hand, he smashed them one after another. The instant each sword touched the broad blade, it shattered and became a heap of scrap iron.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

After all five swords had been destroyed, the broad sword in Li Xiao’s hand no longer looked anything like it had before.

Its blade was no longer jet-black. Instead, it had turned a dark crimson, with a pulsating red light flashing in the center of the blade.

Everyone present heard an eerie heartbeat ringing in their ears. With each throb, their qi and blood became more and more disordered.

“A demonic sword... the broad sword in his hands is a demonic sword!” One man was frightened out of his wits and let out a terrified scream.

The crowd was instantly shaken, and all of them looked fearfully at the sword in Li Xiao’s hand.

On the arena, Li Xiao lifted his head and swept his gaze over everyone, a sinister smile curling onto his lips.

Then he made a move no one had anticipated.

He raised the broad sword, turned the blade, and stabbed it straight into his own chest!

“Stop!”

A furious shout rang out from the distance as a white-robed elder with youthful features and white hair flew swiftly toward the arena, intending to stop everything.

But he was still a step too late.

By the time he appeared on the arena, Li Xiao had already dropped to his knees, and bright red blood was spurting from his chest, flowing over the broad sword.

The red light within the sword flared brilliantly, and a terrifying shockwave burst forth from the blade.

The white-robed elder’s expression changed, and he was blasted back several hundred meters.

As for those below the stage, aside from Chu Feng, who remained completely unharmed, everyone else was knocked to the ground by that wave.

When the shockwave finally faded, the crowd looked toward the arena once more.

The broad sword lodged in Li Xiao’s chest had disappeared, replaced instead by a blood-red sword three chi and three cun long.

The blade was carved on both sides with blood-red lines, and three blood grooves ran along the hilt. Li Xiao’s blood continued to flow into those grooves, a ghastly and sinister sight.

“Who are you? Where did you get this demonic sword?” The white-robed elder came before Li Xiao and demanded in a grave voice.

Li Xiao was already on his last breath. His face was deathly pale, drained of all color, and every trace of fatigue from a life nearing its end was written across his features.

He lifted his head and looked at the white-robed elder before him.

“You should be Gu Jianfeng, the Sect Master of the Gujian Sect.”

“Sorry... for ruining your Sword Homage Assembly.”

“There was no other way. Debts owed to others... must be repaid in the end...”

A trace of melancholy appeared in Li Xiao’s eyes. For the first time, that unchanging face of his revealed a smile of release.

The light in Li Xiao’s eyes gradually dimmed, and his head sank deeply downward...

The red light of the demonic sword in Li Xiao’s chest blazed brilliantly. It pierced straight through his body, transformed into a streak of blood-colored radiance, and shot directly toward the mountain peak.

Seeing this, Gu Jianfeng immediately flew after it.