Transcending the Nine Heavens

"Command Gao Shang Jun, Yan Cheng Huan and Wu Yong Jun to lead three large military divisions... and to set out in order to attack the Limitless Nation. They must return before the summer arrives. They must destroy at least half of the Limitless Nation before withdrawing," Diwu Qing Rou’s gaze turned serious as he commanded.

"Yes!"

Limitless Nation was located to the south of Great Zhao. It seemed to be spring-time in the south; especially in comparison with the north. In fact, it may even have been warmer than spring. So, the southern climate wouldn’t pose a hindrance to the armies marching from Great Zhao.

The north would refrain from participating in wars during the winter season; unlike south. However, the south would begin waging wars during the same period of time. The north would only wage wars once the winter had ended. But, the south would start experiencing sizzling hot summers by then. And, these summers were so hot that a soldier was bound to get a heat-stroke if he dared to step out into the heat.

But, the strategy behind the dispatch of troops was very different from that in the past.

Han Bu Chu and Cheng Yun started to breathe heavily as they figured out the hidden purpose behind Diwu Qing Rou’s order. The next year’s summer was going to witness the start of a decisive war with the Iron Cloud!

Moreover, this war’s outcome would decide the person who would own the world.

"Limitless Nation should be at least half-destroyed... and scared like a turtle by the time the summer arrives"– the information contained in this sentence implied a lot.

Prime Minister Diwu was finally going to put his plan into action.

Diwu Qing Rou became silent after getting an affirmative response from his subordinates.

He heaved a deep sigh after a long while and said, "One must first deal with internal affairs in order to resist foreign aggression. King of Hell Chu, I’m letting you take this one... "

He continued to speak, "Everyone is supposed to stay low-key at all times. We’ll first gather those royalists in one place... Then, we’ll make a list of their names. It’s fine if they’re still at peace with us... If not... then... "

A crude smile appeared on Diwu Qing Rou’s face, and a sharp spirit flashed in his eyes.

The intensity of his spirit was so strong that even Jing Meng Hun – an expert butcher responsible for the death of innumerable people – realized that he had gotten goose-bumps.

*** ***

Meanwhile, King of Hell Chu was in his brother’s company.

Chu Yang and Gu Du Xing had checked into an inn as two ordinary men. The whiskers on their faces ensured that they looked like common men from Jianghu. The Continent Centre had seen many such people around in the recent days.

Gu Du Xing was holding his sword, and was trying to feel its spirit...

King of Hell Chu was resting in his bed. He was motionless; so much so that it seemed as if he had fallen asleep.

Even Gu Du Xing thought that Chu Yang was in a deep sleep.

However, King of Hell Chu was inspecting the harvest that he had accumulated from his trip to Great Zhao. His eyes shone brightly as he sorted through the treasures present in the Nine Tribulations Space.

"Huge harvest! Huge harvest! Hahaha..." Chu Yang looked at the heap of valuable metals contained in the Nine Tribulations Space. He waved his hands with joy at the same time.

"Don’t touch! Don’t touch that," Chu Yang rushed forward, and firmly grasped an iron-slab that was emitting a rainbow-colored star-light. However, the Nine Tribulation Sword Point went past him, circled the iron-slab, and successfully drilled its way into it.

’Swoosh! Swoosh!...’

The iron-slab was reduced to a fist-sized piece in Chu Yang’s hand in a flash.

"Crap! Didn’t I tell you to not touch that?" Chu Yang said in an angry tone.

The Sword Spirit let-out a sigh and said, "Come on... let it do what it wants to do for a while. After all, its hunger hasn’t been quenched in over ten-thousand years. Moreover, this is for your own good."

Chu Yang was stunned. He leapt-up, and picked-up a piece of shining black steel; it was almost the size of a person’s head. He then said, "I’ll allow you to consume other things... but I must make use of this before I hand it over to the Nine Tribulations Sword."

"Nightmare steel?" the Sword Spirit called out to the Sword Point.

The Sword Point flew over, and went around the nightmare steel a few times. Chu Yang looked at the Sword Point. But, he was only reminded of a child who wanted to eat candy, but wasn’t allowed to.

So, he softened a little for a moment.

However, he held himself back and said firmly, "I need this for something important. I’m sure that more than half of it should still remain unused after I’m done with it; you can do whatever you want with it after that. I wouldn’t care if you devour it then. But, you need to leave this for me for now."

The Sword Point left as it saw Chu Yang’s determination.

"Hey, is the Nine Tribulations Pill complete yet?" Chu Yang remembered that there had been a lot of unique items in the royal palace. In fact, they were enough to fill-up two warehouses. However, those items had vanished by now.

After all, the Nine Tribulations Sword had absorbed all those objects.

"Let’s assume that an ordinary elixir can heal the flesh and bones... and save the life of a person struggling through life and death... So, a Nine Tribulations pill can save three by that analogy," the Sword Spirit said freely. "The Great Zhao’s royal palace had a huge variety of medicinal herbs... But, none of those were as precious as the nine great herbal medicines.

"Basically, a real Nine Tribulations pill can heal any injury. But, we don’t have enough ingredients to make one," the Sword Spirit said slowly, "Some herbal ingredients are still missing. The Nine Tribulations pill would be completed by adding any of the nine great herbs."

"So, can this Nine Tribulations pill heal Mo Qing Wu’s injuries?" Chu Yang asked.

"It certainly can’t."

"Are you trying to tell me that even a massive stockpile of medicinal herbs proved insufficient for you to create a Nine Tribulations pill?" Chu Yang asked. And, the Sword Spirit almost fainted.

"You tell me... can a hundred-thousand pounds of grass turn into a rare spirit mushroom?" the Sword Spirit asked in a condescending tone.

Chu Yang became silent.

Piles of gold and silver were disappearing from his sight at an amazing speed. Such a massive amount of wealth would’ve been sufficient to provide for five-million soldiers. However, the Nine Tribulations Sword was turning it into a pile of dust.

The Nine Tribulations Sword finally stopped swallowing.

A smile appeared on the Sword Spirit’s face. He then said in a contented tone, "I can say that I won’t need to consume any gold and silver from now onwards."

Chu Yang looked at the small gold ingot and two silver ingots with his eyes wide open; these were the only three pieces that had been left out of the huge pile of gold and silver. His hands and feet trembled for a while. He then asked in a shaky voice, "Will you... be consuming so much of the other metals as well?"

"Cough... cough... it shouldn’t be much of a difference," the Sword Spirit said with embarrassment. He then continued, "I’m also going to need some things other than metals... such as medicines, souls, flesh... "

Chu Yang fell to the ground as he exclaimed, "Kill me!" Then, he burst into tears. "People are concerned about ruining their family fortune... but this will bankrupt a nation... No, no, it’ll ruin an entire continent... "

"Cough... cough... a single continent... perhaps isn’t enough," the Sword Spirit made his point.

Chu Yang collapsed.

The Sword Point in Chu Yang’s dantian turned pale-golden in color as soon as the Nine Tribulations Sword finished swallowing massive amounts of commodities. The Sword Edge also turned a fine mix of pale-golden color; it also had hints of bright-silver. It continued to sparkle brightly.

Chu Yang was worried. He wondered if his belly would begin to shine like a lantern in case this continued.

However, Chu Yang’s anxieties would never turn into reality. In fact, he was the only one who could see this Nine Tribulations Sword which was hidden inside his dantian.

There were a number of other items which weren’t needed by the Nine Tribulations Sword. So, these leftovers became the property of the owner of the Nine Tribulations Sword – King of Hell Chu.

The leftovers included a few well-made divine weapons, a large number of calligraphies and paintings created by various famous artists, several secret books on martial techniques and lots of... art pieces.

Moreover, there were hundreds of imperial erotic sketches.

King of Hell Chu felt dazed as he looked at the array of brightly-colored positions shown in the erotic diagrams. "This is... I can’t bear it anymore..."

King of Hell Chu ran away with a swish.

Gu Du Xing was trying to perceive his sword’s spirit. Suddenly, he saw his big brother rising straight-up from the bed – like a zombie. Gu Du Xing was obviously startled by this.

"Du Xing, there are a few books you need to look at."

Chu Yang’s hand reached out under his buttocks, and took out several old and yellow pornographic books.

"What kind of books?" Gu Du Xing felt strange. His ’sword cultivation’ was still in progress, and Big Brother Chu wanted him to read books? [How can you keep so many books under your buttocks? Why didn’t I see any until now?]

Gu Du Xing’s hands began to tremble as he took a look at the books.

"The Doctrine of Sword Implementation;"

"The Warmth of Sword’s Energy will Arouse my Experience;"

"The Doctrine of the Sword of Five Realms,"

"Sword King,"

"The Sword of Love..."

The look in Gu Du Xing’s eyes became fiercer as he continued to check out the books. Moreover, his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

This author’s cultivation may not have been high, but the contents of these books clearly displayed his creativity. Moreover, these books were a collection of all the efforts their ancestors had made!

In addition, one of the books turned out to be the work of a great scholar who had recorded his entire knowledge and insights in the book before his death.

This collection of the hard-earned experiences of countless predecessors was like an open road for Gu Du Xing. After all, he was cultivating his sword art at this time.

He wouldn’t need these books after he became the Sword King. But, he needed these books at present.

"From where did you get all these books?" Gu Du Xing tightened his grip on the books; his eyes had become red.

"It doesn’t matter where I got them from... You can say that I picked them up during my travels," Chu Yang replied in a forced tone. "You can have a little harvest when you visit a place like Great Zhao... you know."

"But this harvest... it isn’t ordinary," Gu Du Xing gasped heavily as he replied.

Chu Yang smiled in his heart. [Not ordinary, you say? Of course it isn’t... I’ve planned things for Ji Mo, Dong Wu Shang, Rui Bu Tong, and Luo Ke Di as well. Moreover, I looted the entire treasure inside the Great Zhao’s royal palaces’ vaults... ]

[I’ve got several good things in my possession... ]

Chu Yang was unhappy about only one thing – he couldn’t do anything about Mo Qing Wu’s injuries. The dawn was about to break; the only thing he lacked was the medicine.

He needed one of the nine great herbal medicines in order to create a rare treasure like the Nine Tribulations pill.

However, this news was still quite comforting for Chu Yang. If he could obtain three more Nine Tribulations pills, then it would be equivalent to saving three lives at the same time.

It could guarantee the safety of not just his own life... but that of his brothers as well!

Then, Gu Du Xing started to practice his sword skills with all his might.

The Gu brothers were dead. They had died at Chu Yang’s hands; not Gu Du Xing’s. However, Gu Du Xing felt that he hadn’t been uninvolved either.

Therefore, he needed to shoulder the responsibility even though his brother had done the task.

Moreover, Chu Yang had done this because of him. After all, Gu Yan Yang and Gu Yan Yue wouldn’t have gotten involved with Chu Yang despite their horrible nature if it weren’t for him. And, why would Chu Yang kill two people without a valid reason?

Therefore, Gu Du Xing had been waiting patiently to shoulder this responsibility. He would never evade this responsibility even though he hadn’t said it out loud.

[The Gu brothers are dead. So, the Gu Clan is likely to call me back quite soon. How should I act at that time?]

[Furthermore... Chu Yang has given me enough chances to progress fast. How will I be able to face him if I’m still incapable of advancing quickly?]

[Will Sister Xiao Maio be released anytime soon? She wasn’t close to her brothers. But, will she be able to deal with the fact that her brothers are dead because of me?]

The curtains of night fell down.

A sense of doom had befallen the Continent Centre Citadel. Unexpected chaos ensued once again.

A dark moon-like dazzling sword light flew-up, and greeted the real moon shining brightly in the sky.

The Moonlight Sword had appeared!