Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

“How?” Dugu Fengwu gasped, “I can feel this youngling sword trying to reject me, like a baby trying to kick away a stranger! But how? How did it have a divine conscience when it was just a youngling sword?

Throughout the last millennium, there hasn't been a single youngling sword with a divine conscience of its own. Most youngling swords would only attain a will of its own until it matured, and even then, their soul would still be in relatively unstable forms. Whatever Yang Dingtian created, it was the first of its kind.

Dugu Fengwu tried inserting her own mystic qi again.

Bang.

She was rejected once again, but this time, the mystic qi she inserted was pushed back to her in much larger quant.i.ty, at about 40% more than the amount she released.

With the staff-like youngling sword still in her hands, Dugu Fengwu widened her pretty eyes in disbelief. She then said in a tone that was slower and more modest than her usual self.

“Yang Dingtian, your youngling sword weighs 195 kilograms, and its mystic qi enchantment bonus is th-thirty nine percent…”

“Thirty-nine? Is it that high?” Yang Dingtian clapped his hands together. Even an amateur like him knew how ridiculous that number was.

“Yeah, it's that high,” Dugu Fengwu said, “And despite how heavy your youngling sword is, it still has a much purer concentration of blood black gold than my piece. It's only fair to say that I'm better at crafting, but it seems that what really counts is the quality of the materials you bring.”

Then, as she drew closer to Yang Dingtian, Dugu Fengwu continued with an intense stare right at him.

“You better watch yourself out, Yang Dingtian. I wanted to kill you so much already, and now you've made a youngling sword that's way stronger than mine.”

“I wasn't joking when I asked if you have any connections with the G.o.ds. Tell me something. I have never taught you how to really use the Hidden Sect's sword art, so how did you figure it out yourself? You are a six star Mystic Martial Artist, but you've made a youngling sword with a divine conscience just now.”

Without saying anything, all Yang Dingtian did in response was to smile at Dugu Fengwu. From his perspective, none of his achievements were as strange as they might appear to others. They were all just results of countless sacrifices done behind the scene.

“This is a legendary youngling sword, Yang Dingtian,” Dugu Fengwu said as she returned the staff, “It is repulsive, but it is a legendary weapon, something clearly even better than what I've made!”

As the staff was returned to him, Yang Dingtian grabbed firmly onto it, and he felt a strong sense of joy from the bottom of his heart.

This youngling sword was ugly, yes, and so was it heavy.

One hundred fifty kilograms was nothing if Yang Dingtian was just trying to hold onto it, but he couldn't really use the Pig Slaying Sword Art now. In fact, all his sword technique would be four to five times slower than it used to be.

If Yang Dingtian couldn't level up his power and mystic qi, it wouldn't matter how good his weapon was. He wouldn't be able to lift it anyway.

By speaking of which, the step after making a youngling sword was to make it into a soul sword. To do that, Yang Dingtian needed to shape his own core flame first, and then attain more blood black gold pieces, which would be many times over than the amount he had used just then.

(Editor's Note: Soul Sword is the matured version of Youngling Sword.)

For shaping his core flame, Yang Dingtian would try to find and use a Heaven and Earth Mystic Flame. For getting more ten-thousand-years-old blood black gold pieces, Yang Dingtian would head to an abandoned mine within the Qin family territory, which would be on the other side of the Never Freezing Lake in the northwest region.

If he could successfully kill the powerful guardian inside the mine, there would be around 900 pieces of high-quality metal for him to claim.

Finally, after combining his Heaven and Earth Mystic Flame and the 900 pieces of blood black gold, Yang Dingtian would have a complete soul sword, something so splendid that it would belong only to a king!

“Let's get out this place,” Dugu Fengwu said, “Give me another Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl. We'll share it like last time, and I'll fly you out of here with me. After that, I don't owe you anything, got it?”

Yang Dingtian shook his head.

Dugu Fengwu twitched her eye for a bit, “What is it this time? Don't try to annoy me. I'd rather not to, but I can break your youngling sword in half.”

“About the pearl, um,” Yang Dingtian scratched his head, “There's none of it left. It melted in my… I mean, our mouths.”

“What?” Dugu Fengwu couldn't believe what she heard, “It melted?”

“Yeah, it disappeared because we've used up all of its chilling energy,” Yang Dingtian replied, “It had enough energy for me to go back, but I decided to use that energy to save your life.”

Dugu Fengwu was becoming very unfriendly now, “So you want me to thank you?” Yang Dingtian didn't answer. “What schemes are you plotting this time?” Dugu Fengwu glared.

Yang Dingtian was suddenly shouting, “None! h.e.l.l, none! Why would I save you if I'm plotting anything?”

The air turned silent.

“Are we actually stuck here?” Yang Dingtian asked after a while. “How about you try climbing your way up? Try letting the Heaven Flame Phoenix breath on you. Maybe you'll survive and find your way home.”

“Did your parents ever educate you properly?” Yang Dingtian said coldly, “Is it that fun to cuss at people every time you talk to them?”

“Don't talk to me if you don't like the way I talk,” Dugu Fengwu stared back.

“What's with you and men?” Yang Dingtian said. “Nothing,” Dugu Fengwu replied, “I just don't like them. I hate women even more. But if there's anyone whom I've anything with, it's you, Yang Dingtian. You sullied me before, and that makes you my number one target.”

As strong as the word ‘sullied' was, Yang Dingtian had already grown numb towards it, which was why he had no problem with just changing the topic of the conversation.

Yang Dingtian smiled, “So, you don't like men, and you don't like women. What do you like then? Do you like anyone?”

“I like myself, how about that?” Dugu Fengwu smiled, but in a condescending and arrogant kind of way. Yang Dingtian was speechless again.

“What's your next move once you make it out of here?” Dugu Fengwu asked after a while.

Yang Dingtian took a long, deep breath, “So, right now, I'm a five star Mystic Martial Artist. Once I get out of here, I'll spend about three months to rank up to be a great Mystic Martial Master. After that, I'll find a mystic technique to master. I'll spend six months more trying to find a Heaven and Earth Mystic Flame and shape my own core flame. I'm not sure if I'd be that successful, but if I do, I'll rank up right away so I can qualify for the grand tournament a year later. The rest is pretty straightforward. I'll become qualified enough to defeat Ximen Ju in the tournament, take back the Cloud Heaven City, bring Yanyan and Ximen Lie back, and bring just about everybody back.”

“In. Your. Dreams.”

Dugu Fengwu's eyes were squinting so hard when she looked back at Yang Dingtian, “Thirty levels in one year? Who do you think you are? Even I can't get five levels up in one year, and you want to get 30 levels up? Trust me; you'd have a better chance trying to have a dream about that!”

“Here, lie down. Get yourself comfortable on the ground. If you keep thinking about what you've just said, think as hard as you can about it, maybe you'll have a dream where you beat up Ximen Ju with just your little finger!

“How about you shut your mouth and don't talk to me, demon woman?” Yang Dingtian said angrily.

Yang Dingtian didn't know what it was about Dugu Fengwu. Maybe she was a cobra or something in her past life, judging from how toxic her mouth could be.

Dugu Fengwu wasn't done yet, “And you mentioned the Heaven and Earth Mystic Flame? Even a Martial Supreme like me doesn't have one! So, what makes you, a deluded n.o.body, think that you'd have a chance with it?”

“You're at Martial Supreme level?” Yang Dingtian cried out. Come to think of it. He did remember hearing Ximen Lie talking about it before.

“What do you think?” Dugu Fengwu smiled menacingly, “Take your dump of a Heaven Cloud City, for example. Since Ximen Wuya was gone, I can take on pretty much anyone from there, and hey, I'm only twenty-six years old…”

Yang Dingtian interrupted, “Well, Dongfang Bingling is only twenty years old.”

“So what? What business is it to you?” Dugu Fengwu argued with an unpleasant look on her face, “You think being her fiancé makes you close to her? Hey, news flash; she can't care less about you! You think you can use her to brag about yourself, but you're actually nothing to her.”

As hurtful as it might be, what Dugu Fengwu said didn't really have an impact on Yang Dingtian.

As far as he was concerned, Dugu Fengwu was just a rude person. She was ruthless, had a low EQ, was narrow-minded, and didn't really have a sense of humility. Her opinions wouldn't be constructive in any way, so why bother listening to it?

Just as Yang Dingtian expected, mentioning Dongfang Bingling really triggered Dugu Fengwu.

“Twenty years,” Dugu Fengwu murmured, “No more than that. I'll wipe that little girl out from the face of the earth. d.a.m.n it! No one younger than I is going to be more talented than me. I won't allow that…”

Yang Dingtian wasn't sure how to react, but he sure did have something he would like to say to Dugu Fengwu.

If someone bold and dumb like you became the master of the Temple of Ten Thousand Blood, you'd probably bring the entire Evil Dao down with you.

Of course, he wasn't going to say it out.

Yang Dingtian said, “Save the talk before you manage to find a way out of here. Who knows? Maybe you'll be stuck here forever, and the Heaven Dao Union will kill off every last one of you in the Evil Dao. Under Dongfang Bingling's guide, too.”

Splat.

Instead of saying anything back this time, Dugu Fengwu gave Yang Dingtian a hard slap to the face with her sword.

Yang Dingtian couldn't see it very clearly, but after feeling an intense pain on his cheek, blood quickly fell out of his mouth, even his teeth were loosened by that hit.

This demon woman!

Yang Dingtian was really mad now. So that's how it was. Dugu Fengwu could say anything she wanted to others, but if somebody said something she didn't like, and she couldn't find a good comeback for it, she wouldn't even think twice about using violence to have her ways.

“Don't p.i.s.s me off a second time,” Dugu Fengwu said while holding her youngling sword, “Or else I'll have your tongue.”

After wiping the blood off his mouth, Yang Dingtian decided that he really wasn't going to talk anymore. A wench like herself was not to be reasoned with, and ignoring her was, without a doubt, the best choice here.

With that in mind, Yang Dingtian decided to go to sleep. He decided just to lay down where he was, use his staff as a body pillow, and fall asleep right away.

It's pretty surprising, actually. Yang Dingtian didn't expect himself to fall asleep right next to somebody who wanted to kill him so badly.

Yang Dingtian didn't know how long he had been sleeping for, but by the time he had woken up, he found Dugu Fengwu resting in her meditating posture, snoring softly with her eyes closed.

Seeing that he was in a relatively safe spot, Yang Dingtian decided to fall asleep again.

After a bit more time, Yang Dingtian woke up again, but Dugu Fengwu was looking very irritated this time. Well, it wasn't like Yang Dingtian was going to ask about it anyways. He wasn't done with his nap yet.

“Stop sleeping, you pig!” Dugu Fengwu pinched Yang Dingtian's ears as soon as his eyes started closing, “Are you a pig? Sleep. Sleep. Sleep… is that all you know?”

“How long have I slept?” Yang Dingtian asked. “Five days…” Dugu Fengwu answered.

“Five days?” Yang Dingtian widened his eyes in surprise. He didn't know he was capable of sleeping for so long, but it didn't seem like Dugu Fengwu was lying.

By now, Yang Dingtian's wounds were pretty much healed. Weirdly, all it took was some sleeping, but five days seemed like the right amount of time for his body to start repairing itself.

“I can't wait anymore. There has to be a way out,” Dugu Fengwu said, “It is thirty thousand kilometers underground here, and the Heaven Flame Phoenix is right above us, so we definitely can't go up. But whatever's down there, and I'm not sure what it is, I can tell it's more dangerous than the Heaven Flame Phoenix up there.”

Basically, the two were trapped. They couldn't go up, but they shouldn't go down either.

“I have an idea,” a menacing voice suddenly spoke.

For some reason, Dugu Fengwu's eyes started flas.h.i.+ng with light. Whatever idea she had, it was probably not safe. No, it was, without a doubt, something no normal person would do.

Yang Dingtian wasn't sure what this idea was, but he was already taking several steps away from Dugu Fengwu. His back was drenched in cold sweat of instinctual fear.

“I don't know what's down there, but I think it's very dangerous. Life-threatening, even. Can you check it out for me?” Dugu Fengwu said.

“Do it yourself…” Yang Dingtian said in an uncomfortable voice, but Dugu Fengwu was already charging towards him at lightning speed.

Then, within a blink of an eye, Yang Dingtian was thrown towards the endless abyss down below.

“Just you hecking wait, demon woman!” Yang Dingtian screamed as he was in a downward free fall, “The next time I see you, I'll do the unthinkable to you first before I kill you! Do you hear tha…”

This demon woman!

Dugu Fengwu might look like a human, but she was, by no means, someone with any integrity. As Yang Dingtian fell further and further away Dugu Fengwu, his voice was also becoming more and more inaudible.

Down, down, down, down…

Yang Dingtian didn't know how far or how long he had been falling down for, but it felt like he was going to do this forever.

Down, down, down, down.

He was ready to guard himself with his mystic qi in case of an emergency fall, but after a while, he suddenly found his body levitating in mid-air.

There wasn't any impact. There was no crash. His body was just falling and falling, and then it stopped moving, like the laws of physics just suddenly became non-existent.

There's no gravity here. Yeah, zero gravity.

“Where the h.e.l.l am I? I'm floating…” Yang Dingtian said to himself. Was he actually at the very center of this planet?

But what did that mean? Where's the center? Why was there no gravity here? What effect did zero gravity have on his body?