Ten Divine Swords! Passing Time! Three Treasure Lands!

The crowd erupted.

"Was he not afraid of the Northern Land Saber King taking revenge?!"

"The Northern Land Saber King was thirty-fourth on the Earth Ranking, and he had entered the True Gang Realm ten years ago!"

"It's over—he's poked a hole in the sky this time. The Northern Blade Sect may not be the Demonic Cult, but they've acted tyrannically these past years. The Saber King's moods are as fickle as the weather, and he kills like mowing grass. Yet even so, no one has ever dared kill his adopted son!"

Everyone looked at Zhang Chu as if he were insane.

Zhang Chu looked at the shattered corpse, his expression terrifyingly calm. Rain soaked his azure robe, yet it could not wash away the icy indifference about him.

[Merit Points +12000!]

Still not quite as much as that ghost monk Yuan Hui.

"The Northern Blade Sect has plagued the northern frontier for over thirty years. How are they any different from the Demonic Cult? Zhang bears the duty of a Sky Patrol Guard. Since I encountered them today, I shall purge these scum of the Jianghu."

Zhang Chu's voice was not loud.

Yet it rang clearly in every person's ears.

Who did not know how to wave a great banner?

No matter how powerful the Northern Blade Sect was, could it be greater than the Imperial Court? If they had complaints, they could go speak to the Imperial Court.

"Sky Patrol Guard!" As expected, the moment those three words appeared, the crowd burst into uproar again.

"No wonder he dared kill the Little Blade King. So he had joined the Sky Patrol Guard. But even a Sky Patrol Guard who killed the Saber King's adopted son had forged an irreconcilable enmity..."

Outside the inn, the Jianghu wanderers who had gathered to watch exchanged glances, their shock beyond words.

He defeated the Twin Dragons with one palm and crushed the Little Blade King by force.

After tonight, the name of Zhang Chu, Little True Martial, would surely resound throughout the entire Jianghu.

And the Sword Appraisal Convention at Sword Forging Manor seven days from now would likely become even more spectacular.

The Jianghu had never known peace.

The wind and rain had only just begun.

At that moment, in a dense forest outside the inn.

A simple military tent stood in a sheltered spot. Within it, the wind and rain were shut out, and two figures stood inside.

One wore fitted black clothes and carried a longsword at his waist. He had refined features and appeared to be around forty.

Standing at the tent entrance, he watched the direction in which Zhang Chu and the other had departed, a complicated look flashing through his eyes.

"Who would have thought that a tiny True Martial Temple in Linjiang could produce a genius like Zhang Chu?"

From the shadows behind him, another person said, "My lord, I have investigated Zhang Chu's past."

"Speak."

"Before the age of eighteen, Zhang Chu's aptitude had always been ordinary. His martial progress was slow, and he had never broken through to third-rate. But after eighteen, it was as though he had become a different person. He practiced martial arts single-mindedly every day, forgetting food and sleep. Recently, his advancement has become even more astonishing, progressing by leaps and bounds. It truly defies comprehension."

The speaker wore a black robe that concealed his true face. It was clearly the distinctive attire of the Sky Patrol Guard.

After hearing the black-robed man's report, Tu Xiong, the Lingnan Circuit Commander of the Sky Patrol Guard, pondered for a moment.

"Perhaps the boy had been hiding himself. After all, his master offended quite a few people back then. He was young, so it would not be strange for him to wish to protect himself. If that is the case, then this child possesses a mature temperament and can be entrusted with great responsibilities."

The voice in the shadows added, "But for his progress to be so swift, he must have some secret."

Tu Xiong said calmly, "Everyone has secrets. If one can keep it, that secret is their fortunate opportunity. If they cannot keep it, it becomes the path to their own death."

He paused, then continued, "My Sky Patrol Guard has many members, and quite a few have secrets. So long as he is not an undercover agent of the Demonic Cult, it is fine."

"This time, the Demonic Cult has reappeared in the Jianghu, just as Sword Forging Manor's Divine Sword is about to be born. The Demonic Cult likely intends to seize it at all costs. The Sky Patrol Guard is precisely in need of manpower, which is why I had Li Gang invite him to join. I hope to cultivate a talent."

Hearing Tu Xiong's arrangements, the black-robed man understood and said, "My lord is wise."

"Let us go. To Sword Forging Manor, to meet these old demons of the Demonic Cult and see whether they have improved."

Tu Xiong turned and walked out of the tent. His figure was like a wisp of green smoke, vanishing into the forest in the blink of an eye...

As the two departed.

Zhang Chu's side was also preparing to set off.

There was still some distance to Sword Forging Manor. He needed to reach the Sword Appraisal Convention before the fifteenth of July.

As they traveled.

Ma Wuji was somewhat reluctant.

As though he feared something.

Zhang Chu asked curiously, "What is it? Hero Ma, the Flying Immortal on Land whose Lightness Skill is unmatched beneath heaven—not even Jinguang Temple, that ghostly place, frightened you, yet you are afraid of going to Sword Forging Manor?"

Ma Wuji shot Zhang Chu an irritated glare.

"How could those be the same?"

"Jinguang Temple may be perilous, but that danger is limited to the temple itself. In Lingnan, Sword Forging Manor is the true overlord. Who knew how many major events that shook the Jianghu had emerged from there?"

"This time, a divine weapon is being born. Who knows how many Jianghu people it will attract? Heaven knows what will happen!"

As he spoke, he pulled an incomparably sharp dagger from his robes and toyed with it in his hand. "Black Dragon Mountain, Sky Fire Cave, Sword Nurturing Hut, and Sword Forging Manor—do you know how many people these three great treasure lands haunt in their dreams?"

Zhang Chu was at a loss. These claims were entirely unfamiliar to him; he had never heard of them.

Seeing this, Ma Wuji said, "It is normal that you have not heard of them. After all, you did not even know the Little Blade King..."

Thinking back to what had just happened, Ma Wuji broke out in a cold sweat.

This fellow had actually dared kill even the Little Blade King, showing not the slightest regard for the Northern Blade Sect.

Ma Wuji explained, "It is fine if you do not know about the three great treasure lands, but you should at least know one thing.

"Ancient tales say that among the Ten Great Famous Swords beneath heaven, one was forged by Sword Forging Manor. And now, a second one is about to be born!"

Zhang Chu found it rather novel. "There are Ten Great Famous Swords beneath heaven? Who ranked them?"

"..."

Ma Wuji felt that Zhang Chu's focus was somewhat unusual. Did this man truly only know cultivation and never care about any news from the Jianghu?

With a helpless sigh, he said, "Ancient tales mean that Jianghu people have passed down the stories over and over. It was not ranked by anyone."

Zhang Chu's interest was piqued as well. "One came from Sword Forging Manor. What about the other nine?"

"How would I know..."

Ma Wuji was somewhat helpless. He had only heard these matters from others himself. How could he know the details?

"But I do know the name of one of them!"

"That sword... was called Passing Time!"

"Passing Time?" Zhang Chu considered the sword's name. "That name is somewhat abstract, isn't it?"

"Passing Time is swift!..."

Ma Wuji said solemnly, "Passing Time slips away easily, beauty ages easily. Thus, Passing Time is a Flying Sword! Once the sword leaves its sheath, none can stop it. It is fast to the utmost extreme!"

"A Flying Sword? And no one can defend against it?"

Zhang Chu felt the other man's account was somewhat exaggerated.

"Not only can no one defend against it—it is also ominous."

Leading his horse, Ma Wuji settled the unruly animal before saying, "Few people know what the Passing Time Sword actually looks like. They only know that every time this sword appears in the world, it brings about widespread death!"

"It is said that the last time the Passing Time Sword appeared was at Ten Thousand Horse Hall in the Western Regions. Back then, after the hall master swept across the Western Regions with his divine art, the Storm Limitless Art, he chanced upon this Divine Sword in a desert cavern."

"But it was precisely because of this sword that, not long afterward, all three thousand members of Ten Thousand Horse Hall had their throats slit in a single night. They died like vicious ghosts!"

"Their hall master was pierced through the throat by a single sword as well, as though he had not even shown the slightest sign of struggle!!"

After saying this, Ma Wuji could not help shuddering, as if merely mentioning Passing Time was inauspicious.

Zhang Chu pondered slightly after hearing it.

He had indeed heard of Ten Thousand Horse Hall.

"I have heard something of this as well. When master was still alive, he happened to mention it once."

"Oh? I never expected someone like you, who only knows how to shut himself away and cultivate, to have heard of matters in the Western Regions?"

Seizing the chance, Ma Wuji mocked him fiercely.

At last, he had vented some of the resentment he had built up these past days.

Zhang Chu paid no attention to his petty look of triumph and said, "But according to what you said, that sword destroyed Ten Thousand Horse Hall. Yet no matter how sinister this Divine Sword was, surely it could not kill people by itself?"

"No one knows."

Ma Wuji said, "No one can say what exactly Ten Thousand Horse Hall experienced that night. They only know that after that night, no one ever saw Passing Time again."

At this point, Ma Wuji said worriedly, "Now do you understand why I do not want to go to Sword Forging Manor?"

"You must know that every one of the Ten Great Famous Swords is a legend of the Martial World. Now that Sword Forging Manor has forged another one, how fierce will the struggle to seize it be? These are precisely the divine weapons the Demonic Cult loves most. How could I possibly want to go?"

Ma Wuji seemed already to see Sword Forging Manor piled high with corpses and flowing with blood, making him even less willing to go.

Yet compared to Ma Wuji's worries.

After hearing everything, Zhang Chu suddenly wanted to laugh aloud in delight.

When Li Gang had previously mentioned that the Demonic Cult would come seize the Divine Sword, he had thought only a few would come.

Now it seemed the number would surely exceed imagination.

And they would all be experts!

Experts were good. He was so desperately short of Merit Points that he was nearly going mad.

Seeing this, Ma Wuji bared his teeth again.

Was this man really not sick?...

What decent person heard that the Demonic Cult was coming and became excited instead of afraid? They were all demons who killed without batting an eye!