"Damn, did you pay for that? It even comes with special effects!" Jiang Siming stared in astonishment, but he didn't stop moving.
"Even if you paid, I wouldn't be afraid. I have a buff too: God of Slaughter Possession. Evil Aura."
Half an incense stick later.
Jiang Siming sat on the ground with a bruised and swollen face.
Chapter 37: Why Do You Wield a Sword? The Strange Space
Sword Douluo withdrew his sword intent and said calmly, "Your sword is powerful. I've never seen a Martial Soul with three different abilities. My Seven Kill Sword didn't even want to come out. Your Soul Skills are absurdly powerful, too."
Jiang Siming, his face bruised and swollen, cursed inwardly. He hit way too hard. He went for my face every time.
"But you haven't truly made use of its power. You're only using it in a practical way," Sword Douluo said.
Hearing that, Jiang Siming couldn't help but nod.
"I won't teach you today. I can't teach you, either. I'll ask you just one question: Why do you wield a sword? Training will begin when you've figured out the answer." With that, Sword Douluo left.
Jiang Siming felt speechless. How many times had I heard someone ask, 'Why do you wield a sword?' in my previous life? I never thought I'd be asked the same thing myself.
But Jiang Siming only grumbled for a moment before sitting down cross-legged. Sword Douluo's question was exactly what he'd been thinking about last night. Why did he wield a sword? Why did he cultivate?
Jiang Siming summoned his four swords. The Immortal Extinction Sword was the sharpest, capable of cutting through anything. The Immortal Slaying Sword was the most murderous, its killing power corroding everything. The Immortal Trapping Sword was the most mysterious, stirring the seven emotions and six desires. As for the fourth sword, the Rusty Sword, Jiang Siming still didn't know what it could do.
After some thought, Jiang Siming recalled the other three swords, leaving only the Rusty Sword. He stood and repeated the motion of drawing it.
A day passed. Jiang Siming was still standing there, repeating the dull motions of drawing and sheathing his sword.
On the third day, Jiang Siming's body began to grow weak. Without Soul Power, a Soul Master wasn't much different from an ordinary person. Even with Jiang Siming's formidable physical strength, he couldn't keep his body functioning without food or water. Still, he gritted his teeth and endured.
By the tenth day, Jiang Siming was swaying on his feet. Ning Fengzhi, watching nearby, desperately wanted to rush over and make him rest, but Sword Douluo stopped him.
"If you don't want all his effort to go to waste, let him continue. Don't worry, he won't die. An ordinary person would have started showing these symptoms by the third day at the latest. He's lasted a full ten days. I've never seen a Soul Master this gifted, nor anyone with such incredible resolve."
Ning Fengzhi looked at Jiang Siming with admiration in his eyes.
Jiang Siming didn't want to be a hero, so he often kept up his absurd, jokey persona. But he was stubborn. Once he set his mind on something, he never changed it.
People feared two things most: death and loneliness. What was it like to hover between life and death?
Starting on the afternoon of the tenth day, Jiang Siming's whole being seemed to rise to a higher plane. He stood firmly once more, swinging the Rusty Sword with force.
From the tenth day onward, Jiang Siming's mind seemed to grow hazy. For some inexplicable reason, Sword Douluo's question kept echoing in his head: Why do you wield a sword?
Gradually, Jiang Siming felt himself sinking into a strange space.
When Jiang Siming opened his eyes again, everything around him was white.
"Where is this?"
Jiang Siming looked around. Apart from the endless white, he couldn't see a thing.
Suddenly, four powerful auras came from four directions. Four swords appeared out of thin air, planted in the white ground. Cracks spread all around them, as if they were shattering the White Space.
"These are the Four Immortal-Slaughtering Swords," Jiang Siming said in surprise. He had been practicing his swordsmanship, so he didn't know why he had ended up in this strange space. The first three swords looked just as he remembered them, but the last was wrapped in chains, and still couldn't hold back the aura of destruction it released.
Looking at the Four Immortal-Slaughtering Swords, Jiang Siming found himself walking toward the Immortal Extinction Sword.
As Jiang Siming drew closer, the Immortal Extinction Sword seemed to sense him approaching. It immediately unleashed a barrage of sharp sword energy at him.
"Damn, where the hell is the system when I need it? What's happening to me?" Jiang Siming was at a loss. He knew the plot of Douluo and had grown used to relying on the system, so this sudden turn of events left him completely bewildered.
"No way. I'm not dying here." Jiang Siming gritted his teeth and slowly pushed forward against the sword energy. There was no way to dodge the dense barrage. At first, the sword energy only cut his skin, but as he drew closer to the Immortal Extinction Sword, the wounds grew deeper and deeper.
"No, I won't make it to the end if I just keep forcing my way forward. There's no point. If this is a trial, there must be a way through it." Jiang Siming stopped and sat down to think.
"This is my sword. Why would it hurt me?"
"Is this really my sword?"
"Why am I getting hurt?"
A series of questions flashed through Jiang Siming's mind. Why, exactly, was the Immortal Extinction Sword hurting him?
"Why do you wield a sword?"
"Why do I wield a sword?"
"No, that's not what it means."
Suddenly, Jiang Siming opened his eyes. He slowly stood and walked forward without the slightest fear.
The sword energy crisscrossed over him, but no more blood sprayed into the air.
Jiang Siming walked straight up to the Immortal Extinction Sword and touched its hilt. The blade trembled constantly, as if resisting him. Jiang Siming slowly pulled it free and ran his hand along the blade. Then he slowly cut his palm with the Immortal Extinction Sword. The blood that dripped onto it was absorbed in a strange fashion.
"You are my sword, a part of me. Why wield a sword? How can there be any question of wielding one? You are simply me." As Jiang Siming spoke, the Immortal Extinction Sword gradually stopped trembling. An overwhelming sword intent burst from him.
Jiang Siming smiled faintly, ignoring the wounds still bleeding across his body. He swung the Immortal Extinction Sword, wielding it with abandon.
At last, Jiang Siming understood. The question wasn't what he wielded a sword for. The sword was already a part of him. He wielded it—there was no need to ask why.
A double-edged sword could hurt an enemy, or it could hurt its wielder. But the sword was already a part of him. How could he call that hurting himself?