Black Broken Sword

Raw Stone Town, Zhou Family.

The scorching sun hung high, yet in the plaza, dozens of young men and women were gasping and shouting as they practiced their martial arts, each drenched in sweat and suffering immensely. A middle-aged man paced among the crowd with his hands behind his back, occasionally snorting coldly to berate those slacking off.

On a large rock at the edge of the plaza sat a youth with sword-like brows and star-bright eyes. He was only seventeen or eighteen years old, with a slender and remarkably handsome figure.

It was mid-September, the peak of the "autumn tiger" heat. Under the blazing sun, the rock was hot enough to boil an egg. Yet, although the handsome youth's brows twitched constantly, he never stood up, and sweat rolled down to soak his temples.

His name was Zhou Heng, and he was practicing the Zhou Family's secret technique, the Blazing Sun Art.

For a martial artist, cultivation meant refining the food consumed, extracting absorbable energy, and converting it into True Essence Power to be stored within the body's cells. The Blazing Sun Art allowed one to harness the power of the sun to accelerate the absorption of food and increase the efficiency of this conversion.

The more intense the sunlight, the higher the efficiency of the conversion. However, few could withstand the exposure to such a scorching sun; most would run to the shade to cool off after ten or twenty minutes, or at most half an hour.

Yet, Zhou Heng had begun his practice at sunrise and had been at it for three hours straight!

This was not just for a day or two, but a daily routine for several years!

Regrettably, Zhou Heng's body was too useless. Despite such bitter cultivation, he remained at the early stage of the First Layer of Body Refining, barely distinguishable from someone who had never practiced at all.

Martial artists were divided into twelve levels of cultivation, known as the Twelfth Layer of Body Refining. Upon reaching the Twelfth Layer, one could attempt to break through to higher realms; it was said that success meant ascending to the heavens in a single step! However, for over a hundred years, no one in the Zhou Family had ever set foot on the Ascension Path.

The Twelfth Layer of Body Refining was further divided into four realms: the first three layers were the Skin Refining Realm, the fourth to sixth were the Flesh Refining Realm, the seventh to ninth were the Bone Refining Realm, and the tenth to twelfth were the Blood Refining Realm.

The True Essence Power cultivated by a martial artist was stored in the body's cells in a progressive process: first the skin, then the muscles, then the bones, and finally the blood.

This was why the four realms were categorized as such.

The power gap between each realm was immense. A martial artist in the Flesh Refining Realm would essentially be killed in an instant by one in the Bone Refining Realm! Within the same realm, such as between the fourth and sixth layers of the Flesh Refining Realm, the sixth layer would certainly have the advantage, though it would not be an overwhelming crush.

The path of martial arts was arduous; the higher one climbed, the more rugged the road became. After entering the Blood Refining Realm, it might take over a decade to advance even a single layer!

However, the Skin Refining Realm was relatively easy to break through. Generally speaking, with sufficient food supply and diligent, uninterrupted practice, one could reach the peak of the First Layer of Body Refining in half a year, and complete the entire Skin Refining Realm in just three years.

Zhou Heng had started practicing the Blazing Sun Art at the age of eight, nearly ten years ago, yet his cultivation remained stuck at the early stage of the First Layer of Body Refining. This was a truly bizarre phenomenon. The family had invited countless physicians to diagnose him, but they found nothing, eventually attributing it to a single cause: Zhou Heng's aptitude was simply too poor, and he was naturally unsuited for cultivation!

Like a stubborn rock!

What made it even harder to fathom was that Zhou Heng's father, Zhou Dinghai, was a genius—a true genius. He completed Skin Refining in half a year, Flesh Refining in two years, and Bone Refining in five. Now only forty-one years old, he had already reached the Tenth Layer of Body Refining, the Blood Refining Realm!

Before this, the fastest member of the Zhou Family to enter the Blood Refining Realm had been sixty-three, which showed just how terrifying Zhou Dinghai's talent was!

Such a genius was absolutely qualified to attempt the Ascension Path!

A tiger father with a dog for a son!

This was the Zhou Family's assessment of Zhou Heng, and that was being polite. Many called him a "waste" behind his back; if not for the fact that Zhou Dinghai was one of the six Great Elders of the family, they would have hurled the insults to his face.

"Is that waste still refusing to give up?"

"Hmph, what if he doesn't give up? So many physicians have seen him, and every one of them said he has no illness or ailment; his inability to cultivate is simply due to his own poor aptitude!"

"It's fortunate the family still has us, otherwise if demonic beasts were to attack, we'd all just be waiting to die!"

"He's clearly a waste, yet he eats more than anyone else. What a glutton!"

"I think he's just putting on a show, sitting there on purpose without actually cultivating at all!"

The young men and women in the plaza stopped to take a short break, whispering to each other in voices loud enough for Zhou Heng to hear clearly.

"Shut up!" the middle-aged man in charge of supervision barked immediately. His name was Zhou Yuanyang, and by blood, he was barely a cousin to Zhou Heng. He said with a stern face, "Putting on a show? Any one of you go and try putting on a show! Whoever can sit on that large rock for an hour, I will exempt from the rest of today's lessons!"

At these words, the young men and women were instantly silenced.

Are you kidding? That rock was hot enough to boil an egg; who could sit on it for an hour? Never mind an hour, even ten minutes would be unbearable! Only those practicing the Blazing Sun Art could dissipate the high heat—but not everyone in the Zhou Family practiced the Blazing Sun Art!

Zhou Yuanyang walked over to Zhou Heng, sighing inwardly. He saw the boy's efforts, but heaven had no eyes, and he was born unable to cultivate.

"Don't take it to heart," he could only offer as consolation.

"Thank you, Clan Uncle!" Zhou Heng revealed a sincere smile, as bright as the sun.

"Don't push yourself too hard; look after your health," Zhou Yuanyang advised.

Even he could not persist for long sitting on that large rock to cultivate, let alone Zhou Heng, who hadn't even reached the early stage of the First Layer of Body Refining.

"I understand!" Zhou Heng nodded, but he had no intention of getting up.

Zhou Yuanyang sighed again in his heart, feeling even more regret. He thought that if this boy had his father's talent, combined with such diligence, his future would surely be even brighter!

He turned back to look at the youths resting in the shade, a surge of anger rising within him as he shouted, "Break over, continue training!"

"No way, we've only rested for less than five minutes!"

"Exactly, we haven't even caught our breath in such a short time!"

"It's all that waste's fault; he's dragged us all down!"

The youths returned to the plaza in a straggling line, glaring at Zhou Heng with hostility, blaming everything on him.

Zhou Heng saw their gazes but didn't take them to heart, continuing to circulate the Blazing Sun Art, using the power of the sun to refine the food in his body and convert it into True Essence Power.

Inside his body, the food was continuously refined under the influence of the sunlight and the technique, forming countless strands of free energy, which were then transformed into True Essence Power as the Blazing Sun Art circulated, flowing through his body.

Everything was normal up to this point, but when the True Essence Power flowed to his lower abdomen, it suddenly took a turn and plunged into his Dantian, never to come out again!

True Essence Power could only be unleashed when needed if it was stored in the cells, which covered the entire human body—skin, flesh, bones, and blood. But what was the Dantian? Although there were rumors that the Dantian was extremely important and related to the ethereal Ascension Path, Zhou Heng hadn't even laid a stable foundation yet; how could he think about the Ascension Path?

Only Zhou Heng himself knew that the reason he couldn't cultivate was because of this Dantian!

To be precise, it was a broken sword inside his Dantian!

Zhou Heng had a secret that no one knew: when he began cultivating at the age of eight, his consciousness seemed to take form, allowing it to flow freely within his body and observe every detail of his internal structure.

It was at that moment that he saw a broken sword floating and sinking within his Dantian.

It was over a foot long and pitch-black throughout, even the hilt as dark as ink. Although it was a broken blade, it exuded an aura of immense, world-sweeping power, as if it had existed since the dawn of time, traversing the ages to remain eternal!

Had it been any other child, they likely would have been frightened to tears at such a sight!

Yet, Zhou Heng had been a person of great resolve since he was young, and he stubbornly kept this secret to himself.

He did not want to become a monster in everyone's eyes!

When the first physician examined him, Zhou Heng had been anxious, but that physician had failed to detect the existence of the broken sword at all. It wasn't just that physician; none of the doctors Zhou Dinghai had hired discovered the Black Broken Sword, as if it only existed within Zhou Heng's own imagination!

Since others didn't even know the Black Broken Sword existed, how could they possibly remove it?

As time passed, he didn't become a monster, but he did become a recognized piece of trash. Yet, no one knew that it wasn't because he couldn't cultivate martial arts, but because the True Essence Power he worked so hard to cultivate was being "eaten" by the Black Broken Sword!

This bandit not only used his body as a lair, but it actually sucked his True Essence Power dry!

But even knowing that this Black Sword was a bandit, why did Zhou Heng continue to cultivate?

Because he still held onto a glimmer of hope: that there would eventually come a time when the Black Broken Sword was finally full!

When that day came, the True Essence Power he cultivated would finally be his to use!

His aptitude was not poor, a fact reflected in his appetite, for to a martial artist, food was equivalent to True Essence Power. The amount of food he ate every day was more than any of his peers, which meant the True Essence Power he cultivated daily far exceeded that of others!

Because of this glimmer of hope, he faced every pair of scornful eyes and every disdainful face with composure! He firmly believed that as long as the Black Broken Sword stopped holding him back, he would surely be able to stand out and succeed!

That day was drawing ever closer!

He could feel that the Black Broken Sword had been undergoing changes, though the process was agonizingly slow. But even dripping water could pierce stone; after ten years, it was finally time for a qualitative change!

It would be within these next few days!

This hope sustained him as he endured the scorching sun—the high heat that could practically set his backside on fire—and the incredibly dull meditation, which consisted of nothing but constant cultivation, cultivation, and more cultivation to feed the massive appetite of the Black Broken Sword in his Dantian.

If not for the fact that he was cultivating the Blazing Sun Art, which allowed him to convert the high heat, he would have long since been roasted into a dried husk!

Several hours later, as the sun set, Zhou Heng stood up shakily and began walking toward his living quarters.

"Want to leave? Crawl under my legs!" A youth suddenly blocked Zhou Heng's path, arms crossed over his chest with an arrogant smile on his face, flanked by four other youths watching the show.