"When Xianzhou people forged swords, they endowed them with simple intelligence to make them easier for soldiers to wield."
"But overcoming fear and cultivating sharp judgment in battle still required a long time, so..."
"So Han Guang fused Suiyang into the weapons?"
"That's right."
Huaiyan nodded.
"Forging Suiyang into a sword could indeed allow the weapon to pass on experience, overcome fear, and even make judgments in place of its wielder."
"But weapons were different from other tools. Their sole purpose was to injure and kill enemies."
"After countless battles, emotions of bloodlust, rage, and terror were absorbed by the Suiyang within the swords."
"The soldiers who held them not only inherited their swordsmanship, but also shared in the emotions of slaughter, becoming killing puppets controlled by their swords."
"No matter how noble a swordsmith's original intentions might have been, weapons steeped in slaughter would ultimately become demon swords."
Huaiyan sounded deeply regretful.
"Later, Han Guang kept forging swords under the instigation of a traveler from another land."
"The traveler fabricated all sorts of reasons why divine weapons were needed—restoring a fallen homeland with treasured swords, slaying demons and vanquishing evil with immortals' blades..."
Upon hearing this, Yan Huan could not help feeling puzzled.
"So what exactly was that foreign traveler trying to do?"
"If all those reasons were fake, he couldn't have urged Han Guang to forge so many demon swords just because he had nothing better to do."
Huaiyan let out a soft sigh.
"You already know what happened afterward."
"Yunli's parents fell into pools of blood one after another, and many craftsmen of the Flame Wheel Forging Palace were killed or wounded as well."
"And although Yunli narrowly escaped disaster, she never truly escaped that past."
"No wonder you didn't invite her to the Sword Gifting Ceremony."