Wind Wing Sword Technique

After Ueno Kei finished dealing with the Summoning Scroll, he turned his attention to the sword.

Since it had been bound together with the Summoning Scroll, the sword clearly belonged to the same owner. Ueno Kei refused to believe that a ninja who owned such a precious Summoning Scroll would carry a cheap sword.

Besides, the blade was clear and flawless, without a single nick or any rust. It was merely covered in dust and grime that had accumulated over the years.

Judging by its shape, it looked like a katana, with a slight curve to the blade.

Ueno Kei laid the sword across his body, took a rag in his right hand, dampened it with some water, and wiped away all the grime. Before long, the whole sword looked bright and clean.

To Ueno Kei's surprise, the grime had been easy to remove. He had thought it would be difficult, since the sword looked as though it had been buried beneath the river for a long time.

Ueno Kei gently gripped the hilt and raised the sword slightly.

The blade gleamed with a bone-chilling coldness. Sunlight streamed through the window and struck the blade, reflecting into Ueno Kei's eyes and making him squint involuntarily.

"Vmm." Suddenly, a faint ringing seemed to sound beside Ueno Kei's ear.

Ueno Kei's gaze sharpened. With a slightly startled expression, he looked at the sword in his hand. For a moment, he felt as though it were alive.

And it seemed—perhaps—that the faint ringing had come from the sword. But when Ueno Kei focused and listened carefully, there was no sound at all.

The sword remained just as it had been, unchanged—a lifeless object.

Ueno Kei's eyes flickered. He refused to believe he had imagined it. He was certain he had just heard a "vmm" sound. It had definitely not been his imagination.

And the most suspicious thing was the katana in front of him.

Ueno Kei examined the sword from every angle countless times, as though trying to find even the slightest clue. But no matter how thoroughly he checked it, he could find nothing suspicious. The only thing worth noting was that when he infused the blade with chakra, it didn't react at all.

Of course, there were two possible explanations. The first was that it was an ordinary sword, unsuitable for chakra, but made from unusual materials that were difficult to damage. Ueno Kei was simply too weak to break it. The second possibility was that he had infused too little chakra to trigger any change.

Ueno Kei couldn't determine which was the case. After all, he had poured every last bit of strength into it, desperately feeding chakra into the sword, yet it was still like a stone sinking into the sea—there had been no response at all.

This left Ueno Kei deeply frustrated. He couldn't exactly find a powerful ninja to test it. He wasn't stupid; it was the same principle as with the Summoning Scroll.

All in all, after staring at the katana for a while, Ueno Kei shook his head helplessly, deciding there was nothing he could do. Today had been a day of great gains for him, but for now...

Everything he had found was only good to look at, not to use. None of it would do anything to improve his current strength. "Sigh." Ueno Kei let out a breath.

He muttered to himself, "At least it's been a good haul. I can use the Summoning Scroll in three or four years at the earliest, six or seven at the latest. That sword is definitely a treasure, too. I'll look into it again once I'm stronger, or trade it for something useful later."

With that, Ueno Kei decided to put the sword away as well and leave it for another day.

"Hiss."

Ueno Kei furrowed his brow slightly. While turning the sword over, he had been so engrossed in searching for anything suspicious that he hadn't paid attention. The blade had sliced his palm, opening a cut, and blood immediately ran down the edge.

The sharp pain made Ueno Kei suck in a breath. It wasn't that the wound was deep enough to be unbearable. On the contrary, the cut was very shallow.

It had only drawn a little blood. But the moment his palm was cut, Ueno Kei clearly felt a chill pass from the blade through the wound and into his body.

He shuddered, as if he had been frozen in place, and couldn't help sucking in another breath. Only after doing so to ease the cold inside him did he feel a little better.

Ueno Kei stared in shock at the plain-looking sword in his hand. As for its sharpness, he had taken precautions from the start, coating both hands in chakra before touching the sword, just in case something happened.

Although Ueno Kei was weak, he was still a half-trained would-be ninja. If the sword could easily cut his palm without anyone controlling it, how much damage could it do in the hands of a powerful ninja? And if the sword could take chakra, how destructive would it become when a ninja infused it with chakra?

"Sharp enough to cut through iron like mud!" The thought immediately surfaced in Ueno Kei's mind. Of course, he was only using that expression because he couldn't think of a better one. He had every reason to believe that the sword's hidden power...

Was beyond anything he could imagine.

Besides, this time the chill wasn't just his imagination. Ueno Kei could clearly sense the shiver it sent through him.

If he had to find a way to describe the feeling, the only word he could think of was "killing intent."

In this life, Ueno Kei had never truly felt killing intent. But in his previous life, when his life had been about to end and that man had looked at him with indifferent eyes...

Ueno Kei had clearly felt the cold, bone-deep sensation radiating from the man.

At that moment, the only thing Ueno Kei could be sure of was that it was killing intent. The man's icy gaze conveyed naked murderous intent!

It was a sensation that seemed capable of freezing time and space.

So when that chill seeped into Ueno Kei's body, he knew almost instantly that it was the sensation of killing intent.

And it was very likely that the sword's former owner had left it behind.

For the feeling to remain so clear after all these years, the former owner must have slain countless living beings.

This was a spiritual treasure of a sword! Ueno Kei was certain of it. As he eagerly admired the sword once more, he failed to notice that...

The blood on the back and edge of the blade seemed to be slowly absorbed by the sword, gradually merging into it.

Suddenly, the sword in Ueno Kei's hand began to shake violently. A flash of dazzling light appeared and vanished. Ueno Kei instinctively shut his eyes.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Ueno Kei immediately dropped the sword and clutched his head, screaming.

Just as suddenly, Ueno Kei stopped screaming. But now his eyes were wide, and he began to doubt his own existence, because he had found himself in an unfamiliar space.

The four characters "Wind Wing Sword Technique" appeared out of nowhere before his eyes.