Yankang Kingdom's Sixteenth-Rank Treasure Sword Revealed, The New Sword Wunian!

Emperor Yanfeng walked in front, his strides long.

After they passed through the bustling streets of the capital, a vast, heavily guarded, magnificent workshop appeared in Chen Xin's sight.

This was the Supervision and Manufacturing Factory under the Ministry of Works, and also the core strategic site where all of Yankang forged its divine weapons and peerless arms.

The moment they stepped through the gates, a scalding wave of heat rushed at them head-on.

Inside the spacious factory, dozens of blast furnaces carved all over with formation patterns burned with pale-blue earth-core spirit flames.

Hundreds, even thousands, of bare-armed blacksmiths swung their hammers, and the crisp ringing of metal on metal gathered into a roaring chorus that numbed the eardrums.

Emperor Yanfeng did not linger in the ordinary forging area. Instead, he led the Imperial Preceptor and Chen Xin straight into an octagonal pavilion at the deepest part of the Supervision and Manufacturing Factory.

The light inside the pavilion was gentle, and the air was filled with a faint, cool metallic fragrance.

On the walls hung sixteen long scrolls.

Beneath each scroll was enshrined the illusory image of a treasured sword radiating astonishing pressure.

"Coach Chen, come and take a look at the foundation upon which my Yankang was built."

Emperor Yanfeng stopped before the first scroll.

Painted on the scroll was a broad, heavy longsword, its killing intent soaring to the heavens.

"These sixteen swords are first-grade personal blades forged by Yankang with the rarest treasures of the entire nation, after pouring in countless effort and devotion."

Emperor Yanfeng pointed at the broad sword, his voice carrying a domineering arrogance that looked down on the world.

"The first among them is called the Heavenly Strategy Sword."

"It is the exclusive sword of the head of our dynasty's military officials, the General of Heavenly Strategy."

"This sword represents the pinnacle of the military path."

"Within its blade, it perfectly contains the Four Symbols battle formation. When facing an enemy, it can fuse the vital energy of an entire army, of tens of thousands of troops, into a single sword strike and unleash it."

A sharp gleam flickered in Emperor Yanfeng's eyes.

"So long as the General of Heavenly Strategy holds this sword, one man and one blade can uphold the national might of Yankang and suppress great armies!"

Chen Xin took a step forward. As he felt the iron-blooded military might lingering on the scroll, his breathing involuntarily grew heavier.

Emperor Yanfeng then walked to the second scroll.

"This is the Grand Preceptor Sword."

"The sword of the head of the civil officials, the first-rank Grand Preceptor."

"It mainly cultivates the fortune of the literary path, controls the rites and order of the imperial court, and is specially used to suppress wicked beings within the court."

Emperor Yanfeng pointed his way down the line as if counting his own family treasures.

The Grand Tutor Sword, the Grand Guardian Sword, the Grand Marshal Sword, the Minister of Works Sword... all the way to the Junior Guardian Sword on the ninth scroll.

"The rankings of these swords strictly correspond to the hierarchy of the first-rank offices in Yankang's imperial court."

The Yankang Imperial Preceptor, who had not spoken until now, added gently from the side.

"The higher the official rank, the stronger the national fortune and the vital energy of heaven and earth the sword can absorb."

"The military official General of Heavenly Strategy holds the heaviest military authority, so the Heavenly Strategy Sword firmly surpasses the Grand Preceptor Sword of the Three Excellencies and ranks first."

"So long as one holds these swords, one can borrow the blessing of a nation's fortune to empower one's swordsmanship."

"Their might is absolutely no weaker than those divine artifacts passed down from ancient times."

As these words fell, the Douluo Continent beyond the light screen instantly fell so silent that a falling needle could be heard.

Inside the great hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Fengzhi's hand froze in midair with his teacup, his eyes filled with shock.

To bind a country's national fortune, the vital energy of thousands upon thousands of soldiers, all onto a single sword?

What an unimaginably grand vision this was!

On the Douluo Continent, a soul master's weapon depended entirely on the awakening of their own martial soul. Whether its power was great or small relied wholly on personal talent and the age of their soul rings.

Yet Yankang could actually mobilize the power of an entire nation and use the art of creation to forcefully forge such divine weapons, powerful enough to suppress national fortune!

"Using national fortune as a weapon..." Bone Douluo swallowed, his voice hoarse.

"If a sword like that came down, who could possibly block it?"

On the drill ground of Heaven Dou Imperial City, Tang San looked at the Sky Screen, his palms covered in cold sweat.

He had always believed that the Tang Sect's mechanical hidden weapons were the strongest weapons mortals could manufacture.

But before first-grade national weapons that could contain the vital energy of ten thousand troops and bind the laws of heaven and earth, his Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus and Pear Blossom Needle in Rain seemed no different from little trinkets made in a blacksmith's shop for self-defense. They were simply not on the same level at all.

Within the Sky Screen.

Chen Xin looked at those national weapons with their astonishing pressure, his eyes filled with amazement and longing.

But after pondering for a moment, he still took half a step back and cupped his hands slightly.

"I appreciate His Majesty's kindness."

Chen Xin's expression was open and calm.

"These swords are indeed divine objects that have seized the fortune of heaven and earth."

"But they are already bound to Yankang's offices and national fortune, and they carry far too much."

"My sword seeks only purity."

"The Heavenly Strategy Sword is too heavy with slaughter, while the Grand Preceptor Sword has a few too many rules of the court."

"I want to ask for a clean sword, one that belongs only to me."

Hearing Chen Xin's refusal, Emperor Yanfeng not only did not grow angry, but instead burst into hearty laughter.

"Good! A swordsman ought to be this particular!"

He turned his head and shouted toward the outside of the pavilion.

"Have every master craftsman with the finest skills in the Ministry of Works come here for me!"

"Today, we'll open a private furnace and use Taibai Divine Gold to forge Instructor Chen a new sword made to measure!"

A short while later, a dozen-odd old blacksmiths with bulging, knotted muscles walked into the innermost forging room.

Following behind them were several Imperial Academy students holding formation blueprints.

A piece of Taibai Divine Gold radiating blinding white light was delivered into a furnace carved all over with runes.

Pale blue formation fire instantly wrapped around the divine gold.

The blacksmiths swung their great hammers, sending sparks flying everywhere.

With every strike of the hammer, the students beside them loudly called out a string of obscure Arithmetic data, reminding the blacksmiths to adjust the force and angle of their blows, ensuring that the vital energy conduction paths inside the divine gold achieved the most perfect curve.

Chen Xin stood beside the furnace.

The scalding heat wave baked his white hair until it curled slightly, but he did not even blink.

"Instructor Chen, the heat is right!"

The lead old craftsman roared, using iron tongs to clamp the red-hot sword blank, which already vaguely had the shape of a sword, onto the anvil.

"Pour your sword intent into it!"

Chen Xin's eyes narrowed slightly.

At the center of his brow, that golden Spirit Fetus suddenly opened its eyes.

A pure killing sword intent that had cast aside all distracting thoughts and would rather break than bend surged out along his arm.

He joined two fingers into a sword and pointed them at the scorching sword blank.

Buzz!

In an instant, intangible sword intent collided violently with the tangible Taibai Divine Gold.

With the support of the high temperature and the formation, that sword intent did not dissipate. Instead, it was tempered bit by bit into the very texture of the blade.

As a bucket of specially made icy quenching liquid was poured down, Hiss!

Great clouds of white mist billowed up.

When the mist dispersed, A three-foot longsword lay quietly on the anvil.

The sword had no ornate patterns, and the entire blade was a dark, muted silver-gray.

But along the edge of the blade, a faint glimmer flowed, enough to make one shudder.

That was Chen Xin's will.

Chen Xin stepped forward, stretched out that palm which was no longer withered, and tightly gripped the hilt.

The longsword let out a clear, lingering sword cry, as if cheering in delight and responding to its master's call.

Emperor Yanfeng clapped his hands and laughed loudly.

"A fine sword! Its sharpness is restrained, and its killing intent is innate."

"Instructor Chen, this sword has no name yet. Give it one."

Chen Xin raised the longsword.

His fingers gently brushed across the cold spine of the blade.

He thought of his nine shattered soul rings, and of the more than ninety years he had wasted away on Douluo Continent.

Now the old dream had shattered, and on this unfamiliar land, he had washed away a lifetime of dust.

Chen Xin flicked his wrist, drawing a clean flourish of the sword through the air.

"Everything in the past is dead as of yesterday."

He looked at that faint glimmer along the blade, his voice steady.

"This sword shall be called..."

"Wunian."

No thoughts, no desires—only the sword.

Just as Chen Xin bestowed a name upon his new sword—

The heavy bronze doors of the loft were shoved open.

Bashan Libationer strode in with a wine gourd in hand, his rugged face carrying a trace of excitement at the prospect of a good show.

"Old man, is the sword finished?"

Bashan slapped Chen Xin on the shoulder, his booming voice making the scrolls in the loft tremble.

"If it's finished, hurry up and come with me! A few blind little troublemakers showed up at the gates of the Imperial Academy, spouting off that our arithmetic-infused swordsmanship is heretical nonsense."

"The Imperial Preceptor told you to bring this new sword and go teach them a proper lesson!"

This sudden turn was like a hook, instantly snagging the hearts of every Douluo viewer beyond the screen.

Sword Douluo had just obtained his new sword, and his very first battle was going to be against cultivators from a higher-dimensional world!

Just what kind of power could this sword named "Wunian" unleash?

Emperor Yanfeng's hearty laughter echoed through the forging chamber.

Chen Xin gripped the dark-gray longsword named "Wunian," the cool touch from the hilt making his heart, devoted to the Dao, feel especially peaceful.

"A good name."

Bashan Libationer lifted his wine gourd and gulped down a mouthful of strong liquor, then wiped his stubbly chin.

"Since the sword's done, let's stop wasting time here. Those brats from the Imperial Academy are still being blocked at the gate and cursed out."

Bashan turned his head and cupped his fist toward Emperor Yanfeng.

"Your Majesty, this subject will take the old man back first."

Emperor Yanfeng waved a hand, then turned back to discuss formation blueprints with the blacksmiths from the Ministry of Works.

To him, as the ruler of a nation, the concrete output of weapons was far more important than watching people fight.

Chen Xin slung Wunian on his back and followed Bashan Libationer out through the gates of the Supervision and Manufacturing Factory.

The noon sun was somewhat dazzling.

The streets of the capital were still bustling with noise and activity.

The two walked one ahead of the other.

Bashan deliberately slowed his pace so that Chen Xin, who had only just awakened his Spirit Fetus and whose physical strength was far worse than before, could keep up.

"Lord Libationer."

Walking behind him, Chen Xin looked at the wooden carts along both sides of the street that were driven by formations and asked, "You said just now that someone was causing trouble at the gates of the Imperial Academy?"

"Isn't that right?"

Bashan gave a cold snort, his tone filled with disdain.

"They're a group of so-called orthodox elites who crawled out of some remote mountains and forests."

"These fellows call themselves successors of the Hidden Sword Pavilion. They think the arithmetic-infused swordsmanship our Yankang promotes is an insult to the purity of the sword path."

"Early this morning, those young troublemakers blocked the main gate of the Imperial Academy and insisted on using their ancient, outdated sword techniques to teach our Imperial Academy students a lesson."

Hearing this—

Chen Xin's heart stirred slightly.

Hidden Sword Pavilion.

Just from the name, he could tell it was an ancient sect clinging rigidly to tradition.

Before he met the Yankang Imperial Preceptor, had he, Chen Xin, not been the same kind of person?

He had always believed that a swordsman should possess an unstoppable momentum, relying on his own comprehension and bitter cultivation to cut through everything.

Calculate wind speed? Calculate spatial curvature?

To the old him, that truly would have seemed like heretical nonsense.

But after spending the entire night reading ancient texts on the ninth floor of the Library Pavilion—

He had finally understood.

Brute force had its limits, but the laws and principles of heaven and earth were inexhaustible.

The two followed the tree-lined avenue and soon arrived at the main gate square of the Imperial Academy.

At this moment, the square was packed three layers deep inside and out with Imperial Academy students dressed in blue robes.

Everyone was furious, and quite a few held rulers and charcoal pencils in their hands, their faces flushed red.

At the very center of the crowd, a large open space had been cleared.

Three young men in white sword uniforms stood inside it.

The one in the lead was a young man in his early twenties, his face cold and stern, his chin tilted slightly upward, exuding an arrogance that kept others a thousand miles away.

He held an ancient-looking longsword in his hand. There was no blood on the blade, but two young Imperial Academy students lay on the ground, clutching their chests as they groaned in pain.

"Is this the swordsmanship of your Yankang Kingdom?"

The white-clad young man flicked out a sword flourish, then rested the longsword behind his back, his voice full of mockery.

"When you fight, do you still have to draw a circle in your head to calculate the angle?"

"The sword is the lord of all weapons! What it values is a clear sword heart, the freedom to act as one wills!"

"You bunch of bookworms measuring the trajectory of a sword with rulers—what a complete joke!"

The moment those words came out, the surrounding Imperial Academy students instantly flew into a rage and cursed him out.

But the two injured classmates lying on the ground were also a fact.

In the spar just now, they had indeed been defeated by this white-clad young man's fierce, swift sword.

"Impudent!"

A roar like muffled thunder exploded from behind the crowd.

Bashan Libationer pushed through the crowd and strode into the center of the field.

Seeing this notoriously protective and hot-tempered libationer appear, the Imperial Academy students hurriedly opened a path.

When the white-clad young man saw Bashan, his gaze tightened slightly, but he did not show much fear.

"So it is Bashan Libationer."

The white-clad young man cupped his hands, neither servile nor overbearing.

"I am Lin Feng of the Hidden Sword Pavilion."

"I came here today only to exchange pointers in the way of the sword."

"As a senior, my lord libationer would not lower himself and personally strike at a junior, would he?"

This Lin Feng was clever, using his words to pin Bashan down the moment he spoke.

Bashan gave a cold laugh and slammed the great saber at his waist onto the ground, smashing a patch of bluestone slabs.

"If I hit you, I'd only dirty my hands!"

Bashan turned his head and beckoned toward Chen Xin, who stood on the outskirts of the crowd.

"Old man, get over here!"

Under everyone's gaze.

Chen Xin, clad in a plain long robe, with white hair and beard, walked steadily into the center of the field with the dark gray Wunian sword on his back.

Bashan pointed at Chen Xin and said to Lin Feng, "This is the new swordsmanship instructor our Imperial Academy just hired. He only entered our doors yesterday, and he's only just learned a little of the basics of our Yankang Arithmetic."

"Didn't you think putting Arithmetic into the sword was trash?"

"Today, this old man will play with you."

Lin Feng sized Chen Xin up from head to toe.

When he sensed the faint fluctuation of the Spirit Fetus at Chen Xin's brow, he could not help letting out a snort of laughter.

"My lord libationer, are you joking?"

Lin Feng shook his head, his eyes filled with disdain.

"This elder's aura is weak. Clearly, he has only just condensed his Spirit Fetus not long ago."

"And though I am unworthy, my Five Luminaries Divine Treasury is already complete, and I have one foot in the Six Directions realm."

"If I draw my sword and injure this elder, once word spreads through the martial world, people will say my Hidden Sword Pavilion bullies the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled."

Hearing Lin Feng's arrogant words.

Outside the light screen, on the Douluo Continent, many people also looked worried.

On the field of Shrek Academy, Oscar swallowed nervously.

"That pretty boy might look cocky, but he's a genuinely high-realm cultivator."

"Senior Sword Douluo has only just started cultivating again and doesn't even have a skill. How is he supposed to fight?"

Tang San stood to the side, his gaze locked tightly on the Sky Screen, his hands clenching slightly.

"Before true swordsmanship, realm is certainly important, but one's understanding of the laws is the key that decides victory or defeat."

"It all depends on how much Senior Chen Xin comprehended last night."