The Nameless Blade

Li Yuan pondered it for a long while but could not make up his mind, so he could only seek Mr. Mo's help.

"Every weapon has its own strengths. The one that suits you is the best."

"How about this? I'll apply to let you enter the academy's Hidden Weapons Pavilion. It contains treasures accumulated by the academy over the years. What kind of weapon you obtain will depend on your own fortune."

Mr. Mo spoke after pondering for a moment.

The Hidden Weapons Pavilion?

As an old student, Li Yuan naturally knew of it, though he had never seen it before. His heart could not help yearning for it.

Sure enough, the next day, Mr. Mo brought him before the Hidden Weapons Pavilion.

"There are seven floors in total. The higher you go, the more precious the weapons become. How far you can get will depend on fate."

Pointing at the towering structure before them, he spoke. Li Yuan nodded and resolutely stepped inside.

The shelves on the first floor were packed with all kinds of weapons, a dazzling feast for the eyes. Li Yuan did not linger and headed straight for the stairs.

The farther up he went, the more pressure he felt, and his footsteps gradually became heavier. There seemed to be an array here, screening who was qualified to enter the second floor.

Fortunately, his perfected Heart Inquiry Realm cultivation supported him as he easily reached the second floor. There were noticeably fewer shelves here, but every weapon they held was extraordinary.

Yet Li Yuan still did not stop. He continued upward.

In this way, braving tremendous pressure, he arrived at the fourth floor of the Hidden Weapons Pavilion. Only three rows of shelves remained here, and every weapon upon them exuded an incomparably sharp aura.

He looked over the descriptions. These weapons seemed to have once belonged to certain great figures of the past.

Li Yuan hesitated. Should he stop here? After all, he needed the weapon that suited him best, not some priceless divine weapon or treasure that was beyond his reach.

Just then, the Bronze Palace, which had remained silent within his sea of consciousness, suddenly trembled with a hum.

Had it discovered something?

Li Yuan could not help feeling intensely curious. Following its guidance, he began searching. The closer he drew to the stairs, the clearer the Bronze Palace's reaction became.

It seems the thing I'm looking for lies even higher up.

By now, the pressure inside the tower had reached the limit of what Li Yuan could bear. With every step, it felt as though he carried a mountain on his back, crushing his bones until they creaked.

Gritting his teeth, he paused after every step to regulate his breathing. Veins bulged across his forehead, and sweat poured down his face.

The mere dozen or so steps seemed to stretch on without end. With only three steps remaining, Li Yuan felt dizzy and light-headed, his blood and qi churning within his chest as his whole body swayed on the verge of collapse.

Those three steps were like an impassable chasm.

The Bronze Palace gave off an even louder hum, as though it had already found what it wanted.

Since he had acquired it, this was the first time, aside from demon cores, that the Bronze Palace had shown such longing for something.

Opportunities and risks had always grown together, hand in hand.

Li Yuan hardened his resolve and pushed all his cultivation to its utmost limit, forcibly taking one more step.

At once, sweetness rose in his throat. "Pwah!" He spat out a mouthful of blood, and his body swayed violently.

Staring at the two remaining steps, Li Yuan sank into thought. Clearly, if he forced his way up, he would likely suffer severe injuries.

Standing on the stairs, he recalled his previous attempts to climb them and suddenly noticed a detail: no matter how great the pressure on the stairs was, the moment one stepped onto a floor, it vanished abruptly.

Li Yuan cautiously lowered himself into a squat. The pressure on his back grew even greater, as if once he crouched down, he would never be able to stand again.

Holding his breath, he simply lay flat on the ground. So long as he could achieve his goal, he did not care whether his posture looked good.

Li Yuan slowly rolled his body and discovered that once the pressure spread across his entire body, it was indeed far more dispersed than when it was concentrated solely on his shoulders.

He could not help feeling delighted. Looks like I hadn't learned physics in my previous life for nothing.

At that moment, inside the Hidden Weapons Pavilion's control room, a white-haired old man watched this scene through a floating-light mirror and laughed teasingly.

"Little Mo, the disciple you brought really is one of a kind."

Mo Wentian's eyelid twitched, but his expression remained calm. "A gentleman seeks only the result and asks not about the process."

"Haha... what an interesting child."

The old man could not help stroking his beard as he laughed.

And so, Li Yuan finally rolled his way to the last step. Even with such an undignified posture, his body was nearing its limit beneath the crushing pressure.

His eyes shifted. Gathering all his cultivation at his fingertips, he desperately circulated his true qi and slowly clawed his hand onto the final step.

As his palm passed through an invisible barrier, there came a pop, and the pressure vanished without a trace.

Li Yuan was overjoyed. He had gambled correctly.

"Hahaha..."

Unable to restrain his laughter, he rose to his feet, casually dusted off his clothes, and strode inside.

The fifth floor had only two rows of shelves, holding fewer than twenty weapons in total. According to their descriptions, every one of them was Heaven-grade.

He slowly touched them one by one. When his palm came into contact with a large saber of exceptionally ancient and simple design, the Bronze Palace once again let out a clear hum.

This was it.

Li Yuan's eyes lit up as he picked up the blade. Its body was heavy, and its material was neither gold nor iron. It even seemed somewhat similar to the Bronze Palace.

This blade seemed incredibly ancient. Its color was dark and dull, the patterns carved upon it had grown somewhat blurred, and it was even mottled with rust.

Li Yuan searched for the description beside it, but it simply read: Nameless Blade, obtained from an ancient battlefield. As it possessed no weapon spirit, it could only be rated Heaven-grade.

Above Heaven-grade was Immortal-grade. Immortal-grade weapons could be called divine weapons. It was not enough for them merely to be sharp; they also needed spiritual energy and the presence of a weapon spirit.

"Hummm—!"

The Bronze Palace gave a clear, resonant cry. Without the slightest hesitation, Li Yuan gripped the blade in his hand. He believed that this blade surely possessed something extraordinary.

"Eh? You actually chose that blade?"

The old man in the control room looked somewhat surprised. "Back then, that person chose it as well, but later returned it. Who would have thought..."

He murmured to himself but did not say who that person was.

"Could this blade have some fatal flaw?" Mr. Mo's thoughts stirred as he turned and asked.

"Not exactly. It is simply that the blade seemed unwilling to acknowledge him."

The old man gave that vague reply, then urged him to leave.

"Since he has chosen that blade, this selection is over. Let's go."

Mr. Mo could only fall silent. After seeing Li Yuan, he said nothing about it either, merely selecting a blade technique manual for him: the Great Wilderness Formula.

"This blade technique is steady and ancient in style, firm yet supple. Its movements can be unleashed and withdrawn freely, making it very suitable for you."

"Thank you for your guidance, sir."

Li Yuan happily accepted the blade manual. During the following break, he shifted all his focus to blade techniques.

Soon, the break ended, and the Pivot Star Class gathered once more.

"Today, I will announce a matter of great importance—one that concerns the academy's reputation, as well as your futures."

One day, Liu Hongyan suddenly spoke in a solemn tone. Everyone perked up and sat straighter.

"Since the founding of Great Tang, in order to temper its younger generation and encourage the exchange of Dao methods, the Four Academies League was established. It is held once every three years, with Divine Martial Academy, Heavenly Strategy Academy, Myriad Phenomena Academy, and Grand Void Academy taking turns hosting it."

Liu Hongyan spoke slowly. "This year, it happens to be Divine Martial Academy's turn."

The Four Academies League!

Excited cries immediately rang out through the room. Li Yuan's heart stirred. He had previously seen records of the league in old texts and knew that it was the highest-standard competition among Great Tang's younger generation of cultivators.