Candle Dragon Immortal Sword: Hui Ming

Everyone in the Fu family was enraged by Shen Yuan's actions. Even Fu Hua subconsciously wanted to question Shen Yuan.

But when he followed Shen Yuan's gaze toward the bedside table that had collapsed into splintered wood, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

The aged head Shen Yuan had smashed into the bedside table was almost completely unscathed. Forget a trace of blood—even a mark of redness or swelling had not been left behind.

The withered body slowly crawled out from the ruins. The angry voices demanding answers came to an abrupt halt, and everyone stared in shock at the gaunt old man in a hospital gown.

Shen Yuan scratched Bai Xue beneath the chin with great interest, sizing up the old man before him.

"Possession? Or some method of stealing another's body?"

"How did you see through it?" The old man moved his head, a hint of curiosity on his aged face.

Shen Yuan answered casually, "This body of yours looks gravely ill and on the verge of death, but when I touched you, I could tell that it had already broken through the great barrier of Essence Refinement and entered the ranks of true cultivators.

"As a cultivator, even if you spent day and night beside the Bronze Ancient Sword, a mere chill entering your body could not possibly have caused such serious effects. That could only mean there was something wrong with you yourself."

"As for the real answer..."

Shen Yuan paused slightly and looked toward a young man in the crowd who appeared to be in his twenties. Cold sweat was continuously dripping from his pale face.

"Naturally, he told me. When I mentioned the Bronze Ancient Sword, he had been secretly looking at you on the hospital bed the entire time."

Upon hearing this, Fu Hua immediately demanded furiously, "Little Four, what exactly did you do?"

The young man called Little Four went weak at the knees and fell directly to them, his face full of panic as he said:

"No, no! I didn't do anything! I only put that sword in Father's room."

"Master He told me that as long as I put the sword in Father's room, I would obtain the inheritance rights. If I had known it would harm Father, then even if you gave me ten thousand times the courage, I wouldn't have dared do such a thing!"

Fu Hua wore an expression of bitter disappointment.

But with matters having reached this point, Fu Hua could only turn his gaze toward Shen Yuan, hoping to seek his help.

"Good for nothing, ruining everything. If you had waited just two more days for me to completely occupy this body, there would not have been so much trouble."

The old man sneered, then looked at Shen Yuan and said:

"I bear no grudge against you, Your Excellency. Why not let this matter end here? If you agree, I am willing to offer several spells as compensation.

"The Spirit Tide has only just returned, and the various arts have yet to revive. Spells will surely be hard currency in the cultivation world, and every one of them is worth no small sum."

Shen Yuan did not respond to the old man's proposal. Instead, he changed the subject. "I'm curious. Since you possess cultivation methods, why did you need to steal his body?"

A savage look appeared on the old man's face, his eyes turning crimson as he said:

"This body was born with exceptional spiritual roots. During the age when spiritual energy was exhausted, it cultivated basic fist arts and entered the realm of Elixir Embrace. Though it is only a minor path, that is enough to show how extraordinary it is.

"Now that the Spirit Tide has returned, with proper methods to aid it, it has a chance to enter the realm of Qi Refinement Transformation and become a great Spirit Transformation cultivator.

"My original body was frail and weak. During the age when spiritual energy was exhausted, my foundation was utterly destroyed. If I had merely been unable to become a cultivator due to insufficient spiritual energy, then so be it.

"But now that I have seen the Spirit Tide return, how could cultivators like us be willing if we did not fight for the mandate of heaven?"

When his words fell, the old man's gaze toward Shen Yuan was filled with jealousy and unwillingness.

"Unfortunately, lucky fellows like you who only entered cultivation after the Spirit Tide returned will never understand the hearts of cultivators like us."

After saying all this, the old man let out a long sigh. With his hands clasped behind his back and an indifferent gaze, he said, "Enough. I have answered Your Excellency's doubts. What choice will you make?"

Shen Yuan laughed, his smile brimming with mockery.

"A cultivator's heart? Put plainly, you're just a worthless old relic unwilling to wait for death, trying to seize someone else's body, yet you dress it up as fighting for the mandate of heaven. How utterly laughable."

"Bastard!"

The old man in the hospital gown stepped forward in fury. The floor beneath his feet shattered in an instant, stone fragments flying everywhere as he formed a fist seal and smashed it viciously toward Shen Yuan.

Surging vital essence continuously poured into his right arm. His muscles knotted like a massive mountain-splitting warhammer, and wild winds howled beneath the force of his fist.

Ground-to-Heaven Cannon!

Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes, both hands holding the kitten in his arms. Although that punch carried astonishing power, he still showed no intention of making a move.

Shen Yuan's calm and unruffled manner left the old man deeply puzzled.

Though he was only at the initial stage of Essence Refinement and inferior to Shen Yuan, this body had once entered the martial realm of Elixir Embrace. Its strength was absolutely no weaker than Shen Yuan's current strength, and in close-quarters combat, it far surpassed those of the same realm.

Shen Yuan's behavior was simply too arrogant.

Could it be that he has some trump card?

The instant this thought arose, the old man suddenly saw an unremarkable matchbox appear in the direction he was advancing, though he had no idea when it had appeared.

Compared to the luxurious decorations of the room, that matchbox looked so shabby and utterly out of place.

Even as he was still thinking, an immense sense of danger swept over the old man's entire body. Cracks spreading out from the void filled his vision, and black fissures met the fist he had thrown.

With only the slightest contact, great chunks of flesh and bone were wantonly devoured by those fissures. Blood scattered through the air, and intense pain swiftly engulfed the old man's entire body.

In his panic, the old man could only withdraw his punch with all his strength. His internal breath clashed, and a mouthful of blood surged from his chest, but this action ultimately preserved most of his arm.

In that single instant, the old man's right arm was nearly crippled. His internal breath was in chaos, and he vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan still stood where he was, calm and unruffled, without making the slightest movement. Such a method exceeded the old man's understanding, and fear began to rise within him.

Madness flashed in his eyes. The old man no longer held back in any way. He spat out a mouthful of blood essence, formed a hand seal, and roared:

"Die!"

A clear sword cry rang out through the room. The Bronze Ancient Sword hanging on the wall slashed toward Shen Yuan like a flying sword from legend.

At that moment, all the frigid yin energy within the entire estate was roused. Beneath its magnificent sword might, every creature of flesh and blood could only lower its head in submission.

"I was already on guard against that move!" Shen Yuan laughed loudly.

Since he knew the person behind this possessed the ability to control the Bronze Ancient Sword, how could Shen Yuan have failed to make preparations?

In his right palm was a thumb-sized porcelain bottle, like an exquisite piece of craftsmanship.

"Please enter the urn!"

He held the porcelain bottle aloft with five fingers and met the Bronze Ancient Sword. Though the ordinary object opened by the Pot-Heaven Divine Ability appeared to have limited space, its small bottle mouth effortlessly swallowed the Bronze Ancient Sword.

The opened space severed the connection between inside and outside. The old man formed hand seals in astonishment, yet he never received any response from the Bronze Ancient Sword.

Meanwhile, before Shen Yuan, who had stored the Bronze Ancient Sword within the porcelain bottle's temporary space, a notification suddenly appeared.

System: Congratulations, Host, for enduring countless hardships, defeating the previous sword master, and ascending to the pinnacle. You have gained the recognition of the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword, Hui Ming.

Hidden achievement completed: Peerless Sword Immortal. Reward: Earthly Fiend Divine Ability: Swordsmanship!