Faced with the blood-haired elder's deeply tempting words, Li Yang did not release the Phoenix Sword clenched between his teeth. He conveyed his will through divine sense:
"Are you a sword cultivator?"
The abrupt question froze the kindly smile on the blood-haired elder's face.
"Why do you ask?"
"In a minor world beyond the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Dao Will, I obtained a sword you had ceased using. It bore your Dao and, over the long ages, merged with killing intent."
The blood-haired elder fell silent for a moment.
"Indeed. I was once a sword cultivator."
Li Yang asked again, "Then why did you stop cultivating the sword?"
"And how do you know I abandoned the Sword Dao I cultivated?" the blood-haired elder countered.
"Because it alone did not undergo Liberation by Violence in this world as your other arts did. Instead, it broke away, preferring to dissolve rather than merge into the Void-Slaying Realm formed from your Dao." Li Yang voiced the doubt in his heart.
From the moment he entered the Void-Slaying Realm, Li Yang had wondered why the Sword Dao alone was absent.
Only after entering the minor world did he learn that this Ancient Immortal had also been a sword cultivator. The baleful source he had obtained was precisely what the Ancient Immortal's Sword Dao weapon had become.
That was why he wondered how this had happened.
Had the Ancient Immortal abandoned the Sword Dao, or had his sword abandoned him?
"Does that matter?" The blood-haired elder clearly did not want to answer. "I cultivated for millions of years. I was a saber cultivator, a body cultivator, and an orthodox spell cultivator. It is perfectly natural that I cultivated the sword as well. Ask no more. This wisp of my divine will is about to dissipate.