The Grass-Character Sword Art

The lake was beautiful, its waters clear and sapphire blue, its banks carpeted with lush green grass.

In the distance, large birds with brilliant plumage paced about, and auspicious beasts appeared from time to time.

A group of children sat cross-legged on the grass, listening attentively as a young girl explained.

"Squeak, squeak~" A round, golden creature cautiously scurried back and forth, stealing dried meat from the beast-hide pouches the children carried. Its mouth never stopped moving.

Of course, this was also because they let it get away with it. The little creature was simply too adorable and endearing, and the children loved it dearly.

They also needed to listen carefully to the lesson, afraid they might miss something.

Teacher Zhao had not held a class in quite some time. This was a rare opportunity.

"Last time, we discussed... Shi Zhonghou, explain this rune for us..."

A somewhat skinny child froze for a moment, then scratched his head. His bright, clever eyes darted about before he puffed out his chest and answered the question.

During lessons, Shi Zhao always called these children by their full names.

Respect went both ways. These students respected her, so naturally, she had to respect them too.

"Teacher Zhao, Little One can already lift a boulder weighing fifty thousand jin. Can he break through to the next realm now?" someone could not help asking.

"For an ordinary person, that would certainly be fine, but he's still nowhere near his limit."

Shi Zhao shook her head and looked at Little Shi before continuing, "In primordial times, the young of the most powerful ferocious beasts, such as True Hou and the Golden-Winged Roc, could lift a hundred thousand jin of divine iron. I hope he can do the same, or even surpass them."

"Huh?" Everyone gasped, their heads spinning.

"And that was with physical strength alone," Shi Zhao added.

Hearing this, Shi Hao immediately waved his little fists, unwilling to disappoint his older sister-

"I can do it!"

"Very good! That's the spirit!"

Night fell, and the willow at the village entrance suddenly radiated a halo that enveloped the entire village. It was just as it had been in the Vast Mountains, where this happened every night.

But the Willow Deity had fallen into slumber for more than half a year and had only now awakened.

"The Willow Deity has revived!" the villagers exclaimed.

At that moment, all the golden fur on Zhu Yan's body stood on end. He was extremely tense, staring fixedly at the lustrous green shoot on the charred trunk.

"Whoosh~" Sensing the astonishing abundance of divine essence and the supreme vitality within it, he suddenly sprang up and pounced toward the willow, actually intending to gnaw on that tender bud.

"Furball, don't!" Before Shi Hao could finish, a slender hand, fair as carved jade, suddenly reached out from the side and seized the little golden beast by the soft scruff of his neck.

Zhu Yan's eyes went perfectly round. He struggled with all his might, but to no avail.

"Your faithful devotee, Shi Xiaozhao, pays her respects to the Willow Deity." The girl stepped forward with a radiant smile and offered her greeting.

Sensing not the slightest ripple in the power of faith, the Willow Deity was momentarily speechless. Only after a long while did a thought reach her. "Not bad. Your cultivation has improved again."

"This time, it was all thanks to your help, Willow Deity..." Shi Zhao did not joke around this time. She solemnly bowed to the charred willow.

Before long, everyone in Stone Village had arrived. With utmost devotion, they performed the rites in earnest, expressing their reverence for their sacrificial spirit.

That night, Shi Zhao returned to the village entrance. Entirely at ease, she sat leaning against the willow and recounted some of her experiences and observations.

She took out the lustrous white Bone Box, which resembled jade, and formed the opening hand seal of the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art.

"To think it would be this supreme ancient heavenly art... I remember a few things now. The so-called Mountain Treasure was actually a legacy lost by the Supreme Hall. Excellent. You've gained quite a fortunate opportunity this time."

Even the Willow Deity could not help praising the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art upon seeing it.

In truth, what deserved even greater praise was that the girl before the willow had mastered this peerless heavenly art in such a short time, while her cultivation had also advanced by leaps and bounds.

"That Bone Box is no ordinary object either. It resembles the bone that records Divine Guidance, the first part of the Primitive True Understanding. According to legend, the Supreme Hall possessed its middle part, the Transcendence Chapter. Others claimed that the middle part was hidden here in the lower realm. Now it seems those rumors may be true. Keep this object safe."

The Willow Deity curled a tender branch around the Bone Box and examined it closely, then solemnly explained a great deal.

Shi Zhao nodded, then revealed her ten cave heavens. The Willow Deity had been about to offer another word of praise, but suddenly noticed something and extended a tender branch into one of them.

This time, the Willow Deity remained silent for a very long time. Only when the night ended and dawn broke did the branch slowly withdraw, yet the silence continued. Somehow, the already charred trunk had taken on an added air of desolation.

Seeing this, Shi Zhao tactfully took her leave without disturbing the willow any further.

The next day, she ventured deep into the shattered Great Wilderness. A thought struck her, and she took a tattered beast hide from the lustrous white Bone Box.

"There's still a treasure I haven't had time to examine. But if I simply unseal it, that'll be wasting a world-shaking attack," she murmured, torn.

The Suanni Method was recorded on this beast hide, but its runes were so blurred that they were almost illegible.

She had long since mastered the Suanni Precious Technique, so it did not matter if she could not read them clearly. That was not the point. What mattered most was another world-shaking divine ability hidden within the hide.

It was a supreme sword art!

"I can't stop eating for fear of choking. Making myself stronger is the only right answer." Shi Zhao made her decision and hesitated no longer.

After a moment's thought, she summoned the Tattered Cloth from her sea of consciousness, hoping it would bring her a pleasant surprise.

Then she hurriedly retreated and slipped inside the lustrous white Bone Box, with the Black Cauldron enclosing it. She also opened her cave heavens, ready at any moment to deploy the fragment of the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk.

"Shhh! Shhh! Shhh!"

In an instant, Silver Sword Qi crisscrossed the air. The surrounding mountains were pulverized in the blink of an eye, and the void was pierced through. Even the stars beyond this realm trembled, as though they were about to be cut down.

The sword qi was overwhelmingly fierce, piercing anything and everything, annihilating all that possessed physical form.

Fortunately, in the next instant, a palm-sized scrap of Tattered Cloth floated gently onto the torn beast hide, actually neutralizing that world-shaking attack capable of cutting down stars.

The beast hide turned to ash, leaving behind a silver Metal Page. Patterns and mysterious symbols covered its surface as it emanated sword qi, peerless and unmatched!

At the same time, she could see that a sword-shaped mark had somehow appeared on the back of the dingy Tattered Cloth, with a strand of sword qi coiling beside it.

"The Grass Character Sword Art!"

Shi Zhao tried hard to keep the corners of her mouth from curling upward, but ultimately failed.

Besides the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art, the Supreme Hall's most prized legacy included another secret technique: the Grass Character Sword Art, one of the three greatest sword arts in the world.

A single blade of grass could cut down the sun, moon, and stars!

And among the Ten Fiends, one was a blade of grass. Its leaves resembled swords, nine in all. When those nine leaves swayed, heaven and earth were overturned

, and its sword qi cleaved the great cosmos apart. It was powerful beyond measure.

Of course, the nine-leaf sword grass was also the most mysterious and unfortunate of the Ten Fiends.

Even during the Immortal Ancient era, no one knew exactly how powerful it was or whether it was an Immortal King.

Yet when the great war erupted, four Immortal Kings from the Foreign Realm crossed over together, and their gateway happened to open right where it had taken root.

With nowhere to hide and no way to escape, the nine-leaf sword grass could only fight a bloody battle.

Even with the unparalleled offensive might of the Grass Character Sword Art, and even if it had already entered the realm of Immortal Kings, it could not withstand four against one. Naturally, it was never seen again.