"I can't die... Right! I still can't die!"
"As long as the green hills remain, there'll be no shortage of firewood. It's not that I'm unwilling to climb high today—I've merely chosen a steadier, roundabout path!"
Hua Maochen tried hard to convince himself, then prepared to reverse his cultivation and return to his original sword body.
But such blatantly cowardly words could at most offer him a little self-comfort.
Trying to deceive his own Sword Heart was nothing but deceiving himself.
Thus, just as he began clearing out the accumulated sword intent within his body, he discovered that his Sword Heart was fiercely tugging at that sword intent, resisting his own will.
After several attempts proved useless, Hua Maochen was driven to desperation and actually began cursing his own Sword Heart.
"What are you pulling for? What are you dragging for?!"
"You think I wanted this?!"
"Everything was going so well, and it all fell apart because you failed me at the crucial moment!"
"Now you're fighting me again! If you want to die, then go die—don't drag me down with you!"
He roared at his Sword Heart, and that Sword Heart, which had retained some radiance, completely dimmed beneath his barrage of curses.
With no light in his Sword Heart, the sword intent within him grew even more restless, beginning to slash at his mind.
The result of this vicious cycle was that Hua Maochen found every step increasingly difficult, utterly trapped between advancing and retreating.
Throughout the entire sword-intent space, his near-mad howls and roars began to echo without end.
Meanwhile, outside, Hong Yao, whose face had been grave, suddenly sensed signs that the Sword Qi within the thunderclouds was beginning to scatter.
"This is... something has gone wrong with his own technique!"
Joy appeared on Hong Yao's