"I'm so dead!"
The scent of blood filled the air and the snake almost got a taste of Kong Luo's neck.
In a state of panic, Kong Luo tripped and fell.
"Don't you dare hurt him, you fiend!"
The group of people who came over ran towards Kong Luo at the speed of light and quickly formed up with their knives, ready to annihilate the snake.
As a fight was about to emerge, it made Kong Luo felt relieved. "Are these… Xu Ting's bodyguards? I'm saved!"
He took a good look at these people and noticed that Xu Ting was leading them; he felt like he was in luck.
Knowing that Xu Ting's side was filled with skilful people, Kong Luo knew his life was saved.
"Swoosh!"
Sparks flew as blades hit the snake's scales.
Kong Luo scrambled to Xu Ting's side; he finally managed to stand up and looked at the black snake.
The snake was extremely thick and was about 10 yards long. It had fierce serpentine eyes, shiny scales and a flicking forked tongue that was waiting to devour a human.
"Such a humongous black snake, no, black python! What a monstrous fiend!"
Xu Ting's eyes shined brightly. As he saw the big python, he immediately hollered, "We must kill it, else it would harm our troops and farms!"
"Yes, Sir!"
As the two men fighting could not defeat the snake, a few more martial arts experts amongst his numerous skilled subordinates leapt out with their weapons.
Not only that, a few accompanying daoist priests began chanting curses and the fighters were imbued with magical powers. Their strength and vital elemental energy were greatly boosted.
"Black Tiger Claw!"
"Elemental Splitting Palm!"
"Kill it!'
Swords flung as gale like punches were thrown.
Blood spewed out from the black python as numerous attacks landed on it at the same time.
"Thud!"
Amongst the numerous attacks, an arrow flashed past and accurately hit the fatal spot on the python's heart.
"Hhiii...iisss…"
After a few struggles, the python finally succumbed and collapsed.
"Sir, great archery skills!"
After the people around began congratulating, Kong Luo then realised that Xu Ting was wielding a large purple bow. The bowstring was still vibrating when Kong Luo realised it.
"Eh…"
Xu Ting moved closer to the black python but chose to not go too close.
Although the black python's heart was shot and its body was severed into many pieces, due to its humongous body, its vitality was still strong even if it seemed like it could not fight back.
"This snake looks not bad. Pythons are not poisonous and we can use it to stew soup for our people…"
As Xu Ting looked at the snake's carcass, he seemed to have thought of something and smiled.
"Yes, Sir!"
The soldiers replied excitedly. "The soup stewed from this snake's meat along with some meat from an old hen and a few eggs would be so nourishing…"
A few people went up to the snake and began prepping it.
"Eh? There's something in the snake's tail!"
As a warrior was cutting open the snake's skin, he saw a purple glow in the corner of his eyes. Out of curiosity, he sliced open the snake's tail and acquired a sword.
"Sir…, there's a sword hidden in the snake's tail!"
Being quick-witted, he immediately carried the sword with both hands, kneeled in front of Xu Ting and presented the sword to him, "Looks like this is what the heaven is granting you, Sir! Your life is fated to build a military!"
In this realm, heavenly visions would appear before heroes.
The acquiring of a sword from a black python was indeed a strange and wonderful occurrence.
The sword would be put to great use in the future, it could fight thousands of soldiers!
"Oh?"
Xu Ting was both surprised and delighted.
It was because such a happening was very auspicious and also the fact that the man had a way with his words.
By building a military, he could either be the ruler who unites countries or be the minister who supports; there were lots of leeway for him.
However, if the warrior had talked about how it was pure fate, Xu Ting would have killed him instead.
Hence, he received the sword cheerily, "Not bad, really not bad!"
Many of the surrounding people felt jealous of his praises but could only hide their feelings and proceeded to celebrate.
"Congratulations, Sir, for acquiring the sword!"
"Swish!"
Xu Ting had practised swordsmanship before. As he casually swung the sword, a cool purple glow appeared.
The 40-inch long blade was clear as snow and could clearly reflect his face on it. There was also a tinge of purple that Xu Ting liked. He then ordered someone to duel with him, only to hear a "clang" as the opponent's sword broke in half. The sword was indeed extremely sharp.
"Haha… what a good sword!"
Xu Ting was ecstatic. He observed the sword and noticed the ancient inscription of "Purple Suo" on it.
The more he looked at it, the more he liked it. Immediately, he equipped the sword on his waist.
"In the past, there was a king who killed a water dragon and then ruled the world, now… from how I had acquired this sword, could this be a sign from the heavens too?"
Xu Ting pondered. Regardless, he was not going to bestow this sword to anyone else and was determined to keep the sword for his own good use.
"We will hold a feast tonight!"
As he gave out his instruction with glee, he naturally did not notice a certain daoist priest's panic-stricken look.
"No one's caring about me…"
As Kong Luo saw the big group left, he felt gloomy as he dusted the dirt off his body.
Compared to the countless martial arts experts and other powerful daoist priests, Kong Luo knew he was no match for them and could only take a backseat.
But as he thought of another daoist priest's expression just now, he felt odd. "Why did daoist Qing Xuan have such a furtive look on his face? He seems to know the origins of that sword? But such treasures from such beasts were meant to be powerful in the first place!"
As he watched the crowd rush to attend the feast, he could only think of how powerless he was.
"This time around, I can at least take a backseat at the feast, but what about next year or the year after? As the newcomers laugh, who could hear the old-timer weep…"
His interest waned and he felt as though he did not want to appear at the feast to further embarrass himself.
At that moment, as he looked at the trail of blood from the black python, he suddenly had an idea.
"From daoist Qing Xuan's gaze, this snake must not be normal. Such a beast would not have appeared for no reason…"
He proceeded to walk in the opposite direction and arrived at the hill where he was feeding his birds. He then began searching carefully.
Sure enough, the moment he prised open the bushes, he saw a pathway the snake must have taken. After following it, he reached a cave that had a faint stench.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained! I will take the risk!"
Kong Luo bravely entered the cave only to realise the cave was clean and had no signs of snakeskin left behind.
Except, at the end of the cave, there was a green light emitted from a small sword.
On the cave walls, there was a chant for a formula inscribed on it. The inscription was not long as there were only a few hundred words, but however, they were beautifully expressed. Upon seeing such, Kong Luo was shocked.
There was no time to waste for Kong Luo to wonder about why no one had ever discovered this place. He immediately began to recite it by heart.
"This is a powerful magical formula, and the spiritual treasure too… they are really gifts from the heavens! The revival of my sect is truly pure fate of the heavens..."
He immediately kept the spiritual sword according to the magical formula and felt stronger at once.
The spiritual sword was a treasure for killing. Thus, his magical techniques did not improve, but obviously, his lethality was vastly superior to before. With this, he could have the confidence and strength to fight alongside other daoists in front of Xu Ting.
"Hmm… that Daoist Qing Xuan…"
Before he strode out the cave, he waved his arms and a green sword essence appeared. The cave walls were scratched beyond recognition at once.
"Very well…"
After Kong Luo left the cave, Fang Yuan appeared outside the cave and watched his back view leaving. Fang Yuan was satisfied and thought to himself. "He does seem decisive, looks like he has the potential!"
The two swords had some fate energy converging on it, or to put it in another way, it contained parts of the turning point for Xuan Zhen Sect. Hence, Fang Yuan could not keep them for long, else it would be detrimental to his fate energy. Not only would Xuan Zhen Sect chase after him, some of the swords' tribulations might even pass over to him.
By gifting the swords, it reflected Fang Yuan's intelligence.
Firstly, these two swords had already been cultivated. By gifting it away, the favour would be returned to him in the future.
Also, it was the perfect plan to give the swords to Xu Ting and a daoist priest from the same clan.
With how invested Xuan Zhen Sect was in Xu family, would they dare to demand the return of the Purple Suo sword from Xu Ting?
Since Kong Luo was also part of Xu family, and the fact that he was now under the protection of the spiritual sword, Xuan Zhen Sect would not dare to start a conflict with him.
After doing these things, Xu Ting felt energised.
He opened his spiritual eyes and saw karma slowly descending from the skies. He could not contain his joy as he knew he reached a key point.
This time, he managed to seize a decent amount of Xuan Zhen Sect's fate energy karma.
"Not only are there people dao karma, there's also heavenly karma! I shall use it to increase my cultivation!"
Fang Yuan made up his mind.
On top of his head, streaks of golden essence gathered and formed the shape of seven shiny golden flowers.
Whereas, the green balls of energy, through mysterious ways, turned in to the realm's energy and swarmed into the actualised dream world.
In the 8 Gates Sword Array, the fire and water swords shined brightly, while on the east gate, lightning struck and the Thunder Sword formed more than half as it emitted electrifying illuminations.
The 3 swords' luminance rushed to skies and the power of the 3 talents could be vaguely seen.
"More than half of the Sundering Thunder Sword has been formed?"
Fang Yuan looked at his stats board:
"Name: Fang Yuan
Race: Horned Dragon
Essence: 36
Spirit: 36
Magic: 45
Profession: ???
Cultivation: ???
Technique: [9 Steps of Dragon Transformation Formula (7th Transformation)], [Weather Controlling Technique (Grade 1)], [Natural Magical Strength (Grade 3)], [8 Gates Sword Array (3rd Sword) (55%)]
Skill: [Medicine (Level 3)], [Botany (Level 5)]"
"The further I progress in the 8 Gates Sword Array, the harder it is to form the swords. However, its might is even more unimaginable…"
A look of joy appeared on Fang Yuan's face as he thought, "Hmm…, by helping Xu family this time, it was simply an early investment. The karma I received wasn't a lot too… Only during chaos where Xu family rises to power is when I will truly gain the most from!"
At that moment, as Xu family still did not officially reign an area, its influence was naturally not as great.
However, once the world entered a state of chaos and undergone big changes, even if Xu Ting were to become a just a duke, he could still influence millions of commoners. Hence, the karma Fang Yuan would receive from it would be exceedingly bountiful.
Fang Yuan was eagerly anticipating for it to happen.
"Nevertheless… even with my strength now, I am still a formidable force to be reckoned with...Seems like some issues in the past can be settled already too…" he pondered as he looked towards the direction of Qi Lake.