The Universe’s Dawn
Nian Bing smiled bitterly. “Stop joking with me. I don’t want to be a saint, I don’t have a good personality, and I have no such grand pursuits. Can’t I just make you food? I don’t want to die.” While saying this, he took out the Holy Light Stone from his space ring and passed it to Salamandhys. An intoxicated light appeared in his eyes, and he looked up at the sky.
"Nian Bing, boy, don't forget, I am the mighty Salamandhys, is there anything the mighty Salamandhys doesn't understand? You are a chef, whether your character is good or bad affects the food you make very much. I have never eaten human food before; if your food wasn't so good, do you think I would waste so much thought on you? To squander such consideration from the mighty Salamandhys won't be any good for you."
Nian Bing was surprised. He was about to say something when he felt his whole body shake. A scorching stream of air wrapped around him and sent him to the edge of the cave. In the next moment, Salamandhys was holding the knife in one hand, the stone in the other and began to chant. A strange language, like a low buzzing, began to waft outwards. His voice wasn't loud, but the whole cave trembled. Salamandhys' hands turned red and sparkly as his red aura began to pour into the Holy Light Stone and the Dawn Knife.
When Feng Nu was fusing the True Sun Knife and the Flame God's Stone together, she had used a massive quantity of qi in the furnace that Hua Tian left behind. But the process was child's play for Salamandhys. When the golden light from the Dawn Knife and the Holy Light Stone turned the same color as his hands, the knife and the precious stone fused together. The slender but stalwart knife handle embedded with the Holy Light Stone didn't look disharmonic at all. It was like it always belonged there.
Nian Bing was sighing in admiration of Salamandhys' strength when Salamandhys suddenly shrieked. He threw the Dawn Knife, and in a flash of red, it appeared right in front of Nian Bing. He had no time to react, but his trigger magic scrolls activated in quick succession in a beautiful strobe of light. In total, four protective magic scrolls activated almost simultaneously, however they could not stop the red-jade light. It was a penetrating force that could not be stop by scrolls or spells.
The scrolls could not even alter its course slightly. An intense scorching sensation overcame him, and the knife pierced through. Nian Bing clearly heard his ribs shatter and smelt the acrid stench of his burnt flesh. At the same time, his life force rapidly decreased. Although it was stuck in the right part of his chest, the Dawn Knife was too strong. Paired with Salamandhys' strength, it lifted Nian Bing like a straw bag, stuck him together with the knife in the wall.
Nian Bing received such a heavy wound, but he didn't feel any pain. Because the knife was so hot, his wound immediately closed up so that not even blood flowed. He was at a loss. Why did Salamandhys want to kill me? Am I going to die like this? Everything ended just as the prospects of leaving here occurred, his life was taken away.
A red light flashed, and Salamandhys appeared in front of Nian Bing. He smiled strangely, still reciting incantations. He gripped the handle inlaid with the Holy Light Stone, and a spell like waves of water encompassed Nian Bing. He suddenly felt warmth in his body. That Dawn Knife stealing his life was emitting a warm stream. His numb wound started to sting, then he felt nothing after the warm stream passed through him. As the pain rapidly disappeared, the light twinkled. His life force stopped dwindling and started to recover.
Salamandhys suddenly grunted and pulled out the Dawn Knife from Nian Bing's chest. As it was taken out, his wound wa
s covered with a golden light; no blood oozed out. Salamandhys' expression suddenly became focused. Wielding the knife with his right hand, he continued with his crazy chants. Then a gold and blue light appeared, light and water elements simultaneously covered Nian Bing's wound.
Light and water were both specialized in healing. Combined as they were now, they were even more powerful healing agents. Nian Bing's wound was healed completely, not a trace of a scar left behind. Even his blood circulation and magic vortex weren't affected in the least. When the magic left his body, he slowly slid to the ground, feeling like he reborn. From life to the verge of death, then back to life. That feeling stimulated his mental state greatly.
He struggled to stand from the ground. After checking his body, Nian Bing angrily shouted, "Salamandhys, are you crazy? Although my life is in your hands, if you're going to play with me like that, it would be better just to kill me." He had no intentions to fight with Salamandhys as it was futile. He coldly glared at Salamandhys.
Salamandhys snorted. "You aren't amusing at all, why would I play with you? Idiot, do you think that Dawn is something that anyone can use? I just forcefully merged your treasure stone and it together, but there was an intense backlash from the Dawn Knife. Fortunately the stone is one of the purest light element so the fusion was successful. But after it fused, it needed a baptism of spirit. Dawn's owner was a human and I am a dragon, so of course I need your blood. You, boy, actually used a trigger magic scroll. You almost destroyed my plans. Luckily I used enough force. Now you have been acknowledged by Dawn. From now on, this knife yours. As for whether or not you can use it to its fullest potential depends on you."
Seeing Salamandhys hand him the Dawn Knife, Nian Bing grabbed the handle skeptically. Salamandhys let go, and Nian Bing felt his whole body sink. Because he was totally focused on that feeling of being stabbed, he fell forward with the knife. With a pu! Dawn was halfway stuck into the ground, until he managed to stabilize himself.
Salamandhys took delight in his fortune. "Boy, making Dawn into your kitchen knife definitely wasn't an easy task. Just take your time enjoying it. You won't have any side effects with my rank 9 light and water magic. Except for your head exploding, you couldn't die if you wanted to." He looked at Nian Bing evilly. He already thought of a good way to heal him.
Nian Bing looked at the long knife. Although it could be that his spirit hadn't recovered, he practiced knife arts for many, many years. His arms were much stronger than the normal person, but he actually couldn't lift the Dawn Knife. Very obviously, Dawn's weight was much heavier than it looked. He gripped the handle with both hands, and exerted all his might to lift it upwards. He forced it level with his body. He was surprised to discover that Dawn weighed over a hundred jin.
Even if he used both hands, he couldn't brandish the heavy holy knife. He couldn't help but smile bitterly. "Oh mighty Salamandhys, if you wanted to hurt me, you didn't need to be so roundabout. This knife is trash to me. I can't use at all."
The golden knife light completely disappeared, like it was never there in the first place. However, Nian Bing could faintly sense that this holy knife seemed to have lost some of its metallic feeling, like it was made of pure light element. Such an unadulterated feeling as well as a massive divine aura made him calm down from his earlier shock. The Heavenly Flower Tile by his bosom felt much more peaceful, mutually shining with the Dawn Knife. It felt much more comfortable.
The light brought warmth, sweeping away his negative mood. Everything returned to normal, and Nian Bing's eyes turned calm.
Salamandhys said ill temperedly, "You actually said this treasured knife is trash. You really don't know anything. Let me tell you, this knife weighs 128 jin, two time the average 64 jin heavy sword. It is classified as a heavy weapon, and with your precious stone, this knife's light element aura is extremely thick. If you were to meet a dark attributed animal or a bastard like that guy who snatched Modas' Sealed Bottle, this Holy Dawn Knife will protect you. Dark or negative areas cannot harm you. Such a good thing is a matchless treasure yet you don't want it."
Nian Bing smiled bitterly. "I know it's a great item, but don't forget, I am a mage, not a warrior. Even if I was a warrior, perhaps there's no one who could use a 128 jin knife." Would it be comfortable for him to carry it? Although he was extremely unwilling to part with the Holy Light Stone, but he was even more unable to use this knife.
Salamandhys chuckled. "I'm doing this for your own good! You human mages always cultivate magic and spirit power, but you don't know that you're all wrong. Everything has its limits, including the human body. Simply cultivating magic power and spirit power makes mage's bodies trained to the lowest level. You're somewhat better; as a mage, at least you still have some activity. Ordinary mages have much weaker bodies than you.
"Because they fundamentally don’t understand that the body is the origin of everything. When your magic and spirit power is raised to a fixed level, an extreme burden is placed on the body. This burden can hamper your magic. To raise a simple example, you human magisters can't easily use a forbidden rank spell, or a rank 11 spell.
"They obviously have the strength, so why wouldn't they just use it all the time? If you asked, they will definitely tell you some nonsense about being afraid of the magic backlash. That's dog's ass. The magic you use is simply the display of your connection to the magic of the world. Except for dark magic which you need to sacrifice yourself, ordinary magic don't have backlash. The backlash those magisters talk about is simply is the resonance between the forbidden spell and the magic element of the world."
"The resonance with magic element?" Nian Bing looked at Salamandhys with surprise. Since he came to know the mighty Salamandhys, Nian Bing found that he kept discovering new areas of magic.
Salamandhys chuckled. "That's right. It's the resonance of magic. At that time, magic elements will produce a strong resonance. After all, it's a rank 11 spell. Those mages took a long time to cultivate into old magisters and have shoddy bodies. How could they withstand the resonance? They would just be courting disaster, so they don't dare use it.
"Conversely, if your body is healthy and robust, resonance will harm you less when you use it, to the point that you might not be affected at all. That way, not only can you use stronger spells, but at the same time, bottlenecks in magic power cultivation will be easier to break through. Didn't you wish to learn a lot of magic from me?"
"Today, I taught you my own knowledge. So you need to take this Dawn Knife and train your body, so that your magic prospects won't be limited. Since you can make trigger magic scrolls, you seem to have some future."
Nian Bing thought over this carefully. He secretly felt that Salamandhys' teachings were very logical, but his sparkling eyes made him feel uneasy. He looked at the Dawn Knife. He was indeed reluctant to give it to Salamandhys. After all, it matched with Morning Dew, True Sun, Proud Sky!
Immediately, he nodded. "Since this knife is already mine, I will change its name. I don't hope to be a saint, so I will name this knife after my precious stone, the Holy Light Knife. But in order to commemorate that senior, I will call it the Universe's Dawn."
Salamandhys put his hands behind his back and nodded in satisfaction. "The Universe's Dawn-Holy Light Knife. It's a pretty good name. Okay, we should set out. Nian Bing, I'll help you train your body and safeguard your ring. So you carry the Holy Light Knife on the mountain range yourself. I think that after we get out of the Tian Dang Mountains, your body will be on a different level. You have made me several days worth of meals, so don't worry, I will help provide food for you on the road. Let's go."
His figure flashed. He didn't wait for Nian Bing to understand. His space ring already disappeared. Next, Nian Bing felt himself rocket straight up, almost weightlessly, out of the cave.