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Translator: KuroNeko
Editor: Samskor
Enjoy this super long/ info-loaded chapter :3
Chapter 13: Hell’s Sword Nine Techniques (冥字九决)
Ah Dai had been kicked over 50 metres away, but the scene of the enormous surging force from the dou qi was still deeply engraved in his mind.
The vice leader shouted, “He is going to fight to the death, everyone attack together!” He could no longer stay out of the fight. Moving his body, a great claw-shaped golden dou qi shot towards Owen’s silhouette.
Owen let out a wretched laugh as the eerie blue light shone brighter, “Hell’s Sword Instant — Death —— Cleave!” All the streaks of light recombined, forming a huge blue colored light blade. With a cleave, the golden colored dou qi claw instantly dispersed. The light blade slowed down, but still managed to take the life of an assassin, and his body disappeared without even leaving a trace.
The vice leader was taken aback, he had only heard that there were two moves of the Hell’s Sword, one was the [Heaven Splitting Earth Crasher], and the other was the [Ghost and God Terrorizer]. He was able to deal with the power of these two moves, so he was unafraid of Owen’s resistance. However, this third move of the Hell’s Sword that he had never heard of, just appeared in front of his eyes, and this caused him to be extremely shocked. If not for his subordinate using his life to face that bizarre and domineering attack, he was not confident of taking on that strike himself. The vice leader no longer dared to hide his true power, and the golden glow around him instantly spread out, forming countless claws that shot towards Owen who had just finished his third move. The remaining two members of the Y assassination group also followed after, even though they were facing such a strong opponent, their resolves were not shaken.
Owen was already prepared as he roared, “Die! Hell’s Sword Endless — Cleaving —— Shadows!” Numerous blue colored shadows floated out from his body, and shot towards the vice leader in mid air. The vice leader let out a cry of astonishment, “More moves?” The huge waves of blue light that contained death qi rushed towards him. The dou qi that he had released seemed so weak in comparison that it was consumed immediately by the light. He could not be bothered to continue attacking, but sought self-preservation instead. Raising his arms, he caught the two assassins by his side, and used all of his energy to throw them towards the large sea of eerie blue light.
The last two assassins did not even have time to cry out, before they disappeared amidst the air. However, the remaining blue light had still managed to take away one of the vice leader’s hands. He could feel the blood and life force flowing out from his left arm and without hesitation, he grabbed his left elbow, and forcefully tore away his lower arm, throwing it away.
Owen rushed towards the vice leader like a mad devil, yelling, “Hell’s Sword… …”
Once he heard the two words, the vice leader was scared out of his wits. Instantly, his right fist smashed towards the ground, causing a loud boom. Amidst the noise, a crater of almost 3 metres deep appeared, and the vice leader had used the rebound force to jump away, disappearing in the distance.
All of this, had only happened in a few breaths’ of time, when Ah Dai had rushed over, everything was over. Owen was half-kneeling on the floor, panting non-stop as Ah Dai dashed towards him, crying out in excitement, “Uncle, Uncle, you are so powerful! The bad people were all chased away by you.”
However, Owen did not reply, merely continued panting. Ah Dai was shocked and immediately went behind Owen’s back, sending his pure true qi into Owen. With Ah Dai’s help, Owen seemed much more at ease, as he let out a breath and turned his head towards Ah Dai, saying, “Quickly bring me into the house. Don’t stop, continue giving me your true qi.”
Ah Dai was surprised to discover that Owen’s eyes had turned fully red, and there was a faint blue qi on his face, almost making him seem like a blood man. Hastily, he helped Owen up, using one hand to place Owen’s arm over his shoulder, while his other hand was placed on Owen’s back, constantly providing true qi.
Returning to the room, Ah Dai helped Owen to lie on the bed, and used one hand to press against Owen’s dantian, using all of his energy to circulate his true qi. Unfortunately, Ah Dai found that Owen’s condition had become abnormally chaotic, his true qi was moving erratically, causing his face to change color. In addition, although the blue colored qi did not become denser, there were still no signs of it dissipating.
“It’s okay Ah Dai, you don’t need to give me so much true qi, just maintain a little will be enough.” Owen wheezed out, as he opened his blood red eyes.
“Uncle, are you alright? You need to rest well, don’t speak too much, you will surely recover.” Ah Dai asked in concern.
Lightly shaking his head, Owen replied, “Ah Dai, listen to Uncle. Uncle has a lot of things to tell you, if I don’t say it now, I’m afraid there will be no time in the future.”
Tears streamed down Ah Dai’s cheeks as he shook his head fiercely, “No, no, Uncle, you will surely be fine, you will surely recover.”
Owen let out a smile, “Child, everyone will die one day, Uncle is already over 60 years old, it would not be considered a premature death. However, Uncle still has a lot of unfulfilled wishes, I hope that you can help Uncle. Then, Uncle can die in satisfaction.”
Ah Dai choked out, “Uncle, tell me, Ah Dai will surely work hard to accomplish your wishes.”
Owen sighed, “I’m really ashamed to say, Uncle has done many wrong things throughout my life. When I was fit and young, I wandered the continent, relying on my martial arts. In order to earn more money, I joined the an assassin group, which was part of the Assassins Guild. I was young and reckless, not knowing the meaning of fear, and I committed some serious offences. However, I was careless, and my identity was revealed. As a result, I became a wanted fugitive of all the four empires. And from then on, I could no longer live a normal life, and fell into the claws of the Assassins Guild. When I was 27, I had already reached the level of an Annihilator*. At 37, I became the leader of the M assassination group in the Assassins Guild. Although there are not a lot of assassins in the guild, every one of them possesses extremely strong martial arts, and they are skilled in concealment and assassination. There are four levels of assassins, the highest being the Annihilators (M), then Silent Assassins (R), Dark Assassins (A), and normal assassins (C).”
[TN: In Chapter 9.1, the voice mentioned M level assassins -> Annihilator level, each level of assassins form 1 assassination group, the group name in brackets]
Owen wheezed a few times, and Ah Dai immediately rushed to supply him more true qi. Owen looked at Ah Dai, and there was a hint of grief in his blood-red eyes.
“Uncle, rest a while first, don’t speak anymore.”
Owen shook his head, “I’ll have no other chance if I don’t say it now. After I’ve finished speaking, you must hurry up and leave this place. I don’t need you to remember every word that I’ve said, but you must listen closely, this concerns your future. Apart from the four groups of assassins, there is another even more mysterious group. They are the ones who ambushed us just now, wearing a silver skull on their chest. In the guild, they are known as the Slayers (Y assassination group). They are veterans who retired as Annihilator level assassins, all of them are over 60 years old and the organization will support their remaining years. Of course, due to their many years of experience, along with their impressive skills, whenever there are special missions, they will still be tasked to carry them out. These Slayers have extremely honorable positions within the organisation, and only His Highness, AH! No, the leader of the Assassins Guild can mobilize them. I’m not too sure about their exact numbers, but it shouldn’t be too many. I’ve killed 6 today, I estimate there is at most 6 of them left. That man with the gold skull on his chest, is the vice leader of the Assassins Guild. You’ve seen his skills, if not for the Hell’s Sword, I would not be a match for him.”
Ah Dai asked, “Uncle, is that vice leader your enemy?”
Owen widened his blood-red eyes, and said with hatred in his voice, “He is just one of them. The other one, is the leader of the Assassins Guild, also called His Highness by the other assassins. It was him, who destroyed my original peaceful life, and ruined my future.” As he spoke, his body suddenly started convulsing, writhing continuously as he exuded a monstrous hatred. After a long while, Owen finally continued, “Speaking of this, I must tell you a secret of mine. Ah Dai, unwrap my robes.”
Ah Dai was confused, but he still followed Owen’s instructions. He carefully unwrapped Owen’s blood-stained robes, there was a slit in his clothes, and it was slightly bulging, seeming as though there was something within.
Owen took a deep breath, a white light flashed across his face, and he pressed against his back with much difficulty. There was a movement near his chest and he carefully retrieved an item from the slit in his clothes. It was a black leather sack, with long strings slanting across it. The black sack was thin, about 5 inches long, and a black sword hilt peeked out from it. There were complicated symbols carved on the hilt, with a glowing black jewel at the end of the hilt, that was continuously emanating evil qi.
Owen seemed somewhat infatuated as he looked towards the sword hilt, sighing, “This is the Hell’s Sword that helped Uncle to become famous in the continent.” He grabbed the hilt, and pulled out the Hell’s Sword from the leather sack. There was a lifelike white dragon carved on the sheath of the sword, but this dragon did not have any scales, only a skeleton and claws. It looked extremely bizarre, especially with two eerie blue jewels as its eyes. The sword was merely taken out of the sack, still unsheathed, but the evil qi had immediately become denser. Even with the protection of his true qi, Ah Dai could not help but shiver.
“This leather sack had never left my side for almost 40 years. My title as the “King of Hell” was also due to this sword. This sword is the greatest evil in this continent, although it had given me unparalleled power, it had also indirectly ruined my life. That year, I was 27. As I have been practising martial arts since young, at that time, I could already be considered as an expert. The young and reckless me, loved to adventure, and I would always wander the continent with a group of friends. By chance, we came across an ancient hideout, it was laden with traps, but it still aroused our interest. After a month’s worth of effort, we finally reached the depths of the hideout. There were no treasures, unlike what we had originally thought, instead there was only a large magic sealing array, and the sword was in the middle of it. It was only until some time later, that I found out the purpose of the sealing array, was to seal the evil qi within the Hell’s Sword. We have tried many different methods, but we still could not break the sealing array. To the group of adventurous people like us, how could we just give up so easily? Finally, after a whole month’s time, we managed to find the core of the array. Just as we broke the core, the immense evil qi devoured the life of my companions, and I was the only one able to survive due to my holy attribute qi from the Boundless Life Art which I’ve cultivated since young. The Hell’s Sword seemed to have sentience, as it floated towards me. The death of my companions had deeply shaken me, and I wanted to place the Hell’s Sword back into the sealing array. However, the array was already broken, and could not be repaired. It was at that time when a noise suddenly sounded from the cave. Even now, I can clearly remember that voice, it was left behind using an advanced level sound transmission magic, and the voice claimed that he was the 4th Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church. He had accidentally found the Hell’s Sword, but was almost consumed by that immense evil force. Even with his ability, he still could not destroy the sword, and could only seal the sword in an array that was set up by him and some other crimson-robed priests. He said, ‘Whoever breaks this sealing array, would become the sinner of this world. One must be the guardian of the sword, and not allow it to wreak havoc.’ At the same time when the Supreme Pontiff had obtained the Hell’s Sword, he had also obtained two scrolls. One of them, was the method of using the Hell’s Sword; and the other, even he was unable to understand. According to my calculations, at the time I got the sword, it had at least several thousand years of history. You should know, the Supreme Pontiff now, is already of the 28th generation.”
Emotions surged in Owen, as he looked at the evil sword within his hands, dimly shaking his head. The story behind the Hell’s Sword had also ignited Ah Dai’s curiosity, while suppressing the evil qi, he asked, “Since this sword is so evil, why does Uncle still use it?”
Owen bitterly smiled, “This is the human desire. Even though the Hell’s Sword is incomparably evil, it still contains a powerful force. With this power, one can definitely become a supreme expert. How can I, someone who has a passion for martial arts, resist its temptation? In the cave, I opened the first scroll, and followed the descriptions inside, learning two of the moves. At that time, I was not yet obsessed, and could still firmly recall what the Supreme Pontiff had said, thus I kept the Hell’s Sword, and did not let anyone see it. This leather sack, was handmade by that Supreme Pontiff, and it has an effect of suppressing the evil qi. Therefore, when the sword is within the sack, it’s evil qi is not that obvious.” As he spoke, he kept the Hell’s Sword back into the sack, the evil qi immediately converged, and Ah Dai instantly heaved a sigh of relief. At this moment, the blue qi on Owen’s face seemed to have increased and his body was shaking uncontrollably, a clear sign that the poison of the Holy Matchless Water was breaking out.
“Uncle, the poison seems to flaring up, you better rest first. I will help you use dou qi to suppress it.”
Owen shook his head, “There’s no need, the poison has already penetrated the marrow, Uncle cannot be saved. Let me finish speaking, if not, even after I die, I will not rest in peace. I have kept all of this in my heart for too long. When I was 27, I had already cultivated the Boundless Life Art to the Fifth Stage, the stage that you are about to reach soon. My strength was not weak, but I was still unable to face true experts. My parents had perished in a tsunami when I was young, and I was taken in by my master while I was wandering. My master is one of the 5 well-known Sword Saints in the continent, his skills have already reached a transcendental realm. After I obtained the Hell’s Sword, I wanted to quickly return to Master’s side, and continue cultivating. However, on the way back, I met a group of bandits. They were plundering a village, setting fire and massacring the villagers, doing all sorts of evil deeds. At that time, I still had a sense of righteousness, and rushed up without hesitation. When I had killed most of the bandits, their boss suddenly appeared. I had never thought that, such an expert would actually appear in such a remote village. Only after 10 moves or so, I was already heavily injured by him, he had recognized my school, and was fearful of my Master’s retaliation, thus he decided to kill me in order to silence me. Just as I was about to die, I suddenly recalled the Hell’s Sword, and the first move [Heaven splitting earth crasher]. Under my control, I attacked, but since it was my first time executing that move, I had yet to fully master it. That strike did not only kill my opponents, but the evil qi from the sword had also taken all the remaining lives of the villagers. It was also because of my reckless usage of the Hell’s Sword, that changed my entire life.” Owen’s face was filled with agony as he spoke.
Shocked, Ah Dai muttered, “All the villagers died?”
Owen nodded, “Yes, they’ve all become corpses, and there’s no one left alive, the evil qi of the Hell’s Sword is really too tyrannical. When I woke up, I saw that all of the villagers had become corpses; that sight, almost made me go crazy, I had never killed so many people before! So, I vowed then, to never use the Hell’s Sword again. It took a full month before I finally recovered. However, on the way back to Master, I met the people from the Assassins Guild. I have no idea how they found out that I had the Hell’s Sword, but they kept pestering me to join them. I was a disciple from a proper and upright school at that time, how could I agree to join them? So I flatly rejected them, and sent them away. But who knew, because of this, my beloved, was brutally abused to death.” Owen tightly gripped the sword hilt, his body continuously trembled as a monstrous hatred aroused in him, a layer of black qi flashing from his blood-red eyes.
Raising his hand, Owen stopped Ah Dai from speaking, and continued on, “My Master had two children, one girl and one boy, and his daughter was my beloved woman. Although I was like a wild horse, always wandering outside, she was the one who was able to hold on tightly to my heart, keeping me grounded. When I finally returned to Master’s side, the news of my junior sister’s death was like a thunderbolt, striking me so deeply that it was unbearable. My junior brothers were all saying that junior sister had died because of me. Indeed, if not for me, why would junior sister descend the mountain? She did it to find me! As a result, she was ambushed in a small town, and was raped—then—killed—” Owen gritted his teeth, and there was now a tinge of gray and black in his blood-red eyes. The shocking hatred and resentment had an oppressive feeling on Ah Dai, making it hard for him to breathe.
After a long while, Owen finally calmed his emotions, and a blood-red tear fell from his eyes, “Junior sister had died, and I didn’t even know who was the murderer. I frantically ran out, asking everyone that I saw, if they had killed my junior sister, I was searching everywhere like a madman. Just when I was about to almost lose it, the people from the Assassins Guild came to find me again. They told me, if I joined their assassination group, they would tell me the person who killed my junior sister. At that time, I was already anxious and furious to the point that I didn’t even stop to think, and agreed without hesitation. So, they brought me to find the murderer who killed my junior sister, he was one of the nobility of the Sunset Empire, and he unabashedly admitted his doings. I did not use the TianGang Sword Techniques that Master taught me, but instead, I used the extremely evil Hell’s Sword. That night was filled with bloodshed, the 123 people of that noble family, apart from the one who died under my sword, had all of their souls devoured by the Hell’s Sword. Influenced by the evilness of the Hell’s Sword, I decided to join the Assassins Guild, and became an Annihilator. Ten years, a whole ten years! I finally regained my senses with the help of the vitality from the Boundless Life Art. However, I was already unable to extricate myself from the clutches of the Assassins Guild. The title as the Number 1 Killer on the continent was already bestowed on me, no matter where I went, I was an assassin whose hands were stained with blood. Ah Dai, Uncle is a bad man, isn’t he? Uncle has killed so many people.”
Ah Dai was long shocked by Owen’s story, and his brain seemed to have stopped working, as he blankly shook his head, “No, I don’t know, I really don’t know.”
Owen sighed, “My entire life, is really… …, 30 years as an assassin had destroyed my life. Just a few months before I met you, I overheard the leader and vice-leader’s conversation on a chance occasion. Their words revealed something, it turns out that, it was, it was, them who had plotted my junior sister’s death! Their motive, was to trick me into becoming a member of the Assassins Guild. I regret, I really regret! Why was I so dumb? I wanted to rush in for revenge, but my long experience as an assassin allowed me to keep my head cool, even when I was furious. After all, even when using the Hell’s Sword, I might not be a match for the leader and the vice-leader. Therefore, I decided on assassination, I would wait for a perfect chance to suddenly ambush them, and avenge my junior sister.”
Ah Dai looked at Owen in shock, muttering, “A plot, it was actually all planned?”
Owen nodded his head in pain, replying, “Yes, it was all a plot. Ah Dai, you are really too kind, in this dog-eat-dog world, people will only take advantage of your kindness. Perhaps I was too careless, and exposed myself through my expressions, the leader found out that I knew that secret. Of course, he would not allow me to be able to threaten his life, expressionless, he invited me for a drink. Ever since junior sister’s death, apart from killing, drinking was my only solace, so I drank the grape wine that he offered me. However, I had never thought that, there was actually the famed greatest poison of the continent, the Holy Matchless Water, within the drink. After I drank that cup of wine, His Highness, no, that bastard told me the truth with no reservations. He did not kill me, but instead, let me consider. He said, if I was willing to forget the past hatred, he would give me the antidote for the Holy Matchless Water.”
Stunned, Ah Dai exclaimed, “But, there is no antidote for the Holy Matchless Water!”
Owen nodded, “I know, but at that time, I could only agree to consider, and after that I found a chance to escape. That bastard ordered the 12 Annihilators, who were once under my command, to kill me. After that, you have seen what happened in the illusionary forest. Now that I think of it, perhaps that bastard may have the same method of suppressing the poison like yours. However, even if he could really cure my poison, how can I allow myself to continue being subservient to my enemy.”
Owen paused for a while, before continuing, “Ah Dai, do you know why Uncle was able to kill those men, allowing only the vice-leader to escape?”
Ah Dai thought for a while and replied, “Uncle has profound martial arts, those bad guys were surely no match for you.”
Owen shook his head, “No, with my skills, I can at most deal with two of the Slayers. Even at my prime, whilst using the Hell’s Sword, I can barely kill 5 of them. Do you still remember your earth-shattering strike? That method of condensing all your power and releasing it at one go. Today, I had used that method, without considering the consequences, I compressed all of the true qi within my body. At the start when I did not fight back, I was compressing my true qi. That sudden explosive force is indeed powerful, allowing me to actually execute the Hell’s Sword Fourth Move, it’s a pity that the explosive force was depleted before I could execute the fifth move. It’s Heaven’s will! After spending all of my energy, I can no longer suppress the poison, the true qi within my body has been depleted, and the poison had already started flaring up when I was using the Hell’s Sword, If not for the true qi you have been continuously supplying, I would not be able to last until now. It’s such a pity that I didn’t manage to kill the vice-leader as well. This Hell’s Sword, shall belong to you from now on. Treat it as Uncle’s last gift to you.” As he spoke, he handed over the leather sack within his hands.
Ah Dai recalled how evil the Hell’s Sword was, and said with a tinge of fear in his voice, “No, Uncle, I don’t want it, I… …”
How could Owen not know what Ah Dai was thinking, he sighed and said, “Child, the sword is innocent, the Hell’s Sword may contain evil qi, but using it to kill bad guys, is more than suitable. After many years of studying it, Uncle has found out, that the true qi we cultivate is precisely the nemesis of the evil qi. It was because of the Boundless Life Art that Uncle cultivated, that I was not influenced by evil. After your Boundless Life Art reaches the Eighth Stage, you can control the emission of the evil qi, such that you won’t easily harm the innocent.” Owen took out two pieces of sheepskin from the leather sack, “These two pieces of sheepskin, one of them is method of training the Hell’s Sword Nine Techniques, while the other is something that even that Supreme Pontiff couldn’t figure out. You must carefully study it, according to my speculation, the ancient writings on this sheepskin should contain some of the secrets of the Hell’s Sword. The Hell’s Sword Nine Techniques, can be said to be the strongest sword art in the world. There are a total of nine moves, and it must be used with the Hell’s Sword in order to showcase its true power. You have to figure out the specific training methods yourself, but it isn’t too difficult, what is most important is that you must control the evil qi and not let it harm yourself.” After he finished speaking, he placed the sheepskins back into the sack, and handed the sack over to Ah Dai once more.
Looking at the hope in Owen’s eyes, Ah Dai, who was filled with strong aversion towards the sword, reluctantly accepted it.
Owen let out a sigh of relief, the Hell’s Sword had accompanied him for over decades, and he had long formed deep emotions for the sword, even if it had changed his whole life.
Owen took out a small book from his chest, and passed it to Ah Dai, saying, “Ah Dai, from today onwards, you are the protector of the Hell’s Sword. In your hands, the Hell’s Sword can only be used to kill evil people, do you understand? This book is the cultivation methods for the later stages of the Boundless Life Art, take it and read it, you must practise it diligently. Without the protection of the Boundless Life Art, you must not carelessly use the Hell’s Sword. Uncle has already cultivated the Boundless Life Art to the Eighth Stage, and in my prime, I can at most execute two moves of the Hell’s Sword Nine Techniques; if I use all my energy, I can execute the Fourth Move, Hell’s Shadows. This nine moves of this sword technique, it gets stronger with each move, perhaps the last move, even a god might not be able to take it on. After your Boundless Life Art has been cultivated to the Fifth Stage, you can try practising the First Move, Hell’s Flash. Hell’s Sword Heaven Splitting Earth Crasher, at that time, Uncle has used this one move to kill countless people. Since it has come to this, Uncle no longer wishes for you to help me take revenge, you are too kind, how can you defeat those bastards. Unless your life’s in danger, do not carelessly use the Hell’s Sword. If you use it, you must kill everyone who sees it. Only this way, can you protect yourself, understand? Perhaps, after you cultivate the Boundless Life Art to the Ninth Stage and learn the Fifth Move of the Hell’s Sword Nine Techniques, you might be able to contend with those bastards.”
[TN: It’s.. a darned long chapter ;w;]