Chapter Sixty: The False Divine Weapon

“Elder Brother... Elder Brother...” Princess Qi clung to the Fourth Prince, trembling uncontrollably. After witnessing that terrifying battle and seeing Li Ju act like a demon incarnate, as an unmarried young woman, her spirit was on the verge of collapse.

“D-Don’t be afraid...” The Fourth Prince wrapped his arms around Princess Qi, gently patting her shoulder, as if to ward off her terror with this gesture. Yet, his own trembling betrayed his fear no less than hers.

At this moment, even the guards clustered protectively around the prince and princess could not offer them the slightest sense of security.

It was only now that they truly understood: in the face of these fearsome martial artists—men whose strength could shatter the heavens and lay waste to forests—their royal status amounted to nothing.

Even if one ruled a nation and commanded armies of thousands, what difference did it make? Such force could still be snuffed out with a single turn of the hand.

“At last, it’s over.” Li Ju gazed at Tan Hai’s fallen corpse and, weary, shook his hand. He could say that this battle with Tan Hai was the fiercest he had ever fought since taking up martial arts. The danger was ever-present; even his previous duel with Zhuge Huang, which had been evenly matched, could not compare to this.

Had Tan Hai not been somewhat lacking in fundamental strength—had burning his own essence not been insufficient to fully unleash the power of the two divine weapons in his hands—and had some of the blood sacrifices not come to Li Ju of their own accord to replenish him, then today it might have been Li Ju lying dead, not Tan Hai.

“The Sect of Seven and Three...” Li Ju muttered the name of the sect that had nearly killed him as he stared at the two divine weapons lying on the ground.

Back when he was imprisoned within the Demon Sect, he had believed his strength unmatched beneath the level of a Lesser Trinity martial artist—enough to go unchallenged in this realm. That was why he had killed Gao Bo without hesitation, ignoring the warnings of Du Tianyou and the others.

To be honest, at that time he had eyes only for the three great Lesser Trinity masters in the world. The so-called number one orthodox sect, the Sect of Seven and Three, was not even on his mind—he thought they posed no threat to him.

After he later killed Yuan Hao, the sect’s deputy master sent against him, his disdain for the Sect of Seven and Three reached its peak.

But when he was riding high, dismissing the Sect of Seven and Three, they dispatched a Lesser Trinity-level fighter to exterminate him, nearly succeeding—delivering a resounding slap to his ego.

“Still, in the end, I won.” Li Ju clenched his fist. In the face of mortal danger, only the strength in one’s own hands can provide true security.

“And now the two divine weapons of the Sect of Seven and Three...” Li Ju walked slowly towards the two divine weapons lying amidst the battlefield’s ruins: the Withered Leaf Sword and the Twelve Red Fangs.

These two weapons could allow an ordinary top-tier inner family master to erupt with the might of a Lesser Trinity martial artist, and this wasn’t even their full potential. Such powerful artifacts left him coveting them deeply.

Even if he could not wield them himself, he could keep them as trophies and slowly unravel the mysteries they contained.

The Withered Leaf Sword was a two-meter-long blade, its surface marked with patterns like decaying wood. Yet, compared to the miraculous aura it exuded in Tan Hai’s grip, it now appeared covered in rust, like nothing but scrap iron.

The Twelve Red Fangs consisted of twelve crescent-shaped throwing knives forming a ring, their blood-grooved blades now dull and battered, as if mere trash, mirroring the sword’s state.

Concealed divinity, Li Ju thought suddenly.

Just as he gripped both weapons, a panel of light appeared before his eyes.

“Divine Weapon (Imitation): Withered Leaf Sword

Description: One of the divine weapons personally forged by the Sect of Seven and Three’s founder, the Master of Seven and Three, using starmetal as the primary material, twelve rare treasures as auxiliaries, and the full essence of a Lesser Trinity martial artist during the forging. At last, the weapon was cast into a volcano and tempered in magma for eighty-one days and nights.

Origin: Chronicles of the Flying Sword – Sect of Seven and Three

Divine Weapon (Imitation): Twelve Red Fangs

Description: One of the divine weapons personally forged by the Sect of Seven and Three’s founder, the Master of Seven and Three, using cold-iron essence as the primary material, the full essence of twelve half-step Lesser Trinity martial artists as auxiliaries. Each of the twelve blades spent over a month in the bellies of twelve different great beasts. At completion, the Master of Seven and Three specially used the life of a Lesser Trinity martial artist to hone their edges.

Origin: Chronicles of the Flying Sword – Sect of Seven and Three”

“Imitation divine weapons?” Li Ju raised his brow at the word “imitation” on the panel.

Weapons of such power were still only considered “imitation” divine weapons? Then how terrifying must a true divine weapon be? Did it possess the might of a Greater Trinity martial artist?

Li Ju could not help but imagine the power of a genuine divine weapon.

Unfortunately, in this world of the Chronicles of the Flying Sword, the Greater Trinity realm remained but a legend. In over a thousand years of recorded history, the highest level any martial artist had reached was the Lesser Trinity; not a single Greater Trinity master had ever appeared.

Were it not for the existence of the name “Greater Trinity” in the martial traditions handed down through the ages, all martial artists would probably regard the Lesser Trinity as the ultimate end of the path.

Even so, because no one had achieved the Greater Trinity in a thousand years, most martial artists now saw it as a myth—a realm invented by the ancestors of old, not something real.

“Relevant criteria detected...”

“Commencing judgment...”

“Judgment successful. Upgrading instance mode.”

“Original Instance: Chronicles of the Flying Sword (Difficulty: Easy) (Story Challenge Instance)

Description: The leading martial sect of Lingnan, the Flying Sword Sect, is annihilated by the Demon Sect. The inner disciple Wang Lu survives the massacre and embarks on a path to become the supreme master of the martial world, seeking vengeance for his sect...

Upgraded Instance: Demon Might Unbound (Difficulty: Medium) (Open World Instance)

Description: A thousand years of accumulation, a thousand years of waiting—shattered earth, dried blood, endless strife, all will culminate today!”