Volume One: The Emperor’s Sword Chapter 84: Practicing a False Immortality

Do not be deceived by the barbarians in the mine who seem to die and come back to life—for at the root, they are not truly living beings. After the first decapitation, they become mere corpses. It is only the black-scorpion-like parasite worms that endlessly stitch them together, allowing the barbarian bodies to continue fighting.

Since they are corpses, the corpse-eating insects should be able to devour them. Infinite resurrection sounds invincible, but if the body is completely consumed, what is left to revive? This was the method Yun Que devised.

The nailed-down barbarian body struggled desperately, and at the severed ends, tiny claws kept sprouting, attempting to stitch themselves together. Yun Que swept his sword aura across, instantly shredding the emerging parasite worms. Deprived of the worms, the barbarian corpse ceased its movements, rendered lifeless.

Black scorpions tried to swarm in, but Yun Que repelled them with his sword aura. Several corpse-eating insects seized the opportunity, crawling onto the body and gnawing fiercely, their crunching echoing incessantly. Starved for over half a month, these insects went wild upon discovering the corpse, soon reducing an entire arm to bare bone.

Seeing this proved effective, Yun Que released all hundred corpse-eating insects. The swarm surged forward, and in a matter of breaths, the barbarian warriors pinned by flying swords were reduced to skeletal soldiers.

Even after Yun Que withdrew his flying sword, the surrounding scorpion parasites no longer crawled toward the bones. Parasite worms could not inhabit mere skeletons. This barbarian warrior was thus utterly annihilated.

A faint smile curled Yun Que’s lips as he pinned down a second barbarian warrior with the same method. After eliminating the parasite worms, the corpse-eating insects descended once more.

Zhou Yuanliang and Mu Qingyao fought with all their might, unable to observe Yun Que’s actions—but Yi Hongwen, poisoned and weakened, witnessed everything clearly. When he saw the barbarian being devoured by monstrous insects and the smile on Yun Que’s lips, he shivered uncontrollably.

This fellow’s methods of eradicating corpses were far too practiced...

Yi Hongwen’s heart surged with fear. So this man had merely been hiding his strength; he himself had once gone to the Northern Court, arrogantly humiliating the so-called sword servant—what folly!

Sensing the gaze, Yun Que glanced at Yi Hongwen and offered him an affable smile. Yi Hongwen nearly soiled himself in fright, trembling as he hid to the side.

With practiced skill, Yun Que swiftly dealt with a dozen barbarian warriors, and the opposing parasite master soon noticed something amiss. Seeing the dwindling corpses, the long-bearded elder’s expression darkened.

With a cold snort, more black scorpions burrowed into the barbarian bodies, and in the blink of an eye, their forms swelled to twice their original size. Previously nearly twenty feet tall, now each was a colossus over thirty feet!

A single punch could shatter an incoming flying sword.

The battle reached a fever pitch.

Mu Qingyao wielded the Floral Spirit Sword, slashing sword aura with all her might. She dared not recklessly wield her treasured artifact, lest her spiritual energy be instantly exhausted. Instead, she used the sword to unleash sword aura, which was more than sufficient to cut through the barbarian warriors. At the same time, Mu Qingyao summoned three mid-grade flying swords to assist Yun Que in nailing down the barbarians’ limbs.

Counting the expenditure from her treasured sword, Mu Qingyao had already reached, even surpassed, the proficiency of wielding four flying swords simultaneously.

Perfected Qi Refinement Realm!

As the Southern Court’s foremost sword disciple, Mu Qingyao’s achievement of perfected Qi Refinement was impressive, though not unexpected.

Yet Zhou Yuanliang’s actions were truly astonishing.

Facing a life-or-death struggle, this usually carefree First Young Master unleashed four swords at once, also reaching the tenth layer of Qi Refinement!

Watching Zhou Yuanliang’s four flying swords whirling at his side, Luo Xiaoyu’s eyes widened in surprise, and even Yi Hongwen, half-paralyzed, stared in disbelief.

Who could have guessed that the most unreliable young master in the imperial city, the debauched son of the chief minister, also possessed perfected Qi Refinement?

The Sword Palace might not produce a single perfected Qi Refinement expert in ten years, yet in this humble mine pit, two had already gathered!

“Impossible—how do they cultivate?”

Yi Hongwen was bewildered and envious. Considering he had only reached the sixth layer of Qi Refinement thanks to spiritual pills, he felt deeply ashamed.

Comparing oneself to others only brings despair.

Yi Hongwen was overwhelmed, his heart a turbulent sea.

But when he inadvertently saw that Yun Que also had four flying swords circling him, his composure collapsed, his mind in chaos, and he began to doubt his entire existence—was there some trick to cultivating immortality?

It was reasonable for Mu Qingyao, the Southern Court’s top sword disciple, to reach the tenth layer of Qi Refinement. Even Zhou Yuanliang’s perfected realm could be explained—after all, he was the chief minister’s son, with abundant resources and years in the Sword Palace.

But Yun Que, a sword servant barely a month in the Sword Palace, shouldn’t even be expected to have cultivation—how could he possibly wield four swords?

What baffled Yi Hongwen most was that Yun Que’s aura clearly indicated the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, yet he managed four flying swords!

The fifth layer—most could only wield two flying swords at best.

Three would be a miracle; four, was that cheating?

At this point, Yi Hongwen lost the ability to think, his mind echoing with a single question.

Had he cultivated a false path?

In fact, Yi Hongwen was not the only one astounded; the barbarian parasite master was secretly startled as well.

The appearance of corpse-eating insects had already surprised him—they were fiendish creatures bred only by barbarians, specifically to counter his black scorpion parasites. How could they appear in the hands of a Sword Palace disciple?

Moreover, this fellow clearly had only fifth-layer Qi Refinement—how could he control four flying swords?

Though not as terrified as Yi Hongwen, the parasite master was nevertheless amazed. He felt immense curiosity toward Yun Que and resolved to capture him for further study, perhaps to create a unique parasite warrior.

Yun Que, oblivious to the parasite master’s intentions, was focused solely on feeding his insects.

Four flying swords continually pinned down enemies, slaughtered parasite worms, and fed them to the corpse-eating insects.

Despite their small size, the corpse-eating insects’ bellies seemed bottomless. Even after devouring more than half of the barbarians, they remained hungry.

Pulling his sword from a skeleton, Yun Que was about to seek his next target when his gaze inadvertently swept toward the parasite master.

A sudden sense of danger!

Yun Que noticed that the scorpion tail behind the parasite master had vanished.

The next moment, the ground beneath his feet quivered slightly—a jet-black scorpion tail erupted from below!

Had Yun Que not dodged in advance, he would have been impaled by the stinger.

His sleeve was easily sliced open, nearly wounding his arm.

Such force!

Sensing the near-miss, Yun Que deduced that the parasite master’s strength now exceeded that of a third-tier demon beast, the Golden Flood Python—possibly reaching fourth-tier demon beast level.

A fourth-tier demon beast was equivalent to late Foundation Establishment combat power!

Most terrifying of all, the parasite master’s main body remained unmoved, yet his tail could attack targets over thirty feet away.

A formidable adversary!

Dodging the scorpion tail, Yun Que summoned all four flying swords to strike in concert, their clanging echoing ceaselessly.

White sword scars appeared across the tail, but still failed to pierce it!

Seeing Yun Que in peril, Mu Qingyao abandoned her three flying swords and directly wielded the Floral Spirit Sword’s full power to strike at the tail.

Yet even her strongest blow was blocked by the stinger.

The Southern Court’s foremost sword disciple, striking with all her might, could not prevail.

“The Yan Kingdom truly is like a centipede—hard to kill, even when mortally wounded.”

The long-bearded parasite master nodded, declaring, “The Sword Palace disciples live up to their reputation. If you are allowed to grow unchecked, who knows when my barbarian tribe’s great enterprise will be realized. Therefore, today you must perish here!”

The parasite master sensed the difficulty posed by these Sword Palace elites.

He foresaw that these youths would become obstacles to the barbarian army’s future conquest of Yan and must be eliminated early.

Especially Yun Que—his first target.

Waving his hands, the parasite master formed strange seals.

Ghastly sounds filled the air.

Long, slender insect claws stretched from his sides; his skin grew a thick carapace; his abdomen swelled into a bloated, monstrous bug’s body; his entire form transformed into a gigantic black scorpion, his upper body fused to the insect’s back, grotesque and terrifying!

As his monstrous form emerged, a fourth-tier demon beast aura burst forth, enveloping the entire mine.

On the ground, the black scorpions ceased their movements, all prostrating and trembling in fear, as if welcoming the king of their kind.