Grand Return System

The Sword That Opened the Heavenly Gate [Part 2]

The confidence that had filled Gareth’s face only moments ago finally cracked.

This was completely beyond anything he had expected.

"No... that’s impossible."

Gareth shook his head slowly.

His voice trembled.

He stared at Leon as if he were desperately searching for some hidden trick. Some illusion. Anything that could explain what he was seeing.

But there was nothing.

It was real.

Leon really had that many immortal artifacts.

Gareth couldn’t understand it.

One immortal artifact was already enough to make countless cultivators lose their minds with envy.

Yet Leon had revealed one treasure after another.

Each one was something that should never have appeared in the mortal world.

And somehow, Leon had them all.

How?

How could someone his age possess such a terrifying foundation?

The thought sent a chill through Gareth’s body.

For the first time since the battle began, the anger in his heart was overshadowed by something far colder.

Fear.

Real fear.

The kind of fear that settled deep in the bones and refused to leave.

Leon looked at him without any change in expression.

"Nothing is impossible."

His voice was calm.

Almost too calm.

"Gareth, today..."

Leon paused.

His purple eyes narrowed slightly.

"I can give you a dignified death."

There was no mockery in his voice.

No arrogance.

No attempt to provoke him.

That was what made those words so frightening.

Leon wasn’t boasting.

He was simply stating what was going to happen.

Gareth’s expression stiffened.

He suddenly realized something.

Leon had already decided how this battle would end.

There was no hesitation left in him.

Leon slowly turned his head.

His purple eyes drifted downward.

Beneath the violent battlefield, surrounded by the lingering chaos, the Supreme Demonic Sword was still floating in the air.

It had never left.

The ancient sword quietly circled through the darkness.

Blood-colored patterns covered its dark surface, twisting like ancient veins.

Even without being wielded, its presence made the surrounding space tremble.

It felt as though the sword itself was alive.

As though it had been waiting patiently for one thing.

Its master’s command.

Leon raised one hand.

His fingers slowly curled.

The movement was calm.

Almost too calm for a battlefield like this.

Around him, the air was thick with blood and dust. The ground was scarred from the fighting, and the distant cries of cultivators still echoed through the darkness.

Yet Leon seemed completely detached from it all.

His eyes remained fixed ahead.

Then, in a voice so quiet that it almost vanished beneath the roar of the battlefield, he spoke.

"Sword, come."

The moment those words fell—

Shing!

The sword trembled.

A sharp metallic cry rang through the darkness.

For an instant, it seemed as though the weapon itself had heard its master’s voice.

Then it shot upward.

The immortal sword tore through the night.

It cut through the hazy blood mist with terrifying speed, leaving a thin trail of crimson light behind it.

A moment later, it arrived in Leon’s hand.

His fingers closed around the hilt.

The instant they did, something changed.

Boom!

A shocking blood-red light erupted from the sword.

It wasn’t a gentle glow.

It was violent.

Ferocious.

Almost alive.

The ancient sword finally revealed the killing intent it had kept hidden.

The temperature around Leon seemed to drop all at once.

The people nearby instinctively shivered.

Then the murderous aura spread.

It rolled across the battlefield like an invisible tide.

One cultivator’s face went pale.

Another swallowed nervously.

Someone farther away even took an unconscious step backward.

This wasn’t simply the pressure of an immortal weapon.

It felt different.

Much worse.

It felt as though an abyss had opened somewhere in the darkness.

And something inside that abyss was watching them.

Everyone felt it.

The call of death.

For a brief moment, countless cultivators forgot how to breathe.

Their bodies stiffened.

Their thoughts seemed to freeze.

No one dared to look away.

Every pair of eyes remained locked on the figure standing alone within the bloody mist.

Leon stood there with the immortal sword in his hand.

His black hair moved slightly in the wind.

His expression remained calm.

That calmness only made the scene more frightening.

Even those standing far away could feel their hearts tightening.

The Supreme Demonic Sword was different from ordinary immortal weapons.

It wasn’t merely powerful.

It carried something ancient.

Something that had survived through countless years.

Its killing intent seemed to have been forged through an unimaginable history of bloodshed.

It felt as though countless corpses had been buried beneath its existence.

And now, with Leon holding it once more, that murderous aura was no longer restrained.

It spread through the heavens.

The darkness trembled.

Then—

Suddenly—

The sky shook.

A deep rumble rolled across the battlefield.

Everyone looked upward.

A Heavenly Gate appeared above them.

It opened without warning.

There was no preparation.

No omen.

One moment, the sky was dark.

The next, a massive golden-white light poured through the opening.

The brilliance descended from above.

It illuminated the battlefield.

It swallowed the surrounding darkness.

The black aura that had filled the heavens was instantly overwhelmed by the light.

For a moment, the entire battlefield fell strangely silent.

Countless cultivators stared upward.

Their faces were filled with disbelief.

Then Leon moved.

His sword rose.

There was no unnecessary movement.

No wasted strength.

Just one simple motion.

Then—

The sword descended.

The familiar sword strike appeared once more.

And the moment it did, that familiar power shook everyone present.

Boom!

The heavens seemed to tremble beneath it.

The pressure spread outward.

Even cultivators who were nowhere near the battlefield felt the terrifying force pressing against them.

Someone finally shouted.

"One strike opened the Heavenly Gate!"

The words exploded through the crowd.

The silence shattered.

Everyone’s expression changed.

Some went pale.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Others stared at the opened Heavenly Gate in horror.

They remembered.

They had seen this sword before.

Back then, Leon had relied on this very strike to kill Dario.