Chapter 1039: The Method to Save Liu Zixuan
Fortunately, Liu Zixuan knew the relationship between Wang Liang and the old man, otherwise he might have thought these two were enemies at first sight.
Wang Liang glanced at the old man, snorted coldly, and then stepped aside.
Liu Zixuan smiled and said, "I don’t know if senior..."
"I don’t like those formal titles; just chat with me like you did with Old Qing!" the old man reprimanded.
"I called him ’old immortal’, should I refer to you as this too?" Liu Zixuan laughed.
Although the old man’s temper seemed bad, he was a genuine person, so Liu Zixuan wasn’t too reserved.
The old man grinned and didn’t continue the discussion, instead, he got to the point: "I’ve asked someone about a way to extend your life and restore your Cultivation Realm, do you want to hear it?"
Liu Zixuan studied the old man for a moment: "If it were a good method, you’d surely explain it straight away, not asking first?"
The old man gave Liu Zixuan a strange look: "This method is indeed a bit wicked, but if you were to use it, I believe it would be one hundred percent successful!"
"Then I’ll listen intently!"
"You use a sword, so you’ve probably heard of the Sentimental Sword and Heartless Sword. The method I want to discuss is related to the Heartless Sword. The reason the Netherworld Palm is so lethal is due to it directly injuring your heart and soul, and the poison in the palm will devour all your soul, rendering you like a walking corpse before death."
"And for the Heartless Sword method, you need to use your Sword Spirit, that is to transfer the soul of the sword onto yourself. Although a sword has a soul, it is different from a human’s soul. Apart from showing sentiment to its master, a Sword Spirit feels nothing towards anything else. In short, it is just a cold, lifeless entity!"
"By transferring the Sword Spirit onto yourself, and then sealing your heart and soul completely, you would have what’s akin to a living soul, just without consciousness or emotions. Like a sword, cold and indifferent. At that point, your cultivation technique and realm will be restored."
"Isn’t that just being a living corpse?" Liu Zixuan asked after a moment of silence.
The old man hesitated: "Generally speaking, there’s no difference, but at least you’ll still be alive, and those around you can still see you! Besides, I’ll use a secret technique of our sect to let you control your body occasionally, but not too much, since your heart and soul are severely injured."
The old man paused: "This method does go against morality, but one must look ahead. If your heart and soul’s seal lasts long enough, they might slowly heal on their own. By then, you’d essentially be reborn!"
"You mentioned that was a possibility, but if there’s no possibility, I’ll still exist like a corpse." Liu Zixuan waved his hand: "Setting aside whether this method works, I can’t accept living through the Sword Spirit; those I care about, having to stay with this emotionless shell, could they handle it?"
"At least it’s some comfort, right?" The old man shrugged: "Plus, you can still protect them!"
"It’s the sword protecting them, not me." Liu Zixuan stated firmly.
Liu Zixuan would never use the old man’s method.
Firstly, it would remove the Sword Spirit from the Nameless Sword and transfer it onto him, which is unfair to the Nameless Sword. To outsiders, the Nameless Sword is just a weapon, but to Liu Zixuan, it’s a comrade.
Like a soldier holding a gun, one day dismantling a component of the gun to put on oneself, nobody would agree to that!
Secondly, living as a walking corpse would be a torture for Liu Zixuan, and a torment for Liu Ruyan and others.
Though Liu Zixuan lost his Cultivation Realm, at least he could live with them full of emotions, laughing and playing. But using this method to extend his life would only present them with a soulless shell of a cold, killing weapon.
Who would agree to that!
Seeing Liu Zixuan’s determined demeanor, the old man sighed: "Damn it! I really didn’t need to meddle in this mess!"
"Senior, I thank you for running around for me, but someone lives because they have attachments, emotions, and people they care about in this world. If all these are gone, even in death, it’s a release. I’d rather use these three months to traverse time with them than to have them face a soulless me everyday after three months, washing away with tears!"
The old man was left stunned by Liu Zixuan’s words, as if contemplating or realizing something.
Actually, all this boils down to the simple word "emotion".
The Heartless Sword is just a sword, a bloodstained sword that has killed countless without consequence!
But the Sentimental Sword is not just a sword, it’s the soul of a person that knows how to protect oneself while killing enemies.
"Sentimental... Heartless!" The old man murmured for a while and smiled wryly: "I didn’t expect it, I didn’t expect that these decades-old bottlenecks of mine would be unraveled by you just like that!"
"Bottleneck? Unravel?" Liu Zixuan looked puzzled.
But the old man just threw a thank you at Liu Zixuan before rushing outside.
"Senior..."
"No need to call him!" Wang Liang appeared again, looking at where the old man had left for a moment: "Do you know why he was so excited?"
"He just said he broke through his bottleneck. Is it a breakthrough in realm?"
Liu Zixuan didn’t quite understand; wasn’t the old man here to help him? How did his words end up helping the old man? And what does bottleneck mean?
"He’s breaking through not just the realm but also his mindset." Wang Liang said thoughtfully with a smile: "His real name is Xuanyuan Yanshu, but do you know what his famous nickname is?"
"What?" Liu Zixuan asked.
"Sword Demon!" Wang Liang enunciated each word.
"Then he and the Profound Sword Sect..."
"Don’t misunderstand; not every sword learner is related to the Profound Sword Sect. In fact, the Xuanyuan Family’s Swordsmanship is much more advanced than the Profound Sword Sect’s." Wang Liang smiled: "I won’t reveal his true identity yet, but let me tell you the origin of this Sword Demon."
"Whenever they associate with the word ’demon’, there must be some dark past." Liu Zixuan grinned.
"More than a dark past, it was essentially a disaster..." Wang Liang took a deep breath and squinted, seeming to fall into memories he wished not to recall.