I Have A Sword

Little Pagoda was in disbelief."What a devious guy."

Ye Guan, however, remained calm and composed, as if he wasn't surprised at all.

Seeing Ye Guan's reaction, Little Pagoda asked,"You knew all along?"

Ye Guan stared at the coffin in the distance. His gaze was deep and sharp, while a cold smile played at his lips. "The creator of those devious puppets outside can't possibly be kind.

"Also, this place is obviously sealed, yet he tried to trick me into thinking that he voluntarily stayed here to heal. Most importantly, his kindness was too abrupt. Whenever someone treats you well for no reason and they're not your family, they'll definitely have an ulterior motive!"

Little Pagoda fell silent for a moment before saying,"Exactly what I was thinking! Great minds do think alike!"

Ye Guan had no idea what to say.

The man in the coffin laughed wildly, and his laughter was filled with madness and a sense of release.

Meanwhile, a crimson glow surged from within Ye Guan. It shattered spacetime and disappeared to an unknown destination...

At that moment, the man in the coffin slowly floated into the air. His limbs were bound by black iron chains, which were engraved with powerful seals. His face was twisted, filled with violent intent, like a vengeful ghost. Coupled with his crazed laughter, his appearance was downright terrifying.

Ye Guan stared at the man and coldly said, "You must be the Bizarre God. Am I correct?"

"Haha!" The man burst into laughter. "I have to admit, you're clever. From the moment you stepped in, you've been on guard, never letting your guard down.

"Unfortunately, you still couldn't resist the greed buried deep within your heart. The moment you recited the incantation, your fate was sealed... Even using a false name won't save you.

"Before absolute power, all schemes are but fleeting clouds!"

Ye Guan said, "That was my father's name."

"Hahaha!" The Bizarre God laughed even louder. "Then you really are your father's son! You're willing to throw even your father under the bus.Hahaha..."

His laughter echoed like thunder, full of unrestrained delight. After being sealed for countless years, a decent opportunity had finally come his way.

Even if he had to sacrifice this fleshly body, it would be worth it as long as it meant freedom.

Moreover, the youth before him had an excellent foundation and a unique bloodline. If he could devour Ye Guan, he could regain freedom and be reborn in no time.

He truly felt blessed by the heavens. Thinking of that, his laughter grew even louder, shaking the entire underground world.

Soon, his laughter stopped. His brow furrowed, and he looked up. In a faraway, unknown starry sky, the blood pillar from earlier had broken into a starry region where a man in white robes was standing.

The white-robed man looked at the blood pillar surging toward him and shook his head with a faint smile. "Great Daoist Brush Master, you can't blame me. He attacked first. I'm just acting in self-defense."

With that, he flicked his sleeve, and a sword light slashed outward.

Seeing the attack, the Bizarre God sneered, "Still struggling in your death throes? Ridiculous—"

Under his gaze, the blood pillar shattered. In the reflection of his rapidly shrinking pupils, a sword was rapidly enlarging.

Shing!

In an instant, a sword burst through his pupil, pinning him in place.

"Ahhhh!" The Bizarre God let out a ghostly wail. "No... this is impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

His face was filled with confusion and disbelief.

Not only had his blood sacrifice been effortlessly destroyed, but a single sword strike had pierced countless layers of spacetime to reach him. Worst of all, the sword ignored all the seals in this place. He could feel even his divine body disintegrating rapidly.

Just one sword attack had shattered his worldview. The Bizarre God suddenly turned to Ye Guan, trembling. "Y-your father isn't just a seventh-level True Dao expert, is he?!"

Ye Guan nodded. "I lied to you."

"Ahhhh!" The Bizarre God howled in rage. "You little bastard! You actually dared to lie to me! I curse you!"

As he screamed, a stream of blood sprayed from his mouth, transforming into a strange, sinister talisman.

Ye Guan's heart skipped a beat at the sight. He immediately cried out, "My father is right here, how could he let anyone harm his own son?!"

The Bizarre God screeched, and the blood talisman shot toward Ye Guan like a bolt of lightning. Ye Guan was horrified and turned to flee, but a sword light fell straight down from the sky, instantly destroying the talisman.

Ye Guan exhaled in relief. "Damn... thank you, Father!"

The Bizarre God stared in disbelief. "H-how is this possible..."

Ye Guan suddenly looked up at the stars. "Father, I want this guy's divine soul but not his consciousness."

"What are you talking about?"

Ye Xuan's voice came slowly from the void. "I told you that I won't interfere in the Great Dao Contest between you and the Great Daoist Brush Master. I'm a man of my word.

"Since I said that I won't get involved, then I won't... As for this guy, he attacked me first. I'm killing him in self-defense; it has nothing to do with you. Got it?"

A sword light pierced the Bizarre God's forehead.

Boom!

The Bizarre God's consciousness was completely wiped out, leaving only an empty divine soul.

Ye Guan was speechless.

The sword light vanished, and calm returned to the underground palace.

Far away in the depths of the starry sky, Ye Xuan glanced toward the ancient ruins. In the darkness, a pair of golden eyes was staring back at him.

Ye Xuan smiled. "That's my son... He's involved in a Great Dao Contest. If he's causing trouble there, feel free to discipline him. As his father, I won't interfere even if he's beaten to death. Really..."

The golden eyes responded, "You're too polite."

Ye Xuan chuckled. "Just don't go easy on him. The Great Daoist Brush Master isn't bad either... Anyway, the point is, I really won't get involved. Rest assured."

With that, he turned around and disappeared.

The golden eyes were silent.

***

Realizing that his father was no longer around, Ye Guan quickly walked to the Bizarre God's soul, grinning. Creating a puppet required a powerful soul.

The stronger and more profound the soul, the more powerful the puppet would be. Weak souls could only produce fake puppets, scary-looking but useless in battle.

With a strong soul, however, the puppet's combat ability would be extraordinary. Ye Guan didn't leave. He opened his palm, and the storage ring that had fallen when the Bizarre God's body was destroyed flew into his hand.

Holding the ring, warmth spread through Ye Guan's heart.

With his father's power, a single sword strike could easily obliterate the ring. The fact that it remained intact clearly meant his father had spared it on purpose.

Father knows me well!Ye Guan opened the ring and burst out laughing moments later.

All of the Bizarre God's treasures were inside. Over one hundred and thirty Immortal divine artifacts and an Emperor weapon.

Ye Guan opened his palm. A blood-red talisman appeared. This was a Dao Artifact, which the Bizarre God had hidden carefully, indicating how much he valued it.

Holding the talisman, Ye Guan's expression turned serious. A sense of extreme danger emanated from it. He knew that infusing spiritual energy would activate the talisman, but his instincts warned him not to do so.

A Dao Artifact was definitely beyond his current ability to control.

He put the talisman away. Inside the storage ring, he also found hundreds of thousands of True Spirit Crystals, as well as many other miscellaneous talismans, some of which were Immortal.

There were even pills. Though pills were of little use to him, the ones that the Bizarre God had kept on him surely weren't ordinary. Still, he didn't dare consume them right away; he'd have to study them first.

Beyond the pills, there were even divine alchemy texts. The Bizarre God could not only craft talismans but refine pills as well.

Ye Guan didn't immediately leave the palace. Instead, he sat down and began refining thepuppet. He wanted to see just how strong a puppet made from the Bizarre God's soul could be.

Since the Bizarre God's consciousness had already been erased, the refining process went smoothly. However, the True Spirit Crystals were being consumed at an alarming rate; he used over ten thousand within just fifteen minutes. The sight made his heart ache.

After all, those crystals were extremely precious in this world.

However, he had no choice, and he continued with it.

Soon, a puppet materialized before him, containing the Bizarre God's divine soul.

It wasn't active yet.

Ye Guan pointed with two fingers, and a drop of his blood flew into the puppet's forehead.

Boom!

In an instant, the puppet abruptly opened its eyes, and a terrifying aura surged into the surroundings.

Ye Guan's face instantly darkened.How is it only on the sixth level of the True Dao? That doesn't make sense! That Bizarre God was so powerful, so how could this puppet be so weak?

He flipped through the Shadow Puppetry Art manual and understood what happened. There was a restriction; the puppets created through the Shadow Puppetry Art couldn't surpass their master's realm by too much.

It was a failsafe; if the puppet's strength exceeded its master's, it could break free from the master's control.

Ye Guan no longer dwelled on it. The puppet's strength would grow alongside his strength. For example, if his strength reached the seventh level of the True Dao, then the puppet's strength would reach the ninth level of the True Dao!

And even more, its combat strength far exceeded others of the same level.

After all, the soul inside it was that of the "Bizarre God," a top-tier elite from the Boundary of Truth and Illusion.

Ye Guan didn't leave. He sat back down and crafted another puppet, this one, however, was fake. It only carried the aura of the Bizarre God, but had no real combat power.

In addition, Ye Guan used the Shadow Puppetry Art to take control of the puppet outside the hall as well.

The puppet he had crafted himself, he named it Bizarre God, and the one guarding the entrance, he named it Bizarre God Two.

What a bountiful harvest!Ye Guan packed everything up and left.

He immediately rushed back to the village. Now that he held two puppets at the seventh level of the True Dao, he still wouldn't call himself invincible in this place, but taking out the Great Daoist Brush Master was definitely no problem.

I've got to kill him first!Ye Guan made a beeline for the village.