I Have A Sword

Ye Guan's face darkened. "Senior, both of those are bad news. Does it really matter which one I hear first?"

The white-robed elder said gravely, "I've received word that the Great Daoist Brush Master has already formed an alliance with several gods."

Ye Guan looked at him. "The Emperor should still be able to seal them, right?"

The white-robed elder replied, "He could before, but now... that's the second piece of bad news I mentioned."

Ye Guan's expression sank immediately. If those gods were still sealed, it wouldn't be too terrifying. Once they were unsealed, those beings were all terrifying entities far beyond the peak of the True Dao.

He was no match! He was absolutely not their match!

The elder said, "Young Master, please collect all the treasures here."

Ye Guan looked around at the Emperor and Immortal weapons. These were all hot potatoes. He smiled bitterly. With great gains come great responsibilities. In this world, who could get paid without lifting a finger?

With a wave of his sleeve, he collected everything.

Let's just get on with it!Ye Guan looked at the white-robed elder. "From now on, the Ancient God Nation will fully support me, right?"

The white-robed elder nodded. "Yes."

Ye Guan asked, "Do we have any trump cards left?"

The white-robed elder fell silent.

Ye Guan's expression froze. "Senior... don't tell me I'm on my own now?"

The white-robed elder smiled wryly. "Actually, I just remembered, there's another piece of bad news."

Ye Guan was speechless.

Worry surfaced in the elder's eyes. "Young Master, truthfully, even without the Great Daoist Brush Master's interference, the seal on the gods was going to break anyway..."

Ye Guan stared at him. "His Majesty can't hold on anymore?"

The white-robed elder nodded. "Back then, His Majesty alone resisted the gods. Although he ultimately defeated and sealed them with a Supreme divine artifact... he was gravely injured. And..."

He trailed off.

Ye Guan felt a headache coming. A big one!

The white-robed elder added, "Young Master, there's still a little time. Let's go to the Ancient Ruins!"

Their figures suddenly became blurry. When they came to their senses, they found themselves in a hazy world surrounded by towering stone pillars.

Ye Guan noticed that the spiritual energy here was incredibly rich. It was on a completely different level compared to the outside world.

The white-robed elder said, "Young Master, this is the sacred training ground of the Ancient God Nation. Each of these towering stone pillars represents a Great Dao.

"Of course, your Sword Dao is already established. Two kinds, in fact, both are extremely rare. Hence, you don't need to follow any of these Daos, but you can study them to improve and complete your own."

Ye Guan nodded. "That's my intention as well."

His Order Dao was invincible as long as he had enough faith power. Without faith, its power was limited. Therefore, what he truly needed to perfect was his Invincible Sword Dao.

His invincible heart wasn't strong enough yet! Upon recalling something, Ye Guan opened his palm, and the Great Dao River appeared. "Senior, is there any issue with this Emperor artifact?"

The white-robed elder looked at it. "This is also one of our Emperor artifacts. During a battle with a god, it surrendered."

Surrendered?!Ye Guan was stunned.

The white-robed elder continued, "Inside this river resides the soul of that god; it's using the river to nourish itself. But it's currently dormant. If you try to subdue the river, you'll awaken it. And with your current strength, that'll be suicide."

Ye Guan nodded, unsurprised.

The Great Daoist Brush Master had always been a devious man

Ye Guan then brought out a talisman he had taken from the Bizarre God. "What about this one?"

The white-robed elder's brow furrowed. "A Bizarro Talisman."

Ye Guan said, "I got it after killing the Bizarre God."

The white-robed elder looked at him. "You're sure you killed him?"

Ye Guan nodded.

His father had done it, but what was the difference? Morally, it was still him.

The white-robed elder smiled and simply looked at the talisman.

"Did you inherit the Bizarre God's legacy?"

Ye Guan nodded. "Yes."

The white-robed elder said, "Congratulations, Young Master."

Ye Guan looked confused.

The white-robed elder smiled. "What made the Bizarre God terrifying wasn't his strength, but his Shadow Puppetry Art.And its scariest aspect wasn't creating puppets, it was making living puppets."

Ye Guan frowned. "Living puppets?"

The white-robed elder nodded. "Yes. Turning living people into puppets while retaining their full strength and even enhancing their combat power.The Bizarre God's living puppets caused our nation massive losses!"

Ye Guan looked at him. "Can you turn gods into living puppets?"

The white-robed elder said, "Yes. Back then, the Bizarre God had a god-level living puppet."

Living puppets!Ye Guan thought.If I could turn the Great Daoist Brush Master into one... That'd be amazing.

The white-robed elder said, "The Bizarro Talisman in your hand is a functional Emperor artifact. It's not strong on its own, but it is incredibly useful. If you had enough living puppets to make use of it, it'd be terrifying."

Ye Guan nodded and looked at the white-robed elder.

The white-robed elder noticed the peculiar gaze and hurriedly said, "I'm dead. I can't become a puppet!"

"Hahaha." Ye Guan laughed, "Senior, you're overthinking. I may have thought about it, but I won't do it."

The white-robed elder was dumbfounded.

For the first time, the white-robed elder found this youth a little scary. "You train here. I'll go gather intel."

Then, he turned around and fled.

Ye Guan looked around, then walked toward the towering pillars.

Just then, a beam of divine light surged from them and entered his mind.

In an instant, countless images flooded his mind...

Inheritances! He wasn't inheriting these Daos, but using them to perfect his Invincible Sword Dao. Each image showed a top-tier expert sharing everything they knew. These were the strongest warriors in Ancient God Nation history; some had even reached the so-called god-level.

They shared a common quality—relentless bravery and drive.

The Great Dao was vast, without end. Without a heart of courage and perseverance, one could never reach its peak or forge one's Dao.

Ye Guan also realized that after establishing their own Daos, all those experts stopped following others and walked their own Daos.

No matter how great another's Dao was, it was still someone else's Dao. If one were to follow it, one would never surpass them. Only by forging one's own Dao could one stand beyond the Dao.

While Ye Guan "conversed" with the past experts, Gu Pan was busy. In his eyes, these martial arts weren't necessarily stronger than his own, but they offered new perspectives.

Like tofu... it could be boiled, fried...

Everything could be done in a slightly different way.

The Dao and martial arts were the same!

Sometimes, a new perspective could lead to unexpected breakthroughs.

***

Elsewhere.

The Great Daoist Brush Master arrived at a city in the skies. It was a sacrificed city of the Ancient God Nation, and it was unknown which god its residents once worshipped. He walked toward the sacrificial hall.

When he got close enough, a mysterious force blocked him.

"You're the Great Daoist Brush Master?"

A voice came from within.

The Great Daoist Brush Master smiled. "I am."

A man in plain robes stepped out, long hair draping his shoulders. He looked elegant and scholarly. He sized up the Great Daoist Brush Master. "I've heard of you. You helped King Yan resist the Outer World once."

The Great Daoist Brush Master nodded. "We had a connection. I helped."

The man asked, "You came for the divine artifact?"

The Great Daoist Brush Master replied, "No."

"For that boy, then?"

"You know him?"

"How could I not? He's now the chosen of the Ancient God Nation..." the man said, smiling. He sat on the stone steps outside the hall. "You came to challenge me in this so-called battle of Daos?"

The Great Daoist Brush Master nodded. "Yes."

The man smirked. "What's in it for me?"

The Great Daoist Brush Master said calmly, "I'll let you live."

"Haha!" The man laughed. "Great Daoist Brush Master, do you know who I am?"

"You are the Demon God," the Great Daoist Brush Master replied.

The man smiled coldly. "You say you'll let me live? Even that guy Gu Daotian couldn't kill me despite using that Supreme artifact. And you—"

The Great Daoist Brush Master didn't speak. He opened his palm, revealing a Dao seal.

The man's smile faded.

The Dao seal represented a Dao outside Dao, something only beings at their level would understand.

The Great Daoist Brush Master stared at him. "What you've chased your whole life, I can do it casually. Don't act tough in front of me. Got it?"

The man went silent.

The Great Daoist Brush Master knew that he had intimidated the man.

Just then, he was reminded of Gu Pan.

He feared two kinds of people. The first, like the King of Relying on others. The second, like Gu Pan. People like him were often not that strong, but they were crazy enough to chase their targets to the ends of the earth.