I Have a Sword

After leaving the Great Zhou, Ye Guan found himself on a desolate planet. The planet was in the final stages of life—lifeless and barren.

The planet had a massive waterfall that was roughly a kilometer wide and a few kilometers tall. The overwhelming cascade of water from such a massive river was an awe-inspiring sight.

Sitting cross-legged on a boulder, Ye Guan said, "Master Pagoda, conceal my aura for me."

Little Pagoda responded, "Say no more."

Ye Guan nodded slightly.

Swoosh!

Yi Nian suddenly appeared in front of him. She was brimming with excitement and was gesticulating rapidly with her tiny hands.

Ye Guan patted her head and smiled. "Calm down; take your time."

Instead of speaking, Yi Nian her thumb and index finger together before tugging something at her right.

A spacetime rift was torn open, and a mysterious golden river was revealed behind it.

Ye Guan was taken aback. "is that the Time River?"

Yi Nian nodded vigorously, but Ye Guan couldn't believe it at all.

"Come on," Little Pagoda chimed in, "It's a miniature version of the Time River."

Ye Guan was dumbfounded.

Yi Nian paced back and forth, deep in thought. All of a sudden, her eyes lit up, and she opened her palm, revealing the Qingxuan Sword.

Yi Nian pointed at the Time River and at the Qingxuan Sword.

Boom!

The miniature Time River was absorbed into the Qingxuan Sword.

Yi Nian then handed over the Qingxuan Sword to Ye Guan with a sweet smile tugging at her lips.

Ye Guan reached out to grab the sword. As soon as he touched it, his expression changed drastically, and he immediately let go in disbelief.

It was just a brief moment, but he had sensed an incredibly terrifying and mysterious power inside the Qingxuan Sword. It was boundless and was like the spiritual energy of an entire world.

That power did not belong to the Qingxuan Sword!

Yi Nian raised one finger and explained, "It's the power of an entire world."

Ye Guan looked at her and asked, "You mean the spacetime energy of an entire world?"

Yi Nian nodded enthusiastically. She used her hands to draw a large circle and said, "Our world contains many, many worlds and independent spacetimes. I learned something from the special spacetime inside the tiny pagoda, and I used that to extract a world's worth of spacetime energy. Through that method, we can make use of the spacetime time inside uninhabited worlds..."

Yi Nian pointed at the Qingxuan Sword, "One sword—one world's spacetime."

"So that's what you've been researching recently?"

"Mmhmm."

"You've been doing that for me?"

Yi Nian smiled sweetly, and a warm sensation filled Ye Guan's heart. He patted her head gently and said, "Thank you."

Yi Nian lowered her head slightly and said nothing.

"What’s wrong?" asked Ye Guan, looking all confused.

"Saying thank you between husband and wife... it kind of feels like we're strangers rather than husband and wife," whispered Yi Nian.

"What?"

Ye Guan was stunned. Gulping, he asked, "W-w-we're husband and wife?"

Yi Nian looked up, and her eyes misted over as if she were a startled deer. "Aren't we husband and wife?"

Ye Guan hurriedly grabbed her hand. "N-no, I mean, when did we become husband and wife?"

Yi Nian softly replied, "You've been patting my head and holding my hand... If you've never seen me as your wife, why would you do those things...?"

Ye Guan was dumbfounded.

Yi Nian suddenly pulled her hand away and turned around.

"Do you want us to become husband and wife? Give me an answer, and don't lie to me..." Yi Nian asked with a trembling voice.

Ye Guan transmitted, "Master Pagoda, what should I do?"

Little Pagoda replied, "How would I know? But it's really mind-boggling how she reached that conclusion on her own..."

Ye Guan had no idea what to say. He looked at Yi Nian and shook his head with a smile. Clearly, Yi Nian wasn't exactly sure of the true meaning of the words "husband and wife."

To her, becoming someone's wife meant that she'd be the closest person to that someone.

In other words, Yi Nian simply wanted to become one of the closest people to Ye Guan.

With that in mind, Ye Guan walked up to Yi Nian and held her hand. "I already have a wife."

"I know."

"Do you still want to become my wife, then?"

Yi Nian looked up at him, puzzled. "Does that even matter?"

Ye Guan was stumped.

"A man can have many wives, just like a vine can have many fruits. It's normal," Yi Nian explained.

Ye Guan was speechless.

Little Pagoda exclaimed, "Hell yeah!"

"And girls can have as many husbands as they like, too," Yi Nian added.

"No!"

Yi Nian was confused.

"Becoming my wife means you can only have one husband, which is me," Ye Guan added, but he instantly regretted his words. Goodness, what am I saying?

Yi Nian blushed and nodded slightly. "Okay, I'm going to bear no one's fruit but yours."

Ye Guan was dumbfounded.

"Pfft!" Little Pagoda burst out into a peal of laughter. "This is so absurd it's actually hilarious! Hahaha!"

Ye Guan truly had no idea what to say. In the end, he decided to change the subject. "Yi Nian, how did you manage to condense an entire world's spacetime energy into something so small?"

"Wait," Ye Guan hurriedly said, "Explain it in the simplest way."

"Okay. I extracted the essence of the Time River and compressed it using the compression principles of your pagoda's spacetime. Then, I fused it with your sword. And just like that, a single stroke of your sword now contains the power of an entire world's spacetime," Yi Nian explained.

"Compression?" Ye Guan caught onto a recognizable keyword and asked, "Can you show me how to do that?"

Yi Nian nodded. She pinched with her thumb and index finger before making a tugging motion.

A miniature version of the Time River appeared before Ye Guan.

Yi Nian looked at Ye Guan and said, "And just like that..."

Ye Guan was silent.

Yi Nian hesitated briefly before repeating it. "Like this."

Ye Guan remained silent.

Little Pagoda mocked, "Still think you're a genius?"

"I guess there are always people better than you out there," Ye Guan remarked with a wry smile.

"Can you teach me how to do it?"

Yi Nian nodded. "Sure."

In the following days, Ye Guan began learning Yi Nian's compression technique. It turned out that it wasn't that difficult; he just had to understand the basics. Of course, he took a bit of a shortcut by using the special spacetime in the tiny pagoda to help with the compression of spacetime. The mysterious spacetime had a strange influence on spacetime energy, but unfortunately, it was incredibly exhausting to use.

At first, he used his sword intent to absorb an entire world's spacetime, but his sword intent couldn't handle too much of that power.

Eventually, he discovered a pleasant surprise—his Invincible Sword Intent could store spacetime energy.

Ye Guan's cultivation base had improved by leaps and bounds, but his sword intent's improvement had come to a grinding halt.

With that in mind, Ye Guan spent the next ten years training his swordsmanship within the tiny pagoda. He also didn't neglect to learn the principles of spacetime from Yi Nian.

Yi Nian also tried her best to explain every single detail in a way that Ye Guan would understand so that he'd quickly master the principles of spacetime.

Funnily enough, Yi Nian was improving as well, but she had no idea of her improvement.

The mysterious spacetime left by Plain-Skirt Destiny was well beyond the reach of Tier Five civilizations, and the more Yi Nian learned about the mysterious spacetime, the stronger she grew.

Unfortunately, Yi Nian was focused on helping Ye Guan, so she didn't notice her own improvement at all.

One day, Ye Guan stood with his sword by a seashore. He wasn't holding the Qingxuan Sword but a sword made out of sword intent.

However, the sword in his hand contained an extremely terrifying spacetime energy.

The strength of Ye Guan's sword intent had greatly increased over the years.

Swoosh!

Ye Guan opened his palm, and the sword flew out.

The seemingly vast ocean before him dried up and disappeared.

Spacetime seemed capable of devouring everything, but Ye Guan's attack devoured not the body nor soul but lifespan.

Ye Guan looked up and saw that the sword made from his sword intent had vanished along with the spacetime energy.

Ye Guan fell silent. His Invincible Sword Intent had become incredibly strong to the point that perhaps even a universe tribulation wouldn't be able to destroy it.

However, Ye Guan realized that his sword intent had yet to reach the level of indestructibility.

Just then, Ye Guan recalled his grandfather's words.

Yang Ye had told him that he ought to study spacetime, but the former hadn't explained anything to him.

Back then, his cultivation base wasn't high enough, so even if he had studied spacetime earlier, he wouldn't have understood much.

Yang Ye's words had become a guiding light, helping him avoid any detours.

With that in mind, Ye Guan smiled and said, "Master Pagoda, Grandfather really is kind."

Little Pagoda murmured, "He's only kind to you. If you were your father—sigh, if it hadn't been for the fact that your father had a sister, your grandfather would have fooled him into his own death."

Ye Guan was speechless.

Little Pagoda continued, "Your father's personality was shaped by his hardships. At first, he wasn't that crafty, but he had no choice but to become a cunning fox."

Ye Guan said, "If my father and my grandfather were to fight, who would you help?"

Little Pagoda answered truthfully, "I will help whoever is stronger."

Ye Guan was dumbfounded.

Little Pagoda added, "I noticed that you're quite the rebellious punk as well, but it's not on the same level as your father. If your father were strong enough to beat your grandfather, your grandfather would definitely get a beating from him."

Ye Guan laughed heartily.

Just as he was about to respond, he frowned and left the tiny pagoda.

A terrifying aura instantly enveloped the desolate planet.

Ye Guan's face darkened.

Yi Nian appeared next to him and looked up. "Need help?"

Ye Guan was curious. "Can you kill?"

"I can't kill, but I can set fires," Yi Nian replied.

"That's not going to help," Ye Guan said. He then sent Yi Nian into the world inside the tiny pagoda.