The Prodigies War

Yun Qingbai was too proud. He could not stand his Sword Dao being confronted by Lin Xun with Sword Dao.

Therefore, he had used his final moments to retaliate, sacrificing the innate talent that he had robbed from Lin Xun into his sword to destroy the latter.

Unfortunately, it had been a bad judgment on his part!

Yun Qingbai probably could never have imagined that when Lin Xun’s body refinement had broken through to the King stage, his origin aeth artery had also undergone a transformation, giving birth to a true innate ability—Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer!

This was the name of the origin aeth artery and also the name of the magical, divine ability that was born from this gifted talent.

Yun Qingbai’s mistake was thinking that he’d be able to seek the ultimate sword dao if he took this talent for himself, not knowing that its true ability would never awaken as it had never belonged to him to begin with.

In Lin Xun’s eyes, the sword dao vortex was nothing but a pretentious display no matter how powerful its devouring power was!

The rumbling torrent of sword intent crashed at Lin Xun with a power that could easily wipe out some of the world’s apex giants, but it was unable to really touch him, even just a little.

Seeing this, Yun Qingbai’s face grew increasingly pale, and his originally unshakable dao heart was thrown into turmoil.

He refused to believe this!

He was unwilling to accept it!

“This is impossible!” Yun Qingbai looked disheveled, and it seemed as if he had gone crazy.

When the sword strike that gathered his entire sixty years of cultivation and efforts failed to hurt a single hair of the other party, the impact to his state of mind was incomparable!

“You spun a cocoon around yourself. In the end, your power has never belonged to you like you’ve believed.” Lin Xun’s expression became calmer and calmer.

“Impossible!” roared Yun Qingbai. Emotionally agitated and unstable, he no longer showed the bearing of a generation’s supreme swordmaster.

“Impossible? Then I’ll let you see for yourself what the true Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer is!”

Lin Xun suddenly glowed, and a great abyss emerged out of nowhere, boundless and bottomless. Within the abyss, the phenomenon of heavens crumbling and floating manifested, and a galaxy was annihilated in it!

In an instant, the sword dao vortex came to a standstill. It tumbled violently on the spot and showed signs of collapsing as it buzzed and wailed ceaselessly.

“See that? The power you took by force can only bow down to me. Do you think that it still belongs to you?”

Lin Xun’s black hair danced. His words were indifferent, but they were like heavy hammers that repeatedly hit at Yun Qingbai’s dao heart.

Yun Qingbai’s expression twitched nonstop in shock, anger, and unacceptance. Blood seeped out from his lips, and he stared intently at Lin Xun as he still had trouble accepting reality.

Discovering that his lifelong cultivation didn’t belong to him felt as if everything he had been seeking in life had been like the reflection of the moon in water, close yet fictitious. It was enough to cause any cultivator to break down!

Yun Qingbai coughed up a huge mouthful of blood, and his face completely dimmed.

He had already sustained heavy injuries during the battle. Now, after having gathered his entire life’s cultivation into a single sword, he had exhausted everything.

The impact he had suffered from the outcome had drawn signs of imminent collapse all over him.

But to Lin Xun’s surprise, it only took Yun Qingbai a few moments to regain his calm.

“Perhaps…this is retribution.” He took a deep breath and straightened his back, as straight as a sword and as his pride.

“No, it’s not, and I’ve never believed in retribution.” Lin Xun said categorically, “If there was really retribution, you would have died after you slaughtered my clan. But you lived and have been more dazzling than anyone else. That’s why I know that there is no such thing as retribution in this world, and therefore, I only believe in myself!”

Yun Qingbai was stunned. After a long time, he finally said, “Perhaps you’re right. There’s no such thing as retribution at all…”

It was unclear what he was recalling from his memory as he revealed an expression of chilling resentment and hatred.

“That’s right. There is no retribution…”

He kept mumbling for a long time before suddenly thrusting his hand into his chest. With a ripping sound, his skin was torn open, and blood spurted out.

When he pulled out his hand, on his palm was a section of glistening vein drenched in blood.

“Do you think that I really coveted your talent…?” Yun Qingbai lowered his head and stared at the vein, seemingly oblivious of his bleeding chest.

In his eyes was extreme pain.

Drip! Drip!

Drops of blood slipped down from his chest and the gaps between his fingers. The bloody and oozing sight made Lin Xun frown.

“But you’re not me after all, so you naturally don't understand. I never even thought of embarking on the path of cultivation in the first place!” Yun Qingbai suddenly sounded agitated and crazy, as if he was venting all the emotions suppressed in the deepest part of his heart.

Lin Xun looked indifferent.

He would never sympathize with his enemies.

Thud!

Yun Qingbai appeared to be physically exhausted and sat down heavily in the void, but his back remained straight.

Paying no attention to the bloody wound on his chest, he looked up at Lin Xun with a complicated expression of relief and self-deprecation. “I haven’t lost my composure like this in a very long time, and I didn’t expect that it would be in front of you.”

“Do you regret it?” asked Lin Xun.

“I have never regretted anything in my life, even now.” Yun Qingbai shook his head. Then, his tone suddenly became serious. “In fact, we are the same kind of people. The only difference is you have a choice, while I…never had any…”

Saying this, Yun Qingbai fell into a trance. He sat there, seemingly recalling his life.

After a long time, he lifted his head with difficulty and opened his palm, revealing the glistening origin aeth artery.

“Here, I’m returning it to you.”

Lin Xun reached out and grabbed it. Without sparing it a glance, he crushed the vein, and it burst into a rain of light.

Yun Qingbai was stunned, “Didn’t you want to kill me to retrieve it?”

“You regarded it as your dao and placed utmost importance upon it, but to me, it’s dispensable, and my dao remains unaffected without it!” Lin Xun said flatly, “I decided to take revenge with only one purpose, that is, you must die!”

Yun Qingbai blurted out with a self-mocking chuckle. Then, he looked up at Lin Xun. “Thank you for your patience. Before I die, can I have a small request?”

Lin Xun was silent for a while before he said, “Speak.”

Yun Qingbai seemed to be relieved, and then, a domineering, proud, and spirited expression lit up on his face.

In that moment, it was as if he was that supreme swordmaster once again as he stressed word for word, “I wish to die under your strongest strike!”

Lin Xun raised his eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

He agreed, “Alright!”

Boom!

A huge abyss emerged and spread across the void. The auras of many great daos floated inside it, their utmost battle powers converging.

The mark of Lin Xun’s will was also branded within it!

Yun Qingbai gazed at the sight with fascination and admiration, and a soft sigh escaped from his lips.

To be able to die under this, he could rest in peace!

With a thunderous roar, the great abyss that could engulf the heavens and the galaxy buried Yun Qingbai into itself.

In his final moments, Yun Qingbai’s memories flashed before his eyes—

……

It was a cold and snowy winter.

A four-year-old village boy stumbled through the snow on the path back to his home.

Dressed in a shabby, old, cotton shirt, he was so cold that his cheeks turned blue and his teeth chattered.

He quickened his pace as he got close to his home.

His mother must have already finished cooking the porridge, and his father must still be worrying about money. After all, he wanted to send his son to school, and that required them to spend a large sum.

The boy had known very early that his family was very poor, but his parents had never cut down on spending when it came to their son. Therefore, the boy had been understanding and obedient. He did not want his parents to worry about him.

Upon arriving home, the boy was frozen from shock.

On the snow-covered courtyard, two bodies of a man and a woman were lying quietly, still bleeding.

The man was the village hunter. He looked haggard, and his eyebrows were covered in frost. The woman was a hardworking, poor peasant woman. She looked kind and gentle.

On the stove, a pot of porridge had been cooked. A tantalizing aroma drifted out from it, but it could not hide the thick stench of blood in the courtyard.

Snow was drifting from the sky, and for the first time, the boy felt that this winter had never been so cold.

“Indeed an innate sword bone. He is a one-in-ten-thousand-year sword genius!”

A gray-robed man appeared in front of the boy and restrained him in his arms. The man’s broad hands rubbed the boy in a flurry of strokes, his face beaming with smiles.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you on the path of cultivation!”

The gray-robed man picked the boy up and strode off. The boy’s expression was wooden. He had not uttered a word, and his eyes never left the courtyard as it gradually grew further and further away.

On the bright, white snow, a stream of blood seemed to burn like fire.

His parents forever lay there…

……

At the age of nine, the boy had already become the most famous sword prodigy of the Omega Sword Sect, and his rapid progress in cultivation had put many older disciples to shame.

“Where’s Little Sparrow, where’s my Little Sparrow? Has anyone seen it?!”

On this day, the boy was searching for his little pet bird like crazy. It was just a sparrow that he had raised, ordinary just like he had been when he was four years old.

“It’s but an animal. Don’t let external objects affect your sword heart.”

The gray-robed man appeared with an icy declaration, and the corpse of a sparrow was casually clutched in his hand. He dangled it before the boy’s eyes.

The boy froze for an instant, and his eyes flashed with unconcealable hatred.

……

At the age of thirteen, the boy had grown into a teenager, displaying a peerless sharpness that grew amazed gasps from the world.

“Huang Ying, bring the sword. We’ll go kill monsters,” he instructed his maid as he had done every day when they planned to go out.

This time, however, he didn’t get a reply from her.

The teenager frowned, a little displeased. But before long, he stood in silence as he saw a corpse laid flat in the courtyard.

He just kept staring intently at it without a word, his memories replaying in his head: the little sparrow that had been killed when he was nine years old; the heavy snowfall when he was four years old, under which his parents lay in a pool of blood.

After that day, he found that no one in the entire sect dared to have contact with him anymore.

They started avoiding him like avoiding the plague.