I Have a Sword

Naturally, Ye Guan was wary of Yi Nian. After all, he had only known her for a few days; how could he trust her completely in just a few days?

Moreover, it had also become clear to him that Yi Nian wasn't that easy to handle.

Despite that, he had unknowingly brought her into the tiny pagoda.

Ye Gua turned to look at Yi Nian, who blinked and smiled at him.

"You…" Ye Guan trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

Yi Nian was puzzled. "Me…?"

"Nothing," Ye Guan said, "Stay here for now. I have something to handle outside. If you want to leave, you can leave anytime."

Then, he turned around and walked away.

Left all alone, Yi Nian looked around. She opened her palm, and the spacetime around her palm quivered. Moments later, she closed her eyes, and her expression eventually became serious.

Meanwhile, Ye Guan was walking toward the sea.

"Master Pagoda, can you really not sense anything strange about Yi Nian?"

Little Pagoda replied, "She is definitely not your ordinary girl, but I can't really put my finger on why."

Ye Guan fell silent.

Little Pagoda added, "But from what I've seen so far, she doesn't harbor any hostility toward you. It seems more like curiosity."

Ye Guan's eyes narrowed. "She approached me on purpose, then."

"Seems like it," Little Pagoda agreed.

Ye Guan pondered. Why did she do that, though? Is it because she's from the Guanxuan Universe, and she's curious about the popular me? If not that, then where is she from? Wait, what if she sensed a treasure inside me, which is why she decided to approach me? It seems unlikely, as she didn't even show that much interest in the Qingxuan Sword.

Ye Guan thought hard and long, but he could not figure it out.

Master Pagoda added, "Don't overthink it. She's not hostile to you, anyway."

Ye Guan nodded slightly and opened his palm.

The storage ring that he had received from that mysterious figure appeared in his hand. With a single thought on his end, a black light shot out from the ring and landed a hundred meters in front of him.

When the black light dispersed, a puppet was revealed.

It was crafted from an unknown special material that gave it a shiny black finish.

A dark, round shield was on the puppet's back, and there was a sword in its right hand.

Moreover, it wasn't emitting any aura at all!

Ye Guan examined the puppet before him. Opening his palm again, a talisman flew out from the storage ring, and it flew straight into the puppet's body.

Boom!

A terrifying wave of energy erupted from the puppet.

Ye Guan waved his sleeve, and a sword intent surged out, defending him from the wave of energy.

The puppet opened its eyes, revealing that they were as pitch-black as the abyss.

Just then, Ye Guan felt a connection to the puppet. Simply put, he could finally control it. He pondered for a moment, and then it commanded it to attack him.

Schwing!

A cold light flew toward Ye Guan. The attack was as quick as lightning, and even Ye Guan couldn't react to it in time. He only managed to release his sword intent to protect himself.

Bang!

Ye Guan was blasted thousands of meters away. As soon as he stopped, another vicious slash came straight toward him, but he was ready for it.

He flicked his thumb toward it, and a sword intent flew out to meet the oncoming attack.

Bam!

Ye Guan was blasted away once again.

He recovered in midair and landed steadily. A look of shock suffused his face as he exclaimed, "What remarkable strength!"

He didn't expect that the puppet would be so powerful.

It seemed that the puppet wasn't done just yet. It raised its sword, and its figure turned illusory.

The next moment, Ye Guan's eyes narrowed. A myriad of afterimages had appeared around him. Following that, thousands of sword lights flew toward him from all directions.

Ye Guan was shocked, and he dared not be careless as he activated his sword domain.

Boom!

The thousands of sword lights converged at a single point within the sword domain.

When the sword domain finally made its move, a horrifying wave of energy spread outward, shattering the sword domain.

Clanging noises echoed immediately afterward as both Ye Guan and the puppet moved at breakneck speeds, exchanging fierce blows with precision.

Their attacks were clean and efficient, bereft of any unnecessary moves.

The intense exchange between Ye Guan and the puppet continued for nearly an hour before the former finally stopped and commanded the puppet to halt as well.

Ye Guan was covered in no less than a hundred wounds. Blood was seeping out of his wounds, making him look like he had just taken a shower of his own blood.

The puppet was also covered in sword marks but it was healing rapidly.

Ye Guan took a deep breath and stared at the puppet in both shock and surprise. He couldn't help but feel impressed. Ye Guan was a Martial God, which meant that he had a high combat awareness, but the puppet was somehow suppressing him in that department.

The last time he felt like this was when he was sparring with Martial Goddess An. The puppet's combat awareness wasn't as high as Martial Goddess An, but it couldn't be underestimated at all.

The puppet's fighting techniques were fresh and innovative; it was worth learning from it!

Wiping away blood trickling down the corner of his mouth, Ye Guan looked at the puppet with a crooked grin and exclaimed, "Let's go again!"

With that, he transformed into a beam of sword light and charged at the puppet.

The puppet disappeared as well, and soon, the two fought each other fiercely once again.

***

Meanwhile, a man wearing black robes was looking down at the ruins with an incredibly grim expression.

The man in black was none other than the saber-wielding black-robed man, who had accompanied Ye Guan and the others in an expedition to the ruins down below.

The man in black's expression was grim, as he hadn't earned anything from the entire exploration.

Rumble!

The spacetime behind him suddenly trembled slightly, and a group of twelve mysterious and powerful figures emerged from the rift. All of them had accumulated ninety percent divinity, and they were exuding a formidable and dangerous aura.

One of the powerful figures bowed and said, "Young Master."

The man in black nodded slightly, then said, "Someone has obtained an extremely powerful divine artifact from the ruins down below. I'm confident that I can kill him by himself, but there's a high chance that he has a powerful backing, so I had no choice but to summon you all here to ensure the success of what we're about to do."

The same person respectfully asked, "Which civilization does he belong to?"

"Barely a Tier One civilization."

"Barely a Tier One civilization?"

"Perhaps a Tier Two civilization. I'm not certain. In any case, he has just stepped into the Divine Dao Realm. Even if he has a powerful backing, it is of little concern," said the man in black. He gazed toward the distant horizon.

How about the Junlin Civilization? Naturally, he dared not provoke them, and he was even more afraid of the Asura Civilization.

However, the story was different when it came to that young swordsman…

The man in black's plan was going to hit two birds with one stone. He was going to steal Ye Guan's divine treasure and settle a grudge as well.

He could accept getting bullied by the Junlin Civilization, as they were stronger than his civilization, but he couldn't tolerate being humiliated by that young swordsman.

"Young Master, where is he right now?"

The man in black's gaze was cold as he replied, "He is in the depths of that sea of clouds."

"Are we doing it now?"

"Let's wait a bit longer. Old Yue will soon be here."

The expressions of the strong elites behind the man in black changed drastically upon hearing the words "Old Yue."

The man with the saber stared into the sea of clouds until he decided to close his eyes. He wasn't foolish, and he knew that the young swordsman was not simple.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to come to a place like this, even though he had just stepped into the Divine Dao Realm.

In addition, he had also obtained the approval of that mysterious figure.

To ensure that nothing would go wrong, the man in black had decided to ask a full divinity expert for help.

Their goal was to completely annihilate that young swordsman, leaving him no room for any counterattack.

When doing something, one ought to do one's best or do nothing at all.

The man in black understood that phrase well, and he had been practicing it religiously.

***

Meanwhile, Ye Guan was still locked in an intense battle against the puppet.

He suffered countless wounds on his body, soaking him in his own blood. However, the more he fought, the more excited he became, as it had been a long time since he fought so intensely.

Both his aura and sword intent would become stronger as he fought, so it had to be said that evenly matched battles were really effective for Ye Guan.

The years passed just like that, and Ye Guan had progressed greatly. At first, he was just being suppressed, but now, he could finally fight back. He now had a complete understanding of the puppet's tactics and attack patterns.

The puppet was capable of adapting to its enemies, but it was still just a puppet in the end.

The intense battles allowed Ye Guan to advance from ten percent divinity to twenty percent divinity.

Boom!

Ye Guan stood his ground amidst the kaleidoscope of sword lights.

The puppet's attacks were strong and fast, but he had been able to respond to them calmly without retreating a single step.

The exchange lasted for several hours until Ye Guan finally managed to fend off the puppet's attacks without getting hit. He was happy, as he had been focusing on defense without attacking at all.

Several hours later, Ye Guan could now easily defend himself against all of the puppet's attacks.

Shwik!

Ye Guan thrust his sword forward, and the puppet was blasted hundreds of meters away.

When it came to a halt, there were numerous cracks on its body.

Ye Guan opened his eyes and smiled upon seeing the puppet. His realm had finally stabilized at twenty percent divinity!

In addition, his combat power and sword intent had improved significantly as well. Now, even a full divinity cultivator posed no threat to him.

Just then, the wounds on the puppet were healing rapidly.

Ye Guan was stunned by the sight. The puppet truly had an exceedingly high regeneration rate. Of course, it couldn't compare to his regeneration rate.

Ye Guan studied it closely and realized that it could heal so quickly because it was made from special materials. A kind of alloy that Ye Guan had never seen before.

"Hey, hurry up!" Little Pagoda exclaimed just then, "Hurry up and go look at that little girl! Fuck… Hurry!"