Wu Guangyu had a simr quality to Wu Lian; both of them had gazes as deep as the abyss. He studied Long Chen for a while, then he said, “I remember you once swore to kill me. That was when I took your pet beast. Do you remember?”


    Long Chen nodded. Of course he did. That goal had led him to his current position today.


    Wu Guangyu smiled and said, “At the time, I did not think that you would actually be standing in front of me like this today …”


    “What are you trying to say?” asked Long Chen, arching his eyebrow.


    Wu Guangyu paused, then he answered, “I’m saying that it is a pity. You have indeed improved a lot, but when you were improving, I was improving too. Take out your Three Thousand Star Clusters!”


    As he spoke, Wu Guangyu pointed his index finger, and a faint, azure light started to glow on his fingertip. An illusory, azure lotus appeared on it.


    “This is the Azure Lotus Sword!” Wu Guangyu said gently with a look of admiration.


    They had only just arrived and had not even fought yet, but Wu Guangyu had taken out his killer weapon. This showed how seriously he took Long Chen.


    Long Chen indeed sensed an aura as powerful as the Three Thousand Star Clusters on his fingertip. That was an advanced Emperor-tier divine weapon, and like the Three Thousand Star Clusters, it was very close to the Divine tier. It was the strongest weapon beneath the Divine tier. Under Wu Guangyu’s control, the Azure Lotus Sword slowly emerged from his finger. It was a sword that was fully azure. From afar, it looked like a t piece of bamboo. When studied closely, it was actually a piece of extraordinarily beautiful azure jade.


    Azure lotus patterns appeared on the de, and although it looked beautiful, the sharp glints from the de showed that it was not to be underestimated. It was surely as sharp as the tip of the Three Thousand Star Clusters.


    “Four months have passed. After such a long time of study, Yu’er should have been able to master the Azure Lotus Sword already, right?” Feng Qing asked the icy Wu Lian teasingly.


    “The Azure Lotus Sword works in a pair with the White Lotus. Even after studying the White Lotus for a long time, I haven’t managed to master itpletely, let alone Yu’er. However, Yu’er has achieved a certain level of breakthrough,” Wu Lian said gently, her gaze and expression unchanging.


    “Long Chen only knows how to wave the Three Thousand Star Clusters randomly. Even if Yu’er only understands a small sliver, he’ll be much stronger than Long Chen. He has an eighty percent chance of winning today,” said Feng Qing, stroking his beard.


    He had arge swatch of beard, but it was not as long as the Long-Bearded Guest’s.


    Wu Lian did not respond to Feng Qing. Above the white veil, her deep eyes watched Long Chen and Wu Guangyu, resembling a deep, ancient well. There was a saying—”there are no ripples in an old well.” Outsiders found it difficult to know what she was thinking.


    The fight had not started yet. Simr discussions were also happening within the Five Elements Alliance and Thunder Demon Faction.


    Wu Guangyu took out his Azure Lotus Sword and held it gently, pointing its tip to the ground. By then, Long Chen was already holding the colorful, shining Three Thousand Star Clusters in his hand.


    ncing at the Three Thousand Star Clusters, Wu Guangyu shook his head. He did not attack but instead remarked, “You’re not an Armament Warrior, but you hold a divine weapon of this level in your hand. This is an insult to the Three Thousand Star Clusters. It indeed is time for the Three Thousand Star Clusters to change its owner.”


    Long Chen remembered that Wu Guangyu once called himself a true Sword Warrior. One of the Three Emperor Territories was named the Swordsoul Territory, which was where Ling Xi was from. There were probably many Sword Warriors there, hence Long Chen became interested in what Wu Guangyu said.


    Beast Warriors were verymon in ces of Yuanling City’s level. However, the stronger Long Chen became, the fewer Beast Warriors he met. Although he had not gone to the Three Emperor Territories, he already knew that there were not many Beast Warriors there, though there were true members of the demon race. While the Ten Thousand Nations Territory did not have many Armament Warriors, there were so many in the Three Emperor Territories that they formed arge faction.  ?


    Wu Guangyu had said before that the Armament Warriors in the Three Emperor Territories were different from the ones Long Chen knew about.


    What was different about them?


    Wu Guangyu was a true Sword Warrior. The feeling he gave Long Chen was like a sharp, unsheathed sword.


    “You’re a Sword Warrior? What is the difference between a Sword Warrior like you and me? Why would you be qualified to use a divine weapon, but not me?” Long Chen started to discuss with Wu Guangyu before their duel.


    “Fine. I’ll tell you before you die, so that you won’t die without knowing what happened.” Wu Guangyu’s gaze was still but distant, as if he was an immortal. A cool breeze blew, making his clothes p loudly. It made him look like a magnificent swordsman.


    “The Armament Warrior inheritance that I received came from the Three Emperor Territories. You probably think that if someone has an Armament Soul in their dantian, they’ll be an Armament Warrior. That’s actually far from the full story. When a cultivator enters the Heavenly Martial Realm, their Armament Soul will condense to form a Sword Root. That is when one bes a true Sword Warrior.” Wu Guangyu gently waved the Azure Lotus Sword. He did not even look at Long Chen, but instead gazed at his three-foot-long azure de.


    “Heavenly Martial Realm? Then does that mean you don’t have the Sword Root yourself? You can’t be considered a true Sword Warrior yet, so what right do you have to talk about me?” asked Long Chen.


    After Wu Guangyu heard him, heughed softly for a while, then he shook his head. He looked at Long Chen as if he could not be saved, and said with contempt, “A hillbilly will always be a hillbilly. I am just one step away from the Heavenly Martial Realm. Condensing the Sword Root to be a Sword Warrior is just a matter of time. Once I do it, very few people in the Ten Thousand Nations Territory will be a match for me. This is also why my mother was able to be the strongest in the whole Ten Thousand Nations Territory!”


    Wu Guangyu thought he was very smart, but to Long Chen, he was just an idiot. The more Long Chen could learn about Sword Warriors, the more he would benefit, so he continued, “What is a Sword Root, then? How could it be that strong?”


    “When the Armament Soul absorbs the Martial Soul and the power of essence, another type of Martial Soul forms, called the Sword Root. It is the core of an Armament Warrior. We can merge our Sword Roots with weapons to gain absolute control over them. At the same time, we can let our Sword Roots consume weapons and make it evolve to take control of other more powerful weapons. At the same time, we can use a hundred percent of a divine weapon’s strength. The journey of mastering the Armament Soul, or rather, the journey of the Sword Path, is divided into four levels. Although I have not reached the Heavenly Martial Realm, I have already achieved the first level of Sword Path Comprehension—Heart Comprehension!”


    Then he nced smugly at Long Chen and continued, “Heart Comprehension allows for me and the Azure Lotus Sword tomunicate through the heart. While you still struggle with the Three Thousand Star Clusters, I have gained absolute control over my sword. Heartmunication allows the sword and I to function as one, leading to three times the attack power! Of course, these are all minor things … At the fourth stage, the cultivator can use ten times his original attack power. This is what an Armament Warrior, a Sword Warrior, truly is!”


    Wu Guangyu looked at the Three Thousand Star Clusters with amusement as he said, “You are not an Armament Warrior. Forget about the four stages of the Sword Path. You’ll probably spend your whole life trying to control the Three Thousand Star Clusters, and you might not even be able to use fifty percent of its strength. Tell me, aren’t you just sullying a divine weapon like the Three Thousand Star Clusters? As for using your blood for it to recognize you as its master—that is just an elementary-level contractual rtionship. You can only truly own a divine weapon when your Sword Root devours it! You do not have an Armament Soul, so you cannot form a Sword Root. Therefore, you do not deserve to be the owner of the Three Thousand Star Clusters!”


    Long Chen was quiet for a while.


    <em>I see. It looks like I really am not suited for a weapon, then. Although weapons indeed provide a huge boost in battle, the Three Thousand Star Clusters will likely be much more powerful in an Armament Warrior’s hands. </em>


    Long Chen had previously triedmunicating with the Three Thousand Star Clusters, but unfortunately, he still knew nothing about it and could only use it in a simple fashion.


    <em>If a cultivator takes his Sword Path Comprehension to the highest level, his attack power increases by tenfold. Isn’t that simr to my Dragon Soul Transformation? If I had a Sword Root andprehended the Sword Path, wouldn’t my strength be boosted by a hundred times? </em>


    Long Chen gasped at that thought. The power difference between each cultivation level was between five and ten times. If he couldprehend the Sword Path in addition to the boost provided by his Dragon Soul Transformation, then he could fight opponents more levels above himself.


    However, without an Armament Soul, this was all just hypothetical.


    <em>I just need to focus on my own Martial Path. The Sword Path is just a branch of the Martial Path. Evenprehending the Sword Path will take a long time, so I might as well focus on the Martial Path, and I may even achieve greater heights. </em>


    Long Chen had the right mindset.


    The Martial and Sword Paths were both methods to be stronger. Among the Three Emperor Territories, the people of the Swordsoul Territory focused on studying the Sword Path, so their attacking abilities were more powerful than that of others on the same level, surpassing the average cultivator. However, the people of the True Martial Territory were more focused on the Martial Path, so they had a higher average cultivation levelpared to the Swordsoul Territory.


    This meant that all paths eventually converged into the Martial Path.


    Even without the Three Thousand Star Clusters, Long Chen still had ways to win. For example, his Five Emperor Seals and the divine techniques from the Ancient Bloodsoul Dragon.


    Wu Guangyu’s exnation gave Long Chen the first glimpse of the world in the Swordsoul Territory.


    Swordsoul Territory was a heaven for Armament Warriors. It was called Swordsoul because they had far more Sword Warriors than other Armament Warriors. The Swordsoul Pce was thergest faction in the Swordsoul Territory too, so they often used the term “Sword Warriors” instead of “Armament Warriors.”