Chapter 94: Laying One’s Heart in the Sword-You Coward, How Dare You Try to Assassinate Me!(Pumpkin and millet porridge)

"Wait, how did that sword fly back again?"

Xia Ningchang darted left and right, barely evading the Sword Maniac's frenzied attacks.

It seemed that after the Human Emperor Sword had flown off and returned, the joy of losing it only to regain it had driven his obsession with the blade to its peak. In an instant, he had entered a half-step grandmaster state, every strike carrying the might of heaven and earth, fierce and brutal beyond measure. Without the Dark Dragon Spear, Xia Ningchang did not dare meet him head-on.

Fortunately, the fellow seemed to have lost all reason again, flinging attacks everywhere like a wild ginseng spirit.

"How should I know?"

Ji Huo stood where he was, not moving. The wounds on his body had already healed; it was not that he was being arrogant and trying to catch the blow head-on.

Rather, he had discovered the Human Emperor Sword hovering quietly before him, emitting a soft sword hum.

A strange feeling surged in Ji Huo's heart, and he instinctively reached out and seized the hilt.

Golden streams of light flowed across the scabbard as though blade and sheath had become one seamless whole.

Ji Huo suddenly placed the scabbard at his waist with his left hand and gripped the hilt with his right.

At that instant, the wind ceased and the clouds stilled.

The leaves that had been rustling wildly also fell silent.

The dense barrage of attacks vanished. The Sword Maniac stared fixedly at Ji Huo, yet somewhere along the way, his hands had stopped.

Xia Ningchang held her breath, eyes unblinking, watching Ji Huo's every movement.

With a clear ring, the sword sang out—first as delicate as a trickle of water, then surging like a tidal wave.

Then came a heavy, majestic dragon's roar that shook the heavens and earth.

A golden dragon phantom, a hundred zhang long, flew from the scabbard, soaring and wheeling across the sky as it roared again and again. Within dozens of li, all could clearly see the dragon's shimmering form.

Then the golden dragon suddenly plunged downward, descending into Ji Huo's hands and transforming into a long sword shining with golden light.

Ji Huo flourished the blade, then thrust the tip straight toward the sky.

A pillar of golden radiance tore through the clouds and fell upon him.

Bathed in that glow, he looked like a sword immortal descending from the heavens.

Xia Ningchang stared blankly at the man within the column of light. The broken remnants of the Dark Dragon Spear hidden within her body trembled in response, battle intent surging, eager to stir.

It really is him... Xia Ningchang thought to herself, her expression complicated, not knowing what she felt.

"My sword!"

"It is mine!"

The Sword Maniac's pupils shrank. His blood-red eyes burned brighter than ever, and several scarlet sword energies shot forth at once.

Ji Huo looked over abruptly, then broke into a run toward the Sword Maniac. Facing the sword energies, he neither dodged nor retreated. Each attack was effortlessly cleaved apart by the Human Emperor Sword, and his speed did not falter in the slightest.

The Sword Maniac let out a series of wild cries, then suddenly formed a sword gesture with his right hand and pressed it against his brow. In that instant, the crimson in his eyes recovered a sliver of clarity.

Seeing this, Ji Huo's heart lurched. In his frenzied state, the Sword Maniac was already at half-step grandmaster level. As his madness deepened, he was steadily advancing toward the grandmaster realm. Now, with the Human Emperor Sword provoking him, he was actually trying to reclaim his sanity from the frenzy.

If he succeeded in regaining his reason, he would likely break through the barrier and fully ascend into grandmasterhood.

The grandmaster realm was the dream of countless martial artists.

All beneath the grandmaster are but ants; how many heroes, prodigies, and peerless geniuses had been trapped at that very threshold?

It was said that once one reached that realm, one would no longer count as human. Of course, that was only legend and could not be taken as truth.

At any rate, Ji Xiaoxiong looked perfectly normal, and the Sword Saint did as well; there was no sign of them not being human.

As for grandmasters among spellcasters... well, there was no agreed standard for judging such a thing yet, not even among spellcasters themselves.

Just as the Sword Maniac was about to step into that legendary realm, Ji Huo swung the Human Emperor Sword and sent out a golden sword qi that shot forth like a great river.

Yet just before it struck the Sword Maniac, his body again turned into a red flash and appeared elsewhere.

"Converting emptiness and reality, shaping the body into a form... so this is a grandmaster..." Xia Ningchang muttered, brows tightly knit.

Ji Huo struck again and again, but each time the Sword Maniac evaded.

The clarity in the Sword Maniac's eyes grew more and more pronounced. His mouth, once spewing frenzied cries of "My sword! My sword!" gradually shifted into phrases like "Becoming obsessed with the sword" and "Entrusting obsession to the sword."

By the end, a flash of enlightenment crossed his eyes, and the aura around him changed from madness to something profound and mysterious, as though he had begun to faintly connect with heaven and earth.

"My slowness, my love, my attachment... my obsession!"

As he spoke, all frenzy in his eyes faded. It was not that he had lost his obsession, but that his devotion to the sword had shifted from outward display into inward restraint.

Xia Ningchang narrowed her eyes and casually tossed aside the shabby spear in her hand that was clearly cheap, preparing to draw the broken Dark Dragon Spear fragment at any moment.

Ji Huo, having witnessed this transformation at close range, still could not land a hit on the other man. He guessed this was likely the instinctive peril-sense of one in a frenzied state.

Seeing the other man on the verge of completing his breakthrough, Ji Huo could only invoke the little trick the Sword Saint had taught him.

Expressionless, he repeatedly reached out with his left hand toward the Sword Maniac.

"Thieving Hands Star-Snatching!"

...

After several random uses of the skill, Ji Huo had a pile of odds and ends in his hands. He tossed them aside casually and kept stealing.

At this point, the Sword Maniac also knew he had reached the critical juncture. As a seasoned old hand who had long wandered the martial world, he could tell at a glance that although Ji Huo's technique was wondrous and of extremely high grade, it had no lethal force whatsoever.

So he paid it no mind and focused on completing his breakthrough as quickly as possible. Even if his underwear were stolen and the wind blew chill against his skin, he would not care in the slightest. He had no shame whatsoever.

A naked man comes and goes without burden... these are all external possessions. The Sword Maniac shut his eyes and kept silently encouraging himself, pretending he had entered sage mode.

Until...

He felt a sudden lightness at his back, and his heart lurched. He could not help but look up, only to see Ji Huo hugging his sword case with a foolish grin. Inside it were the five famed swords he had collected over the years.

Those five famous blades were precisely the source of his obsession.

In that instant, the force of his obsession transformed at once into fury. The deeper the obsession, the deeper the hatred.

The Sword Maniac could not suppress that hatred no matter what, and the grandmaster realm he had almost reached began to plummet away with a gulping sound.

"Aaaaaaah!"

His eyes reddened again, and he charged at Ji Huo. Reason was once more suppressed, and in his gaze there was no longer obsession—only a feverish red haze.

Ji Huo casually tossed the sword case to the ground, then raised the Human Emperor Sword upright before him. The golden radiance from the blade cast his eyes in gleaming gold.

"One sword to kill intent."

Golden light flashed, and in that fleeting instant a golden dragon seemed to pass through the Sword Maniac's body.

Ji Huo landed behind him and lifted the Human Emperor Sword in his hand.

The blade bore not a drop of blood, its entire body radiant gold. One side was engraved with mountains, rivers, trees, and plants; the other with birds, beasts, insects, and fish.

"A fine sword," Ji Huo praised.

The Human Emperor Sword immediately gave a clear ring, as if cheering in response.

The Sword Maniac froze in place, then collapsed to the ground. The wildness in his eyes returned for a brief moment of clarity, filled only with unwillingness and rage.

"To pour one's feelings into a sword, and yet the sword you cherish is always but an external thing."

Ji Huo turned around and said calmly, "The deeper the love, the greater the pain when it is lost."

These were the Sword Saint's exact words.

The Sword Maniac stared for two seconds, as if enlightened, then breathed his last.

Ji Huo remembered asking once what should be done if one encountered a Sword Maniac. The Sword Saint had replied offhandedly:

"Easy. When you make your move, don't worry about anything else. Just fix your eyes on the swords behind him. So long as you casually slip away one of them, his dao heart will shatter at once, and he will be yours to do with as you please."