Chapter 18: Thicket Village (Eighteen)

He saw that “person” gripping a long saber, thrusting it swiftly toward him, accompanied by a surging saber intent!

Yun Xueqing felt no fear at all. On the contrary, a fierce battle intent ignited within him!

It was an opponent stronger than any he had ever encountered, with a realm and power far surpassing his own!

But he could not retreat from this saber strike. If he did, his cultivation would never advance another inch in this lifetime!

He had to meet this saber!

A wild, crazy expression appeared on Yun Xueqing’s usually calm face, like a parched clay sculpture cracking inch by inch, shedding its superficial shell to reveal the true self beneath.

His mild eyes instantly turned into cold iron beneath a frozen pond, piercingly sharp and radiant, as if they could shatter any incoming attack!

I wield a three-foot sword, its hanging light dazzling and brilliant, striking bells without a clang, slicing jade like iron, severing dragons in the water![1]

Yun Xueqing formed a sword with his hand and met the yin-cold saber edge head-on!

Saber qi clashed and surged against sword qi, causing the blood-red space to tremble!

The space could not withstand such powerful vibrations and shattered inch by inch!

When Yun Xueqing awoke again, he was back in the vast white space, with the Calamity Blade gripped in his hand. Someone beside him said, “Finally awake?”

Yun Xueqing knew it was Fu Wuxuan and the others who had entered. He shook his head, touched his chest, and relished the memory of that saber strike, repeatedly simulating the opponent’s attack in his mind.

That saber was stunningly beautiful, beautifully desolate, beautifully trembling.

Fu Wuxuan watched his dazed expression with great interest. “What, did you meet some peerless beauty?”

Yun Xueqing shook his head and snapped back to reality. He answered slowly, “No.”

Facing the deep-scheming Fu Wuxuan, he still concealed the fact that he had seen the remnant shadow left by the Calamity God.

Fu Wuxuan nodded at his words and looked at the saber in his hand thoughtfully. “So the Bodhidharma Sword the old monk mentioned is the Calamity Blade.”

Yun Xueqing recalled what San Zhi had said earlier. “You entered this Weird Domain to find the Calamity Blade?”

Li Yulin, listening nearby, widened his eyes in shock. “Calamity God? Big shot, you’re trying to snatch a knife from the Calamity God? You don’t want to live anymore!”

The Calamity God was an S-Rank Weird!

When an S-Rank Weird descended, it could wipe out an entire city with a lift of its hand!

Fortunately, S-Rank Weirds rated as such rarely descended upon the human world.

In two years of the apocalypse, it had only happened once.

That single time had destroyed a city, announcing the arrival of the end times and giving rise to the birth of the Savior.

Thinking of the now-defunct “Savior,” Li Yulin shook his head, shaking off the despair in his heart. He turned to Fu Wuxuan. “Big shot, going up against the Calamity God—isn’t that the same as seeking death?”

Fu Wuxuan glanced at him, his tone light and airy. “It’s not seeking the Calamity God. It’s seeking the knife it left behind.”

“That’s no different! You’re trying to steal its favorite knife!”

Li Yulin had heard many legends about the Calamity God. To him, it was a nightmare that haunted his midnight dreams, a terrifying existence that could make children stop crying at night.

Legend had it that wherever the Calamity God went, disaster followed, reaping lives. Anything it touched would be cursed with misfortune, so neither humans nor Weirds liked it.

For such a fearsome entity, Fu Wuxuan was actually proactively getting involved with it!

As Li Yulin thought this, he heard Fu Wuxuan say indifferently, “I don’t need to steal it. The Calamity Blade is already right in front of us. Why steal?”

Hearing this, Li Yulin stiffly shifted his gaze to the knife in Yun Xueqing’s hand. He jumped three feet high in fright and quickly backed away. “Stay away from me! Touching that will bring terrible luck!”

Fu Wuxuan ignored his comical reaction.

Yun Xueqing gripped the knife in his hand and said calmly, “Since you’re looking for it, take it.”

“Just like that?” Fu Wuxuan said. “This might be an S-Rank Weird Artifact, you know.”

“I’m not used to using sabers,” Yun Xueqing replied flatly, showing not the slightest reluctance.

He already had the Tianquan Sword. Carrying another blade would be a betrayal of his Natal Sword.

“I thought you’d say a gentleman doesn’t take what others love,” Fu Wuxuan said with a grin as he took it. “Then I’ll graciously accept.”

Hearing it was an S-Rank Weird Artifact, Li Yulin drifted back over, his eyes filled with envy. “Big shot, can I take a look at an S-Rank Weird Artifact?”

“Not afraid of it being the Calamity God’s thing anymore?”

“Not afraid!” Li Yulin’s eyes gleamed. “Big shot, let me broaden my horizons. I really want to improve!”

He had never seen an S-Rank Ghost Artifact before!

“This saber isn’t an S-Rank Weird Artifact,” Fu Wuxuan said lightly. “I only said that to trick him.”

It was obvious who “him” referred to.

Yun Xueqing glanced at him faintly upon hearing this. “Childish.”

“What? Not an S-Rank Weird Artifact?” Li Yulin could not hide his disappointment. “The Calamity Blade should be an S-Rank Ghost Artifact, right?”

Fu Wuxuan explained unhurriedly, “The Calamity God likes using sabers to slay enemies. It has used countless sabers. The one in our hands is just one of them—not its natal Ghost Artifact, merely an ordinary long saber. Its rating would be B-Rank at best.”

Having followed Fu Wuxuan these past days, Li Yulin had seen much. Even a saber comparable to a B-Rank Ghost Artifact no longer impressed him. “The Calamity Blade is that lame?”

Yun Xueqing, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. “A strong one’s strength never relies on external objects.”

“Exactly,” Fu Wuxuan chuckled lightly, raising the long saber and inspecting its sharp edge. “It’s not that the saber is strong, but that it basked in the Calamity God’s glory.”

He swung the saber casually, then sheathed it nonchalantly. “This is the Calamity God’s saber. Even if the material is ordinary, infused with Its Weird Power, it could easily slay a Six-Armed one.”

He stored the saber in his Storage Finger Ring, then turned to Yun Xueqing with a half-smile. “You entered this space before us. Did you encounter something?”

He didn’t believe Yun Xueqing had obtained the saber so easily.

The higher the rank of a Weird, the prouder it was.

The Calamity God must have set up a Weird Domain and wouldn’t let just any stray cat or dog touch its saber, even if it was something casually discarded.

Yun Xueqing looked at him and blinked slowly before saying, “No.”

“Is that so?” Fu Wuxuan met his gaze, as if judging whether he spoke truth or lies.

Seeing the other’s eyes clear and honest, he casually withdrew his gaze. “Since there’s nothing, let’s head out first.”

He stepped out of the white space first, with Li Yulin following closely behind.

Seeing that the two wouldn’t turn back, Yun Xueqing slowly opened his palm, revealing a Ten-Sided Die.

This was something that had inexplicably appeared in his hand after emerging from the Calamity God’s illusion.

He rubbed the surface of the die; it felt warm and smooth, made from some animal’s bone.

This should be the Calamity God’s possession. He didn’t know its function, but he could faintly sense Weird qi clinging to it.

He casually tucked the die into his sleeve and followed them out of the space, then out of the Corpse-Eating Ghost’s stomach.

Li Yulin was extremely urgent. “Hurry, hurry, let’s go find the Six-Armed one!”

He impatiently scratched his arm and occasionally his chest.

The “plague” had spread from his arm to his chest. The wound itched and hurt terribly. If they didn’t find the Six-Armed Bodhisattva to deal with It soon, he would probably turn into a corpse for real.

But thinking of personally dealing with the A-Rank Weird Six-Armed Bodhisattva, Li Yulin was still worried. “Big shot, can the Calamity Blade kill It? But with our strength, we might not even get close… Wu Xue is an A-Rank Oracle. If we hand the knife over to…”

Before he finished, Fu Wuxuan cut him off. “I won’t entrust my life to anyone.”

He shot the other an unhappy glare. “Besides, you want to hand over the Ghost Artifact we’ve obtained to someone else.”

Of course Li Yulin didn’t want to give the treasure away, but it wasn’t in his hands anyway.

Since it wasn’t in his hands, to him, it made no difference whether it was with Fu Wuxuan or Wu Xue. As long as the weapon could kill the Six-Armed one and save them in the end.

But he didn’t dare say such words aloud and could only hang his head like a quail.

Yun Xueqing emerged in time to break the awkward atmosphere. “Let’s first analyze where the Six-Armed one might appear.”

Li Yulin said, “It should be down the mountain. Let’s head down first.”

Fu Wuxuan chuckled lightly and looked at Yun Xueqing. “Finding the Six-Armed one is simple. We just need to find the village chief.”

“Village chief?” Li Yulin was dumbfounded by his words. “Didn’t that old geezer die?”

They had all seen the corpse hanging from the basement beam with their own eyes.

Yun Xueqing reacted. “We didn’t see the village chief’s corpse in the old monk’s stomach.”

Fu Wuxuan nodded in provisional satisfaction. “Not bad reaction.”

Li Yulin sucked in a cold breath, his expression horrified. “So you mean… the village chief isn’t actually dead?”