Chapter 1: The Seven Swords of Shenhxiao

The Nine Continents. The Li Continent.

Shenxiao Sword Sect. Lone Existence Peak.

Beneath a thousand-year-old tree at the summit, a young man in his early twenties lay half-reclined on the ground. His hands were folded behind his head as a pillow, his legs crossed lazily, a foxtail grass stem dangling from his lips — eyes closed, resting in quiet ease.

Beside him, a fire had just burned out, and bones were scattered across the ground, silent witnesses to a life-or-death battle that had taken place here not long ago.

The young man's name was Lin Feng. He was the Senior Brother of the current generation at Shenxiao Sword Sect, and the sole Core Disciple of Su Mubai — wielder of the Haoran Sword, one of the Seven Swords of Shenxiao.

Now, Su Mubai was no ordinary man.

His talent was so extraordinary that even across the entire history of Shenxiao Sword Sect, he ranked among the very best. He was hailed as a once-in-several-centuries genius of the sect. Had he not suffered an accidental injury to his foundation in his youth — leaving his cultivation permanently stagnant — the current Sect Master of Shenxiao Sword Sect would almost certainly have been him.

But there are no "ifs" in this world.

A ruined genius is no longer a genius.

The Seven Swords of Shenxiao were seven legendary blades of the sect — and also seven individuals. Their names rang out across the entire Li Continent with resounding fame.

They were: the Haoran Sword, the Taiyi Sword, the Leiming Sword, the Chenyuan Sword, the Yanlong Sword, the Honglian Sword, and the Bingpo Sword.

The current wielders of this generation were, respectively: Su Mubai, Luo Yuntian, Zhao Ziwen, Jiang Zhe, Liu Ye, Liu Hongluan, and Leng Hanshuang.

Among them, Leng Hanshuang was the youngest — not yet a hundred years old — while the others were all approaching three hundred years of age at the very least.

The reason for such a vast age gap was simple: it was extraordinarily difficult to be acknowledged by the Seven Swords of Shenxiao.

So difficult, in fact, that each sword had gone through multiple prolonged periods without a wielder throughout history.

And without the acknowledgment of the Seven Swords, one could not draw out their true power.

The Seven Swords of Shenxiao could each fight independently, every blade possessing its own unique traits. They could also be combined into the formidable Big Dipper Seven-Star Sword Formation, or even merged into a single unified strike — a power so overwhelming it was far more than the sum of its seven parts.

It was a great pity that Su Mubai had fallen behind. Otherwise, the strength of Shenxiao Sword Sect would surely have risen to an entirely new level. After so much effort to finally have all seven swords acknowledged in the same generation, one wielder had dropped out — a loss that left many sighing with regret.

"Where is Junior Nephew Lin Feng?" A voice suddenly rang out from the sky above.

Lin Feng opened his eyes, rose to his feet, and casually extended a hand.

Whoosh!

The three-foot green blade hanging in the tree instantly leaped from its sheath and rapidly expanded in size.

He stepped onto it and shot into the sky like a streak of light.

Sword Flight was the most fundamental skill of a Sword Cultivator, learnable upon reaching the second realm, the Sea Condensation Realm.

High above Lone Existence Peak, a woman of breathtaking beauty stood suspended in the air.

She was Leng Hanshuang — wielder of the Bingpo Sword, one of the Seven Swords of Shenxiao, and Su Mubai's Junior Sister, making her Lin Feng's martial aunt.

Lin Feng flew up to a short distance before her, clasped his fists together, and bowed respectfully. "Lin Feng pays his respects to Aunt Leng!"

"Follow me."

Leng Hanshuang glanced at him briefly, spoke those two words, and turned to leave.

"Yes, Aunt Leng!"

Lin Feng answered and followed after her.

Leng Hanshuang walked through the air with effortless grace, while Lin Feng trailed behind on his sword.

There was a fundamental difference between treading through the void and Sword Flight.

Sword Flight only required reaching the second realm of cultivation — the Sea Condensation Realm — to practice. Treading through the void, however, demanded the fifth realm, the Sky Mastery Realm, before it could be achieved.

The gap in power between the two was enormous.

Lin Feng felt a vague unease stirring in his heart. Aunt Leng would never come to Lone Existence Peak without good reason. In fact, none of his martial aunts and uncles — nor any other members of Shenxiao Sect — would come here easily.

After all, right now, Lone Existence Peak had only one resident: Lin Feng himself.

His master had gone out into the world long ago and had yet to return. His only Junior Sister had taken Aunt Liu as her master. And he, the so-called Senior Brother of Shenxiao Sect, held a title that was more name than substance.

Essentially, no one would ever come to Lone Existence Peak — unless something unavoidable forced their hand.

Lone Existence Peak had long since become a peak in name only. Were it not for the fact that Su Mubai still lived, others within the sect would have seized it long ago.

Su Mubai was, after all, the wielder of the Haoran Sword — one of the Seven Swords of Shenxiao — and the Senior Brother of the current Sect Master, Luo Yuntian. His cultivation may have stagnated, but his standing was far from low. On top of that, his foundation had been damaged while carrying out a sect mission, which meant every member of Shenxiao Sword Sect still showed him a measure of respect.

The moment something happened to Su Mubai, the Haoran Sword and Lone Existence Peak would inevitably be fought over by many.

Even if one could not earn the Haoran Sword's acknowledgment and draw out its power, simply possessing the blade was the dream of countless disciples within Shenxiao Sword Sect.

By rights, Lin Feng, as Su Mubai's only disciple, should have been the one to inherit it.

But the problem was that although Lin Feng bore the title of Senior Brother of this generation, his cultivation was nowhere near sufficient for such a responsibility.

The Haoran Sword was one of the Seven Swords of Shenxiao — the golden banner of the sect. It could not be entrusted to someone of ordinary talent like him.

The two of them soon arrived at a side hall within the main peak of Shenxiao Sect. The other wielders of the Seven Swords — his martial aunts and uncles — were already waiting inside.

In the center of the hall sat an ice coffin. Before it, a young girl of sixteen or seventeen, beautiful as a painting, knelt and wept softly.

Lin Feng's heart sank the moment he saw her.

The weeping girl was his Junior Sister, Su Xiyao — Su Mubai's only daughter.

Their master's wife had been gone for many years. The only thing that could make his Junior Sister grieve like this was one possibility.

Was the person inside the ice coffin... Su Mubai?

Had his master died?

Lin Feng froze on the spot, his mind going completely blank. He even forgot to breathe — until the pressure became unbearable and he slowly exhaled, his thoughts drifting back more than twenty years.

Back then, he had been nothing but a swaddled infant, abandoned in the wilderness.

As for why Lin Feng had memories even as an infant — it was because he did not originally belong to this world. Inside that infant's body lived the soul of a grown man.

Lin Feng had come from Earth. He had been the youngest scientist on the planet, displaying extraordinary talent from childhood, with an intellect that surpassed even Einstein's by a wide margin.

The subjects he researched were among the most cutting-edge in the world.

But Lin Feng had been too young — brash and reckless in the way only the young can be. Fame had come to him early, and he had never learned the value of keeping a low profile.

When he developed technology that was thirty years ahead of the rest of the world, he couldn't wait to make it public, eager to become a name known across the globe.

And so, the great powers of the world took notice. They came to him with extraordinarily generous offers, pressing Lin Feng to sell his technology to them.

But Lin Feng was a patriotic young man with ambitions. There was no way he would hand over the fruits of his painstaking research to another country — those discoveries were meant to be offered to his homeland.

The outcome was predictable.

Just as Lin Feng was about to set foot on his homeland's soil, the enemy nation, unwilling to let him go, deployed a devastating nuclear weapon — reducing Lin Feng and everything within dozens of kilometers to ash.

What happened after that, Lin Feng did not know. When he opened his eyes again, he had already arrived in the Nine Continents.

Fortunately, his research findings had already been sent back to his homeland through another channel. With the help of his work, China would surely rise swiftly, surpassing its enemies — and that, at least, made his life worth something.

Having passed through death once, Lin Feng had truly grown. Looking back, so many of the things he had done before seemed childish and foolish.

If only he had kept a lower profile back then — how could it have led to his own destruction?

But it was too late for regrets now. Since Heaven had given him a second chance at life, Lin Feng resolved to live it well, and never do anything so foolish again.

Yet the reborn Lin Feng had immediately run into a serious problem upon arriving in this new world.

He had been abandoned — in the middle of the wilderness, no less.

And the most critical issue was that Lin Feng, only a few months old, had absolutely no means of surviving on his own.

Others who transmigrated were Favored by Fate — born into imperial palaces or noble houses, or at the very least into wealthy families. How had it come to this for him? He had been reborn as an unwanted infant with no one to claim him.

Of course, none of that would have been a problem given Lin Feng's intellect — whether on Earth or in any other world, he could find a way to live freely. But right now he was nothing but a months-old baby. No matter how sky-high his intelligence, there was nothing he could do except cry.

After two hours of wailing at the top of his tiny lungs, Lin Feng was exhausted and starving, his vision swimming. He felt certain he was about to die of hunger.

To be reborn only to walk straight back into death — he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

After death, where would he go next?

Earth was almost certainly out of the question. Under the nuclear strike, his body had been vaporized — not even dust remained.

Just then, Lin Feng's cries drew the attention of a wild beast. A pair of cold, emotionless eyes fixed upon his tiny body, as though it might pounce at any moment.

As Lin Feng quietly awaited death, a figure descended from the sky and landed before him.

It was Su Mubai — out searching for spiritual herbs to heal his damaged foundation.

He looked down at the barely-conscious infant on the ground.

After a moment's thought, he dispatched the beast with a single sword strike, scooped Lin Feng into his arms, carried him back to Shenxiao Sword Sect, and took him in as his Personal Disciple.

The disciples of Shenxiao Sword Sect were divided into Outer Sect Disciples, Inner Sect Disciples, and Personal Disciples.

Personal Disciples were exceedingly rare. Inner Sect Disciples were somewhat more numerous. Outer Sect Disciples were the most common.

Regardless of when they joined or how old they were, Outer Sect Disciples were expected to address Inner Sect Disciples and Personal Disciples as Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters.

Inner Sect Disciples were likewise expected to show the same deference to Personal Disciples.

When Lin Feng was five years old, Su Mubai returned from outside covered in blood, cradling a small girl in his arms — that girl was Su Xiyao.

As for Su Xiyao's mother, Lin Feng had never met her.

Whatever had happened back then, Su Mubai was unwilling to speak of it.

Since Lin Feng was the first Personal Disciple to join, he naturally became the Senior Brother.

But this Senior Brother was the kind that could just as well not exist.

The disciples of Shenxiao Sword Sect whispered among themselves in private: Su Mubai was already a spent force, so of course his disciple would be useless too.

The truth was that Lin Feng simply had no presence. He almost never left Lone Existence Peak, and he never participated in the sect's annual grand competitions.

The disciples of Shenxiao Sword Sect knew there was a Senior Brother by that name — but none of them had ever seen him.

Who would take such a Senior Brother seriously?

As the memories of being taken in by his master Su Mubai washed over him, Lin Feng's eyes grew faintly red.

Su Mubai was not only his master — he was his foster father.

The debt of raising a child was greater than the heavens themselves.

To say nothing of the debt of saving his life.

Without Su Mubai, Lin Feng would never have survived to this day.

And now, the master he respected most was dead?

It felt to Lin Feng as though the sky itself had come crashing down.

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Edited by Fat Goose