CHAPTER 147: SWORD GOD FENG

“That was a good nap,” Sword God Feng said before puking out more blood and viscera. It had been around a year if I had to guess. While that might seem like a long time, to work out the fundamental truths of a sword, it was incredibly short. “Now tell me what a sword means.”

“A sword is a companion tool,” I declared.

“Not a weapon?” I tried to suppress my nervousness.

“A weapon is a tool of killing. A sword can be used for more than killing. Using your blade, you created this chamber. It is a companion, since one would normally keep a sword once they have it. The balance, the flow of energy, and everything else about the sword would become a companion, a close companion,” I explained my reasoning.

I had thought about this long and hard. It wasn’t as compact a statement as I would have preferred, but it was the most compact I could make it in the time I had. It also felt like a safe answer.

“Hmm, that is acceptable, but not enough. What else have you figured out?” he asked. Of course, one answer wouldn’t be enough for this Sword God. That is why I had another two statements ready to go. I was less sure of my third truth about swords, but I was confident in my second, since it held a profound truth.

“A sword is simplicity,” I declared the second truth I had worked out about swords.

“Even complex techniques?” the Sword God asked me with staring at me intently. I felt my life hanging on by a thread, but wouldn’t bend my neck to threats. I would do my best, but if this old man decided to kill me, there was nothing I could do about it.

“That is the technique. A sword is a sword. It isn’t just how it is used, but its design. I had a moment of enlightenment and realized why swords are used of instead of other weapons most of the time for melee. It deals with their shame. A diamond shape extended at length, simplicity,” I declared.

The Sword God was quiet as he stared intently at me. “You have experience with symbology?” he finally asked.

“Just the most basics in arrays and formations,” I replied. “But certain shapes are more stable, have certain properties. Cylinders are quite popular as a tool or weapon.”

It had taken a long time to realize this fact. I could tell that the Sword God was slightly impressed by my realization of this since the sense of danger greatly decreased. Simple shapes carried much more profound meanings and strength once they were combined with energy.

By comparison arrays and formations used more complex symbols, which were more complicated to deal with. While they had features built up on the most basic, they had gone beyond that. In comparison a sword was always going to be a long rectangular diamond shape. There could be variations, but there was hidden strength in a simple straight sword that other weapons might not have.

“Indeed. Symbology is an infinitely deep subject. Arrays and formations can fail, but a sword endures due to this simplicity, your techniques will never fail and rarely falter. That is the true strength of a sword. Draw your blade. Use all your strength to attack me, but not recklessly. If you leave yourself completely open, you will be punished,” Sword God Feng declared.

I stepped forward and swung out. Sword God Feng deflected my blow to the side. “You are not a lizard, attacking like a brute. Angle your swing and body better. Pay attention to your wrist’s motions. Like this.” He moved slowly. “While you might fight in the air, your stance is important. Block with the flat, attack with the edge. Now try again.”

Each time I attacked, I would be corrected. Everything mattered, breathing, focus, angles, it all had to be brought togeather to execute perfect sword swings.

“The sword is a weapon, a tool, an extension of yourself. It is a statement a declaration that you are strong and willing to fight. A sword is each of those things and so much more,” Sword God Feng declared.

“Tip up. Don’t let your enemies sense you are tired or careless,” he said and swung his blade at me. I blocked and stumbled back.

“Good adjustment to the force of my blow, but angle your sword better,” he said while he continued to instruct me.

These were insights honed after a long lifetime wielding the blade. While many of the corrections seemed minor, I knew that to reach new heights of strength that honing my technique was important.

Also, the Sword God could easily remove my head from my shoulders at any time he felt like it. I was subject to his whims and mood. I would have preferred to learn about guns or arrays instead. A sword was useful in melee combat, but I didn’t plan to pursue the path of demonic cultivation and consumption once I left here.

Still it was a useful skill for this place and an immortal was teaching me. It would be the height of rudeness to give any kind of objection. It might be just the thing I needed to get an edge on future beings in this Gu Container.

“Keep up your blocking and listen while I tell you a story all those who wield a sword should carry in their hearts,” Sword God Feng casually attacked me, forcing me on defense while he began narrating.

“The Firmament has no beginning and no end as far as anyone knows. It is infinite in all directions, including time itself. But that didn’t deter the First Sword God. His dream was to cut through infinite to see what lay on the other side.” I continued to trade blows while I listened in case there would be a quiz later on.

“There were probably Sword Gods before the first, but he was the one who created the concept of a unified sword school. From there his ideals passed onto his disciples who spread out across the Firmament, who passed it onto their disciples, all with the dream of reaching and surpassing this ideal,” Sword God Feng spoke with passion.

“Many take up the title of Sword God across the Firmament. It matters not. Titles are just decoration. What matters is skill. As my final disciple, you will carry my legacy into the future. The legacy of all those who have come before. You might come up with your own technique, you might lay down your sword one day, but in your heart you will carry this dream forward.” Sword God Feng’s blows picked up speed in our hole underneath the molten metal.

He purposefully aimed for my weak spots and then he lifted off the ground. “To tempt those whose hearts are hesitant the First Sword God passed on a technique. While it can be achieved through other methods, a Sword God earns their title by severing their connection to the forces around them. Cutting into the conceptual!”

My eyes went a bit wide at this. “A sword can cut anything if one works hard enough. That is my dream. One slash to accomplish anything. It is more than just words. It is an ideal. When you become a strong enough, sever the forces acting upon you, forge your blade with your own ideal. Then you will be qualified to take up the title of Sword God. Carrying the dreams of all those who wield a sword.”

As Sword God Feng flew around me, I was hard pressed to counter his three dimensional combat style. I knew he was going easy on me as the clang of sword on sword continued. I knew he could cut through my blade if he willed his blade to do so. But he wasn’t trying to kill me but teach me. The last wisdom of a dying man, since the blood of his body continued to pour out of his chest onto the metal floor.

“ACK!” A bunch of blood came out of his mouth, but he kept swinging his sword at me. “Don’t get distracted! That is fatal. You think you will escape this Gu Container by worrying about a dying old man. The apprentice that will carry my legacy has to strive no matter what!”

I began attacking back in between blocks. “Good. You are pure scum as a demonic cultivator. Don’t hesitate to draw upon that.” I went to grab a ranged weapon out of my spatial storage, but the Sword God flicked his sword. My hand stung and I endure a more difficult assault.

“Don’t let people go grabbing things. That moment of distraction is fatal. Spatial storage can be cut. Anything can be cut. But such devices are quite vulnerable. You must ensure your own stability first. If you go reaching for things then anyone with some skill will stop you and counter attack,” Sword God Feng declared.

The exchange of blows continued even as condition was clearly worsening. If he wasn’t an immortal he would have fallen over dead long ago. “When you fight opponents of my caliber, don’t just cut their body, cut their soul.” I didn’t say anything about him not teaching me any techniques. He was focused on imparting combat skills it seemed and I wouldn’t question him. Even on the verge of death, I could be easily cut down.

“Stabs are good, but avoid over extending. Use two hands when deflecting and transitioning to give yourself more options. Angles! Mind your angles!” I continued to be shouted as time went by.

My sword skills were rapidly improving under this Sword God’s guidance. He used his attacks to highlight my weaknesses and deft twists of his blade to force my body to adjust to the proper position with each and every blow.

His talent with a blade was immense. It was no surprise, if someone spent hundreds or thousands of years focused on swinging a sword, they better have some skill. It was also clear that he had taught others before and had a talent for it.

“Good, keep your movements concise. Concentrate the force of your blows at the point of impact. Leverage everything into your attacks. Good, don’t over commit. A sword should flow and cut. It is not a hammer to bash away,” Sword God Feng didn’t stop speaking even as blood spewed out of his mouth.

“ACK!” The Sword God puked out more blood and his chest wound had bits of organs and muscles hanging out. “There isn’t much time left,” he said as he collapsed to the ground. I went to his side as he looked up at me. “All these small details are important, far more than most would think. When you use techniques, they require perfection. One mistake is deadly. Like with my spatial slice. I cut space itself and step through it. But the energy used is only one part of the equation and the easiest.”

I nodded as I continued to listen. “A sword…a sword is so much more. One swing. Any technique should be possible with one swing if you are skilled enough. You can use other weapons, other techniques, but the sword is forever. It is the greatest weapon ever conceived.” The Sword God rolled on his side and puked out more blood and viscera.

“One last thing, before I leave behind my handful of techniques. Kill the lizards, kill them all. Spiteful creatures.” Someone clearly had a grudge. “They killed my disciples. They wrecked the Sword Saints.” That was probably his super organization. “At least that blue one won’t recover. I hope that lizard dies screaming in pain and regret.”

I didn’t know what to say about such a grudge. Hissk seemed okay, but I wasn’t about to inherit a feud that had nothing to do with me. I would take on the sword knowledge and perhaps train a disciple in this Sword God’s memory. But expecting anything more was not something I would do.

The Sword God pulled himself to his feet and brought up his sword. “I always thought I would die with a sword in my hand, but not like this. Carve all of this into your memory, like I carve it into metal. One Slice To Accomplish Anything.” There was a burst of energy as the Sword God swung and I blinked.

When I looked back at him, he had fallen to the floor and his sword had fallen out of his hand. Looking at the wall, there were complex instructions carved into the metal in tiny minute detail. Instructions on a single technique to cut through space itself. I looked back at the corpse.

He could have been called a Sword Fanatic, not a Sword God, but it no longer mattered. His spatial ring didn’t have anything useful. Just the same basic equipment I already had. But I wouldn’t say no to another spatial storage device. I stripped his corpse and turned him into a meatball.

The energy in my body surged once more and I was getting very close. I could feel it. My strength and amount of energy was incredibly high. Higher than some other immortals I had met in the past. That was the downside to breaking through without using any kind of structure or plan, just brute force. It was far less complicated but also used a lot more energy.

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I then went over and picked up the dropped blade. Etched onto the blade were the words, ‘One Swing To Accomplish Anything’. I liked my first blade a bit better. Would this sword really take me to immortality and beyond? It was hard to say, but it was far stronger than my original blade. This new one was made of a metal that had more energy than me. If it was a living being, consuming it would have pushed me into immortality.

This was the weapon of someone who had ascended the ranks of sword wielding. I carefully swung it, and it was moved through the air easily, despite how heavy it felt. It was like space itself was parting before the blade.

“Rest well Sword God Feng. Your contributions won’t be forgotten.” I would raise a cup of tea in his honor along with other people I had cherished in my past. While our time togeather was short, he had given me everything he could to carry on his legacy. It seemed like the Gu Container interrupted a battle between his super organization and Hissk’s super organization. Even trapped in hell, such grudges wouldn’t easily end.

It was hard to say if he should have let such a grudge go. If I had built a super organization and a group of lizards had destroyed it, I would have been quite upset as well. That combined with his injuries, the energy of the demonic cultivator, and the pressure of being trapped inside the Gu Container had broken his mentality enough for him to teach me.

I was no expert on immortal constitution, but he might have been able to keep going if he didn’t do anything for a long time. Ah, but the Gu Container would make that impossible. There was no hope left for him. Also, drawing on more energy from the environment would have only made his injuries worse, not better.

Turning to look at the wall, I carefully began to read everything that had been left behind. For one swing of his sword, he had carved an entire manuscript about his own technique. The concept was simple, to use a precise application of energy and one’s sword swing to cut space.

It sounded simple, but in reality this technique was incredibly complex and had an insane amount of depth. It really was the embodiment of the phrase, ‘One Swing To Accomplish Anything’. The most trick was to force my energy apart at the edge of the blade, to cut through space. The newest blade in my possession was designed to make this as easy as possible. The energy was structured in such a way to make it happen.

This technique would scale in difficulty the more one tried to cut. Releasing a spatial slash would quickly increase in difficulty as well. The power of this technique was at close range. The slash that the Sword God has used to teleport, was to cut through the intervening space and step through that cut, appearing at the intended destination.

The problem with this technique was that it wasn’t super useful. My current sword slashes were decent and this technique required more focus. While the ceiling of this technique was incredibly high, the floor was also a bit higher than what I was used to. That made sense for a technique of a Sword God.

It was an interesting idea, having a single technique that could accomplish anything. It just seemed a bit too impractical. If I needed a ranged attack, I would use a gun, not a sword. No offense to the Sword God Feng, but he clearly had swords for brains. I didn’t lie to him, but a sword was a tool. Tools depended on the situation. Just like you wouldn’t use a hammer to cook a meal, you wouldn’t use a sword to hammer in a nail.

I was close to immortality, learned a powerful technique, but I was still stuck in the Gu Container. Taking a deep breath through my mask, I had confidence to keep going and escape. Every little bit helped, and the Sword God had done a lot more than little bit. I don’t think I would have been so composed in death as he was.

There was no rush to leave this cave. There might be more targets out there, but I wanted to keep looking at the notes on the sword technique that the Sword God had left behind. It was a shame that I didn’t have anything to record all this information. Even if I had paper, it would have burst into fire unless it was very high end paper.

While the surrounding metal wasn’t molten, it was hot. Very hot. A regular human would have quickly dehydrated and burned up as their body dried out and combusted.

There were many nuances one could use this spatial technique. Like splitting off attacks in multiple directions. The degree of control the Sword God had needed to write all of this with a single sword slash, was probably a test of his ability. The more he could convey with a single sword slash, the further he had gone down his path of becoming the best with a sword.

A sharp pain went through me. I felt like I was being cut apart from the inside. While he might not have cared if he was consumed and that I was going down the path of demonic cultivation, Sword God Feng’s energy was coursing through me.

“Ahhh!” I let out a small scream of pain and almost collapsed to my knees. I focused and pulled out Sword God Feng’s sword. The pain eased for some reason. “You trapped me you bastard,” I muttered. Sword God Feng wasn’t an idiot.

He knew that I didn’t hold a sword in my heart. Until I could purge his influence upon my energy. The other beings I had consumed had already been heavily weakened and close to death. They didn’t have the drive or determination of the Sword God. The Saint was just a weak immortal even if she was created to counter demonic cultivators. The demonic energy was dangerous, but I had tempered myself against it for so long that it wasn’t a huge concern at the moment.

But the Sword God Feng was unique and kept part of his will after death. If I wasn’t holding onto a sword, his energy would fight mine. It would integrate and be suppressed in time. But there would always be that lingering discomfort if I didn’t have a sword in hand.

“Clever. Very clever you immortal bastard,” I cursed the Sword God, but his energy fueling my cultivation and body didn’t care about my opinion. It just cared about swords. I should have expected this, but it also wasn’t surprising. Even if I had known I would have still made the same choice. I couldn’t give up consuming a being of Sword God Feng’s power. I looked at the sword in my hand. That was annoying, but it was him enforcing his legacy upon me.

Even if I disliked what he had done, everything he had passed onto me was too useful. It was like getting a billion dollars when you are poor and being told you can only wear a certain type of clothing. Of course a person would say yes even if it is a clown outfit.

Carrying a sword in my hand was a small price to pay for everything I had gained from Sword God Feng. While I didn’t like fighting, I had come to understand that it was the best way to grow stronger more quickly. The key was picking the right battles and staying away from beings of power. I got incredibly lucky with Sword God Feng, but I doubted I would be able to inherit another immortal legacy.

I continued to stand in the chamber even as the metal slowly began to grow warmer and deform. Once the writing had vanished, I felt I had a better understanding of what Sword God Feng was trying to convey. “One slash, huh.”

Looking upwards to where the center of the Gu Container was and the surface, I held my newly acquired weapon. “One Slash To Accomplish Anything!” I said to help me focus and swung upwards. The metal parted with ease all the way to the surface. That was incredibly exhausting, but I had done it. I got on board Chicken and took up above the molten metal landscape once more.

There was no surprise as I looked around. Nothing had changed. The landscape was a giant sphere of molten metal, while the star hiding the demonic cultivator’s citadel was still there. Also, the sunspot from the earlier damage was also present. It wasn’t able to be repaired. That wasn’t a surprise, since it would probably require shutting down a lot of the defenses the demonic cultivator had in place.

Looking around, I began scanning for the war machine. I would go back to my original plan of hanging out near the war machine but not engaging it directly. The hope being that I would manage to get another being to consume. There was no one weak here, so I just needed to get one.

There was too many places to look at. Despite the war machine being the size of a small building, it was miniscule compared to the overall size of this place. It made me think if someone made a war platform this size, but that would just be the Free Port or this Gu Container. At a certain point new problems would be introduced due to size.

It was tempting to practice with my sword and new technique, but that would make my location very obvious and reveal my abilities. I needed to be ready to react at a moment’s notice. There were vultures everywhere. Maybe not everywhere, but they were out there and well hidden. I would keep my sword out and in hand, but I wasn’t about to show off with it.

There in the distance, I spotted the war machine. I began heading in its direction while constantly scanning my surroundings. Looking up at the star, I wondered how I would get up there and based the defenses of the citadel hidden beneath the plasma. I could only shake my head. I needed to focus on consumption to increase my strength.

No wonder demonic cultivators tended to be mentally unstable, having competing energy inside one’s body was not a good thing. Properly preparing the energy to remove this influence would have given less energy but would have been safer. But all that came second to becoming strong enough to escape this Gu Container.

Chicken stuttered slightly. It was breaking down. I paused in the air and began to check the various arrays. They were deforming. There was no replacing them, since they were tiny and made on specialty materials. Once Chicken flew its last flight, that would be it. Looking at the war machine in the distance, getting closer would be dangerous, since I wouldn’t be able to escape quickly.

I suddenly felt a sense of danger and fear. Looking in the distance, space and metal seemed to twist. Oh shit! I felt massive waves of energy.

Someone had decided to teach the demonic cultivator a lesson. A very dangerous lesson. I wanted to watch, but that would risk my very life. I looked away. My very soul trembled. I wanted to look, but I knew it would be a very bad idea. Chaos could spread through a range of mediums. Sight, sound, thought, energy, so much was possible.

Glancing up at the star, nothing had changed. Why wasn’t the demonic cultivator taking action?! If a Chaos creature spread, we were all doomed. The Gu and this energy were designed to counter Chaos, but the demonic cultivator wasn’t taking action.

I couldn’t help myself, I looked towards where Chaos had broken into this portion of the Gu Container. My eyes began to bleed, as the sword energy from the Sword God began fighting the energy that was trying to enter my body.

In that brief glimpse, space was twisting around. Giant pitch black cracks had formed with a range of eyes looking out of these cracks. I looked away, but I felt off. Everything appeared to be off. There were fault lines that I hadn’t seen before. Stress points that I would have never noticed before. There was too much focus, too much knowledge. My head began to hurt.

“SEAL!” The word echoed out through energy itself. The threat of danger and fear disappeared. I hesitantly turned around and looked where Chaos had been. There was a massive glowing red sphere around where the Chaos creature had emerged from.

I let out a sigh of relief. The demonic cultivator wasn’t going to take the attack and not respond. He was ready for whatever outside forces would do, including throwing Chaos into the mix. I didn’t even know it was possible to seal Chaos. The massive glowing red sphere was slowly shrinking as molten metal surged into the massive breach. Red liquid also poured into hell as well, creating a massive cloud of steam.

That would make things much more dangerous going forward by disrupting visibility. Unlike the breach caused by the massive dragon, Chaos had carved a much larger hole through the environments of the Gu Container.

Looking back up at the star, I could see where it was weak. There was an uneven distribution of plasma across its surface. I looked back at the red glowing sphere, sealing Chaos. Oh, the demonic cultivator was insane, but that was the power of a Gu.

The Gu would force everything into a singular point both in time and location. This would anchor it against Chaos. It would create an event that was too big to alter, even for Chaos. But the demonic cultivator was going even further, he was strong enough to seal a Chaos creature that had invaded the Gu Container. He was going to use the Chaos creature as part of the Gu.

The energy had grown much more turbulent and my headache was getting worse. I gripped the sword tighter and focused my mind.

“I am Yuan Zhou!” I shouted out. My soul trembled and my mind held togeather. My vision was getting slightly blurry and my energy surged. I brought up my new sword in front of me. I knew what I needed to do.

“One Swing To Accomplish Anything!” my energy surged as I felt as if I would split apart. The pressure lessened. I hadn’t been able to sever my connection to the Chaos creature, but I had weakened it. My vision returned and my energy calmed down. I let out a sigh of relief.

Some sort of visual infiltration method. The energy of the Gu Container had probably disrupted it slightly, preventing my immediate death. It seemed to create hyper perception, being able to see the faults in everything. Most likely magnifying those faults and spreading to everything that looked at it.

A lance of energy and plasma struck downwards. I noted several other beams striking several locations across the sphere. Probably beings who hadn’t been able to resist Chaos, so the demonic cultivator was purging them so the Chaos creature didn’t spread. That sealing technique must have been costly. Already I could see the red shield trembling slightly in the distance. While it was shrinking, it was trying to contain Chaos.

The demonic cultivator was also monitoring everything and everyone. That wasn’t a surprise. Since he had set up a citadel and everything else. He had to have some idea about approaching threats. One step at a time. I couldn’t focus on beating or even reaching him right now. I had to get stronger first. Once I was strong enough, then I would attack the demonic cultivator.

I kept looking around for opportunities. I needed to find more beings to consume. While it might unbalance me even more, the solution was more power. I recalled how I used to be so careful about my cultivation, but I was now sacrificing stability for advancement now.

Thinking back, I could have advanced just by stuffing my body full of motes of energy. Maybe, I might have exploded due to the pressure on my body. My foundation was quite weak back then. And while there were points of frustration, I had gotten this far where countless others had fallen. Just looking around, countless powerful beings and immortals had failed against the Chaos creature, but I was still here.

That was the ultimate proof my path was the correct one. That I continued to exist. When I died then that would be proof that I made a wrong choice. It was faith, faith in myself. “The continued existence of a cultivator is solitary,” I said to myself. The only justification I needed for my choices was myself. And to provide that justification I needed to continue to exist.

My heart felt lighter than it had before. I carefully wiped the blood from around my eyes. It had dried and turned flakey. I didn’t have tears to shed, but rubbing away the blood made me feel better. The stress of my current situation was immense. I was on a path without safeguards or a clear way forward. One misstep would be death or something far worse.

That was what it meant to be a cultivator. If one wanted true power, true freedom, then one needed to chart their own course. I was glad I hadn’t stayed with the cultivation laid out by the Heavenly Alliance. It might have given me a solid foundation to start, but it would not be my future. My future would be so much greater, now that I was on the cusp of achieving my goal of immortality. As for the Gu Container, it was clear the forces outside were getting more and more desperate to stop it.

Eventually the stability inside would shatter and there would be a chance of survival. I held no thoughts of trying to get the Gu or fighting the demonic cultivator. I was ambitious, but not so much as to lose all common sense. My best hope was to escape as everyone fought over the Gu or for other reasons.