Xu Bai opened his eyes. His circulating qi was no longer as it had been before. The sword qi within his apertures had grown fuller and sharper.

He turned to look at Chen Chao, his eyes full of gratitude. “Thank you, Lord Warden Commander, for guarding me.”

When he had been in the midst of breaking through, the location had not been ideal; there were still many sword cultivators nearby. If not for Chen Chao standing watch and casually blocking off much of the surrounding sword qi, his breakthrough might very well have ended in failure.

Chen Chao shook his head. “It was nothing more than lending a hand. Hardly worth mentioning.”

But Xu Bai shook his head seriously. Countless sword cultivators in the world longed to one day step into the realm of sword immortals, yet few ever truly managed to do so.

For him, Xu Bai, to have the chance to approach that realm was one thing; actually crossing into it was another matter entirely.

What Chen Chao considered a trivial favor had fulfilled the realm Xu Bai had long dreamed of attaining.

Naturally, the weight of the matter was different in each of their hearts.

Chen Chao thought for a moment, then smiled. “I said the next time we met, I’d be able to call you Sword Immortal Xu, but who would’ve thought it wouldn’t even have to wait until next time.”

Xu Bai opened his mouth, about to say something, when Chen Chao pointed off into the distance. Xu Bai followed his gaze and saw a woman approaching from afar.

Xu Bai stood where he was, smiling as he waited for his wife.

Jiang Ying had chased all the way here, but her cultivation realm was low, so it was only now that she finally managed to arrive. Xu Bai teased, “You’re a bit late, my dear wife, you missed two wonderful sword duels.”

Jiang Ying, who had never cared much for these so-called duels, simply let her gaze fall upon the flying sword on Xu Bai’s back. Seeing it still there, she breathed a sigh of relief.

If that flying sword had truly been lost, she would have naturally tried to find him another one, but it would have been troublesome. Since the sword was still intact, that was naturally the best outcome.

“Seeing it yourself is enough. Whether I...”

Before she could finish, Xu Bai had already taken her hand and said softly, “My wife, I’ve succeeded.”

“What do you mean?”

Jiang Ying was momentarily confused, but in the next instant, her eyes widened. The moment Xu Bai held her hand, she could feel sword qi seeping from Xu Bai's palm.

It stung a little.

Ordinarily, Jiang Ying would have immediately pulled her hand back. But this time, she quietly felt that sword qi with care.

A moment later, blood welled up in her palm.

She looked at Xu Bai, eyes filling with tears in an instant.

Xu Bai merely withdrew his sword qi, tore off a strip of his robe, and carefully wrapped her hand. Then he said with deep affection, “To have married you in this lifetime is my, Xu Bai's, greatest fortune.”

Jiang Ying murmured softly, “How could it be that good?”

Xu Bai only smiled without answering. Others might not think she was anything special, but that did not matter, he thought she was good enough, and that was all that mattered.

......

......

The Sword Sect disciples returned to the sect, transforming into streaks of sword light that rose from the ground, leaving behind one dazzling rainbow after another.

After landing, Yu Xiyi was immediately surrounded by a crowd of sword cultivators. One after another, they introduced themselves before him, each hoping to leave some faint impression upon this newly risen great sword immortal.

Yu Xiyi was terribly troubled. In the end, he only managed to slip out of the crowd when they weren’t paying attention.

Not far away, a young man in black was laughing so hard he could barely stand straight.

Yu Xiyi’s face darkened as he walked up to Chen Chao.

Only then did Chen Chao stand and look at Yu Xiyi. Narrowing his eyes with a smile, he said, “You’ve really become famous across the world now. I’d say after today, every sword cultivator in the world will see you as a new mountain to climb.”

Yu Xiyi shrugged indifferently, as if it meant nothing.

Before him stood the Sword Sect’s Sect Master, and he was getting closer and closer. As for those behind him, he never cared. None of them could ever come to stand beside him, let alone surpass him.

He had drawn his sword and defeated the Sword Sect’s Sect Master because he wanted sword cultivators across the world to develop the notion that their sword was not weaker than others. But he had never said that after they developed that thought, they would be able to defeat him.

My, Yu Xiyi's sword, is not weaker than others too.

“How about it? When do we set off?”

After breaking through, Yu Xiyi cared little for how the world’s sword cultivators viewed him. What he cared about was still that thing Chen Chao had said they were going to do.

Kill the Demon Emperor!

Chen Chao remained silent, only slapping Yu Xiyi’s shoulder heavily.

Yu Xiyi immediately grimaced in pain, glaring angrily at him.

“Others might not know, but I do. You think I don’t know what price you paid to win that fight? If the Sword Sect’s Sect Master were really that easy to defeat, you’d already be the Sect Master yourself.”

Chen Chao said calmly, “Heal your wounds first.”

Yu Xiyi grinned. “You still don’t know me, do you? That so-called position of Sect Master, I couldn’t care less. But if I beat him again next time, sitting in that seat for a while wouldn’t hurt.”

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes. “You think that seat is some worthless cabbage on the roadside, something you can grab whenever you like? Besides... you should understand that if you really became Sect Master, you wouldn’t be able to act as you please anymore.”

Yu Xiyi asked in return, “Why not?”

Chen Chao said calmly, "Right now, you’re all alone, you can do whatever you want. At most, you’ll just lose your own life. But when that time comes, when you have so many people and so many matters to worry about, will you still be able to act on a whim? By then, every decision you make will affect countless others."

Yu Xiyi held his head as if in pain.

Chen Chao could not be bothered to expose his act and simply said, "We’re not far from the Sword Sect now, are we? You’re not taking me to have a look?"

Yu Xiyi frowned. "The Sword Sect hasn’t received any guests in years. Even Sword Immortal Liu back then, he came to the Sword Sect and wasn’t allowed to enter..."

Before he could finish, Yu Xiyi narrowed his eyes and said, "But that’s no big deal. Before, my words didn’t carry any weight, but after today, who the hell dares to talk nonsense in front of Your Father? Your Father is a great sword immortal now! In this vast world, among countless sword cultivators, how many great sword immortals could there be?

Chen Chao gave him a thumbs-up and praised, "Impressive."

......

......

After that, the two chose to walk toward the Sword Sect. According to Yu Xiyi, since they were approaching the Sword Sect, even if Chen Chao wasn’t a sword cultivator, he should at least show some respect for this holy land of Sword Dao.

Chen Chao was in a good mood, so he couldn’t be bothered to point out that this fellow was currently too injured to even ride his sword.

Though the two were walking, their pace was still much faster than that of ordinary people, and in less than half a day, they had already covered most of the distance.

Seeing Yu Xiyi’s face turn pale and his steps grow slower, Chen Chao consciously slowed his own pace but said nothing.

After all, this fellow was now a bona fide great sword immortal, of course he had to save face.

"Tell me about the Sword Sect, its origins and all that. After all, it’s the only sect of its kind in the world, isn’t it? You ought to give me a proper introduction."

Chen Chao took the initiative to ask about the Sword Sect.

Yu Xiyi glanced at Chen Chao, stayed silent for a while, then asked a question. "Chen Chao, what do you think of... sword cultivators?"

Chen Chao looked at Yu Xiyi suspiciously, wondering why this fellow was suddenly asking something like that. What kind of question was that supposed to be?

"Do you think sword cultivators possess unmatched killing power, that they’re... impressive?"

Yu Xiyi spoke to himself, "I know, that’s what you think..."

“No, I don’t think you guys are impressive at all. Besides, as for being unparalleled in the world, do you think just because you’ve become a great sword immortal, you can surpass me?”

Chen Chao didn’t hesitate to shoot him down, so it was not surprising that he immediately earned a glare from Yu Xiyi.

“But ordinary people would probably think that way.”

Chen Chao added this line so he wouldn’t be stared at like that continuously by Yu Xiyi.

Yu Xiyi’s expression improved a bit, and he said softly, “If that were really the case, how could it be that in this world there is only one Sword Sect, a sect full of sword cultivators, while the other sword cultivators in all the major sects are treated like prized assets? It may look impressive, but in reality, they are merely hired thug raised by those sects, and they don’t have any sense of belonging.”

“So the existence of the Sword Sect, rather than being a holy land in the hearts of the world’s sword cultivators, is better described as the last sanctuary for sword cultivators.”

Yu Xiyi softly said, “If one day the Sword Sect were gone, then the sword cultivators in the world would all become rootless drifters.”

Chen Chao said, “Precisely because the killing power of sword cultivators is too great, no one allows there to be so many sword sects in the world. They may not like sword cultivators, but they must ensure that sword cultivators are under their control to feel secure.”

Chen Chao nodded, understanding the key point, and said, “So it seems that the Sword Sect’s situation is actually quite similar to Great Liang, but judging from the past, the Sword Sect’s situation is much better than Great Liang’s.”

Yu Xiyi squinted and smiled, “After all, no matter how you look at it, you can still find ten or so sword immortals in the Sword Sect.”

Ten or so sword immortals, plus an unknown number of great sword immortals, if they were all brought out, there would really be few sects in the world that wouldn’t feel intimidated.

But precisely because of this, there cannot be another Sword Sect in the world.

Chen Chao naturally understood the implication behind Yu Xiyi’s words and didn’t bother debating it with him. He just smiled and said, “Sword cultivators are impressive, the Sword Sect is even more impressive, so, Great Sword Immortal Yu, can we walk a bit faster?”

Yu Xiyi’s expression instantly darkened at these words.

“You really have a way with words.”

......

......

Passing that small mountain village, they approached the mountain pass gates of the Sword Sect.

Chen Chao looked at the Sword Sect suspended in midair ahead, sensing sword qi that was clearly not emanating from a single person, and felt somewhat shocked.

The only sword cultivator exclusive sect in the world had been here for who knows how many years.

Yu Xiyi was just about to shout to open the gates.

From within the mountain, sword cultivators floated out, and it wasn’t just one.

It was two sword immortals.

One in yellow robes, one in white robes.

Sword Immortal Jiao Xincheng, Sword Immortal Meng Sangshan.

Meng Sangshan looked toward the young martial artist and introduced himself, “I am Meng Sangshan, and this one is Jiao Xincheng. By order of the Sect Master, we have come to escort Lord Warden Commander Chen into the sect.”

“By the way, there happens to be a good jar of wine; later you can drink it together with Lord Warden Commander Chen.”

Yu Xiyi was stunned. Damn it, didn't the Sword Sect reject outsiders? How is everything suddenly different when it comes to this guy?

Chen Chao smiled and said, “Thank you both.”