Swordsmanship Coach: Kill with One Slash

Chapter 245: Chapter 168: Luocheng 2

The palace was far grander than Su Xing had ever imagined an ancient residence could be. As his vision pierced deeper, he finally saw a person—or more accurately, a man.

He was dressed in white robes, a faint righteous aura swirling around him. He sat painting with a brush, but as if sensing Su Xing’s gaze, he turned his head. His eyes met Su Xing’s from across the distance, and he murmured,

"A visitor from the future?"

Su Xing didn’t speak.

He didn’t know what to say.

He still couldn’t tell if he was watching a recording or had actually traveled back in time to witness the event as it happened.

However,

Su Xing could sense,

the man before him was also an Extraordinary Being.

He exuded a powerful presence, an aura entirely different from that of a Martial Artist, a Sequencer, or a Qi Cultivator. This must be the legendary Confucian Scholar, and the aura was precisely their famed righteous aura.

"There is no need to be so formal, visitor from the future."

"I have been dead for several hundred years, so I pose no threat to you. The fact that I can see you now must mean that Spiritual Qi has begun its recovery in the future, has it not?"

"It has."

Su Xing nodded.

Based on the man’s words and his own deductions, Su Xing judged that the man was indeed well and truly dead.

He had simply used some technique to preserve a fragment of his consciousness, allowing for this conversation with Su Xing, a man from the future.

"What has long been divided must unite, and what has long been united must divide. Such is the way of Spiritual Qi, and such is the way of all things."

"I have a question. What dynasty rules Huaxia now? After the Spiritual Qi withered, how many years passed before it began to recover?"

"Hmm..."

Su Xing hesitated for a moment before answering, "The Huaxia of today is called the Xia Country. As for the recovery of Spiritual Qi, it only just began. It took roughly five hundred years for it to start returning."

"The Xia Country..."

the scholar murmured to himself.

At the same time, he gently wrote the two words "Xia Country" on the paper before him with his brush. A wave of energy instantly surged around him, only to vanish just as quickly.

"Truly extraordinary."

The scholar smiled. "I never imagined the future would be such a vast and magnificent world. Even without Spiritual Qi, it is in no way inferior to the Huaxia of ancient times."

"Young man, the fact that you could come here proves you are no ordinary person. You should be able to see my current state for what it is."

"No matter how powerful I was in life, in death, I am but a wandering ghost. If you have the time, please return my bones to the old site of Luocheng. Let me be laid to rest, and I will naturally have something to give you in return."

"Of course."

"This is merely the request of a ghost."

"You are, of course, free to ignore it. If you are willing to help, I will be eternally grateful. If fate allows, we may meet again in the next life."

As his voice faded,

the projection before Su Xing abruptly vanished as if it had never been there. Su Xing was once again standing alone before the tombstone.

Except,

a box had appeared in front of the tombstone.

It was an urn for ashes.

"..."

Su Xing fell silent.

He hadn’t even been able to discern what realm that man had reached.

The man could write two words, "Xia Country," and instantly understand its history. Even in death, he could still influence the physical world.

Someone like that...

Could he really have died just because the Spiritual Qi had withered away?

Su Xing was overcome with emotion.

No matter how great a person’s power, it could never compare to the Heavenly Dao. Sometimes, the smallest change in the environment meant utter disaster for those it affected.

At the same time...

Su Xing gained a new appreciation for the power of a Celestial Being.

Because,

he was reminded of the reason for his uncle’s disappearance.

His uncle had encountered a Celestial Being.

Regardless of why that Celestial Being was on the verge of death, he had ultimately survived the withering of Spiritual Qi. At the very least, that meant the Celestial Being was even more powerful than this Confucian Scholar.

His power...

was absolutely unfathomable.

Just then, a thought that terrified even him suddenly surfaced in Su Xing’s mind.

’What if...’

’in this world...’

’there are still Celestial Beings?’

’Of course, that’s just a wild thought. If such beings really existed, why is there no news of them? Why would they remain hidden?’

Su Xing shook his head, casting the thought from his mind. He stepped forward, picked up the urn, and tucked it securely inside his shirt.

"Luocheng."

Su Xing murmured.

In ancient times, Luocheng was likely in the region of the Zhou Capital. As for its location in the modern Xia Country, he could find that with a quick search once he got back.

But for now,

Su Xing needed to explore the Spirit Realm.

Only by understanding the terrain could he harvest more efficiently. Besides, he needed to find the other four people, or he wouldn’t be able to return to the real world later.

With a plan in mind,

Su Xing had to press forward.

The graveyard,

occupied only a very small part of this area.

After all,

the entirety of Luocheng had been pulled in here.

Looking up, he saw vast stretches of wooden buildings. They were all covered in the marks of time, and there wasn’t a single living person inside. They were all completely empty.

"Hm?"

"The smell of blood."

Su Xing murmured.

In this frozen wasteland, any old blood would have long since frozen solid and lost its scent. Only freshly spilled blood could smell like this.

This,

at the very least, meant that,

something living—or something that had just died—was nearby.

Realizing this,

Su Xing immediately followed the scent deeper into the city. Soon, he spotted a dark stain.

’It’s definitely blood.’

After carefully observing the dark stain, Su Xing nodded in confirmation. His expression grew more serious as he braced himself for any sudden developments that might catch him off guard.

Grasping the Black Sword in his right hand,

he followed the trail of blood deeper inside.

Just as he rounded a corner, he was confronted by the corpse of a spirit beast. Its flesh had been almost entirely carved away, and it was hanging by its feet from a red rope, like meat being air-dried.

Fortunately,

whoever killed the spirit beast either didn’t know the value of its beast core, or the current circumstances prevented them from using it.

Even though nearly everything else had been taken from the spirit beast’s body, its beast core remained perfectly intact inside its head, completely undamaged.

’Someone is alive?’

Looking at the wounds on the spirit beast, an answer suddenly formed in Su Xing’s mind: there were still people alive in this city.

It was surprising,

but not entirely unexpected.

Humans are a species with incredible vitality.

Even if a whole population perishes,

it’s not hard for a few desperate, scattered branches to survive.

Just as Su Xing was thinking this, the spirit beast’s carcass suddenly twitched.

"Hm?"

Su Xing immediately took a step back.

The next moment,

"RAAAGH!!!"

The hanging spirit beast suddenly roared. Its empty eye sockets—where its eyes had been gouged out—flew open, and a dark gleam shot out from within, hurtling straight toward Su Xing.

BOOM!!!

But Su Xing was no novice.

The very instant the spirit beast launched its desperate counterattack, his sword moved even faster, striking its head in a flash.

BANG!

The spirit beast was already little more than a skeleton. After taking a hit from Su Xing’s sword, it burst into dust and vanished completely.

"What was that?"

Su Xing wondered aloud after a moment’s hesitation.

He was certain the spirit beast had been deader than dead, but for some reason, it had suddenly moved again. It left Su Xing feeling rather bewildered.

He suddenly realized that while a Spirit Realm was a small world created by a Spirit Lord, the Spirit Sect was not the only power within it.

Danger, death, and fear were never in short supply here.

Unfortunately for them...

Su Xing had never feared such dangers. If you wanted to put Su Xing in peril, you’d have to ask the sword in his hand for permission first.

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