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Chapter 080 - Sword Heaven\'s Young Prince!

"Good heavens!" Lin Lin, entrapped in unexpected awe, whispered to herself. "Who knew somebody so beautiful could exist in this world...?"

Madame Xiao, a lady whose laugh often flirted with scorn, had been resting in her regular, chilled demeanor. But upon witnessing the youth, something quivered in the icy landscapes of her heart, a warm flicker reminiscent of her own vibrant youth of eighteen summers. "Perhaps," she conceded internally, "there\'s a reason for Ning Yan’s relentless affection. This brat\'s beauty is something else... And he fits just my tastes too!"

Criticism could, with enough creativity, shroud anything in darkness. Yet, his appearance, resplendent and faultless, was a beacon that defied smearing. The once slightly mocking air, with the youth’s entrancing entrance, found itself subdued, placing even Lin Lin’s playful tongue in a cage of speechless reverence.

She had forever held that Brother Chu possessed a handsome face. But now, with such a divine comparison, he seemed regrettably, simply mortal.

"Disciple Yun Xiao, I stand before Sword Heaven to test my Sword Soul!" The youth’s voice danced through the air, neither trembling in humility nor crackling with arrogance.

With determined, swift steps, he glided beneath the Jade Sun Tower. Before him, like silent sentinels of destiny, stood the three Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stones.

"Proceed," Madame Xiao, her arm lazily aloft, gestured with a delicate sway of her hand.

Mother and daughter, their voices a secretive murmur, exchanged words like covert conspirators. "Mom, he is undeniably handsome," Lin Lin’s voice was barely a breath.

"In the path of cultivation, Lin Lin, aesthetics are the least consequential, especially for men," Madame Xiao’s voice was a cool breeze. "Unless he intends to monetize his visage, to whom does it matter?" She had navigated through the seas of infatuations long ago.

"Indeed! It is the essence within that is pivotal," Lin Lin mused softly, Brother Chu’s heroic visage silently cavorting through her thoughts.

Below the Jade Sun Tower, Ning Yan, her presence ever a subtle storm, had already alighted, positioning herself before one of the Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stones.

"Yun Xiao, come," her hand extended, a gentle summoning amidst the tension.

Upon his entrance into Sword Heaven, Yun Xiao felt a peculiar shift in the atmosphere. The gazes from atop the Jade Sun Tower showered upon him with a frigid indifference, as if Immortals, perched upon celestial clouds, were scrutinizing him, awaiting his follies. Madame Xiao, Lin Chen, Lin Lin, and the other Great Sword Venerables...

They possessed formidable skills, that was clear. But why did animosity lace their eyes when they gazed upon him? Yun Xiao pondered this as he quietly stepped beside Ning Yan.

"It has already become the whispered scandal of Sword Heaven that you clashed with Holy Son Chu yesterday and found yourself bested by a single stroke!" Ning Yan’s voice was a playful, yet slightly biting, melody.

"Oh?" Yun Xiao blinked, "Now, isn’t that unabashedly bold?"

"Three men can make a tiger, Yun Xiao. Once the rumors cascade from enough lips, they solidify into accepted truth, rendering your protests futile." Ning Yan’s eyebrow arched, a playful dare residing in her eyes. "Show them what you’re made of! Aim for the stars, perhaps, the Planet grade!"

"And what if I end up at the Moon grade?" Yun Xiao’s voice was a gentle stream, untroubled and soft.

Ning Yan’s furrowed brow, like the folding of delicate silk, provided him with a silent, yet eloquently unspoken answer. Moon grade? Then, Yun Xiao had better make himself scarce and scram! What else would be the result?

"This Sword Heaven is slightly disheartening," Yun Xiao’s thoughts quietly brooded. "I thought Sword Venerable Ning was sufficiently distasteful, yet it seems the eyes from atop this Jade Sun Tower contain not a mote of benevolence." His spirit darkened ever so slightly.

Was he really so easily bested by a mere stroke from Holy Son Chu? A soft chuckle punctuated the air.

"Yun Xiao, reveal your Sword Soul, and all shall be clear!" Ning Yan declared, sidestepping gracefully, her eyes, bright and intense, lingered on the young man’s slender fingers.

What unfolded next, the color disclosed by the Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stone, would shape her ensuing actions—to either draw nearer to Yun Xiao or to retract herself entirely.

Yellow signified the Moon grade. Green indicated the Planet grade. To Ning Yan, these were worlds apart; one terrestrial, the other celestial.

SWOOSH SWOOSH! Numerous piercing gazes from atop the Jade Sun Tower converged on Yun Xiao, shrouded in an icy disdain.

"Heh," a light, confident chuckle slipped from Yun Xiao. His confidence, braided with the assurance of assets in hand, bloomed into a boundless, fearless aura. The drifting rumors? A mere whisper against the anthem of his determined path.

Extending a hand, an azure Sword Soul sprouted within his palm, the dual Sword Rings upon it silently professing at least a Moon grade status.

"This Sword Soul, it\'s somewhat mediocre in form," the Great Sword Venerables and Sword Heaven elders atop the Jade Sun Tower murmured, their words rippling through hushed, secretive conversations.

"Go!" With a touch of restrained anxiety whispering through her voice, Ning Yan was tethered beside Yun Xiao.

A single glance from Yun Xiao towards her, and he stepped forward, gently cradling the Sword Soul within his grasp.

"The Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stone?" This time, not a single soul could intercede. His sword heart, upright and unyielding, mirrored his every action. A straightforward thrust, and the Sword Soul plunged into the sword cavity.

HUM! Instantaneously, the Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stone devoured the surrounding celestial energies, enveloping the Sword Soul, like four divine beasts encircling a revered entity.

Many eyes from atop the Jade Sun Tower congealed into an anticipative stare, awaiting a spectacle at Ning Yan\'s expense.

"Here it comes!" Yun Xiao’s hand tensed. As celestial energies seeped into his Heaven Burial Sword Soul, endeavoring to coax its inner power out and stimulate a color change in the Sword Inheritance Stone, Yun Xiao’s brow lifted subtly.

"Again, really?" Scarcely had his words fallen when the Heaven Burial Sword Soul, akin to a beast provoked, retaliated. A surge of azure mist erupted, voraciously devouring the celestial energy and violently thrashing back into the Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stone.

CRACK CRACK CRACK! In a blink, the Stone shrieked four desolate cries, as myriad cracks, laden with a deadly force, cataclysmically cascaded across it.

Swiftly, Yun Xiao retracted the Sword Soul and withdrew. Beside him, Ning Yan remained, motionless, stunned into a silent immobility.

BOOM! The Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stone detonated, not into fragments, but into a thorough disintegration, transforming into a dust, a smoke, permeating the Jade Sun Tower and infiltrating the entirety of Sword Heaven.

"It looks like wherever I wander in this lifetime, explosions are destined to follow!" Yun Xiao’s voice simmered with a weary jest.

Moon grade, yellow? Planet grade, green? Apologies, but before his Heaven Burial Sword Soul, neither color was accurate, surrendering their vibrancy, and only an explosion held dominion.

That said, this scene was hardly out of Yun Xiao’s expectations.

"The Sea of Swords is revered as mightier than the Azure Spirit,” he mused with a weighted pause, casting a thoughtful gaze upon the spectators, “In its entire history, it\'s said the highest record Sword Soul was Upper Planet grade. In over a thousand years, no Sword Cultivator has ever broken this record. But now...."

He offered a lingering look toward Ning Yan, who was, unfortunately, blanketed by an ash-like residue, her beauty veiled by a curious coat of gray.

"No, this can\'t be right!" Ning Yan, attempting to maintain a modicum of composure, hastily wiped at her face, her words tumbling out in a flurry, “The Sword Inheritance Stone must be malfunctioning!” Her eyes, a tempest of emotions, met Yun Xiao’s, yet for a moment words abandoned her.

Atop the esteemed Jade Sun Tower, gasps and murmurings rippled through the assembly.

Yun Xiao, peering upward, witnessed over a hundred souls deserting their seats, their forms rigid against the railings, faces a tableau of horror as they stared into the ashen void. Twitching facial muscles betrayed their floundering composure.

“What... what is this?” Lin Lin’s voice, fragile as spun glass, quivered as she clutched Madame Xiao’s arm.

“It means nothing!” Madame Xiao’s voice cut through the tension, pointedly addressing Yun Xiao, “Do it again!”

“Again?” Yun Xiao’s internal sneer never reached his visage as his eyes scanned the two remaining Rank Sword Inheritance Stones. They shifted between the incredulous Sword Heaven attendees and Ning Yan, cloaked in her powdery attire. “Are you certain?”

“Do it!” Ning Yan’s voice, steadier than before, held a trace of concealed ecstasy. Her perception of Yun Xiao transformed subtly, him becoming a beacon of youth, talent, and flawless perfection in her eyes.

“Then let’s proceed,” Yun Xiao, ever pragmatic, approached the next Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stone, plunging the Heaven Burial Sword Soul into its depths.

BOOM! A second eruption! The dust within the Jade Sun Tower intensified, the resultant blast resonating through the very foundations of Sword Heaven and its towering structures.

More denizens of Sword Heaven roused, and even beyond its streets, the sonic tumult from this sanctuary of swordsmanship echoed.

In short, it was an uproar!

“Shall we proceed with further testing?” Yun Xiao’s voice, casual yet imposing, addressed the silenced assembly in the Jade Sun Tower, his hands nonchalantly folded behind his back.

An all-encompassing stillness cradled the scene.

Madame Xiao’s eyes, wide as copper bells, echoed a silent roar within her mind. Her grasp deformed the once-immaculate copper railing. "A Star grade Sword Soul!"

Her adjacent counterparts, the Great Sword Venerables, and Sword Heaven elders, voices marinating in astonishment, harmonized in a collective outcry.

“To shatter the Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stone is to attain the Star grade?” Lin Lin’s world darkened at the edges, her gaze fixated on the white-robed youth, her cheeks heating up.

"Meteor, Comet, Moon, Planet... Star!” The sword-bearing youth, Lin Chen, was visibly shaken, his pupils contracting. What did this embody? Every gaze, as if tethered by a silent command, converged on Madame Xiao.

“We need no further tests!” Teeth clenched and face an ashen specter, Madame Xiao declared.

With a touch both tender and solemn, the Rank Four Sword Inheritance Stones, scarce in number and exorbitant in cost, diminished by two under the fledgling light of day. Yun Xiao, with an unassumingly neutral expression, had managed to obliterate a fortune equivalent to two earthly sects before the morning dew could kiss the ground of Sword Heaven.

Just three of those precious stones had stood there, sentinels with centuries of lore whispering through their forms, having gauged the Sword Souls of enumerable hopefuls and silently applauded the spiraling ascents of generational talents. And now, the tangible emblems of Sword Heaven’s symbolic strength were reduced by two-thirds.

Madame Xiao, her eyes flickering an amalgam of anger and apprehension, declined to gamble the last remaining treasure.

No further tests meant the finality of a judgment upon Yun Xiao’s sword soul.

“Yun Xiao!” The voice of a woman, ablaze with a kind of frenetic joy, emanated from behind him.

Yun Xiao turned, eyes meeting with Ning Yan\'s, which were ignited with potent excitement, her gaze searing into his being.

“You\'ve carved history into the Sea of Swords,” she announced with a voice thick with pride, cutting through the tense air. “You are the first-ever wielder of a Star grade Sword Soul. You have made me, your Aunt Ning, so damn proud!”

Aunt Ning? Yun Xiao’s brows knitted slightly, a delicate confusion casting shadows across his features. Had familiarity blossomed so fervently between them? “If you weren’t Senior Sister Zhao’s mother, a slap might be making its way across your face about now,” he thought quietly to himself.

Unable to restrain herself, Ning Yan lunged forward, clasping Yun Xiao’s arms tightly. “From this moment, I am your shield, your safeguard on the path to glory, until your power overshadows mine!”

Silence was all Yun Xiao offered in return. It’s curious, he mused silently, how remarkably practical women could be. Back amidst the icy scorn of the Northern Wastelands, she had paraded indifference and mockery before him. Now, post Sword Soul examination, a transformation into warm esteem was starkly apparent.

Observers might well be duped into perceiving a deep, unspoken bond between them.

"Mother, this is preposterous! We cannot allow him entry into our Sword Heaven..." Lin Lin, witnessing the spectacle, blurted with barely concealed anxiety.

Madame Xiao cast a glance below, spying the Great Sword Venerables and Sword Heaven elders, their expressions now painted with fierce eagerness and festivity, preparing to descend to heap their congratulations upon Ning Yan.

“That vile bitch has discovered a gem and now bathes in newfound glory,” Madame Xiao fumed internally.

A Star grade Sword Soul! It rendered her dumbstruck! Such a sword, it had skewered the very pinnacle of what was thought possible in the Sea of Swords!

Not so long ago, Ye Guying, a supernaturally gifted talent emerging from the Forbidden Tower, had only reached the Mid Planet grade even after his Sword Soul evolved!

Now, having unearthed such a prodigy, would Ning Yan not unabashedly sing her own praises to Brother Feng at every waking moment? Madame Xiao’s heart raced, panic skirting its edges.

“Yun Xiao, approach. I grant you the disciple token of Sword Heaven,” Madame Xiao\'s voice, surprisingly gentle and warm, brought an uncharacteristic smile to her face.

However, Lin Lin, peering covertly, noticed her mother’s hands, veiled behind her back, metamorphosing into a Flying Sword!

“My mother, with her ruthlessness, plans to murder Yun Xiao before his formal induction!” Lin Lin’s heart quaked. “Indeed, a woman from the Forbidden Tower, decisive in her lethality!”

Who could have predicted that Madame Xiao would stoop to murder in such a shocking moment?

“It should be alright! My father, the Sword Lord of Sword Heaven, will have the final say, and he listens only to my mother. In Sword Heaven, her word is law,” Lin Lin thought, steadying her tumultuous heart.

With a cold gaze, she glowered at Yun Xiao, a chill whispering through her internal monologue. “Despite your Sword Soul, you failed to parry even a single stroke from my Brother Chu. Your lacking in other aspects declares your unworthiness. Death would be apt.”

“Today, an astonishing heaven defying talent rises in Sword Heaven!”

“Wonderful! A toast to you, Great Sword Venerable Ning, and to Madame Xiao!”

While the populous of Sword Heaven, their number exceeding a hundred, bathed in the warmth of festivity, none discerned the swift, decisive spark of murderous resolve veiling the depths of Madame Xiao\'s eyes. Her sleeve concealed a Flying Sword, ensnared by a spiral of potent magic, tightly drawn like a primed longbow.

A mere inch closer, Yun Xiao, and a thrust was destined through your heart!

“You cheap slut, Ning Yan. You think you can challenge me, Xiao Yu, in terms of deviousness?” Madame Xiao chuckled within her own thoughts.

When the topic of the disciple token of Sword Heaven was broached, Yun Xiao proceeded without hesitation.

But then, a delicately firm hand clasped Yun Xiao’s shoulder. It belonged to Ning Yan, her smile was a frigid cauldron of arrogance and victory as she locked eyes with Madame Xiao.

“Stay away,” she ordered him, and her voice, an austere whisper, curled towards Madame Xiao, “This woman would dance on your grave given half a chance.”

“Ning Yan! Mind your venomous words!” Bitterness welled within Madame Xiao, nearly drenching her in its virulent spill. Her blade, mere moments prior, had almost been unbridled. Strike, then justify. It was her customary dance.

However, having entwined in a perpetual duel with her, how could Ning Yan not comprehend her nuances?

“Sister Xiao, have you mislaid a memory perhaps?” Ning Yan, enfolding Yun Xiao protectively behind her, arches an eyebrow, a sardonic grin painting her features.

No words spilled from Madame Xiao. Her gaze, however, darkened, its lethal chill barely veiled.

A ripple of apprehension whispered through the spectators.

This involved a Sword Soul of the lofty Star grade! Did Madame Xiao truly intend to...?

Jaws hung; tongues tethered!

“My friends!” Ning Yan’s voice, authoritative yet melodious, carved through the tension, “Does anyone remember a certain decree from the ancestors of Sword Heaven?”

A collective shiver palpitated through the crowd.

“Indeed, there seems to be something!”

While many found themselves ensnared in the cobwebs of memory, Ning Yan, with eyes gleaming and affixed on Yun Xiao, heralded in a voice that embraced both delight and solemnity—

“Our ancestors decreed... should a Sword Soul of Star grade arise, they shall bear the mantle of Sword Heaven’s Young Sword Lord, poised above all but one within Sword Heaven!”

Her words sent tremors cascading through the entirety of the gathering.

“The Young Sword Lord!”

“Indeed! Such a rule is carved in the stone of Sword Heaven!”

“This youth, he soars into the heavens, unbridled!”

A myriad of awe-stricken, envious gazes, a veritable sea of emotion, converged upon Yun Xiao in that heartbeat.

“Young Sword Lord?” Yun Xiao’s brows betrayed a whisper of befuddlement.

“Correct! Young Sword Lord! Heir to the throne of Sword Heaven, the successor to its Sword Lord!” Ning Yan’s words, delivered through a gently bitten lip, dripped with intentional resonance.

“An heir? A prince?”

This status, this identity, was not alien to Yun Xiao. Once, he had climbed from prince to sovereign of the Cloud Nation!

While Sword Heaven and Azure Spirit differed—the former, an integrated, paramount sect, the latter, a coalition of Sword Cultivators—the authority of Sword Heaven\'s Sword Lord was undisputedly absolute.

Correspondingly, the stature of a Young Sword Lord would invariably tower above even the Sect Master’s disciple.

“Have I truly ascended, in standing and stature, to the heavens in a mere breath?”

Yun Xiao, recently enshrouded in the tendrils of a seemingly whimsical destiny, stood dumbfounded. His newly bestowed title had elevated him to a status beneath only one, yet above countless others—a rank unequivocally surpassing the Great Sword Venerables, and even, starkly, Madame Xiao.

Madame Xiao, though devoid of actual clout within Sword Heaven, acted with authority on behalf of her spouse, the Sword Lord. Her power was one of reflection, not origin. Yun Xiao’s astonishment intertwined subtly with a delicate shroud of delight.

He mumbled to himself, a rough whisper dusting across his lips, “So, does this mean the Sword-Tempering Pill will soon find its way into my hands?”

To him, that matter was paramount. His gaze, sharp and probing, skittered toward Madame Xiao, a woman who had, just moments prior, almost effortlessly decided to erase him from existence. When the words Young Sword Lord wafted through the air, he witnessed the silent shattering of her visage, her eyes morphing into concealed stormy seas of rage.

Lin Lin lingered in a stupor of disbelief while several formidable Sword Princelings collectively expressed their dissent with lowered brows, icy glares, and clenched fists. An outsider had, inconceivably, vaulted above them in a heartbeat. Who could bear such an insult?

Lin Chen internally scoffed, “He can’t even bear a single strike from Holy Son Chu. Yet, he\'s suddenly second only to the Sword Lord?” But these were silent grievances.

“I must inform the Sword Lord!”

The tumultuous revelation magnetized an ever-growing audience, and Sword Heaven was pervaded by a resonating shockwave of collective bewilderment.

Ning Yan, witnessing the scene, directed a soft, victorious smirk towards Madame Xiao, the air around her shimmering with the sweet scent of momentary triumph.

In that instant, a ruthless, unyielding announcement cascaded from outside the gates of Sword Heaven.

“The Forbidden Tower Death Decree has been issued! Sword Heaven, heed the command!”