The Lone Sword of the Dugu Clan

The night was like water, stars dotting the sky. Xiao Chen flew at extreme speed above Heavenly Emperor City, his form grazing a few night birds as he rushed past, until he arrived before an ancient, deep mansion.

It was a centuries-old estate. The courtyard walls were built from gray-brown mountain stones, roughly stacked, appearing crude and unadorned. The buildings within were equally unrefined, all constructed from polished boulders. There were no golden tiles or carved beams—nothing ornate. It was so starkly simple that one could hardly believe such a massive ancient stone residence could exist in the bustling Heavenly Emperor City. The simplicity was almost excessive.

This was the sole dwelling of the Dugu clan in Heavenly Emperor City.

The Dugu lineage had always been sparse, with one son per generation. Only with Dugu Jianmo's generation did a historical turn occur: the Dugu family had three children, all sons.

Dugu Jianmo's eldest brother left home at fifteen, carrying an iron sword. He disappeared for eighteen years with no news. His second brother left the Southern Wastes at thirteen, braving the Tianluo Empire alone, venturing into the vast northern lands and never returning to the South for sixteen years.

Dugu Jianmo grew up in solitude. When his eldest brother set off alone, he was only four; when his second brother left, he was just six. The entire ancient mansion lay deathly still, without a single servant, let alone a playmate. Only his taciturn father sat in the Sword Pavilion. From the age of five, not only did he have to mend his own clothes, but he also had to prepare his own meals.

Deprived of family warmth and friendship, without a trace of laughter, he grew up in isolation.

When Dugu Jianmo was ten, his father passed down all his sword techniques and then left, never to return, just like his grandfather and great-grandfather before him. As for his mother, he had never seen her; the three brothers had all been brought back by their father.

Dugu Jianmo's childhood was gray. The vast ancient castle held only him and his father, and after ten, only an iron sword accompanied him.

His youth was so lonely that the iron sword was more precious to him than life itself. It was his only friend, his other half of the soul!

The ancient castle was dark and gloomy, the buildings made entirely of boulders blocking the soft moonlight, giving the place a sinister air.

Within the ancient walls, before a colossal palace, a towering figure stood alone. An unadorned iron sword was thrust into the bluestone ground. Dugu Jianmo gazed up at the starry sky, unmoving, like a carved statue.

After a long time, he sat cross-legged on the ground, his back to the ancient palace. He pulled the iron sword from the earth and laid it across his knees, stroking it again and again with profound focus.

That night, Dugu Jianmo's heart was restless. The memory of this long-absent castle held many moments for him, all steeped in gray and loneliness.

Scenes from his youth replayed: falling at two, splitting his head open, with no one to care; tumbling into a freezing river at three, fished out by his father without a warm word, left to sob alone in the cold castle; at five, having to fend for himself, wolfing down half-raw goose meat when starving; at six, enduring the agony of an iron sword piercing his bones; at seven, thrown into the wild mountains to face a pack of wolves alone, returning covered in blood and mad with fear... and most of all, the loneliness that had accompanied him for twenty-two years!

A gray past, a lonely past... In his earliest years, Dugu Jianmo often dreamt that one day a kind, beautiful mother would appear by his side, and a lively, gentle sister would talk with him endlessly.

But these were nothing but delusions! Only the cold iron sword had accompanied him for twenty-two long years.

Xiao Chen entered the airspace above the ancient castle, quietly surveying all below. Soon, he spotted the solitary figure in the shadow of the great palace. Vaguely, he saw two crystalline teardrops roll down Dugu Jianmo's cheeks. This struck Xiao Chen as extraordinary—that someone as ruthless as Dugu Jianmo, who had slaughtered so many on Dragon Island, could have such an unknown side.

"Ah..." Suddenly, Dugu Jianmo threw back his head and roared, as if possessed by madness. His black hair stood on end. The iron sword in his hand seemed ready to shatter the void. A mysterious domain instantly enveloped the palace's shadow, shaking the entire building violently.

"When Heaven moves to kill, the stars shift and the constellations change; when Earth moves to kill, dragons and serpents rise from the plains; when Man moves to kill, Heaven and Earth are overturned!" In that moment, Dugu Jianmo regained his usual grim expression, his cold words echoing through the castle: "The sword is my only life. One sword challenges the world, turning Heaven and Earth upside down!"

Xiao Chen slowly descended, landing before the ancient palace, facing Dugu Jianmo directly.

An iron sword, overawing the Southern Wastes—no peer among his generation could match it. Dugu Jianmo had withdrawn his domain and thrust the iron sword fiercely into the bluestone before him, staring coldly at Xiao Chen.

No words were exchanged. Both understood the other's intent. They were in the crucial stage of breaking through to the Spirit-Treasury realm, standing at the very peak of Mortal-Shedding.

"There is only me, no enemy"—this was their shared mentality. In terms of power, they had reached the limit of Mortal-Shedding. What they needed now was to sever the demonic thoughts within, to achieve a true qualitative breakthrough and open the body's treasure.

Defeating all enemies was their common mindset at this stage.

At this moment, no further words were needed. Only combat!

Shing!

The iron sword thrust into the ground trembled violently, then suddenly flew up into the sky on its own. The once-dull blade now blazed like a divine rainbow, illuminating the entire night sky.

Too brilliant! Divine light blazed, as if infused with a will. The sword arced through the air and slashed fiercely toward Xiao Chen. The sword-light was like a flowing ribbon, and beams of light fell like thunderbolts from the sky, dazzling and gorgeous. The blazing sword-light wove into a net of death, spectacular and overwhelming.

Cold light flashed in Xiao Chen's eyes. "A Daoist sword-controlling technique?!"

"What is sword-controlling but a minor art before the iron sword of the Dugu lineage?" Dugu Jianmo stood like a demonic statue before the great palace, his expression cold and arrogant.

Xiao Chen drew his broken black blade and struck eighteen times in quick succession. Bright, flashing sabre-light descended like a meteor shower, illuminating the entire ancient castle.

Clang clang...

The piercing sound of metal striking metal rang out unceasingly. The broken blade and iron sword collided again and again, sending out bursts of sparks.

Everything happened with lightning speed. Xiao Chen's body had turned into a faint beam of light, while the broken blade and iron sword tore out towering beams of radiance, like great waterfalls flowing upward—sabre-qi and sword-light dancing together across the sky, majestic and overwhelmingly powerful.

The ground shattered, and the ancient castle shook.

On the thirty-third strike, the iron sword broke away into the air and returned to Dugu Jianmo's hand. The moment he grasped it, it was as if a second soul had been poured into him. He seemed to tower several times taller, a strange and oppressive presence that felt like a giant had suddenly appeared, radiating overwhelming pressure.

Wooom—

Cold light erupted. Dugu Jianmo stepped forward, his iron sword whistling with an ear-piercing shriek as it cut through the air at incredible speed, the sound like a demon's howl. A massive, surging beam of sword-light, like a roaring Milky Way, charged forward with unstoppable force, nearly tearing through space itself.

Three pavilions not far away were instantly shattered by the overflowing sword-qi. The blinding light was too fierce, the power unimaginably vast, shaking and quivering as if it might rend the void at any moment.

Cold light gleamed in Xiao Chen's eyes. Gripping the blade with both hands, he leaped into the air, meeting the sword-light with a vertical slash.

Clang!

The sword-light and sabre-light collided, producing a clear metallic clang, even with a resonant echo.

The burst of blinding light in the sky made it impossible to open one's eyes. Violent energy swept across the heavens like raging tidal waves, cracking the earth beneath.

It was as though the sky were falling and the earth were splitting!

Xiao Chen arced through the air, his broken blade slashing diagonally toward Dugu Jianmo's waist and abdomen.

Against Yuwen Feng, he had matched fist with fist; against Dugu Jianmo, without a sword, he would certainly use a blade!

The broken blade flew like a rainbow, sweeping down, brilliant and dazzling.

Dugu Jianmo raised his sword in an upward parry, the iron blade meeting the broken blade. A strange, overwhelming spiral force shook up the blade, striking Xiao Chen's arm like a thunderbolt. A searing radiance enveloped his entire limb, nearly causing him to drop the weapon.

Boom!

Protective true qi burst out violently, and the light on the broken blade flared even more intensely. Xiao Chen repelled the powerful spiral force, and as he rocketed upward, he used a trailing sabre technique—a backhand slash aimed at Dugu Jianmo's neck.

A trail of black light swept through, but only struck a residual image. Dugu Jianmo's iron sword pointed heavenward as he stood motionless on the bluestone ground, yet the space around him twisted. Then darkness fell, his figure vanished—he had unsheathed his domain!

Standing high above, Xiao Chen dove downward. At the same time, the Sealing Divinity Light Screen formed into armor covering his body, divine flames leaping—not a domain, yet not inferior to one.

Slay God, Reverse Chaos, Collapse, Suppress Demon—Xiao Chen could now execute these techniques fluidly in combat, no longer needing conscious effort to weave them into his blade-work.

He plunged straight down, the broken blade aimed directly at the crown point on Dugu Jianmo's head.

Resplendent sabre-light, vast as an ocean, pressed down from the sky. With a low rumble, the earth began to sink! Ten zhang around were completely enveloped in sabre-light, all falling into collapse, sinking a full foot. Dugu Jianmo's iron sword shot upward, barely meeting the sharp edge.

But the matter did not end there. Dugu Jianmo vanished completely. Amid the ruins of the shattered ancient palace, only sword-light filled the sky—in this moment, the entire castle was a maze of crisscrossing sword-qi.

The fastest sword in the world struck again and again. Everywhere was cold light, but the man himself was unseen—only blazing sword-light surging.

The sound of shattering never ceased. The earth sank. Countless sword-qi completely sliced through the ruins, the towering light dazzling to the extreme. From afar, the Dugu clan's ancient castle seemed to have countless beams of light piercing the starry sky, like blazing heavenly fire descending upon this place.

The sword-light was too dense. A berserk sword demon, a terrifying sword art!