Chapter 2397: Sword Slave

Before the Star Abyss Gate, more than a dozen Inner Realm powerhouses were shaken to their cores as the formidable power of the supreme treasure, Tianxuan Sword, unleashed itself unrestrainedly, shattering the surrounding void.

Amidst the swirling, chilling sword energy, there was a thick sense of unease and terror.

Yun Shiwang raised his sword, his killing intent surging like a tide.

The Inner Realm powerhouses, scared out of their wits, turned and rushed towards the Star Abyss Gate. This included the elderly man who had appeared like an immortal.

The brief confrontation from afar just now had made him realize he was no match for Yun Shiwang.

In just an instant, the bustling Star Abyss Gate became deserted.

A heaven-shaking sword beam shot forth, slicing into the Star Abyss Gate, and vanished.

Lu Ye faintly heard successive cries of agony emanating from within the Star Abyss Gate. He was momentarily dazzled and mesmerized by the sight.

The Starry Sky... was safe!

This crisis was now completely resolved with Yun Shiwang's return. With Yun Shiwang guarding this place, wielding the supreme treasure Tianxuan Sword, who would dare to cause trouble again?

Just as Lu Ye was thinking this, a pair of cold, icy eyes suddenly fixed on him.

In an instant, it felt as if countless needles were piercing his body. Lu Ye's blood ran cold as he stared at Yun Shiwang in shock.

Those eyes were as calm as water and as deep as an abyss, yet they clearly reflected boundless killing intent and destructive will, as if poised to slaughter all living beings before him.

Lu Ye suddenly realized Yun Shiwang's state was not right!

"Senior?" he quickly shouted. At the same time, he activated his Dao power, preparing to flee. Having witnessed Yun Shiwang's abilities, he naturally knew he could not be an opponent; the power of a supreme treasure, even its aftershock, was beyond his resistance.

Yun Shiwang showed no reaction, as if he hadn't heard. He merely slowly raised his sword-wielding right hand.

Lu Ye finally understood the horror the Inner Realm powerhouses had felt earlier, because in this instant, a crisis far more intense than facing the immortal-like elder earlier suddenly descended upon him.

"Yun Sheng!" Tree Elder's voice rang out. At the same time, a verdant green leaf drifted from Yun Shiwang's embrace, burst into a ball of emerald light, enveloping Yun Shiwang.

Yun Shiwang's right hand, raised halfway, suddenly paused. A flicker of struggle appeared between his brows, but it quickly vanished.

He indifferently withdrew his gaze from Lu Ye, not even glancing, as if he had never known Lu Ye. He then swept towards the Star Abyss Gate with his sword and stepped inside.

A cold sweat broke out on Lu Ye's back.

After a long time, he finally spoke: "Tree Elder, what just happened?"

"Alas!" Tree Elder sighed deeply. "Yun Sheng always knew he couldn't refine the supreme treasure. He intended to sacrifice himself and become the Sword Slave of the Tianxuan Sword."

Lu Ye was stunned: "Sword Slave?"

Tree Elder said: "As you just saw, although Yun Sheng is still alive, he no longer has control over himself. What controls him now is the Tianxuan Sword!"

Lu Ye's heart sank. Although he had previously sensed something was off with Yun Shiwang, he never imagined it was this kind of situation. The Tianxuan Sword is a supreme treasure; even becoming its Sword Slave is not easy. It requires sacrificing oneself, abandoning everything one possesses.

Yun Shiwang, with his Dao Integration cultivation, barely qualified for this.

"So, from the very beginning, Senior Yun had his own plan?" Lu Ye asked.

Tree Elder said: "He only explained the situation to me at the last moment. He was afraid I would stop him."

Lu Ye was at a loss for words. He had thought that with Yun Shiwang refining the Tianxuan Sword and suppressing the Starry Sky, there would be no more crises in the future. Who would have thought it would turn out this way?

"Will Senior return?" Lu Ye asked.

What was the situation with him suddenly charging into the Star Abyss?

"He won't be coming back!" Tree Elder's voice was low and filled with regret. "Yun Sheng said he would guard outside the Star Abyss Gate for thirty years. This is his last obsession before becoming a Sword Slave, so the Tianxuan Sword will not hinder him. After thirty years, he will depart. He asked me to tell you that the Starry Sky only has thirty years, so you must make arrangements soon!"

Thirty years...

It's not a short time, but it's not long for cultivators.

What could be done in thirty years?

If this Star Abyss Gate connecting to the Inner Realm hadn't opened, thirty years would be enough for the Starry Sky to develop significantly. But this Star Abyss Gate is now connected to the Inner Realm. Currently, with Yun Shiwang guarding it, wielding the Tianxuan Sword, he alone can hold back countless enemies. But what about after thirty years, when Yun Shiwang departs?

By then, no one will be able to stop those Inner Realm powerhouses from invading the Starry Sky.

Lu Ye didn't even have time to feel sad about Yun Shiwang's choice before suddenly having to face such a monumental problem. Indeed, life is full of uncertainties.

"Lu Ye," Tree Elder said, "Yun Sheng said that his generation never lacked the courage and determination to sacrifice themselves for righteousness. This calamity was caused by him. If it were possible, he would rather resolve it himself, but he doesn't have that ability. He can only buy thirty years of time and place this heavy burden on you. He apologizes to you."

Lu Ye slowly shook his head: "There's nothing to apologize for."

The opening of the Star Abyss Gate was not Yun Shiwang's intention. He was influenced by that will. In fact, the root cause even lay with Lu Ye, the unexpected catalyst.

After leaving the Starry Sky back then, Yun Shiwang knew he could never return. But under the sway of that will, he had no idea what he was doing; he only realized much later that he had returned to the Starry Sky.

Lu Ye was currently the strongest in the Starry Sky. If he didn't bear this heavy burden, no one else could!

But thirty years... How could Lu Ye possibly handle this?

Unless he disregarded the balance of the Variegated Realm and raised his cultivation to the ninth level of Dao Fusion within thirty years. According to Lu Ye's own estimation, at the ninth level of Dao Fusion, his strength should be around eight hundred Dao power. With such strength, dealing with ordinary Dao Integration cultivators should be no problem.

But there was still another problem to face.

That was, if the Star Abyss Gate didn't close, the Star Abyss aura would continue to expand. Lu Ye wouldn't be able to fight enemies in the Starry Sky under such conditions. On the contrary, Dao Integration cultivators would experience a significant increase in strength within the range covered by the Star Abyss aura.

So, even if he truly raised his strength to the ninth level of Dao Fusion, it wouldn't solve the problem.

To completely solve the problem, he would have to repair the Star Abyss Gate and eliminate the possibility of Inner Realm enemies invading.

"Don't worry, I will seal this Star Abyss Gate when the time comes," Tree Elder reassured him. "In thirty years, I can recover quite a bit."

The reason Yun Shiwang didn't tell Tree Elder from the start that he intended to become the Sword Slave of the Tianxuan Sword was because he didn't want Tree Elder to clean up his mess.

If he had explained his purpose from the very beginning, Tree Elder surely wouldn't have agreed. The Starry Sky desperately needed a powerhouse like Yun Shiwang at the moment. Tree Elder would have been more willing to expend his own power to repair the Star Abyss Gate, rather than let Yun Shiwang become a Sword Slave devoid of his own consciousness.

Yun Shiwang also didn't want Tree Elder to do this. So he made up his mind, and only at the very last moment did he leave a few words for Tree Elder, as if leaving a final testament.

"How could I let you do that?" Lu Ye flatly shook his head.

What he could now confirm was that Tree Elder had already contributed his power once during the last Star Abyss invasion. If it happened again, no one knew what the consequences would be. Perhaps Tree Elder's consciousness would shatter, or perhaps the Cycle Tree would completely break apart. Neither outcome was something the Starry Sky could bear.

But aside from Tree Elder, what other way was there to repair this Star Abyss Gate within thirty years?

To repair the Star Abyss Gate, one would have to rely on the power of a supreme treasure.

Currently, among the many supreme treasures in the Starry Sky, Lu Ye knew of three that were already claimed.

One was his Square Inch Mountain, one was the Asura Field of the Heavenly Asura clan, and the other was Hua Ci's Three Treasures Coin!

As for Square Inch Mountain, he had tried to control it before, but due to his cultivation level, he couldn't activate its power at all, let alone mobilize the innate power of this supreme treasure.

As for the Asura Field, it was even more out of the question. The one currently controlling the Asura Field was Mi Shi of the Heavenly Asura clan. He wasn't even at the Dao Entry stage, and could only unleash some of the Asura Field's power because of his bloodline.

Strictly speaking, Hua Ci's Three Treasures Coin wasn't controlled by her, but by her beast companion, Pixiu. Needless to say, given Pixiu's current strength, it couldn't be relied upon either.

What was to be done?

Cultivation level was the biggest hurdle. If Lu Ye were currently in the Dao Integration state, perhaps he could use Square Inch Mountain to repair the Star Abyss Gate. But he wasn't.

If he ignored the situation in the Variegated Realm for thirty years, he might not be without hope of achieving Dao Integration. But to achieve Dao Integration, he would have to enter the Inner Realm. How would he then return? Dao Integration cultivators couldn't stay in the Outer Realm for too long.

Entering the Inner Realm through the current Star Abyss Gate was one method, but Yun Shiwang was there. Now that he had become a Sword Slave, Lu Ye couldn't guarantee that Yun Shiwang wouldn't attack him if he went over. After all, just a short while ago, Yun Shiwang still harbored killing intent towards him. If Tree Elder hadn't intervened and momentarily awakened Yun Shiwang's consciousness, Lu Ye might already be dead.

No matter how he considered the matter, it was a dead end. There was simply no way to solve it.

He had to prepare for the worst!

What Lu Ye could think of now was to migrate all living beings in the Starry Sky into the Variegated Realm. But how could he bring himself to abandon this Starry Sky?

Furthermore, such a migration was not very realistic.

In terms of time, there wasn't a huge problem. With numerous wormholes in the Starry Sky, travel to various places was convenient. Thirty years would definitely be enough. But where would he find enough conveyances to transport billions upon billions of living beings all at once?

This was destined to be an extremely massive undertaking, something that couldn't be achieved even if the entire cultivation world of the Starry Sky were mobilized.

Lu Ye racked his brain, feeling as if his head would explode, but he still couldn't come up with a good solution.

It was foreseeable that, when the final moment arrived, Tree Elder would not hesitate to contribute his own power.

Yun Shiwang's generation never lacked the resolve and courage to sacrifice themselves for righteousness. Would Tree Elder lack it?

But Lu Ye didn't want to, and was unwilling to see this scene unfold.

"There must be a way, there must be a way," he consoled himself. All sorts of ideas continuously surged in his mind, only to be rejected, in a perpetual cycle.

At one moment, he seemed to glimpse a ray of hope, but upon closer thought, that glimmer suddenly vanished.

What was it? Lu Ye desperately sought it, but could not find the answer.