Xander Xuan never imagined that his ancestral sword would suddenly fly out of his hand at this moment. The Xuanyuan Sword is the Xuanyuan family's long-inherited divine weapon, passed down for hundreds of thousands of years. To see such a bizarre phenomenon now left him utterly shocked.
Meanwhile, Goldwing and Shadow’s monstrous attacks were even more terrifying. His earlier Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation had only managed to trap them, not kill them, and now with the Xuanyuan Sword out of his hand, he had even less chance of slaying them—if anything, his own life was now hanging by a thread.
The Xuanyuan Sword flew straight toward the Frostbane Sword. The two longswords collided in midair, unleashing a burst of light so dazzling it was like a second sun—no one could keep their eyes open. Even Hector Vaughn was startled by this bizarre scene, pausing his spellcasting for a moment.
Evan Chu was just as astonished. The Frostbane Sword had always been shrouded in mystery, housing the Sevenfold Absolute Cleave—a peerless ancient martial art. The sword spirit had once said it should be an ancient divine artifact, but Evan had never managed to unleash the true power of an ancient weapon.
As the Frostbane Sword and Xuanyuan Sword crackled in the air, the Frostbane Sword kept growing bigger and bigger, until it became a massive blade several meters long. Suddenly, a bowl-sized notch appeared on its body—seeing this, Evan’s heart skipped a beat.
He’d never noticed any notch on the Frostbane Sword before. Could this be its true form? That was almost too incredible to believe.
At that moment, the Xuanyuan Sword began to change shape, shrinking and reshaping itself into a piece exactly the size of the Frostbane Sword’s notch. In a flash, it shot toward that gap.
Another blinding light erupted before everyone’s eyes. Evan squinted and used his divine sense to observe this bizarre scene, spotting strange runes surfacing on the Frostbane Sword’s body—then fading away as the light receded.
Now the Frostbane Sword had become a truly complete, flawless longsword. It slowly shrank back to its normal size, but at that moment, wind and moon changed color across heaven and earth—black clouds rolled in, as if a lightning tribulation was about to descend.
Meanwhile, Hector Vaughn’s golden Abyss Wheel seemed affected by the Frostbane Sword—it spun in midair, no longer under his control, and didn’t attack Evan Chu at all.
Evan Chu tried to recall the Frostbane Sword, but found he couldn’t—his mental link had suddenly vanished, leaving him stunned. Was it because the Frostbane Sword had reverted to its true form, making it impossible for him to control anymore?
Everyone was stunned again, craning their necks to watch this strange scene in silence—the fear in their eyes showed just how shocked they were by such a bizarre phenomenon.
Evan Chu flashed out of Hector Vaughn’s artifact’s attack range and reached for the Frostbane Sword, but was instantly blasted far away by a powerful rebound force—a mouthful of golden blood sprayed from his lips.
“How could this happen? How could this happen?” Evan gasped, his blood and qi surging as if he’d suffered internal injuries—thankfully, his wood element was working fast to heal him.
Just then, he suddenly heard a voice he couldn’t make sense of: “Senior brother, congratulations on restoring your Frostbane Divine Sword. But to truly obtain the Frostbane Divine Sword, it must pass through lightning tribulation. You have to help it withstand the final three bolts, or this divine weapon will still be destroyed.”
“Why? Why? Who are you, anyway?” Evan demanded, even more confused by the ‘senior brother’ address—when had he ever taken a master? This was just absurd.
“I’m your junior brother—you’ll understand in time. To cross the tribulation, you’ll need your Golden Dragon body, and your avatars’ help. Once you obtain the Frostbane Divine Sword, you’ll learn some things you’ve been wanting to know. I can only do my best to weaken the tribulation’s power; as your junior brother, that’s all I can do. The rest is up to you!”
The more Evan listened, the more confused he got—but one thing was clear: the Frostbane Sword had become the Frostbane Divine Sword, and a newly awakened divine weapon would trigger lightning tribulation, just like when he forced the Five-Element Fruits to ripen and thunder struck them. He still didn’t know why the Five-Element Fruits had drawn tribulation, but this time, it was happening again.
One more thing—he had to help the Frostbane Divine Sword survive tribulation if he wanted to truly wield it. But to do that, he’d have to reveal his Golden Dragon body and his Golden Body avatars, laying all his secrets bare before the watching crowd.
At that moment, Evan felt utterly conflicted. Hector Vaughn suddenly barked, “Kid, I never imagined your sword would turn out to be a divine weapon—what a surprise! With a sword like that, ascending to the God Realm will be no problem. Once you’re dead, that divine sword will be mine!”
“Evan’s sword is actually a divine weapon—unbelievable! Xander Xuan’s Xuanyuan Sword was just a fragment of Evan’s blade. How is that possible? And now the divine sword has to survive tribulation? Terrifying!” Nolan Nangong exclaimed in shock.
With a thought, he summoned his Fire Golden Body and Earth Golden Body avatars. In his hand appeared the high-grade fire-element Immortal sword he’d won at the auction.
Suddenly, three Evan Chus appeared—something Hector Vaughn had never expected. The other two looked and acted exactly like Evan, and the aura they gave off was just as powerful.
Avatars—those were the only words that came to Hector’s mind. But he hadn’t expected such powerful avatars; suddenly, he was much less confident about killing Evan. Still, seeing that dazzling divine sword in the sky, his greed flared.
“Kid, even with avatars you’re still no match for me!” Hector Vaughn sneered, unleashing his strongest sword art and attacking Evan Chu.
The Fire Golden Body and Earth Golden Body both unleashed Star-Cleave, attacking Hector Vaughn together. Meanwhile, Evan’s mind was filled with the method for using Divine Cleave. The tribulation clouds overhead grew thicker and thicker—lightning could strike at any moment.
He had to kill Hector Vaughn before he could safely help the Frostbane Divine Sword survive tribulation. As for the consequences of using Divine Cleave, he didn’t have time to worry about that now.
“Evan’s sword is actually a divine weapon—unbelievable! Xander Xuan’s Solarion Sword was just a fragment of Evan’s blade. How is that possible? And now the divine sword has to survive tribulation? Terrifying!” Nolan Nangong exclaimed in shock.
“This tribulation won’t be simple—we might all get caught up in it. We should leave as soon as possible. Evan’s avatars are just as strong as you or me, so our earlier worries were pointless. As for Hector Vaughn, he’s probably doomed!” said Qin Xiaojiao, Sect Master of Loveless Sword Tomb.
Hector Vaughn charged at Evan Chu, while Evan unleashed Divine Cleave…