At the same time, ten people’s eyes suddenly showed a hint of struggle, but soon, their gazes returned to calm. When they looked at Ian Song, however, there was something different in their eyes.
"Young man, I’ll ask you one last time—are you willing to surrender?" Elder Warren asked in a low voice.
"I am!"
Ian Song released Serena Skye, his expression resigned, as if he’d accepted his fate.
Whoosh!
In a blur, Elder Warren appeared in front of Ian Song, quickly tapping several acupoints to seal his cultivation. He turned to Wan Tianchou and asked, "Order Master, how should we deal with him?"
"Have someone guard him for now. We’ll decide after we’ve taken the treasure," Wan Tianchou said indifferently.
"Understood!"
Elder Warren grabbed Ian Song and tossed him into a corner of the cave, instructing two people to watch over him. Then he sent several streams of true-qi to unseal Serena Skye’s acupoints.
Regaining her freedom, Serena Skye snatched up her jeweled short sword and, in a flash, dashed in front of Ian Song, murderous intent in her eyes as she stabbed straight for his heart.
Clang!
A stream of true-qi shot out, striking the sword and sending Serena Skye’s short sword flying. A tall figure stepped forward, standing protectively in front of Ian Song and coldly addressed Serena: "Saintess, please calm down. The Order Master has decreed this man's life be spared for now."
Serena protested, "Elder Ye, step aside! I want to kill this bastard!"
"I cannot comply. Please leave, Saintess," Elder Ye said coldly.
Hmph!
With a cold snort, Serena Skye turned away in frustration. The elders accompanying the group were all hidden experts who didn’t care about her status as Saintess.
"Master, I beg you to let me kill Ian Song myself!"
Serena once again approached Wan Tianchou, bowing in supplication.
Wan Tianchou replied indifferently, "He is still useful. He cannot be killed yet. When this is over, I will hand him over to you."
"Thank you, Master!" Serena said gratefully. Though she couldn’t kill Ian Song immediately, the prospect of doing it herself made her feel a bit better.
Next, the Heavensnare Order group tried repeatedly to claim the hiltless sword, but it was like a bristling hedgehog—if you didn’t touch it, it was fine, but once you did, it would unleash sword-qi to attack.
After many attempts, none of the Heavensnare Order members were able to subdue it.
In the blink of an eye, more than half an hour had passed. Ian Song, thrown into a corner of the cave, seemed forgotten. At this moment, a relaxed smile appeared on his lips—after half an hour of meditation, his sword essence had finally returned to its peak.
However, he chose not to act immediately, sensing that the hiltless sword was close to true activation.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
At the seventeenth minute, the hiltless sword floating in midair suddenly lost its glow and dropped toward the ground.
Seeing this, the Heavensnare Order members all lunged forward, trying to seize the hiltless sword.
"Move!"
Ian Song said quietly.
Instantly—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Suddenly, eight people in the crowd attacked their nearby companions. In an instant, eight were ambushed and severely injured.
At the same time, Elder Ye, who was guarding Ian Song, also struck out fiercely, sending another elder flying.
This time, the Heavensnare Order had brought twenty-three experts. Nine elders suddenly turned traitor and injured nine others, reducing the number of able experts from twenty-three to just five.
Of the five remaining, there were Serena Skye, Order Master Wan Tianchou, and three elders whose palms had previously been pierced by sword-qi.
Serena was completely stunned by this sudden turn of events. She couldn’t understand why nine elders had suddenly attacked their own side. Her mind was in turmoil; suddenly, her gaze landed on the hiltless sword lying on the ground.
She instantly pushed her movement technique to the limit, trying to snatch the sword. But just then, a finger tapped her back. She let out a soft grunt and collapsed.
"Who was it? Who ambushed me?"
Serena cried out inwardly, but instantly realized that the only one who could attack her from behind so subtly was her master, Wan Tianchou.
Realizing her master had ambushed her, she was terrified. She couldn’t understand why he would do such a thing.
Wan Tianchou’s cold voice rang out: "Control those three!"
"Order Master, what are you doing?" the three elders cried out in terror.
Wan Tianchou ignored them, walked to the hiltless sword, picked it up, and strode toward Ian Song.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of bursts echoed, and soon three muffled groans sounded—the last three elders of Heavensnare Order were subdued, their acupoints sealed and controlled.
Soon, Wan Tianchou walked up to Ian Song, respectfully offering the sword with both hands.
"This... how is this possible? Why would Master do this?"
Serena’s eyes were wide with disbelief. She wracked her brain but couldn’t understand why Wan Tianchou was so respectful to Ian Song. Could it be that all this was due to Ian’s secret techniques? If so, he was truly terrifying.
Excellent!
Ian Song smiled and took the hiltless sword. Instantly, he felt a blood-linked affinity and instinctively wrapped the sword in sword essence.
Under the sheath of sword essence, the hiltless sword gradually melted, as if assimilated, turning into pure sword essence and flowing into Ian’s body.
Suddenly, the sword fetus in Ian’s sea of consciousness stirred violently, and the liquefied hiltless sword shot toward his spiritual sea like lightning.
As soon as the hiltless sword entered his spiritual sea, the sword fetus and the cyan jade lotus followed, all three colliding in the spiritual void and erupting with waves of cyan radiance.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Ian Song faintly heard a cracking sound. When the cyan radiance faded, he saw a new sword in his sea of consciousness.
The blade was the hiltless sword, the hilt was the cyan jade lotus, and the sword-heart was his sword fetus.
"This... how is this possible? Why would Master do this?"
Serena’s eyes were wide with disbelief. She wracked her brain but couldn’t understand why Wan Tianchou was so respectful to Ian Song. Could it be that all this was due to Ian’s secret techniques? If so, he was truly terrifying.
Excellent!
Ian Song smiled and took the hiltless sword. Instantly, he felt a blood-linked affinity and instinctively wrapped the sword in sword essence.
Under the sheath of sword essence, the hiltless sword gradually melted, as if assimilated, turning into pure sword essence and flowing into Ian’s body.
Suddenly, the sword fetus in Ian’s sea of consciousness stirred violently, and the liquefied hiltless sword shot toward his spiritual sea like lightning.
As soon as the hiltless sword entered his spiritual sea, the sword fetus and the cyan jade lotus followed, all three colliding in the spiritual void and erupting with waves of cyan radiance.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Ian Song faintly heard a cracking sound. When the cyan radiance faded, he saw a new sword in his sea of consciousness.
The blade was the hiltless sword, the hilt was the cyan jade lotus, and the sword-heart was his sword fetus.