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[Cursed Blade - Thousand Demon Daggers:A national treasure weapon from a certain world, once the blade of a premier shadow assassin. Its edge is composed of over a thousand fragments, possessing a characteristic of pure offense without defense. When the blue stripes along the blade glow, it can unleash astonishing power by absorbing the user's vital energy and life force. (Note:After adapting to this universe, it evolved to absorb the life essence of all living beings, as well as other forms of energy to enhance its lethality. When blue ghostly patterns emerge on the blade, it further activates a conceptual power that cannot be defended against.)]
Looking at the black-handled cursed blade in Jingliu's hand, Sylvester's lips curved with an amused hint.
So, it's actually the [Cursed Blade - Thousand Demon Daggers].
Although from the outside, this knife that looks like it was glued together from scattered shards doesn't look like any powerful weapon at all.
But Sylvester understood: this blade was absolutely terrifying—especially after adapting to the universe and receiving further enhancements.
Jingliu held the [Thousand Demon Daggers], which was even slightly taller than she was. Her small hand slid slowly from the hilt upward, gently stroking along the blade.
The blade trembled faintly, as if it had its own will, resisting her attempt to wield it.
The warm morning sun shone onto the blade, but the reflected light had already turned chillingly cold.
Jingliu twisted the hilt lightly. The power of the Path gathered around her, and a layer of ice, colder by several degrees, formed over the entire blade.
The [Thousand Demon Daggers] began to violently tremble, rejecting Jingliu's attempt to forcibly subdue it.
Jade frowned, face turning serious. "What a strange blade."
As the boss of the Bonajade Exchange, her breadth of knowledge was exceptionally wide. Even if, in the realm of weaponry, she wasn't as profoundly learned as Jingliu or Feixiao, she could still count as near-expert level.
Feeling the scattered glimmers of cold light and the piercing killing intent refracting from that unremarkable blade, even she couldn't help but shiver.
For no other reason—the blade's murderous aura was terrifyingly dense.
In her opinion, Jingliu holding it wasn't unleashing its power, but rather greatly restricting its ferocity.
Half-inquiring, half-teasing, she looked to her two companions. "Well? Still jealous? If it were you, could you keep from being bitten back?"
"Mm… blades aren't exactly my specialty." Topaz answered tactfully, but the meaning was obvious. She had no confidence in conquering such a cursed blade.
Seeing that Topaz had already conceded, Aventurine pinched his chin, smiling with genuine interest. "At this level, I could give it a try."
Before he even finished speaking, the hardened ice on the [Cursed Blade - Thousand Demon Daggers] burst apart with a pah! Snowlike shards flew everywhere.
Sylvester extended one finger, and a gold light barrier caught all the fragments.
But that was far from the end.
Feixiao, who had been sitting with one leg over the other, suddenly slammed both feet onto the ground, her eyes turning sharply solemn.
Because the long blade in Jingliu's hand erupted with a small but unimaginably terrifying field of energy—one that turned its fury back on Jingliu and enveloped her within it.
Blue ghost-patterns flickered, and a strange, immense killing aura—viscous like liquid—surged forth as though some ghostly deity intended to devour its own sacrificial offering.
"How about it? Feeling better now?" Jade asked her colleagues, smiling with unfathomable amusement.
Aventurine swallowed hard, his ten interlocked fingers continually rolling against each other.
He said with difficulty, "Maybe… I really am a bit short."
As one of the Ten Stonehearts, his power originated from Emanator of Preservation, Diamond. Because of that, the bedrock not only granted them strength, but also soft-power abilities far above those of Pathstriders of similar standing.
Thus, he sharply sensed the faint, elusive presence of conceptual power within the energy field.
It had yet to be confirmed, but his instincts screamed at him.
Absolutely do not attempt to defend against that blade head-on! Unless he wanted to go from that damned gambler to that dead gambler, he absolutely must not!
Unconcerned with the reactions of the three Corporation members, Feixiao's expression grew incomparably grim.
With the combat sensitivity of a Xianzhou General—
She knew that if a weaker Pathstrider merely stepped into that energy field, they would be torn apart like festive confetti.
Jingliu's power after reincarnation was strong—strong enough to immediately take the three IPC members out of contention.
But as her temporary guardian, Feixiao knew far more than the others.
She knew that reincarnation to childhood was when Jingliu was at her weakest.
Because reincarnation truly rebirths the body entirely, but a newborn's fragile vessel cannot contain excessive power. Thus, before reaching "adulthood," most of Jingliu's strength remained sealed, only released slowly as she "grew."
Only the power tied to the soul was not restricted by the flesh, and thus remained fully intact.
This was also why Jingliu had not frozen Jade's group solid with her ice—her most proficient element—and instead stripped them of their five senses.
Because she couldn't.
"Jingliu, you—"
Worried for her safety, Feixiao strode forward with wide steps, raising a fist to charge into the energy field.
This was no ordinary weapon. Even though Sylvester had yet to explain it, the sheer vastness of its power—and the unmistakably overbearing conceptual force—left no room for doubt!
Letting Jingliu fight it in her current state was far too dangerous!
"No need."
Through the gray-black energy barrier, Jingliu waved her hand.
Gazing at the blade that sought to slaughter its own wielder, her lips curved in an intrigued arc.
How long had it been since she encountered such an opponent?
She had assumed that with the completion of her nine lifetimes of reincarnation, mundane objects would never again pose a threat.
Yet unexpectedly, at the awkward moment of beginning her newest cycle, such a challenger appeared?
How interesting…
Her waterfall-like hair scattered wildly within the energy field as if boiling. Starting from the tips, it was sliced into tiny motes, the severing creeping slowly upward.
The cherry-red hue in Jingliu's eyes deepened. A streak of blood-light flashed, piercing through the field and reaching Feixiao's eyes.
The Arbiter-General halted her steps.
The cursed blade seized the moment to intensify its assault, blade-light erupting like a roaring explosion.
A sudden line of blood tore across Jingliu's neck.
Jingliu gave a contemptuous smile. Staring at the blade in her hand, her childish voice nonetheless sent chills down every spine: "A mere blade dares attempt to devour its master?"
The smile vanished at once.
The aura of a legendary warrior exploded forth. Though her face was still childish, the swordmaster who once captured the Borisin Warhead alive with nothing but a single blade on blood-soaked battlefields—was now fully bared.
She had once been the greatest Sword Champion of the Luofu!
From that small body, the rust-buried, awe-inspiring sword-qi burst through its seals and manifested once again.
"Either serve me, or be destroyed here and now. You have no other future. Choose—survive, or perish."
Flame-aligned power surged around her, gathering into brilliant crimson fire along the index and middle fingers of her left hand.
Sensing imminent subjugation, the [Cursed Blade - Thousand Demon Daggers] panicked and retaliated.
Its cracks loosened, and thousands of fragments prepared to unleash its skill [Chasing Moon]—to shred the childlike swordmaster into pieces.
But Jingliu moved first.
Her two fingers pressed lightly downward—a gentle gesture carrying immense weight—an embodiment of her supreme understanding of fire after reincarnation.
Feixiao sensed it clearly: that pure flame could easily burn an entire planet into glass.
Bang!!!
The flames vanished. Jingliu's snow-white fingers tapped the blade lightly, producing a resonant, bell-like dong that shook the air.
The [Cursed Blade - Thousand Demon Daggers] did not shatter. It now lay quietly in Jingliu's hands, its earlier frenzied arrogance seeming wholly unrelated to it—behaving more obediently than an ordinary sword.
"Hoo~~ scared me for a second. You could've said sooner that you were capable of that."
Feixiao let out a breath of relief, then placed her hands on her hips, half-scolding, half-joking.
Jade turned toward her two companions, smiling sweetly. "Well? Feeling better now? What do you think would've happened if those two fingers had tapped on your heads instead?"
Topaz shook her head with a bitter smile. "You jest."
"Mm… bullying people, that is."
Aventurine leaned back in his chair, grabbed a cup of tea from the table, and swallowed it all in one go, thoroughly ignoring how brutish it made him seem.
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