Chapter 71 - Is This Broken Sword, a Key?
Chapter 71: Is This Broken Sword, a Key?
A hearty meal.
It was indeed from noon until ten at night that the man, drunk and staggering, was carried back home by his own wife.
The courtyard was a mess with chairs and tables scattered around, but it was too late to tidy up.
Aunt Shui Niu waved her hand.
Everyone was tired.
Time to rest.
Li Ao returned to his small room.
A feeling both familiar and strange arose in his heart; by memory, it had been nearly two thousand years since he had last been here.
Of course, by body count, it was only a ten-day absence; Aunt Shui Niu had washed his clothes and sheets until they were spotless, not a trace of smell left.
“I’m back, this time, this little home will face no more calamity, only happiness and joy!”
Li Ao sat quietly for a long time.
Finally.
He managed to calm the tumult in his heart.
To protect this home, he needed to become even more powerful.
Merely the bit of combat power he possessed now was far from enough to protect this home.
Li Ao knew that although he might not have any enemies now, in the future, enemies would be as plentiful as the tide, and one day, they would find this home, they would come knocking!
Before that, he must elevate his combat power to a level that would leave his enemies in despair. Only then would this home be truly safe.
How could he most quickly enhance his own combat power?
Li Ao, as a reborn individual from the future, knew a secret.
It was time to use this secret.
Li Ao bent down and gently pulled out a small wooden box from under the bed.
Inside, lay the last remnants left to Li Ao by his father, who had disappeared on the battlefield.
Opening the wooden box.
Apart from a few books on basic summoning combat skills.
There was only a broken sword, nearly just a hilt, left after being broken.
According to Aunt Shui Niu, there had been more initially, but after an inspection by the family head, he discovered that some items had been tainted with the murky aura of magical beasts, posing some danger, detrimental to a child’s growth, and had them destroyed on his own initiative.
Only the worthless books and this broken sword made it back into Li Ao’s hands.
Nobody knew.
The real secret left by Li Ao’s father was hidden in this broken sword.
This point, even Li Ao from his previous life did not know the truth, until after he ascended to divinity, and found his mother sealed in the eternal void, that he came to know the truth.
To rescue his mother.
Li Ao from his previous life did not hesitate to oppose the other gods.
He absolutely refused any compensation or exchange of benefits, solely focused on rescuing his mother from the eternal void.
However, no matter how hard he tried, it was all in vain.
Because neither the gods nor the sealing power of the ancient void were something he could challenge alone.
This was precisely why Li Ao had entered the Time Palace in search of the last glimmer of hope.
“Wait and see, I will make up for all the regrets of my last life, little by little!”
Li Ao slowly reached out, lifting the broken sword from the wooden box. He told himself not to rush, he must grow to a point where his enemies could do nothing about him before revealing his true intentions; otherwise, it would be too easy to startle the snake and alert the enemy.
For instance, his mother sealed in the ancient void should never be mentioned without sufficient assurance; otherwise, once the secret was leaked, the difficulty of unsealing her would increase a millionfold.
He needed to protect this little home.
He needed to make up for the regrets of his past life.
He needed strength.
“Father, let’s see what you have left for me!”
Li Ao had no recollection of this father so mysterious that even the gods of the Celestial Realm knew little about him, relying solely on his mother’s descriptions to piece together some scant information.
The broken sword was a severed pig iron sword.
It was no different from the pig iron swords commonly used by mercenaries in Silverlight City.
Had it not been broken, it would have been a two-handed sword with a wide blade, thick and heavy…
Li Ao knew.
Its ordinariness was merely a disguise.
Otherwise, once it fell into the hands of the head of the family, it would never have returned to Li Ao.
Li Ao kicked the rock bear, which hurriedly ran to the door to stand guard, sensing instinctively that it needed to be on duty, although it didn’t understand what its master was about to do.
Holding the broken sword, Li Ao directly used his rock walking ability to enter deep underground.
After descending a kilometer into the earth.
He first summoned the Demonic Rock Giant.
Creating an extremely solid rock space ten meters in diameter underground.
A trace of divine consciousness emerged from the Indomitable Divine Fire, slowly entering the broken sword, searching for any potential.
The broken sword, as if possessing the ability to recognize Li Ao’s soul, lit up instantaneously.
To Li Ao’s surprise, the glow was not from the sword itself but from the endless void’s dimension… it converged on the broken sword, forming a Celestial Formation that Li Ao was entirely unfamiliar with.
The Celestial Formation slowly began to rotate, interlocking, and finally evolved into an extremely mysterious and arcane Door of the Void.
“So, this broken sword is a key?”
Li Ao understood.
He lifted the glowing broken sword.
Gently sliding it across an opening of the Door of the Void.
Silently, the Door of the Void opened, and a magical and vast void energy immediately sucked Li Ao in.
In the next second.
When Li Ao came to his senses.
He, still holding the broken sword, was already placed in a special space similar to the ancient void.
This should be an isolated space within the Endless Void, possibly a demi-plane or a fragment of the shattered void, but Li Ao couldn’t determine exactly which it was.
However, this was not important, as Li Ao did not believe his father would create a place to harm him.
A spatial corridor appeared before Li Ao.
Walk to the end.
Li Ao discovered that it was a trial arena.
Many gods in the Celestial Realm create similar trial arenas in their divine nations to enhance the combat abilities of their god-children and followers.
Li Ao was familiar with this type of arena.
“Does this mean to test me? If I fail, I can’t unlock the next level?”
Li Ao somewhat understood, guessing that his father had set up many challenges inside.
Without sufficient strength, one could only stop at the previous challenge, unless they enhanced their combat power to meet the standard.
The trial arena before him was a special space.
From the spatial corridor, it seemed not very large.
About a hundred meters in diameter.
But as Li Ao entered, he realized it was unimaginably vast.
The arena of this first challenge had to be at least a hundred kilometers in diameter, which astounded Li Ao, especially since this was only the first level.
There were countless bizarre void creatures in the trial arena.
Upon seeing a strange creature invade.
They immediately attacked.
Li Ao recognized some as space worms, some as void phantasms, and some as abyssal eyes… There were so many types that even Li Ao, a millennia-old specter, couldn’t recognize them all.
“Boom!”
Li Ao quickly materialized the Shadow Halberd and burst forth with all his power.
Now was not the time to hide his true strength; it was time to fight fiercely.
Moonlight flashed silver.
The fastest void phantasm that rushed towards Li Ao was sliced in half, followed by the space worms and leaping bugs, all cleaved into segments.
Unlike creatures of flesh and blood.
The bodies of these space creatures didn’t die when cut.
They could be hurt by the energy blast, but as long as their core energy wasn’t depleted, their severed bodies could heal at any time.
More absurdly, these void creatures’ ability to damage enemies made them extremely hard to heal, unless all the spatial energy on them was completely removed; otherwise, the injured flesh and blood life might retain the split wounds for life.
A sneak grasper bug appeared quietly behind Li Ao.
Spatial movement.
All these were their instinctive skills.
“Scram!” Li Ao speared it through with his halberd and flung it far away.
More space creatures tried to overwhelm Li Ao with their numbers, realizing that their enemy possessed formidable combat skills, so they abandoned techniques and resolved to completely overwhelm him with sheer volume.
A tidal wave of space creatures surged forward.
Their ability to remain stationary in any position, be it up, down, left, or right, was a distinctive feature.
Li Ao silently thanked his fortune.
Fortunately, having advanced three times consecutively during his graduation trials, he could now face the tidal wave of spatial creatures with a certain measure of safety.
The Shadow Halberd spun like a whirlwind, a rain of light bursting from its tip.
More densely packed than raindrops.
The light rain mercilessly pierced through the bodies of the surrounding spatial creatures.
Just then, above Li Ao’s head in the void, a super-gigantic black hole eerily appeared, housing an ugly toad-like spatial creature that greedily opened its vast mouth, ferociously attempting to swallow everything below… Had Li Ao not possessed combat experience pushed to the limit, he might have fallen prey to its sneak attack.
“Kill!” Li Ao’s Shadow Halberd erupted in a fierce light. As he swung it, a dragon’s head formed from light materialized and struck back at the enemy.
The toad-like creature, hidden within the black hole, showed no fear.
Its head swelled a hundredfold in an instant.
In one gulp.
It swallowed the dragon’s head of light that Li Ao had launched.
With this gulp, the black hole toad not only absorbed Li Ao’s attack energy but also consumed hundreds of spatial creatures that couldn’t dodge in time, including space worms, space hydroids, and shuttle fish.
“This guy’s combat power must be over ten thousand!” Li Ao realized that the black hole toad was likely the key to the first trial arena.
Only by defeating it.
Could he possibly pass his father’s test.
For anyone else, lacking sufficient combat power to defeat a black hole toad would be impossible.
However.
Li Ao, armed with the Power of Time and the Indomitable Divine Fire, had the confidence.
As the terrifying black hole toad opened its gigantic maw again, fiercely attempting another swallow, Li Ao did not retreat but advanced instead, wielding the Shadow Halberd and transforming into a bolt of lightning that shot straight towards its gaping mouth.
The moment he charged into the mouth and throat.
The Power of Time activated.
The unstoppable swallowing slowed for just a moment.
As the mouth was about to close, the tip of Li Ao’s Shadow Halberd ignited with divine fire, burning fiercely as he stabbed at the black hole toad’s throat.
Boom!
Boom, boom, boom…
The throat touched by the divine fire exploded in a chain of massive blasts, collapsing space, shattering the void…
The terrifying explosion spread continuously, affecting the surrounding space.
Far more dramatic than any earthly cataclysm.
The ripples of the collapsing space.
In an instant.
Swept across the entire trial arena, causing tens of thousands of spatial creatures to flee in terror, as they feared this type of attack the most.
The black hole toad emitted a pain-filled cry, quickly regurgitating Li Ao and, before the spatial ripples completely destroyed the black hole, it contracted and fled back at high speed, vanishing in an instant as if it had never appeared.
The void’s black hole rapidly shrank and closed.
A blaze of light.
In the same location.
A new spatial passage appeared before Li Ao…