Chapter 19

A young man was currently swinging his sword with inexplicable grace and power, his aura resembled that of an immortal swordsman who has practiced with his sword since time immemorial.

All around him, slight red colored mist could be seen pouring out of the sword in his hands and being absorbed by the young man, the red mist was Sword Qi and it seemed much higher quality than any normal Sword Qi.

The young man stopped, took a deep breath, and wiped the sweat that was going down his cheek.

Then, he continued swinging his sword, this time in quick and successive slashes, the ancient-looking sword in his hands was barely visible with how fast the young man was swinging his sword.

Even just the air near the vicinity would be able to cut you if you so happened to walk near him. That was how powerful the force in his swings was.

The red mist continued to spill out of the sword as the young man never stopped swinging with incomparable swiftness.

He seemed to be in some sort of enlightened state as he never stopped his movements

*Swoosh*

The young man made a final swing before stopping and sighing

The young man's Sword Qi cyclone in his Dantian was already filled to the brim, he couldn't advance his sword intent until he ascended to the next realm.

"It looks like I need to break into Martial King in order to peer into the next realms of Sword Intent"

The young man muttered discontentedly

The young man was Prince/Scion Kai, and Sword Intent was his hidden and final intent.

Kai looked at the ancient-looking sword in his hand with a soft expression, remembering how it came to be in his grasp.

******

"Young Master Kai!" A servant came running toward an eight-year-old Kai who currently looked like his entire world was falling apart.

Kai, who had a downcast look on his boyish face when he found out his father had left and that he wouldn't get the chance to prove that he was strong enough to go with him turned around to look at the slightly chubby servant yelling and running towards him.

"What is it?" Kai asked in a slightly displeased voice, couldn't he just grieve in peace?

The servant put both hands on his knees and caught his breath, Kai noticed that the servant was clutching his right fist like he was concealing something in his hand and cautiously backed up.

"What's in your hand?" Kai asked skeptically

"Young Master Kai! Your father entrusted me with this, he said to give it to you after he left."

Kai looked surprised

Father actually did such a thing?

The servant with his grimy hands unclutched his fist and held out a gorgeous jade ring

Kai reached his hand out and grabbed it quickly as if the servant's hand would stain his father's present.

"A storage ring?" Kai said with a weird look on his face.

The chubby servant held back a chuckle at the misconception, of course, the Patriarch didn't just give his son a storage ring on his departure.

"N-No your Highness, please look inside of it."

Kai glared at the servant for a second then sent his Spiritual Qi inside the jade ring, a spacious spatial room suddenly appeared in his vision, the room inside the ring was much larger than any storage ring he's ever seen or known, but it was completely empty except for one item.

Surrounded by nothingness, there was a sword lying on the ground, at first look, it didn't look like anything special, but if one were to properly examine it they would be able to see small ancient runes and eye symbols sharply engraved all over the ancient blade.

The most mysterious thing was the crystal embedded on the hilt of the sword.

Every Spirit Weapon was embedded with a Spiritual Crystal, it is what determined the rank of a sword.

Not only could the Spiritual Crystals be used for cultivation, but they were also used as currency and embedded in weapons by an expert to make Spirit Weapons.

Spiritual Crystals came in 12 different colors, resembling the 12 different realms of cultivation as if they could cultivate themselves.

But, on this remarkable sword, there wasn't any spiritual crystal that represented a rank known to man, the crystal was completely translucent, so crystalline that one would be able to see through the other side of it.

Kai trembled at the sight of the ancient sword, it looked so grand that he didn't want to ruin it.

But, on closer look, he saw a note attached to the grip of the sword.

Kai closed his eyes, sent his spiritual energy inside the jade ring, and then willed his mind to take out the sword from the spatial space within.

*Shing*

The sword which seemed much too large for an eight-year-old suddenly appeared in Kai's small hands with a satisfying noise like it was just unsheathed.

The chubby servant's eyes bulged and his mouth drooped when he saw the weapon Kai took out of the jade ring.

"T-that's t-that's" The chubby servant pointed with trembling fingers toward the ancient sword in Prince Kai's hand

Kai scowled his eyebrows looking like an adorable little prince, slightly annoyed by the servant, he glanced toward the servant and said in his childish voice.

"You may leave now"

The servant, realizing he was drooling, closed his mouth quickly, nodded his head, and ran away speedily once he noticed he overstayed his welcome.

Now that it was peaceful and quiet, young Kai decided to look at what was on the note attached to the grip of the blade and read it.

**********

Son, as you are reading this I should have already left, and it may be for a very long time.

Your brother went to an extremely mysterious place that he swore was vital to the survival of the human race.

We thought he was being silly, but he actually dared to go inside that place and never came back.

I and your grandfather and some of our most elite soldiers will go to bring him back soon, so no need to worry about anything else.

Just know that it wasn't actually because you are too weak that you couldn't come with us to search for Killian.

The truth was, we really needed someone powerful to protect your mother and sisters while we are gone, and it seems like you are the only and perfect man for the job.

Don't forget to drip your blood on the crystal of the sword to become its rightful owner.

Farewell kid.

***********

Kai had tears threatening to fall down his eyes as he slowly read the note from his father

"What the hell is this?"

"Someone strong to protect them? Mother can fight off anyone! I wanted to search for Killian with you!"

"Where are you going that would require you and grandfather to be at the same place, how dangerous really is it?"

"Vital to the survival of the human race? What in the world is brother even talking about?!"

Kai discarded the note as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

He felt that his father just made up excuses instead of saying the truth; that he was too young and weak to go with them.

"You better come back with Killian, so I could teach you a proper lesson."

Kai muttered as his small figure walked toward the training grounds so he could get powerful enough to beat his father senseless.

******

Kai smiled wistfully at the memory of his eight-year-old self and twirled the jade ring on his middle finger in thought.

"Father, you guys never came back and it's been almost nine years, just how terrible was the place you guys traveled to? How come you didn't leave me the coordinates to get to it?"

Kai sighed, no matter what, he was going to find wherever they went and bring everyone back alive.

Kai looked at the Lineage Weapon in his hand and muttered

"It seemed like you knew this would happen, otherwise why would you give me this sword?"

Lineage Weapons were remnants left by the Ancient Gods for their chosen inheritors, there were only a few known Lineage Weapons throughout Aeon, they were extremely powerful and only used by the Patriarch of a Guardian Clan in times of great despair.

It was said that a Fallen Dynasty used their Lineage Weapon to hold off the black fog for an entire thirty minutes, but unfortunately, since they didn't have enough preparations it was all for naught and no one survived, not even their Lineage Weapon made it out alive.

It was also said that holding off the black fog for just a few minutes could save millions of lives, if only that Dynasty prepared suitably, their fall would have never been so damning.

Kai used the only Celestial Eye Clan's Lineage Weapon to train, he didn't know why, but it seemed like every time he practiced with it, it felt like the owner who was most likely an Ancient God was right there with him, guiding him, it seemed like the original owner's soul was inside the sword, his Intent and Sword Qi would leak into Kai with every swing of the ancient sword, giving him glimpses into an extremely profound level of Sword Intent and a grade of Sword Qi much more precious than normal.

Kai didn't dare to use the Lineage weapon in battle, he was not powerful enough to activate its full potential, he felt it would be an embarrassment to his Ancestors if someone with such shallow cultivation and weak strength were to use the lineage weapon to fight common people.

But, he did use the technique that appeared in his mind once he dripped his blood on the transparent crystal of the ancient sword.