Chapter 1570 — Forging the Original Intent into a Sword
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
He saw himself in the Kaihuang Calamity, leading the strongest forces of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court to Wuyou Township for refuge; saw that after their departure the people the Kaihuang Heavenly Court had sheltered were scattered and homeless, husbands parted from wives, parents from children; saw countless living beings die wretched deaths at the hands of the Heavenly Court's gods and devils!
He saw the lives he had sworn to protect, the suffering and helplessness they faced amid natural disaster and human calamity; saw them wail at heaven and beat the earth, and wait in vain for him to keep his word.
He saw his old subordinates fall into despair, one after another turning to stone. He saw the Kaihuang Era become a wasteland; saw the Heavenly Artisan God Clan slaughtered; saw the Woodcutter Sage's disappointment; saw the First Ancestor Human Emperor leading the remnant peoples of the Kaihuang Era through bitter toil, wandering everywhere in search of a way to live. He saw the First Ancestor Human Emperor at the last, out of guilt, turn into a stone statue upon Little Yujing and refuse to wake.
This was Kaihuang's sin, and yet it was the First Ancestor Human Emperor who bore it. Kaihuang's Dao heart wavered. Shen Mu's saber-light made it waver.
In all his life he had never been able to be free of shame, and Shen Mu, wielding the platform's Dao-marvel, had struck out the shame within his Dao heart! Shing!
A blood-stained saber-light fell.
Kaihuang raised his sword to block, but was pressed down onto his knees; the God-Slaying Mystic Saber bore down upon the Wuyou Sword, and the Wuyou Sword pierced his shoulder. He knelt on the ground, and it was as though he had returned to the past, to the moment he first took a sword in hand. Dimly he saw his master, an obscure swordsman.
When he had knelt and begged the man to teach him swordsmanship, the aged swordsman's voice sounded within his Dao heart: "Shen Ye, why do you study the sword?
" In the mud, a young child raised his head, his eyes full of resolve.
"I study the sword to protect those who suffer hardship and injustice as I have!
" "I study the sword to possess power, to level the world's inequalities and shelter the common people! " "I study the sword to make the sword a plow, to plow out river channels so the floods no longer run wild, so the gods above dare not send down calamity.
I study the sword to make the sword a weapon, to sweep away fierce beasts, to root out demons and monsters, to establish order and law for the gods, and to restore peace and prosperity to the world!
" . .
.
"Can you do it? " "I can! " The aged swordsman pressed the sword in his hand against the boy's shoulder and smiled.
"Shen Ye, do not forget: this is your original intent. Nothing you do hereafter may go against it.
" In the blood-light, Kaihuang, drenched in gore, lifted his head and looked at the two blood-fiend dragons cutting toward him.
The dragons' eyes seemed to mock all he had done these years, mock that he had long since forgotten what his original intent was! Kaihuang's face streamed with tears, and the tears he shed were blood. Crack.
The Wuyou Sword in his hand shattered suddenly, crumbling to dust.
The sword that had campaigned at his side through all his wars was broken, broken utterly clean.
And yet in his hand there remained a sword, blazing with light!
His sword way, with Wuyou gone, held only the original intent. The original intent, forged into a sword.