Chapter 190: Chapter 43 Sword Saint of the Tian Gang_1
The stone cave was not far from the Sword Sect, and they soon arrived. Xi Wen called out in a loud voice: "Master, your disciple Xi Wen seeks an audience. We have news about Ninth Disciple." Under the envelopment of his True Qi, his voice carried deep into the stone cave.
After a moment, a voice echoed from the cave, "Good. I just heard the Heaven Profound Bell. Have you found Owen’s disciple? You may all enter." It was the clear, untroubled voice of the Sword Saint of the Tian Gang.
"Yes, Master." Xi Wen responded, leading Ah Dai and his fellow disciples into the cave.
Ah Dai looked around. The stone cave was naturally formed with no signs of human intervention. It was deep and they had to walk about a hundred meters before making a turn which led to an open space. In the center of this not-too-large cavern, a figure sat cross-legged on a large stone. Due to the dim light, Ah Dai couldn’t make out the figure’s appearance.
Xi Wen and six others simultaneously knelt and respectfully said, "Greetings to the Master."
Ah Dai was taken aback. With Xi Wen pulled him down on his knees, he mumbled, "Ah... Ah Dai pays his respects to the Tian Gang Sword Saint."
"All of you rise. Xi Wen and others stand aside." There was a hint of excitement in the Tian Gang Sword Saint’s otherwise calm voice.
Xi Wen and others agreed and retreated to both sides. As the last to get up, Ah Dai had just stood up when a sudden flash of cold light focused on him. Startled, he involuntarily took a step back. The cold light came from the Sword Saint’s eyes. Clear and devoid of any emotions, yet full of enthusiasm. Ah Dai felt paralyzed as if his whole body was being restrained, while the True Qi in his body was flowing franticly, providing an abnormal energy flux.
"Are you Ah Dai, the disciple of Owen?"
Under the Sword Saint’s intimidating aura, Ah Dai struggled to catch his breath. "Yes, yes. Uncle Owen taught me martial arts."
The Sword Saint sighed, closed his eyes, and the pressure on Ah Dai suddenly vanished. "Tell me how you met Owen, everything about your time together, and most importantly, how he died."
Ah Dai felt no inkling of rebellion, and truthfully said, "I was studying magic in the Illusive Forest with my teacher Goris. He’s a great alchemist. One day, after teacher had left to collect some things, I discovered that the magic array he set up had been triggered. I thought teacher had returned and went out to greet him. But I encountered a group of people in black, attacking a man in white. That man was Uncle Owen. They wanted to kill him, but they were no match for him. I overheard them saying that Uncle Owen had already been poisoned by the lethally toxic ’Saint’s Immortal Water’."
At this point, the seven disciples including Xi Wen were shocked into simultaneous exclamations. The name of ’Saint’s Immortal Water’ was well-known on the continent for its unmatched, incurable toxicity and was something everyone feared.
The Sword Saint seemed nonchalant about it as he instructed, "Go on."
Ah Dai continued: "Uncle Owen was about to be killed by those men in black, and then he resorted to using the Sword of Hades and killed two of them."
This time, even the Sword Saint couldn’t maintain his calm. He opened his eyes once more, revealing a glint of penetrating coldness. He exclaimed in disbelief, "You said Owen used the Sword of Hades. So, he was the ’Nether King’, the best assassin that been rampant on the continent for years. I never anticipated my disciple would become an assassin. Continue."
Ah Dai nodded and detailed how Owen had scared off the men in black, how he had fainted, and all the incidents he had with Owen. "Before Uncle Owen died, he said that in this life, the people he owed the most were his junior sister disciple and you. He asked me to pay a visit to the Sword Sect when I had the time. After Uncle Owen died, I cremated his body, and the ashes are with me. With the Dragon’s Blood as a guide, open, the door of space and time." Ah Dai extracted the blue Dragon’s Blood from his collar. The Tian Gang Heavy Sword and the urn containing Owen’s ashes given by Owen to Ah Dai appeared amidst the flashes of light and smoothly descended under Ah Dai’s control.
The Sword Saint and seven others fell silent. With a flash, the Sword Saint suddenly appeared next to Ah Dai. Up close, Ah Dai was surprised to find that the Sword Saint appeared to be a man in his forties. His face was unlined except for his white hair and beard. He was not particularly handsome, but his high nose and clear, dignified face, coupled with his eyes blazing like cold fire when open, added an unusual charm to him. A kind of charm that attracted awe and reverence from Ah Dai, a feeling not even Cardinal Xuanye in Red could inspire. The Sword Saint emanated a strong sense of righteousness. At that moment, he was slightly trembling as he stared at the two items on the ground, his eyes flashing continuously.
The Sword Saint stretched out his right hand, the seventy kilogram Tian Gang Heavy Sword and the urn levitated to his palm. Though years of cultivation had made him desireless, the sudden news of the death of his beloved disciple and the cause of his daughter’s death stirred the calm sea of his heart. He gently caressed the sword and murmured, "Old Nine, you’ve suffered too much in this life. Ah... It was my fault. I shouldn’t have neglected you because of the death of your junior sister disciple. You can’t be blamed for that."
