136 Contrac (1/2)
Xue Wei was puzzled, though. He had previously heard about peerless treasures with a soul, but this was the first time he had ever encountered one.
”So why are you so casual with me?” he finally asked after a bit of time. Xue Wei could sense that every villager within the village feared it more than anything else, but here he was having a casual conversation with it. He could not feel any hostility from the sword at all.
”It is simple,” the sword went on, sighing. ”I have been stuck in this hell-hole for thousands of years. I wish to go out. I wish to slice the heads off people. I need to eat souls to survive, but the souls I get here are weak and so unsatisfying.”
”This village has been hidden from the surrounding world,” the sword continued. ”I am sure you came across a formation when you tried to enter this place, and that formation is meant to keep humans out.”
”Sometimes, a few humans break through it anyway, but it is mainly beasts that make it through. The formation was never meant to block beasts, as these humans need something to eat.”
”Anyway, when a human comes in, they will be taken to me as a sacrifice, and I will swallow their soul to nourish myself. These villagers, in fact, feel very fortunate whenever someone wanders into this dimension because it means they have to give up less of their souls to satisfy me.”
”Some obviously feel like they are the devil's goons, forcing unknown young men and women to sacrifice their lives, but the majority take great pleasure in this.”
”Unfortunately, I know that I will never be able to escape from this place if I do not strike a deal with someone. From all the people who have appeared in the last couple of thousand years, you are without a doubt – albeit not the strongest – the one with the most potential.”
”At the same time, you carry a faint scent of death. It is clear that you have killed before, and that you will kill again. In your hands, I will live again and be able to experience life that is worth living. I was not always a sword, after all!”
The sword suddenly stopped speaking and coughed slightly as thought to clear its throat, which it did not have.
”Forget the last bit I said,” it said solemnly, ”I am a sword, and as a sword, my job is to take lives. These paper talismans and this disguised realm has sealed me for a very long time, and I fear that I will never see freedom again at this rate.”
Xue Wei listened to the sword and mulled over the words. He could not trust this sword completely when it came to it; it lived on soul energy, after all. No one could tell whether or not it would turn on him and claim his life the moment he released it.
”I can kill you already,” the sword said, guessing Xue Wei's thoughts, ”but I can take an oath under the Nine Heavenly Tribulations that I will serve you well.”
Xue Wei was startled. Taking an oath under the Nine Heavenly Tribulations was a very old saying. If one were not to uphold their word, even if they were the strongest being on the planet, they would be blasted into bits and pieces by the strong tribulation lightning that would descend from a heaven above the heavens.
Hearing this, Xue Wei's eyes narrowed, and his heart started beating rapidly. He had no weapon, and had relied on the Inner Might martial arts technique up until now. Although this ability was incredibly profound at his current level, and even held certain advantages, creating and maintaining a weapon made purely of Qi was still a drain on his Qi reserves.
Every clash with an enemy would drain a lot more Qi than it would if he used a traditional weapon.
”Okay, swear to the Nine Heavenly Tribulations,” Xue Wei said with a snicker on his face. ”Then I will start removing the paper talismans, and we will together figure out a way to deal with this village. I fear they will not just allow me to walk out of the door with you in my hands.”
”They won't,” the sword agreed. ”In fact, they will all try to kill you, and destroy me, should they have the chance.”
”I am seen as an evil weapon because I require the souls of others to grow stronger.” The sword sighed. ”But I am also able to cultivate. I had a cultivation base so profound that you could not believe it, but then I fell from the heavens, and my cultivation base dropped as a result.”
”My strength has dwindled over the time, and now I am a mere Sky Warrior in strength.”
”Fortunately, the strongest person in this village is also a Sky Warrior. Although I can assist you in taking him on, I cannot defeat all of them at once.”
”I know your friend out there is no simpleton either. He should be able to also deal with a few of the villagers, but not all of them.” The sword sighed.
”So we need to come up with some other plan if we wish to escape this place.” The sword started mulling over what to do for a bit of time, staying quiet.
”Don't remove the paper talismans sealing me yet,” he ordered Xue Wei, ”Temporarily, escape is impossible, so we might as well put up an act.”
”They will know that something is wrong the moment I come out of this chamber alive,” Xue Wei retorted with a snort, but the sword just trembled. ”That is not necessarily true,” it said hesitatingly.
”I can indeed kill someone and consume their soul, but that requires a huge effort from my side,” the sword explained. ”In fact, the easiest is to shave away a bit of the soul and consume that. Every time I get hungry, I will shave away a bit of a soul. When I get hungry again, I will take another slice from someone else.”