“I hold the decisive power over one’s life in my hand; the heavens are on the brink of collapse when my fingers close. Wind and clouds gather when the nine tribulations disperse; blood splatters like ink beyond the Nine Heavens!”

The sixth fragment of the Nine Tribulations Sword!

Watching the Sword Spirit display the sword moves, Chu Yang had an intense feeling of ‘I hold the great happenings of the world in my hand and the universe in my heart’!

This was a kind of confidence and awe-inspiring might that couldn’t be put into words!

‘I hold the decisive power over one’s life in my hand’!

This was the first move of the sixth fragment of the Nine Tribulations Sword. This move was truly arrogant and conceited to the extreme, and it also contained an awe-inspiring might and dominance. With the attitude of a ruler descending upon the world, it seemed to be declaring to the world —’Whether or not the world lives or dies is up to me!’

This was a killer move that took into account both offense and defense!

As well as gaining momentum.

When this move was used in actual battle, the person up against this move, when facing such vast, irresistible and irreversible impetus, would unwittingly feel a sense of obeisance welling up within him —”I cannot go against it! I can only surrender!”

With this move, if he wanted the opponent to live, the opponent would live. And if he wanted the opponent to die, then he would die!

Life and death were up to him and entirely dependent on his mood!

The second move, ‘the heavens are on the brink of collapse when my fingers close’!

It played up this momentum further and to the extreme.

What the first move faced off with were still humans; but what the second move dealt with were instead the heavens!

When his fingers closed around the sword, even the heavens shall collapse! Not to mention the humans who stood against him; they could only be reduced to dust under his sword!

All who opposed him would cease to exist!

The third move, ‘wind and clouds gather when the nine tribulations disperse’, was instead a through and through wild and offensive move!

As if gathering the wind and clouds of the Nine Heavens time and again and detonating them time and again, its destructive power stronger than the last each time!

The impetus gathered by the first two moves fully erupted in this move, as though the roaring waves of the Yangtze River and the rising tide of the great ocean! When it reached the ninth explosion, it would blow up with a powerful boom and destroy everything!

‘Blood splatters like ink beyond the Nine Heavens’!

This was the final move.

But this move was also the most bloodthirsty one. After annihilating the human world and storming up to the Nine Heavens, the battleground remained a chaotic mess where rivers of blood flowed. Blood stained the heavens and earth as though ink splattering!

These were the four moves that held the world in its grasp. Each of these moves clearly emanated a certain aura — Control!

The sword moves of the first few fragments of the Nine Tribulations Sword flowed within Chu Yang’s mind like clear little streams.

When it progressed to where he was and reached these few moves of the sword hilt, Chu Yang suddenly discovered that something seemed to have changed!

A change in quality itself!

“Do you feel it?” asked the Sword Spirit who was in high spirits.

When the sixth fragment of the Nine Tribulations Sword was obtained, all of the Sword Spirit’s feebleness suddenly and miraculously vanished without a trace. His mental state instantly recovered to its fullest and even improved by leaps and bounds!

“Yes, I feel it!” Chu Yang said seriously, “As though… These four moves provide a boosting effect for the twenty moves before them!”

“Yes! It is only with the sword hilt that a sword possesses a strong support! As well as a commander and manager.” The Sword Spirit went on. “Just like an invincible elite squad, this is an organization. Any one of them, when singled out, is invincible.”

“However, such a team, when working together, easily falls into a situation where each fights on their own. Therefore, when encountering a large-scale battle, this team is instead unable to attain victory. Because no matter how strong each individual’s strength is, they are but a heap of scattered sand!”

“At this point, they need a strategist to join them as a hand to direct and control these experts, such that they can, from a heap of scattered sand, come together to form a fist! And display their fullest combat ability; in fact, more than even tenfold of their combat ability! To seize victory and destroy their foes!”

This strategist must first assimilate himself with the rest, thoroughly understand them and then come up with the most powerful battle strategy based on each individual’s strengths and weaknesses! Therefore, he must penetrate the entire sword. As such, the sword hilt is the root; it is the commander.”

The Sword Spirit explained softly.

Chu Yang mused over this. He said, “I understand now. Take for example my brothers; when all of us are accomplished, be it Duxing, Xieyun or Ji Mo, Little Wolf, Wushang or Butong, etc… Any one of us, when let out into the wild alone, can easily dominate an area. However, each of us has our own temperament and our own individual traits. Thus, the moment we are not coordinated well, when we encounter a team battle, we may instead be unable to display our strongest combat ability!”

“For example, if Duxing is partnered with Wushang, part of their combat ability would go to waste. If Ji Mo is partnered with Kedi, their combat ability would be insufficient… If Butong and the viburnum flowers are partnered together, it is instead over-agile and not steady enough. Therefore, at such times, we must partner different combinations of combat ability according to the different types of opponents. And at these times, the sword hilt is needed to balance their abilities, for example, Tianji joining the fort!”

The Sword Spirit smiled. “Yes, exactly like so!”

Chu Yang pondered over this. He asked, “Which is to say that among the brothers, Tianji is the soul, the commander and the manager?”

“Wrong!” The Sword Spirit replied, “Mo Tianji is not the soul or the manager. However, he is the commander.”

“Oh?” asked Chu Yang.

“This is the same as a kingdom where the army is out on a conquest. In the army, there is the senior general, the deputy general, the assistant general and the supreme commander! The senior general, deputy general and assistant general perform their own function and have their own ability. If they are matched well, things will go smoothly. And this power to match people is in the hands of the supreme commander. Mo Tianji’s current position is exactly the position of the supreme commander!”

“The position of the sword hilt!”

“While you yourself, Chu Yang, the Nine Tribulations Sword Master, are the manager! You’ve extracted yourself from the battle, but you are in control of the battle situation. You are the decision-maker who points out the direction that they are to work toward together! Your role, if placed in a kingdom, is the sovereign. Because only the sovereign is able to direct the supreme commander!”

The Sword Spirit continued seriously. “These are the roles among all of you!”

Chu Yang nodded. Then, he felt something amiss. “That’s not right! If we were to follow what you said… then, Tianji, Duxing, Wushang and the rest, wouldn’t they have become my subordinates?”

The Sword Spirit mused over this for a moment before he replied, “What I said earlier is just an analogy. However, what you said makes sense as well. Because such a relationship, if deliberately pushed to develop in the direction of a top-down hierarchy, would naturally result in them becoming your subordinates! And they definitely would not hold any resistance toward it.”

“This is the most harmonious top-down relationship.”

“But if you do not wish to have it develop this way, it is also alright. However, even among brothers, there must be a clear distinction between seniority and precedence. Otherwise, they would still be a heap of scattered sand!”

“Therefore, how you want to define their roles is up to you.”

The Sword Spirit reminded him. “Also, it is not yet time to finalize their defined roles yet!”

Chu Yang made a sound of acknowledgment and kept this matter well in mind.

If he had intended to develop it into a relationship between superior and subordinate, he needn’t have waited till now. If that were really the case… then wouldn’t he have broken away from this team? And become by his lonesome self?

Chu Yang would rather not have that kind of relationship!

However, he did not voice that aloud.

When he thought of this, he even held a sense of wariness toward the Sword Spirit so that he wouldn’t know his true thoughts.

What I want are brothers and even more so that happiness when us brothers are together, and not some so-called mighty career… And even less so of obedient subordinates willing to die for me.

Brothers were willing to die for each other because of their feelings for each other. A subordinate could die for his superior, but that was due to their rank and their mission.

Even though both were heading toward death, they were as different as heaven and earth and two entirely different things!

Right at this moment, Chu Yang suddenly felt churning in his Dantian — The sword tip, sword edge, sword body, sword crossguard, sword tang and the sword hilt started to move at the same time!

Under the command of the sword hilt, every fragment of the sword gradually started giving off a wave of purple aura, before they finally gathered to form a glittering purple line that marched straight into Chu Yang’s Dantian.

After entering, it separated into three and formed three strands of Primordial Real Silk. They entangled with the two other strands which were already there and formed a little purple mass before quietening.

Chu Yang had only gotten two strands of Primordial Real Silk after going through so much trouble. But under the summon of the Sword Spirit, this power extracted from them actually increased by three strands instantly!

Increasing by one and a half times out of thin air! It was equivalent to his strength doubling all of a sudden!

When these three strands of Primordial Real Silk finally settled, an overwhelming wave of power suddenly erupted from Chu Yang’s Dantian!

This wave of power possessed such intensity!

Such dominance and such suddenness!

It came so out of the blue that even Chu Yang himself couldn’t react in time!

With a loud bang, Chu Yang’s black robes, from head to toe, were blown up into shreds.

He actually became stark naked in the blink of an eye in this Purple Crystal cave. The next moment, the power that had surged out of his body shot in all directions!

With a whoosh, waves of purple aura suddenly surged throughout the entire Purple Crystal cave!

An unlimited amount of Purple Crystal power — the spiritual energy of the universe contained within Purple Crystals — suddenly converged fast and furious toward Chu Yang!

They transformed into little bunches and wisps of vapor which permeated and seeped into every pore on Chu Yang’s body.

Chu Yang was dumbfounded!

He stared at himself in this comical state, his eyes and mouth all askew. “What… What is going on?”

The Sword Spirit replied, “This is the benefit you deserve after obtaining the sixth fragment of the Nine Tribulations Sword!”

Chu Yang was no longer in a state to answer him, because spiritual energy was also gushing madly into his mouth. Chu Yang felt like at this rate, he would be assailed so badly by these violent waves of energy that he would explode and die the next moment!

His meridians had already been expanded to their limit. Wisp after wisp of purple spiritual energy brought along with them the wholly organic earth energy present within the cave as they rampaged with overpowering momentum within his meridians.

Chu Yang was very puzzled as to why the Sword Spirit wasn’t harvesting the energy into the Nine Tribulations Space. But in truth, the Sword Spirit was watching with a smile the whole time…

Just as Chu Yang finally reached a point where he was unable to withstand it any further, the strands of Primordial Real Silk inside his Dantian suddenly activated. The Nine Tribulations Divine Technique gradually started to circulate in this instant. In merely a breath, all the spiritual energy of the universe that had entered Chu Yang’s body suddenly vanished without a trace.

However, the spiritual energy outside was still pouring and pouring into him…

And so, every time that feeling of near-explosion from being filled to the brim was about to come, the Nine Tribulations Divine Technique would activate… and absorb everything. The color of the Primordial Real Silk strands inside his Dantian would then brighten a few notches…

This cycle repeated again and again…