บท 56: Sentient Katana
Chapter 56 – Sentient Katana
*CLICK*
The black katana emitted a dark aura. It slowly floated and rotated its edge to the ceiling as if someone was wielding it.
Xu Miao sensed the cold Qi, which had been emitted by the weapon. He turned around and brandished his magic dadao.
Upon seeing the ghost sword floating in mid-air, Xu Miao's jaw dropped.
"Wow. A real ghost?"
The ghost katana pointed its sharp edge at Xu Miao and flew toward him.
Xu Miao swung his saber.
*SHANK*
The katana was deflected back. Yet, its dark aura expanded.
*Piki*
A crack appeared on the magic dadao where it contacted the black katana.
'The hell?'
As the wielder of the saber, Xu Miao could sense the residual Qi within the magic saber. It was considered a low-grade artifact in this world, but it held the strength of a 3rd stage cultivator. Just one hit from the katana, this thing was almost broken.
Moreover, Xu Miao could tell from the flow of the dadao's Qi. Its energy was being drained by the ghost katana.
'So, it can drain other magic weapon's energy? How about this?'
Xu Miao activated his body strengthening skill and another stolen skill, Wind Slash +10.
Wind Slash was a basic ranged attack technique that everybody could learn. By swinging an aura-coated weapon and making an arc, anyone could create a wind cutter energy, which could cut through their enemies a few meters away.
The sword energy hit the floating katana.
*CLANK*
As if the katana had sentience, it deflected the energy with ease.
But Xu Miao already used the momentum and rushed closer to the ghost sword.
He seized its handle!
'You're mine! Energy Drain!'
<<Ding>>
<<You have absorbed 157 Demonic Qi!>>
<<Ding>>
<<Your Demonic Body has converted 157 Demonic Qi to 1,570 Yang Qi and 1,570 Yin Qi.>>
Similar to when Xu Miao absorbed Wei Yuan's Qi, he obtained Demonic Qi from the katana.
The ghost sword attempted to free itself from Xu Miao's grasp. It wiggled, trying to chop his arm.
*CLANK*
Xu Miao swung his magic dadao at the sharp edge of the katana, pushing it away from him.
*SCREECH!!*
The katana screamed in anger. It looked down on the magic dadao and began consuming its energy. As the katana lost its demonic Qi because of Xu Miao, it stole the saber's residual Qi to make up for the loss.
*CRACK*
The dadao shattered and disintegrated, but the katana kept losing its energy. Every second, Xu Miao stole 450 – 500 strands of demon Qi from it, but the sword could only get 2,500 strands of Yang Qi in return.
*SCREECH!!*
As if Xu Miao was riding a wild horse, the katana kept moving and shaking, trying to harm or kill the wielder. It slowly got out of his grip because of its overwhelming strength.
Xu Miao sacrificed 5,000 Yang Qi to cast another special skill.
Shadow Restraint +5!
Under the illuminated light of small fireballs around Xu Miao, his shadow turned into a blob monster, covering the katana's shadow.
Suddenly, the ghost sword's movement became rigid and slow. The Shadow Restraint +5 skill showed its effect.
The skill itself was useful in many situations, but it has a serious drawback. Every second that the target was restrained, Xu Miao had to pay several thousands of Yang Qi to upkeep the skill, depending on the target's strength.
If the target was weak, Xu Miao might not even need to use this skill. But against a strong foe, such as this unknown ghost sword, he rapidly lost his Qi to restrain the sword's movement.
<<Ding>>
<<You have spent 7,552 Yang Qi to upkeep the Shadow Restraint technique.>>
<<Ding>>
<<Your Demonic Body has converted 155 Demonic Qi to 1,550 Yang Qi and 1,550 Yin Qi.>>
As Xu Miao struggled to keep it at bay, he was also making a loss. At this rate, his Yang Qi would be depleted soon.
"Hey, you stupid sword! Can you understand my words!?"
Trying his luck, Xu Miao attempted to negotiate with the ghost katana.
*SCREECH!!*
As if it roared back or cussed him, the katana screamed again. However, its struggling power got weaker.
"Now, listen! I have no grudge against you or whatever you're trying to protect! I'll stop using my technique now. Can you stop trying to kill me!?"
*SCREECH!!*
It screamed again, and It didn't stop moving.
"I guess that my words can't get through you. Fine! Let's destroy each other! I can keep draining your power indefinitely while keeping you trapped like this. Do you think you can escape from me!?"
Xu Miao bluffed while he was pretending to be angered.
The ghost sword resisted harder for a moment, but it also trembled in fear. After a few seconds of struggling, it stopped moving and released a low humming voice, telling Xu Miao to stop.
The young master immediately stopped his techniques to save his energy.
The tug-of-war lasted only 10 seconds, but damages had been done to both sides. The ghost katana looked weak while Xu Miao lost a lot of Yang Qi in the process.
.
*********************************************
.
[Stored Qi]
Yang Qi: 45,660
Yin Qi: 54,210
.
*********************************************
.
More than half of Xu Miao's Yang Qi was gone in an instant. Even though his Yin Qi increased, the exchange wasn't worth it.
Xu Miao released the sword, but he took out another magic weapon, a short knife, just in case the ghost sword still wanted to kill him.
"Can we talk now?"
*VIIING*
The katana moved around for a moment. Then, it floated closer to Xu Miao.
When the young master let his guard down, it rotated its edge and grazed his skin. It drank a drop of his blood.
"Ow! You ingrate! I spared you and you ambushed me!?"
*VIIING*
The sword released a sharp noise, which stunned Xu Miao, stopping him from harming the katana.
[Ahem, can you hear my voice now, you ape demon?]
"???"
A young girl's voice echoed in Xu Miao's head. It sounded rough and haughty.
"Oh, is that you, swordy?"
Xu Miao adapted fast. Since the only one who interacted with him at the moment was the sentient katana, his words might get through it, or her.
[My name is NOT Swordy! I'm the great sacred treasure of the Oni Tribe! You hornless mongrel should be worshiping me!]
"Okay… What should I be calling you, great sacred treasure?"
Xu Miao took a humble stance despite his advantage. The first rule of negotiation was to throw his ego away during the first encounter, so he could understand the character of whom he was talking to.
[My subjects used to call me Killer Queen!]
"…"
Xu Miao almost retorted that she didn't deserve that great name. At least, she should be able to make an edgy posture and activate a remote bomb skill to earn the name.
"Okay, I mean, your majesty. Why did you attack me out of nowhere? I'm just a lowly scavenger."
[Bullshit! I saw you did something to my subjects! You stripped them and stuffed one of them into a mysterious space. What the hell are you!? Are you siding with those hornless demons!?]
"Umm, there might be a misunderstanding here. I'm no demon. I'm a human. Also, I'm not your enemy. I got lost and stumbled here."
[A hoo-man? Wait, you're not a hornless demon? What kind of demon are you?]
"Didn't you drink my blood!? Wasn't it red?"
[Huh?]
Killer Queen looked baffled. She orbited around Xu Miao as if she was examining him up close.
[The heck!? Aren't you a demon? You're using one of their body strengthening techniques, aren't you? By the way, what's a hoo-man anyway? Why do you look like a hornless demon if you aren't one?]
"…"
This might take a while to explain or teach her human common sense.
…
A human and a flying sword were chatting for hours. Both exchanged their information regarding the outside world and the events in the mine.
Xu Miao taught Killer Queen about the world history that he had learned from Qi Hong. In exchange, she told him about the battles that took place here many years ago.
Roughly, three hundred years ago, all demon races and monster beasts migrated to this alternate realm after suffering severe losses during the war against human cultivators.
Killer Queen was forged after the migration had been completed. The Oni Clan had bestowed the newly-created heavenly-graded magic katana to their high priestess, so it could be her symbol of power.
The priestess gave the sword the current name, hoping that it would raise the morale of her followers.
Killer Queen slowly gained her conscience after she was being nourished by the demonic Qi of the high priestess for decades. With the strength of the priestess and Killer Queen, the Oni Tribe secured many natural resources, including this ore mine.
Unfortunately, their riches became the main reason for the oni tribe's downfall. Envious of their riches, hornless tribes, goblins, trolls, orcs, and various demon races formed a coalition and attacked the oni tribe.
The Oni Clan was annihilated and was forced to migrate back to the human world. However, some of the stragglers failed to follow after their leaders.
The high priestess volunteered to stay behind and protected the others. Yet, she failed to repel the invading forces. In the end, her troops were overwhelmed and were forced to retreat to the ore mine.
The rest of the story didn't need to be explained.
"So your master got stuck here and died."
[Pathetic, right? If only my master practiced sword techniques a bit more, she could have annihilated those mongrels before she ran out of Qi.]
"Was she weak?"
[She was an absolute TRASH!! Had she had half of your combat sense, she wouldn't have run away and trapped herself in this shit hole!]
Xu Miao guessed that KQ had a lot of pent up stress as she kept complaining about her dead master non-stop.
[Bleh, I talked for too long. My blade is getting dry. Say, hoo-man, do you have essence crystals? Can this queen borrow one or two crystals from you?]
"What's essence crystals?"
[Meh, you're a country bumpkin! It's the essence crystal! C.R.Y.S.T.A.L., do you want me to spell it?]
"What does it look like?"
[Ugh! It's something that you can get from this mine! You refine those stones with your black Qi until you filter out all the impurity. Then, BOOM, you have a crystal!]
"Does those [Stones] these things?"
Xu Miao took out a raw demonic ore from his inventory.
[Yes! That's the stone! Come on, refine it into a crystal!]
Xu Miao was about to complain that he wasn't a blacksmith or an alchemist. But when Xu Miao recalled that he was talking to a sentient weapon, he had an inspiration.
"Err, your majesty. Can you teach me how to refine a crystal? I'm sorry. I'm so stupid that I forgot what my master had taught me."
[WTF!? You HOO-MAN is so stupid! How could you forget something so simple!? Go and gather 20 of these rocks!]
Xu Miao grinned. He brought out 20 demonic ores and laid them in front of him.
"What's next?"
[Where the fuck are they from!? Oh, well. Not that I care. First, you inject hot Qi into those stones and melt the useless rubbish...]
The talking sword didn't realize that she was being tricked by Xu Miao. She continued to teach him the refining process as she enjoyed having a company after being alone for centuries.
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DamnPlotArmor
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บท 57: Killer Queen
Chapter 57 – Killer Queen
The refinement process looked simple, but it was still too difficult for Xu Miao.
First, Xu Miao filtered unusable substances from the ore by smelting them with his Yang Qi. Once the useless rocks and dirt had been removed, the remaining pieces of ores had to be merged.
Next, the merged ores had to be heated by a drop of Yang Essence or 1,000 strands of Yang Qi. The heated demonic ore would be liquidized, and it would automatically collect surrounding energy to enhance its demonic qi by itself.
Everything was similar to a common smelting technique. However, the refining issue came after that.
Once the demonic ore began collecting the surrounding energy, it would also consume the refiner's Qi. To save the refiner's life, a drop of a demon's blood was required. After dropping demon blood onto the rampaging demonic liquid, it would condense around the blood, slowly forming a ball-shaped crystal.
Then, after leaving the crystal alone for a night, it would gather Yin Qi and stabilized its energy.
The process was so easy and simple for demons, but Xu Miao couldn't do it. He lacked demon blood since he wasn't a demon.
"I'm sorry, your majesty. I don't have demon blood."
[Bullshit! You can digest my demon Qi, so you're definitely a demon!]
"But, I'm a human."
[HOO-MAN, my ass! I drank your blood, and I can confirm that you're a fucking demon! Just follow my instruction and complete the goddamn crystal, or I'll freaking slice you into sashimi!]
"Okay! Okay!"
Xu Miao processed the ores like how Killer Queen had instructed. When it reached the blood dropping part, the ghost sword stabbed his hand and sprayed several drops of blood on the smelted ore.
"Ow! Take it easy!"
[Shut it, HOO-MAN demon! Now, we wait and let the crystal do the work.]
"Is that it?"
The process was too easy to the point that Xu Miao questioned KQ's knowledge and her common sense. He thought the refining process was more profound and sophisticated.
[Yup! Oh, by the way, do you have more of those defected weapons?]
"Excuse me? Defected weapons?"
[Yeah. The one that you fed it to me, that big-ass crude saber.]
"…"
Xu Miao glanced at the broken magic dadao. It might be a low-grade weapon. But in the eyes of Killer Queen, it was a trashy defected weapon.
"Are these defected weapons, too?"
Xu Miao showed the remaining low-grade weapons, which he had obtained by defeating the 1st stage clones in the Isolation Chamber. He was hoping that one or two of them might be recognized as a good weapon.
[Yup! They're all trash! Now, give them to me. Let me eat all of their energy!]
"Hey! If you keep destroying my weapons, what am I going to use!"
[Stupid HOO-MAN! Do you think I drank your filthy blood because I desire your blood or something!?]
"Well, wasn't it?"
[Fuck no! I drank your blood, so you can use me! Take me out of this place with you! I'm tired of rotting here for centuries. Do you know how bored I am laying by myself in the darkness? I'm hungry! I'm bored! I want to fight! I want freedom! I want to shove my blade into someone's ass!]
"…"
Xu Miao almost laughed because of Killer Queen's childish attitude. Still, his novel experience told him that the ghost sword might be considered a heavenly artifact for local cultivators since it was kept hidden in here without anyone noticing its existence.
'If this world was a cultivation novel, the MC should have stumbled on this place before me and found her by an accident. Then…'
While Xu Miao was fantasizing what kind of plotline that MCs might encounter a sentient sword like Killer Queen during an adventure arc, the ceiling shook. Dirt and dust fell from above.
*RUMBLE*
[Meh, that stupid tree is probably at it again.]
"Stupid tree? Is it a giant blue Ent?"
Xu Miao referred to the tree that almost killed him. It was also the reason that he fell down to this unknown mine.
[Yeah, that's the one. It's a demon-eating tree that can shoot ice. That orcfucker is one of the raiders, and it almost killed my former master. That bastard always dug around the mine and took a few dead bodies for its fertilizer. I'm planning to stab that mofo and suck its Qi!]
There was a history between Killer Queen and the blue tree monster.
*BOOM*
As Xu Miao and Killer Queen was chatting and waiting for the refined crystal to stabilize, they heard the loud sound of landslide and earthquake. Somewhere in the mine, another portion of the ceiling collapsed.
Xu Miao and Killer Queen stopped chatting. He laid prone and placed his left ear on the ground, listening to the movement and the earthquake. Meanwhile, Killer Queen used her remaining Qi to sense the surroundings.
*Poek*
Something fell along with the landslide. Xu Miao heard the sound of something big falling on the ground.
The ghost katana also sensed another being in the mine.
[I sense another demon in the mine. I think it's an oni!]
"Oh?"
Xu Miao's face changed. If KQ could easily identify that there was another living demon here, Xu Miao might be in trouble. Yet, he recalled something.
'Wait a second. An oni? A demon? Is it her? She's a demon, but is she an oni?'
The face of Wei Yuan appeared in Xu Miao's mind.
[Hey, HOO-MAN, go and dig the place below my sheath. My ex-master buried her clan's assets there. Take it and bring me with you. We need to leave this place soon.]
"Why? Aren't all onis your friends?"
[True, but I sensed that asshole tree is digging through the ground above us. Just dig the ground and grab the treasures! We need to leave!]
Xu Miao gulped. If KQ was panicked, the tree might be absurdly strong.
"What's the tree's strength or cultivation level?"
[It doesn't matter! Just go dig and get the fuck outta here!]
"…"
Xu Miao stopped trying to squeeze more information out of the sentient katana. He dug the place where KQ had told him.
After digging down 30 centimeters, Xu Miao found a small steel box. He brought it out of the hole and shoved it into one of his available inventory slots. However, he took out all magic weapons and carried it outside.
*BOOM*
The earthquake got stronger. Cracks appeared on the ceiling, and dirt poured from the leaked parts.
[GO! GO! GO! WE DON'T HAVE TIME!]
"Where to!?"
[FOLLOW ME!]
KQ extended its dark aura, wrapping around several dead bodies with rainbow bones and the unfinished demonic crystal. Then, she took off, flying away from the dead-end tunnel.
Xu Miao carried the magic weapons that he couldn't deposit in the inventory in his arms. He dashed and followed Killer Queen.
*BOOM*
As if they were in a scene in a movie, the ceiling above the sealed pathway collapsed. Three giant roots pierced into the room, searching for dead bodies.
After the roots couldn't find anything to be used as fertilizer, more roots destroyed the mine tunnels, searching for any dead body. They found several corpses in front of the sealed passageway. Then, the tree stopped attacking. The blue ent's roots collected the corpses and pulled them into its main root.
…
Xu Miao and KQ managed to get away from the collapsed section and avoided the detection of the blue tree. However, they got further inside the mine, and they got lost.
"Your majesty, do you know the exit?"
[Huh? I thought you know the exit?]
"Err, I fell into this shithole by an accident. I thought you knew about the mine layout."
[I'm a fucking sword! Remembering a freaking useless map of this mine is none of my business! Now, gimme all those juicy weapons! I want to eat those!]
Xu Miao facepalmed. He didn't know if the encounter was beneficial for him or not, "If I give you my weapons, can you replace them if I need a weapon to use?"
[Of course, you stupid HOO-MAN! What am I, a talking decoration? I'm the KILLER QUEEN! I kill your enemies for you, and you keep feeding me crystals. Deal?]
KQ was assertive. Before Xu Miao could agree with her proposal, she already pushed him around and assumed that he would be her next master.
"Are you sure? I'm a weak hooman."
[I don't give a fudge! Just bring me out of this shithole, and I'll be your weapon, okay?]
"Ah, fine!" Xu Miao tossed his remaining low-grade weapons to KQ, "There. You can have them."
[Yay!]
Like a kid, KQ swung her blade at them and destroyed the magic weapons in one slash. However, their residual Qi and aura merged with the ghost katana, becoming one with her.
KQ burped as if she was full.
[Thanks for the meal. But heck, I still can't recover the strength that you stole from me. Hey, HOOMAN, take out the treasures in the box. I need to eat some of them.]
"Hey, my name is Xu Miao, not HOOMAN. Also, I'm not your servant. Stop ordering me around."
[Of course. You're not my servant. You're now my master. Isn't it the master's duty to feed your precious spirit weapon? Now, fetch me my ex-master's treasures, peasant!]
"…"
Xu Miao wanted to keep the so-called treasures inside the mysterious box to himself. Unfortunately, KQ exuded a threatening aura around herself, hinting him that she might kill him if he didn't cooperate.
Without a choice, Xu Miao brought out the box from his inventory. The system listed it as [Sealed Spatial Box].
Normally, spatial rings couldn't be stored inside the inventory. However, this box was an exception because of the seal.
Xu Miao tried to open the steel box, but he couldn't open it. There was no handle, hinge, or any indicator that it could be opened.
The sealed box was a seamless grey cube at the size of his palm, which could be seen as a cubic metal. If the system inventory didn't show its description, Xu Miao could have believed that it was a worthless metal.
"How do I open it?"
[I don't know.]
"…"
Xu Miao gave KQ an odd look. He doubted her abilities.
[What are you looking at?]
"Do you know anything else other than your ex-master's history or killing?"
[That's rude! I'm a fucking sword, so my expertise is sword and battles. Do you expect me to be an all-knowing sage? I'm not omnipotent!]
"Then, how do I get the so-called treasures inside the box for you?"
[I don't know. You figure!]
"…"
Xu Miao had a headache. He didn't know if encountering with this sword could be considered as a fortuitous encounter.
…
Xu Miao and his sword's voice were so loud that everything was audible inside the mine.
Inside the underground maze, a young maiden was also trapped in here. She closed her eyes and tried to pinpoint the direction of the voice.
Wei Yuan doubted her ears at first when she heard Xu Miao's voice, but she was certain when his voice kept coming.
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