Xu Qing closed his eyes and cast his senses into the black boulder. The moment he made contact, something like a fog appeared in his mind. Faintly discernible murmuring came from within the fog, seemingly near, seemingly distant.0

“The sword of an emperor... should not be casually unsheathed.... But once unsheathed, it can destroy the heavens and crush the earth.”5

Shaken, Xu Qing listened carefully. Gradually, the murmuring turned into streams of information within his very soul.1

Each bit of information told him something about The Emperor’s Sword. The Emperor’s Sword, also known as Sword of the Swordsage, was one of the orthodox imperial-class techniques of humankind, and was the creation of Yuan Zaiji, Grand Emperor of Immortal Ultrabrilliance. It was designed to kill, was filled with formidable power, and could slaughter endlessly. In the past, it had been used to cut down countless species, and in the ancient past, had even been used by the Grand Emperor to fell gods.3

Years ago, even Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity had once sighed in admiration for the Grand Emperor’s sword technique. Later, when the members of the Sword Palace turned into the swordsages, the Grand...8