Fusion! Holy Light Knife

After five days, not only did the Holy Light Knife feel lighter to Nian Bing, but even his footsteps felt lighter. His most cherished advancement, however, was his magic power. Just as Salamandhys had said, cultivating in an extreme state of exhaustion had been beneficial for raising both his spirit power and his magic power. Now that he’d compressed the magic power in his chest, it felt more congealed. Nian Bing prodded it with his spirit power, and found that he seemed to have entered the Magic Scholar realm. However, he wasn’t entirely certain.

Fifteen days after they’d left the cave, Nian Bing was currently carrying the Holy Light Knife as his robust figure followed Salamandhys. His voice full of doubt, he asked, “Mighty Salamandhys, it’s been half a month so far, and I feel like we should’ve made made it out of the mountains by now. Why haven’t we?”

The past fifteen days of agonizing torment had transformed the normally handsome Nian Bing into a wild-looking man. His beard covered his once handsome face, while his golden hair tangled into a messy bush atop his head. And yet, despite his wild look, his muscles had become much firmer than they had been, and a just thin layer of dirt obscured his glistening skin.

However, the biggest change was that his eyes were now full of luster. They were now akin to a night sky full of stars; the hidden shine from his improved eyesight seemed to attract the eye. After the past fifteen days of anguish, the Holy Light Knife was no longer a burden to him. Even though he couldn’t freely wield it, its weight was no longer a threat to him.

Salamandhys replied matter of factly, “Of course we haven’t left the mountains yet. We’ve been walking in a circle.”

Nian Bing stared blankly at him. “A circle? You’ve gone sick from laziness! No, no, mighty Salamandhys, what I meant is, aren’t you anxious to go out into the world and eat delicacies?”

The chill that had entered Salamandhys’ eyes abated when he heard Nian Bing’s second sentence. Cooly, he said, “It’s like the saying, ‘to do the best jobs, the artisan must have the best tools.’ I’m raising you so that, at the very least, you won’t shame me. However, there’s still half a month until we leave. Well, from now on our path will change, so... Hm, you’re currently walking six hours before you rest. En, that’s a bit unfair to you. You’re indeed suffering too much as it currently stands. I’ll change six hours to two hours. What do you think? If I do this, you can’t say that I’m not generous.

Nian Bing blinked. “I didn’t mishear you? Six hours has really become two? This isn’t like you at all!”

Salamandhys lightly swung the branch in his hand. “Of course you didn’t hear wrong. I’ll also be adding one more rule: During those two hours, you can move forward in any way you choose.” As soon as he’d finished speaking, he slapped Nian Bing’s body with his palm. Nian Bing’s trigger magic scrolls had long since been used up, meaning that he had nothing to block Salamandhys’ claw with. As soon as his claw came into contact with his body, he felt like massive sluice gate had appeared between him and his magic power. However, at this point, he no longer judged whether or not Salamandhys was strange. He simply looked up at him, his eyes full of mistrust, and waited for him to say something.

Salamandhys chuckled. “You can continue to advance, but remember, you’ve got two hours. However, this time around, I’ll be ‘encouraging’ you from behind.” The branch in his hands danced through the air and, before Nian Bing could respond, he felt several marks appear on his body. Intense pain, followed by a scorching sensation, caused him to immediately jump up. “What’re you doing?!”

Salamandhys look at him, his eyes full of displeasure. “I’m not doing anything. I’m simply helping you train your body. Don’t you want your magic to advance further? This will be the training you’ll have to endure for the next half month. Come on, stinky brat. You should’ve avoided my attack. Of course, you could use the Holy Light Knife as shield, just blocking is fine too. However, if you don’t move fast, this whip..”

During the next two hours, Nian Bing thoroughly ‘enjoyed’ the inhuman treatment he was subjected to. The fire dragon king encouraged him thoroughly. Almost nowhere on his body was left untouched. Fortunately for Nian Bing, Salamandhys was a bit lenient with his hits. When the two hours allotted hours had ended, Salamandhys have Nian Bing one of the stinky black things to eat, then removed the seal he’d placed on Nian Bing’s magic so that he could treat himself. After Nian Bing had finished treating himself, he meditated for an hour.

However, a human’s endurance has its limits. Despite the fact that he’d managed to endure the humiliation he’d faced in the past, Nian Bing was no exception to this. On the third day of the love of the whip, Nian Bing decided that he’d finally had enough. “Fuck! Salamandhys, you’re a bastard! If you hit me one more time, I’ll fight you!” He immediately brandished the Holy Light Knife after saying this. Even though Nian Bing couldn’t use magic currently, his eyes seemed like they were made of fire. The intense pain during the past few days had caused his spirit to crumble.

Salamandhys wave his branch and, with a crack, another red welt appeared on Nian Bing. “I’m whipping you, so what? What’re you gonna do about? It won’t do if you still want to oppose me.”

Nian Bing’s eyes instantly burned red. The past twenty days of abuse had finally pushed his patience to the tipping point. His mand was currently blank; all he think about right now was ripping the human-shaped dragon in front of him to pieces. He charged at Salamandhys like a hurricane. The 128 jin Holy Light Knife seemed as nimble as Morning Dew in his hands as he rushed towards Salamandhys.

The contempt in Salamandhys’ eyes turned to surprise, as he’d found that Nian Bing had changed. Even though Nian Bing didn’t have any qi, the Holy Light Knife had turned into a golden ball of light. And when Nian Bing swung at him, even he couldn’t see any patterns in Nian Bing’s attacks. Every slash was akin to the unrestrained attack of an antelope’s antlers. However, every time Nian Bing slashed the Holy Light Knife, his strikes held the laws of the world within them; this was no longer in the range of a simple knife. Salamandhys was even faintly able to sense a dragon from the golden mass of light.

However, the golden mass of light proceeded to change into a dragon-shaped stream of light, leaving Salamandhys stunned. In the time that he was stunned, the Holy Light Knife managed to appear before him. When Salamandhys recovered from his stunned state, and noticed the Holy Light Knife, he was surprised to find out that he couldn’t dodge it, as he simply didn’t know how to. He’d seen many mystical knife arts during his millennia of existence, but this was the first time that he’d seen one like this.

Helpless, he could only let his red qi surge forth and surround his body in a fiery protective layer. Since he couldn’t dodge, he could only use his superior qi to endure it. A fire dragon’s qi wasn’t gold, but it wasn’t any worse than a martial god’s holy qi.

However, as the Holy Light Knife swung towards him, it vanished and was replaced by nine ferocious golden dragons. They were all in different stances: Some were pouncing, some were charging, and some were spewing their breath. Despite their different stances however, they were all headed to breach Salamandhys’ defense. What was even more unexpected, was that the golden knife had actually turned transparent. It emitted an indomitable aura, which caused Salamandhys to feel even more fearful. He suddenly understood that, even though Nian Bing had no qi, he’d touched the knife’s soul. The Holy Light Knife was currently exactly like when it had been in its original master’s hands. The golden knife shape wasn’t qi, but the fusion of light element and the knife’s soul. This strength wasn’t something that could be created with qi.

As the sounds of friction continued, Salamandhys began to wonder if his defenses really could be cut by Nian Bing’s slashes. He was only able to sense that the strange upsurge of light element was headed towards him. Even though they couldn’t harm him, he knew that the aura of the light element was intent on pressing forwards. If it weren’t for the fact that the attack’s energy was much worse than his qi, the aura alone would’ve been enough to wound him. He suddenly coughed lightly, causing fiery red light to surge upwards, in-turn sending both Nian Bing and the Holy Light Knife ten meters away. However, the round Holy Light stone instantly emitted a layer of golden light that covered Nian Bing from head to toe. Even though he’d fallen heavily, he hadn’t received any wounds.

Nian Bing crawled up from the ground, but he didn’t launch any more attacks towards Salamandhys. Instead, he looked at the Holy Light Knife in astonishment. For a while, he didn’t have any idea what he’d just done. When the Holy Light Knife scattered golden light around itself, Nian Bing suddenly felt an extremely clear feeling, as if he’d just seen the dawn of a new day. Afterwards, he realized what he’d done. He’d used the Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons. Yes, he’d used the knife technique ‘Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons’! If he’d been using Demonic Engraving, Nian Bing would’ve naturally had much more control over the Holy Light Knife. However, the ‘knife’ he’d just used weighed 128 jin.

A knife over a meter long had actually been able to use a carving knife technique; what sort of concept was this? However, his current flexibility and coordination were now far higher than before he’d gone through the past 20 days. The moment he’d executed the Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons, he and the knife had perfectly fused together—they’d become indistinguishable from one another. The Holy Light Knife could naturally show knife techniques constructed with pure light element, however his magic was currently sealed. As such, how could he manipulate the Holy Light Knife’s aura?

It was a resolution, his resolution to press forwards! There was no doubt that this was the treasured knife that had been wielded on the continent by the saint for over seventy years. Holy Light, oh Holy Light. You’ve finally acknowledged me.

Emotions welled up in his eyes, causing a filmy layer to obscure his view. This saint’s knife, after more than ten thousand years, had finally found a new owner.

“What a great knife technique. What’s it called?” asked Salamandhys.

Nian Bing muttered, “Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons. It’s a technique that my first master handed down to me. Even if I say it you won’t believe me, but it’s used in the culinary world as a carving technique. In order to evaluate a person’s culinary arts, you must observe their five aspects: Color, smell, flavor, presentation, and intention. What the Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons shows is the peak of presentation. Salamandhys, thank you. If it weren’t for your coercion, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to display the Dance of the Gathering Rain Dragons with the Holy Light Knife.”

“Thanks? There’s no need for you to thank me. You’ll be making me delicious things to eat from now. I don’t have such good intentions that I’d help you for free. I’m fine even if you hate me. However, getting revenge won’t be easy.” His customary arrogance present in his tone, but there was also some humor present. When Nian Bing met his gaze, they both couldn’t help but smile.

Nian Bing cast a glance at Salamandhys’ branch. “Are we continuing?”

Salamandhys shook his head. “There’s no need. Other than using superior qi, I can’t use speed to hit you. This is a sign that your training is ending early. After we leave, if you have some time, swing around the Holy Light Knife. However right now, for a mage, your current body is enough. We can leave the mountains now.”

Nian Bing stood up, intending to say something, but Salamandhys raised his hand. A thread of deep gold light poured into the Holy Light Knife. In an instant, the gold light moved to Nian Bing’s body. As he was bather in the golden light, Nian Bing’s wounds healed rapidly. However, Salamandhys didn’t put down his hand until the gold light had turned white. When it did, it almost instantly formed a hexagram. Salamandhys then proceeded to mutter a chant. His magic power was truly limitless, as a rank 9 spell gradually began to form.

White light expanded to fill the area, covering both Salamandhys and Nian Bing’s bodies. Afterwich, the white hexagram suddenly turned silver, and surrounded them entirely. As the light gradually subsided, and the air finally cleared, what remained was only a single silver point of light.

The strange feeling made Nian Bing feel like he was in a different world. His feet shook, and once everything around him had become clear again, he realized that the mountains that had surrounded him were gone. He also suddenly felt cold pierce him to the bone, as he wasn’t well clothed, but the winter chill didn’t make him suffer too much.

Currently, there was a broad river in front of him. However, he didn’t have any idea where they were; the river’s surface had already turned to ice because of winter. Immediately going from the warm, spring mountains to this world of ice and snow made Nian Bing feel extremely uncomfortable. He was thinking about taking out his winter clothes from the space ring that Salamandhys currently had, when a giant ball of fire suddenly flew out from behind him.

The fireball, produced by the fire dragon king, Salamandhys, was definitely not something that could be described with normal terms. The fireball whistled through the air with an ear-piercing howl, before slamming into the frozen lake and exploding. Shards of ice flew everywhere from the explosion, and because of the scorching heat, the river began to bubble like a hot spring. Some cooked fish even rose to the surface.

Immediately afterwards, something slammed into Nian Bing’s butt, allowing him to once again enjoy the feeling of weightlessness. His limbs flailed wildly as he flew through the air, before landing over three hundred meters away. He didn’t have any time to react before he entered the river. Admittedly, Salamandhys’ impressive fireball had brought the water to a boil, but the river was flowing. When Nian Bing landed in the water, the piercing coldness immediately sent him into convulsions, while the strong momentum of the flowing river swept him away.