Every blade of the Junlin Swords shared the same material. However, each hilt was uniquely forged according to the knightly deeds of those it was bestowed upon and the culture and religion of the lands they had conquered.

As ceremonial swords displaying the Empress's grace and might, they were crafted with extreme attention to detail, exhibiting a peerless aura of domination.

Where the sword blade touched, light gathered and swirled, and even time and space seemed to be cleaved by the pervasive resentments and curses, remaining as pristine as freshly forged even after centuries.

Whether they were authentic was immediately apparent.

Liszt was shocked; Dreya did not even know he had hidden one.

Without further ado, he lifted the partition above the glass display cabinet, ready to reach for it.

"Wait!"

Suddenly, Nashano shouted.

Touching a Junlin Sword was, in itself, an act of madness. Five years ago, Liszt had been set up in a dark plot—his enemy had pretended to offer an apology, wanting to use the sword to curse and kill him. Otherwise, he would never commit such a foolhardy act.

Feeling somewhat anxious, the lynx tiger-man raised his voice again.

"What now?"

Liszt was itching to slash someone.

Having sustained damage to his heart, with two blades merged within, he did not even know the current structure of his body anymore—it might not be a heart but a spell power pump that was pulsating.

The sword sent by Sharon, too, had seeped its potent poison into his viscera.

Indeed, his bodily constitution had made a leap forward, comparable to that of the so-called Radiant Knights. But he could not summon the Junlin Sword, whose touch meant instant death—the ultimate power.

Now with his refined skills, coupled with this exaggerated physique and the addition of this sword.

He could put up a show just like Doringger.

He could do so on his own, without the help of others. Even alone, he could hold control over the East Sea, sweeping through Mulong with ease.

His leisurely appearance now belied the urgency of the upcoming finale of the Continent Martial Arts Competition held in the Imperial City this September, which could prove fatal to him.

The Emperor might not bother with Fafna nor the Stele, and there was no need to account for the underworld at the world's edge.

But Sister Ai, Alicia, he definitely needed to keep an eye on her.

A Court Mage from Old Aran Country had prophesied at the Alan Royal Court that the Emperor was a descendant of the Overlord and would ride the Silver Dragon to end the dynasty of Old Aran.

With the true descendant of the Overlord now appearing, wasn't that damaging the reputation they had built? Could they afford to look kindly upon him?

There was still room for maneuver, of course. If he humbled himself and braved the pressure of 'stealing your dragon, stealing your ride,' offering Alicia to the Emperor...

But that was a foul move.

Due to the incident with Fafna, Lostra bore a grudge against him. Although it was Ben who had taken her life, the dragon had been seized by Black Sail. If not for Celeste's mediation, Lostra, who could arm-wrestle the Emperor himself, would never swallow this insult.

Few knew about Alicia's situation, this smoking, drinking, card-playing social butterfly. Tragically, Celeste had also visited the tower that day.

It was hard not to speculate that Celeste's matchmaking had considered this factor.

Additionally, Fafna was of interest to multiple factions, and even the Holy Spirit Church wanted a piece of the action. Making such a foul move, Caroso might not know about it now but would certainly turn hostile.

Fen had the guts of a deity inside him, Ox had bigger fish to fry, not to mention Wolman, the ultimate anti-imperial madman.

Under the pressure of quarterly financial reports and dividend distributions, Liszt had no choice but to wade into the murky waters of Mulong. The idea of offering Alicia was out of the question.

According to Cyrus's laws, the Lostra Queen would either have to be appointed as an elector or...

These pirates truly caused him misery.

If he could collect all the Junlin Swords, why would he fear the Emperor?

"Let me calm down a little..."

Nashano rubbed his hands, pacing back and forth.

It was like the mentality of a gambling addict when revealing his hand in a high-stakes game; he would slowly lift the corner of his cards to peek, revealing just a little at a time.

"Calm down for what..."

Liszt was fed up; he didn't need to calm down, yet here he was putting on a show.

Nashano watched Liszt directly go for the carriage like a tiger man, guessing it really could work, but he still had to take it slow. Otherwise, if Liszt truly dropped dead, turning into flying ash and vanishing from a Curse Killing, it would be impossible to bear the psychological shock at that moment. After all these years, he finally heard someone could command the Junlin Sword, and he couldn't let this opportunity go to waste.

"Do you know how the Junlin Sword actually came into being?"

"Isn't it from those events seven hundred years ago?"

"What I mean is, how was it crafted, and what are they actually now?"

"Wasn't it the Empress who asked a magician to conjure it up?"

"Indeed, that's true, but have you ever considered, history has seen many magicians with incredible powers, some even capable of creating dragons through artificial means. However, the Junlin Sword is different; no matter how strong the magician who forged it, he could infuse his spell power or inscribe runes into the weapon, but the power that allows it to kill someone instantly and has lasted till today couldn't possibly exist. What materials the magician used to forge the Junlin Sword is the key, but since the sword cannot be directly touched, it's hard to say. However, I know!"

Nashano pointed to the walls where he'd organized his research over many years, guiding Liszt to a wall covered in clues.

The wall was plastered with pages from books nailed up, as well as various sketches on ancient parchment tied together with black thread.

Due to the overwhelming amount of content, Liszt could only listen slowly to Nashano's explanation.

"Fine steel from the Ancient Divine Continent?"

Liszt had to ask like this; he had heard of this steel, the top tier material for forging weapons, and the method for crafting it had been lost to time.

"Far from it. According to my research and a guess from a magician friend of mine, there's a very high chance it's this thing. And let me be clear, you're the third person in the world to know this."

Then Nashano began to flip through some historic books and even vague documents inferred by mainstream scholars.

"Look here, the name of the magician seven hundred years ago, his life story.

Magicians are usually intellectuals, and that person was also an archaeologist.

The reason the creation process of the Junlin Sword is a mystery in history is because the magician exerted his power to erase it drastically.

Because the raw materials used to forge the Junlin Sword were extremely wicked, so wicked that it's over the top."

Nashano was so focused on the Junlin Sword because it might be a method to resist the apocalyptic crisis that occurred every nine hundred years.

"Come on, bro, I've got this thing inside me, don't fucking bring up some The Ring shit on me. What are the actual raw materials?"

Liszt wanted to get to the point urgently, praying it would be something manageable.

Nashano couldn't control his overwhelming urge to express, wanting Liszt to see the seamless truth on the wall of clues.

"The Junlin Sword! It has a profound connection with the Divine Mother Sect that dominated the Western Continent eighteen hundred years ago.

During the darkest hundred years.

The prestige of the Divine Mother Sect reached its zenith, even surpassing the Overlord, who merely conquered all the lands, but the Mother of All Mothers rooted in everyone's minds.

Surpassing all forces from history, the union of church and state became the de facto rulers of the world.

You should know, because the Mother of All Mothers believed the suffering in the world was finite, she took a secret medicine, set herself on a pyre, and burned for three days and nights, until the high will descended a miracle. She transformed into a stone statue sprinkling white petals, and the ashes from the burnt wood became flowers that spread across the world, ending the century-long plague that killed ninety percent of the Western Continent's population.

The Mother of All Mothers became the Savior, and her prestige in the Divine Mother Sect reached its highest point, unprecedented—a god existing in the world!

In those times, people, through suffering, hoped to gain the favor of the high will and descend a miracle, becoming Saints revered by millions.

Physically and spiritually, the unimaginable, extreme pain, controlled by the illusionary Abyss.

They fell into this madness.

Other than sin... there was nothing else.

And the Mother of All Mothers, no longer the Savior, preserved in the very heart of the Divine Mother Sect's great cathedral, her stone statue bore all the self-inflicted and mutual torment—murderous intent, hatred, sin, confession, resentment.

It became a supreme... Curse Artifact.

That magician, he was an expert on the dark history of those hundred years, so you should know... what the Junlin Sword was actually forged from.

What is it? It holds such... the spell power to instantly kill everything."

Nashano said no more.

"I'm really fucking done."

Liszt's face looked worse than if he had eaten ten thousand lemons.

It was like wickedness and the mother of wickedness doing lung care then attending a memorial service on a plane. It was so wicked it was suffocating, so wicked it was crying, wickedness gone to the heavens!

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