"You... Your arrogance won’t last long."
After fumbling for words for a moment, Lin Mingzhao finally managed to force out a sentence.
He had a slew of retorts ready, prepared to fire them off as soon as Lin Yan argued back. But Lin Yan didn’t respond as expected, leaving his entire prepared speech to die on the vine.
He couldn’t gain the upper hand verbally, and as for a real fight, he didn’t dare challenge Lin Yan.
He had only broken through to the Blood Exchange Realm after completing a little over half of the Fourth-Time of Skin Smoothing. His Blood Gang was already no match, and to make matters worse, Lin Yan had even cultivated Sword Gang.
Before anyone acquired a Spiritual Weapon, Sword Gang made a Martial Artist practically invincible within the Blood Exchange First Transformation.
PFFT!
Seeing Lin Mingzhao’s tough act crumble, the other three burst out laughing again.
Lin Yan paid Lin Mingzhao no more mind and began to search the mountain wall for the Spiritual Weapon he wanted.
According to the Spiritual Weapon List, there were one hundred thirty-six Spiritual Weapons in total. More than half of them were marked with the word "Claimed," indicating they had already been taken. Among the dozens of Spiritual Weapons that remained, only seven were Swords.
After walking past all the alcoves, Lin Yan soon stopped in front of an ink-black longsword.
This was the sword he had come for.
[Sword Name: Abyss]
The Spiritual Weapon List had very few battle records for Abyss. Very few people chose it; in the two hundred years since it was forged, there had only been three.
The reason for this wasn’t a lack of Sword Cultivators in the Lin Family, but the unique properties of Abyss itself.
Abyssal Sword: The blade is forged from Abyssal Iron, an exceptionally dense metal, making it several times heavier than other Swords.
Its weight alone wasn’t the issue, as some Swordsmen preferred Heavy Swords. The real reason so few chose the Abyssal Sword was its ability to devour any projected Gang Qi.
This was the Abyssal Sword’s greatest strength, but it was also its greatest flaw.
Against a foe, its ability to absorb an opponent’s Sword Gang or Saber Gang was a huge advantage.
However, if a wielder tried to infuse their own Sword Gang into the blade, it too would be absorbed, reducing its output to a mere thirty percent of its true power.
This was true unless the Sword Gang was powerful enough to surpass the threshold of what Abyss could absorb.
Thus, the entry for the Abyssal Sword in the Spiritual Weapon List bore an annotation: "Those who have not mastered two Sword Gangs at the Perfection level should choose with extreme caution."
’Same old story,’ he thought. ’"Choose with caution" is just a polite way of saying "strictly forbidden."’
’I already have two Sword Gangs, so I don’t have to worry about Abyss devouring my own. Plus, I’ll definitely master more in the future. The characteristics of the Abyssal Sword are practically tailor-made for me. I have to thank whichever senior it was that forged Abyss two hundred years ago.’
Standing before the Abyssal Sword, Lin Yan’s gaze fell upon the blade.
The blade was lusterless, its color like a deep pool, lying silently upon the stone platform.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Yan hesitated no longer. His right hand moved to press the mechanism for the glass case beside it.
"Lin Yan, wait!"
Just as his finger was about to touch the mechanism, a voice called out. Lin Yan’s hand froze, and he looked toward the speaker.
"Do you know about the properties of Abyss?"
Lin Mingye walked toward Lin Yan. Lin Yan glanced at the other’s sash—a member of the First Branch—and nodded.
"It was described in the Spiritual Weapon List."
"You read the description and you’re still choosing Abyss?"
Lin Mingye was shocked. He had initially assumed Lin Yan was drawn to Abyss without having read its full description on the Spiritual Weapon List. Hearing Lin Yan’s words, he said, "Since it was forged, Abyss has only had three owners. Do you know why the Spiritual Weapon List has no battle records for it? Because all three of those owners regretted their choice. After earning enough Contribution Points, they all exchanged it for a different Spiritual Weapon. In two hundred years, Abyss has never actually drawn blood."
Surprise flashed in Lin Yan’s eyes. ’Abyss has never even drawn blood?’
’In all these years, has the Lin Family really not produced a single Sword Dao Martial Artist who could master two Sword Gangs?’
’Impossible!’
As if sensing Lin Yan’s thoughts, Lin Mingye explained, "Spiritual Weapons have temperaments. It takes us several months, or even longer, to bond with one until we can wield it as an extension of our own bodies. Most of our clansmen choose their Spiritual Weapon as soon as they enter the Blood Exchange Realm. Once they have bonded with it, very few choose to replace it later."
Lin Yan understood. ’So the powerful Sword Dao practitioners in the Lin Family didn’t choose Abyss when they first entered the Blood Exchange Realm because their Sword Gang wasn’t strong enough. By the time it was, they already had other Spiritual Weapons and had no intention of switching to Abyss.’
"The three ancestors who chose Abyss were all Sword Dao geniuses, supremely confident in their own talent. But in the end, they all gave up. They couldn’t unleash the power of their Sword Gang, leaving them at a disadvantage in both clan competitions and against enemies."
Lin Mingye had explained everything in great detail, afraid that Lin Yan, just like those three ancestors, was being overconfident in his talent.
Resources within the clan had to be earned through competition—branch duels, the great clan tournament, and so on...
It wasn’t that those three ancestors lacked talent in the Sword Dao, nor were they impatient. But after watching others use their Spiritual Weapons to defeat them and claim better Martial Arts Resources, they ultimately had no choice but to return Abyss to the Spiritual Weapon Vault and spend their Contribution Points on a different Sword.
Lin Yan could tell the man’s warning came from a place of genuine concern, but Abyss was truly the perfect fit for him. He couldn’t possibly give it up.
"Thank you for the warning, but I’d still like to try."
Before Lin Mingye could even react to Lin Yan’s decision, Lin Mingzhao burst out laughing, his face a mask of scorn. "Well, Lin Mingye, it looks like he doesn’t appreciate your kindness. He probably thinks you’re just a busybody sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, looking down on his Sword Dao talent."

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