Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 39

Yuan Yao burst out laughing. “Hahahaha…”

Xie Yan gave her a lazy glance. “Laugh again, and I’ll destroy your vocal cords.”

Yuan Yao sensibly closed her mouth at once, though the corners of her lips kept trying to rise.

“Ahem…”

When she met Xie Yan’s icy gaze, she coughed heavily and turned away before he could see her struggling not to laugh.

She had actually put her completely unguarded back toward him.

She truly had no fear of death.

His gaze paused on her snow-white nape. A tiny red mole marked the smooth, delicate skin there, strikingly vivid against its pallor.

Xie Yan looked away and left.

He needed to find the exit from the secret realm.

The surroundings fell quiet. Yuan Yao did not have to turn around to know he was gone.

She let out a long breath.

Looking around the empty area, she thought that her Eldest Senior Brother and the others had most likely entered the hidden-treasure grounds.

Something suddenly occurred to her.

“Two-Fifty, how much longer do I have to live?” she asked inside her mind.

System 250 answered.

【Host, you have only six days and six hours remaining.】

Yuan Yao frowned.

She had spent the last few days fighting danger and cultivating. She had found no time to win over any of her targets.

She could not stay here waiting for her Eldest Senior Brother and the others. She had to find more people.

Yuan Yao raised one pale hand, and the Phantom Spirit Sword materialized in her grasp.

She slashed the ground dozens of times, carving a message into the stone.

—I left first. Don’t worry about me.

—Yao

She put away the Phantom Spirit Sword and entered the passage ahead.

Afraid that her Eldest Senior Brother and the others would panic while searching for her, she left marks all along the route.

After walking through the passage for some time, hunger gnawed at her stomach.

She had not eaten in days.

Yuan Yao rubbed her belly and pouted.

She had left in such a hurry that she had not prepared any food. All she could do was take a dry, unappetizing Fasting Pill from her storage space and swallow it.

Her hunger soon faded.

Yuan Yao continued onward and before long encountered a large number of giant ant beast corpses.

Every one had been severed in two by a single sword stroke.

Xie Yan was the first person who came to mind.

That suited her just fine. He had saved her the trouble of dealing with the spirit beasts herself.

She passed several more groups of corpses along the way. Some were spirit beasts, others cultivators.

Every one of them had died to a single sword strike.

Yuan Yao suddenly felt rather fortunate that she had forced that bastard Xie Yan to swear an oath. At least the oath kept him from killing her.

As she continued, the narrow passage suddenly opened into a broad space.

Her eyes brightened.

She was finally leaving the underground labyrinth.

A short while later, Yuan Yao stepped out beneath an open sky and a crescent moon.

Her sharp eyes caught sight of a stone stele beside the exit.

When she approached, she found four words carved across its face:

*Tomb of Nie Lie.*

Startled, Yuan Yao walked several steps forward and looked back. The entire tomb had been hidden inside an enormous mountain.

She remembered the five legacy keys she still had from Senior Nie Lie, and reverence rose in her heart. Her expression turned solemn. Pressing her palms together, she bowed three times to the mountain.

“Thank you for choosing me, Senior Nie Lie. I promise I’ll cultivate diligently and make your sword art famous throughout the world!”

She was speaking of the *Nirvana Sword Art*.

The moment she finished, the stone stele erupted with blinding light.

A translucent remnant soul appeared before it.

Yuan Yao raised a hand to shield her eyes and watched warily.

A small, white-haired old man emerged from the light.

She jumped back in surprise.

The old man had a kindly face. He stroked his beard and smiled.

“Will you truly make my sword art famous throughout the world?”

Yuan Yao understood at once. “Are you Senior Nie Lie?”

The white-haired old man chuckled.

“I am.”

“I will!”

Yuan Yao immediately straightened, her face full of respect, and gave him a formal junior’s salute.

Nie Lie lifted a hand. A solid, ancient-looking book appeared in his palm.

“In that case, this old man shall give you this sword manual.”

Yuan Yao stared for a moment.

“Thank you, Senior Nie Lie.”

She raised both hands.

The manual dropped into them. Its weight dragged at her arms, and an indescribable sword intent spread from its pages.

“This is…” Realization struck, and her expression changed.

Nie Lie smiled. “A Saint-grade sword manual.”

“Will you take this old man as your master?”

Yuan Yao shook her head without hesitation. “I already have a Master.”

“Oh? Is he stronger than I am?”

Pride filled Yuan Yao’s face at the mention of her Master.

“One day, he will definitely surpass you, Senior.”

Her Master, Qian Jueshan, was hailed as a peerless genius seen only once in a thousand years.

With that, Yuan Yao stepped forward to return the Saint-grade sword manual.

Nie Lie stroked his beard but did not accept it.

Instead, he asked, “Will you surpass both this old man and your master one day?”

Yuan Yao hesitated.

She knew how powerful her Master was. Surpassing him would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

But then she remembered that she had a hundred million people to win over.

Her head rose, determination filling her face.

“I will!”

“Then keep the manual. I created every technique inside it. If anyone asks, simply tell them that the sword art came from Nie Lie.”

Nie Lie had devoted his entire life to the sword. He had never married, never had children, and never accepted a disciple. When the end of his lifespan approached and he looked back, every relative and dear friend he had known was already gone.

He had left his tomb in the Wuduan Secret Realm in the hope of finding a gifted junior who suited his eye.

This little girl was the one he had chosen.

Her blood had caused a violent reaction in the soil of his tomb, proof that her bloodline was extraordinary. That was why he had ordered the tomb guardians to give her the legacy keys.

He had not expected her to form a contract with the golden egg as well.

The egg’s resonance with her only confirmed how exceptional she was.

The Saint-grade sword manual he had guarded for centuries had finally found its owner.

Aside from Yuan Yao, the youths Xie Yan and Ying Wuji had also struck him as worthy inheritors.

They had simply lacked a little fate.

The Saint-grade sword manual felt immensely heavy in Yuan Yao’s hands. She looked up and asked seriously, “Senior Nie Lie, may my senior brothers and sisters study this manual with me?”

Even Nie Lie, who had weathered every kind of storm in life, was taken aback.

He studied her.

“Anyone else who obtained a Saint-grade sword manual would hide it and cultivate alone. Why would you share it with your senior brothers and sisters? Aren’t you afraid greed might take root in their hearts—and that they might kill you to seize it?”