Learning the Sword

Inside the border wall, many of the disciples were settled into various courtyards, depending on their status whether they were mortally wounded, had minor injuries, or were relatively okay.

Meanwhile, the three representatives were in a closed room, discussing among themselves the result of the battle.

"Among the thousand disciples I brought, only 461 remain in fighting capacity and 72 are mortally wounded with no clear sign if they will live."

Alyssa from the Extreme Sword Sect started reporting. Pain could be seen in her eyes. She had lost 467 disciples of her Extreme Sword Sect.

"You had it good. My Black Dragon Hall only has 398 disciples in fighting capacity while 120 are either mortally wounded or still recovering. What about your Mystic Heaven Sect?"

After stating his report, the George of Black Dragon Hall turned to Ray from the Mystic Heaven Sect.

"In turns of number, we are in a relatively better situation than your two sects but in reality, although 371 disciples remain from the original 500, many of them, especially the women are afraid to enter the battlefield after seeing many of their fellow female disciples get defiled on the battlefield..."

Ray sighed and continued.

"Still, things could be much worse if not for that kid you took in."

After saying this, George added.

"Indeed! It was fucking exhilarating watching him tear apart those Northern Warriors and seeing him kill those strong warriors one by one, made my blood boil! You really got a good seed this time."

Hearing the Black Dragon Hall representative praising her, Alyssa nodded and spoke.

"Thank you but I was also surprised. I didn't think that his fighting prowess would be that high. I was shocked when I saw his Sword Concept!"

Thump!

Suddenly, George slapped the table in front of him in his excitement as he spoke.

"I know! He's so young and he already has such a refined sword concept!"

Then from the side, Ray from the Mystic Heaven Sect.

"It is indeed impressive, but without a solid foundation and the necessary knowledge regarding Sword Force, his concept will break down and his talent will be buried. It truly is a fortune that he met you."

With that, he turned to Alyssa who nodded with a slight smile and changed the topic.

"I'll handle Alios once we return to the Extreme Sword Sect but for now, we need to discuss how to handle the lower sect's alliance. It is clear that they deliberately slowed their response in sending reinforcement in hopes to weaken our sects."

George then added while drinking his tea.

"A clear provocation against us."

For a hulking figure like George to suddenly have a calm tone in his voice despite being filled with anger causes one to be fearful of what he might do.

The three of them then discussed how to handle the lower sect's alliance forces that will arrive the day after.

…

Night fell and many of the wounded disciples of the Tri-Sect union are still resting. Alios didn't join to mingle with them but remained on top of the wall looking over the bloodstained battlefield. From time to time, a group of disciples would bring him a tray of food before going back when they saw that Alios had no intention of socializing.

Alios stared at his sword and closed his eyes.

The Sky-Devouring Wolf...

One of the Thirteen Heaven Breakers…

Cultivate by devouring the lifeblood of other beings…

Alios opened his eyes and muttered.

"A "Heaven Breaker" those that oppose and threaten the heavenly laws…"

Recalling the greatest secret he has, Alios stood up.

He was born a common mortal when his village was ransacked by northern forces and he was captured and sent to their mines. There, he experienced torture that no child should ever experience and he hated them for it… He hated the heavens for it.

Justice?

Fairness?

To him heaven had neither of those, it was cold and not trustworthy!

When his hatred toward the heavens for what happened to him rose to the extreme, it was then that his silver sword broke through the mountain where he was being tortured by others. It cut down the chains that bound him and called out to him.

It was then that he got the legacy of one of the Heaven Breakers a group of cultivators that have long been lost in time. Their goal was to cultivate against the heavenly laws and break the shackles that heaven imposed upon others. The legacy he received was the Sky-Devouring Wolf, whose essence lay own devouring others.

Alios turned to the silver sword and muttered.

"Lykos…"

All the memories and cultivation techniques of the previous Heaven Breakers of the Sky-Devouring Wolf were stored in the Soul Treasure named "Lykos". The Soul Treasure of the Heaven Breakers had the ability to transform into a different weapon to suit their user, it was that the previous Sky-Devouring Wolf before Alios was a Sword Cultivator.

Right at this moment though, Alios has no other goal than to ream the Core Formation realm where he will be able to change the form of Lykos to suit his style better as he feels that the current form of the weapon was not for him.

It was then that Alyssa, the Extreme Sword Sect representative landed near him.

Alios opened his eyes and turned toward her, giving her a light bow. Alyssa nodded and asked.

"How are you fitting in?"

Alios turned towards the bustling city behind him where disciples of the three sects were socializing and tending to the wounds of others. He then turned to Alyssa and answered.

"Not well. I've been so used to being alone."

Alyssa and nodded switched the topic. She was happy though that Alios was speaking more fluently.

"What do you know about Sword Cultivators?"

She suddenly asked. Alios turned to his sword and spoke.

"Nothing much, aside from they are cultivators who preferred the sword."

Alyssa then chuckled and spoke.

"That's a common misconception. The difference between regular cultivators that uses a sword from true sword cultivators is that we cultivate the sword, not our realms."

Alios furrowed his brow in confusion as Alyssa continued.

"You know that as cultivators progress through their levels or realms, they get stronger but Sword Cultivators have the ability to fight someone above their own levels because of their sword. The more polished your sword is, the more useless the difference between the cultivation realm is. That is also partly the reason why you are able to kill those northern warriors who have a higher cultivation level than you."

Hearing this, Alios was slowly getting the idea. He thought that he was able to do that because those enemies were simply weak. Alyssa then continued.

"Your sword may be deadly but it is unpolished. You have very little foundation regarding the way of swords and you will soon find that your advantage gets less and less apparent the more your cultivation level gets higher. Luckily you met me and joined my Extreme Sword Sect."

She then took out a book and threw it to Alios who caught it.

"That is an introductory manual for Sword Cultivators, read it and understand it well. Remember, the sword is your heart and your heart is your sword."

With that, Alyssa flew away and left Alios to ponder over her words.

"The sword is my heart and my heart is my sword…"

Alios repeated what Alyssa said before sitting down and opening the book.

…

Morning light broke out when Alyssa went back to check on Alios who she saw was in a deep meditative state.

"Well, that didn't take long."

She smiled and flew away.

With the talent, she saw Alios had and the present achievement he has, Alyssa knew that she only needed to show him the way and he would arrive at the doorstep of true Sword Cultivation. She was right. The moment Alios finished reading the manual, a lot of the questions he had after receiving the Sky-Devour Wolf legacy started to get answered.

It was a common thing, similar to when a child's time reading, to the child it is too high level and complicated but when a parent slowly teaches them they begin to grasp the meaning of the words one by one until they could comprehend the entire sentence and soon the entire topic.

Alios' felt like a dam opened within him as he began to solve many of the mysteries of Sword Cultivation within him and he fell into deep meditation.

Naturally, no disciples interrupted him as they knew the importance of gaining an epiphany. While on the side, Alyssa stood to protect him.

A full day went by and Alios was still in deep meditation when the supposed reinforcements of the lower sect's alliance arrived. Alyssa, George, and Ray, along with the rest of the Tri-Sect Union's disciples received them. A lot of the disciples had scowls on their faces.

Seeing that there weren't many disciples that survived, made the lips of the leader of the reinforcement force go up, though it was unnoticeable to others, the three representatives naturally caught it.

"I am France, the designated leader of the lower sect's alliance reinforcement force. May I ask the three representatives to lead us to our quarters so that we may get ready to assist you in repelling the Northern Forces?"

France put up a good show. His face was full of sincerity but hidden behind his words was an unstoppable ambition.

Hearing him talk was grating to George as he slowly cracked his fingers before taking step forward but he was stopped by Alyssa who gave him a warning. Ray then stepped forward with an amicable smile on his face and answered.

"Why of course, right this way."

Ray then led them to five courtyards.

"This is where your troops will stay."

Looking at the five courtyards, France's face twitched.

"Esteemed representatives, these courtyards…they won't be able to fit my Alliance's disciples. These courtyards couldn't possibly fit one thousand people let alone five thousand. Is there any other place that you could give us?"

On the side, George suddenly got what Ray was doing and chuckled.

"Sick bastard…" He muttered under his breath.

Ray who was oblivious to George's comment then answered France.

"Sadly, there isn't the majority of the courtyards here being used to house our wounded disciples and there just aren't courtyards in the area that are available."

But France didn't give up.

"What about the courtyard in the central area?"

Snap!

Ray then snapped his fan closed, a dangerous glint radiated from his eyes, and answered.

"That'd be too far away from the gate. Forgive me for saying this but we need you and your men to be situated here in these five courtyards as you will be our main force to combat the northern forces should they attack again. Our disciples need time to recover and that is not up to debate."

With that Ray turned around and left the area, followed by Alyssa, George, and the rest of the Tri-Sect disciples. Leaving France and his men in silence, they couldn't believe the attitude the Tri-Sect union displayed after they "graciously" offered their help!

Bunch of ingrates!

Despite being disgruntled with the treatment they received, France took his troops and settled them down in their designated courtyards before calling a meeting with the leading figures in their troops.

Eight people sat around a table as they voiced their grievances.

"Damn woman. Just because she belongs to the Extreme Sword sect, it gives her the right to disrespect us?" One of them voiced out.

"Yeah! Who do you think they are fooling? Many of their disciples are wounded. Only half of their forces remain. They need our help!" Another one followed.

But then, France, the leader of their coalition, voiced his thoughts.

"I know the anger that boils within you brothers and sisters but we must endure. They indeed need our help but our sects combined are still weaker than the Tri-Sect Union. If the execution of our plan any bit sloppy? A simple investigation could lead to the destruction of our sects!"

Hearing him, one of them asked.

"Tsk! Do you really think they could do it? The Tri-Sect union still relies on our tributes, without our help could they be as strong as they are now?"

Bam!

France smacked his palm on the table and grimly said.

"The Extreme Sword Sect definitely would. They are lunatics...and about the tributes? the majority of it goes to the Black Dragon Hall. The Extreme Sword Sect doesn't need any tributes, their cultivation relies on combat and the sword. While the Mystic Heaven Sect is mysterious, they have dozens of establishments that support their operation, making them the riches in the Eastern Region.

He took a breath and said.

"Which is why for our sects to rise in the east we must plan our every move meticulously."

...

Meanwhile, outside on top of the border wall.

A couple of disciples from the lower sect alliance were grumbling.

"Fuck! There isn't even a decent place to eat here. No women to mess around with! Those women from the Mystic Heaven Sect are all pompous princesses. Ugh."

"Yeah, did you see how some of them hatefully stared at us? Like, what is up with that? Are we the ones who killed their friends? They better be careful or I'll show them what true "care" is all about."

One of them harrumphed with a lustful tone then all of them laughed. As they walked along the top of the wall, they saw a lone figure dressed in black with a silver sword on his lap.

"Hey look, do you recognize that guy? Does he belong to any of the Tri-Sect Union?" One of them asked.

"I don't think so, why?"

"See that blade on his lap? I bet it would fetch a hefty amount of gold when we return to the capital." Greed flickers in his eyes as he stared at that silver blade.

"Well, since he doesn't seem to belong to any of the Tri-Sect Union, then he must be a rogue cultivator. I did hear that many of them sought opportunities across the border region."

After saying that, all of them looked at one another and instantly understood what they have to do. All cultivators who belong to any sect or cultivation family look down upon rogue cultivators as they see themselves are someone higher than them due to their backgrounds. They see rogues are vultures in the cultivation world.

So, they had no qualms about bullying, stealing, or even killing rogue cultivators. To them, it was natural.

One of them approached and was about to grab the silver sword.

Shing!

When the black figure before suddenly disappeared and a silver glint flashed.

Boom!

Next thing they knew, their companion who tried to grab the silver sword, flew back past them and collided with the stone rails before falling down the wall. No one knew if he was dead or alive. Then, all of a sudden, the hair at the back of their necks pricked up as sweat began to run down their faces.

An oppressive killing intent suddenly erupted and enveloped them.

And as they turned around, they saw the black figure, slowly making his way toward them sword in hand.

They were afraid, while there were many of them, the strongest among them was at the 5th-stage Foundation Building realm and he was blasted away by this person like it was nothing! How the hell could they fight such a person? and now? that person was staring at them like lambs for slaughter!

Then all of a sudden...

"What the hell is going on here?!"