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Li Mao nodded solemnly and said, "There are many legends like this, the most famous of which is probably the Muramasa Demon Blade from the Island Nation. However, it is important to know that the forging of weapons in the Island Nation originally came from our Hua Xia. Therefore, the legend of the Demon Blade is even more numerous in ancient Hua Xia, mostly about how the Demon Blade backfires on its master, bringing ominous and ill-fated signs. This Dragon Demon Blade is no exception..."
Wang Chao frowned. He had naturally heard of these legends before, but he had only laughed them off. However, ever since he began practicing the Breathing Technique, his worldview and values had undergone a tremendous change. As Wang Chao himself put it, it was as if his entire perspective had been shattered. Regarding such legends, he could no longer claim to disbelieve them entirely.
"Please tell me more," Wang Chao said.
Li Mao nodded and thought for a moment before speaking again. "Every martial arts school has its inherited treasures along with martial arts passed down through generations. Our family’s heirloom is this Dragon Demon Blade. The first rule of our family is that no one is allowed to touch this Demon Blade casually; only those who have mastered the Purple Canopy Heart Method to its peak may do so. The last time someone touched this Demon Blade was decades ago when my grandfather personally hung it here. Even my father does not have the right to touch it... According to my grandfather, anything that has existed for a long time will inevitably produce things that should not exist."
"When I was younger, I was mischievous. If someone told me I couldn't do something, I would stubbornly want to do it anyway. As a result, just as I was about to touch the Demon Blade, my grandfather caught me. He had always doted on me; even when my father spanked me a few times, he would be furious. But that time, he insisted on locking me in a small dark room for a week... No one was allowed in, no light at all. Thinking back on it now, that was truly the second most terrifying experience of my life; the first being the current Zombie crisis..."
Li Mao's little joke did not elicit laughter from either of them. He cleared his throat awkwardly and continued, "When I came out of that dark room, I didn’t understand until my grandfather told me a story I would never forget..."
"This is a story about a general and an emperor that took place around three thousand years ago when chaos was brewing in the world and public grievances were rising. Many regions had already revolted. The vast Ancient Dynasty had decayed over about a thousand years but remained resilient like a centipede that refuses to die. The empire still had enough strength to deal with those Rebel Armies."
Li Mao continued, "In the final years of the struggling empire, a great general emerged out of nowhere, fighting valiantly to protect his people. He quickly conquered half of the territory and was on the verge of overthrowing tyranny. At this moment, however, the empire poured all its resources into an effort to kill him; both sides gathered armies of eighty thousand for a decisive battle by the river..."
"Who wielded that Demon Blade? The general or the emperor?" Wang Chao asked.
Li Mao shook his head and replied, "Neither. Just listen closely. That battle lasted for seven days and nights with countless casualties; the river turned red with blood, and corpses fell into it, blocking its flow! The imperial army was well-equipped and well-fed while the Rebel Army fought with nothing but their fervor despite their shabby gear. This battle became fiercely contested."
"The prime minister of the empire was a cunning man who realized that if this battle dragged on any longer—even if they barely won—the empire would be left gasping for breath like a camel on its last straw. He led ten thousand elite troops overnight to villages and captured nearly forty thousand old people and children. In one night, he dug deep pits and pushed them all into them. The prime minister knew that this general was noble-hearted and charismatic; he had so many followers because he cared for his people."
"To end this war as soon as possible, this prime minister was willing to use forty thousand lives as leverage to exchange for one life—the life of that general. The general understood that for the sake of ruling, the empire could do anything. If he could trade his own life for forty thousand innocent lives—old men and women—then it would be worth it. With this thought in mind, he did not hesitate and demanded that the emperor swear an oath with blood; otherwise, within seven days, he would return to claim his head!"
"Disregarding the crowd's objections, the legendary hero took his own life by the riverside. However, the general's death ignited the passion of the Rebel Army. Yet, without a leader, three days later, the Rebel Army was completely annihilated. The forty thousand elderly, women, and children who mourned for him were all ruthlessly slaughtered by that Dog Emperor under a single command."
Upon hearing this, both of them sighed repeatedly, lamenting the tragic end of a great hero that resulted in such a fate.
Li Mao said, "The story is just beginning. To celebrate his victory, the emperor specifically sent people to search through the tens of thousands of corpses to find the Dragon Slayer Blade used by the general. He ordered the Imperial Blacksmith to reforge it, with a dragon coiling around it to show that he was the true True Dragon Son. Interestingly enough, the forging process took exactly seven days, and according to popular belief, today marks the seventh day since the general's death."
"As night fell, this Ancient Blade was completed and immediately delivered to the emperor. At that moment, he was hosting a banquet for his ministers and was quite drunk. He raised the blade and laughed heartily in the hall, saying, 'It has been seven days; why not come and kill me? I am the true True Dragon Son! This world belongs to me; no one can take it away!' After saying this, he examined the blade closely from below. But when he looked at the dragon's eye on it, he suddenly went mad in the hall and chopped off his own head with one stroke. The strangeness of this event is self-evident... Thus, the empire came to an end. Who is truly the True Dragon Son? This became known."
The two listened in shock as Li Mao continued, "From then on, the name Dragon Demon Blade spread far and wide. Subsequently, anyone who possessed this Demon Blade would end up beheading themselves—without exception. My grandfather told me that later a Daoist examined this blade and said that because it had been stained with the blood of nearly a million people, it was already incredibly sinister. That old emperor publicly defied a blood curse; with a million vengeful souls gathered within it and a dragon coiling around it, anyone with a thin fate would die instantly just from looking at it. Even if that emperor had accumulated countless blessings over eight lifetimes and enjoyed everything this world had to offer in this life, encountering such resentment while wielding this blade would still lead to a gruesome death..."
"It is only because our family's cultivation method is gentle and rarely conflicts with it that those who have mastered the Purple Canopy Heart Method dare to touch its edge."
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