"Uh... Wan'er, how do I unlock the second seal?" Feng Xiao couldn't wait to break all the seals and witness the true form of Xuanyuan.

  "Master, to lift the second seal... it requires the baptism of Qilin's blood," Xuanyuan Wan'er said hesitantly.

  Thud!

  Feng Xiao nearly lost his bance and almost fell over.

  A Qilin? That was the supreme beast among the Five Sacred Beasts of the Heavenly Dragon Continent, practically standing at the pinnacle of existence. Asking a Qilin to bleed for him? What kind of joke was that? A single fart from it could wipe out countless level 100 pyers in an instant.

  "Master, Wan'er knows this is extremely difficult, but at least there is still hope. I believe that one day, Master will be able to accomplish it. Wan'er has never given up for tens of thousands of years, and now, hasn't it finally succeeded? What Master needs to do now is to grow stronger as quickly as possible," Xuanyuan Wan'er softly reassured Feng Xiao. To her, he was her only hope.

  "Don't worry, Wan'er. I won’t give up that easily. How can I say it's impossible if I haven't even tried?" Wan'er's words ignited Feng Xiao's pride—how could he lose to a little girl? Moreover, the Xuanyuan Sword had always been his lifelong pursuit in reality. Even if this was just a game, how could he give up so easily?

  A seal powerful enough to restrain the Xuanyuan Sword wouldn't be so easy to break. He would treat this as a trial, a test for himself. Feng Xiao silently made up his mind.

  "Wan'er, can you tell me about the War of Gods and Demons? And why was the Xuanyuan Sword sealed?" Feng Xiao asked the questions that had been on his mind. When Wan'er mentioned the War of Gods and Demons earlier, he hadn't reacted much—after all, every game had its own lore. The war might just be the historical backdrop of this world.

  "I don’t know all the details, but I do know part of the story. Would you like to hear it, Master?"

  "Yes, tell me, Wan'er. Also... you don’t have to call me 'Master' anymore. It feels... strange. Ouch! Don’t pinch me! You can call me Feng Hun, or if you prefer, you can call me Brother Feng." To a modern man like Feng Xiao, being called "Master" felt a bit... too wicked.

  However, he had completely forgotten that Xuanyuan Wan'er had existed for tens of thousands of years. If they were really talking about seniority...

  "Ah... O-Okay, Brother Feng..."

  "Brother Feng, do you know about the Divine Realm? The human world lies on the earth, while the Divine Realm exists above the heavens. Since the dawn of time, when Pangu created the heavens and the world emerged from chaos, the Divine Realm has been watching over humanity—observing its growth, its conflicts, its prosperity, and its decline."

  "The Divine Realm is divided into the Eastern Divine Realm and the Western Divine Realm. The Eastern Divine Realm is what you mortals call the Celestial Realm, ruled by the Jade Emperor, with the mighty Tathagata Buddha overseeing it. The Western Divine Realm, on the other hand, is ruled by Zeus. Though the two realms rarely interact, they have never been in conflict."

  "The benevolent Tathagata Buddha, the dignified Jade Emperor, the compassionate Queen Mother, and countless harmonious deities—there was no poverty, no greed, no oppression, no war in the Divine Realm. Life was peaceful, and we all believed that peace would st forever... until one day, everything changed."

  Feng Xiao sat quietly on the grass, captivated by Wan'er's myth-like tale.

  "Then came the time for Tathagata Buddha’s once-in-a-billion-years cleansing ritual. This ceremony would allow his divine power to be purified and grow even stronger. On that day, the Buddha would lose all his power—he would be at his weakest in an era. But no one in the Divine Realm was concerned, for the Divine Realm had no enemies. Even if there were, none could possibly threaten them."

  "However, the moment the ritual began and the Buddha lost his power, a horrifying event unfolded. Countless strange beings appeared in the sky above the Divine Realm, each one immensely powerful. The gods, long accustomed to peace, were caught completely off guard. Before their very eyes, the Buddha was sin in a single blow by the enemy leader. On that day, the Buddha perished, and the war between the Divine Realm and these invaders—who called themselves the Demon Race—began."

  "Tathagata Buddha... died?" Feng Xiao asked in shock.

  "Yes. In utter disbelief, the deities could only watch as the Buddha perished, shaking the very foundations of their faith."

  "No one knew where these so-called Demons came from or why they attacked the Divine Realm. Their only goal was destruction and sughter, as if they bore an unimaginable grudge against the gods. Under the leadership of the Jade Emperor, the deities fought back and sent a plea for aid to the Western Divine Realm. But the Demons were too powerful—especially their leader, the so-called Demon King. Even the mighty Sun Wukong fell before him. The gods were forced to retreat, suffering casualties every day, and the Celestial Pace was devastated."

  "Finally, Zeus himself led the Western gods to aid them, fearing they would be next. But to everyone's shock, even the combined might of the Eastern and Western Divine Realms was not enough. The Demon King had not even been fighting at full strength before. Once he unleashed his true power, his strength was no less than that of Tathagata Buddha himself."

  "In utter despair, the gods turned to their final hope..."

  "What was it?!" Feng Xiao could feel his heart racing. Every word Wan'er spoke was a revetion.

  "The God-Sying Formation."

  "The legendary God-Sying Formation of the Xuanyuan Sword!?" Feng Xiao excimed.

  "By using the Ten Blood Spirit Orbs along with the Eastern Emperor Bell, the Xuanyuan Sword, the Pangu Axe, the Demon Refining Pot, and the Haotian Tower, they formed the 'Nine Heavens Array.' With the Xuanyuan Sword as its core, they activated the God-Sying Formation—capable of obliterating the heavens and consuming all realms. But when they attempted to gather all ten divine artifacts, they discovered in horror that the Eastern Emperor Bell, the Pangu Axe, and the Haotian Tower were missing."

  "But there was no time to hesitate. With no other choice, the gods repced them with the Fuxi Zither, the Shennong Cauldron, the Kongtong Seal, the Kunlun Mirror, and the Nuwa Stone to form the 'Lost Formation.' Infusing it with the power of the Demon Refining Pot, they forced the activation of the God-Sying Formation with the Xuanyuan Sword at its core."

  "Did... did it work?"

  "Perhaps. I did not witness what happened next. When the formation activated, its overwhelming power rendered countless gods unconscious. But even then, the Demon King’s strength was beyond imagination—he resisted the formation’s might. In the end, he was only sealed away, not destroyed. When I awoke, the first thing I heard was: 'The heavens and earth have been reversed.' I do not understand its meaning, and no one ever spoke of it again. From that day forward, though the Demon King was sealed, an even greater fear seemed to grip the gods, as if there was something far worse than him."

  "And the consequences of using the incomplete formation soon emerged. All seven divine artifacts involved were sealed away—none in the Divine Realm could undo the bindings. The Xuanyuan Sword, at its core, bore the seals of all six other artifacts... seven unbreakable seals in total."

  "The War of Gods and Demons sted only a month, but in that single month, the Divine Realm fell into ruin. And one hundred days after the Demon King was sealed, I... became the sword spirit and took on my mission—to seek out the Chaos Body."

  Feng Xiao listened in silence, but his heart was a storm of emotions.