### Chapter 160: Sword Intent (Part 2)
Boom—
A wild wind surged, sweeping away a larger area of Dead Smoke.
At the center of the storm, before the aged figure, the terrifying corpse suddenly opened its massive mouth. Instead of retreating, the Old Man charged forward, sword at the ready. In the midst of the fierce turbulence, the blade went “clang” as it met the dead body’s charred front teeth, once again blocking an onslaught from “God.”
However, the Old Man’s elbow snapped with a loud crack, bones jutting out.
“Sword Demon Little Girl—!”
The old man’s face was ablaze with rage, a fierce glint flashing in his cloudy eyes as he shouted for Anna. The next moment, a flash of Thunder Light burst forth, deafeningly bright.
A vibrant blue arc cut through the air, striking the top of the dead body’s head. In the area where the Chaotic Fire receded, Anacelis appeared, her bundled figure materializing.
Once she landed, she looked up, and before her was a young woman, half-consumed by the Mad God, unable to move.
The young woman held a giant scythe, her weapon ablaze with surging bl**d-red flames that pushed the chaotic inferno away. Above her head were strange branches emitting white light, buzzing and swirling around.
Those branches seemed to have a powerful suction, pulling in the surrounding tongues of black fire, the faint Dead Smoke expelled, and the many twisted souls clinging to the dead body, all being sucked in as if it were a distorting black hole. Yet, it still could not do anything about the gigantic, horrifying dead body.
The young woman was awake; she saw the Sword Demon.
Her condition wasn’t great. Though she was conscious, she seemed to be in agony, her expression slightly furious. Her once-bright eyes were now a terrifying bl**d-red, with fearsome black sclera surrounding them.
She seemed to want to say something to the Sword Demon, but upon catching sight of the bundle, she appeared to understand everything.
“Give it to me,” the young woman said weakly. “The one inside… toss it over…”
“Quick…”
Without a second thought, the Sword Demon opened the bundle and swept it forward.
Clang, clatter—
Golden, white, charred black.
Countless relics of all shapes and sizes.
A small kn*fe, rings, armor, and Diana’s bones—these items took flight, slicing through the fierce black flames like a breeze and melding into the flickering light of the Holy Tree Branch, vanishing into Infernal Fire.
In the next moment, countless bl**d-red threads shot out from the young woman engulfed in bl**d flames, densely woven like a bloody spider web, extending towards the relics thrown in all directions.
Then, they were pulled in, merging into her small body.
“Gahhhhhhhhhhh—”
Meanwhile, Carlos was frantically attacking the dead body’s eyes, trying to draw its attention. Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and looked up sharply at the top of the Mad God’s head.
Buzz!
A sharp sound rang out, and blinding light erupted, engulfing the Sword Demon and the young woman.
Carlos squinted.
At the same time, the terrifying head suddenly jerked back!
“Roar, roar, roar—!!”
It howled at the sky, its mountain-like body trembling. Amid a deafening roar that seemed to pierce eardrums, Carlos faintly detected a hint of pain, a touch of reluctance…
Even some fear.
Could it be!?
The man’s mind jolted. He raised a hand to shield his eyes, straining to see the young woman’s condition.
As the searing white light gradually subsided, he saw the surging flames, which were once teetering on the edge, now flaring up again, driving away the chaotic blaze. From the brilliant light, the small body extended to engulf the entire head of the dead body, burning vigorously.
“Roar, roar, roar, roar, roar!!!”
The dead body bellowed, and its hideous face, like it was beginning to be sucked into another dimension from the crown of its head where the white light had burst forth, started to twist slowly.
Before Carlos could fully comprehend the scene, a thin shadow rushed toward him through the wild wind, grabbing him by the collar and yanking him away.
“Teacher…”
Carlos murmured, feeling warm bl**d splatter across his face.
What he saw was the Old Man’s hair and face stained red with bl**d, along with the lifeless Anacelis, burned all over with her eyes tightly shut, seemingly in a coma.
“Teacher, did we succeed…?”
His mind was a jumble, the bellowing roar of the dead body still echoing in his ears. The man whispered, and after a pause, he heard the old man’s weak, hoarse reply, “We have done what we could…”
“Let’s go, I’ll take you one last time.”
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The smoke drifted, the wind roaring in his ears.
He didn’t know how long they flew, but suddenly, Carlos felt his body pause in mid-air. Before he could react, he began to plummet rapidly.
“Teacher!”
The man jolted awake, yelling. He saw the furious winds dissipating around him, and thick, endless Dead Smoke surged from every direction toward him. The Sword Demon Anacelis was about to fall into the smoke below.
Suddenly, the storm, which had vanished for two seconds, surged again, blowing the Dead Smoke away. The Old Man staggered back into view from below, using wind strength to barely grab both of them and halt their fall, hanging in the air.
“Cough cough! Cough cough…”
The old man was coughing violently, his lungs wheezing like a flapping bellows.
Carlos turned and saw a glimpse of a face already half-eroded by chaos, teetering on d*ath.
The horrific charring had spread from the neck to the old man’s face, his already very dark skin now completely resembling burnt charcoal.
Thin black smoke curled off the Old Man’s body. Carlos instinctively wanted to get closer, but the old man weakly waved his hand, pushing him away with wind.
“Carlos…”
The old man said, still dispersing the Dead Smoke, dragging the two of them forward. However, his body was wobbling, on the verge of falling at any moment.
“There’s something I’ve always wanted to say to you…”
“You, while lacking in talent, are my favorite disciple. Do you know why…?”
“……”
Carlos’s eyes filled with tears. His lips trembled as he took a couple of deep breaths, yet the word “why” never crossed his lips.
“Because…”
The old man’s eyes were starting to lose their focus.
He spoke slowly, as if each word took all the strength he had left. “Because you are the only one… who truly inherited my sword intent… my will…”
“Not seeking power, not concerned with money or prestige… At all times… wielding the sword not for personal gain, but for the people… it has been many years… this is what I have always adhered to… and you…”
“You are the only one… doing the same things as I am…”
“Teacher, stop talking…” Carlos choked.
In front of him, the view suddenly brightened.
Blinding light cascaded down from the horizon, so dazzling that it was difficult to keep his eyes open. Before him were the imposing walls of the Holy City, just ahead. Beyond those walls, beams of light were bursting and collapsing, the remnants of the Chain of Divine Lock had already exhausted their strength, and the Holy City’s blockade would be completely lifted at this moment.
Carlos turned back.
Behind him was an overwhelming, rolling tide of dense Dead Smoke, completely swallowing the entire Holy City, like waves.
“Continue… to carry on…”
In a daze, the old man’s voice still resonated in his ears.
“Live on… continue to uphold this belief… some things are easy to persist in for a moment… but those who can persist for a lifetime… deserve to be revered as Sword Saints…”
Carlos landed atop the city wall, with the Sword Demon Anacelis beside him. He turned to look, tears streaming down his face, as the old man, wrapped in black smoke, gradually sank into the endless Dead Smoke.
With a clenched fist against his chest, Carlos offered his final salute to the aging hero.
