Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Hold on. Who exactly are you two?”

At the end of my rope, I immediately clenched both hands into fists.

Protecting my fingertips was a sacred duty.

With no fingers left to poke, the siblings looked up at me in perfect unison.

“How heartless, swordswoman. Back when you were poisoned and recovering, my brother and I stood guard over you the whole time so you could purge the poison smoothly. You even mumbled in your dreams that you would find us and repay us.”

The brother nodded expressionlessly and added, “But after you woke up, you turned around and took another sword with you. Now you even claim you don’t know us.”

After saying that, he thought for a moment, then added, “Scumbag.”

I instinctively followed their lead and explained, “The first thing I did after I recovered was look for the sword that saved my life.”

“But at the time, all I saw was Mu Yuan.”

“I didn’t see either of you at all.”

At that point, the siblings fell into an eerie silence.

Curious, I pressed, “So where were you two back then?”

The younger sister gave me a deep look.

Then, with the air of a hero marching to her death, she confessed, “At the time, we saw that you were about to wake up, so we thought we’d change into prettier scabbards before you opened your eyes. After all, as the ancient swords say, humans are visual creatures.”

The older brother continued, “We only went to the bottom of the abyss to polish our scabbards. When we came back, you were gone.”

I looked at the siblings’ clothes, which were as black as thick ink.

…

What was there to polish about scabbards like that?

Were they trying to polish them into every shade of black?

I took a deep breath.

Then I asked, “What is the Muyuan Sword’s relationship with you two? You seem to look down on him a lot.”

The younger sister spread her hands.

“It’s just an ordinary iron sword that one of the cultivators setting up the formation accidentally dropped in here back then.”

“After absorbing the spiritual energy that leaked from my brother and me over the years, it finally gave birth to a sword spirit.”

Enlightenment dawned on me. “No wonder he’s so weak.”

The younger sister giggled. “Now you understand how good my brother and I are, don’t you? Hurry, hurry, form a contract with us, then charge into the Sacred Sword Sect and avenge yourself!”

As she spoke, they reached out to pry my hands open.

But my heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Wait.

How did they know I was from the Sacred Sword Sect?

“Hold it!”

“Don’t dodge my first question.”

“Who exactly are you two?”

“Why were you sealed here?”

“And how do you know I’m from the Sacred Sword Sect?”

Hearing my questions, the younger sister asked back suspiciously, “You… possess such a powerful inner disciple mental cultivation method of the Sacred Sword Sect, yet you don’t know where this place is?”

I was even more lost.

“I don’t.”

Seeing me shake my head with a serious expression, the younger sister suddenly leaned back and burst into laughter.

“No wonder.”

“But since you don’t know my brother’s and my origins, I can’t answer your first two questions for now.”

“As for the last one, I can tell you that.”

“Because only those with the Sacred Sword Sect’s inner disciple mental cultivation method can enter the seal of this abyss.”

“The day you claim the position of Chief Disciple of the Sacred Sword Sect will be the day all these mysteries unravel.”

At that point, the two sword spirits transformed into illusory shadows, circling around me in alternating loops.

This was the beginning of the contract ritual.

The older brother’s voice emerged from within the shadows.

“I know what you’re worried about.”

“We are not cursed swords that bring disaster to the mortal realm. There are other reasons we were sealed here.”

“If you still don’t feel at ease, we can enter into a Nether Contract with you.”

A Nether Contract.

It was a very ancient kind of sword contract.

Once formed, the divine sword would no longer possess autonomy. Every action would be dictated entirely by the master’s will, and even its life would be bound to the master’s. Something like harming its master would be utterly impossible.

Moreover, if the divine sword disobeyed in the slightest, the master could use the contract to turn it into scrap metal with ease.

This contract was far too harsh. Out of swordsmanship ethics, most swordsmen no longer used it today.

I had not expected them to willingly bind themselves with a Nether Contract.

But pies did not fall from the sky for free.

Two divine swords with terrifying strength were taking the initiative to form a contract with me.

There was no way they wanted nothing.

So I asked, “Then what do you want from me?”

The sword spirits slowly drew closer to me.

Their voices were deeply seductive.

“We want you to take the position of Chief Disciple.”

“And turn the Sacred Sword Sect upside down.”