[Don't cut off at this point!]
[Even though I know Second Brother only fell in the later battle against Chi, seeing this scene still makes my heart ache.]
[Big Brother, Second Brother, please both be okay!]
Silver Wolf's expression shifted from its original playful smirk to gradually becoming serious, even tense as she started biting her fingers.
After a long while, Jun Mo Li's voice rang out again from the screen.
However, compared to before, Jun Mo Li's voice was exceptionally weak, as if he could collapse at any moment.
"Big Brother and I lost."
"It was Third Brother, with his memories restored, who repelled the Dream God's lingering will and brought Big Brother and me back to Qingce Village."
"In the end, the swordsmanship I had practiced for so long still couldn't accomplish anything in front of a god. Everything I did was meaningless…"
[Password correct, but I XX can't do anything.]
[This is the helplessness of mortals in front of gods, and it also shows how impressive it was that Second Brother almost soloed Chi later.]
[Second Brother, don't be like this, you're really amazing.]
The screen lit up again, showing the three brothers appearing in a room that contained only a single sword.
"This is the famous sword personally forged by my great ancestor. It's the only sword in the Jun family's history that possesses a spirit. It's said that only the greatest swordsman in the world can draw it."
"Third Brother said that with this sword's assistance, he could defeat the Dream God's lingering will."
"But Third Brother's strength hasn't fully recovered, and Big Brother has never learned swordsmanship. The only one who might possibly draw the sword is me."
"I failed. I couldn't draw this sword."
Jun Mo Li gripped the hilt, drawing out the blade and the edge, but the final tip remained stuck in the scabbard.
[So this is the Soaring Firmament Sword in Second Brother's hand. Turns out it really is the family's heirloom!]
[So if Second Brother had handed us the Soaring Firmament Sword complete with scabbard, would it turn out like this?]
[Normal. If everyone could pull it out, then this sword called the greatest in the world wouldn't live up to the name.]
"Just a little more."
A gentle female voice sounded. Jun Mo Li stared blankly at the sword in his hand, then let go, and the long sword slid back into its scabbard on its own.
Second Brother silently set the sword down, then left the room and went beneath the waterfall to begin swinging his sword, alternating between light and heavy swords.
Jun Mo Li continued swinging his sword in silence like this, no longer speaking.
Sometimes, silence is enough to express emotions at their peak, just like now.
Jun Mo Li kept practicing his sword like this until Little Flame came to inform him that the Dream God's lingering will had returned with a large army.
Jun Bai went to confront the Dream God's lingering will, Li Tonghui and Little Flame dealt with the monster army, while Jun Mo Li...
once again went to the basement to attempt drawing that sword.
Naturally, he didn't succeed in one go.
But in the current situation, it wasn't a matter of the sword not wanting to come out and thus not coming out. If a sword cannot be wielded by someone, it no longer has any reason to exist.
"I need your power. I'm giving you one last chance—otherwise, you'll never have the chance to come into the world!"
"This isn't a request—it's an order!"
Amid Jun Mo Li's roar, the Soaring Firmament Sword was drawn.
"Without the confidence befitting the greatest in the world, yet possessing the spirit to treat ten thousand swords as mere weapons—this too is a form of being the greatest in the world."
"A sword is fundamentally a weapon, and a weapon is meant to be held in the hand and used."
"To regard the sword too highly, even placing it in one's heart—is that a person wielding the sword, or the sword wielding the person?"
"As it should be. Soaring Firmament, greetings to the sword's master."
[Counterattack begins!]
[Chi! Dream! Time to settle the score!]
[So that big sister's voice was from the Soaring Firmament Sword. Then, if other characters use Soaring Firmament later, would it be OP?]
[Hard to say if there's even a Soaring Firmament Sword—after all, it's unclear if the Heroic Spirits can even enter the pool.]
Jun Mo Li picked up the Soaring Firmament Sword and rushed toward the battlefield where Jun Bai was, blocking a critical strike for Jun Bai at the most crucial moment.
Under the cooperation of Jun Mo Li and Jun Bai, the two lingering wills of gods were steadily pushed back, finally falling under Jun Mo Li and Jun Bai's swords.
The monsters retreated. Li Tonghui and Little Flame arrived. The three brothers shared their respective joys and offered blessings to the newly born greatest swordsman in the world, looking like a perfect happy ending.
However, the video duration told everything.
Chi, who had been waiting to reap the benefits, suddenly appeared and trapped the three brothers, who were already nearing their limits.
Jun Bai broke through the shackles. The three, along with Little Flame, launched an attack on Chi—but all of it was futile in front of Chi, who had gained the authority of dreams.
Li Tonghui was smashed into the mountain body and, after enduring Chi's direct punches repeatedly, was on the verge of death.
Jun Bai was defeated, stepped on by Chi, powerless to resist.
"In the end, even I was defeated."
Jun Mo Li was struck head-on by Chi, suffering grievous wounds—even the Soaring Firmament Sword in his hand was taken away.
[Chi getting suppressed and beaten by the Marshal 3000 years later isn't without reason—this makes me want to go up and punch Chi!]
[Save them! Is Qingce Village really only having three young fighters? Even if that's true, where's Rex Lapis! Hurry up! Otherwise your little phoenix is going to have to go through Nirvana again!]
In the end, Chi intended to kill and destroy their hearts.
He returned the Soaring Firmament Sword to Jun Mo Li, then used dream authority to control Jun Mo Li, forcing Jun Mo Li to act personally.
Chi: "Use this sword, use this power, to personally slay Phenex and personally offer His power to me. My first servant after my revival."
Jun Mo Li raised the sword in his hand toward Jun Bai.
Time seemed to pause in that instant. Jun Mo Li's voice as narrator rang out again:
"At this moment, I had no room to resist and was completely controlled by Chi, swinging the sword toward Little Bai."
"But at this moment, a voice reached my heart—it was Big Brother's voice."
The narrator's voice switched from Jun Mo Li to Li Tonghui—very soft, so soft that without subtitles, no one would think Li Tonghui was speaking in that instant.
"Stop... that's... Third Brother... he's... the... younger brother... we... must protect..."
The earlier words were very quiet, only the last two words firm and powerful.
Jun Mo Li continued in Li Tonghui's voice: "Even when controlled, the most important thing cannot be forgotten."
"No matter what, I cannot harm my younger brother."
"He is my family, the person I need to protect!"
Jun Mo Li turned with his sword, the blade pointed at the original ruler of Qingce Village—Chi.
Three swords—Jun Mo Li unleashed everything he had learned in his life, gravely wounding Chi.
[Shiki: This sword-swinging motion feels familiar.]
[Akuma: This turn-and-slash, I'm familiar with it.]
"Get up, Third Brother."
"We're going to avenge Big Brother!"
Jun Mo Li gripped the Soaring Firmament Sword and faced Chi, with the younger brother he needed to protect behind him.
Jun Bai stood up and stood side by side with Jun Mo Li.
"The time to end you has come, Chi!"
Fully Armed deployed. Jun Bai and Jun Mo Li launched their final charge toward Chi.
"Even if it means death, you will accompany me in burial!"
The final struggle between gods unfolded. One mortal was so out of place among them, yet the sword this mortal swung was enough to slay a god.
Amid the battle, Jun Mo Li's inner voice kept ringing out:
"I don't have the innate power of a god—I'm just a weak mortal."
"I'm very weak, and very insignificant. I don't have Little Bai's courage to sacrifice myself to save everyone—I only care about myself!"
"So I won't allow anyone to harm my family!"
Jun Mo Li slashed Chi's chest with one sword, and at that moment Chi counterattacked, piercing through Jun Mo Li's chest.
"In the end, I'm just a mortal—what I can do is ultimately limited. Gods, after all, are not something mortal power can reach."
"At the very least, I have to get the Soaring Firmament Sword into Little Bai's hands."
Jun Mo Li's figure swayed and fell. In the moment before collapsing, he threw the Soaring Firmament Sword toward Chi.
Just as Jun Mo Li had anticipated, Chi struck the Soaring Firmament Sword away—and Jun Bai caught it as intended, unleashing the final strike.
"My life probably ends here."
"But in the end, there's one more thing I have to do."
Jun Mo Li took out the wooden sword he had used when he first started practicing swordsmanship and charged toward the two gods locked in stalemate, thrusting at Chi with all his remaining strength.
A wooden sword pierced through Chi's body from behind.
Victory and defeat became clear in that moment.
"Third Brother! Do it!"
"...Thank you and Big Brother for being part of my life."