Chapter 378: Descent of the Divine Sword (II)
On his side, Xu Zhongliang hastened to say, “This person is the head of our Warrior Temple, Temple Head Qiu Yonghao.”
Long Haochen stamped the ground with his left foot, placing his right fist on his chest, “Captain of the 64th commander grade Long Haochen salutes, Temple Head.”
After observing him for quite a long time, Qiu Yonghao spoke, “You’re the son of the old pal Xingyu, aren’t you? As expected, a young hero. I really didn’t think that the divine sword of Commander Ye actually chose you as its master. Can you let me see the Aria of the Goddess of Light of Ancestor Ye?” He truly felt very impatient.
“Okay.” Long Haochen raised his right hand once again, and when that brilliant golden light appeared in front of all the leaders of the Warrior Temple, they all had foolish looks, especially, those older powerhouses from the Warrior Temple. All of them were in tears in front of this sight. Among them, the most affected was the Head of the Warrior Temple, Qiu Yonghao.
“Boss, boss, I can finally see your divine sword again! I finally see it reappear to the light. Boss, why is it that at that time you didn’t listen to my dissuasion, you became the hero of humans and the hero of the Warrior Temple. Don’t you know that I lost this good elder brother at that time.”
Qiu Yonghao rushed forward, firmly grasping the Aria of the Goddess of Light. He even lost his voice due to crying bitterly.
All the powerhouses of the Warrior Temple repeated the same action as before once again, giving a warrior salute to the divine sword in the hands of Long Hoachen.
Sensing their sadness and reminiscence, Long Haochen’s eyes turned gradually red in spite of himself.
The most shocking was that the Aria of the Goddess of Light in his hands seemed to have understood the words of Qiu Yonghao and actually emitted a buzzing sound. It appeared as if this divine sword was also mourning with grief.
After a long time, Qiu Yonghao recovered from his sadness, and wiped the tears on his face away. This silver-haired elder looked at Long Haochen with red eyes, “Kid, did you come specifically to return the sword of commander Ye? I want to thank you on behalf of the Warrior Temple.”
Long Haochen lightly nodded, “Temple head, I happened to be about to address this subject. The divine sword reappeared, and is indeed of too great importance to the Warrior Temple. Thus, although I gained the acknowledgement of the divine sword as its owner, I want to seek approval from you and all seniors from the Warrior Temple to use it as my weapon. I pledge to you and everyone present here that I won’t let this divine sword of Ancestor Ye collect dust in my hands.”
Qiu Yonghao appeared sluggish. Although he felt extremely excited, he still kept himself from insisting on the matter. What he thought was that Long Haochen was returning the divine sword, but he didn’t look ready to deliver it. This meant he really had the intention to take possession of the Aria of the Goddess of Light. Long Haochen also didn’t seem resigned but showed his categorical attitude towards the divine sword, as its true owner.
“Long Haochen! Then what did you come for today?” Qiu Yonghao asked calmly.
Long Haochen replied with a respectful tone, “Today, I came for three things. The most important one is that I need you and the Warrior Temple to accept that although I cannot leave the divine sword here, I wish to let the sword intent of Ancestor Ye remain in the Warrior Temple, because this is something that should belong to your Warrior Temple.”
Qiu Yonghao was startled, “To leave the sword intent of Commander Ye? How are you thinking of doing this?” He felt more and more curious about this young man. Of course, his deepest wish was to see the Aria of the Goddess of Light remain here. It was only that he clearly understood the position of Long Haochen for the Knight Temple. Han Qian designated this kid as the sole successor of the Knight Temple, which meant he would be the future Temple head of the Knight Temple. Forcing him to leave the divine sword was thus no good thing. To say nothing of the rest, that old man wasn’t easy to handle.
Long Haochen looked at the sculpture of Ye Wushang, telling him in a deep voice, “Hall Master, if you agree, I wish to leave it in this sculpture, so that every powerhouse of the Warrior Temple can see it, and perhaps get some enlightenment from it. This is the only thing I can do for the Warrior Temple.”
If Long Haochen had said such words right off the bat when seeing him, Qiu Yonghao would definitely not have seen this young man in a good light. This was just too hard to believe. In those years, among so many powerhouses of the Warrior Temple, none managed to bring out the sword intent of Commander Ye. But how about this young guy? Qiu Yonghao didn’t know Long Haochen’s exact age, but he guessed he wasn’t even twenty years old.
But right before, the sword intent released from Long Haochen’s right hand had shocked Qiu Yonghao enormously. He was completely certain that even Commander Ye couldn’t have shown such attainment in swordplay at this age. This young guy was as expected a genius among geniuses.
After pondering slightly, Qiu Yonghao slowly turned around, looking at the higher-ups, and inquired from them, “What are your views?”
An elder looking approximately the same age as Qiu Yonghao replied in a deep tone, “Not proper. Commander Ye’s sculpture already stood untouched for hundred years. How could it be changed so lightly? This isn’t something we can decide on. In case the sculpture gets broken, we’ll be unable to explain that to the thousands upon thousands of warriors from the Temple.”
Xu Zhongliang spoke next, “Head, auxiliary head, I believe we should let him try. Long Haochen managed to succeed Commander Ye’s divine sword, and this already proves the trust the divine sword placed in him. Only he can possibly have gotten some understanding pertaining to Commander Ye’s sword intent. If...”
“That won’t do.” The elder addressed as an auxiliary head by him cut in with a categorical shout, “What’s to be done if he fails? Could we bear the loss? Before doing anything, you have to consider the aftermath first. Then, only if the worst possibilities can be withstood can you act.
Undoubtedly, this elder could be considered as quite a conservative person.
Next, the powerhouses from the Warrior Temple expressed their views, though the overwhelming majority wasn’t willing to let Long Haochen alter the sculpture of Ye Wushang without further discussion.
Of course, the problem wasn’t that they didn’t want the sword intent of Commander Ye to reappear, but just that Long Haochen was really too young. In their eyes, the successor of Commander Ye was still a mere child. How could they possibly be at ease when letting him handle such an important task?
Seeing everyone argue, Long Haochen secretly sighed, and told Qiu Yonghao, “Temple Head, how about this? I will not act directly on the sculpture but instead, you can bring me a large stone, where I’ll try to leave the sword intent of Commander Ye. Nonetheless, I can only do this today, because we will immediately have to leave the Alliance to head for the borders of the demon territory to carry out a mission.”
He had no choice but to do so. Long Haochen came here with the original goal to get the approval of the Warrior Temple for letting him have the Aria of the Goddess of Light, while reporting back to the Warrior Temple. After all, if he didn’t give a justification to the Warrior Temple why this divine sword stayed in his hands for a long time, it would be bound to be a lot more complicated for him to leave its sword intent in the Warrior Temple, for the sake of proving his own qualifications to control this divine sword.
Qiu Yonghao nodded and replied, “Since things are like that, we can only do so. However, Haochen, I have a bold favor. You should know that the Aria of the Goddess of Light is really a divine sword of high importance to my Warrior Temple. If it is possible, we still wish for the divine sword to remain in the Warrior Temple. You may give whichever conditions you want: as long as we can, we will satisfy them in exchange for the divine sword.”
Qiu Yonghao could see that if he didn’t address the topic directly, Long Haochen would definitely not leave the divine sword here. Nonetheless, this was not surprising. Anyone would do the same, since this was after all a powerful divine sword! Although Qiu Yonghao could see that in the divine sword in Long Hoachen’s hands had yet to completely regain its bearing of those years, that was still a powerful weapon of the legendary tier. Anyone possessing this kind of divine sword wouldn’t easily be convinced to let go of it.
Giving a look to Qiu Yonghao, Long Haochen shook his head, “Temple Head, I cannot. The Aria of the Goddess of Light recognized me as its master and I am the only one who can use it. I think that Ancestor Ye wouldn’t hope to see his divine sword buried in a dark room. I will let it run free in the demon territory and kill powerful enemies to let it drink its fill of demon blood. I will permit this sword to let its true brilliance reappear and then reconstruct its sword soul. Thus, I can only decline your request.”
Qiu Yonghao declared deeply, “What if I would exchange it for a weapon of the Epic Tier? Also of the light element?”
Long Haochen was shaken deep inside. He obviously knew the meaning a piece of Epic Tier equipment held. In fact, the powerhouses possessing a piece of Epic Tier equipment in the word could all be described as blessed with an incomparable privilege. The reason why the Knight Temple could remain as the head of the Six Great Temples for so long was because they had divine tools such as the Divine Thrones. But the Warrior Temple actually didn’t even have a divine tool, and weapons at the Epic Tier would already be the most powerful weapons they could take out. According to Long Haochen’s knowledge, the Warrior Temple had in total less than five pieces of Epic Tier equipment. Without a doubt, any piece of equipment at the Epic Tier would cause his strength to go up by leaps and bounds. The enticement was undoubtedly huge.
However, Long Haochen still shook his head, “Apologies, Temple Head. To me, this divine sword is even more important than a divine tool. When using it in battle, I can sense the bearing of the Ancestor Ye of those times. No matter whether it is to increase my strength or a boost to my will, it is too precious to me. And as I have just said, while holding on to this divine sword, I will definitely let its glory of those years reappear.”
“Young man, you are too arrogant.” The elder who was addressed as auxiliary head stepped forward and arrived at Qiu Yonghao’s side, letting a massive pressure envelop Long Haochen.
The people present were all powerhouses from the Warrior Temple, and although they couldn’t really act against Long Haochen, giving him some pressure was still possible.
In front of such a strong pressure, Long Haochen’s face still remained unaffected. Standing perfectly straight, he declared respectfully, “Senior, I am not arrogant. I am only speaking the truth. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be appearing in the Warrior Temple so brazenly. If I simply had used the Aria of the Goddess of Light to battle against the demons, I’m afraid that the Warrior Temple would have difficulty to identify me at all as the holder of this divine sword. Today, it was entirely out of sincerity that I came.”