Honkai Impact: My VR Harem is Real — Chapter 204

Chapter 204: Sword Trial

“Sword Trial?” Su Mei tilted her head, her expression betraying her utter confusion.

“The so-called Sword Trial is a crucible to test your strength, to determine if you are truly capable of holding your own in the outside world.” Red Kite’s voice was indifferent, her posture perfectly straight as she looked down at her young disciple. “Possessing raw power without combat experience means nothing. If you ever truly encounter a demonic beast or a martial artist who has fallen into madness, your mind will freeze. You will not even be able to unleash one-tenth of your actual power.”

Having delivered her explanation, Red Kite turned and departed, her white robes fluttering softly in the mountain breeze.

Rovel leaned against a nearby wooden pillar, catching Su Mei’s deeply envious gaze fixed upon him. He offered a dry, amused smile. “Glaring at me won’t change anything. Who told you to slack off on your cultivation?”

“Hmph! You just wait!” Su Mei stomped her foot against the dirt courtyard, her cheeks puffing out in frustration. “In less than two years, I will also be strong enough to go down the mountain for a Sword Trial!”

Refusing to lose face, she immediately spun around and ran off to the side of the training grounds, drawing her practice blade to drill her Sword Form with renewed, angry vigor.

Later that evening, Lin Chaoyu carefully packed Rovel’s traveling gear. As she folded his spare clothes and checked his provisions, she took the opportunity to speak with him softly, attempting to soothe his emotions. She wanted to prepare him mentally for the harsh reality of the martial world, gently reminding him that once he stepped off the mountain, he might be forced to take a human life.

The next morning arrived with a crisp chill. Under the watchful, lingering gazes of Lin Chaoyu and Su Mei, Red Kite led Rovel down the winding stone steps of Mount Taixu.

“Master, where exactly are we going for this Sword Trial?” Rovel asked, matching her brisk pace.

“Wangshan,” Red Kite replied, offering only those two syllables.

Rovel’s eyes flickered. A wealth of information surfaced in his mind, and he gave a slow nod of realization.

If his memory of the world’s history served him right, Wangshan was the current domain of Yan Shiluo. Known as the Holy Lord of the Sacred Fire Sect, the man was widely hailed by the common populace and the pugilistic world as Number Two in the World, boasting supposedly unmatched martial arts.

Of course, Rovel also knew that this so-called unmatched master would eventually be instantly defeated by Lin Chaoyu in a single move.

However, Yan Shiluo’s fate was not the most crucial detail about Wangshan. What truly mattered was that three specific children currently resided there: Jiang Wanxi, Jiang Wanru, and Cheng Lingshuang.

These three children were destined to become disciples under Red Kite., the trigger for the tragic, future master-killing incident lay directly with Jiang Wanru. For some unknown reason, Jiang Wanru would eventually be eroded by Honkai Energy, setting off a catastrophic chain of events.

Red Kite summoned her sword, expanding it with a surge of internal energy to carry them both into the sky. They rode the blade through the clouds for a long time, the wind rushing past their ears, until they finally descended into a dense, sprawling forest at the base of their destination.

“Rovel, remember this well.” Red Kite turned her head to look at him as they stepped off the blade. “Our Taixu lineage does not concern itself with mundane worldly affairs. We do not care for sect politics or territorial disputes. We only need to do one thing, and do it perfectly.”

Her gaze turned incomparably cold, carrying a heavy pressure that would make any normal person shudder.

“Those who have fallen into madness must be killed without mercy. You are not to show any leniency.”

“Understood,” Rovel agreed without a second of hesitation, his voice steady.

In this primitive era, there were no advanced medical facilities or Honkai-suppressant serums. To be eroded by Honkai Energy basically meant waiting for an agonizing death while becoming a monster., Red Kite could not remain in one place for long periods to guard them. To prevent those who had fallen into madness from causing mass slaughter, she had to enforce the absolute iron rule: Kill the Corrupted.

Seeing Rovel nod with such firm conviction, even Red Kite was taken aback for a fleeting moment. She had expected at least some hesitation from a youth.

Noticing her slight shift in expression, Rovel elaborated on his stance.

“If the corrupted do not die, should I die instead?” he said, speaking as if it were the most natural logic in the world. “If I let a corrupted person go simply because of a soft heart, then who bears the responsibility for the innocent families slaughtered by that monster later? I would be the one with their blood on my hands.”

Rovel’s pragmatic words left Red Kite internally shaken. She stared at him, a deep sense of surprise rippling through her chest. Why hadn’t she noticed before that her disciple’s mindset was already so clear and resolute?

“It is for the best that you hold such considerations,” Red Kite finally said, nodding in quiet approval.

The setting sun had not yet dipped below the horizon. Streams of golden-orange sunlight pierced through the canopy of the bamboo forest, giving the rustling green stalks a sense of fresh, quiet elegance.

It was a pity that this serene beauty was entirely ruined by the heavy, oppressive atmosphere rolling down from the top of the mountain.

By the time the two of them ascended the stone paths and reached the summit, the sun had completely vanished, plunging the peak into twilight. The ground was already littered with the unmoving bodies of numerous martial artists.

“Junior Yan Shiluo pays his respects to Master Red Kite. The Immortal’s arrival makes the humble Wangshan shine with brilliance.”

The man who spoke had a wild mane of white hair. His eyes were vicious and ruthless, and the way he looked at Red Kite was filled with wanton, unrestrained aggression. He completely ignored Rovel standing beside her, clearly dismissing the youth as a non-entity entirely unworthy of his attention.

To Yan Shiluo, the only thing that mattered was seizing the absolute title of Number One in the World. Now that the legendary Immortal of Taixu had personally delivered herself to his doorstep, his lifelong ambition could finally be fulfilled.

Yan Shiluo was not the only one alive on the peak. Taoist Qingmu of Ziyang Mountain and Cui Yuanpeng of the Giant Whale Gang also stepped forward, bowing stiffly to pay their respects to Red Kite. These two were top-tier experts in the pugilistic world. In terms of raw internal strength, they were only slightly inferior to the grand elders of the five great sects.

“These guests arrived a bit earlier than you did. The Immortal wouldn’t mind if I entertained them first, would you?”

A sinister, mocking smile tugged at the corners of Yan Shiluo’s mouth. Without warning, a torrent of sickly blue-green flames erupted from his palms. The unnatural fire surged forward like a tidal wave. Before Taoist Qingmu and Cui Yuanpeng could even utter a scream, the intense heat engulfed them, reducing the two grandmasters to drifting ash in the blink of an eye.

Witnessing this horrific display, Red Kite quietly shifted her attention to observe Rovel’s reaction. She found absolutely no fluctuation in his eyes. He stood perfectly still, looking at the floating ashes as if he did not care about the brutal, bloody execution at all.

“They climbed this mountain seeking fame and fortune,” Rovel said calmly, his voice flat. “They gambled their lives for greed, so they have no one to blame but themselves for their deaths.”

Red Kite was speechless for a moment. She turned her focus back to the white-haired cult leader, her eyes narrowing as she analyzed Yan Shiluo’s unnatural aura.

The concentration of Honkai Energy radiating from his body was staggeringly high. Yet, he retained complete self-awareness and speech., the Honkai reactions contained within those blue-green flames were potent enough to spawn an Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

This level of power had already far exceeded the scope of a human merely manipulating ambient Honkai Energy through martial arts.

Local legends claimed that when Yan Shiluo was a mere youth, he had stayed overnight on Wangshan, where a deity appeared to him in a dream and gifted him three volumes of strange, celestial books. From that day forward, he obtained this terrifying ability to manipulate fire.

High Honkai concentration. Complete self-awareness. Devastating elemental control.

It felt a bit like… a Herrscher.

Had the Honkai truly manifested in this specific form after fifty thousand years of dormancy?

Rovel also studied Yan Shiluo, his mind racing through the lore. How should he categorize this? This kind of existence was indeed highly peculiar for the current era. It probably wasn’t a true Herrscher, but rather an anomaly much closer to the nature of Asaka Yuno.

A Pseudo-Herrscher.

“Rovel,” Red Kite called out, her voice cutting through the tense air.

“Here,” Rovel responded, shifting his stance.

“He has fallen into madness.”

Those five cold words were the ultimate judgment. They were equivalent to passing a direct death sentence on the Holy Lord of the Sacred Fire Sect.

Rovel closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, centering his breathing, and then took a deliberate step forward.

“Master, is this really okay? You are underestimating me far too much!” Yan Shiluo threw his head back and laughed, loudly voicing his absolute dissatisfaction to Red Kite. “I won’t be afraid to sound arrogant: I dared to spread the word and issue an open challenge to the entire Central Plains martial arts world because I never once held this pathetic group of people in my eyes! I am protected by the gods! With the Sacred Fire in my hands, who in this world can possibly be my match?!”

Rovel did not offer a single word of response to the man’s manic ranting. He simply raised his right hand slightly.

Instantly, the ambient Honkai Energy in the atmosphere violently rippled, answering his silent call. It rapidly began to gather in the empty space directly above Yan Shiluo’s head. The sheer density of the condensing Honkai Energy formed a pitch-black sphere that seemed capable of absorbing and devouring all surrounding light.

The very next second, the gravitational sphere of Honkai Energy warped, stretching and instantly transforming into a massive, impossibly sharp blade of dark energy.

“Li above, Li below, the Light of Flaming Ascent,” Rovel intoned softly.

He pressed his raised palm slightly downward.

“What kind of joke is this?!” Yan Shiluo’s eyes widened to the point of tearing, his arrogant smirk shattering into pure disbelief. How could a mere human youth manipulate such a colossal, suffocating amount of internal energy?!

But it was already too late for him to question reality. Driven by pure survival instinct, the blue-green flames in his hands surged wildly, wrapping around his entire body like a protective cocoon. He roared, striking both of his palms toward the sky to intercept the descending execution blade.

It was a futile struggle. The moment his sacred flames made contact, they were effortlessly sucked into the descending sphere of power, merely adding a brief flash of blue-green color to the original black and white intertwined Honkai Energy.

The attack slammed into the ground.

A terrifying, concussive wave of wind exploded outward, tearing up the stone tiles of the peak and violently blowing back Red Kite’s white robes and long hair.

When the dust and shockwave finally settled, Rovel looked back at the spot where the Number Two in the World had just been standing. There was absolutely no trace of Yan Shiluo left. The man had been directly blasted out of existence, not even leaving a single pile of ashes behind to prove he had ever lived.

“Solved.”

The culprit, Rovel, casually lowered his hand and turned to look at Red Kite, his expression relaxed as if silently asking her how he had done on his first Sword Trial.

Red Kite stared at the massive, smooth crater carved into the mountain peak. She fell into a long, deep silence, and for a very long while, she could not find a single word to respond.