“Divine Title”

It was the title everyone on the Deep Azure Continent dreamed of.

A Divine Title represented honor, fame, and wealth.

The organization responsible for discussing and granting Divine Titles was known as the Holy Council.

It had very few members, and only the Level Nine powerhouses of the great factions were qualified to join.

In a dark little room in some corner of the world, five people sat quietly in a circle. A few empty chairs stood off to one side.

They'd suddenly received a summons today, so they'd hurried over to discuss a new matter: granting a new Divine Title to a newcomer.

“Well, it's been a long time, everyone.”

“If we hadn't gotten this sudden summons, we probably wouldn't have seen each other at all.”

“The Witch and the others didn't come?”

“Yeah, they're busy. Looks like it's just the five of us this time.”

“Everyone's here, then. Sword Maniac, hurry up and have your person come in and give his report.”

“Exactly! I'm making tens of millions of purple crystal coins every second.”

“Keep dreaming, Old Man Qian. It's an open question whether that lousy merchant guild of yours even has tens of millions of purple crystal coins.”

“Hahahahahaha!”

“Mm, all right... Heizi, come in and give your report.”

“Yes, sir.”

Creeeak~

The little room's door slowly opened. A man dressed in black entered, clasped his hands, and knelt on one knee.

“I report to you, my lords: yesterday, we received the latest Supreme-level message through Lord Scoundrel Saint's magical communication device.”

“Oh?”

“Heh, that Shameless Old Man actually sent us a message of his own accord? That's a rare sight!”

“Well, well, a Supreme-level message! That's the highest level there is. Come on, tell us what it says.”

The words “Scoundrel Saint” and “Supreme-level” immediately caught the attention of all five people present.

Scoundrel Saint was the old man's Divine Title. As the strongest in the Sword Domain and a Nine-Star Sword Saint of the Deep Azure Continent, he'd chase people down and hack away without mercy whenever he had the upper hand. When his opponents were his equal, he'd resort to sneak attacks, throwing hidden weapons to wear them down—in short, every underhanded trick in the book. He'd even used laxatives... That was how people in the business had given him the title “Scoundrel Saint.”

“Well... I... wouldn't dare read it aloud in front of everyone...” The man in black hesitated.

“Go ahead and read it. What's the problem? I'll take responsibility.”

“Oh, right. If Brother Sword Maniac says it's fine, then there's no problem.”

“Then... Lord Scoundrel Saint's exact words were: ‘You bunch of old, undying trash! This Sword Saint's disciple broke through to Sword God yesterday, hahahahaha... Hear that? You heard me! Get my disciple a title he'll be happy with, or next time we meet, I'll chase you down and hack you to pieces! Hahahahaha!’ Um... my lord... those were... his exact words...” As Heizi read, his voice grew quieter and quieter.

Crash! A cup shattered.

Clatter! A chair toppled over.

Then came one shocked exclamation and complaint after another.

“What?!”

“The Sword God realm?”

“The legend has finally come true. A Level Ten God Rank powerhouse has finally appeared!” someone said, tears streaming down his face.

“Damn, the waves behind keep pushing the waves ahead—and the old waves get smashed on the shore!”

“It's over, it's over! None of us could beat that Shameless Old Man to begin with. Now even all of us together won't make a difference!”

After a long while, everyone recovered—or rather, they still couldn't calm down. The Deep Azure Continent hadn't seen a Level Ten powerhouse in tens of thousands of years. No one could hear that a miracle had happened and remain calm—not even a Level Nine powerhouse.

Even more terrifying was the thought of that old man holding this “blade of miracles” in his hands. Just imagining it made them shiver.

“Calm down, calm down! The Shameless Old Man himself is arrogant, but his disciple hasn't been affected by him. We met the kid back then—the one who used a sword, the one who seemed pretty honest.”

“Right, right. We really underestimated the talent of that young man who was so focused on sword training back then.”

“I have to say, I could tell back then that kid would reach the Sword God realm.”

“Hehehe. Old Man Meng, I remember that time very clearly. Because you underestimated him, wasn't your disciple the one that kid beat up the worst?”

“Didn't I tell you not to bring that up again? Say it one more time and I'll make you sleep until next year.”

“No, no, don't! In a couple of days, I might be able to create a forbidden spell of at least seven stars. I can't sleep until next year!”

“All right, all right, enough. Back to the matter at hand.”

“Right, right. We need to decide on a title for that kid.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Sounds good, sounds good.”

“Let me think. That kid has black hair and black eyes, and he likes wearing black.”

“Don't forget, he even sleeps with his black sword in his arms.”

“I've got some inside information, too.”

“Heh, come on, share it with us!”

“I heard even the food he cooks is black.”

“Pfft!”

“Black food? Is that even edible?”

“Hahahahaha! That's so like him.”

“Then why don't we call him the ‘Black Sword God,’ everyone?”

“Sounds good, sounds good.”

“I agree.”

“Simple and easy to understand.”

“No problem. It suits the kid perfectly.”

“Then we'll settle on that for now. Heizi, go out and confirm the details. If everything checks out, we'll make it official.”

“As you command, my lord.”

The man in black answered at once.