Yunli's journal detailing her hunt for the cursed swords.
Sword Hunt Journal: Crimson Thorn
I am not great at understanding the minds of others, but Zhuming swordsmiths confuse me in particular.
In the artisan workshops of the Forge, I have witnessed first-hand the mad ecstasy and unparalleled pride of a swordsmith at the sight of their newest marvels of weaponry. I have also seen them disagree endlessly about the creation of all-new weaponry, sometimes even leading to battles of words and swords.
These people are normally very kind and good people. It's just as if their minds have been completely hijacked when "forging weapons" is mentioned. They become exhilarated when imagining the gleam of a freshly forged blade and how it could cut through countless enemies. Weapons that have not even been forged yet speak through their mouths, take form through their blueprints, and harm others through their words. Swords are even more adept than heliobi at stealing the hearts of people.
My father, Hanguang, was one of these swordsmiths. His vanity and inspiration led him to violate prohibitions and craft all sorts of unbelievable weapons for visitors from foreign lands. Yet, he never provided them with sheaths. So, he himself became the sheath as he fell to one of his very own prided works.
"One who loves swords will one day be hurt by swords," my grandfather always used to say with a heavy sigh. When you hold a weapon of death in your hands, you will always crave a chance for it to see use. And the weapons my father crafted were more lethal than any other.
My grandfather never mentioned my father's name ever since I could walk. He also strictly forbade my senior fraters and senior sorors to utter a word. However, this atmosphere of secrecy quickly became an elephant in the room, as if a single tome of swordplay had been removed from a fully stacked bookshelf. The more they remained silent on this matter, the more obvious this silence became.
In the end, I decided to fill this void. I browsed through tomes of swordplay that had records of his works, and began to search for these swords' whereabouts.
***
The "Crimson Thorn" was one of his early works. It was three-by-three inches, had a handle, no frame, and no sheath.
The blade edge of the "Crimson Thorn" was not sharpened. It was the color of dulled iron and covered in sharp thorns. Near the tip of the blade, there was an exposed sharp spike that looked like freshly-cast, red-hot iron... It was not shaped like a typical sword, but more like a wooden club with a long thorn protruding from the top.
According to the blueprints, it was designed to kill the Abominations of Abundance that are capable of rapid healing. The core contained inside the metal body of the blade is a bionic sprout of the Ambrosial Arbor... Where did Hanguang get his hands on such a dangerous object in the first place? No one knows. The only thing we can know is that this sword was crafted at the request of a shadow guard of the Xianzhou Yaoqing specifically to kill the Abominations of Abundance.
When the sword pierced the body of a long-life species, Crimson Thorn would drain the spirit of the victim, causing their body to wither rapidly. The effects were said to be unbelievable. It's most likely that the thorns were injected with some kind of toxin that inhibited the activity of long-life species' cells... Many of the blades of the Forge seem to have mysterious abilities like this on the surface but are actually quite understandable once you explain the design.
***
"A thorned exterior with a crimson core" is documented in ancient texts to describe the miracles of the sacred tree, and is considered an omen of great auspice and honor. No matter how lofty the ideals of the former wielder of this blade were in slaughtering Abominations of Abundance, Crimson Thorn had become a weapon dedicated to murdering Cloud Knights as it had fallen into the hands of Thanjar, a Disciple of Sanctus Medicus.
Now that I had my hunting target, all that was left was to take action. Although my grandfather never approved of my sword-hunting plan, I knew that he was the type of man to say one thing and mean another... When he flicked through my scout report on his desk, I knew that he had come around to the idea.
Scouts of the Goldencrow Fleet traced Thanjar to the depths of Insumousu. It was here that he was impersonating a Xianzhou citizen to coerce locals and water dwellers to salvage various sunken Daiyu relics for him.
Once I was certain of my target's location, I immediately boarded a Whistling Flames transport vessel and headed to Insumousu. When I had gone to reclaim the previous swords, it had always just been a case of facing my opponent off in a simple one-on-one duel. However, I feared that this time may not be so simple. Thanjar had hired a group of Annihilation Gang assassins to guard the island of shipwrecked vessels formed on the periphery of the ancient Daiyu ruins.
I spent a week surveying the topography, counting their manpower, and confirming their weapons of choice. Then, I began my lengthy campaign of guerrilla warfare... I would seize the moment that my target was alone, and wipe out the Annihilation Gang monsters and foul beasts created by the Sanctus Medicus rebels one by one. Each time I cut an enemy down, I would sound my conch shell horn, summoning Thanjar's remaining lackeys to come and see the fate that awaits them: Being reduced to no more than a pile of dust and tar that stinks to the high heavens by Old Mettle here.
About two weeks passed, and my enemies' morale had been totally crushed. The locals on the shipwreck island began to spread rumors that vengeful spirits from the ship forsaken by the gods had appeared, and despite beatings and hindrances from Thanjar's men, they dived into the water and fled under the cover of night.
It was a dark, stormy night with roaring winds and crashing waves when I decided this battle must end. The remaining Sanctus Medicus demons and bandits were no trouble for me, but the battle took a grave turn when Thanjar himself came forward... Because the "Crimson Thorn" was actually a living blade. Whenever Old Mettle managed to strike Thanjar, he would brandish his blade at his own men and the "Crimson Thorn" would mercilessly absorb their life energy, draining the men and completely healing Thanjar's wounds in an instant.
Once its blood thirst was quenched, the "Crimson Thorn" unfurled and swung through the air like a long vine of thorns. As soon as it touched me, the thorns would extend and latch onto me, piercing my body and leeching my blood and bone marrow.
Being entangled would undoubtedly leave me in a bad position. So, I came up with a plan to use Old Mettle as cover and aim to land a fatal blow for a decisive victory. When Thanjar had a tight grasp of Old Mettle with the "Crimson Thorn" and thought he would be able to take it away from me, I launched the giant sword directly at him, pinning the Discipulus Medicus to a rock with the huge momentum and immobilizing him.
Then, it became a battle of patience. I watched over this rock for a whole week, yet never approaching the dying Thanjar. His life force was like a campfire that would never die out. In the beginning, he used all his energy to curse and berate me, yet this anger turned to whimpering and begging after a few days. Eventually, the life force that he had stolen using the "Crimson Thorn" was finally exhausted. As the sword reverted to its original form of an unremarkable wooden club, I removed it from Thanjar's mummified hands that could no longer offer any resistance, smashed the sword to pieces with Old Mettle, and placed the shattered remains inside a sword box.
***
This darned blade had absorbed my blood, making me feel like I had aged hundreds of years in an instant. I had no desire to turn into an old granny just yet, so I stayed in Thalassa to rest up for half a month. Just as I was planning to board a merchant vessel back to the Xianzhou Zhuming, a Xianzhou native blocked my path.
This man thanked me for killing Thanjar, his rival, and thanked me for destroying a blade that was specifically used to suppress the Discipulus Medicus. Just as I reached for Old Mettle to begin combat, the man told me that to express his thanks, he would share with me some information that I would no doubt have great interest in. He said, "I happen to know the whereabouts of a number of Hanguang's cursed swords..."
I stared blankly at his bald head, suppressing my discontent knowing that I could not crush it, and asked...
"Well, what did you ask?" "Isn't it rude to peek in a young girl's diary, gramps?"