CHAPTER 365: CHAPTER 365: THE PATH AHEAD, CRYSIC GAINS A DIVINE ARTIFACT

Was this fate?

Johnnie was deep in thought. He thought about the trial space of The Secret Realm of the Sword Tomb, about the power of the Ash Destruction Sword Domain he had gained, and about the Thunder Realm he had once visited.

More importantly, he thought about the skill he had understood after reaching the Sword Soul Realm — the Gifted Sword.

"The Way of the Sword, space, domain, world, origin..." Johnnie stared blankly, muttering to himself over and over. He completely ignored Aureon, the Human Emperor.

Aureon, seeing this, widened his eyes again.

This was it — a moment of sudden enlightenment!

Johnnie was having an epiphany. He was on the verge of understanding.

Enlightenment is a mysterious state. It usually happens when someone has gathered a huge amount of knowledge and suddenly, everything clicks into place in one moment.

In simpler terms, Johnnie was putting together the puzzle of The Way of the Sword.

If he could finish putting all the pieces together, he would be able to create his own unique path of the sword.

At that moment, Skye, the headless warrior, appeared with a shield that was almost completely broken.

"Jo..."

He had just opened his mouth when Aureon immediately stopped him.

Skye quickly realized something was wrong. He pulled Aureon far away, lowered his voice, and said in disbelief:

"Is that... enlightenment?"

Aureon nodded. "Yes. Johnnie is in the middle of an epiphany. No matter what happens, don’t disturb him."

"Most people go their whole lives without even one chance at an epiphany. If he misses this one, Johnnie’s path in The Way of the Sword might end up like mine—with no new progress."

As he said this, the AureonHuman Emperor looked a bit down.

He glanced at Johnnie, who was in the midst of his epiphany, and felt a hint of envy.

...

Right now, Johnnie was fully lost in his own world, replaying everything he had experienced since his rebirth.

It wasn’t just about The Way of the Sword. He began to wonder: what is a sword?

Is a sword only a weapon?

Do you swing it to kill an enemy, or to rise up and resist?

At the beginning, Johnnie changed class to Sword Immortal simply to grow stronger and face future dangers.

But after so many battles, he had grown used to the Seven Sword, the Void Sword, the Dragon Patterned Sword...

Johnnie thought of the earliest times, the age of cold weapons, when the sword was the peak of craft.

Compared to knives and axes, a sword is double-edged and well-balanced. It can both cut and thrust, making it more flexible and efficient—a key factor in a warrior’s life and a nation’s fate.

Later, the sword became a symbol of power. Whether it was a knight’s side-sword, a hero’s Sacred Sword, or a wanderer’s treasured blade, each stood for rank and status.

Cultures on Earth differ, but all have the sword’s shadow.

It is not just a cold tool. It carries power and authority, strength and defiance, courage and justice... many meanings at once.

As he kept thinking, Johnnie’s eyes grew brighter.

The Thunder Realm where the Thunder of the Celestial Vengeance resides is basically a world made of lightning, but it isn’t pure enough.

So, is it possible that, with Gifted Sword, Johnnie could keep expanding the Ash-Extinction The Sword Domain and, by various means, create a world made entirely of swords?

Sword Realm?

Then, when the Sword Realm forms, the power of the sword is the realm’s source power!

And he would be the creator and master of that Sword Realm!

Just like the world Johnnie lives in, which is built from many kinds of source power. That kind of world is bigger, more complex, and much harder to create.

Wait—could this world too have been created by an absolute powerhouse who mastered many kinds of source power?

Johnnie took a deep breath and set the thought aside. In many Earth cultures, there are creator gods. Maybe that isn’t just fantasy, but a shared truth.

Use Gifted Sword as the foundation, expand the Ash-Extinction The Sword Domain, combine it with various methods, and finally create a world even purer than the Thunder Realm!

This is the next step Johnnie has found on his path of The Way of the Sword.

The realm after the Sword Soul Realm can be called the Sword Realm.

After finding the answer, Johnnie suddenly felt his head grow heavy. A deep fatigue washed over him, making him sleepy. Ever since his strength kept rising, he hadn’t felt like this.

He looked around in confusion and realized the AureonHuman Emperor had vanished at some point.

Just as he was about to look for him, he saw the AureonHuman Emperor walking over from afar with Skye.

"Johnnie, you’re finally out of the epiphany state!" the AureonHuman Emperor said quickly.

Johnnie shook his heavy head a little and asked how long it had been.

"Three days! It’s been three days!"

"Rest first. Coco said someone outside is looking for you, but you were in an epiphany, so I didn’t let her disturb you."

"Johnnie, what did you realize?" the AureonHuman Emperor couldn’t help asking.

Johnnie briefly explained his idea.

Aureon Human Emperor suddenly widened his eyes and said in disbelief."Sword Realm?"

Johnnie nodded and said."I feel like this path is possible. It’ll take time, and it’ll be hard, but it’ll be really powerful!"

While Aureon Human Emperor and Johnnie were talking, Skye had been listening quietly. But he kept moving his hand, shaking the broken shield he held.

Johnnie noticed what Skye was doing and felt a little guilty. The shield was broken because of him.

It had to be said — many times when they faced enemies, Skye’s shield had saved them.

So Johnnie finally spoke up to Skye: "Don’t worry, I’ll get your head back soon."

When he heard this, Skye immediately put his shield away and said."Once I get my body back, I’ll get more power. Not only can I fix my shield, but I can also finally leave the Map of Heaven and Earth and help you from the outside."

Since he found out where his head was, Skye had been thinking about it all the time and wanted Johnnie to get it as soon as possible.

But he also knew that Johnnie had a lot to deal with, and the threats from the Six-Armed Demon, the Lizardman, and the Bio-Humans were hard to ignore.

It took a while for Star Raider’s situation to calm down, and Johnnie finally had some time. But then he got stuck in an enlightenment again.

For the past three days, Skye had been watching Johnnie from a distance. He just couldn’t wait any longer.

After hearing Johnnie’s promise, Skye felt satisfied and shook his body a little. He didn’t have a head to nod, so he used this way to show his feelings.

Johnnie left the Map of Heaven and Earth right away.

Aureon Human Emperor watched him go and sighed quietly: "It’s really amazing. I feel like Johnnie’s future achievements will be beyond anything we can imagine."

Skye shook his body and suddenly said."Do you think, if Johnnie had appeared in our time, Saint’s plan would still have failed?"

Aureon Human Emperor fell silent.

After a long while, he slowly said."No matter how much we think about the past, we can’t change it. What we need to do now is recover our strength as fast as we can, so Johnnie can grow faster."

"I really look forward to the day he reaches Domain!"

...

Outside The Map of Heaven and Earth, Montemar Empire, The Chinese City.

After leaving The Map of Heaven and Earth, Johnnie asked Coco who had been looking for him lately.

Coco said Crysic had come by, but he didn’t seem in a hurry, and with the AureonHuman Emperor’s reminder, she didn’t disturb Johnnie.

Johnnie felt curious about what Crysic wanted.

Soon, he saw Crysic.

"Johnnie, are you okay?" Crysic looked much stronger than before, but his face was full of worry.

Johnnie gave a simple explanation, then asked Crysic about the secret realm near Stellar City.

Crysic said."I came to tell you good news. There really is an artifact in the secret realm near Stellar City. It’s called the Sacred Cloak, and it has already recognized me as its master!"

"Johnnie, soon I’ll be able to help you with more things, so you can take it a bit easier."

Sacred Cloak?

Johnnie felt like he’d heard that name before. In Earth’s legends, the Sacred Cloak is Saint Nuwa’s treasure, with wondrous power.

He hadn’t expected Crysic to be so lucky, to be accepted by the Sacred Cloak.

But thinking about it, Crysic’s talent is top-tier. He also controls The Mechanical City and went into the secret realm with Phoenix, so getting the Sacred Cloak makes sense.

Happy like a kid sharing good news, Crysic summoned the Sacred Cloak to show Johnnie.

Soon, a cloak shining with seven colors appeared in front of Johnnie.

"It’s a pity the Sacred Cloak can’t change its master. If it could, I’d give it to you, and you’d be even stronger." Crysic truly wanted to hand the artifact to Johnnie.

When she first heard there might be an artifact, her first thought was to tell Johnnie and let him go get it.

But Johnnie was very busy and had almost no time, and the news wasn’t even confirmed.

So Crysic decided to take Phoenix into the secret realm first to check it out. If there really was an artifact, she would ask Johnnie to act.

She didn’t expect that shortly after entering, just as she confirmed the artifact was real, it recognized her as its master by chance.

Johnnie smiled and patted Crysic on the head, saying he already had plenty of artifacts.

Then he began asking Crysic for more details about the secret realm.