172: Chapter 172 Call me Master, or I'll beat you up.

Before his eyes...

The light on the soul-devouring sword slowly faded, gradually revealing its original pitch-black blade.

At this moment, it was like a completely different sword compared to before.

The crack on the blade had healed, replaced by faint ripples of spiritual energy flowing subtly across it.

Those were the marks left behind by Mo Zixing's spiritual energy.

It floated quietly in mid-air, trembling slightly every now and then.

Like a newborn child opening its eyes for the first time, it sized up its surroundings with curiosity and wariness.

Seeing this, Sect Master Bai Ruotong could more or less guess that Mo Zixing had already awakened the sword spirit of the soul-devouring sword.

The Little Sect Master shifted her body closer to him and whispered excitedly:

"Did it really work?"

"It seems so."

Mo Zixing nodded, his gaze remaining locked onto the black soul-devouring sword.

Right then, that ethereal female voice rang out in his mind once more, sounding a bit dazed:

"Who are you?"

"Who do you think I am?"

A faint smile curled on Mo Zixing's lips as he gently beckoned with his hand.

The soul-devouring sword involuntarily flew a few inches closer, stopping three feet away from him.

The blade wobbled slightly, appearing somewhat uneasy.

"You are..."

The voice paused, seemingly giving the question some serious thought.

After a long while, she spoke in confusion:

"I don't know."

Mo Zixing could sense that the voice was indeed coming from the soul-devouring sword.

And looking at Sect Master Bai Ruotong's blank face, she clearly couldn't hear it.

It seemed that only he, as the awakener, could communicate with the sword spirit through consciousness.

"I woke you from your long slumber and gave you a brand new life."

Mo Zixing paused, speaking slowly and clearly:

"You should call me Master."

"Master..."

The sword spirit's voice carried a hint of hesitation.

A newly born consciousness naturally felt a faint, instinctive reliance on the person who awakened it.

She could feel that it was this man before her who had awakened her with his spiritual energy.

Yet, the instincts of the soul-devouring sword screamed, telling her that she should devour his Divine Soul instead of submitting to him.

Gradually, the demonic nature engraved deep within the soul-devouring sword's consciousness grew stronger, eventually overpowering that trace of reliance.

"No, that's not right. No one can be my master!"

Her voice was no longer hollow, but grew increasingly sharp:

"I was born for slaughter! I only need Divine Souls!"

The blade of the soul-devouring sword trembled violently.

The wisp of black mist at the tip of the blade began to spread, and a cold intent to kill filled the air once more.

Mo Zixing had expected this long ago.

Just as Sect Master Bai Ruotong had said, the sword spirit of the soul-devouring sword, being the spirit of a demonic weapon, would certainly not submit easily.

Gentle persuasion was useless on her, and gratitude was not even worth mentioning.

If he wanted her to be obedient, the only way was to use absolute strength to thoroughly shatter her arrogance.

To make her realize from the depths of her consciousness who the boss was.

"Who said you were born for slaughter?"

With a thought, Mo Zixing instantly condensed a vast amount of spiritual energy in his hand, shaping it into a long staff.

Without holding back, he swung the staff down hard at the lunging soul-devouring sword:

"If I say you aren't, then you aren't."

Clang!

A loud crash echoed throughout the entire storage space.

Before the soul-devouring sword could strike, its blade was hit squarely by the staff.

It was nearly driven deep into the ground.

This single strike completely dazed the sword spirit.

A blurry yet incredibly real memory suddenly flooded into the depths of her consciousness.

It wasn't a complete memory, but rather resembled a brand burned into her Soul.

The suffocating feeling of having countless spiritual energies forcefully poured into her body.

The agonizing pain of being repeatedly scorched by Thunder Fire spiritual energy.

And the sense of utter powerlessness, knowing that no matter how she resisted, it would all be in vain.

She was absolutely certain she had only just gained consciousness and shouldn't have any memories.

Yet, that fear was so real that it made her blade run cold.

As the dust cleared...

The soul-devouring sword floated up wobblingly from the ground, its previous arrogance completely gone.

The black mist on the blade had vanished entirely, and it didn't dare emit even a single shred of killing intent.

Mo Zixing raised an eyebrow and said nonchalantly:

"Call me Master, or you'll get another beating."

The soul-devouring sword felt that her dignity as a sword spirit had been brutally trampled upon.

She wanted to rise up and fight back to vindicate herself.

Then, she chickened out.

The soul-devouring sword slowly flew in front of Mo Zixing, obediently lowering her blade and gently tapping the ground with her tip.

A voice filled with obvious grievance and reluctance rang out in Mo Zixing's mind:

"Master."

"That's more like it."

Mo Zixing smiled with satisfaction, tapping the blade gently with his staff of spiritual energy:

"Say it again. Louder."

The soul-devouring sword fell silent for two seconds, her blade wobbling slightly as if throwing a tantrum.

But in the end, she reluctantly raised her voice a little:

"Master."

Sect Master Bai Ruotong blinked from the side.

She couldn't hear the sword spirit's voice; she could only see Mo Zixing talking to a sword.

One moment raising his eyebrows, the next looking serious, she had absolutely no idea what he was saying.

She only knew that after Mo Zixing's strike, the malevolent aura of the soul-devouring sword had vanished without a trace.

Could he really be a professional?

Mo Zixing didn't know what Sect Master Bai Ruotong was thinking; he simply pulled up the soul-devouring sword's system panel.

Now that it possessed a sword spirit, the information on the interface should have undergone some changes.

In the next second, his eyebrows shot up slightly.

The information on the interface had indeed undergone a massive change.

Furthermore, the format of the information on the interface no longer resembled that of an item.

Instead, it looked more like a Cultivator's?