Yunli watched the scene of memory unfolding before her and couldn't help but sigh. "He had already prepared himself for this. I can feel countless complex emotions flowing.
This isn't bloodlust, rage, or fear. What he left for you… is an entrustment?"
Guyun imitated the swordsman's tone. "'They now know how to resist monsters, yet the last monster in the world still lingers. Eliminate it, my old friend.'"
"He left me behind and never looked back."
After saying this, Guyun's blade body also became riddled with cracks and flew forward.
Yunli followed Guyun onward.
At the edge of her vision, Yunli halted. Before her appeared a long-life species who had fallen to Mara.
"Thank you, old friend."
The swordsman's chest was pierced through by Guyun. In his final moment of retained sanity, he thanked Guyun.
"A heliobus can taste human emotions… What does my… emotion taste like, old friend…?"
After a long silence, Guyun slowly spoke.
"A little bitter pity, a little scalding courage. Your deepest desire at heart is to end the battle. Now, the battle is over… Do you hear it?"
Guyun waited for a long time, hoping the swordsman could respond.
But alas!
"Though you can no longer hear me, old friend, I will do everything in my power to end this world's battle."
[Argenti was right—whether a sword is demonic depends on the hand that wields it, not the sword itself.]
[I only just realized here—the last monster the swordsman mentioned was himself!]
[Knife!!!]
[Stopping warfare through martial prowess!]
[This is—The Hunt!]
[No more gunshots will echo in the valley.]
[Never again.]
— —
"So this is the past of the sword that the Kalevalans call the Hero's Sword? You helped the humans of that world end their battle?"
Facing Yunli's question, Guyun gave a cold laugh. "No, I failed to do so. As a weapon, I will only become the start of the next conflict.
The successive kings of Kalevala regarded me as a symbol of heavenly-bestowed royal authority. They fought and schemed against each other, waging wars just to possess me.
I've had enough of those people's filthy desires. I no longer wish to kill for anyone.
So I returned to the stone monument where that guy was buried—from then on, no one could ever pull me out again."
"But you still let Argenti draw you out?"
"Because even after all this time… I still want that person to return to his homeland."
[Argenti's value just keeps rising!]
[Knights of Beauty truly live up to the name—even after witnessing the ugliness of the world, Guyun still chose Argenti.]
[Praise Argenti!]
[Praise the swordsman, praise Guyun!]
— —
Yunli continued forward. She saw a stone monument, and beside it grew a golden tree.
Guyun hovered around the monument. "During the sword-bestowing ceremony, when I learned I would be given to the finest swordsman to return to the fray and kill again, I felt pain.
That person engraved his deepest desire—'to end the battle'—into my blade.
As something forged, my function was predetermined from the start: I must be a weapon, endlessly cutting and killing.
But once my mission is complete, can I, like that person, have the right to choose my own fate? That's why I asked the Knight of Beauty to help me leave, so I no longer have to be trapped in the cycle of slaughter and battle."
"These thousands of years have, in an instant, become memories I take for granted." Yunli's lips curved slightly upward. "I think… I think I finally understand what that knight meant by 'Beauty'."
[The inscription on the monument here reads left to right: PLTX, SYZJ, XBRTZ.]
[Translated: Adrift in a foreign land, death imminent, yet mission unfailed.]
[Stopping warfare is true martial prowess—swords to plowshares!]
[Sigh, this part really… all I can say is I'm tearing up!]
— —
"I don't want to be a sword that kills. My war ended long ago. The years as a gravestone have been my best years."
The memory concluded amid Guyun's words.
The scene shifted, returning to the present.
Argenti gave a slight bow. "I have already told everyone about everything I experienced when I drew Guyun on Kalevala. I believe Miss Yunli is now feeling the same as I did back then—moved by the Beauty flowing through this sword."
"Though this old man has heard the legends of this sword from the delegation, delving into the sword's memories reveals a truly extraordinary tale." Huaiyan turned to look at Yunli. "Yunli, I believe Guyun's experiences will change you."
Stelle couldn't help but sigh. "I never expected this sword to have such a past."
"Only by holding Guyun can one feel its thoughts and unspoken feelings." Yunli gazed at the so-called demonic sword, Guyun. "I originally thought… a demonic sword forged by a heliobus would only retain slaughter and rage. I never imagined someone could leave behind 'the desire to end battle' and even change the demonic sword."
Her gaze swept across everyone one by one. "I was too biased. Guyun is undoubtedly a hero's sword. I… apologize to everyone for my previous rudeness."
"I'm sorry!"
Da Hao finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Since Miss Yunli has cleared her suspicions and the treasured sword has been found, isn't it time to return it to the vault?"
"No—I still want to melt this sword down!"
Huaiyan chuckled lightly, Argenti smiled faintly, Da Hao looked surprised, and Stelle was utterly confused.
Yunli gave her explanation. "I have heard your true wish, Guyun. I can feel that you are tired of continuing to be a sword, falling into unknown hands, and being forced into battles you don't want. Isn't that right?"
Guyun replied, "This is the innate fate of a sword—I am destined to fall into someone's hands and fight. Can the wind choose to stop blowing? Can clouds choose to stop drifting? No. That is the fate of created things."
"No—you've seen how the nameless swordsman decided his own fate, Guyun. Of course you can too."
"I truly can't imagine… a fate for myself beyond being a sword…"
"Do you remember? You stood proudly before the swordsman's monument. People looked toward you because you carried the memory of a hero. At that moment, you were no longer a sword—you were a memorial stele!"
"Later, when I became mottled and worn, the wind passed through the holes in my blade, producing tones high and low, carrying toward distant mountains and fields—turns out at that time, I was a musical instrument. I miss those days as an instrument."
Yunli's gaze was firm. "Do created things have the right to become what they wish to be? Of course they do! I will fulfill your wish, Guyun. I will reforge you into something else."
Guyun was puzzled. "Something else?"