Zhao Luo had his hand on the shield as he felt the artistic carvings of the silver lion that was beating the golden drum with his palms.

‘JINGLE~’

Drion, the shield released an exciting sound like it could feel the touch of its master. The sound kept on echoing out of the shield while drion kept on vibrating.

‘Smack.’

Zhao Luo hurriedly slapped the shield so it could stop making the ‘jingle’ sound.

This sound had left a deep mark of embarrassment in Zhao Luo’s mind thus he couldn’t bear to hear it anymore.

‘JINGLE~, JINGLE~’

As if Drion couldn’t understand Zhao Luo’s suffering, it started to vibrate at an even higher frequency.

An image of a cat lady appeared in his mind who was wearing a bell collar. 

Then another image of a Senior who was wearing armor appeared in his mind. The senior was Vellum who was looking weirdly at Zhao Luo like Zhao Luo was a culprit. 

‘Don’t look at me with those eyes. I didn’t watch it intentionally.’

Zhao Luo thought unconsciously as he closed his eyes. 

‘Why are you doing this?’

Zhao Luo questioned as he opened his eyes to look seriously at Drion.

There was no hint of anger in Zhao Luo’s eyes.

His eyes only had condemnation for himself as his image reflected in the shield.

‘…..’

Drion finally stopped making the ‘jingle’ noises.

Drion then emitted a shine that covered Zhao Luo. 

‘What?’ 

‘Roar, Treaa, ROAR, TREAAAA.’ 

Zhao Luo was shocked as the mysterious shine that covered him had two beasts that were looking at him. 

Zhao Luo could hear them as they tried to tell Zhao Luo something.

The Silver Lion roared while the Earth Turtle snapped its mouth as it extended its neck out of its shell but for now, Zhao Luo wasn’t able to understand them. 

The shine soon started receding and eventually it had completely disappeared.

‘I feel calm.’ 

Zhao Luo was feeling refreshed. 

He then stared at the shield while thinking about Bellum. 

“Senior must have given me this.”

Zhao Luo said as Bellum was the only one he had come in contact with since his master had disappeared who could have given Zhao Luo such a precious item. 

Zhao Luo went around the shield but there was no strap or a handle from where he could hold the shield on his hand. 

“Maybe I have to throw it like a boomerang.”

Zhao Luo thought while looking at Drion which was as tall as him. 

It didn’t take long for Zhao Luo to act on his thought. 

‘Summon.’ 

‘Fwoosh.’ 

Zhao Luo thought as nine apparitions appeared in front of him. 

All of the apparitions of Zhao Luo looked even more solid than before. 

‘Interesting.’

Zhao Luo thought while inspecting his apparitions.

“Warriors!”

Zhao Luo shouted as he called his apparition with a new name. 

The nine apparitions gathered around Zhao Luo. 

“You all can see a shield here, I assume. So, let’s welcome it.” 

Zhao Luo said while pointing his hands at the Drion. 

‘Clap, Clap.’

Zhao Luo then started clapping while looking at it. 

Even though it was a shield Zhao Luo knew that it had a conscious presence. 

‘Clap, Clap.’ 

The apparitions also started clapping awkwardly following Zhao Luo’s lead. 

“Okay, Stop.” 

Zhao Luo ended the short welcoming party with that note as he squinted his eyes. 

“It’s time to train. But this time the training is a little different.” 

Zhao Luo told his apparitions. 

“I will throw and you will catch.” 

Zhao Luo instructed them while grabbing the big shield that was as big as him.

The nine apparitions had also taken their positions as they waited for Zhao Luo to make his move.

Zhao Luo was still going further increasing the distance between him and his apparitions. 

After going away for a little more, Zhao Luo finally stopped. 

With Drion in his hands, Zhao Luo arched his back.

He Curved his body backward while rotating his arms towards his right.

At the same time, he raised his arms at a slightly inclined angle.

Then like a cannonball shooting out of a Canon or a bullet being fired from a gun, the shield ‘drion’ was thrown by Zhao Luo which spun at an immeasurably fast speed while going towards his apparitions.

The next moment the shield had sliced through all of his apparitions. The nine apparitions were passed by the shield at once as they were unable to stop it.

Thus the nine apparitions fell at the same time turning into disappearing shadows.

This was the first time Zhao Luo saw his shadows being destroyed so easily.

‘The shield passed through them so easily but where did it go.’

Drion never stopped even after slicing through his apparitions it just kept on moving forward as it went so far that Zhao Luo couldn’t even see it anymore.

Zhao Luo’s dark space was vast so ‘Drion’ could be anywhere which left Zhao Luo in confusion.

But the solution to this confusion was simple.

Soon the shield came back spinning from a far distance.

Zhao Luo could see a dot coming towards him as time after time its size kept on increasing when finally the shield slowed down when it reached in front of Zhao Luo.

‘Grab.’

Zhao Luo held it with both of his hands. 

‘Powerful and Incredible.’

Zhao Luo thought as he was planning something. 

“I can just throw it at the enemy frontline and destroy them. Haha, or slice all the trees in half with this shield.” 

Zhao Luo started laughing thinking about how easy his battles could be if he just used the shield in the right way.

Zhao Luo turned the shield to place it back as it was before. 

“Summon.”

Zhao Luo said as his nine apparitions appeared again.

Same semi-solid forms as before but this time there was a slight change in these apparitions.

They all looked terrified.

‘Getting sliced by a shield would have taken quite a toll on them.’

Zhao Luo understood the reasoning behind their faces which were filled with fear. 

“Ifrit.” 

Zhao Luo called out Ifrit as it appeared in his hands. 

Zhao Luo held the crimson sword which shined like Sun in his dark space brightening the surrounding. 

The eyes of his apparitions shined with greed as they stared at Ifrit. That is how enchanting his sword was. 

Zhao Luo smiled as he looked at his apparitions who had already forgotten the fear that they were feeling when Zhao Luo had summoned them.

Ifrit’s shine finally dimmed a little as Zhao Luo opened his mouth.

“Swords.”

The moment Zhao Luo said the word swords, nine swords were formed which were stuck in the dark ground between him and his apparitions.

“Take your pick.”

Zhao Luo instructed them with a smile as he folded his arms in front of his chest.

‘Even though they all look the same?’

All the apparitions thought the same thing.

It was true that all the swords were back and shiny and looked the same too as they were all just copies of each other.

One by one the apparitions kept on pulling out the swords. Soon all of the apparitions had a sword in their hand as they stood facing Zhao Luo who had Ifrit in his hand.

“Sword.”

Zhao Luo said again as he imagined two more swords that appeared on his left and right side of the ground.

Zhao Luo held Ifrit between the jaws of his mouth as he grabbed the two swords by his hands and pulled them out of the ground.

In the dark space where no wind factor was involved, Zhao Luo’s hair still swayed as if dancing on his head like a boss while he faced his apparitions.

“Unfair.” 

The apparitions shouted together. 

“We get one while you have three.”

They shouted again while complaining about the unfair and unequal self-treatment shown by Zhao Luo. 

“Shup pup anch choke ad Mesh.”

Zhao Luo tried saying something but with Ifrit in his mouth he couldn’t say it correctly.

“Translation: Shut up and come at me.”

One of the apparitions repeated Zhao Luo’s sentence but in a clear tone.

Then both sides rushed at each other.

This could just as well be the New Era’s biggest sword fight.

“Three sword style: Skewering Cut.”

Zhao Luo said as he ran towards his apparitions with his knees bent and his back facing the ground.

He was running at them like a bull.

“Run.”

The apparitions dodged Zhao Luo’s weird attack and countered him.

‘Slash, Slash, Slash, Slash.’

Slash after slash all the apparitions attack Zhao Luo with their black swords from all angles.

“Three sword style: Sword wall.”

Zhao Luo shouted the name of the move as he started spinning with Ifrit in his mouth.

Because of the position of his hands and his swords, the moment he started spinning a tornado was formed which had dark crimson color.

“Ting, ting, ting, ting…”

Zhao Luo blocked all the attacks thrown at him by his apparitions.

Zhao Luo stopped his move thus breaking his spin after blocking the attacks and throwing his apparitions away in the collision. 

Zhao Luo looked prideful after pulling off a successful defense. 

‘If only Senior was here… Sigh.’

Zhao Luo felt sad as in this whole world only he knew how to pull off such crazy moves.

The moves that Zhao Luo had showcased just now were like his hidden trump cards.

They were the moves of the best ‘fictional’ swordsman of his time from the ‘two-piece daoist’ drama.

Zhao Luo felt nostalgic while reminiscing the past as he dropped the swords in his hand and grabbed Ifrit in his hands.

“Time to start for real.”

Zhao Luo rushed at his apparitions as they were coming at him in a line. 

*Dang*

*Ting*

*Thud*

*Slash*

Zhao Luo fought them equally for a while even though he was outnumbered by them. 

The collisions of swords kept on echoing around the dark space of Zhao Luo’s Mental world. 

Slash after slash, Zhao Luo’s body kept on taking damage by the swords of his apparitions as he never backed down. 

*Slash*

Zhao Luo slashed one of his apparitions and smiled. 

After being slashed by Ifrit the apparitions couldn’t recover. The immortality factor which made it invincible in this dark space had been countered by Ifrit. 

‘Woosh.’

After not being able to recover the apparition disappeared. 

“Keke, eight more to go.” 

Zhao Luo said as he laughed like crazy. 

This was how being exposed to Zi Fei affected Zhao Luo.

The intense sword fight continued. The nine versus one was already at eight versus one. 

After bourse and bourse of sword clanging and slashing sounds, only two remained in the vast dark space. 

Zhao Luo versus the last apparition. 

“I have improved.” 

Zhao Luo said as he rushed past his apparition. 

The apparitions didn’t even notice when Zhao Luo had cut him in half. It could only see a crimson beam that passed its eyes in an instant. 

“Huff.” 

Zhao Luo breathed as he unconsciously sat in the lotus position on the dark floor of his space.

Soon he exited the dark space and opened his eyes as he stared at the roof of his hut.