Chapter 941: The Spirit of the Sun Knight

"A living demonic sword... the remains of the Beast's Path."

Aiwass murmured softly, "Is this the secret of why it drives people crazy and out of control?"

"Yes."

Merlin nodded, looking down at the enormous key in Aiwass's hand, and sighed, "If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have broken it and sealed it again... This is more or less a relic of Galahad, and a treasure once held by Lancelot. It would be best to keep it; it's at least a thought."

"...It was precisely because I felt so badly about it that I didn't completely destroy it. Otherwise, according to my habit, I would have preferred to not have such an unstable power."

Merlin sighed at this point, "I was thinking... what if there's a way to solve this problem in the future?"

Merlin clearly disapproves of Aiwass's use of the red-handled sword's power.

For Merlin, the risks of the Red Handled Sword far outweighed its benefits. Simply allowing a Knight of the Round Table to unleash his superhuman strength seemed ineffective against a battle of the scale of the Celestial Master... Instead, the power of the Beast Path could potentially cause the path to deviate.

"Mr. Merlin," Aiwass asked suddenly, "Do you know the remnant soul of the paladin inside the red-handled sword?"

"I think it might be a conceptual knight formed from the soul of the Barin Knight."

Merlin was obviously aware of its existence, so he immediately answered, "Do you know where this sword came from, Aiwass?"

"I heard it was on a piece of marble. It said 'The greatest knight can make me move'. And everyone tried to pull the sword, but even Arthur failed. The only one who pulled it out was Balin."

Aiwass answered with interest: "Why, isn't this right?"

"Yes and no."

Merlin shook his head: "Because specifically, this actually happened after the establishment of the Round Table.

"In the beginning, it was a fairy from the lake who brought the sword..."

Merlin patiently recounted the story, his words filled with nostalgia.

——That story happened before the Knights of the Round Table were established.

Before Lancelot, Mordred, Tristan and Guinevere joined the Round Table, a fairy suddenly came and said in public that she wanted to give them a difficult problem.

Her body was extremely beautiful and full of charm, and she was naked except for a thin black robe and the sword at her waist. In order to get a closer look at her, people surrounded her in three layers.

She feigned weakness, saying she had been entangled by this cursed sword for too long. Only the purest could pull it from her waist. But whenever she opened her cloak, everyone couldn't help but notice her incredibly beautiful form. Whether it was Gawain, Bedivere, Kay, Merlin... or even Arthur.

As the Lady of the Lake, she possessed a most alluring figure. The scabbard was fixed at a fixed angle, so to draw the sword, one had to reach down from her chest.

As long as he had the slightest desire for her, he would feel sore all over and unable to use any strength when holding the sword.

When facing a determined knight, she would even actively tease him. Even if he tried not to look, it would be difficult for him to remain calm under the enchanting power of the Lady of the Lake. If he had any distracting thoughts, he would stumble and fall, not to mention drawing his sword.

Such a weak woman had challenged nearly every knight—a provocation, as everyone knew at the time. She claimed to be Morgan's friend, but she might also be his sworn enemy. Because Arthur had once had a one-night stand with Morgan, she had come to test her allure, to see if she could surpass her sisters... and to prove that the Arthur Morgan had always believed in was no match for her.

The Lady of the Lake publicly humiliated Arthur and his followers, who were famous for their bravery, and ruined their reputation. The enraged Balin rushed over, drew his sword, and killed the Lady of the Lake on the spot!

Because he was enlightened very late, he has no love or affection in his heart. He is only concerned with becoming the strongest in the world!

"His personality later became increasingly capricious and arrogant. He increasingly disobeyed orders, preferred to act alone, and even attacked his colleagues. He also provoked Arthur several times, trying to seize the position of leader from him... And perhaps because of the Lady of the Lake's dying curse, he eventually fell into a trap because of his own anger and arrogance."

Merlin sighed. "Although everyone knows this sword holds a curse, even calling it 'The Curse,' it's still incredibly powerful, capable of altering fate. Fearing someone might be tempted, I stole it and sealed it—situating it within a mountain of marble. Besides the requirement of 'purity,' I also imposed the constraints of 'kindness' and 'firmness' to prevent anyone from ripping it out and wreaking havoc on the world."

"But considering it's a powerful demonic sword after all...what if I need to come back to retrieve it later when I encounter a powerful enemy? So I added something like 'Only the greatest knight can make me move.' That way, it sounds less like a demonic sword and more like a holy sword that requires a test before it can be wielded. And so, the unstable power of the curse is bleached out - isn't it?"

Merlin sighed. "Years later... when the Round Table was established and we were heading to Avalon to defeat the giants, a marble slab suddenly floated from the river with a sword stuck in it. The rest is your story. Galahad pulled the sword out and used it until the very end."

"You're a genius, Merlin."

Aiwass exclaimed.

So the real history is like this...

However, the archaeological findings from Avalon weren't much different. At least Professor Budd's guess was generally correct, though the details were a little off... After all, even the most skilled archaeologist couldn't possibly predict the psychological state of the individual involved.

"After Balin died from this sword, its demonic nature grew. Originally, it would only cause weakness, like when sick or just waking up from sleep. But since then, simply touching it will change the mind, even causing hallucinations and hearing phantoms.

"It was the remnant of a paranoid knight—or perhaps a newly born spirit. He seemed to have learned the chivalric code from our words and deeds, and he bestowed upon himself the title of knight. He was definitely not Balin... Because of his intense worship of the sun, we all called him the 'Sun Knight.'

"The Sun Knight and the Red-Handled Sword form a wonderful balance—Galahad was able to wield its power in part because of the pact he had made with the Sun Knight."

"The Sun Knight..."

Aiwass became a little serious after hearing this.

This is very important information.

Merlin obviously didn't know the specific origins of the red-handled sword, he only knew that it was related to the beast master.

But Aiwass thought of more.

Because he had witnessed the fall of the Second Sun. When the Second Sun "Taiyi" was about to be replaced by Weizhe, the Sun was shattered by the Supreme Heaven and became fragmented.

At that time, fragments of the sun fell into the sea, emitting steam like quenching metal. The creative power of the First Source River escaped, and the Beast Master was born.

Before the Beast Lord created all things, races like the Winged and Scaled were created by the Sun God Taiyi. From its remains, the Giant Tree was born, and the children of the Giant Tree became the Elves—the first Beings with Breasts.

All creatures created by the Beast Master possess a fear of fire and a fondness for light. This seems to stem from creatures' instinctive fear of fire and affinity for light. Hengwo, a Moon Goddess, was able to give birth to the sun, perhaps partly because she and the Beast Master already possessed fragments of Taiyi's path.

——Just as there are remnants of the sky-eating beast within the Supreme Celestial Body, and the impurities need to be expelled by giving birth to a race of giants; the Silver Crown Dragon's "authority" path is also influenced by "power".

And Aiwass used a red-handled sword.

That holy sword just happened to contain the power of wind, light, and fire.

Light and fire—aren’t these the attributes of the sun!

As for the wind... maybe it is also related to the sun?

In other words, that is the difference between the second sun "Taiyi" and the gentler third sun "Xitiansi" - because Xitiansi lacks the power of "wind", its heat and brightness are significantly lower than in ancient times.

"What if I want to awaken the Sun Knight within?"

Aiwass asked.

"Is he your target?"

Merlin suddenly realized: "No wonder... I remember you have the ability to seal the phantom demon! That makes sense...

"...But it's not difficult for me to remove the seal. I can do it immediately if you want. But repairing this sword is difficult... After all, I'm not a blacksmith. I can smash it, but I can't put it back together - I'm afraid I'll have to find a dwarf to repair it, and I'll have to use another holy sword to repair its blade.

"Of course, even if you completely repair it... I'm afraid you won't be able to wake it up."

"Why?" Aiwass asked.

"Because the remaining souls inside were separated and preserved by me."

Merlin simply replied, “I’ve already smashed its blade to pieces and sealed the hilt, so how could I possibly leave the remaining soul inside?

“But it was fate—because the residual soul inside was placed into another holy sword by me.

"It happens to be Mordred's former sword, the Sword of Clarent. If I remember correctly, your Moriarty family should be the descendants of Mordred, right? Look through your family treasure house, maybe it's in there.

"—If you only want the Paladin's soul inside, I don't think it's necessary to repair the red-handled sword."

"No," Aiwass rolled his eyes, but smiled like a fox, "You should remove the seal first. We can talk about other things later."

Sword of Clarent.

Aiwass actually knew where the sword was.

——Thanks to the information from Lord Hong Xiang.

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(End of this chapter)