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Chapter 256: Heed My Call
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
This wasn’t right. No, the plot wasn’t supposed to progress like this

An Lin stared up in disbelief at the Dragon Sparrow Sword in the air, his heart ached to the point of asphyxiation.
But right at that moment, he suddenly came to a realization.
He became aware of an extremely practical problem, and that was that those of the same sex didn’t always repulse one another, just as those of the opposite sex might not necessarily attract. How did gay people come about, where did lesbians spring up from

The Dragon Sparrow Sword was a lesbian!
This conclusion instantly blew his mind. In the end
 was he still destined to miss out on such a beautiful sword

“Quick, release a drop of your blood essence!” The middle-aged man yelled at Xu Xiaolan, who was caught in a bit of a daze.
Xu Xiaolan sliced open a finger without hesitation and a dazzling drop of blood essence floated into the air. This droplet of blood essence contained the Divine Phoenix Bloodline and it automatically moved toward the Dragon Sparrow Sword before merging with the sword itself.
Whiz!
Another burst of joyful ringing sounded and the weather abnormalities began to dissipate.
The Dragon Sparrow Sword descended from the sky and sidled up to Xu Xiaolan obediently, releasing joyful ringing sounds.
The middle-aged man made his way toward Xu Xiaolan excitedly and spoke in a trembling voice, “Who would have thought that the Dragon Sparrow Sword would accept an owner, this is absolutely astonishing!”
He knew very well just how proud and arrogant the Dragon Sparrow Sword was, as well as how difficult it was to tame it. The sword may not react favorably even if a Return to Void Stage came and made an attempt to tame it.
But it was exactly a sword that was as temperamental and arrogant as this that voluntarily accepted the girl in front of him as its owner!
“My name is Long Ao. May I please ask what your name is, fellow cultivator?” the middle-aged man asked excitedly.
He did not make an introduction prior to this as he thought there was no point in doing so. The end result would be a failure anyway, so what was the point of wasting his words.
But never would he have thought that the Dragon Sparrow Sword would actually choose an owner.
This completely altered his view of the world and made him very curious about the girl in front of him.
“Oh, my name is Xu Xiaolan.” Xu Xiaolan nodded.
An Lin was slightly taken aback by the middle-aged man’s name and faltered slightly before opening his mouth. “Senior Long Aotian, do you have any other good stuff here?”
Long Ao was just about to continue chatting with Xu Xiaolan, and he immediately shook his head at An Lin’s question. “My name is Long Ao, not Long Aotian
”
He thought to himself for a while before his eyes lit up. “But the name Long Aotian has a nice ring to it. Hmm
 I think I’ll rename myself to Long Aotian from now on!”
An Lin nodded and continued, “Senior Long Aotian, you still haven’t told me if there’s any other good stuff here
”
Long Aotian shook his head with a smile. “This Dragon Sparrow Sword is the only thing left in the Palace of Earth. It was once the weapon of Shen Yin, and I had thought that I would not live to see the day it chose a new owner, but thankfully I’m fortunate enough to witness such an event
”
Tears began to well up in his eyes as he became momentarily overcome with emotion.
He continued after recovering his composure, “If you’d like to receive the bloodline inheritance and the treasures left behind by Shen Yin, then I’d advise you to go to the Palace of Heaven, but I’m hoping you’ll stop here. The Dragon Sparrow Sword has only just chosen another owner, it’d be a tragedy if it was to lose its new owner so soon
 ”
Xu Xiaolan shook her head with a determined expression. “I have a feeling that I have a certain connection with the Palace of Heaven. My instinct tells me that if I don’t go there, I’ll regret my decision for the rest of my life.”
An Lin did not know why, but a strong notion surfaced in his mind at Xu Xiaolan’s words, and that was that the Winter Dragon Tomb was definitely owned by Xu Xiaolan’s family.
A flash of excitement appeared in Long Aotian’s eyes after hearing her response. “You
 Are you related to Shen Yin?”
Xu Xiaolan shook her head. “I don’t know
 at least, I’ve never heard anyone in my family mention her name.”
The excitement in Long Aotian’s eyes was abruptly replaced by disappointment.
An Lin immediately made a suggestion, “Senior Long Aotian, how about you accompany us to the Palace of Heaven? With your protection, we won’t have to worry about the Dragon Sparrow Sword losing its owner!”
Long Aotian: “
 are you treating me as part of your group?”
An Lin looked at Long Aotian with a sincere expression. “Aren’t you part of the group?”
Long Aotian also replied sincerely, “What about me makes me look like a bad guy, tell me so I can change!”
An Lin’s eyes lit up. “Senior Bad Guy, you should mock us about how trash like us would be ravaged by the many hazards at the Palace of Heaven and how we would be painfully abused by the enemies we encounter there.”
Long Aotian: “
 it’s true that I’m quite easy-going, but please don’t insult my intelligence.”
“I’ll be honest with you. I actually have no clue what type of enemies you’ll encounter in the Palace of Heaven. The Palace of Heaven is a place that bars even us from entry. I can only tell you that the bloodline and inheritance and treasures of Shen Yin are all there.”
An Lin and the others knew there was no way around it. They simply had to go in blind and assess the situation as they progressed.
Long Aotian clasped his fist in his other palm before him. “I’ve been trapped here by Shen Yin for over eight thousand years due to the faults I committed against her and had thought that I would remain trapped here for the rest of my life. But you have tamed the Dragon Sparrow Sword and granted my freedom, this is something I’ll never forget. If we meet again someday and you require my assistance, I’ll be sure to help in any way I can!”
An explosive aura burst forth from Long Aotian as he spoke. The aura was an extremely powerful and confident one.
“Life is often filled with frustrations, but things can change in mere instants of time. I’m now once again free to laugh to my heart’s content as I look down on the world and proudly soar through the heavens.
“Fellow cultivators, I’ll take my leave now. If the heavens want to oppress me, then I’ll resist the very heavens itself! When you and I meet again, my name will be one that resounds throughout the continent!” Long Aotian was like a ball of roaring passion, casting an imposing and dazzling figure for An Lin and the others to see before stepping away into the air

An Lin’s lips twitched as he stared at Long Aotian’s receding figure while his heart felt as if it was trodden on by a stampede of countless mythological beasts.
Did his new name bestow him with a new personality too? The name of Long Aotian was one that had long been revered throughout the continent!!
In any case, Long Aotian finally left.
An Lin recovered his composure for a bit before casting his gaze toward Xu Xiaolan who was joyfully playing around with her Dragon Sparrow Sword.
The Dragon Sparrow Sword was like a naughty little girl, flying in circles around Xu Xiaolan.
Xu Xiaolan conjured up flames to attack her, but she manipulated Xu Xiaolan’s flames as her own and controlled the flames to flutter about like crimson fairies.
“Sigh, a beautiful sword for a beautiful woman, what a perfect combination
” An Lin sighed as he shook his head.
He pulled out his Evil-Slaying Sword and stared at its dull black blade. “Look at the Dragon Sparrow Sword, she can even play with her owner! Then look at yourself! You don’t even have a f*cking sword spirit! How are you any different from the ugly-ass Chaotic Alloy Brick?! You’re both just as black, are you guys brothers?”
The Evil-Slaying Sword remained silent in An Lin’s hands.
“Sigh, and you’re supposed to be a first-rate immortal tool as well. You’re held in high regard even by Emperor Ziwei, why are you so useless
”
“Sigh, my owner is too trashy, I don’t even want to speak.”
A cold voice sounded in An Lin’s mind, causing him to shudder in surprise.
Wait
 where did this voice come from

An Lin stared at the Evil-Slaying Sword in his hand as he speculated excitedly, “Is that you? Are you speaking to me?”
Evil-Slaying Sword: “
”
The pitch-black Evil-Slaying Sword remained silently in An Lin’s hand.
An Lin blinked and decided to issue a threat by saying, “If you continue to remain silent, I’ll stick you in a pile of cow dung.”
“F*ck off!”
The enraged cry of a female voice exploded in An Lin’s head.
The yell was quite powerful and struck An Lin’s mind like a bolt of lightning.
However, he did not get angry at this. Instead, he became ecstatic. “Hahahaha! Everyone, look, my sword has a spirit too now!”
An Lin’s yell attracted everyone’s attention.
An Lin threw the Evil-Slaying Sword into the air and yelled, “Little Xie, demonstrate an acrobatic dance!” [1. Xie is the pinyin for evil in Chinese, Little Xie is essentially a nickname An Lin made up on the spot]
The Evil-Slaying Sword drew a parabolic trajectory in the air before clattering to the ground in front of everyone and remained there, still and unmoving.
Xu Xiaolan: “
”
An Lin: “
”