From the corridor, a clear sound of footsteps rang out, with echoes.

Mary was a little scared: "Come? Who? Who is coming?"

"The one who comes to kill you and me."

"This... should be Josephine?" Mary forced a smile, "or maybe other people in the palace, musicians, chefs, guards, etc."

"Hide in the bed quickly!"

Hestein's tone was not questionable to Mary. His eyes were staring straight at the door. Outside the door, the footsteps were constantly approaching.

Mary was frightened and ignored the mess under the bed and stuffed her whole body in.

The door was hidden and should have opened with a push. But after the footsteps arrived at the door, they became silent. The owner of the footsteps seemed to have noticed that there was danger hidden in the room and was looking at the interior of the room through the thick door.

Hestein held the sword and slowly moved his footsteps, while his eyes did not move away from the door for a moment. Although his vision was blocked by the door, he could still use his remaining senses to sense the enemy's place. He searched for the enemy's smell with his nose, listened to the enemy's breathing with his ears, sensed the change of air heat with his hair, and used these fragmentary information to piece together the state of the enemy outside the door.

And he could feel that the enemy outside the door was doing the same.

Perhaps because it was too quiet, Mary poked a head slightly from under the bed.

"How is it?" she asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"

This sudden sound broke a certain balance in the space. Hestein suddenly took a step forward and stabbed a sword through the door panel. The sword penetrated the door panel without any obstacles, as if a piece of grease was cut through a piece of grease with a heated knife. A muffled groan came from outside the door. When he took the sword back, the sword was stained with blood.

However, his expression did not relax, but became more severe.

Sure enough, a burst of laughter rang out of the door.

"I am worthy of being the successor of the sword clan. I am quick and ruthless in the sword. It is clear that the sword pierced into my heart accurately through the door."

The door was pushed open by a crutch. The old man in a toga robe appeared outside the door. The fabric on his chest had a hole in it, and the fabric around it was stained with blood. But he stood in front of Hestein as if nothing had happened, laughing there.

"Crodith Ptolemy, the immortal apostle." Hestein looked at him with a serious expression, "I heard your name when I was practicing on the island of Antillia."

"Yes, I and the Sword Clan actually have a lot of connections."

Crodis walked into the room slowly with a cane, completely ignoring Hestein was still pointing his sword at him.

"Is it two hundred years ago? Or three hundred years ago? There are too many things, and I can't remember that I'm so careful. One person found me. He claimed that he was the number one swordsman in the world and hoped to learn all the sword skills from all over the world from me. As the price of becoming a disciple, he would also teach me his own set of swordsmanship."

"I naturally mastered many sword techniques. After all, I have lived for nearly a thousand years, from astronomy, geography, mathematics, to medicine, biology, engineering, even iron smelting, brick laying, animal husbandry... I have learned almost all the knowledge mastered by humans. But I don't understand. Since he is the number one swordsman in the world, why do you still have to learn sword techniques from me that are completely inferior to him? How do you guess he answer me?"

Crodis looked at Hestein meaningfully, then turned around and said as he paced:

"He replied to me, because he knew that he had not reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship."

"I asked him what is the pinnacle of swordsmanship?"

"He replied to me that it is unity. He wants to combine all the complicated sword techniques in the world, find the source that leads them, and reunite thousands of sword techniques and martial arts."

"I was shocked. Because he wanted to do the same thing as me. But I shook my head at that time, not thinking he could do it. Because he was already seventy and eighty years old at that time. I could see his fate--he would die in two years."

"But he smiled and said to me that after I die, my descendants will stand on my shoulders."

"Then, hundreds of years have passed, and you stood before me."

Speaking of this, Crodis stopped. He turned slowly, held the cane in his hand like a sword, and at the same time put on an experienced swordsmanship posture.

"I have practiced swords for three or four hundred years, and I think there is no enemy in the world. Take advantage of my strength to attack. Let me see what kind of sword technique it has been tempered by the sword clan over the years."

"As you wish."

Hestein swung his sword without saying a word, and its momentum was like a gust of lightning!

Crodis was shocked. The sword was still far away, so he changed five or six defensive postures one after another, but the sword changed so ever. After the sixth defense, he realized that he must hit the sword, and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

At this time, Hestein's sword was actually three steps away from him.

Hestein did not stop because Crodith vomited blood. Taking advantage of his chaos, he sealed his throat with one sword, causing Crodith to splatter five steps!

"Your swordsmanship is indeed very strong. From your movements, I can see the shadow of the Mistertin clan's swordsmanship." Hestein said, "But this level can be achieved by several of my master's sons. And they have all died because they can't learn this sword."

In front of him, Crodis, who had been fatally injured, slowly climbed up. His snow-white Togao bubble was stained with a lot of blood, but his eyes were still bright.

He looked at Hestein with a complicated expression and was about to speak, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

"I advise you not to think about the sword I just said coldly, "Otherwise, you will be injured again and again until you die."

"I don't understand." Crodis rubbed the blood on the corner of his mouth, "I have learned swordsmanship for hundreds of years, and you have been at most decades. What is the gap between us?"

"It's a talent. Or, it's a flash of inspiration at that moment." Hestein replied, "Can you learn this sword, whether it's death or life, the gap is only at that moment."

"A few hundred years of thinking is worse than a brief inspiration."

Crodis raised his head and thoughtfully. Then he lowered his head and looked straight at Hestein with his eyes that seemed to be able to see through everything.

After a long time, he shook his head helplessly.

"It turns out that I can't see clearly. Your swordsmanship is an area that I can't understand. Under this variable, I can't see through your fate."

Hestein still looked at Crodisius with a warning: "I never believe in fate either."

"It's been hundreds of years, and this is the first time I've encountered such an interesting thing."

Crodis waved his hand, and the heavy darkness hung down from the sky like an iron curtain, covering everything.

From that darkness, his laughter rang out:
Chapter completed!