Sam calmed down after a while as he slowly processed all of the information.
Now that he was in the city of dead, he needed to get back to the ruins of abyss as soon as possible. His brothers and little Titi were still inside that damned place.
"I brought you here from that abyss". The cold voice of Sanchez brought back Sam from his messed up thoughts. "You were already unconscious when I got there. So, I took you along with me. And you were unconscious for two days".
'If I was unconscious for two day then what about them? They must be worried sick searching for me'. Sam thought.
"Then what about my companions. You know, two youths and a cute little cat? " Sam asked. He was a little trusting of Sanchez even though he had never met him before. Credits to the kind Oldman. "You didn't fight them or hurt them right? Oh well, you would be dead if you fought them anyways". Sam blabbered on.
"Oh!!! I met them. They are safe". But they are weak as hell. Sanchez only said the latter part inside his head.
Sam finally heaved a sigh of relief. They were safe and all that mattered to him. After nearly dying inside that myriad weapon killing formation, Sam was just happy that he could be alive and breathe fresh air right now.
"Were you the one who attacked that barrier from outside? He asked.
Sanchez only nodded in affirmation.
"Then I have to thank you". Sam smiled as he finally took a good look at Sanchez. He was surprised by how much he looked nothing like other undeads. "You are just like that Oldman described you. Since, we will be leaving this place together, let's get along well".
"I am leaving this place? " Sanchez was surprised. He knew that he will be leaving this place one day but he had vowed to never leave until he took that thing from that abyss.
"Didn't the Oldman told you before? You are leaving with me". Sam said in a matter of fact tone.
Sanchez contemplated for a moment. He had deep frown on his ice-cold face. After which his face brightened up. "It might be fate that wants me to leave this place. You can cultivate the death essence energy too. This works out perfectly for the plan".
With that he looked at Sam eagerly as he said, "I will leave this place with you but before that I need your help with something"
"sure!". Sam replied without thinking. He was going to be companion from now on and he had even saved them from death. There was no reason to refuse.
"But I didn't even tell you what I need your help with".
"It's OK. I will help you with anything as long as you don't ask me to throw my life away".
"That good then". Sanchez walked in front of Sam and took out a chair from out of nowhere. He sat down on the chair and said, "The thing we will be doing will be dangerous and we might even die if we fail. I will tell you in advance that you will probably gain nothing after taking this risk. Only I will benefit from this. Are you sure you want to do this? "
"Are you going to get stronger if we succeed in doing whatever you are thinking? "Sam asked a question to Sanchez instead of answering.
"I will". Sanchez nodded seriously. His power would increase by twice if he got his hand on that item.
"I will help you then. You becoming stronger also means I will be stronger. After all, we will be together once we leave this place right? ". Sam flashed a smile to Sanchez. "Be sure to protect me then".
Sanchez was stunned for a second. Then, a mild smile crept up his cold face. 'Granpa is right after all. He treats me nicely as he predicted'.
"It's settled then". Sanchez declared. "We will return to the ruins of abyss to get that thing".
"We will have to return to ruins of abyss to get that thing?" Sam was rather confused. He had just come back from that place just a few days ago and now they were going back. Furthermore, his experiences with that place was not that good. He had nearly died in there. "What is this item that you are talking about? I have never heard about any such treasure existing inside the ruins of abyss". He asked.
"That because no human cultivator returned back alive after knowing the existence of that place". An old and kinde voice answered his question. The Oldman walked inside the room while smiling as he looked at the two youths talking before him.
'Looks like they are getting along well'.
The Oldman looked at Sam in his eyes. He asked Sam in a very serious voice, "I know that you want to help Sanchez because he saved your life and he will leave this place with you. But I will ask you again. Are you sure you want to help him? Because you will be facing one of the most powerful person if you walk down this path. Death might be easy way out. There is a chance that you may be possessed, your body taken control by that person. We will not be able to help you then".
Sam was a bit startled. Cold sweat started to form around his face. His brow were furrowed into a tight knit. Sam felt his heart beating faster with fear, a chill crept up his heart when he though about his body being in control of other person. But strangely he was getting excited. His blood was pumping faster and hotter when he thought about facing one of the strongest being.
"I will do it". He said with determination as his face was turning red from excitement and anticipation.
"You have courage". The old man nodded in acknowledgement. He appreciated person who had the courage to face danger despite knowing about it before hand. However, his face turned serious again. "Since, you are ready to help then, I will have to tell you about this item. It is related to an ancient war, a glorious era and the secret behind the swordridge valley".
Sam felt his heartbeat speeding faster as he listened with full concentration.
The Oldman had a reminiscing look on his face as if he was remembering good old time of his youth, and glory. He sighed a deep sigh as he said, "First, let me introduce myself or to say the name of this body before he died and I was reborn as an undead. My name was Leopold Horton, one of the first follower and the commander of the righteous army of my master, Venerable twosword. My master Venerable Twoswords was one of the ten venerable sovereigns ruling and governing over this world. He was the most righteous and powerful being in the world, the founder of the righteous path known for his righteous two swords".
"He was the light guiding the cultivators towards the just and the righteous path of cultivation. He wanted to create a paradise for the just and glorious, a world where mortal and cultivators could live freely with honor and dignity without harming each other".
"Thus, he created the righteous army. We, along with our master, waged the war against the evil cultivators. Where evil and darkness rose, we followed our master there, ending it with our own hand. We fought and fought. We grew as the evil grew. When just cried to the heavens for help, we answered. After thousands of years of battle and blood shed, we achieved our goal. Even the evils cowered under our name. Our master, venerable Twosword achieved a breakthrough in his cultivation and become the tenth ruling venerable sovereign of this world. Under his rule, a new nation was created, a nation where everyone got to live with dignity and honor, a nation without endless slaughter. The righteous nation".
"The righteous nation prospered under the rule of our master. Everyone lived peacefully,it was like a paradise. Each of the general and soldiers who fought with my master got a piece of the land and became it's ruler. Only me and the Dragon general, the thunder dragon, battle companion of our master remained behind with him helping him rule his nation".
"Everything was peaceful untill that day when the stars came falling and world turned dark. Millions of evil cultivators under the command of three other venerable sovereigns attacked our righteous nation without any warning".
"We were caught off-guard. A desperate battle for survival ensued forth. Blood flowed like rivers, and corpses piled into mountains. All the mortals and low level cultivators of our righteous nation were slaughtered like pigs as a sacrifice to complete the final refining of a evil weapon. Our righteous army of few hundred thousand along with our master fought against the millions of cultivators valiantly".
"Alas, few thousands of peace and prosperity had made us weak. Most of the soldiers were unwilling to die in battle after enjoying a thousands years of luxury. Thus, we fell apart like loose sands. A fragmented army of only a few hundred thousand against a million strong army, defeat was imminent".
"It was then our master venerable twosword burnt all of his lifespan and cultivation to fend back the attackers. With the help of the boost of his cultivation, he severely injured the two other venerable sovereign and destroyed the body of the Venerable hallow with his sword. Venerable hallow was forced to flee with his soul but our master executed a secret technique and bound his soul the very evil weapon that he was refining".
"Seeing that his general were all dying and injured, he cut a part of the righteous nation with sword and transferred the piece of the land to the place of his birth with his two swords using the last bits of his power. Me and dragon general were the person who was send along with this land but alas, our injuries werenot light. Thus, we perished here inside this land".
He sighed at this point and tears were dripping at the corner of his eyes. "This swordridge valley that you people call is a part of the righteous nation, the lifeblood and toil of our master".
Sam remained silent throughout the whole story. He did not utter a single word. He finally sighed after listening the world story. "Does that mean that those swords outside are the weapons of the venerable two swords? " He murmured but no feeling of greed or envy rose inside him. He only felt great admiration towards the Venerable twoswords. A man with such righteous heart was very rare in the world of cultivation. Only a person with equal amount of righteousness and courage to provide justice and vanquish the evil can be worthy of welding those swords
Unfortunately, Sam was not the right person.
The Oldman nodded as he said with respect, "Those are the life weapons of our masters, the righteous swords. One to remove evil from the heart and the other to exterminate evil from the world. The weapon which followed him from his childhood".
"Such loyal weapons". Sam said. Even the cold Sanchez nodded in agreement.
After a while, Sam asked again, "Then this item that Sanchez wanted to obtain, is it the two righteous swords? "
"Nope". Sanchez shook his head in denial as he said with some excitement, "It's the evil weapon that the three centuries were refining when slaughtering the righteous country".
"Huh?...SAY WHAT? "