And this time, the sword reacted. Qin Yan felt the substance-like energy in the sword slowly flowing into his body through his hands. At the same time, he experienced a strange sensation - the movements of the Zhenjun in front of him seemed to slow down. It was as if the playback speed of a TV show had decreased by about four times, allowing Qin Yan to easily observe Zhenjun's actions.

"What's going on, is this my illusion?" Qin Yan wondered in his mind. At this moment, as Zhenjun slowly thrust the spear towards Qin Yan's chest, Qin Yan quickly dodged aside. Zhenjun's movements were extremely slow, while Qin Yan's movements were normal. Qin Yan easily evaded Zhenjun's thrust.

"What is happening? Regardless, I need to defeat him first." Although unsure of the situation, Qin Yan realized that this was an opportunity to turn the tide. He continued to absorb the substance-like energy stored in the sword with his body.

During the period when he absorbed the substance from the sword, everything around Qin Yan seemed to be moving extremely slowly. He noticed that not only Zhenjun but also the expressions on the faces of Lin Shiqi, Yitianchou, and others standing in the distance, as well as the sounds they made, all became extremely slow.

Zhenjun's spear missed its target, and he swung the spear slowly towards Qin Yan again. Qin Yan easily stepped back, avoiding the attack. He then raised the sword, attempting to counterattack Zhenjun. But as Qin Yan lifted his hand, Zhenjun immediately retreated, having anticipated Qin Yan's intentions.

"Trying to escape? Not so easy!" Qin Yan quickly pursued Zhenjun. In his perception, Zhenjun's movements were slow, while Qin Yan's were normal. He effortlessly caught up to Zhenjun and swung the sword towards his chest.

A look of panic flashed in Zhenjun's eyes as he tried to dodge the sword. However, Qin Yan's actions were much faster, and before Zhenjun could fully evade, the sword struck.

With a sharp sound, Qin Yan's sword heavily struck Zhenjun's left shoulder, cleanly severing his entire arm. The severed arm fell to the ground with a thud, and blood gushed from Zhenjun's left shoulder. He looked pained, swaying slightly, but managed to support himself with the spear in his right hand without falling.

"Do you still want to continue?" Qin Yan stared at Zhenjun, speaking in a deep voice. He stopped absorbing energy from the sword, and instantly, everything around him returned to normal speed, no longer slow as before.

Zhenjun's face turned pale, gritting his teeth, he said, "No... no need. You've won. You can decide how to deal with me."

"Forget it. As long as you don't cause trouble for me in the future or force me to do things I don't want to do," Qin Yan didn't have the intention to kill Zhenjun. After all, Zhenjun had left a good impression on him, and the weapons he previously used were given by Zhenjun. As long as Zhenjun didn't force him to do things against his will, Qin Yan didn't want to be enemies with him.

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Zhenjun nodded slowly and said, "You have mastered the power of the Emperor's Sword and defeated me. Whether you want to be the Emperor or not, you are qualified to wield this sword. I won't interfere in your affairs anymore."

"Good." The shadow on Qin Yan's face gradually dissipated. "How's your injury? Do you need my help?"

"No, just wait here for me," Zhenjun said, picking up his severed arm from the ground and running into a nearby forest. After a while, a tall, handsome man in silver attire emerged from the forest. Qin Yan looked at him and realized that he was the three-eyed human he had seen in the mortal realm before.

At this point, Zhenjun's left arm had been reattached, and aside from looking slightly pale, he seemed to be fine. Other people gathered around, with Lin Shiqi wearing a teasing smile as she said, "Zhenjun, you shouldn't go looking for trouble. Now look, you ended up injuring yourself. It's karma."

Zhenjun chuckled awkwardly and said, "I may have been offensive earlier, please forgive me."

Qin Yan generously replied, "It's okay. I know you meant no harm towards us. By the way, Zhenjun, why are you here? Did you come specifically to find us?"

Zhenjun explained, "Yes, a few days ago, I learned from Laojun that you were going to the ancient tomb to seek the Emperor's Sword. I came to check on your situation and unexpectedly ran into you on the way. I found out that you had already obtained the Emperor's Sword, so I wanted to test your strength. As it turns out, you indeed possess the strength worthy of wielding this sword."

"Of course, how could we have retrieved this sword from such a dangerous tomb if we didn't have the strength? How could we have defeated you?" Lin Shiqi said proudly. Suddenly, she remembered something and looked at Qin Yan, asking, "It was strange just now. I saw you move so fast and easily defeat Zhenjun. How did you do it?"

"Well, it's like this..." Qin Yan recalled the situation and explained, "When I was absorbing the power of the sword with my anomaly, I felt that Zhenjun's movements slowed down significantly. At least about four times slower than normal, allowing me to easily evade his attacks and strike back with the sword."

"Is that so?" Lin Shiqi said, puzzled. "But from my perspective, Zhenjun's movements didn't slow down. It was just you who became faster."

"That's strange. I didn't feel like I became faster..." Qin Yan was puzzled.

Zhenjun then spoke up, "Actually, what you both said is correct. Legend has it that this sword was crafted from the remnants of creation, making it an extremely rare treasure. As far as I know, the person wielding this sword will gain incredibly magical powers, even capable of altering time and space. Your sensation of my movements slowing down should be the effect of the sword's power at play."

"Altering time and space? I still don't quite understand..." Lin Shiqi looked confused.

Dream Butterfly explained, "Let me clarify. If this sword truly has the power to alter time and space, then I speculate that Qin Yan, you probably used this power of the sword to gain more time. While one second for others might appear as four or five seconds for you. In this way, your strength and speed would also increase by four or five times. Even if Zhenjun could predict your actions in advance, it would be difficult for him to evade your attacks, which is why you defeated him."