Rewind to three months earlier, at the two thousandth step of Taiyue Divine Peak, Master Shi Fang's footsteps finally came to a halt.
He propped his hands on his knees, gasping for breath, beads of sweat as big as beans rolling down his cheeks, hitting the greenish-black stone steps and instantly evaporating into white mist under the sword pressure.
His mana surged violently like boiling water, but still couldn't resist the heavy pressure emanating from the stone steps.
That pressure, like a tangible mountain, pressed firmly on his shoulders, making every step he took feel like his bones were creaking.
Climbing these steps, cultivation was not the main factor. In fact, the higher the cultivation, the more disadvantageous it was, because the sword pressure would rise accordingly.
To stride up the steps briskly, insights into Sword Dao, Sword Heart, and Sword Intent were the key.
"I can't go any further... Going up any more, I'm afraid the sword pressure will shatter my meridians."
Master Shi Fang chuckled bitterly, slowly straightened up, and wiped the sweat from his brow.
Just then, he suddenly felt a faint gleam emerging from within him. This gleam didn't come from the outside world but emitted from the depths of his own divine soul, like a dormant seed finally breaking through the earth.
At the same time, his talismanic Daoist power intertwined with this gleam, seemingly promoting each other.
"This is... a sign right before Sword Heart Condensation!"
Chen Xihua recognized the familiar aura and immediately understood.
He didn't expect that the sword pressure and Sword Dao insights on this path could allow Master Shi Fang, who hadn't realized Sword Heart for hundreds of years, to almost step into the threshold this time.
Master Shi Fang laughed heartily, patting Chen Xihua on the shoulder, his eyes full of excitement:
Artsen uit Antwerp waarschuwen: als je heupen of knieën pijn doen, negeer het dan niet!Open
"Xihua, it seems you are more suited for this path than I am! You continue to climb."
"I'll head to the Sword Grinding Cliff to try my luck— with such a foundation, finding Sword Heart Bamboo and realizing Sword Heart, nurturing Sword Intent, is a certainty!"
As he spoke, he took out a talisman from his storage ring, stuck it on himself, and a faint spirit light emanated, barely withstanding the sword pressure. He turned and walked towards the fork leading to Sword Grinding Cliff, his figure quickly disappearing into the clouds and mist.
Chen Xihua watched his silhouette, took a deep breath, and turned to continue climbing.
The sword pressure from the stone steps grew heavier, each step felt like trudging through mud. His silver-white sword robe was already soaked with sweat, clinging tightly to his body.
Meanwhile, a continuous stream of Sword Dao insights flowed into his mind like a stream, making the previously obscure sword techniques become clear and understandable. The Sword Intent he hadn't fully mastered before was gradually condensed under the grinding of the sword pressure.
"This path to the peak might be the greatest opportunity of Taiyue Divine Peak."
He thought to himself, gritting his teeth, inching upwards, wanting to see where his limits lie.
He kept going for three months.
Every time he was about to give up, his vision darkening, a mysterious force would spontaneously burst from the Sword Pill within his dantian.
That force carried a faint aura of void, like a refreshing spring, instantly dispelling fatigue, allowing him to reopen his eyes and take a step forward.
The Sword Dao insights pouring into his head were quickly absorbed with the help of this force. His Sword Heart reached perfection, and his Sword Intent honed to its peak, even undergoing a qualitative transformation.
In a single thought, the Heaven and Earth Magical Power in his body circulated with his sword intent, forming an invisible Sword Intent Domain. Anything that stepped into this domain would be cut by the sharp Sword Qi— this was the "Sword Intent Formation"!
This was a technique that only a Nascent Soul Sword Monarch could use to dominate the same tier, but now it was mastered by a mid-stage Golden Core Cultivator!
Chen Xihua introspected his dantian, seeing an intertwining virtual and real sword pill slowly rotating, with a dark light at its center flickering like a star.
He murmured to himself: "It's that Sword Pill again. I wonder what its origin truly is."
He had trained for decades, and with good fortune, encountered many small and large opportunities, the greatest among them undoubtedly being this Sword Pill.
The origin of this Sword Pill traced back to his training in the Western Wilderness years ago.
At that time, he discovered a stable space crack in the desert, which held an abandoned secret realm of the Sword Mansion.
In this secret realm, within a dilapidated Sword Tomb, Chen Xihua unexpectedly found this entirely jet-black, neither metal nor wood Sword Pill.
This Sword Pill did not belong to the Five Elements; it subtly emanated void fluctuations. Such attributes were incredibly precious, undoubtedly refined from a Tier Four or even Tier Five Spiritual Object.
Back then, Chen Xihua was ecstatic, thinking he had found a great opportunity, and immediately tried to refine it into his Lifebound Sword Pill.
But the quality of the Sword Pill far exceeded his expectations. Despite all his efforts, he couldn't extract an ounce of its essence.
Left with no choice, he used his essence blood as a guide to temporarily nurture it deep in his dantian, hoping to wait until his cultivation improved.
What shocked him more was that as he left the Sword Tomb with the Sword Pill, the entire secret realm of the Sword Mansion began to tremble violently!
The originally solid stone walls began to crack, and the ground collapsed into a massive pit. The ancient restrictions supporting the secret realm shattered like glass, and after emitting a weak spirit light, completely dissipated.
He could even hear a cracking sound from the core of the secret realm, as if something was breaking.
Yellow sand surged in from the cracks, and space within the secret realm began to distort.
Chen Xihua only had time to summon his flying sword, flying towards the entrance of the secret realm in a panic, as the Sword Mansion behind him collapsed in a roar, turning into ruins buried completely by the yellow sand.
"So this Sword Pill is actually the core of the Secret Realm..."
At that moment, Chen Xihua was suspended in mid-air, staring at the ruins below covered in yellow sand, filled with shock.
It was then he realized that this Sword Pill was no ordinary artifact—its ability to maintain the stability of an Ancient Sword Mansion Secret Realm far exceeded his understanding of value.
Unexpectedly, six months later, the Sword Pill suddenly awakened and began to slowly integrate into his Lifebound Sword Pill.
More astonishingly, it took over and began to gradually devour his original Lifebound Flying Sword.
The process was as if cutting flesh with a dull knife, causing the Sword Pill to tremble violently, nearly shattering, and he fainted due to the damage to his Heart Spirit.
Yet when he awoke again, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had comprehended Sword Heart and Sword Intent, and the Sword Pill had completely replaced the original Flying Sword, becoming the new core of his Lifebound Sword Pill.
The secrets of the Cultivation Realm are like reefs hidden in the depths of the ocean, concealed under the guise of time and fog, beyond the reach of any one person.
Chen Xihua gazed at the Sword Pill, which wove together reality and illusion within his Dantian, feeling a rush of complex emotions.
For this Sword Pill, he had sifted through thousands of texts in the Scripture Pavilion of Three Elements Dao Sect, yet never found any similar record, let alone that a Sword Pill could take over and devour a Lifebound Flying Sword.
But no matter how many doubts he had, they could not outweigh the facts before him.
The Sword Pill had thoroughly integrated with his Sword Pill and was intimately connected to his Divine Soul, like a part of his body, impossible to remove.
Chen Xihua was straightforward by nature, so he put aside any further investigations:
"Well, since cultivation is all about moving forward in the unknown, and I can't figure out the reason, I might as well go with the flow and cultivate this Sword Pill well."
Er komt 's morgens een stukje worm uit je. Probeer hetOpen
From then on, Chen Xihua incorporated the training of the Sword Pill into his daily cultivation, using his Divine Soul to perceive the changes within it, attempting to explore the most suitable method for nurturing it.
And this Sword Pill never let him down—its quality far surpassed that of his previous Lifebound Flying Sword.
This Sword Pill constantly enhanced Sword Qi, Sword Form, Sword Speed, and Sword Frequency, steadily bringing his prowess up to par with the Inner Sect cultivators of the Myriad Swords Sect, and even surpassing them in some aspects.
Later, during a sect mission, he obtained a Tier Four Spiritual Material called "Red Gold Mother" and, upon attempting to nurture the Sword Pill with it, an ancient Secret Technique surfaced within his sea of consciousness.
It was the "Myriad Phenomena Sources Returning to Spirit Skill" capable of altering spiritual root talents!
Only then did he truly realize that this Sword Pill held immense secrets, perhaps even the supreme opportunity to change his path of Dao.
Upon entering the Ancient Yue Grotto Heaven this time, Chen Xihua's primary goal was to find more Tier Four Spiritual Materials to refine his Sword Pill and perhaps unlock even more secrets of the Sword Pill.
As time slowly passed, another half month went by.
"Finally... we're here!"
Chen Xihua's voice carried a hint of hoarseness; he raised his right leg, using the last bit of strength, and stepped onto the final step.
In an instant, the Taiyue Divine Peak trembled violently, as though an ancient beast that had slumbered beneath suddenly awakened.
The clouds atop the peak were tossed by a fierce wind, swirling wildly, forming a massive vortex.
On the mountain paths carved from stone, and along the rock walls, numerous golden Restrictions awoke like slumbering dragons, converging from all sides, weaving together a golden light screen that enveloped the entire Divine Peak.
Upon the light screen, Runes flowed, emitting unsettling spatial fluctuations, like an enormous net trapping all the cultivators on Taiyue Divine Peak tight.
"Buzz—"
The golden light screen abruptly shrank, then expanded fiercely. A terrifying Power of Space surged like a tsunami.
Chen Xihua only felt his whole body lighten, as if lifted by an invisible hand, being transported into a unique space.
The remaining cultivators, like fallen leaves caught in a storm, were instantly enveloped by the Power of Space and disappeared into the void. This power stretched across millions of miles, forcibly transporting all cultivators on Taiyue Divine Peak away.
"No! My Sword Intent Formation!"
At the six-thousandth step, Yue Wushuang let out a howl of dissatisfaction. He had just felt the insights from his Sword Intent Formation surge into him like a tide, but before his sea of consciousness could even begin to digest this power, his body was firmly locked by the Power of Space, which began to transport him away.
His eyes were filled with disbelief and reluctance, his silver-white Sword Robe flapping violently under the spatial force:
"For thousands of years, there had never been such a phenomenon! Could it be that the Taiyue Divine Peak has reached its ultimate limit and is about to collapse entirely?"
He was left to suspect this—there were more than a few opportunities in the Ancient Yue Secret Realm that had completely perished due to the passage of time.
As for someone reaching the summit and triggering a change?
Not even a shred of such a notion crossed his mind. Even the legendary ancestors noted in the sect's records, born with peerless Sword Bodies and ultimately becoming Celestial Venerables of Divinity Transformation, had only reached as far as 8,900 steps back in their day; how could anyone have possibly reached the peak today?
The Power of Space grew ever stronger, and Yue Wushuang couldn't resist it at all. His unwilling figure finally dissolved into a stream of light, vanishing into the void.
Meanwhile, at the two-thousandth step, a Loose Cultivator clad in a cyan robe was desperately clutching the stone staircase, trying to fend off the Power of Space.
His name was Liu Chengfeng, his Mid-Stage Golden Core Cultivation barely allowing him to reach this point. He had hoped to persist a few steps further to gain more Sword Dao insights, but hadn't anticipated such an upheaval.
"No! I haven't gained enough insight yet!"
He cried out in despair, ultimately unable to resist, his body became like a kite with a broken string and was transported away by the Power of Space.
When he reappeared, he was cast down into a swamp riddled with poisonous miasma, a place a million miles from where he started. As soon as he touched ground, several Tier Three poison crocodiles surrounded him, forcing him to hastily conjure a Talisman for a hasty escape:
"Damn it! How could I be transported to such a place!"
On the three-thousandth step, a Female Cultivator from the Western Wilderness Mirage found herself equally trapped, dressed in a pale blue gauzy attire, her form faintly enveloped in Mirage Qi.
"Damn!"
She gritted her teeth and cursed, her Magical Treasure emitting a faint glow utterly incapable of resisting the Power of Space.
When she appeared again, it was upon a frozen snowfield where the biting winds instantly hardened her gauzy attire. She could only circulate her Mana to ward off the cold, filled with grievance and anger in her heart:
"If I had known, I wouldn't have come to the Taiyue Divine Peak. Now not only did I miss the opportunity, but I'm also stranded indefinitely!"
Elsewhere in the void, Master Shi Fang found himself thrust by the force of Void Shifting, crashing hard into a barren hill.
He staggered to regain his balance, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth—so violent was the Force of Space Shifting it had caused minor injuries to his meridians.
On the ground, a Tier Two viper was startled into action, its forked tongue flickering as it lunged viciously at him.
A glint of fierceness flashed in Master Shi Fang's eyes, a flick of his hand and a Talisman's light flared briefly, reducing the viper to ashes.
His Divine Sense scanned his surroundings, revealing nothing but desolate gobi, and he could see the distinct yellow sandstorms of the Western Wilderness looming in the distance, shaking his head in helplessness:
"I ended up being transported to the Western Wilderness... After finally making it into the Taiyue Divine Peak, how did things go so wrong?"
The Western Wilderness lay five million miles distant from the Taiyue Divine Peak.
He had initially thought, after using the Sword Heart Bamboo to comprehend Sword Heart, he would return to challenge higher steps, but now could only watch that hope vanish.
"And Fellow Daoist Xihua—I wonder where he has been transported to."
He took out a Communication Jade Talisman and infused it with Mana, but found it unresponsive.
The contact method they had agreed on was only usable within a hundred-thousand-mile range, but they were now separated by millions of miles, making communication impossible.
He reached for his Storage Ring, finding inside two entirely green, Sword Intent-emitting Sword Heart Bamboos, along with several Tier Four Sword Grinding Stones emanating sharp Sword Qi, which momentarily eased his heart.
"Fortunately, I reacted quickly and gathered up the Sword Heart Bamboo and Sword Grinding Stones near the Sword Grinding Cliff before being transported; otherwise, this trip would have been a huge loss."
He gazed towards the direction of the Taiyue Divine Peak, filled with both gratitude and regret, before turning away, heading deeper into the gobi.
At the same moment.
In that unique space, the golden light screen had dissipated, and Chen Xihua slowly steadied himself, standing before a ten-foot-tall Wordless Stone Stele.
The stele was completely jet black, its surface carved with countless intricate Sword Patterns, emanating faint Void fluctuations, harmonizing marvelously with the Sword Pill within his Dantian.
An idea sparked within Chen Xihua's mind, and he approached the stele, reaching out his right hand to gently touch its surface!
Instantly, an exceptionally pure flood of Sword Dao insights surged into his mind, more abundant than all the insights he had gained in the past three months combined.
He couldn't help but close his eyes, immersing himself in this wave of insights, the Sword Intent around him circulating like a living entity, forming a massive sword shadow behind him, pointing straight towards the sky.