Chen Huaian pondered for a moment.
He was a science student and not very good with words.
But as his avatar descended more frequently into the Cangyun Realm,
And as he gained wider experiences, he found that he had accumulated a bit more knowledge in his mind.
At this moment, being stared at by so many disciples, his adrenaline surged, causing his mind to go blank, and he blurted out whatever came to mind.
“Disciples of the Sword Pavilion, look!”
Chen Huaian pointed his fingers like a sword, and his fingertips swept across the sky.
Clang!
In the distance, the snow-capped mountain crumbled amid the sound of swords clashing, revealing a sheer cliff face as straight as a thousand-foot iron wall.
Su Qinian’s face twitched at the sight.
The peak had just been created, and there were still a few patches of spiritual fields on it.
At least a hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones were wiped away with a single swipe of the Ancestor’s finger…
“The disciples of the Sword Pavilion should emulate this mountain ridge. Even after enduring three thousand years of wind and snow, breaking the peak and bending the ridges, this section of the sword spine remains unbent and unyielding, refusing to break or bend.” With that, Chen Huaian took out half a broken sword—the broken sword that used to be Li Qingran’s former sword. He had asked for it when she was bestowed the Plain String Sword.
Originally, he intended to keep it as a collectible, but now it became a prop.
The disciples observed the broken sword, its body covered in cracks yet still exuding half an inch of sword intent.
“Swordsmanship first values the spine, then the edge!” Chen Huaian’s white hair fluttered without wind, and the ancient pine behind him was instantly shattered by the invisible sword intent that emerged from his words: “When a sword is drawn, it should pierce through like a pine tree breaking through snow, regardless of a hundred feet of ice, it must pierce through to the sky!”
What did the Ancestor do with that ancient pine… Su Qinian glanced at the ancient pine that had grown for three thousand years on Sunset Peak, which was now reduced to fragments.
He silently added ten low-grade spirit stones to his account.
Ancestor, truly ruthless!
“Finally, it’s about honing the sword! It takes ten years to hone a sword, yet the frosty blade has never been tested. Fellow disciples, you are each other’s honing stones. Blood-soaked blades and soul-quenched edges are required to slay demons in life-and-death situations!”
“There are three things to remember on this journey to the Secret Realm.”
Chen Huaian put away the broken sword, waved his sleeves, and the sword intent wrapped in moonlight entered the minds of all the disciples who were listening intently.
“The direction of the sword is not for slaughter, but for the safety of your comrades behind; the sweeping sword aura does not seek glory, but to uphold the righteous path in your heart; when the sword breaks, there is no need for sorrow…” Chen Huaian’s voice suddenly softened, but the entire Sword Pavilion suddenly buzzed with vibration.
Inside the temple hall, Lin Yuxi, who was meditating with closed eyes, looked in shock at the swaying ancestor tablets.
In the rear mountain’s Sword Burial Ground, the broken swords planted before the tombstones trembled.
The sound of the sheath splitting tore through the night, and myriad green glows shot into the sky.
The broken swords circled above Sunset Peak, buzzing behind Chen Huaian.
The disciples watched the flying swords above.
They saw golden names seeping from the sword blades—names of all the Sword Pavilion disciples who had sacrificed throughout history.
Chen Huaian also gazed at these broken swords, his eyes filled with countless images stained with blood and tears, roaring with defiance and anger. His eyes moistened, and his voice trembled: “Their sharpest sword moves were the three-foot sword enclosures they maintained even as they fell; their brightest sword light was the burst of the sword formation at the moment of their souls’ destruction.”
Buzz!
Suddenly, one of the disciples’ swords automatically unsheathed, resonating with the broken swords in the sky.
“Return to the sheath!” Chen Huaian lowered his eyebrows and softly commanded.
Instantly, all the swords fell silent.
“If one day your sword breaks… then use your bones as the sword, your blood as the edge, and your soul as the fire. The Sword Pavilion has endured for ten thousand years, relying not on any legendary sword, but on those who face forward even in death—sword bones.”
What is the backbone of a sword cultivator?
The answer was torn apart by the mountain breeze.
Only the sound of the sword intent soaring to the sky and the ringing of swords like bells could be heard.
At the edge of the Sword Burial Ground, the dead iron pine that had withered for thirty years suddenly sprouted new buds.
…
…
“I seem to have done something big in the Cangyun Realm just now?”
The avatar time ended.
Chen Huaian removed his helmet, his hands trembling and his mind dazed.
“Were those words really what I could say? Am I really that articulate?”
Chen Huaian decided to give himself a compliment, raising his thumb to his reflection: “I’m really awesome!”
The resources have been distributed.
Li Qingran’s survival rate increased to 99.999%, but it couldn’t reach 100%. Chen Huaian accepted this. There are no absolute things in this world, just like how the sun rising in the east and setting in the west seems like a truth, but what if you destroy the sun?
A lot of money was spent, but not without results.
He made the Sword Pavilion disciples who knew alchemy to refine elixirs for him, those who knew talisman-making to make talismans, those who knew sword pills to create them, and those who knew nothing to write sword cultivation insights, under the pretense of checking ‘homework,’ but actually to stockpile supplies and become two generations of merchants. He also had Su Qinian order some spirit wine from Danzong, claiming he loved it.
After giving out so many resources, even the stingiest disciple of the Sword Pavilion was moved,
and didn’t bargain over it.
Chen Huaian was very relieved.
Otherwise, he would have had to ventilate the main hall of the sect.
…
Without Li Qingran’s gentle gaze watching over him,
He finally had the energy to study the golden blind box reward.
Chen Huaian thought that extracting this reward would appear in his hand, but instead, it directly appeared in his mind, truly giving him a flash of inspiration. This spark of inspiration was completely captured and could be used at his will.
“Now, I only have two techniques at hand, the Tidal Surge Technique and the Heavenly Demon Great Art. Which one should I upgrade?”
Chen Huaian took out the Heavenly Demon Great Art—it was a stone tablet as long as an adult’s arm, covered with densely packed blood characters. As the characters twisted, demonic energy seeped out, clearly an evil and pus-filled demonic technique.
As soon as this stone tablet was taken out, Xiao Qing and Ba Ji frequently turned their heads to look at it.
But reputation precedes a person, and after being controlled by the Ninefold Spirit Orchid, they had too much curiosity but dared not act rashly.
And the Lobster Sniper and Babybear couldn’t understand it.
They didn’t know what the big boss was holding.
But they could feel the terrifying pressure emanating from it, so they chose to quietly play dolls in the corner.
[Heavenly Demon Body Refining Art]
Chen Huaian entered the game, opened the camera, and aimed it at the stone tablet.
The twisted blood characters immediately became neat and readable.
[Seize the qi of the unborn, refine the unwilling souls of myriad beings. Bones as firewood, blood as lamps. Ninefold lightning and fire temper the skin and flesh, rage, desire, and resentment refine the demonic eyes; seven emotions as locks confine the dragon marrow, the cries of all living beings boil the heart fire. Upon reaching the grand consummation stage, the sun and moon fall on the shoulders as ornaments, stars transform into voids within the palm lines. At the end of this path… refine heaven, refine earth, refine people, all living beings as fuel!]
After reading the summary of the Heavenly Demon Art, Chen Huaian’s eyelids twitched violently.
Refine all living beings, devour the sun and moon! No wonder it’s a demonic technique, such strong malevolence!
But this seems to be a body-refining technique?
After all, it uses ninefold lightning and fire to temper the skin and flesh.
So the question arises.
He is a righteous sword cultivator,
One who is so righteous it verges on evil, and this Heavenly Demon Art obviously has many less-than-righteous aspects.
Could he use a mod to enhance this Heavenly Demon Art,
And then… fall into the demonic path as a sword cultivator?
…
…
