I changed the world.

After confirming that Zhang Jing was at home, the 26 cultural relics were delivered to Zhang Jing's residence by the staff at approximately 10:30 a.m.

These past few days, Zhang Taihe has been busy in the world behind the bronze gate, so he is rarely seen. Zhang Jing did not intend to trouble his teacher for help. For safety reasons, he brought all the newly acquired artifacts back to Lishan Cave Heaven, found a quiet room, and prepared to try to open it.

Unlike last time, this time the number of cultural relics involved is relatively large. Zhang Jing felt that it was necessary to use the wishing book as "insurance" before opening them in batches.

Zhang Jing took out the wishing book:

"I made a wish that I would have good luck during the time I spend looking at these artifacts."

Looking at the black text that appeared on the wishing book, Zhang Jing put it away with satisfaction. This could be considered an experiment he had on a whim, and he was ready to see how it went.

Next, it's time to try your luck...

Zhang Jing picked up a jade tablet, which appeared to be a Dharma treasure. Under his observation, it emitted an orange light. He carefully probed it with his divine sense. Hmm… it was a Dharma treasure concerning how to identify, cultivate, and raise exotic beasts. It was likely a cultivator's insights in this area. Although it wasn't directly related to cultivation, Zhang Jing still felt it was a rather useful Dharma treasure. After all, according to the descriptions within, certain special exotic beasts did indeed possess considerable supernatural abilities.

This fills a gap in the collection of Buddhist scriptures in this area... Zhang Jing thought with satisfaction, marked it, and put it aside, temporarily naming it "The Manual for Raising Mythical Beasts." Yes, Zhang Jing's naming was that clear and straightforward.

Next, he took a jade tablet... Hmm... This is a cultivation method for the second stage of the Vajra Path. Zhang Jing marked it and put it aside, intending to take a closer look at it later when he had time. After all, it is different from his main cultivation path, so it can only be said to have reference value.

Then there were two crystals that looked like some kind of crystal. In Zhang Jing's observation, they both glowed with a red light, possibly some kind of material, but they didn't seem to be of a high grade.

After that, Zhang Jing picked up a carving, which looked very rough and simple. The material was neither gold nor jade. Zhang Jing guessed that it might be the skeleton of some kind of creature. This should also be able to be used as a material for storage. Zhang Jing thought to himself and put it aside.

Next… he picked up a small jade sword, which looked quite like a pendant. To Zhang Jing, this jade pendant emitted a green light, and based on his past experience, Zhang Jing judged that it shouldn't be a low-level item.

Zhang Jing cautiously probed into his divine sense...

........................

Zhang Jing found himself standing on a mountain peak, surrounded by swirling clouds and mist, in complete silence. Looking up, he could see a brilliant starry sky, dotted with countless stars, as dazzling as a river.

However, Zhang Jing's attention was not on the magnificent starry sky at all, but on a figure not far away.

It was a tall figure, dressed in hemp clothing and straw sandals, with his hair loose and his hands behind his back, facing away from Zhang Jing. His clothes were not particularly luxurious; in fact, they could be described as quite simple. However, simply by standing there without making any other movement, his presence was impossible to ignore!

The moment Zhang Jing saw the man's back, he felt as if he saw a sword. Although the man was not carrying any sword, Zhang Jing had a strong feeling that it was a divine sword with its edge hidden in its sheath!

The mountain wind howled, causing the surrounding clouds and mist to churn like snow waves. The person in front of him suddenly turned his head, said nothing, and pointed his finger at Zhang Jing.

Zhang Jing instinctively tried to dodge, but this finger easily blocked all his escape routes. It seemed ordinary and unremarkable, yet it struck Zhang Jing's forehead as if by some inevitability...

The moment Zhang Jing was touched on the forehead, his only memory was of a pair of eyes as bright as stars.

The next moment, everything before his eyes was chaotic. Zhang Jing's soul was shaken, and he entered a mysterious state, as if in an instant he was no longer himself, but had become someone else, cultivating and comprehending the sword.

This feeling was profound and mysterious. Zhang Jing felt as if he had transformed into a cultivator, personally experiencing their cultivation process, constantly practicing and comprehending the sword. As his cultivation level increased, he continuously grasped the changes in swordsmanship and even the Dao of the sword, relentlessly pushing towards its limits...

With undivided attention, he had nothing but his sword.

Year after year of cultivation, continuous accumulation, and constant insights into spiritual practice.

"laugh!"

In the void, a wisp of sword energy suddenly appeared beside Zhang Jing, tearing a thin crack in the hard stone ground.

"Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!"

Immediately following was the second, the third... After the first vacuum rift appeared, continuous sword energy bloomed like flower petals, leaving countless crisscrossing cracks on the ground around Zhang Jing.

Deep within his soul, Zhang Jing was completely immersed in a state of sword enlightenment. It was as if he had cultivated for countless hours in an instant, repeatedly refining and perfecting his sword practice and understanding. He himself couldn't quite tell how much time had passed, constantly accumulating experience...

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Zhang Jing felt a sudden enlightenment regarding the way of the sword, gaining a profound understanding, as if the clouds had parted to reveal the clear sky...

..............................

I opened my eyes, but the mountain peaks, the clouds, and the towering figure were all gone.

Only the insights into swordsmanship in my mind remained vivid. Everything that had just happened seemed like an incredibly clear dream. Although many experiences and details had become blurry, chaotic, or even buried deep in my memory after waking up, a large amount of swordsmanship insights and techniques were still engraved into my bones as if they had been forged through countless trials, as if I had actually trained and experienced them...

Chapter 298 The Azure Thunder Sword

Zhang Jing had a feeling that even those insights that had become blurred again would likely be rediscovered as he grew further. It was like reading a book and forgetting it over time, but then being triggered by a certain situation later on, and being able to recall it again.

This not only means that his current swordsmanship has reached an extremely high level, but it also means that his future cultivation on this path will be much more efficient and even a natural success.

At this moment, Zhang Jingcai realized that the futon he was sitting on had shattered at some point, and the ground around the futon was covered with dense, crisscrossing marks, which felt as if they had been cleaved by knives and axes when touched.

The jade sword in his hand had shattered into countless pieces, clearly indicating it was a disposable item.

Zhang Jing silently contemplated for a while, then suddenly flipped his right hand, and a cyan longsword appeared in his hand. The feeling was completely different from before. At this moment, Zhang Jing felt that the longsword in his hand was like his body. In fact, he could feel that the longsword was also breathing and pulsating with his pulse...

This is a completely different realm, as if he has been immersed in the way of the sword for decades...

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Jing sheathed his longsword. He knew in his heart that this experience of sword enlightenment alone was absolutely worth it. He named the small jade sword he had just used "Sword Enlightenment Stone." It was just a pity that he only had one chance to experience it. If he could experience it more times...

What are you thinking... Zhang Jing chuckled to himself. Such a thing couldn't possibly be a mainland product in that era, otherwise, cultivation would be too easy.

It's likely that the sage dressed in hemp clothing and straw sandals with disheveled hair must have been an extraordinary figure. It's just a pity that his name wasn't recorded in the Enlightenment Stone.

After a brief moment of rest, Zhang Jing resumed examining the remaining treasures. The next five items were all Dharma treasures, mostly containing cultivation insights. Two of them contained cultivation reflections on the path to becoming a Celestial Venerable, and even some practical tips that would be quite useful to Zhang Jing.

Next, Zhang Jing picked up a severely petrified object. It was a piece about a meter long, resembling a stick, and felt quite heavy in his hand. Perhaps due to poor storage, judging from its shape, it was originally a burial object, and from a tomb that had been flooded, a type of "water pit" tomb. This type of tomb is more common in the south, where there is more rain and groundwater, resulting in many tombs filled with water.

In these types of tombs, due to the harsh preservation environment of soaking, weathering, erosion, etc., it is common for cultural relics to be eroded or even covered with a large amount of attached substances.

The object before him was clearly like that; its original appearance was almost unrecognizable. In Zhang Jing's observation, the traces of erosion, along with a large amount of petrified material, formed a thick outer shell, almost completely encasing it. Obviously, the original seller of this object didn't know what it was either, and fearing that further cleaning would damage the object, simply sold it as is.

However, in Zhang Jing's eyes, this object was also a treasure radiating green light, which meant that it was most likely an artifact of the same level as the Enlightenment Sword Stone, but he didn't know what its function was.

Zhang Jing first carefully examined the item, then took it in his hand, sat cross-legged, and began to try to communicate with it. He used his internal Qi, combined with his divine sense, to repeatedly refine the item in his hand at a specific frequency. He was now quite familiar with this technique.

As Zhang Jing continued to communicate, after about five minutes, the object began to emit a buzzing sound, which grew louder and louder over time. Gradually, the "stick" began to detach from Zhang Jing's hands and slowly floated up, hovering about a fist's height above his palms, while emitting a visible vibration that increased in frequency.

Immediately afterwards, a white light visibly began to emanate from within. The light grew stronger, and then, with a series of subtle crackling sounds, fine, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the weathered surface of the "stick." These cracks continued to multiply and spread, quickly covering the entire surface of the object. Then, the entire outer shell began to peel away and detach along these cracks, soon falling off like a broken eggshell…

..............................

Finally, the light subsided, and what fell into Zhang Jing's hand was a mottled and ancient sword. The blade had patterns like tortoise shells, and the blade, guard, and hilt were integrated into one. The guard was carved in the shape of an ancient beast's head, biting the blade, and the hilt was covered with thunder patterns.

Near the hilt of the sword, there were two divination characters engraved on the blade. Zhang Jing was now quite familiar with this script and recognized its meaning at a glance: "Azure Thunder".

The ancient sword gave Zhang Jing a sense of having weathered many vicissitudes. The blade had many signs of damage, especially the edge, which had several jagged marks that seemed to be from a violent collision in the past.

Zhang Jing reached out and grasped the sword hilt.

"buzz"

A white bolt of lightning flashed across the blade, and the sword hummed softly. Whether it was an illusion or not, the moment Zhang Jing grasped the ancient sword, he felt a surge of joy, as if the sword possessed some kind of spirit.

Zhang Jing attempted to communicate with this spiritual entity through divine thought, trying to contact it and soothe it. The communication went quite smoothly. The feeling was somewhat indescribable. If you had to use an analogy, it would be like encountering a stray dog ​​that had been homeless for a long time. You treat it kindly, even feeding it dog food, and then the dog follows you...

Of course, this also meant that Zhang Jing would have another task ahead: he would need to regularly use the sword-nurturing method, employing his divine sense and inner energy to refine and communicate with the ancient sword. He could clearly sense that, due to the long-term erosion and improper storage, in addition to the visible external damage, the ancient sword also suffered some internal damage. However, because of its extremely high quality, it was not completely destroyed. Even so, after seeing the light of day again, Zhang Jing still needed to further nurture it to gradually restore it, while also strengthening his tacit understanding with the sword.

After adopting a new dog... well, no, after initially completing the communication with the spirit of the ancient sword, Zhang Jing also obtained a new sword technique—"Divine Firmament Thunder Control True Sword".

Chapter 299 Tortoise Shell

This is a sword technique that sounds very sophisticated just from its name.

With high expectations, Zhang Jing conducted a preliminary study of the sword technique and discovered that it was indeed as sophisticated as its name suggested.

It's no exaggeration to say that this is a sword technique of extremely high level; at least, that's what Zhang Jing thought after his initial review.

Furthermore, his own description in swordsmanship is: extremely focused on killing.

However, this sword technique has requirements for the cultivator's cultivation level. To cultivate it, one must at least reach the second stage of the Heavenly Venerable Path, the Rebirth Realm. The sword technique is divided into six levels, corresponding to the three stages of technique, method, and path. Starting from the third level, one must reach the Night Wanderer Realm to cultivate it. The fifth and sixth levels require one to reach the fourth stage of the Alchemy Realm to be able to cultivate them.

Furthermore, according to Zhang Jing's interpretation of this sword technique, it also has certain requirements for the practitioner's aptitude. Not all practitioners on the Heavenly Venerable path can learn it without hindrance, and the first step, gaining the approval of the Azure Thunder Sword, is no easy task...

However, this seemed to contradict Zhang Jing's feelings. In his previous interactions with Cang Lei Jian, the dog... oh no, the Cang Lei Jian gave him the impression of being one of those street creatures that would wag their tails and follow you home if you gave them a sausage—very easy to communicate with...

After some thought, he came to a certain guess. His main cultivation technique was "Fish-Dragon Transformation". According to legend, creatures of the Jiaolong family are naturally compatible with celestial phenomena such as the sky, thunder, and storms.

In addition, he has had the "Heavenly Punishment Sword" for quite some time now, and has been "possessed" by it more than once. Furthermore, he has been using the lightning power within the Heavenly Punishment Sword to refine his physical body, which should have increased his affinity for the power of "lightning" to some extent.

Besides, swordsmanship has always been his primary means of combat. His immersion in swordsmanship has deepened day by day, especially after experiencing the "Enlightenment Stone," which has elevated his understanding of swordsmanship to a new level. All things considered, this may be the reason why "Azure Thunder" accepted him so easily.

With a guess in mind, Zhang Jing had a thought, and the Azure Thunder Sword automatically retracted, transforming into an ancient bracelet that fastened itself onto his right wrist, shrinking to the appropriate size and settling securely on it.

After that, Zhang Jing removed the bracelet that could transform into a cyan longsword, which he had also worn on his right hand. He would later return it to the sect's treasury. Compared to the Azure Thunder Sword, this longsword seemed rather ordinary. Zhang Jing pondered that he could give it to other novice disciples in the future.

Next, they continued to examine the remaining items. Of the next three items, two were extraordinary items, but unfortunately, they were probably not from the Heavenly Venerable Path, so Zhang Jing temporarily set them aside.

In addition, there is a metal round seal that has been processed into a seal. It looks like it is in the style of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. It may be the private seal of a high-ranking monk or even a Dharma King. The round seal has star-like patterns on it, which makes it very unique. When it was acquired, its material was thought to be "meteorite iron".

In Zhang Jing's view, this should be a round seal made of "starry sky stone". This material is extremely rare. According to the records in the Dharma Treasury, it is usually found in certain special environments in the void and is an excellent extraordinary material.

Afterwards, Zhang Jing discovered another rather interesting object.

This is half a mottled and incomplete tortoise shell, covered with traces of time and weathering, looking extremely broken. According to the information provided by the foundation, although this tortoise shell is an "authentic" antique, its condition is too poor, so the seller did not sell it for a high price and only spent 100 yuan to buy it.

However, when Zhang Jing observed it with his "True Fire Refining Eyes," the half-shell emitted a faint yellow halo. This halo was extremely faint, like a flame about to be extinguished in the wind. Zhang Jing judged that the item was in very poor condition, but judging from the color of the halo, this thing was not simple...

Sure enough, as Zhang Jing slowly refined the tortoise shell using his secret method, some of the attachments on the shell began to peel off gradually. Zhang Jing could clearly feel that the tortoise shell was absorbing his "Qi," just like a plant about to wither in the desert. At the same time, the light on the tortoise shell also began to gradually brighten...

After a while, the tortoise shell had completely turned black, just like a piece of black jade. Although it was only half a piece, its appearance alone was quite remarkable.

Zhang Jing let out a long breath. The tortoise shell absorbed a large amount of his "qi" at once, almost draining him dry, which made him feel dizzy for a moment.

Fortunately, he had the "Demon Refining Pot" in his hand. Zhang Jing took it out, drank some water, and slowly regulated his breathing for a while before recovering.

Upon closer inspection, Zhang Jing discovered that the back of the tortoise shell seemed to be engraved with some images. However, he could now tell that the tortoise shell was a damaged artifact, and quite badly damaged at that. The one he had was less than half of its original size, so he couldn't even confirm what the patterns depicted.

As for the function of this tortoise shell, Zhang Jing had a preliminary understanding through divine communication. It was a rather special treasure, possessing, and having only one, passive ability: