A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Sword-Forging Servant and Ascending to Immorta

"Zhou Lang, I'm so sorry. I've made you wait for nearly a hundred years tonight!"

"A century has passed in the blink of an eye, and you remain as beautiful as ever, while I have grown old!"

"The path to immortality is vast and boundless, and the cycle of sixty years is merciless. Zhou Lang, after tonight, your earthly ties are severed! This is the token you gave me back then, and I return it to you now."

Dongxuan Continent, the Miscellaneous Peak of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion in the far west.

Liu Yanran, the newly appointed Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion, stood quietly beside the bed.

She was completely naked, and her snow-white skin glowed with a luminous sheen in the candlelight.

Her long, black hair covered her ample bosom, and her graceful figure resembled that of a goddess from the heavens.

She looked at Zhou Lingxuan, who lay on the bed with a full head of white hair and aged appearance, with a complicated expression, and slowly leaned down.

She gently pressed her red lips to Zhou Lingxuan's forehead and placed a jade hammer of emerald green beside his pillow.

And then he turned around and disappeared into the night.

"Is this a dream?"

Zhou Lingxuan lay on the hard wooden bed, gripping the small jade hammer with a gold necklace attached tightly.

The icy touch made him momentarily lost in thought, and he couldn't help but recall past events.

One hundred and ten years ago, he traveled to this continent and became a child in a small village at the foot of the mountain.

Back then, Liu Yanran was still a crybaby who followed him around all the time.

The two were childhood sweethearts, inseparable since they were little.

At eighteen, he was full of vigor and ambition, while Liu Yanran was beautiful and lovely.

The two made a vow in front of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion's mountain gate to enter the inner sect together and become Daoist partners.

That day, he gave her his family's heirloom, a small purple jade hammer, as a token of their love.

But now, more than ninety years have passed.

Liu Yanran became the sect leader's last disciple, the high and mighty sect saintess.

However, he had always been a menial disciple working as a blacksmith.

For ninety years, he worked day in and day out at the blacksmith shop outside the gate, forging swords.

He thought he would never see her again in this lifetime.

But no one expected that this high and mighty saint would suddenly arrive tonight.

The passionate lovemaking of that night made him feel like he was in a dream.

It wasn't until Zhou Lingxuan saw the bright red stain on the bed sheet that he realized it wasn't a dream.

"The path to immortality is vast and boundless; my mortal ties are severed!"

He murmured those words to himself, realizing that this was probably what they called a breakup run, and felt a pang of bitterness in his heart.

When the rooster crowed, he put aside his distracting thoughts, got up, dressed, picked up his hammer, and headed towards the blacksmith's shop.

"when!"

The crisp sound of hammering echoed from the blacksmith's furnace outside the gate.

Zhou Lingxuan was shirtless and very thin.

Despite being over a hundred years old, he is still very strong and vigorous!

For ninety years, they have worked tirelessly, forging over 990,000 swords.

All for the sake of one day knocking on the door of the cultivation world!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

As Zhou Lingxuan was sweating profusely, an equally aged figure appeared behind him.

"Old Zhou, why are you still so stubborn? You've been forging iron for ninety years, but what good has it all done?"

"If you don't have talent, even if you enter the inner sect, it still won't work."

Old Wang, the nearly ninety-year-old head steward of the outer gate's miscellaneous tasks, sighed!

But Zhou Lingxuan did not stop even after hearing these words.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and brought the hammer down again.

"My dear brother! Please listen to my advice!"

"That person is someone we can only look up to, like the bright moon in the sky that we will never touch in this lifetime."

"Even if you manage to forge a million pieces of ironware and enter the inner sect, what good will it do?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Lingxuan's hammer stopped in mid-air.

The firelight reflected on his deeply lined old face, his eyes filled with struggle and his heart filled with questions.

Was this unwavering dedication over the past ninety years truly for Liu Yanran?

Was it for her?

No.

No.

Perhaps in the first few years, he was indeed desperately forging swords to keep his vow.

But as time went by, while he, a young and talented man, rode his sword with high spirits time and time again, he could only stay by the furnace.

Gradually, entering the inner sect and the true world of cultivation became his only obsession for living.

He wasn't doing it for any woman; he was just trying to prove himself.

Zhou Lingxuan was unwilling to spend his entire life as a mortal who could be trampled on by others.

If one wants to enter the inner sect with the worst five elements spiritual root in their lifetime, there is only one way.

A path set by the founding patriarch, which no one has been able to complete for thousands of years!

That is to forge a million swords with the bodies of mortals!

"when!"

Zhou Lingxuan gripped the hammer tightly and slammed it down again.

Even if it means death, he will finish forging this final sword.

Even if it means death, he wants to see with his own eyes what the world of cultivation really looks like.

As the hammer continued to fall.

Suddenly, a seven-colored light rose into the sky above the blacksmith's forge.

Then a huge bronze sword suddenly fell, making a primordial sound.

"That's the Heavenly Sword?! How did the sect's most powerful artifact, the Heavenly Sword, manifest?!"

"Every time the Heavenly Sword appears, a momentous event occurs in the sect."

"The last time this happened was seventy years ago when Senior Sister Liu Hanyan discovered a top-grade sword spirit root!"

"Could it be that another monstrous disciple with extraordinary talent is about to be born?!"

In an instant, the entire Heavenly Sword Pavilion was alarmed.

Countless sword lights shot out from the various peaks of the inner sect, swarming towards the secluded sword-forging furnace of the outer sect.

Suddenly, a hearty laugh echoed from the mountain peaks.

"Heaven blesses our Heavenly Sword Pavilion! Another peerless genius has awakened the Heavenly Sword!"

The Grand Elder stood high in the sky, his eyes gleaming with excitement, trembling as he gazed at the Heavenly Sword.

The sect leader snatched away the promising talents when the Heavenly Sword descended last time. Now that the sect leader isn't here, it should be my turn!

Imagining the sword light flowing beneath the Grand Elder's feet, he sped towards the outer sect servants' quarters!

"Quick, don't let the other old guys get there first!"

At the same moment, powerful beings appeared on the other six main peaks of the sect.

They all hurriedly headed towards the outer gate!

However, when they landed in front of the sword-making shop and saw the scene before them, their expressions froze.

Beneath the bronze giant sword, there was no peerless monster they had anticipated.

There was only a dilapidated blacksmith shop and an old man with a full head of white hair.

"Second-stage Body Tempering?"

The Third Elder couldn't believe it and thought he had seen wrong.

"With depleted vital energy and nearing the end of life, isn't this just a menial laborer waiting to die?"

After the Fifth Elder's divine sense swept over Zhou Lingxuan, his expression was even more unpleasant than if he had swallowed a fly.

Originally thought to be a sign of the sect's prosperity, it turned out to be an old servant on his deathbed.

The seven powerful beings stood there, unsure whether to leave or stay.

At this time, over a thousand disciples had gathered outside the sword-forging furnace.

The disciples from both the inner and outer sects stood in a dense, dark mass, witnessing a scene never before seen in the sect's history.

A servant with the worst five elements spiritual roots is actually going to enter the inner sect.

"Is he really going to succeed? To fulfill the sect's unparalleled mission?"

"Over ninety years! He actually forged a million ironware items. Ten thousand swords a year? How is that possible!"

The disciples discussed amongst themselves, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

There was admiration, disdain, and even more envy!

Zhou Lingxuan paid no attention to anything around him; his eyes were only on the red-hot iron block on the anvil.

This is the last one.

It was also the millionth item.

Zhou Lingxuan took a deep breath, steadied his trembling arm that was already aching, and slammed it down with all his might.

"when!"

The moment the final hammer fell, a deafening sword cry resounded from the sky.

In an instant, the bronze giant sword suspended in mid-air trembled violently, and a dazzling light enveloped the entire sect.

The grand voice of the founder of the school resounded from the chaos.

"With unwavering obsession and an undying Daoist heart, a million swords will be forged, and one shall embark on the path to immortality."

After the desolate voice faded, the giant sword amidst the myriad rays of light shot out a chaotic aura, enveloping Zhou Lingxuan.

"He did it; he really aroused the Heavenly Sword."

"The last time the Heavenly Sword rang out was seventy years ago, when Senior Sister Liu Yanran discovered her special sword spirit root, wasn't it?"

"Shh, keep your voice down! Are you out of your mind? Senior Sister Liu is a Saintess now; how can you just talk about her like that?"

"I heard that they were childhood sweethearts..."

The murmurs were gradually drowned out by the humming of the golden light.

Bathed in golden light, Zhou Lingxuan felt a warm sensation all over his body.

The previously aching joints no longer hurt, and the depleted meridians seemed to have regained their vitality.

It felt like I was young again, full of boundless energy.

But before he could even feel happy, a burning sensation came from his chest.

The jade hammer that Liu Yanran had returned had lit up at some point.

Then an extremely powerful suction force erupted from the small hammer.

The chaotic golden light enveloping Zhou Lingxuan surged wildly into the purple jade hammer.

In the blink of an eye, the golden light was completely absorbed.

The feeling of youthful vitality vanished instantly, and a heavy, aged body returned.

And the small, burning hammer on his chest disappeared as the golden light faded!

But at that moment, a sound exploded in his mind.

"sky!"

With a single word, the Jade Hammer appeared in his mind, followed by a flood of profound information.

It wasn't until Zhou Lingxuan had fully digested all the inherited memories that he understood.

The purple jade hammer that appeared in my mind, the family heirloom hammer that I gave to my lover.

It was actually an ancient divine weapon, a hammer forged from the heavens, capable of forging all things in the world.

"An ancient divine weapon? Or is it my own cheat code?"

Recalling how he personally gave the golden finger to his lover ninety years ago, Zhou Lingxuan felt a complex mix of emotions.

He stared blankly at the sky, his mind churning with countless thoughts.

"God, are you just playing a cruel joke on me?"