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

Old Qin didn't linger. After handing the jade slip to Zhou Lingxuan, he turned and walked into the night.

Zhou Lingxuan closed the door and sat back down at the table with the missing leg.

Holding the warm, smooth jade slip in his hand, he sighed.

He really needs this.

Today I jumped six steps in one day. Although no one noticed because of the remoteness of the abandoned hall, what about the future?

We can't hide by the fire pit at the bottom of this valley forever.

Once he goes out, and encounters anyone with even a little bit of cultivation, his eighth-level Body Tempering Qi and Blood will be impossible to hide.

But is it really worth getting involved in this mess?

Qin Zhaoyun, formerly ranked second on the century-old sword ranking list, is the most outstanding genius of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion.

Is it really possible for someone like this to become so completely despondent just because they lost a competition?

Who was the first place winner he challenged?

Now that Qin Zhaoyun has fallen on hard times and ended up in a dilapidated place, will his former rivals and enemies be secretly watching this place?

As a newly recruited outer sect servant, if I were to rashly get involved in a storm of this magnitude, I could easily be crushed to pieces.

Ninety years of life as an outer disciple taught Zhou Lingxuan a lesson.

Playing dumb and staying out of the spotlight is the best way to survive.

But sometimes, opportunity just presents itself.

The world of cultivation is inherently about fighting against the heavens and against other people.

If you can't even take this small risk, what kind of immortal cultivation are you trying to achieve? You might as well go back to the outer sect and keep forging iron and waiting to die.

Zhou Lingxuan suddenly tightened his fingers.

"Click."

The jade slip shattered.

A cool current flowed from his palm straight to his forehead, transforming into countless mysterious runes that merged into his sea of ​​consciousness.

The Secret of Concealing Breath.

The name is ordinary, but the content is extremely ingenious.

It can not only suppress qi, blood, and spiritual power, but also simulate the false aura of different realms.

Zhou Lingxuan closed his eyes and circulated the Qi and blood in his body according to the method.

The blood and qi of the eighth level of Body Tempering, which had been surging like a river, gradually calmed down and finally only maintained a slight fluctuation at the second level of Body Tempering.

He opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.

I'll take this deal.

The next morning.

The miasma in the abandoned hall was lighter than at night, and the hazy sunlight filtered into the valley.

Zhou Lingxuan pushed open the door and stretched.

He has completely concealed his aura, and looks no different from the old man who was on his deathbed when he first arrived yesterday.

Even his presence became extremely low due to the effects of the "Concealing Breath Technique".

Several early-rising laborers, preparing to go to work, passed by his door, yawning as they walked, but not one of them turned to look at him.

It's as if he's a stone growing by the door.

Zhou Lingxuan was very satisfied with the result.

Following his memory of yesterday, he walked toward the office.

Not far away, they saw Old Qin sitting cross-legged on a blue stone, his eyes closed as he practiced breathing exercises.

Sensing Zhou Lingxuan's footsteps, Elder Qin suppressed his faint spiritual energy and stood up with a smile.

"Hey buddy, did you sleep well last night?"

"Thanks to Brother Qin, I slept quite soundly." Zhou Lingxuan stepped forward.

The two understood each other without saying a word.

Old Qin gestured for him to proceed.

"Let's go, the young master is waiting for you in the courtyard."

Zhou Lingxuan followed Old Qin, bypassing the dilapidated wooden house where the steward was located, and walked deeper into the valley.

The further you go in, the thinner the miasma becomes.

Finally, a rather elegant courtyard appeared before us.

Several unknown spirit trees grew in the courtyard, their leaves shimmering with a faint blue light, completely isolating the surrounding miasma from the outside world.

Qin Zhaoyun sat at the stone table in the center of the courtyard.

He still looked half-dead, just like yesterday, with a pale face, sunken eyes, and an aura of chilling cold emanating from him.

When Zhou Lingxuan entered, Qin Zhaoyun didn't even lift her eyelids.

Old Qin walked to the stone table, took out a long, narrow wooden box from his storage bag, and carefully placed it on the table.

"Brother, this is the young master's sword."

Zhou Lingxuan stepped forward, his gaze falling on the wooden box.

The wooden box was unlocked. Old Qin reached out and unfastened the clasp, then lifted the lid.

Zhou Lingxuan peeked out and was stunned.

The box was lined with fine velvet, and on it lay three broken sword sections.

There was no flash of inspiration, no chilling aura.

The sword blade had a dark gray-black color, and there were even a few fine rust marks on the surface.

The material, the texture.

Zhou Lingxuan has been forging iron for ninety years; he can feel it even with his eyes closed.

"Ordinary iron?"

Zhou Lingxuan raised his head and looked at Elder Qin with a face full of astonishment.

"Don't tell me that the second-ranked genius on the century-old sword ranking uses such a common iron sword?"

Old Qin gave a wry smile and nodded.

"Brother, you have a good eye. This is indeed an ordinary iron sword."

"However, it is not ordinary iron."

Old Qin pointed to the broken sword in the box.

"Young master started practicing swordsmanship at the age of ten, and this is the very sword he used. From mortal to Foundation Establishment, and then to Golden Core, he has never changed his sword."

"Although this sword is made of ordinary iron, in your hands, it is no less powerful than any top-grade spiritual weapon."

Zhou Lingxuan frowned as he listened.

Not changing the sword?

As a cultivator's strength increases, their requirements for weapons also become more demanding.

Even if you nurture a plain iron sword with spiritual energy every day, the limits of its material are still there.

When it encounters a truly powerful weapon, it shatters upon contact.

"Can I touch it?" Zhou Lingxuan asked.

Old Qin hesitated for a moment and looked at Qin Zhaoyun.

Qin Zhaoyun kept her eyes closed, as if she hadn't heard.

Old Qin then nodded.

"Be careful, brother."

Zhou Lingxuan stretched out his right hand and grabbed at one of the broken sword sections.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the sword.

"Sizzle!"

A very faint sound.

Zhou Lingxuan abruptly withdrew his hand.

He looked down and saw that there were more than a dozen tiny cuts on the pads of his index and middle fingers.

Fresh blood seeped out instantly.

Zhou Lingxuan was greatly alarmed.

He now possesses a body at the eighth level of Body Tempering, and it was just tempered yesterday with the Heaven-Forging Hammer, making his skin and flesh far more resilient than others at the same level.

Even if you were to swipe a low-grade flying sword across his hand, you might not be able to leave a mark.

But now, he was cut without even touching the sword.

"What's going on?" Zhou Lingxuan shook the blood off his hands.

Old Qin sighed.

"It's sword intent."

"The Izumo Sword is the culmination of your life's work. You follow an extremely unique path of swordsmanship."

Old Qin looked at the three broken sword sections, his tone filled with regret.

"I will only cultivate one sword technique in my entire life, and I will only use one sword technique in my entire life."

"He poured all his energy and understanding of the sword into this ordinary iron."

"As long as the sword is there, the person is there; if the sword is destroyed, the person is destroyed."

Zhou Lingxuan gasped after hearing this.

"Such an extreme approach?"

He bound his life, his cultivation, and his sword intent to a piece of ordinary iron.

This guy is absolutely insane.

No wonder Qin Zhaoyun turned into this horrible state after losing that competition.

If the sword breaks, it's as if his path has been broken, and all his efforts have been wasted.

Old Qin gave an awkward smile.

"Geniuses always have some unique obsessions."

Zhou Lingxuan didn't respond. He stared at the broken sword in the box, his mind racing with calculations.

As a blacksmith who had forged a million ordinary swords, he could spot the flaws in this sword at a glance.

"Brother Qin."

Zhou Lingxuan pointed to the broken section.

"If it's just about repairing this sword, it's not difficult."

"It's just ordinary iron. As long as I gather all the materials and control the heat properly, I can join it together perfectly, without leaving even a scratch."

Old Qin's eyes lit up, and he was about to speak when Zhou Lingxuan changed the subject.

"but."

"I cannot cultivate the sword intent on this sword."

Zhou Lingxuan looked at Elder Qin and spoke very bluntly.

"The sword is broken, and its sword intent has dissipated. What remains on it now are only some uncontrolled sharpness."

"Even if I fix the sword, it will still be just an ordinary iron sword and cannot bear the original swordsmanship of your young master."

"It's simply impossible to repair both sword intent and sword intent at the same time."

Zhou Lingxuan finally understood why so many weapon-refining masters in the sect dared not take on this job.

Cultivating the sword is easy, cultivating the will is difficult.

If he can't be fixed, Qin Zhaoyun will still be a cripple.

If this drives this former prodigy crazy, who can bear the consequences?

The joy on Old Qin's face vanished instantly, and he became even more hunched over.

He remained silent for a long time before reluctantly speaking.

"Brother, since you can wield the Heavenly Sword with your mortal body, it means you have a talent in forging that is beyond the reach of ordinary people."

"Even the Heavenly Sword acknowledges you, so perhaps... you have some special methods?"

Zhou Lingxuan remained silent.

What good is Heavenly Sword's approval? Heavenly Sword isn't omnipotent.

He relied on the Heaven-Forging Hammer in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Can the Heavenly Hammer be used to cultivate sword intent?

Zhou Lingxuan stared at the three broken sword sections, lost in thought.

The four supernatural powers of the Heavenly Hammer are quenching, forging, melting, and casting.

Yesterday he tried to use "forging" to enhance the ordinary iron short sword, but the short sword could not withstand the infusion of spiritual power and shattered into dust.

That's because the material of ordinary iron is too poor to withstand such enormous power.

But this Izumo sword is different.

Although it is ordinary iron, after decades of nurturing with Qin Zhaoyun's sword intent, its material has undergone a qualitative change.

More importantly, it retains traces of sword intent.

in case……

A bold idea suddenly popped into Zhou Lingxuan's mind.

When forging iron, if there are impurities in the iron ore, it needs to be repeatedly hammered to force out the impurities and forge the iron to be purer.

What about sword intent?

Could sword intent also be considered a special kind of "material"?

If you treat sword intent as iron and use a forging hammer to pound and temper it, can you reassemble the scattered sword intent?

The more Zhou Lingxuan thought about it, the more confident he became.

He raised his head and looked at Old Qin.

"Brother Qin."

Zhou Lingxuan stroked his chin and slowly spoke.

"If I could treat this sword intent like iron and forge it, then..."

"Perhaps we can actually try to repair it."