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

Thirty-seven broken swords rang out simultaneously.

Scattered sharpness pressed down from both sides of the stone steps, causing Zhou Lingxuan's just-stabilized sea of ​​consciousness to tremble once more.

This time, the sword intent that invaded his mind did not immediately launch an attack.

They stopped at the outer edge of the sea of ​​consciousness, colliding with each other and vying for position.

Zhou Lingxuan tried to discern the sword techniques within.

But there are too many.

Some of the remaining intent, only half a move remaining, dissipated on its own as soon as it was formed.

Some still retained their master's fighting spirit, and upon sensing his approaching consciousness, they immediately chased after him and attacked.

Zhou Lingxuan stopped pressuring him.

If you can't learn it, use it to refine your consciousness.

He gathered his spiritual power, allowing the thirty-seven residual intents to repeatedly impact him. Whenever a disturbance occurred in a certain area, he immediately mobilized his consciousness to fill the gap.

once.

Ten times.

One hundred times.

Just as the left side of his consciousness stabilized, another gap was torn open on the right side.

Before Zhou Lingxuan could even make repairs, three sword intents simultaneously rushed into the center.

A sharp pain shot through my head.

He sat on the twentieth step, his body swayed twice, and blood dripped down his earlobe.

Old Qin could no longer hold back.

"Brother Zhou, that's enough!"

"You've been sitting here for half an hour!"

Zhou Lingxuan raised his hand to his forehead, without opening his eyes.

"We can still hold on."

"You always say that."

Old Qin stood below, several times preparing to forcibly lead the people away, but in the end he held back.

Zhou Lingxuan is in a bad state, but his aura has not continued to decline.

The chaotic mental fluctuations that were just now are gradually stabilizing.

This is the reason why Elder Qin has been hesitant to take action.

Another half hour passed.

The tremors around the sea of ​​consciousness finally subsided.

Zhou Lingxuan slowly opened his eyes.

The thirty-seven broken swords were still trembling slightly, but the pressure they exerted was no longer as unbearable as before.

He tried to lift his right foot.

Before his feet had even crossed the twentieth stone step, a warning signal immediately came from the depths of his mind.

The intensity of the sword intent ahead has changed.

With just a lift of his foot, more than ten sharp blades simultaneously locked onto him. That power far surpassed that of the broken swords on the outside, and they would all strike down as soon as he stepped down.

Zhou Lingxuan maintained the raised leg position, paused for three breaths, and finally pulled his leg back.

We won't even get to the twentieth step today.

The consequences of forcing your way in are also clear.

When Old Qin saw him turn around, he immediately came to greet him.

"At least I haven't ruined my brain yet."

Zhou Lingxuan walked down the stone steps.

It took me twenty steps to come up, but it took me almost half an incense stick to go back.

Although the lingering thoughts that had entered the sea of ​​consciousness had dissipated, the pain that remained had not disappeared.

Only when his feet left the area of ​​the sword mound did his tense shoulders and back relax.

Old Qin circled around him.

First look at the top of his head, then at his ears, and finally he reached out and pulled at Zhou Lingxuan's eyelids.

Zhou Lingxuan raised his hand and pushed him away.

"Brother Qin, what are you doing?"

"Let's see what you really are."

"I am a human being."

"Could a person really do that?"

Old Qin raised his hand and pointed to the Sword Tomb.

"If someone in the Body Tempering Realm walks up twenty stone steps and endures it for an hour, they can still talk back to me after they come down."

"I've never seen anything like this before in all my years."

Zhou Lingxuan stretched his neck.

"I've seen it now."

"Don't try to fool me."

Old Qin leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"Your sea of ​​consciousness is also extraordinary."

"The sea of ​​consciousness of an ordinary body-tempering cultivator is simply unable to withstand the sword intent. No matter how strong one's will is, it is useless if the sea of ​​consciousness itself cannot withstand it."

"You were wobbling on the first step, but you were much more stable on the twentieth."

Old Qin stared at him for a long time.

"I doubt many of those rumors circulating outside are true."

"What about mixed five elements spiritual root, what about extremely poor talent, and even the blessing of the Heavenly Sword couldn't change my physical constitution."

"You are definitely not the trash they describe."

Zhou Lingxuan did not respond to this.

We can't very well tell Old Qin that the rumors are actually true.

Just a day ago, his sea of ​​consciousness was dry and narrow, and his body was almost buried. He is now able to stand here entirely thanks to the Heaven-Forging Hammer's forceful transformation.

Seeing that he wouldn't speak, Old Qin didn't press him further.

Each monk has his own secrets.

Asking too many questions can easily ruin a newly established relationship.

Zhou Lingxuan turned to look at the low hill covered with broken swords.

From the outer perimeter to the summit, there is still a long way to go; there are twenty stone steps on the entire mountain path, and we haven't even covered a tenth of them.

"It's too far."

"What?"

"The Sword Testing Stone"

Zhou Lingxuan raised his hand and rubbed his temples.

"At the current pace, it will take at least several months to reach the deepest part."

"If I encounter a few sword intents that counter me, it will take even longer."

Old Qin stroked his beard but did not respond immediately.

A moment later, he suddenly looked up.

"I think I understand why you're here."

"What you want is not a testing ground."

"What you want is the sword intent that person left on the testing stone, isn't it?"

Zhou Lingxuan turned around.

"right."

"I'll go anywhere as long as I can come into contact with that sword intent."

Old Qin looked up into the depths of the Sword Tomb, his expression becoming more relaxed.

"You should have told me this sooner."

"I already told you, do you have a solution?"

"It wasn't there before, but it is now."

Old Qin took two steps forward, then turned back to remind him.

"You stay here and wait, don't wander off."

"Especially don't try to climb up while I'm not around."

Zhou Lingxuan looked at him.

Are you going in?

"Otherwise what?"

Old Qin rolled up his sleeves and stepped onto the first stone step.

Zhou Lingxuan was about to remind him to be careful, but before he could finish his sentence, Old Qin had already crossed the first ten levels.

The broken swords on either side of the stone steps remained silent, showing no reaction.

The twentieth floor.

The thirtieth floor.

Old Qin did not slow his pace. With his hands behind his back, he walked deeper into the Sword Tomb, occasionally dodging a few broken swords lying across the road.

The sword intent that had nearly caused Zhou Lingxuan's consciousness to collapse slid away on its own when it landed beside Elder Qin.

In no time, he had reached the halfway point of the mountain.

Zhou Lingxuan stood on the periphery, silent for a long while.

I underestimated the old man.

Qin Zhaoyun was a Golden Core cultivator back then, how could Elder Qin be just an ordinary servant?

"No wonder you dared to say you'd break my legs yesterday."

Zhou Lingxuan touched his knee.

That old man really has that skill.

Old Qin's figure quickly disappeared at the end of the mountain path.

Zhou Lingxuan did not take the opportunity to continue. He sat down cross-legged and seized the time to repair the still unstable part of his sea of ​​consciousness.

About an incense stick later, a few short sword cries echoed from the mountain.

A figure swept down from the mountainside.

Old Qin landed in front of Zhou Lingxuan, his shoes were spotless, and he held a half-foot-long gray stone in his hand.

The stone's surface was covered with cuts, the deepest of which almost sliced ​​it open.

As soon as Zhou Lingxuan looked up, a needle-like pain shot through his brow.

There is sword intent within the stone.

Moreover, it is completely different from the remnants on the periphery.

It did not actively attack Zhou Lingxuan, but remained quietly in the slash mark. However, the closer it got, the more intense the stinging pain on its skin became.

Old Qin handed the stone to him.

"Take it."

Zhou Lingxuan did not answer immediately.

"Did you knock it off the testing stone?"

"You want me to be hung up on the main peak and beaten by the sect leader?"

Old Qin glared at him.

"The sword intent will remain on the things that have been cut, but ordinary materials cannot withstand it and it will not stay for long."

"I went into the Sword Tomb and found a piece of heavy-duty stone, then activated the sword mark on the testing stone and made it make a cut once."

"The power within the stone can only last for two or three days."

"I'll go in and do it after you're done."

Zhou Lingxuan accepted the Shenfeng Stone.

As his fingers touched the stone surface, the sword intent hidden in the slashes trembled slightly. His fingertips were not broken, but his sea of ​​consciousness was forced to contract inward by that force.

The residual slash alone was more powerful than the combined effect of the thirty-seven sword intents on the periphery.

"Are you sure you can do it multiple times?"

"Activating the sword mark isn't difficult; it just takes a little spiritual energy."

Old Qin patted his sleeves.

"But use it sparingly. The Heavily Stone isn't cheap either; I dug this piece out from under a broken sword."

"You dug up someone's grave?"

"The Sword Tomb only contains swords, so where did the graves come from?"

"Burying the sword counts as half a site."

"Go back and study yours quickly."

Old Qin gave him a push.

"This thing dissipates even faster after leaving the Sword Tomb. If you can't figure out the way within two days, I'll think of another method."

Zhou Lingxuan didn't delay any longer. He put the Shenfeng Stone into his storage bag and returned to the abandoned hall along the same route.

Back in the cabin, he first bolted the door, then moved a wooden table to block the entrance.

The stone was placed in the center of the bed board.

Zhou Lingxuan sat cross-legged and extended his consciousness to touch the slash mark.

In an instant, a sword appeared in his senses.

There was no one carrying a sword.

There are no sword techniques.

There were no signs of arrogance, confidence, anger, or murderous intent.

Zhou Lingxuan tried to continue disassembling, but could not find any additional structure.

Qin Zhaoyun's Chuyun Sword Intent contains traces of swordsmanship, the state of mind accumulated from decades of victories, and the will he infused into the sword.

There was none of the sword intent before me.

It kept only one thing.

sword.

A pure sword.

Zhou Lingxuan studied for half an hour, but his mind became increasingly confused.

"What the hell is this thing?"

There is no outward appearance, no emotion, and not even the pattern of power flow can be found.

Its very existence is the entirety of sword intent.

To truly understand this power, even with his current swordsmanship skills, he probably wouldn't be able to grasp the basics even if he spent his entire life.

But he hadn't originally planned to learn this sword technique.

If you can't understand it, just use it as a tool.

The fear within the Izumo sword originates from this sword intent. Once the source of the fear is found using the same source of power, and then forced out of the residual intent, the rest will be easy to handle.

Zhou Lingxuan's mind stirred.

A small purple jade hammer appeared in his palm.

He controlled his strength and gently tapped the cut mark on the stone.

thump.

The stone did not break.

The sharp edge within the slash was completely extracted, transforming into a thin line that was absorbed into the hammerhead.

Zhou Lingxuan closed his eyes to examine the object.

The pure sword intent was preserved separately and was not transformed into nourishment by the Heaven-Forging Hammer.

That little bit isn't enough to deal with the three sections of the Izumo Sword.

He stared at the small hammer for a while, then suddenly raised his hand and pressed it to his forehead.

After an hour of sword intent impact, the outer layer of his sea of ​​consciousness has stabilized considerably. He repaired it again on the way back, and his condition has now recovered to most of its former state.

Using external sword intent to attack can only slowly find weaknesses.

But what if the Heaven-Forging Hammer, carrying this pure sword intent, were to temper the sea of ​​consciousness together?

Zhou Lingxuan diverted some of the power stored in the hammer, keeping it within a range he could withstand.

Purple light slowly gathered towards the hammerhead.

The slender sword intent was also drawn out, overlapping with the purple light.

Zhou Lingxuan adjusted the weight several times and gripped the hammer handle tightly with his right hand.

The next moment, he raised the small purple jade hammer, aimed it at his own head, and gently tapped it down.