Chapter 1767: Gui Zhe Mountain's Two Pillars Present the Casket, A Thousand Forms Conceal Bitterness and Are Drawn from the Sheath

Jian Lai?

In the future, what kind of sword will there be? The Five Domains do not know.

Perhaps it’s Si, perhaps Yanmang, but after more than a month of waiting, we have finally seen Shou Ye and Emperor Cang Sheng face off directly!

“Is it coming?”

Feng Zhongzui, brimming with excitement, held the Chuandao Jing high in the distance. He dared not intervene in the battle, yet desperately wanted to get closer.

Shou Ye’s previous breakthrough in the Dead Sea, the changes in his sword momentum, and the transformation of his Sword Dao profound diagram...

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that he must have obtained great fortune and made immense progress.

And now, among the Five Domains, is there anyone else besides Ai Cang Sheng who is qualified to test this sword, and whose standing is adversarial enough to do so? It seems there truly is no one else.

“Ying—”

A sword hum echoed in the void.

Far opposite Shou Ye’s raised hand.

From the nameless sky, a slightly unusual sword cry came.

This sound, perhaps at other times, few would be able to discern its origin.

But now!

Shou Ye is the newly crowned number one Sword Immortal in the Five Domains.

Although the FENG family’s ranking announcement did not make a big splash and dared not overshadow the momentum of the battle between Sheng Nu and the Sheng Shen Diantang head-on.

Yet, like a clap of thunder on flat ground, it still caused an uproar.

Which force dares to claim they haven’t studied Shou Ye? Which family dares to be confident that if a junior in their family provokes Shou Ye, they would remain fearless?

Since they have studied Shou Ye, who doesn't know his three swords throughout his life?

Among these people, Feng Zhongzui, who is half of Shou Ye’s family, was the most emotional.

He held the Chuandao Jing, aiming it at a narrow, elongated rift that suddenly appeared in the distant sky, and exclaimed with emotion:

“It’s not You Si Jian, it’s not Yanmang, it’s…

“Cang Ku!”

His excitement paused for a moment, and Feng Zhongzui’s face showed astonishment. He clearly remembered something and said in disbelief:

“But!

“To fight Emperor Cang Sheng, he’s using a third-grade Cang Ku?”

Ying—

A crisp and lingering sword cry pierced and overflowed from the void rift.

All who heard it felt their minds waver.

An extremely mysterious, irritating, and uncomfortable sensation permeated them.

It was as if a sword had been thrust into their heart, but not completely, only lodged between flesh and skin, twisting back and forth.

It drew blood, but was not fatal.

It only vexed, without killing, causing unbearable suffering.

“What is that?!”

Feng Zhongzui initially thought it was Cang Ku, but then realized he must have guessed wrong.

Cang Ku is a third-grade sword. How could it possess such powerful sword intent?

This eerie and agile feeling, if it were said to be one of the renowned swords, capable of Heavenly Dissolution, Feng Zhongzui would believe it.

As expected!

Soon, he saw something slowly emerging from the void rift…

“A person?”

It was a burly man, with purple lightning faintly flowing around him.

His upper body was completely bare, revealing bulging muscles, and his bronze skin was covered in sweat, glistening in the setting sun.

He was panting, as if he had just finished exercising or had rushed from a faraway place. As the Chuandao Jing slowly zoomed in…

The Five Domains then saw that this big man’s arms were bent, holding a black sword box more than three feet long, but seemingly very heavy.

“Ying—”

The frantic and irritating sword hum emanated from the sword box.

This time, the sword cry sounded exceptionally excited, causing the black sword box containing the sword to tremble slightly.

“Cao Erzhu…”

Feng Zhongzui clearly recognized the person presenting the sword.

After all, he had heard this big man explain Che Shen Nian to everyone in Yu Jing City before.

Now, the focus was clearly not on Cao Erzhu’s identity, Che Shen Nian, or any other miscellaneous things.

“A sword box!”

“This is a sword box made of sealed stone!”

“Er Zhu also cultivates the body, yet he finds this sword box so heavy to hold. What kind of ‘ghostly’ things are inside?”

The sword hum from the box was incessant and terrifying.

One could imagine, if this sword box were opened and its contents released…

“Wait!”

Feng Zhongzui’s pupils suddenly dilated, and he stammered, tearing:

“Cao Erzhu, isn’t he Kui Leihan’s son?”

“Besides being one of the Ten Revered Ones, Kui Leihan also holds the title of the strongest smith in the world.”

“Gentlemen, you might not know…”

Feng Zhongzui clearly remembered something else, speaking at an extremely fast pace and with a tone of surprise:

“Kui Leihan, I heard he was suspected of forging the Injured Sword, Da Bei Lei Wu Jian, back then!”

“What is the Injured Sword? It’s one of the Twenty-one Renowned Swords!”

“Whether this is true or not, let’s not discuss it for now, as I also heard it through hearsay. But the old patriarch personally told me another secret, a secret that is absolutely guaranteed to be true—the Recast Sword, Xiang Long Third Grade!”

The Five Domains were all bewildered.

Clearly, this was too much of a secret, and not many people knew about it.

Feng Zhongzui swallowed with difficulty, then continued:

“The old patriarch… Feng Tingchen, my Feng family’s patriarch, was also one of the Seven Sword Immortals, of the same generation as the Eighth Sword Immortal.”

“He actually privately asked the Eighth Sword Immortal how to cultivate ‘Sword Intent’.”

“Whether they taught or learned it between them, I don’t know, but the story I heard from the old patriarch is…”

“Ba Zun An cultivated Sword Intent through a sword named ‘Xiang Long’—Kui Leihan infused Che Shen Nian into the sword, and Ba Zun An gained insights from observing it. Both of them had extremely strong comprehension abilities; they understood tacitly, without needing words.”

“But Xiang Long is not like that!”

“Xiang Long was merely a sixth-grade spirit sword, with nothing special about it. It was successively affected by Sword Intent, dropping from sixth-grade to below tenth-grade. However, after adapting to Sword Intent, it gained sentience, returned to sixth-grade, and its potential was greatly elevated!”

“To commemorate this, Kui Leihan melted Xiang Long down and reforged it… Xiang Long thus ascended to third-grade!”

Upon hearing this, the Five Domains erupted in an uproar.

Everyone had heard many versions of how the first generation’s Che Shen Nian, Fa Shen Xing Jie, evolved into the second generation’s Che Shen Nian, Sword Intent.

But rarely had anyone heard a version from an ancient sword cultivator like Feng Zhongzui, who even went so far as to sacrifice his old patriarch’s reputation to verify the story’s authenticity.

This story sounded much more credible.

However, the content of Feng Zhongzui’s words, upon closer thought, was somewhat exaggerated.

“A sixth-grade spirit sword, reforged, and not dropping to seventh-grade is already good, isn’t it?”

“A strong one might maintain its original grade, at most ascending to fifth-grade… Xiang Long, third-grade?”

“Feng Zhongzui, how much have you drunk?!”

“Feng Zhongzui, I think you’re truly drunk!”

For a time, the Five Domains were filled with curses. This little anecdote, inserted at this moment, didn’t provoke much thought, only earned him a lot of trouble.

But Feng Zhongzui wasn’t simply telling stories or being annoying.

If the old patriarch hadn’t told him these things, he wouldn’t have known, and he wouldn’t have believed it if someone else had said it.

The reason he spoke at this moment was not because of his feelings for Cao Ba, but because of the sword box he was currently seeing!

“Everyone, don’t forget ‘the son inheriting the father’s legacy’…”

Feng Zhongzui’s voice trembled as he stared intently at the sword box in Cao Erzhu’s hand, pulling the people of the Five Domains back with a single sentence.

Ying—

The sword’s hum from the box clearly continued, growing more intense.

It sounded so familiar, so similar to the “master-devouring anecdotes” found in various unofficial histories about Shou Ye, the First Sword Immortal!

At this moment.

It further ignited people’s imaginations.

Feng Zhongzui not only dared to imagine but, upon realizing that anything was possible, could no longer contain his confusion and shouted out:

“Could it be that Shou Ye’s sword was given to Cao Erzhu to be reforged?!”

“Cao Ba’s friendship, passed down like a torch?”

The Chuandao Jing zoomed in, no longer just focusing on the increasingly trembling sword box, but moving to Cao Erzhu’s rugged, sweat-soaked face.

Beads of sweat rolled down from his thick eyebrows, and Erzhu’s face was flushed, his emotions uncontrollable.

“Little Shou Ge…”

He whispered, his tongue seemed to be tied in knots, and he couldn’t utter a word for a long time.

He seemed to have a thousand words to say, wanting to describe the process, complain about the hardships, and share his joy.

He couldn’t say anything.

When the world’s attention converged on Cao Erzhu, and Cao Erzhu realized that the Chuandao Jing, and even the world, was staring at him at that moment.

He finally couldn’t hold back.

He bent his knees, bowed his body, like a rampaging beast, all words transforming into a roaring shout that echoed across rivers and mountains:

“Are kings, nobles, generals, and prime ministers born to be so?!!”

The black sword box cracked in response.

By the time Cao Erzhu finished that shout, the black sealed stone, which resembled black stone prison bars, exploded into powder before him.

“Ying—”

Shedding its box and sheath.

The sword's cry now was no longer muffled as if behind a veil.

Instead, it conveyed a genuine, clear, and even "bone-chilling" killing intent.

“Renowned Sword!”

Feng Zhongzui dared not say that such sword intent was not from a renowned sword.

Anyone with such spirituality, anyone harboring such killing intent, even if previously unknown, would surely join the ranks of renowned swords later.

So, would it be…

“Cang Ku?”

Feng Zhongzui craned his neck, looking around, tense and expectant, “Will it be Cang Ku?!”

How could the Five Domains’ Spirit Refiners know the obsession of ancient sword cultivators with nurturing a sword from scratch, from an initial companion sword, to transforming it into a renowned sword?

They would also not know how difficult this path is, fraught with countless obstacles, much like the myriad experiences of life, no matter the process, mostly ending in tragic death.

The difficulty of nurturing a sword stumped Rao Yaoyao’s Xing Yue Ge Zhe, and broke Mei Siren’s beloved Bai Xi, hence the saying, “Xuan Cang emerges from Sheng Huan, Tai Cheng journeys the heavens again.”

Thus, Ba Zun An was named You Si.

Thus, Hua Changdeng cultivated Gui Shou.

Thus, in the Five Domains, those referred to as Sword Immortals mostly wielded the most powerful swords passed down from ancient times—imbued with the fortune of heaven and earth, and the illustrious names of their predecessors.

Qing Ju thought of transcendence.

Qing Ju, once broken, also succumbed to degradation.

And even the most famous Sword Immortals of current and past times could not escape the difficulty of nurturing their swords—how could Cang Ku achieve transcendence for Shou Ye?

But there are no absolutes in life!

Just like Cao Erzhu’s absurd and inexplicable roar, that cry of “Are kings, nobles, generals, and prime ministers born to be so?”…

If there are no born kings and nobles.

How can there be naturally born renowned swords?

Regardless of whether they are naturally formed or nurtured by human renown, all swords undergo a complete process from cocoon to butterfly.

Why can't this “cocoon” be Ling Gong Cang Ku?

Why can't this “butterfly” be the one that breaks free from the box and emerges today?

“Are kings, nobles, generals, and prime ministers born to be so?”

The people of the Five Domains, for reasons unknown, found their emotions stirred by Cao Erzhu’s roar, their blood beginning to boil.

And what Feng Zhongzui had been anticipating.

What ancient sword cultivators longed to see.

And what all the Spirit Refiners were witnessing in the Chuandao Jing feed…

The sword box shattered.

The black sword within soared upwards, directly to the nine heavens.

It was like a dragon returning to the sea, having broken free from its shackles, twisting and turning; like an elephant returning to land, stripped of its restraints, its power shaking people.

“Cang Ku!”

Feng Zhongzui’s face was flushed as he roared hoarsely.

Though it was merely a fleeting glimpse, the Chuandao Jing barely managed to capture the twisted sword, yearning for freedom, as it rapidly vanished into the sky.

But that distortion, that wriggling, that squealing and whimpering…

The moment it appeared.

Feng Zhongzui recognized it.

It must be Cang Ku, Shou Ye’s companion sword since the beginning in Ling Gong, without a doubt. And what was most shocking was…

“Cang Ku First Grade!”

“Concealing eighteen dragon-elephants, suffering yields a thousand lives.”

As the black sword broke through the air, sword intent surged, and sword momentum spread.

Its power and essence captivated countless spirit swords throughout the Five Domains. Amidst the resounding echoes from various spirit swords, it conveyed this sound to Spirit Refiners everywhere.

All who heard this sound felt a sudden enlightenment, as if they had witnessed the extraordinary phenomenon of Cang Ku being reforged.

They saw within a sea of fire, upon a colossal silver shield, beneath a thunderous hammer…

A three-foot sword, wailing and moaning.

Innumerable times it was forged, innumerable times refined, shattered into pieces, then reformed anew.

Its spirit remained unbroken.

Its nature, immortal.

Suffering and brutality did not destroy this sword; instead, they endowed its sword spirit with the most tenacious resilience. When the final hammer struck, when Cao Erzhu imbued Cang Ku with new life:

“Dang—”

The Five Domains seemed to hear the final hammer strike, and also the very first, unheralded sound of this sword’s birth.

No need for words.

It could be understood instinctively.

“Concealing eighteen dragon-elephants, suffering yields a thousand lives.”

Everyone suddenly realized that the “new life” Cao Erzhu had given to Shou Ye’s companion sword was tailor-made:

This dragon is not merely a dragon; this elephant is not merely an elephant.

The best among water-traveling dragons, the first among land-traveling elephants.

What Cao Erzhu endowed Cang Ku with was the ultimate strength:

In the strongest place, with the strongest shield and the strongest hammer, through countless rounds of hardship and brutalization, the strongest spirit was forged!

And now, Cang Ku has emerged from its box.

After the vision of its reforging disappeared.

Those observing before the Chuandao Jing in various places, whether ancient sword cultivators or not, each seemed to witness Shou Ye’s life, and their own lives:

From Ling Gong, to now.

From “having nothing,” to “living up to one’s reputation”!

“This, this is the First Sword Immortal!”

Feng Zhongzui was already overcome with emotion, unable to extricate himself.

He had personally witnessed the birth of a “renowned sword,” and had personally recorded the entire process with the Chuandao Jing.

What about the Twenty-One Renowned Swords?

Though Cang Ku is not yet among them, at this moment, it has just been born, just reborn; its power can suppress renowned swords, and the twenty-one are not enough to shake it.

The spirit of youth, eager to contend for glory.

When he saw Cang Ku burst from its box, galloping towards the sky, unfurling a black sword light in the nine heavens.

What Feng Zhongzui saw was…

A future where he, too, would be famous across the four seas and renowned throughout the Five Domains.

He took a deep breath, his awe-struck expression barely concealed, and muttered in a hushed voice:

“Though Qing Ju was broken, its name still shines.”

“Cang Ku is not old, Jian Li is rising!”

The setting sun was like blood, a black rainbow arched across the sky.

Youthful passion, elderly sighs.

At He Ting Mountain in Zhongyu, Mei Siren stood by the nearly dried-up Mi Zao Spring.

When he saw Xu Xiaoshou summon his sword, Cao Erzhu present the box, Cang Ku making its name, and the dawn of a new era for youth…

He shook his head and smiled.

He also saw his younger self.

But he was already past his youth, now newly a Half-Saint, with a vast and uncertain path ahead. Indeed, in his old age, he felt more lost than in his youth.

Mei Siren also felt something, his sigh palpable:

“The spirit flourishes, the intent shines bright.”

“White cranes pluck lotuses, the immortal path stretches far.”

Is the path of a Sword Immortal truly so distant?

It can be achieved in three years, and transcendence too!

Ba Zun An’s swords, and his return, are largely hidden within the domain, blending into the vast sea of humanity.

He cannot see.

Yet he can hear Cang Ku breaking from its box, a black rainbow piercing the sky.

This is the sword.

Is this not for oneself?

“Ten years nurturing a sword, renowned by the world without a name.”

“On this day, the rainbow awakens, startling even gods and ghosts.”