Chapter 286: Sword Immortal Emerges

The two left, and Xu Zhi remained quite calm. He continued to read at his desk, the lamplight flickering. This ancient, scholarly life had a certain charm and sophistication.

In fact, Medusa’s personality was ruthless; she would kill indiscriminately based on her mood and despised those who were decadent, down-and-out, and lacked ambition. If he didn’t help her, she was doomed to fail.

He continued to turn the pages, then looked out at the moonlight and smiled. "Liu Wenjian, you've come back to life in this martial world. I hope you can bring me some surprises and advance this vast, extraordinary world." Not only was Medusa anticipating what would happen in ten years, but he also hoped that when the two worlds fully converged in a decade, they would display their most magnificent aspects, blooming like splendid flowers. The clash of these two civilizations would be epic.

Meanwhile, at a sword-forging manor, the flames in the furnace blazed continuously. All sorts of divine metals and purple copper were laid out before her.

"Recast the sword heart," Medusa said with a smile, gesturing for her to begin.

"Alright!"

The girl smiled, stepped forward, and once again plunged her pale, delicate arm into the high-temperature flames of the furnace. Though the pain reached its worldly extreme, she wielded a small hammer to recast the Bingyi Sword. Clang! Clang! Clang!

She seemed to be transforming and regenerating within the intense flames. She intended to shatter her bones, her very essence, and a lifetime of past dreams and aspirations, then reforge them into a translucent, luminous immortal sword, embedding herself within it. Within it were her life's convictions: reaching the pinnacle of the jianghu, the hardships of challenging the immortal sects, and thirty years of dust and loss from her descent into the mortal world... Scenes flashed, merging into the flickering bright yellow flames.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Throughout the sword-forging manor, a resonant sound began to flow, gradually growing louder. In the deep night, an old blacksmith in the manor was instantly shaken to his core. He abruptly rose and went outside, exclaiming, "Someone is forging a peerless divine sword! It's as if tens of thousands of deities from the immortal realm are hammering a sword!!"

Buzz! At that moment, in nearby towns, the swords carried by countless swordsmen on the streets hummed, emitting a faint, trembling sound. "What powerful sword intent! The king of all weapons! A peerless divine sword is being born..."

"Broken sword reforged, the Human Butcher returns."

Mengmei smiled, looking into the distance. "Medusa is truly an extreme person. She first had her arm healed, then made her break it again... She's practically an animal!!" Little Fox Hu Haihan, though respectful of her teacher, dared not speak ill of her directly, but kept murmuring complaints behind her back. Mengmei's face was filled with longing. As a child of Huaxia, how could she not dream of being a Sword Immortal?

"Riding the sword on the wind, vanquishing demons between heaven and earth!"

The girl's eyes blazed with fire. "This is a Sword Immortal! The extreme path: cultivate the sword, not the body. A mortal body, like an ancient blacksmith who sacrifices his own flesh and blood to the sword, bears extreme pain, and with a long sword and a defiant spirit, cleaves through the sky." The path of the Sword Immortal, from beginning to end, embodies defiance. Mortals overcoming the strong is defiance; enduring excruciating pain to sever an arm is defiance.

Liu Wenjian severed her arm and continued to forge. Using her flesh and bones as the core, and divine metals and purple copper as the hilt, she hammered and forged thousands of times, continuously striking with her small hammer and turning the glowing red sword embryo. Gradually, as the divine sword took shape, its sharp aura shot straight into the sky.

In the Imperial Capital of Great Zhou, a white-haired old man, dressed in a first-rank black court robe, was working at his desk, organizing documents, with two disciples respectfully standing behind him. Suddenly, the lamplight flickered erratically. Hu Rennong abruptly set down his documents, rose with large strides, and with his hands clasped behind his back, looked out the window. "An extreme sword intent has erupted! It's astonishing. A peerless swordsman has emerged. Send the Flying Swallow Envoys to the Southern Domain to thoroughly investigate this matter!"

"Yes, Chancellor."

At the Immortal's Abode, a middle-aged, refined man was drinking under a tree, with a ginseng fruit tree and two young attendants behind him. He suddenly stood up and burst into laughter. "It's her, Liu the Human Butcher! To slaughter others, one must first slaughter oneself. She has returned!" This fleeting sword intent was sensed by many, and it quickly became a legendary tale in the jianghu.

A month later, at night.

A one-armed girl, with a long sword on her back, studied at a desk. Three people sat side-by-side: Bai Xiaosheng in the middle, Medusa on his left, and Liu Wenjian on his right. They studied together, like three students in a classroom. The three discussed the Dao.

"Your teacher is Bai Xiaosheng, not me. He is the best teacher and companion for anyone—pure and flawless," Medusa said with a smile. "These past few days, with his knowledge, you have gradually compensated for your deficiencies. Although your body is blocked, coexisting with the sword nourishes your lifespan, allowing you to extend it slightly."

"What is a sword?" Medusa suddenly asked.

The one-armed girl replied, "Everyone says the sword is a gentleman's weapon, yet it is a lethal instrument, a tool for slaughter. To slaughter others, one must first slaughter oneself. Without the resolve to kill oneself, one cannot truly kill others."

"What is a Sword Immortal?" Medusa asked.

The one-armed girl answered, "The lineage of Sword Immortals strives only for the present. Their lifespan is short, a brilliant flash in a mortal life, not seeking eternal future. They can fight against heaven and earth, cleave through all things in the world, and even, as mortals, cultivate to the extreme and slay an Emperor of Heaven!"

The Sword Immortal lineage is not limited by cultivation realms. This is its extremely terrifying aspect. Living beings cultivating require long years and gradual progression. However, a sword possesses a 'sword heart'—its Dantian, or what cultivators call an inner world. Like other beings, it can cultivate and grow stronger through realms like Purple Mansion, Dao Palace, and Heaven-Grotto, but it doesn't need to progress gradually like living beings. A sword only needs continuous forging, thousands upon thousands of times. As long as there is enough energy and materials, a sword can reach the Heavenly Emperor realm in a single day. However, when the sword and person are one, if the mortal dies, the sword will also shatter and perish.

"In the path of the Sword Immortal, the sword itself is not affected by cultivation realms, but by the wielder. After all, like ordinary people, entering the Heaven-Grotto realm requires an epiphany of that realm to break through. Although you are a mortal, your sword-realm limits the sword's own realm. What level have you reached now?" Medusa asked.

"Although I am mortal, my sword intent has reached the sixth-tier Heaven-Grotto," the one-armed girl replied. "With enough materials and energy, I can recast the Bingyi Sword to reach the sixth tier again in just one month."

"Good."

Medusa smiled, watching the one-armed girl depart that night. She stood up, closed the door, and laughed as she spoke to Bai Xiaosheng, "What an extreme path! As long as the mortal's artistic conception is reached, it doesn't require long years of cultivation, as this is an implement. But her lifespan is too short. I hope she can fight me before she dies of old age... As a witch, everything—her body, her arm, even her very being—was lent to her through equivalent exchange. I will reclaim it all eventually."

"Including the knowledge she gained from you." She smiled faintly, looking at the reading scholar, and then spoke her true thoughts again: "I want to beat her to death!"

As the group traveled the world, observing local customs and traditions, several more years passed, and a piece of news spread throughout the Great Zhou Dynasty.

In the 337th year of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The Great Scholar Hu Rennong lived as a commoner, experiencing a mortal life, and finally pioneered the Divine Dao. He assisted in reforms, absorbed the dragon veins, and established a system of official ranks. With the establishment of official tokens and divine positions, the imperial court underwent a drastic transformation, its power greatly increasing. Distinguished court scholars, with their astonishing talent, suppressed various regions, leading to prosperity everywhere.

In just a few short years, atop the existing dragon veins, the cultivation levels of many Great Scholars, which had stagnated for countless years, began to advance rapidly. Numerous old monsters at the Dao Palace realm, and even Heaven-Grotto realm, emerged.

"Before us stands a Land Immortal. Can we win?" the Great Zhou Emperor whispered in his study.

"If we don't try, how will we know?" Hu Rennong replied.

The Great Zhou Emperor proclaimed to the world: "Knights-errant use martial arts to violate prohibitions! All sects in the world must report themselves, be regulated, and are forbidden from acting as vigilantes. The court's Great Scholars will guard the regions, and wrongdoers will be brought to trial."

Numerous jianghu sects emerged, but the martial artists of these sects refused to comply. Knights-errant roam the world with their swords, filled with heroic spirit, slaying evildoers wherever they find injustice. Why should they submit to the court's jurisdiction? The major sects formed a jianghu alliance, with the Land Immortal Duan Qianyu emerging from seclusion to become their leader.

In less than seven days, the sects, scattered across the land, were systematically besieged and had their mountain gates breached by Hu Rennong and the Great Scholars, suffering heavy casualties.

"Alliance Leader, what should we do?"

"That imperial court is practically the largest cultivation sect in the world, using the common people as its cultivation foundation."

The leaders of the major sects couldn't help but look troubled.

"Assassinate that dog emperor!" A brawny man rose in a fury.

Duan Qianyu laughed, "Emperor Zhou Chang'an of Great Zhou and Chancellor Hu Rennong have established the dragon veins. In the future, the common people will surely live in peace and prosperity, in good order. It will be difficult for local Great Scholars to become corrupt officials, because if they act tyrannically or wickedly, the local populace's grievances will skyrocket, and their incense offerings will diminish... Corrupt officials will be obvious at a glance."

Next to him, a charming woman wielding a sword, radiating allure, laughed loudly, "I hear it's like a 'likes and good reviews' system?"

"It's a good policy."

Beside them, a burly giant with a broad waist, grumbled, holding a black wolf-tooth club, "I haven't read much, but that dog emperor and the Great Zhou Chancellor really have some tricks up their sleeves. Their reform policy, especially the 'good reviews' from the common people's incense offerings, is their cultivation foundation. This way, they can't just hog the latrine without doing their business."

"Then we cannot surrender!" a middle-aged man said elegantly. "How can we martial artists surrender to those scholars? We have embarked on the martial path with fervent heroism. We won't be confined by rules and regulations, nor become the court's lackeys."

Duan Qianyu sat atop, looking at everyone with resolute eyes, and smiled, "As long as I am here, the imperial court will not subdue the sects of the world!"

Most disciples of the major sects numbered no more than a hundred. Rather than being encircled, Duan Qianyu ordered them to relocate their sects to the northern frontier region to resist the imperial court.

Another day, during the morning court session, Emperor Zhou Chang'an of Great Zhou spoke: "The barbarian northern frontier region, a provincial area, is not under court jurisdiction. Its people are fierce, the chivalrous spirit flourishes, and the dragon veins cannot extend there. Should the Great Zhou iron cavalry flatten it?"

"Your subject is willing to go," Hu Rennong said, his gaze profound, stepping forward.

Zhou Chang'an said, "Duan Qianyu, the martial arts legend, he alone is the Way of the Sword, he is the entire jianghu. Do you have confidence?"

In the 338th year of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Imperial Advisor Hu Rennong led an army of ten thousand "tiger-wolf" warriors, along with countless Great Scholars of the court, to conquer Beian. The ground trembled slightly as the vast army swept in, a dense, dark mass exuding an aura of slaughter, carrying the scent of war.

"Form ranks!"

Hu Rennong stepped forward. "Knights-errant are bandits who disrupt the court's order. They must all be suppressed." With a flick of his sleeve, thunderous Daoist techniques formed in the sky, about to strike the martial alliance before him. Some swordsmen revealed great shock. How could Hu Rennong unleash such earth-shattering power?

Duan Qianyu, standing aloft, laughed loudly, "Hu Rennong came slowly, setting up camp at every step, leading a large army not for direct combat, but to lay down dragon veins along the way, drawing the nation's fortune to fight me. This is not something human strength can withstand."

Those around held their breath. Carrying a nation's fortune, how prosperous was the Great Zhou's destiny? How could a single martial artist stand against an entire nation?

Duan Qianyu suddenly smiled. "As long as I am here, the imperial court will not subdue the sects of the world!"

"But perhaps, this is no longer our era," he said, slowly drawing his sword, looking at the old Great Scholar. The moment he drew his sword, heavenly thunder rumbled, swirling with endless aura, and he clashed fiercely with the nation's fortune. Duan Qianyu, the Sword God, and Hu Rennong battled, both erupting with quasi-Emperor realm power.

A hundred li away, in a house, a one-armed girl was cleaning her sword with wine. Although she possessed a mortal body, she now had the Heaven-Grotto artistic conception of a quasi-Emperor. Her body, cleansed by sword intent, shed impurities and emitted a faint, first fragrance of flowers. Though she still experienced the mortal cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death, and her body was extremely fragile, her eyes had become incredibly clear and radiant, making one feel an irresistible urge to approach her.

"A Sword Immortal does not cultivate the body, only the sword!"

She continuously cleaned her sword with wine, then suddenly looked out the window, let out a loud laugh, and stepped out with great strides. She lightly leaped onto her long sword, which transformed into a streaking light, soaring through the clear sky for thousands of miles. Though a mortal, unable to ascend to heaven on her own, she could fly on her sword, soaring between heaven and earth. After flying for a moment, she suddenly spotted the two factions on the ground.

Hu Rennong and Duan Qianyu were locked in combat. Hu Rennong was her senior disciple-brother, both being Bai Xiaosheng's students, while Duan Qianyu was her martial arts senior and someone she owed a favor to.

With a sudden leap, she plummeted fiercely from the sky, holding her sword in one hand. The wind whistled past her ears as she slowly swung her sword towards the ground. In an instant, winds and clouds gathered across heaven and earth. The immense sword qi condensed into a tangible substance. It was as if this sword, striking down from mid-air, contained infinite worlds, with flowers, birds, insects, and fish, seemingly separating two distinct realms, forming a colossal barrier.

Boom! The earth was violently cleaved apart! Inch by inch, the ground rose and bulged, forming a rugged, towering mountain range that severed the two opposing forces.