Chapter Nineteenth: The Legend of the Divine Sword

  Refining Heart Temple

  In the bamboo forest, a white stone table was surrounded by Lu Qing, Duan Qingyun, Yu Jihua, Zhao Qianye, and Nie Qingtian. On the stone table were several jars of Qingyu wine that Duan Qingyun had begged Nie Qingtian for a long time. The five people were casually discussing some historical events of Wufeng at this moment.

  It has been two days since the Grand Comparison, and according to the news from Purple Mist Peak, the time for entering the Sword Pool is set for ten days later. At that time, all disciples of the Five Peaks who have met the requirements will gather at the Purple Mist Great Hall on Purple Mist Peak, where Sect Master Luo Qianfeng will personally lead them into the Sword Pool.

  These past few days, Lu Qing and the others did not engage in any cultivation. Instead, they spent their days drinking wine and discussing sword techniques, or sharing tales of mystical beasts, putting aside all distractions as they waited for the day they would enter the Sword Pool.

  Even Lu Qing, who had been cultivating for a long time, deeply agreed with this point. Even if he wanted to cultivate, it wouldn't be urgent in the next ten or so days. A tense and concentrated mind would not have any benefits when entering the sword pool, and might even affect the harmony between his state of mind and heaven and earth, thus hindering the progress of his state of mind and ultimately leading to a bottleneck in his cultivation that he couldn't break through.

  "By the way, who among you knows something about our sect's Sword Pond?" After discussing for a while, Duan Qingyun suddenly had an idea and asked.

  "Jian Chi——" Nie Qing Tian pondered for a moment after hearing the words, saying, "I have indeed heard some rumors about this in the Foreign Affairs Hall, but as to whether it's true or not, I couldn't say."

  "What is it?" Duan Qingyun's eyes rolled, and a deep curiosity appeared in her eyes. The three people beside Lu Qing also turned their attention to Nie Qingtian.

  "Jian Chi, the birthplace of the sword, is also a place to store swords. At its center lies a low-grade divine sword, and the surrounding area absorbs the primordial energy of heaven and earth. Countless swords can be placed around it, gathering the primordial energy to nourish the sword body through the momentum of ten thousand swords returning to their origin. Over time, it can even improve the quality of the swords to a certain extent. It can be said that it is a growing armory. In the Jian Shen continent, Jian Chi is the foundation of a sect's establishment."

  After a pause, Nie Qing Tian continued: "And according to legend, in the Sword Pool of my Purple Mist Sect, there is a White Spirit-grade divine sword that can seize the creation of heaven and earth."

  "Bai Ling-class divine sword!" Duan Qingyun couldn't help but exclaim, while Yu Jihua and Zhao Qianye's faces also showed shocked expressions. Even as the heir of the Lu Qing swordsmith family, he was stunned by this news.

  Bai Ling-level divine sword, that's almost a legendary thing, corresponding to the same level as the sect. In fact, each sect's sword pool also has its own differences in the center of the pool. Generally, an ordinary Qianfan-level sect would have only one Qianfan-level divine sword as the center of the pool to nurture ten thousand swords. A few powerful sects might have a Jintian-level divine sword, just like the Zixia Sect. Of course, Jintian-level divine swords are generally owned by Jintian-level sects.

  And the White Spirit-level divine sword, it almost only exists in those White Spirit-level sects that have been passed down for tens of thousands of years, like the Zixia Sect. Although Lu Qing and others also hope to become stronger and stronger, they don't even dare to think about the White Spirit-level divine sword.

  The Lu family has been casting swords for generations, and Lu Qing has some understanding of the casting of fourth-grade divine swords. Unlike Qingfan and Jintian's second-grade divine swords, which at most have some powerful auxiliary functions, such as amplifying sword yuan or attack, or having some special effect abilities.

  However, things are different when it comes to the White Spirit level. The so-called divine sword with a spirit that has been passed down for tens of thousands of years actually refers to a divine sword that has reached the White Spirit level. A White Spirit-level divine sword has already given birth to spiritual intelligence within its body, and through the creation of heaven and earth, a sword spirit is born.

  "Bai Ling-level divine sword," Duan Qingyun muttered to himself, seemingly disbelieving. He then turned his head towards Lu Qing and said, "I say, Lu Qing, your family has been famous for forging swords for generations. You should know something about this Bai Ling-level divine sword, quickly tell us."

  Upon hearing Duan Qingyun's words, Nie Qingtian and the other two people all had a gleam in their eyes. When it came to swordsmanship, within the Purple Mist Sect's territory, there was probably no one who dared say they were more skilled than the Lu family. Moreover, just a year ago, the previous head of the Lu family, Lu Yun, who was also Lu Qing's father, had once again forged a Golden Heaven-level divine sword. Although Lu Qing didn't say anything, since his identity became known to the four people, they began to speculate whether the unnamed sword he carried on his back, which was always wrapped in plain cloth and never used, was actually that Golden Heaven-level divine sword that had yet to be revealed to the world.

  Of course, since Lu Qing didn't say anything, they wouldn't ask either. However, after experiencing the Blood Sacrifice Sword Array ordeal, Duan Qingyun already knew about the existence of Nian Yun Sword. But now it seems that Duan Qingyun hasn't revealed this to anyone.

  With Lu Qing's current strength, in the entire Zixia Sect region, there are not many people who can threaten or have the power to take action against him. Those people are either the sect's guardians of the first rank or some rare sword masters of the quasi-grandmaster level. Due to their identity and status, they also cannot take action against Lu Qing. Moreover, given the importance of the Lu family to the sect, the sect will not let them face a crisis of destruction. To a certain extent, Lu Qing, as the successor of the Lu family's sword casting technique, is under the protection of the sect.

  So Lu Qing is not worried about someone taking action against him now. Not to mention that he is also a high-ranking guardian of the sect, after Jianchi's cultivation is completed, he has confidence in raising his cultivation to a new height again. By then, even if someone suspects the existence of Nianyun Sword and has greedy intentions, they will have to carefully consider whether they have such strength.

  He calmed his thoughts and recalled the records of the four levels of divine swords, Qingfan, Jintian, Baoling, and Zihuang, in his family's classics. He opened his mouth and said: "Starting from the Qingfan level, the sword began to possess a certain spirituality, this spirituality already had some initial divine wisdom, or it can be said that it had its initial life. Therefore, the Heavenly Dao would bestow omens for this reason. So when it reached this level, the sword would be called a divine sword."

  According to the initial formation level of this spiritual energy, the divine sword is also divided into four levels: Qingfan, Jintian, Baoling and Zihuang. Before reaching the Baoling level, although the divine sword was powerful and had some strong auxiliary abilities or other magical abilities, there was no essential difference. However, once it reached the Baoling level, things were different.

  "On the entire continent of Wanjiang, there has been a legend circulating about the so-called divine sword having a spirit. In fact, it refers to the White Spirit-level divine sword. The White Spirit-level divine sword possesses complete spiritual intelligence from its birth and can be said to be an independent life form. At this point, this spirit also has a name - Jianling."

  "Jianling?" Duan Qingyun and the other three were stunned upon hearing this, it was clear that they had never heard of Jianling before.

  He nodded and continued, "This sword spirit can be said to have become the master of the divine sword. At this level, a white spirit-level divine sword already possesses unimaginable powerful strength. With it, a swordsman can even easily transcend ranks in battle, of course, on the premise that the swordsman can smoothly obtain the recognition of the divine sword. Since the sword spirit has been formed, the divine sword already has the ability to choose and judge, so if a swordsman wants to possess it, they need to go through the process of recognizing the master. Different white spirit-level divine swords, due to their different birth circumstances, have different processes for recognizing the master."

  "As for the final Purple Emperor-level divine sword, legend has it that it has already transcended the category of a sword, with its sword spirit fully matured, and can even transform into human form. At this moment, once the Purple Emperor Divine Sword recognizes its master, it can even launch autonomous attacks and possess some unimaginable powerful abilities. It can be said that every single Purple Emperor-level divine sword is an existence no less than a Sword Soul Realm Sword Dao Grandmaster, and due to their special existence, almost no one can extinguish them."

  Listening to Lu Qing's narration, Nie Qingtian and the others gained a new understanding of the divine sword. However, Duan Qingyun immediately expressed his doubts: "According to your words, with the accumulation of the Five Great Sword Dao Sacred Lands over tens of thousands of years, casting out hundreds of Purple Emperor-level divine swords, wouldn't it be possible to divide this continent into five parts and rule them separately? Why would there be a need for so many sects?"

  He shook his head, but Nie Qingtian on the side spoke up at this time: "This is impossible. Such a thing would not be allowed by the Sword God Temple. For 50,000 years, the Ten Thousand Great Mountains have been at peace, and the various sects' people have been cultivating and living in peace, enjoying their lives. In order to maintain such peace, even if it's one of the five great Purple Emperor-level sword dao sacred lands, they would still be restricted by the Sword God Temple. After all, for 50,000 years, the Sword God Temple has been committed to maintaining the peace of the continent. They wouldn't care about a few sects occupying them, but if there's an idea of a large-scale war on the continent, they would definitely take action."

  "After all, the Sword God Temple is guided by the will of the Sword God, and over the past 50,000 years, it has accumulated a tremendous amount of power that ordinary people can't even imagine. Moreover, I think that since the Purple Emperor-level divine sword is so powerful, it must not be easy to forge either." After finishing speaking, Nie Qingtian shifted his gaze towards Lu Qing.

  Lu Qing nodded and said, "The Purple Emperor-level divine sword, or even the White Spirit-level divine sword, are not something that my Lu family can reach. However, in the passed-down Sword Casting Records, there are some records of the requirements for casting a divine sword. Not to mention the materials used, but also the cultivation level required for the caster."

  "Among them, the casting of Qingfan-level and Jintian-level divine swords only requires the sword cultivator to have reached the Sword Yuan realm. However, when it comes to Baoling-level, the swordsmith must possess the Sword Hun realm cultivation base. As for the specific casting process and reasons, they are not very clear. Let alone the Zihuang-level divine sword, the most basic requirement is that the swordsmith must reach the Sword Po realm's master level. Therefore, adding other requirements and stringent casting conditions, even with the backing of the five major sacred lands, it would be considered a great achievement if one or two Zihuang-level divine swords were produced in a thousand years. How could they possibly use them to contend for dominance over the world?"

  Today is Labour Day, I wish everyone a happy holiday and all the best!