Chapter 1970: Insights on Sword Ten
“As far as I know, the Moon-Worshipping Cult still possesses a time-space treasure, doesn’t it?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Ling Feiyu nodded. “Indeed, there is one more. It’s called the Ten Directions Chaos Pearl, personally refined by the late Xumi Saint Monk. It contains a Chaos World with a time ratio of seven to one. This isn’t a secret; many people know about it.”
“However, the Ten Directions Chaos Pearl is no longer at Wuding Mountain. Shi Qianjue took it with him, which is also why many cult followers chose to side with him in the first place.”
Mentioning this, Ling Feiyu couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger. The Ten Directions Chaos Pearl was a supreme treasure of the Moon-Worshipping Cult and should have remained at Wuding Mountain. Yet Shi Qianjue had arrogantly taken it away, severely violating the cult’s rules.
Unfortunately, Shi Qianjue was too powerful. Even her father wasn’t confident he could defeat him, so for now, there was no way to force Shi Qianjue to return the Ten Directions Chaos Pearl.
“That’s a real pity. Now that the Kunlun Realm is reviving, if the Ten Directions Chaos Pearl were still at Wuding Mountain, it would undoubtedly allow the Moon-Worshipping Cult to greatly enhance its strength in a short time,” Zhang Ruochen said with a sigh.
Although the Life-and-Death Bronze Furnace had a higher time ratio, it had its limitations. Only a very few people had the chance to use it, making it far inferior to the Ten Directions Chaos Pearl.
A sharp glint flashed in Ling Feiyu’s eyes. “Once I break through to the Great Saint Realm, I will definitely retrieve the Ten Directions Chaos Pearl from Shi Qianjue. How can he monopolize something that belongs to the cult?”
Then, her gaze softened again as she looked at Zhang Ruochen. “Enter the Life-and-Death Bronze Furnace first. I’ll have it run for ten days, which will be a hundred days inside. I believe it will help you.”
“No rush. Let me first negotiate with the Azure Dragon before entering the furnace to cultivate,” Zhang Ruochen said with a smile, not refusing Ling Feiyu’s kindness.
Since Ling Feiyu claimed that the Life-and-Death Bronze Furnace, combined with the Moon Soul Pearl, was incredibly miraculous, he naturally wanted to experience it himself. Such an opportunity was extremely rare, and he had to make the most of it.
After a brief pause, Ling Feiyu flipped her hand and produced a brocade box. “The cult does have Divine Stones, but not many, and I can’t use them all. Here are four Divine Stones.”
Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen was somewhat surprised. He hadn’t expected Ling Feiyu to be able to give him four Divine Stones. Earlier, when he had sent messages to Kong Lanyou and Luo Xu, he had only received two Divine Stones from each of them.
Taking the brocade box, Zhang Ruochen looked at Ling Feiyu. “How many Sacred Stones are these four Divine Stones worth?”
“Is my life as the Palace Master not worth these four Divine Stones?” Ling Feiyu raised an eyebrow.
Zhang Ruochen quickly replied, “No amount of Divine Stones can compare to you.”
After a pause, he reached out and took one of her jade-like hands. “Feiyu, thank you.”
Ling Feiyu swiftly withdrew her hand, then turned around, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly as she walked away.
Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen thought she might be angry and hurriedly followed.
As soon as they stepped out of the hidden cave dwelling, Zhang Ruochen received two message light talismans—one from the Azure Dragon and the other from Mo Yin.
He first read Mo Yin’s message and a smile spread across his face. Divine Stones had been unearthed in the Xuan Ancient Ore Vein—an excellent piece of news.
Immediately, he sent a message light talisman instructing Mo Yin to rush to Wuding Mountain to meet him. He had collected a large number of Hell Realm cultivator corpses, which could serve as nutrients for Mo Yin to absorb.
Then, Zhang Ruochen checked the message from the Azure Dragon. As he had expected, the Azure Dragon disagreed with the terms he had proposed.
The terms he had set for the Azure Dragon required him to prepare five types of divine objects corresponding to the five elements, and in considerable quantities.
“Your appetite is really huge. You want five types of five-element divine objects. Not to mention whether the Nether Divine Hall can gather all five, even if they could, they wouldn’t trade them all for Ruan Ling,” Ling Feiyu said, shaking her head.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “Of course, I know that. When negotiating, you have to start high; otherwise, how can you bargain?”
With that, he carved another message light talisman and sent it out.
This time, he lowered his demands, asking for only four types of five-element divine objects.
Not long after, the Azure Dragon responded, still refusing.
After several rounds of back-and-forth haggling, Zhang Ruochen sent a message stating that the Nether Divine Hall must prepare at least two types of divine objects, and no fewer.
On a mountain peak tens of thousands of miles away from Wuding Mountain, the Azure Dragon sat cross-legged at the summit, receiving Zhang Ruochen’s latest message light talisman.
“Damn Zhang Ruochen!” After reading the contents, the Azure Dragon was seething with rage.
At least two types of divine objects, with no room for negotiation—this was utterly outrageous.
Frankly, the Azure Dragon didn’t want to give Zhang Ruochen a single hair, let alone divine objects. He wished he could tear Zhang Ruochen into pieces.
But he had no choice. Ruan Ling was still in Zhang Ruochen’s hands, and he couldn’t abandon her.
Earlier, he had feared that Ruan Ling had already been violated by Zhang Ruochen, but upon further reflection, he realized it was unlikely. After all, Ling Feiyu had been present at the time; Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t have dared to go too far with Ruan Ling in front of her.
Moreover, he believed that Ruan Ling would never let Zhang Ruochen bully her so easily.
Fuming, the Azure Dragon carved a message light talisman and sent it back to the Nether Divine Hall.
This matter was beyond his authority; he had to consult the Nether God.
He knew the Nether God’s temper well. Even though the Nether God doted on Ruan Ling, it was highly unlikely he would part with two types of divine objects. One was already the limit.
As expected, the Nether God’s reply stated that he would only provide one divine object, and he informed the Azure Dragon that if he and Ruan Ling couldn’t bring Zhang Ruochen back to the Nether Divine Hall, they might as well not return.
“Zhang Ruochen is asking for five-element divine objects to prepare for forging an indestructible sacred body. At his current stage, he can’t use them yet. Fine, I’ll give him two types of five-element divine objects for now, and later I’ll find a chance to deal with him and take them back,” the Azure Dragon said darkly.
With a flip of his hand, the Azure Dragon produced a piece of blood-colored divine metal. This was Heavenly Blood Mother Gold, a metal-element divine object of immense value. He had stumbled upon it years ago in a collapsing great world and had originally planned to use it to forge the strongest indestructible sacred body.
Now that the Nether God was only willing to offer one divine object, the Azure Dragon had no choice but to reluctantly part with this Heavenly Blood Mother Gold to ransom Ruan Ling.
He said “temporarily” because he was determined to personally reclaim the Heavenly Blood Mother Gold from Zhang Ruochen’s hands. When that time came, he would make Zhang Ruochen wish he were dead.
At Wuding Mountain, Saint Gold Peak.
Upon receiving the Azure Dragon’s message, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t help but laugh. “It seems the Nether God really values Ruan Ling. He’s actually willing to offer two five-element divine objects in exchange.”
Quickly carving a message light talisman, Zhang Ruochen waved his hand and sent it out.
The Azure Dragon had said it would take some time to deliver the divine objects to the Kunlun Realm, so Zhang Ruochen agreed to meet at the nearest Merit Branch Station in half a month for the exchange.
Before that, Zhang Ruochen could enter the Life-and-Death Bronze Furnace to cultivate.
“You’re planning to forge the strongest five-element chaos indestructible sacred body in the future, aren’t you? But five-element divine objects aren’t easy to gather, and even if you do, succeeding will be extremely difficult—even harder than when you cultivated the Five Elements Chaos Body,” Ling Feiyu said.
Zhang Ruochen smiled. “I know all that, but to become strong enough, you always have to put in more effort than others.”
Ling Feiyu gazed at him for a moment, then took out an ancient piece of beast hide from her space treasure. “You’ve already mastered Sword Nine to perfection. This should help you.”
“What is this?” Zhang Ruochen asked curiously as he took the beast hide.
But the next moment, his gaze was completely captivated by the beast hide, unable to look away.
After a long while, Zhang Ruochen came to his senses, his eyes filled with astonishment. “Feiyu, how do you have insights on Sword Ten?”
Having perfected Sword Nine, his greatest desire was to obtain insights on Sword Ten so he could begin comprehending it.
But as far as he knew, apart from the Sword Pavilion and the Ten Thousand Fragrance City, there seemed to be no other place with such insights—not even the Wang Clan, known as the “Sword Clan.”
Ling Feiyu said, “The Skyward Sword Lineage once had an ancestor who reached the Great Saint Realm and comprehended the mysteries of Sword Ten from the Wordless Sword Manual. Few people know this. Legend has it that Sword Ten has five layers, but unfortunately, that ancestor only reached the fourth layer, far from the perfection of Sword Ten.”
In the past ten thousand years, it seemed only Sword Emperor Xue Hongchen had achieved the perfection of Sword Ten. Others couldn’t even glimpse the path to it.
“Feiyu, how far have you gotten with Sword Ten?” Zhang Ruochen asked curiously.
Ling Feiyu shook her head. “Sword Ten is too profound. I’ve been studying it for a while but have only reached the second layer. Based on my speculation, mastering Sword Ten is closely tied to the Sword Soul. The stronger the Sword Soul, the easier it is to cultivate Sword Ten.”
“The Sword Soul, huh? Then I need to use up all the Merit Sword Marrow I’ve exchanged as soon as possible,” Zhang Ruochen murmured.
His Sword Soul was already extremely powerful, not far from a qualitative transformation.
If Ling Feiyu’s speculation was correct, once his Sword Soul underwent that transformation, comprehending Sword Ten would be twice as effective with half the effort.
After waiting nearly a day, Mo Yin arrived at the Central Domain’s Bronze Furnace Plains from the Eastern Domain’s Xuanhuang Territory via the space teleportation array at the Merit Branch Station.
Zhang Ruochen looked Mo Yin over and smiled. “Not bad. Your cultivation has reached the Rule Small World stage. It seems you gained quite a bit from the Xuan Ancient Ore Vein.”
“Indeed, I made some gains there, which allowed me to advance. Master, please look—these are the four Divine Stones I excavated from the vein,” Mo Yin said, handing a brocade box to Zhang Ruochen with both hands.
Zhang Ruochen took the box and opened it immediately. Brilliant divine light burst forth, revealing four neatly arranged Divine Stones inside.
“Mo Yin, you’ve rendered great service this time. I won’t treat you unfairly. There are plenty of Hell Realm cultivator corpses in the Qiankun Realm for you to refine and absorb as you wish,” Zhang Ruochen said, visibly excited.
Ling Feiyu had given him four Divine Stones, Mo Yin had brought another four, and combined with the eight he had obtained from the Life-and-Death Cliff that he hadn’t used yet, he now had sixteen Divine Stones in total. Activating the Sundial, he could cultivate for sixteen years, which might be enough to successfully develop his Dao Domain.
Once the Dao Domain was formed, his strength would greatly increase, and there would be few among those below the Great Saint Realm who could threaten him!