by <unknown>
Later, he also hosted a lecture in the Dragon Spring Meeting on the mysteries of the ancient arts of sword forging. When he reached the best part, flowers were falling from the sky, and countless experienced sword forgers were enthralled!
It was said that, after he became a visiting elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect, he did not stay there all the time. Instead, he travelled far and wide, searching for eccentric fires, water sources, and other materials desirable for refining. He also visited a lot of super sects including the Grand Mystery Sect, the Gold Armor Clan, and Flying Spirit Island, partly to fight with the experts of the sects in combat and partly to compete with the sword forgers of the sects in refining!
There was no telling the outcomes of the matches, but there was a theory among the Cultivators stating that Master Spiritual Vulture was the one best at refining among all the fighting Cultivators and the one best at fighting among all the sword forgers!
Some of the gossipers even claimed that, after Master Spiritual Vulture broke out of seclusion, another name had to be added to the 'Three Saints of the Great Qian Dynasty', making it 'Four Saints'!
"Did you hear? A few days ago, Master Spiritual Vulture officially turned on his furnace and began refining. He completely repaired the 'Gold Crow Devil Sweeping Sword' of the Gold Armor Clan. There's no telling what the result was, but the price that the Gold Armor Clan paid was shocking enough. Not counting anything else, they offered twenty 'Ten Square Star Soul Pearls' the size of fists!"
"It is certainly more than that. I'm told that Master Spiritual Vulture is best at forging and examining swords with the heritage from the Great Zhou Dynasty. Right now, not only is the magical equipment refined by himself invaluable, countless people have also visited the Purple Pole Sword Sect to ask him to examine their swords and analyze the advantages, disadvantages, and hidden injuries of the magical equipment. The fee for the examination is scary enough!"
"I have also heard an interesting tale. It is said that 'you-know-who' in the Forbidden City is of a mind to invite Master Spiritual Vulture to visit the royal treasury, examine the treasures that have been left for a thousand years, and clean and maintain them!"
"Well, well, well. Isn't it—"
Similar conversations were underway in every tea house and restaurant.
But they were interrupted by an ear-splitting roar at the same time.
"Hiss!"
The long roar, like a peal of thunder on a sunny day, made the hearts of all the Cultivators on the floating mountains palpitate. They threw away their cups and chopsticks, ran out of their rooms, and raised their heads.
As they expected, a crimson shadow covered in vague golden brilliance was rushing over from the southeast. The long flames at its tail seemed to be tearing the night sky into halves!
"Get lost!"
Among the floating mountains, a lot of Cultivators were flying slowly on their rafts, cranes, or jade discs.
On the crimson shadow, a tired knight was yelling at them furiously and even slashed out a red sword aura, blowing away many Cultivators standing in his path with no consideration for their probably honorable identities.
All the Cultivators looked awful when they saw the crimson shadow.
"The 'Red Lightning Flying Horse'!"
"Even the 'Red Lightning Flying Horse' has been boosted to the maximum without bothering about the cost. Something terrible must've happened in the southeast!"
Shua!
The Red Lightning Flying Horse rushed right toward the Forbidden City. The purple glow around the Forbidden City shook slightly and took it in.
Before midnight, rumors were already spreading on the streets and valleys on the floating mountains. The Great Qian Dynasty, which had just caught its breath, suffered yet another unbearable blow.
It was said that the largest typhoon in decades had already landed on the southeast!
…
When the news that the typhoon had landed made too many Cultivators unable to sleep at night, on the God Shocking Peak—the highest place in the Hundred Blade Mountain, which was nine thousand and five hundred kilometers south of the capital city—two unpredictable shadows, like two clouds that were ripped apart by the rocks, were flickering in their fierce fight!
The God Shocking Peak had the roughest terrain on the Hundred Blade Mountain. It was like a wolf's fang stabbing right upward toward the sky. The cliffs in many places were adjacent to the ground, with no place to set foot on at all.
The peak was not worth developing. The top was frozen in ice all the time, too. It was too high, steep, and cold even for a Cultivator if they intended to turn it into their residence. Therefore, it had been abandoned by the Purple Pole Sword Sect for hundreds of years.
But after the 'Sword Maniac' Yan Liren distinguished himself, the place became the best location for his meditation and hard training.
At this moment, it was naturally Li Yao and Yan Liren who were engaged in a fierce battle above the God Shocking Peak.
Although Yan Liren's sword was fast, it was not invincible. Even the fastest sword had a range of attack and had to lock onto the enemy.
So, it would do if Li Yao could find a way to make Yan Liren unable to lock onto him or keep out of the range of his attack.
Theoretically, yes.
But in reality…
Li Yao was almost rolling on all fours as he tried to get rid of the will of the sword that was right behind him.
He had kept his speed above three times the speed of sound. Only in such a way could he get away from Yan Liren's sword.
Whenever his speed was below 2.9 times the speed of sound for more than three seconds, he would feel chilly in his neck, waist, and ankles.
It was the threat of Yan Liren's sword!
Chapter 1411: Commitment! |
Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!
Li Yao's fingers turned into clusters of gray mist as he shot out hundreds of tiny needles toward Yan Liren. But all of them took a weird turn in midair and hit the rocks, turning the crags as tough as iron into honeycombs!
It was because Yan Liren's sword had captured Li Yao's every needle precisely and blocked them midway by brute force!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of bow strings being broken echoed in the seemingly empty air. The dozens of molecular mica threads that Li Yao deployed in midair without anybody knowing had been severed by Yan Liren's invincible sword!
Li Yao's movement became faster and faster. A streak of brilliance flashed above, and he appeared at dozens of corners on the God Shocking Peak almost simultaneously!
Yan Liren, however, slowed down. He squatted, like a gyro that was rotating at such a high speed that it actually seemed stationary. He grabbed his sword with his right hand and touched the sheath with his left sword gently. He was mumbling something to himself and put on a charming smile. He even half closed his eyes, not looking at Li Yao at all.
Suddenly…
"Ahhh!"
The dozens of shadows scattered all over the God Shocking Peak perished at the same time. Li Yao shrieked, with cracking noises echoing from inside his body, which seemed to be split in half and gathered again dozens of meters away.
His face was pale, and he was breathing like a cow. His sweat was pouring, only to be frozen into white frost on his face because of the frigidness.
Crack!
Behind Li Yao, a rock more than ten meters in diameter split apart from precisely the middle, broke through, and fell to the bottom of the peak thousands of meters below in deafening noises.
Before the rocks fell, Li Yao noticed that the fracture was as smooth as a mirror, without the slightest gap or dent. It seemed to have been dissected with the most state-of-the-art knives of the Star Glory Federation.
Huala! Huala! Huala!
The three layers of armor on Li Yao's chest exploded one after another, the broken pieces spluttering out. The assault did not stop until the last protective glass in front of his heart.
But a
deep crack appeared at the center of the heart-protection glass, too, and it fell into two crescent pieces with that slight touch.
Li Yao felt excruciating pain in front of his chest and behind his back. A thin, long line slowly extended, and drops of blood were crawling out in a hurry.
"Nice sword!"
Looking at the wound on his chest, Li Yao observed Yan Liren at the same time.
He was complimenting Yan Liren's sword arts.
Yan Liren, on the other hand, was complimenting the sword that he refined.
It was the first sword that Li Yao had crafted for Yan Liren in the past three months.
The past three months had been particularly comfortable for Li Yao.
After revealing the 'fourth sword' in public during the chitchat with Yan Liren, and crushing three Cultivators in the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage, and then hosting a personal lecture—where he bragged about the conclusions of the Hundred Smelting Clan under the pretext of the nonexistent notes of the Great Zhou Dynasty—his plan indeed worked out. The name of 'Master Spiritual Vulture' soon spread out to the entire world of Cultivators through the mouths of the participants of the Dragon Spring Meeting who returned to their hometown.
Then, Li Yao took the opportunity to visit the super sects including the Grand Mystery Sect, the Gold Armor Clan, and many others, further consolidating his status as a 'great sword forger'.
Since he distinguished himself at the Dragon Spring Meeting and earned tremendous benefits for the Purple Pole Sword Sect, naturally, the Purple Pole Sword Sect met his demands for every material and provided all of them in slightly more than one month.
With those materials, it took Li Yao only one month to craft the components to maintain and strengthen the star beacons. Many of the components, having adopted the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, had even a better performance than the original components from the federation.
As long as the components were brought back to Spark, which was still docked on the satellite to assemble before they were projected to the sea of stars to be activated, the coordinates of this Sector would be sent back to the federation immediately.
Now that the most important job was done, Li Yao focused his full attention on Yan Liren.
As the saying went, 'he who has no desires is unassailable'. The converse of that was—those who had desires had weaknesses.
Yan Liren was not a man without desires. His greatest desire was his sword. Anything related to the sword would intoxicate him.
Li Yao had Ou Yezi's memory pieces. There were too many unverified records and anecdotes in terms of sword forging and sword arts in the Hundred Smelting Clan. Some of them were even ridiculous tales about deities and devils collected from hundreds of different Sectors. Naturally, they were much more interesting than the stories of the Ancient Sages Sector alone.
As an expert of personal magical equipment, Li Yao's passion for sabers and swords came from the bottom of his heart, too, and was certainly not faked.
Yan Liren's understanding of sword arts, including the clandestine arts and techniques, hooked Li Yao.
Just like that, the two of them spent days and nights in the world of sword arts. They found too many things that they were both interested in. After only a couple of months, they had become good friends.
Li Yao's capabilities soared after his competitions with Yan Liren!
Yan Liren was indeed the most formidable swordsman that Li Yao had ever encountered in his life. In terms of explosive attack, he was even stronger than Xiao Xuance!
However, Li Yao was also an unbelievable monster. Other than anything else, his body that had been strengthened by the Blood Stripe Virus boasted a very high cell segmentation and self-recovery ability.
It was not hard to imagine the formidability of such a body if Yan Xibei in the past could connect his broken body to a hideous apocalyptic beast!
As long as his head was not chopped off entirely and kicked ten thousand kilometers away, even if he was half chopped away, Li Yao was confident that he could survive.
It was his belief to be braver upon setbacks and to be stronger during battles. Almost his every major upgrade had been achieved on the brink of death.
In the last five years in the Star Glory Federation, although a few opponents could still have a gratifying battle with him, hardly any of them could bring him the life-and-death thrill that was the greatest momentum to stimulate him to improve!
For Li Yao, the one month of training was equal to the last five years!
Maybe he had not achieved a breakthrough in his level yet, but his damage had definitely been multiplied!
It had to be noted that he had not put on his crystal suit yet!
At this point, he had successfully realized the primary target on his journey to the Ancient Sages Sector.
He had finished the preparations to repair the star beacons, assumed a very reasonable identity, and become acquainted with the unparalleled experts of this Sector.
He had not quite figured out his new targets yet.
He did not know where he should begin to investigate the mysterious signals sent to the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector a hundred years ago, and he did not know whether or not the spies of the Imperium of True Human Beings were working in this Sector.
In Li Yao's opinion, if he were a spy of the Imperium of True Human Beings, getting in touch with Yan Liren was a necessity.
On one hand, although Yan Liren lost the battle against Qi Zhongdao in the Dragon Spring Meeting three months ago, the mysterious 'fourth sword' had more or less proved him to be the best expert of the Ancient Sages Sector.
On the other hand, Yan Liren, as the 'Sword Maniac', had no attitude or stance. No trouble, save the delicate sword arts and the modern blades of the Imperium of True Human Beings, was required to persuade him.
But over the past three months, Li Yao had never seen any suspect of the Imperium of True Human Beings' spy, although he had spent almost every minute with Yan Liren. It was quite uncanny!
Did the Imperium of True Human Beings not notice the Ancient Sages Sector?
Li Yao secretly hoped so.
Yan Liren appreciated the complicated stripes on the first sword that Li Yao crafted for himself right in the cold moonlight on the snowy mountain full of amazement.
After appreciating it for a long time, he finally put the sword back into his sheath, not entirely satisfied, before he leapt toward Li Yao.
"This sword is already very similar to mine!" He was as merry as a child who had just gotten a new toy. "The length, weight, barycenter, and feedback are all identical!"
"It is identical," Li Yao said. "I have forged it entirely according to your 'fourth sword'. Every detail, including the distribution of the tiniest bubbles inside the body of the sword, is exactly the same!"
"But I still feel that something is slightly different." Recalling the battle just now, Yan Liren said, "Odd. Everything is the same. The length, weight, and feedback have no errors, but why was there a tiny bit of hindrance?"
"Of course, something is different. Even though all the dimensions are identical, the new sword is still missing one thing," Li Yao said. "That's why I said that I would repair your old sword for you, instead of building a new one.
"Forging a new sword is easy. As long as you grasp all the features of the old sword and copy them based on brand new materials, it will be done.
"However, it will be quite difficult to repair the old sword, which is riddled with holes and bruises, ensuring that it is renewed and reborn while not affecting the unique idiosyncrasy in the deepest part of the sword. The whole process has to take at least one year!"
"Is that so?" Yan Liren sat on the rock that had been entirely frozen and asked with great curiosity, "If the old sword and the new one are identical to each other in terms of length, weight, barycenter, and sharpness, what exactly is the difference?"
The routine sword discussion had begun again.
&n
bsp; Li Yao sat cross-legged in front of Yan Liren and replied solemnly, "Commitment.
"The best magical equipment is not a cold, dead object but an item that accommodates your whole spirit, will, dreams, and even memories. I call your spirit, will, dreams, and memories collectively 'commitment'!
"For a Cultivator, a piece of magical equipment with commitment is the best magical equipment. Without commitment, it will be like the three primeval swords that you wielded at the Dragon Spring Meeting. However powerful they are, they will only end up being shattered in the end!"
Chapter 1412: Long Quest for Divinity! |
"Fair enough!"
Looking at the clouds below his feet which were freezing into waves around the icy peak, Yan Liren was deep in thought. "I thought that it was because I did not polish the three primeval swords enough that I failed to unite with the swords and wield them freely. Now that I think of it, I wasn't interested in polishing them with my heart and will at all. So, I was short of commitment!"
"Judging from the erosion on your fourth sword, you must've carried it for more than fifty years," Li Yao said. "Before you rose to fame, you kept it with you. It must've been given to you by someone special and irreplaceable, right?"
Yan Liren's eyes were deep, as if he were dwelling in memories of a long time ago. There was no telling whether it was delight or sorrow on his face when he mumbled, "It was indeed someone very special who gave the sword to me.
"As you can see, I am a natural dwarf. When I was young, nobody had any hope for me. They believed that my accomplishments would be limited however hard I tried.
"She was the only one who believed in me and supported me. After I was deprived of any training resources, she secretly shared her medicines and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures with me. She also bought me this sword with all her belongings.
