After leaving Zhujian Peak, Xu Xian did not return to Zhijian Peak. Instead, he went to the Merchant Hall headquarters on Luoyun Peak to find Elder Qian.
He informed the elder that he had already found the Blazing Red Jade and asked the Merchant Hall to stop the bounty.
After all, the sect had treated him well.
There had to be a limit to how much he fleeced them; one couldn't simply abandon their bottom line.
Besides, once the first floor of his sword tower was completed, the second floor would soon be on the agenda. He would inevitably need to trouble the Merchant Hall again when that time came.
Elder Qian was both delighted and surprised to learn that Xu Xian had obtained the rare ore in just a few days—something the Merchant Hall had failed to find for months.
He asked, "Little Martial Uncle, where did you get it?"
One had to understand that to find this rare ore, the Merchant Hall had scoured the entire Fanzhou over the past few months. They had personally visited every major sect, empire, and large-scale mine, yet they had come up empty-handed.
Xu Xian had a fairly good impression of Elder Qian, so he didn't hide the truth. "My master gave it to me."
"Master?" Elder Qian was stunned. "Little Grand-Uncle, stop joking. When did the Sword Ancestor return? How could I not know..."
"Not that master."
"Hmm?"
Xu Xian said nonchalantly, "I have just recently joined the tutelage of Master Ruan Hao—the second-best master forger in Fanzhou, the number one master forger of the Wendao Sword Sect, and a ninth-rank spirit forging master who is only one step away from immortal forging. I am his chief disciple and sole heir..."
Elder Qian froze for a full three seconds after hearing this.
"Ah!"
Xu Xian gave a slight smile. "I'm off!"
He left the dumbfounded Elder Qian behind and swaggered away.
Everyone knew that Master Ruan never took disciples. Who would believe it?
Elder Qian certainly didn't dare believe it at first. It wasn't until Xu Xian was far in the distance that he finally snapped out of it.
"My god, his luck is too good!"
The eleventh disciple under the Sword Ancestor, a sword spirit root, the one who pulled the immortal sword, a eighteen-year-old core formation cultivator, and now Master Ruan's direct disciple...
The buffs on Xu Xian were stacking up.
Was he about to ascend to the heavens?
After leaving the peak, Xu Xian returned to Zuiwan Residence. He had originally planned to ask Li Qingshan for a few days off, as building the sword tower might take some time...
Unfortunately, Li Qingshan was not there.
He had likely just headed out on a mission.
'What a pity. I'll have to wait a few days to show off. I'll probably have broken through to the nascent soul stage by then, so I can give him an even bigger surprise.'
'Kid, I'm going to shock the life out of you!'
Indeed, the request for leave was just an excuse; Xu Xian simply wanted to flex in front of Li Qingshan and win a round for once.
This was one of the few simple pleasures in his cultivation life.
Xu Xian hurried to the spirit herb garden to give the crops a temporary watering. After arranging everything, he returned to his room and sat cross-legged on a meditation mat.
He lined up the three items in front of him.
The ten-foot rough log.
The one-inch bamboo joint.
And the jade stone as large as an iron pot, glowing crimson all over like a ball of fire.
The moment he took it out, the temperature in the entire room seemed to rise.
Even the autumn wind drifting through the window gaps had to shy away from its heat.
Everything was gathered.
The Little Book Spirit was even more excited than Xu Xian. Carrying its small sword case, it floated back and forth in front of him.
Back and forth... back and forth...
Xu Xian grabbed its small book case and pulled it down to his knees.
The Little Book Spirit was forced to sit upright like a schoolboy.
"Sit still. You're making me dizzy."
"Oh!"
Xu Xian said calmly, "Everything is here. Let's begin!"
The Little Book Spirit jumped up and waved its tiny hands. "Let's do it! Let's do it!!"
Following the Little Book Spirit's instructions, Xu Xian began to circulate the mental mantra of the Heavenly White Jade Capital.
Exhale. Inhale. Exhale—
He closed his eyes and opened them again... the ancient book appeared before him once more.
One page slowly unfurled.
It was exactly as he had seen before.
This time, without waiting for Xu Xian to react, the Little Book Spirit took the initiative and flew toward the book.
Under Xu Xian's gaze, it dove into the pages like a fish entering water.
The ancient book began to glow with a soft, ethereal light. The pages shimmered as the characters on the surface twisted and distorted before finally vanishing, replaced by a white vortex.
The white cyclone grew larger and larger, spinning faster and faster.
In the blink of an eye, it covered the entire page before emerging from the book to hover in the room.
It continued to expand, and a strange, unfamiliar aura instantly filled the chamber.
Light flared. Wind rose. A whistling sound echoed.
The Heaven-Connecting Divine Wood, the Innate Bitter Bamboo, the crystal stone, and the storage bag full of spirit stones were all swept up and vanished into the vortex.
Staring into the cyclone, Xu Xian felt his eyes grow heavy. His head slumped, and he fell into a deep sleep, losing all awareness.
After he fell asleep, a soul drifted out of his body and dove into the vortex as well.
A flash of white light, and then all was calm.
The small room returned to normal, leaving only a youth sitting as still as a bell with his head bowed...
"Awoo—!"
In a daze, Xu Xian faintly heard a whale song echoing from afar. He slowly opened his eyes.
The world he saw was completely new.
It was strange yet familiar...
The sea of clouds, the celestial realm of the sword stele.
Yes, Xu Xian was certain he had once again arrived in the small world within the sword stele.
Only this time, the tower was gone. However, the book was still there, tucked into Xu Xian's waist.
Beside him, the wood, the bamboo, the stone, and the storage bag of top-grade spirit stones were each wrapped in a sphere of five-colored light, floating quietly...
Suddenly, a streak of light flew in from the distance and zipped toward him.
It screeched to a halt right at the tip of Xu Xian's nose, startling the few stray hairs on his forehead.
"Master, it's time to start! Rebuild the tower you saw that day right here, heehee..."
Xu Xian readily agreed. "Alright!"
This place was not actually a grotto-heaven but the small world within the sword embryo in his body. The so-called construction was to recreate the sword tower he had seen that day.
That day, the sword tower had transformed into ten thousand swords, and the ten thousand swords had converged into a book.
Today, the book contained sword intent, and that sword intent would forge the high tower.
Like Yin and Yang, it was simply a reversal.
Nothing more.
Just as Xu Xian took the secret manual from his waist, he suddenly remembered something. "Wait."
"What's wrong?"
Xu Xian looked at the Little Book Spirit and asked with lingering fear, "Tell me first, has the time flow here been adjusted?"
He didn't want to go back out after a few days only to find that another year had passed in the outside world.
The Little Book Spirit laughed. "Master, you can rest assured. The Sword Mound chose its master, and the sword embryo has incubated a celestial body. Here, you are the master. I can no longer control the flow of time here!"
Hearing this, Xu Xian breathed a sigh of relief, but then a different thought occurred to him. He asked curiously, "Then, can I?"
The Little Book Spirit spread its tiny hands and said with some regret, "Not yet."
Xu Xian curled his lip. "Fine, as long as it's normal."
"Then can we start? My most, most, most handsome master?"
"Let's do it!"
The book opened to a page, and characters emerged. Xu Xian pointed his fingers like a sword and began to forge the sword tower.
As he made a stroke, spiritual light surged.
The ten-foot Heaven-Connecting Divine Wood transformed into flowing light, followed by the Innate Bitter Bamboo and the crystals...
The spiritual lights they became were like thousands of threads weaving together. At first, they repelled each other, but then they merged, slowly forming the framework of a structure...
He opened a storage bag, and spirit stones fluttered across the sky like falling leaves.
Xu Xian refined them one by one.
He then infused the spiritual qi obtained from the refinement into the sword tower.
Ten stones. A hundred. A thousand. Ten thousand...
The sword tower was gradually taking shape!
The Little Book Spirit was full of energy. "Keep it up, Master!"
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