Clear skies.
A sea of stars.
A morning breeze.
A setting sun.
The sky within the Sword Mound was just like the world outside, with day and night alternating in cycles. This allowed those deep in pain to still know that time passed slowly...
Xu Xian spent a whole day and night climbing the final three hundred steps.
The white sword robes Li Qingshan had gifted him a year ago were already worn through at the knees and cuffs. His palms were soaked in blood, and his fingertips were a mangled mess.
The world in Xu Xian's eyes was blurry and dim... All sounds around him had vanished, leaving only his own heavy breathing and the thundering beat of his heart.
His head buzzed incessantly.
His body and will had long since reached their limits. Relying entirely on a single thread of conviction, he forced out one last breath and crawled onto the final sword step.
In an instant.
The weight of nearly a hundred thousand catties pressing down on him vanished. Xu Xian felt his entire body float up like a balloon.
The suffocating pain caused by the gravitational squeeze dissipated along with it, leaving only the dull ache of old injuries. Compared to before, however, it was practically negligible.
He struggled to turn his head and lift his eyes. Through his haze, he saw a sword pool, cold locks, iron chains, divine swords, a blood-red hue...
Only when his vision extended and confirmed he was at the very top of the infinite steps did he finally retract his gaze.
He exhaled a long breath of turbid air. The corners of his mouth curled up unnaturally as he muttered, "A mere Divine Sword Pool... handled..."
Then, his eyelids, heavy as lead, dropped shut. They did not open again.
Xu Xian had passed out.
In a state between dreaming and waking, he heard the little book spirit calling to him...
"Master!"
"Master~"
"Master—"
He had a dream. He dreamt he was standing under a blazing sun, bathed in a spring breeze. It was very comfortable.
He indulged in it.
Unwilling to wake.
At the same time, at the peak of the Divine Sword Pool, countless strands of sword intent resonated with the sword embryo inside Xu Xian. From above the pool, below it, and from every direction, they whistled through the air, transforming into threads that merged into the boy's body.
Xu Xian's body was lifted into mid-air by the support of thousands of strands of sword intent.
Finally, the sword intent condensed into a cocoon, and the boy became a sword chrysalis.
In the mortal world, there were silkworms that spun silk and trapped themselves in cocoons.
In the Sword Mound, there was sword intent that condensed into silk and wrapped a person into a chrysalis.
Shuer stood before the sword chrysalis, her eyes slightly narrowed and a small hand stroking her chin. She admired the sword chrysalis as if it were a work of art, looking quite satisfied with herself.
'He already had an innate sword spirit root.'
'Later, a sword embryo was nurtured in his dantian.'
'Now, he has climbed to the peak of the Sword Mound to absorb sword intent and form a sword chrysalis. Once the cocoon breaks, he will possess an acquired sword body.'
'A sword spirit, a sword embryo, and a sword body. Tsk, tsk. You are a living sword, a sword of the Dao. You will be the toughest, hardest, and fastest man in the entire Cangming Realm in the future. Hehe.'
'Not bad, not bad at all. I didn't expect that being left behind under the heavens would allow me to pick up such a treasure.'
'This time... I’ve won big!'
After an unknown amount of time, Xu Xian dreamt he had become a sword. He struggled desperately and finally tore through the sword body that imprisoned him, and then he woke up.
Atop the Divine Sword Pool, the sword chrysalis broke, and Xu Xian emerged unscathed.
The pain had long since vanished.
Even his torn knees and bloody fingers had been restored to their original state. His previously messy long hair was now fine and straight, swaying gently in the wind.
If not for the bloodstains still lingering on his torn white clothes, it would have seemed as if nothing had happened.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Within his pupils, a beam of sword light was being nurtured—cold, sharp, and deeper than the starry river overhead.
Xu Xian was a bit dazed.
He looked up.
What he saw was the night, an infinite galaxy where meteors occasionally streaked across the silent deep space, dragging trails of light.
He looked down.
Before him was a sword pool. Massive swords were thrust into the pool, but they were wrapped in countless iron chains, densely packed.
These chains were interconnected, binding the swords to the pool.
He counted carefully.
There were exactly twelve.
Twelve swords, tens of thousands of locks.
Under the moon and stars, the iron chains glinted with a chilling light.
These swords were pitch black as ink, steeped in the vicissitudes of time, heavy and ancient. However, they were shrouded in a crimson blood-mist and surrounded by a malevolent aura. No matter how one looked at them, these did not seem like "good" swords.
The same Sword Mound.
The same sword pool.
Yet the scenery was entirely different.
"What the hell?"
Xu Xian’s mind was blank. His thoughts spun rapidly as he tried to recall what happened and piece together the information before him.
He had climbed the Divine Sword Pool, then had a dream.
He dreamt he became a sword.
Then he woke up.
Fragments of the sword chrysalis were scattered around him.
Before him were twelve ancient, ominous swords in chains.
Ignoring the details and looking only at the result, Xu Xian couldn't help but complain, "This isn't a Divine Sword Pool; this is a damn Demonic Sword Pool..."
Unlike the spirit, earth, heaven, and immortal sword pools, the swords in this pool had given Xu Xian no resonance whatsoever from beginning to end.
Whether they were locked down or just naturally like this, he didn't know.
But Xu Xian knew very well that his idea of pulling out a divine sword and taking it with him was basically shattered.
Just as he was standing there bewildered, the little book spirit appeared as promised, floating by his side and congratulating him with a beaming smile.
"Congratulations, Master! Blessings, Master! You have reached the peak of the Sword Mound."
Xu Xian glanced at her, pointed at the twelve swords and the sky full of cold chains, and said dejectedly, "Congratulations for what? What’s there to celebrate? Tell me, how am I supposed to take these swords?"
Shuer flew in a circle around him before finally hovering between his eyes. She held up a finger and smiled.
"The first good thing: congratulations, Master, for breaking the cocoon and reaching great ascension with your sword body."
Xu Xian was stunned, not understanding. "Sword body? What sword body?"
Shuer explained patiently, "There are two types of sword bodies in this world: the Innate Sword Body and the acquired sword body. As the names suggest, an Innate Sword Body is something one is born with. An acquired sword body is forged later on. That is what Master has now. Originally, you gained an epiphany from the stele, and a strand of sword embryo was born in your dantian. Now, you have ascended the Fifth Sword Heaven and stepped over a million long steps. Under the repeated tempering of the gravity and the sword embryo, your physical body has reached great ascension and was nourished by the primordial sword intent within the Sword Mound. Thus, this acquired sword body was nurtured."
Hearing this, Xu Xian tossed his cluttered thoughts aside and focused on his own body.
To his surprise, he found that his injuries were healed, and his skin seemed finer. When his dantian and sea of qi resonated, he felt his physical body was brimming with power, as if he could kill an elephant with a single punch despite being a mere mortal.
"Hmm... I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it. Is this sword body of mine very impressive?" Xu Xian asked.
Shuer nodded emphatically.
"Yes, super impressive."
Xu Xian leaned in, expectant. "Tell me more?"
Shuer thought hard for a moment and said, "Let me put it this way: this acquired sword body is only a tiny bit worse than an Innate Sword Body."
Xu Xian’s eyes widened. "Then what about the Innate Sword Body?"
Shuer thought hard again and said, "Let me put it this way: the Innate Sword Body is also only a tiny bit stronger than the acquired sword body."
Xu Xian went silent.
He took a deep breath.
The words almost hissed through his teeth as he said, "Are you freaking kidding me?"
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