The Sacrificial Sword Manual

Late autumn in August.

A breeze rose within the Wendao Sword Sect, granting the flora another spring.

Flowers bloomed halfway up the mountain, and within the ravine of clear springs, the entire sect strived for progress, sweeping away all gloom.

Qingmu waited quietly in the distant forests outside the Wendao Sword Sect. When he saw this wind rise, he felt as if he were in a dream. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was generated by a single sword intent.

He was struck with awe.

"Can the human race truly possess such swordsmanship?"

It was common knowledge that swordsmen, regardless of race or whether they were righteous or evil, were known for their fierce power.

Sword cultivators in this world had always been the most overbearing, with few rivals in the same stage.

Their attack speed was fast.

Their destructive power was the strongest.

Yet today, he had witnessed a completely different sword intent—a sword that brought spring, causing the flora to flourish.

A sword of life?

"The High Priest was indeed as wise as a god."

He did not dare to delay. Pulling back his thoughts and suppressing his shock, he set off in a hurry to return to the Demon Abyss...

At the same time, beneath the Nether Pool, within the Cloud-Marsh World, Xu Xian broke through his seclusion. The moment he withdrew the Heaven-Sealing Trapping Formation, the aura of the great ascension stage swept outward.

The Old Tortoise sensed it and looked up. With just one glance, and only one glance, his face remained as calm as a still pond, but he closed his eyes and muttered a complaint.

"Freak!"

In the Sword Tower, one sword represented one stage. Of the twelve swords in the high tower, four had emerged, leaving eight remaining.

Counting eight stages up from the great ascension stage would be above the Immortal Emperor.

The stage of the Extreme Path.

It felt somewhat ridiculous to the tortoise. Back then, Ye Wujiang, the master of the Sword Tower, had only stood at the peak of the Immortal Emperor level.

Why was the legacy he left behind so overbearing?

It was irrational.

It thought that perhaps after a few more swords were drawn, the remaining fortune of the Sword Tower would be completely exhausted. It would likely be unrealistic for the youth to expect to pull more swords to rise in stage.

Otherwise, if a powerhouse of the Extreme Path were born in this era, wouldn't the world be turned upside down?

However, even so, this youth's future was still immeasurable.

How many years had it been?

Man and tortoise had known each other for only a little over two years. The youth had crossed two stages in a row, ascending directly to the great ascension stage. This speed was comparable to even the most brilliant descendants of the god race from the Era of Primal Chaos, wasn't it?

In this youth, the tortoise saw despair—the hopelessness of ever breaking free.

But it also saw hope, another great dao leading to freedom. If it could catch this tailwind...

Leaving Fanzhou would be just around the corner.

All its old enemies had fallen.

So what if it had to bow its head and call him master?

Nothing was more important than staying alive.

After Xu Xian left the Sword Mound, he did not stand up. Instead, he remained sitting cross-legged on the ground, not even taking the time to check the materials needed for the fifth floor of the Sword Tower.

He could not wait to feel the power belonging to a great ascension stage expert.

His hearing was sharp and his vision clear.

His divine sense was like a sea.

He sensed heaven and earth, following the natural laws of the dao.

This was an extremely mysterious state. Closing his eyes to commune with the spirit felt like being placed within a sea of clouds, gazing down upon all living beings. The vast world was entirely within his sight...

It was no wonder.

In Fanzhou, those at the eighth stage great ascension stage dared to call themselves immortals.

This feeling of being perched above the clouds was indeed wondrous.

Xu Xian now had the confidence that with the help of the four divine swords and the support of the Pupil of Insight, he could completely engage in a frontal battle with a tribulation transcendence stage expert.

If all four swords were deployed at once to empower Little Shuer, he could even fight a saint.

Furthermore, to Xu Xian's surprise, with the construction of the fourth floor, the Sword Tower had fed back a divine ability to him.

The Sword Tower's own divine ability.

A god-grade sword manual that stood above the Green Lotus Sword Song.

【Sacrificial Sword Manual】

There were three parts to the 【Sacrificial Sword Manual】.

The first part: 【Sword Control Art】. When the sword rises from the White Jade Capital, one can use divine sense to connect with the White Jade Capital and the Sword Mound, using the swords as soldiers to control them from thousands of miles away, killing without a trace.

The second part: 【Spirit Communication Art】. Unknown. 【Unlocks at the fifth floor of the Sword Tower.】

The third part: 【Sword Integration Art】. Unknown. 【Unlocks at the ninth floor of the Sword Tower.】

Within his sea of consciousness, only the first of the three parts of the Sacrificial Sword Manual was open. The remaining two were still locked.

Leaving Spirit Communication and Sword Integration aside for now, the Sword Control Art was exactly as its name suggested—it was essentially the same as the Telekinesis Immortal Art.

While the Telekinesis Immortal Art could control all things in the world, the Sword Control Art could only control the swords within the Sword Tower, plus all the swords in the Sword Mound, and even the swords held by Wendao Sword Sect disciples that had been taken from the Sword Mound.

With a single thought, the swords would rise.

With a single thought, the swords would strike.

He could control one sword, or he could control ten thousand swords, even a million swords...

By learning this art, he would be completely connected to the Sword Mound and the Sword Tower. As long as he wished, he could take any sword from the Sword Mound whenever he wanted. Provided his divine sense was sufficient and his spirit qi was not exhausted, he could take as many as he liked and control them for as long as he pleased.

To put it simply, the Sword Control Art was like a tiger tally that could mobilize the million spirit swords in the Sword Mound. By mastering the Sword Control Art, Xu Xian only needed to give a single command to have ten thousand swords come to pay him homage.

Once practiced to the point of mastery, he could even separate a wisp of his own thought into each sword, allowing them to possess brief consciousness and fight autonomously.

This was where its brilliance lay.

According to the little book spirit, the Sword Control Art had low consumption, a wide range, high numbers, and allowed for multitasking with ten thousand thoughts at once.

It was average for a duel.

But it was absolutely a god-level skill for group battles.

Imagine if one day, the whole world came to attack him. Xu Xian would only need to open the Sword Mound and shout, "Sword, come!" and a million spirit swords would surge forth to slaughter their way through the mortal realm.

What kind of scene would that be?

Even if the whole world were his enemy, what would there be to fear?

Therefore, as soon as Xu Xian emerged from seclusion, he took advantage of that refreshing wisp from The Living Flora to hurriedly begin comprehending the Sword Control Art.

Cultivation comprehension was something that required a specific feeling and opportunity; it was fleeting.

Since he had some feeling now, Xu Xian did not want to miss it.

In the current world, he had offended those he should and those he shouldn't have.

There was no guarantee that one day the matter of the Emperor's Tomb would be exposed and the whole world would come to hunt him down.

He had to prepare early.

The fifth floor of the Sword Tower would be difficult to build; that was a certainty. The Sword Control Art was his greatest reliance.

The Green Lotus Sword Song,

The Pupil of Insight,

Delusion...

The Sacrificial Sword Manual...

He could not let any of these divine abilities and techniques fall behind.

Unknowingly, as Xu Xian operated the heart cultivation method of the Sword Control Art, he entered a mysterious state, much like when he had reached sudden enlightenment at the sword stele years ago.

The flow of time became extremely slow.

The world fell into a dead silence.

The youth felt as if he were in a world that belonged only to swords, and he himself had become a sword.

He became the sword.

He felt the sword.

He controlled the sword.

Man and sword became one entity, reaching the state of Man-Sword Unity.

When the man moved, the sword rose; when the sword struck, the man followed.

He gradually grew obsessed, completely immersed in it and unable to pull himself out...

The Old Tortoise sensed the waves of sword aura radiating from the youth, which were vibrating in sync with his breathing and heartbeat.

A flash of surprise crossed its eyes.

As the saying goes, if a sword possesses a spirit, it can communicate its intent.

Protecting the master,

Defending the master,

Fighting until it crumbles.

But this only applied to a single sword, an extraordinary sword that could communicate with spirits. Such a sword had to be at least an immortal artifact.

However, there was a type of sword cultivator who could bestow spirits upon swords.

This type of sword cultivator could snap off a tree branch or pick up a withered leaf and strike with an earth-shattering blow.

This state was known as Man-Sword Unity.

A sword struck by a sword cultivator in this state contained the breath of heaven and man, which was why it was also called Celestial Sword Intent.

The Old Tortoise had lived for an extremely long time and had seen many sword cultivators, sword immortals, and even sword gods.

It would not mistake it.

The aura currently radiating from Xu Xian was the state of Man-Sword Unity.

He had just broken through to the eighth stage and immediately reached sudden enlightenment in Celestial Sword Intent.

What would he become in the future?

If he truly managed to reach the peak of the great ascension stage and controlled the Sword Tower's divine swords in this state, he would likely have no rivals in all of Fanzhou.

Even a demon immortal might not be able to do anything to him.

After a brief moment of daze, the Old Tortoise's face returned to normal as it clicked its tongue inwardly. "If this isn't the Child of Fortune, I'll stand on my head and eat shit..."