Chapter 718 | I Really Don't Want to Cultivate Immortality!

Xu Xian woke, his divine sense returning. With a sudden surge of strength, the cold chains shattered completely.

The sword was already in his hand. He gazed at it silently, his thoughts still lingering on the fragments of the past he had just witnessed.

A fated one regarded as an ill omen, a piece of a star treated as a common rock and forged into an iron sword...

A butcher who swung his sword until he became a titan,

And a mortal sword that transformed into a divine weapon.

Xu Xian wasn't sure if the sword had been extraordinary from birth or if it had undergone one transformation after another through the ordinary.

Persistence,

Fortitude,

And unyielding faith.

It was easy to fall from heaven to the mortal realm, but difficult to ascend from the mortal realm to heaven. That man's life was just like most people's.

Within that story, Xu Xian saw shadows of himself.

Did all the powerhouses of the world seem the same?

The sword rose from the ordinary and bloomed amidst slaughter.

Did he reach the extreme path because of this sword, or did this sword become brilliant because of him?

It couldn't be explained or put into words.

Everything had shifted far too quickly in the end. What Xu Xian had seen was merely the outline of the story. Many details could only be filled in by his imagination, leaving him with a lack of personal experience and insight.

Yet the ending was exactly as Xu Xian had seen.

The man died, sinking into the Ancient Desolate or perhaps the Ancient Era, but the sword remained. It entered the Sword Tower and was drawn by him today.

Xu Xian seemed to have gained an insight, one he couldn't quite describe.

Between a swordsman and his sword,

It was never a matter of master and servant.

The swordsman's blade and the swordsman himself achieved greatness through each other, growing together. For a swordsman, wasn't that a form of romance?

He immersed himself in the feeling, unwilling to pull away, sensing it carefully and contemplating in silence...

Seeing that the sword had been drawn and Xu Xian was lost in a daze, the Old Tortoise couldn't contain itself. It stood up, moving like an old man with its short front limbs behind its shell, approaching with a measured, square-paced gait.

Coming to his side, it stretched its neck and looked up.

The sword's body was plain—an old blade. It didn't release a brilliant radiance like the previous swords upon being unsealed, but its extraordinariness lay precisely in that.

Divine power nurtured within the ordinary, unbridled spirit revealed within the dust.

To see it as an iron sword, to know it was not an iron sword, and to understand it was a divine sword.

It was like the three stages of the Great Dao's insight into life:

Seeing mountains as mountains and waters as waters,

Seeing mountains not as mountains and waters not as waters,

And finally, seeing mountains as mountains and waters as waters again.

This sword was the same.

Heavy within the ordinary, clamoring within the silence. Like a hidden master, it was as still as a common old man, yet it could pluck the sun and moon the moment it struck.

A fine sword!

A rare, fine sword!

And of course,

An old sword!

The Old Tortoise squinted its eyes and couldn't help but comment, "This old blade is not simple!"

That was a pointless remark—at least, that was what the Little Book Spirit thought. None of the swords in this pool were ordinary.

Xu Xian snapped out of his trance and glanced sideways at the Old Tortoise with a calm look.

He didn't say a word.

He knew that when the Old Tortoise said it wasn't simple, it wasn't just referring to the sword's grade, but also the story belonging to it.

But was his story difficult?

Not really.

It was nothing more than that monarch swinging his sword day and night without pause, continuing for thousands or even tens of thousands of years.

The Old Tortoise asked again, "What is its name?"

Xu Xian pondered for a moment before saying, "The sword is named Jiangshan, unrivaled under heaven."

The Old Tortoise's eyes narrowed even further. "Interesting. So it's that Jiangshan. It truly is just like the rumors."

The twelve swords of the Sword Tower were all famous blades passed down through generations. During the Battle of the Boundary Sea, they had left the tower and slaughtered across the heavens. Not many people recognized them, and even fewer survived.

The Old Tortoise was one of them.

However,

It hadn't seen them personally; it had only heard of them. Just like the five swords that had left the tower before, it only knew of Thunder Punishment.

But it seemed to have heard of this Jiangshan as well.

Xu Xian asked curiously, "You recognize this sword?"

The Old Tortoise shook its head. "If I recognized it, would I be asking you?"

Xu Xian's brow twitched slightly. "Then what do the rumors say?"

The Old Tortoise recounted faithfully, "I also heard it from my master. He said that among Ye Wujiang's twelve swords, there was one named Jiangshan. The sword is extremely ordinary, just like a common old blade. But it only looks ordinary. When the sword is drawn, it is like a monarch descending to the mortal realm, and all the swords in the world bow before it. When the sword is raised, it can summon rivers and mountains to suppress an entire region..."

As the Old Tortoise explained, Xu Xian reflected.

The sword of Jiangshan, a monarch's sword. It seemed ordinary, yet it could raise mountains and call upon rivers. If he had to name its attribute, it should be earth!

It was hard to say for sure.

After all, in the scenes he had witnessed, the sword had remained plain throughout, never showing its edge, yet it had helped that man reach the extreme path and become a titan.

Perhaps,

Only the spirit slumbering within the sword knew the truth...

Holding the sword, he stepped out of the sword forest and chose an open space by the sword pool. Amidst the Old Tortoise's confusion and the Little Book Spirit's anticipation, he activated the spirit communication method of the [Sacrificial Sword Manual].

He attempted to awaken the spirit within the sword.

His lips moved slightly as an ancient incantation echoed across the high platform.

The sword left his hand and hovered horizontally in the air, a greyish light curtain slowly rippling across the blade.

Xu Xian said, "Spirit who has been sealed for so long, heed my call and awaken."

As his voice fell, the spirit slumbering within the sword woke up. A greyish mist surged from the blade, diffusing into a cloud that occupied a small area of the space.

The Old Tortoise instinctively shrank back.

It hid behind Xu Xian's heel, while the Little Book Spirit excitedly peeked forward.

Before long, the greyish mist dissipated, revealing a figure within.

It was a man with short hair, wearing a thin waistcoat on his upper body and hemp trousers with the legs rolled up on his lower body. He was barefoot.

He had a square face with thick eyebrows and large, deep eyes. A short stubble grew on his chin, and his exposed skin was bronze-colored. His muscles were bulging and covered in scars of various depths and lengths.

The Old Tortoise was stunned. The sword spirit had awakened, but it looked...

It stepped out from behind Xu Xian's foot.

Xu Xian's brow furrowed instinctively, while the Little Book Spirit spun around the man without stopping.

How should he put it?

This spirit looked just like that old iron sword—an ordinary, common middle-aged man. If there was anything different, it was perhaps that he was tall and had an honest, simple appearance.

One look at him made people feel he was a man of integrity.

Compared to the fox-like and sultry Zhu, the baleful Min, the pure and cold Shuang, the transcendent Qing, and the thunderous Zui, he seemed completely out of place.

At least based on appearance alone,

It was hard to tell that this spirit belonged to a Two-Character Sword.

After the spirit appeared, his calm gaze swept over the Little Book Spirit, the Old Tortoise, and Xu Xian in turn. After a brief scrutiny, he confirmed his new master and focused his gaze on Xu Xian. He took three and a half steps forward, knelt on one knee, and cupped his fists in greeting.

"I greet my new master!"

Xu Xian acknowledged him and told him to rise.

"You may stand."

"I thank my master for his grace."

He stood up and waited there respectfully, seemingly awaiting Xu Xian's instructions.

Xu Xian didn't dwell on his appearance. Speaking of which, this look actually complemented the old blade perfectly.

He simply asked, "What is your name?"

"Fan!"

"The 'Fan' as in mortal?" Xu Xian asked again.

"Yes!"

Xu Xian nodded thoughtfully and waved his hand. "I've noted it. You may go."

Fan cupped his fists in a bow.