Three Years

Back at the Kuiyin Sect, Qin Sang had tasted the agony of an injured origin soul, but compared to today, that had been completely negligible. The instant he spurred the ebony sword into his origin soul, he blacked out clean. After who knew how long, Qin Sang woke up. He lay motionless on the ground like a corpse, his bleary eyes gazing at the domed ceiling of the cave abode before softly closing once more. He waited a long time until he recovered a bit of strength. Silently groping for the jade bottle at his side, he took out a healing medicinal pill and swallowed it, gingerly circulating his technique to heal his wounds and restore his origin soul. Several days later, once the injury to his origin soul had improved, he resumed the process. And so, three years passed. Over these three years, apart from making a monthly trip to Huilong Temple to see whether any summons talismans had arrived from the sect—so as not to neglect an assigned mission and face punishment—and then heading into the capital of Guyuan Country to devour several steamer baskets of large meat buns to satisfy his appetite, Qin Sang kept his doors shut and remained in his cave abode, wholly absorbed in cultivation. Perseverance bore fruit. After a year of cultivation, this technique he had once deemed impossible to master finally saw a milestone of progress. The ebony sword began showing signs of fusing with his origin soul. A fusion of spirit sword and origin soul. What followed was Qin Sang's struggle against the sword qi devouring his spirit. Enduring the constant agony of the sword qi gnawing at his origin soul, it took him a full two years to finally adapt and enter deep meditation under such conditions. The cave abode was dead silent and exceptionally dim. Only by the spirit spring did the fully revived Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid shimmer with beautiful light. The mist above its pistil had emerged two years ago as well, endlessly shifting through all manner of illusions that were vivid and lifelike, moving one to marvel. "Phew!" Qin Sang woke from his meditation and exhaled a long breath, a hint of delight on his face. This was his second successful meditation; the first had been five days ago and felt more like a fluke. Although he had grown accustomed to the pain welling from his origin soul, entering meditation remained rather difficult. Even so, Qin Sang kept Daoist Priest Jixin's teachings firmly in mind: keep the heart and breath calm, remain unhurried and free of irritation. Whenever he failed, he silently recited mantras, steadying his thoughts before trying again—and sure enough, he had achieved success once more. When he could not meditate, he had no choice but to sleep to replenish his energy. It had taken him a long time to fall asleep peacefully, leaving him considerably haggard and wasting a great deal of cultivation time. From now on, he would no longer need to worry about this. Qin Sang pressed his ten fingers against his forehead for a while, a gesture that had become second nature to him. The pain from his origin soul was far more maddening than the migraines he had suffered in his past life. The solution he later devised was to leave himself no idle time. Throughout the twelve two-hour periods of the day, apart from brief periods of sleep and sword-nurturing with his origin soul, his schedule was filled with various tasks, most of which were spent on cultivation and practice, yielding remarkable results. After rubbing his forehead for a while, Qin Sang rose from the ground and ambled to the side of the spirit spring. He gazed fondly at the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid for a moment, then shifted his gaze toward the pool below. Compared to three years ago, the eye of the spirit spring had grown noticeably larger, and its flow was much more vigorous. Now, a shallow pool had accumulated, filling nearly half the basin, while the roots of the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid gathered into a vibrant, thriving cluster. Qin Sang did not know how long it would take for this spirit spring to fully mature, but from the looks of it, it would not take very long. Once the spirit spring was fully formed, he would relocate both it and the cave abode to a more concealed spirit vein; only then could he feel at ease keeping the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid planted in his abode indefinitely. Otherwise, he would have to uproot it every time he traveled far, and replanting it would mean waiting an entire year for it to resume growing, pushing its maturation into an even more distant future. Today was the end of the month once again. Qin Sang sealed the cave abode, rode the Sky-Soaring Shuttle, and arrived at Huilong Temple. He had set up a simple illusion array at Huilong Temple that only blocked mortals. Ever since the demise of Gu Tiannan and his disciple, Huilong Temple had been utterly devoid of human presence, falling into severe ruin in just a few short years. Landing in the main hall, Qin Sang's expression shifted slightly. Seeing a voice transmission talisman flitting about erratically inside the restriction like a headless fly, he reached out to draw it into his hand. He found that it was not a summons from his sect, but had been sent by someone named Yu Daiyue. The sender claimed to be a fellow senior martial brother and invited Qin Sang to explore an ancient cultivator's ruins within the Yuncang Great Marsh. The details were to be discussed in person, and the wording was earnest and polite. Qin Sang searched his memory, but could not recall knowing any Foundation Establishment cultivator named Yu Daiyue. After breaking through to Foundation Establishment, he had not interacted with any other Foundation Establishment cultivators besides Sect Master Yu, Senior Brother Wen, and Senior Brother Gong. Once he obtained the technique, he had entered secluded cultivation, not returning to the sect even once over the past three years. He had maintained the lowest possible profile, making it puzzling why this person had sought him out. The Yuncang Great Marsh was boundless and sparsely inhabited. It was said that many undiscovered ancient ruins lay within it, many harboring immense treasures, and rumors frequently circulated of people striking it rich there, though it was hard to tell truth from fiction. Qin Sang was currently at a crucial juncture in his cultivation and had no interest in exploring ruins. He left behind a polite message of refusal, sent the talisman back on its way, went down the mountain to wolf down several steamer baskets of meat buns, and returned to his cave abode. Another two months went by. Qin Sang was finally able to completely throw off the influence of the sword qi gnawing at his origin soul and enter meditation at will. He could now proceed to the next step: visualizing the killing talisman, drawing the intent of slaughter into his origin soul, and tempering the spirit sword! The first killing talisman in the manual was far less ferocious than the four that followed. Furthermore, over these three years, Qin Sang had deduced and practiced it countless times; everything was in place, lacking only the final spark. His spiritual sense touched the technique recorded in his mind, and he swiftly visualized the first killing talisman. Qin Sang's mind settled into meditation. With a great roar inside his head, nothing remained except this killing talisman. Every stroke of the talisman was drawn with a sword of slaughter, channeling world-shaking killing intent onto the page. As Qin Sang looked through it stroke by stroke, his mouth went dry and his mind shook violently, as if he were watching a peerless swordsman using his blade to slaughter every living thing under the heavens. Killing intent instantly surged through Qin Sang's chest. He felt as though he had become that very swordsman, facing the entire world as his enemy, unable to restrain himself, wanting nothing more than to raise his sharp blade and cleave through all creation. A kill every ten paces; a thousand li with no trace left behind! Fortunately, the jade Buddha constantly steadied his true heart, preventing his mind from being lost to the killing talisman. Visualizing with the origin soul, he contemplated the Dao of slaughter. As time passed, the ebony sword resting within his origin soul suddenly began to stir. Over the past three years, Qin Sang had inscribed countless runes onto the blade. Now that he had begun visualizing the killing talisman, these runes and his origin soul merged into a furnace, drawing upon the killing intent to temper the sword! As the visualization continued, the intent of slaughter invaded his origin soul, enveloping the spirit sword. In a flash, the runes flared with dazzling, divine radiance. With a crisp snap, a hairline fissure invisible to the naked eye appeared at the end of the sword hilt. This was not where the magic treasure fragment itself resided, but rather the weakest point of the ebony sword. The ebony sword trembled violently, as though weeping in pain. "Ah!" At that moment, Qin Sang was violently torn from his meditation. Drenched in sweat, his face pale with lingering terror, he had been forcibly wrenched out of his trance by the excruciating agony ripping through his origin soul.