Now that the baleful corpse was refined, it had a green face and bared fangs, with baleful qi churning around its body. It was blatantly obvious that this was an evil refined corpse; before righteous cultivators, it was best kept hidden whenever possible. Once he could control the baleful corpse with practiced ease, Qin Sang put it away into the corpse puppet pouch to let it nourish itself, then returned to his cave dwelling.
Though the process of corpse refining seemed tedious, it had actually taken less than five days. Qin Sang glanced at the unchanged pool, paid it no further mind, and sat down cross-legged.
After some thought, Qin Sang retrieved the spoils of war he had obtained from the Heavenly Corpse Sect's branch altar from his mustard seed bag. He intended to take inventory of his assets and make proper preparations for his journey to the Ancient Immortal Battlefield.
First was the talisman treasure gifted by Senior Sister Qingting. Although there was a crack upon its surface, its power was far from exhausted. Provided he did not overuse it, it could still be used several times. It was arguably his strongest trump card at present, so naturally it had to be stored away with care.
As for the cracked iron stakes, Qin Sang had asked Shopkeeper Wu to examine them, but even Wu had not discerned anything definitive, merely guessing they might be some kind of array implements. They were forged from fine spiritual materials, of no low grade.
Qin Sang recalled the scene when he discovered that skeleton—a wide swathe of shattered spirit stones surrounded the cracked iron stakes, and the remains had not been looted. Shopkeeper Wu's assessment was likely correct: they were probably array implements used to set up some kind of concealing spirit array. Yet that person's injuries had been too severe, and in the end, death had still been inescapable.
Cracked to such an extent, the iron stakes were essentially useless now.
Next was Baiyun Shanren's Dragon Subduing Staff, as well as the spirit sword obtained from Wu Yuesheng, named the Yanli Sword, which was inferior in quality to the Crimson Flame Sword.
Both of these magic tools were superior specimens among high-grade magic tools, standing as the strongest weapons each possessed aside from their signature ones. The Yanli Sword went without saying, and the Dragon Subduing Staff also held numerous clever uses, sufficient to handle many complicated situations.
After entering the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, Qin Sang intended to use these two magic tools as his primary force. The ebony sword could hide in the shadows to strike by surprise, and he could then deploy the Ten Directions Yanluo Banner or the talisman treasure depending on the circumstances.
Together with the baleful corpse, the Profound Yin Thunder, and two Essence-Devouring Awls, Qin Sang realized he had quite a few life-saving means. As long as he did not court death, preserving his life should not be too difficult.
Unfortunately, his most useful item, the Cloudfall Wings, was a baleful artifact and could not be used indefinitely.
Qin Sang had originally taken a liking to Wu Yuesheng's evasion technique, but he had found no similar incantation in Wu's mustard seed bag or at Pagoda Peak. It was very likely an innate divine ability that came with his cultivation method, impossible for anyone not cultivating that technique to learn.
Although he had not found the evasion technique, Qin Sang had discovered that sword art.
After breaking through to Foundation Establishment, his sword art had become rather simplistic. Qin Sang had already planned to switch to a new sword art, but unfortunately, cultivating the Origin Soul Sword Refining Chapter was more important, making it hard to balance both at the time.
Pagoda Peak housed countless sword arts, including dozens that could be practiced by Foundation Establishment cultivators alone, ranging in strength and each possessing distinct characteristics. Among them, the five strongest sword arts were not only exceptionally difficult to cultivate, but their purchase prices were also exorbitant, nearly rivaling a top-grade magic tool!
Foundation Establishment disciples without a master or who were not valued rarely chose these five sword arts; with so many spirit stones, it was far more practical to buy a handy magic tool instead.
Moreover, without the guidance of a master, trying to achieve a high level of attainment in the sword dao on one's own would require a staggering amount of time and energy, which was bound to conflict with one's cultivation.
Qin Sang sent his spiritual sense into the jade slip and comprehended it thoroughly. A gleam lit up his eyes; while the technique naturally could not compare to those five peak sword arts, it had its own unique merits.
The core of this sword art lay in dividing sword qi and allowing the strands of qi to pull and guide one another, constructing a Thousand Mechanism Sword Array that could bring out the power of sword qi to the fullest.
Splitting sword qi was completely different from sword light differentiation. Sword light differentiation was an exceptionally high realm of the sword dao, said to require at least the Core Formation stage to comprehend, along with extraordinary natural talent in the way of the sword.
This was also confirmed in the Origin Soul Sword Refining Chapter: upon cultivating to the fifth layer—that is, the Core Formation stage—the innate minor divine ability was sword light differentiation, allowing the life spirit sword to divide into a ray of sword light.
Sword light differentiation held endless wonders, but its greatest function was that the rays shared a single mind, allowing one to lay down an incomparably exquisite sword array. Relying solely on a multitude of sword lights hardly made one invincible; otherwise, everyone would simply carry a set of spirit swords as their magic tools.
Unfortunately, the technique had no subsequent volumes, so he did not know what sword array lay beyond; besides, two rays of sword light could hardly form an array.
The creator of the Thousand Mechanism Sword Art had comprehended this technique precisely from the art of sword light differentiation—splitting sword qi and turning it into a sword array. It was not restricted by cultivation realm; any cultivator capable of conjuring sword qi could practice it.
The higher one's cultivation and the stronger one's spiritual sense, the more strands of sword qi one could control.
Each strand of split sword qi inherited only a small fraction of the spirit sword's original power and was originally of little use, but once formed into a sword array, it was a different story. When the qi of all the sword strands linked into an array and united as a single entity, its might surpassed that of the spirit sword itself.
As a cultivator's attainment in the sword art deepened, the might of the sword array would grow even more formidable.
In the subterranean cavern, although Qin Sang had not seen Wu Yuesheng unleash the full array, judging by the aura when the sword array took shape, he knew its power was definitely formidable.
Had the three of them not each harbored ulterior motives, they would have slain the living corpse long before.
Furthermore, cultivating this sword art was not as difficult as the five premier sword arts of Shaohua Mountain. Splitting two strands of sword qi to coordinate with the spirit sword itself could already form a small sword array. He could slowly comprehend it during his spare time in the future; every additional strand of sword qi split would be a visible improvement.
Upon seeing the Thousand Mechanism Sword Art, Qin Sang made his decision almost immediately to take it as his primary sword art—and not merely to save the spirit stones needed to exchange for another.
*Whoosh!*
The Yanli Sword flew out from Qin Sang's palm, releasing sharp sword qi as it circled once around him.
The ebony sword was still being nourished within his origin soul, so he temporarily made use of the Yanli Sword to comprehend the sword art.
After a round of sacrificial refining, Qin Sang claimed the Yanli Sword for his own use. Then, his eyes shut tight, he sank his spiritual sense into the jade slip, concentrating wholeheartedly on comprehending it.
With its radiance restrained, the Yanli Sword lay across Qin Sang's lap, and the entire cave dwelling fell into immediate silence.
The spring water was clear, and the orchid blossomed silently. The exotic fragrance of the divine flower was firmly sealed above the pool by the restriction, which was truly a pity.
Time slipped away day by day, and Qin Sang seemed to have turned into a statue.
In the blink of an eye, a month passed.
On this day, a long, drawn-out sword chime suddenly rang out within the cave dwelling.
The Yanli Sword, which had remained motionless upon Qin Sang's lap all this time, shot above his head without any warning!
Qin Sang snapped his eyes open. A sharp gleam flashed in his gaze as he stared intently at the Yanli Sword.
Everything he had gained from his comprehension over these past days flashed rapidly through his mind. Feeling that he could now attempt to split his sword qi, he channeled his spiritual power without hesitation, pouring it into the Yanli Sword.
*Hum!*
Sword qi surged magnificently from the Yanli Sword!
Chapter 191