Sword Pavilion

Time slipped by. In the blink of an eye, seven days passed. Inside Huilong Temple, everything was as usual. Within the cave dwelling, the sword radiance and the blood-red light—which had initially been evenly matched—finally had a victor. The Boundless Blood Mulberry had retreated into a corner, its blood light reduced to a thin, dull sheen across its surface, no longer able to hold off the aggressive ebony sword. The sword radiance contracted, completely enveloping the Boundless Blood Mulberry like an egg as it floated in midair. The killing talismans shone brightly, revolving on their own to help the ebony sword wear down the blood light. Gradually, the last trace of blood light was worn away, revealing the true form of the Boundless Blood Mulberry. It was seamless, a solid piece of blood wood without the slightest blemish or variegation. When Qin Sang extended his spiritual sense toward the wood, he faintly felt as if it were trying to taint him. This divine wood was simply too eerie; he wondered if other divine woods possessed similar traits. Qin Sang was filled with anticipation, wondering what kind of transformation would occur and what surprises awaited once the ebony sword finished refining the Boundless Blood Mulberry. Exercising great caution, he manipulated his sword qi to slowly refine the wood. Under his ceaseless refinement, the Boundless Blood Mulberry melted away like ice into a pool of blood-red liquid. It contained no impurities whatsoever; the entire spiritual wood was pure essence. Qin Sang opened his eyes and gazed intently at the pool of blood. After a moment, with a subtle shift of his thoughts, the ebony sword trembled slightly. With a flash of sword radiance, it plunged into the blood. The sword's body also dissolved, blending into the blood liquid and transforming into a sword embryo. The sword embryo was unstable. For a time, it was impossible to tell whether the ebony sword was devouring the Boundless Blood Mulberry or the Boundless Blood Mulberry was devouring the ebony sword. Yet amidst the blood liquid, the three killing talismans remained as steadfast as ever, like three Sea-Calming Needles firmly suppressing the sword embryo until everything stabilized. By now, both the ebony sword and the Boundless Blood Mulberry had vanished. All that remained before Qin Sang was a single sword embryo. Two distinct colors swirled inside it. Qin Sang could sense that the ebony sword was actively refining the power of the divine wood. Once the crimson hue completely vanished and the sword embryo regained its pristine clarity, the ebony sword's true transformation would be complete! However, this process would be exceedingly slow. Qin Sang summoned the sword embryo back into his origin soul and sank into meditation to perceive it in detail. After an entire day, he opened his eyes with a grave expression. His premonition had come true. After a full day, the ebony sword had only refined an insignificant trace of that modest pool of blood. At this rate, it might take nearly forty years to thoroughly refine the Boundless Blood Mulberry! Throughout this process, the ebony sword would remain in the form of a sword embryo. Its body was exceptionally fragile, making it impossible to wield in combat; it had to be kept inside his origin soul to be continually nurtured. Fortunately, with the aid of the three killing talismans, the ebony sword could autonomously refine the divine wood without requiring Qin Sang's divided attention. Even so, the time required was simply too long! As a sword embryo, the ebony sword could not be deployed in battle, let alone withstand the burden of a new killing talisman. In other words, Qin Sang would have to wait until the ebony sword finished devouring the Boundless Blood Mulberry before he could break through to late Foundation Establishment. He possessed miraculous medicines such as the Blood-Dripping Ghost Mushroom and the Lilong Pill, and through several life-and-death battles in Wuya Valley, he had already gained deep comprehension of the four killing talismans. Originally, he would have naturally reached late Foundation Establishment in little more than a decade. Yet because of the ebony sword, he would be forced to waste nearly forty years. That was far too long. However, this dilemma was not without a solution. Otherwise, Qin Sang would never have acted so rashly; he would have at least waited until after breaking through to late Foundation Establishment before refining the Boundless Blood Mulberry. Qin Sang produced a jade slip—the very one Shopkeeper Wu had given him. It recorded the artifact crafting insights of the Wu family's ancestors, as well as the even more precious insights into crafting magic treasures. Qin Sang had harbored an inkling before, and now he was certain: the process of the ebony sword devouring spiritual wood was, in essence, a form of artifact crafting. The insights recorded in the jade slip would also benefit the ebony sword. As long as Qin Sang could decipher the slip's contents and attain a certain level of skill in the Dao of artifact crafting, he could drastically shorten the time needed for the ebony sword to consume the spiritual wood. Of course, mastering the jade slip would not be easy. With no foundation in artifact crafting, Qin Sang had to start from scratch and build his knowledge step by step. The craft encompassed an all-encompassing array of techniques, impossible to master overnight. Fortunately, he did not need to delve into other fields; mastering the methods of forging spirit swords would suffice. Nor was he required to forge exceptionally high-grade magic tools. He merely needed to internalize the slip's principles during the crafting process and apply them to refining the ebony sword to reap immense benefits. Furthermore, what he learned would not go to waste in the future. His cultivation method was unique: because his life spirit sword resided within his origin soul, he could forge a second life magic treasure to keep in his dantian and nurture with core fire. These experiences would prove equally useful when he crafted his life magic treasure after reaching Core Formation. Qin Sang had read the jade slip many times. After understanding the elementary portions, he had hit a bottleneck; what he lacked was hands-on practice. That was why the cave dwelling he had rented in Qingyang Market came with an unassuming shop attached. The dual identity of an artifact crafter and shopkeeper served as the perfect disguise, killing multiple birds with one stone. *** Qingyang Market. In a corner of the market, deep within an alleyway, a modest little shop opened its doors without lanterns, banners, or fanfare. A simple new shop sign had been hung out front, bearing only two characters written in vigorous, iron-strong calligraphy: "Sword Pavilion." The characters held a subtle sword intent, lending them an extraordinary air—perhaps the sole redeeming feature of this humble little shop. Despite the name "Sword Pavilion," spirit swords were not the only items on display. All sorts of magic tools were arranged across the shelves in wide variety, but they all shared one thing in common: their quality was remarkably low. A Foundation Establishment cultivator passing by saw the new shop open and, intrigued by its audacious name, walked in out of curiosity. A single glance later, he left with a string of curses. Even high-stage Qi Refinement cultivators would look down on such shoddy magic tools. Shops like this were not uncommon in the market, amounting to small-scale businesses barely making ends meet. However, this new shopkeeper seemed rather unreliable. Without any shop assistants, he ran the place entirely by himself, working in fits and starts. In the half-month since opening, the doors had been shut tight for ten days. Hardly a soul visited. It seemed doubtful he could even support himself, let alone cover the rent. The proprietor of the "Sword Pavilion" was none other than Qin Sang. Owing to its location, even though this cave dwelling came with a shop, its rent was not much higher than that of other cave dwellings, and it suited Qin Sang's needs perfectly. After perusing ancient texts at Pagoda Peak and taking along several artifact crafting tomes from Shaohua Mountain's collection, he had left the sect, returned to Qingyang Market, and seen to the opening of the shop. Having arrived only recently, he had not yet begun studying artifact crafting in earnest. The magic tools displayed in the shop were not of his own making, but part of the miscellaneous spoils he had accumulated over years of roaming. He put them out merely to keep up appearances at modest prices, never expecting them to sell. Qin Sang hardly cared about such meager amounts of spirit stones. It was not that his mustard seed bag lacked good items. Rather, he planned to wait until his artifact crafting skills improved before slowly putting them out, mingled in with the magic tools he crafted himself.