Chapter 700: The Sword Transformation

The others also looked stunned, "It's a broken artifact sword…"

"But…" Gu An glanced again, frowning, "The method used to forge this life-bound spirit sword seems unusual."

"What's unusual?" Mo Hua asked curiously.

He was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage and knew only the barest outlines of what came after—breaking through to Jin Dan and forging a life-bound artifact.

The sect elders never let disciples waste time pondering such things prematurely.

Gu An explained, "Generally, when forging a life-bound artifact, body cultivators emphasize blood qi, while spirit cultivators emphasize spiritual energy."

"A body cultivator's artifact is nourished by their own blood qi; person and artifact become one, balanced in offense and defense, perfectly attuned, naturally imbued with blood nature."

"A spirit cultivator's artifact harmonizes with their spiritual energy, intuitively responsive, moved as if it were an extension of the arm, inherently possessing spirit."

"For the rare few with exceptional talent who cultivate both body and spirit, their life-bound artifact carries both blood nature and spirit."

"But this broken artifact sword…"

Gu An frowned, "It has no pure blood qi, no discernible spirit. It bears the form of an artifact, yet for some reason, it looks no different from an ordinary spirit weapon."

"Perhaps after years of soaking in this blood pool, both its blood nature and spirit have been corrupted by the vile blood and flesh pulp…"

Mo Hua's heart tightened, his gaze sharpening.

This sword was neither a blood qi artifact nor a spirit artifact—it was a "spiritual-nexus artifact," forged along the Dao of "transforming spiritual intent into a sword," perfectly aligned with spiritual awareness.

But…

Mo Hua frowned, puzzled.

This was a second-grade prefecture—how had this third-grade sword-artifact been broken?

Artifacts involve cultivation knowledge of the Jin Dan realm.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, couldn't figure it out, and asked Gu An, who was at late Foundation Establishment.

Gu An pondered a moment, then shook his head, "In a second-grade prefecture, Jin Dan power is restricted—both blood qi and spiritual energy are capped. Logically, this third-grade sword shouldn't have broken…"

"Could it have been broken elsewhere, then discarded into this blood pool?" Gu An speculated.

Mo Hua gave a slight shake of his head.

That ancient sword cultivator had once entered the fishing village alone, and when he emerged, his face was pale—he had been grievously wounded.

So this sword must have broken right here.

Master She suddenly sneered coldly.

Mo Hua's gaze turned displeased. "What are you laughing at?"

Master She, wary of Mo Hua's cruel and unreasonable nature, suppressed his grim expression and forced a weak smile.

"Nothing."

"Do you know the origin of this sword?"

Master She wanted to say he didn't know, but under Mo Hua's stare, he dared not lie. "I only know a little…"

"Long ago, a reckless sword cultivator, arrogant beyond measure, dared challenge the Divine Lord with the strength of a mantis trying to stop a chariot. The Divine Lord shattered his sword technique, wounded his primordial energy, and snapped his life-bound sword…"

"Once his life-bound sword was destroyed, his Dao foundation was damaged. Unless repaired, his cultivation could never advance again."

"Afterward, the Divine Lord imprisoned this broken fragment at the bottom of this filthy blood pool, as a warning to others."

"As long as the fragment remains unclaimed, the sword cultivator's life-bound artifact remains incomplete."

"If he never retrieves it, his foundation remains broken for life."

"This is the Divine Lord's punishment."

As Master She spoke, a cold sneer and mocking tone crept onto his face, along with reverence for the "Divine Lord's" might.

Mo Hua's face turned icy. "Half an hour's almost up. Go prepare the altar—or I'll send you to meet your 'Divine Lord.'"

Master She choked, then sullenly returned to prepare the ritual.

Mo Hua, meanwhile, traced his fingers over the broken sword, sighing softly in his heart.

Spiritual-nexus sword—spiritual intent fused with the life-bound artifact.

That ancient sword cultivator must have relied on spiritual-nexus sword, exhausting himself to fight the corrupted River God.

One man, one sword, he fought from the village's entrance to the temple's threshold, until his spiritual energy was spent, his sword intent self-damaged, and he fell to the River God's hands—his life-bound sword snapping in the process…

The ancient sword cultivator's injuries were far worse than they appeared.

Spiritual-nexus sword—hurting the enemy is also hurting oneself.

If so, then this elder was not an isolated case.

Spiritual-nexus sword cultivators, though capable of slaying all demons and evil spirits with their powerful spiritual-nexus sword technique,

still wielded their own spiritual intent as the blade—slaying evil spirits meant slaying themselves.

A blade too rigid breaks easily.

When facing truly powerful evil spirits, if the spiritual blade cannot cut through, the backlash is devastating.

It may even shatter the life-bound sword forged through both body and spirit.

Mo Hua had heard rumors before.

It was said the Grand Void Gate had once been a great sword sect, its sword array vast, producing countless powerful sword cultivators.

And if these elder disciples had all practiced the "spiritual-nexus sword" method, then while powerful, they were also inherently fragile.

Slaying evil spirits and self-damaging one's Dao foundation were separated by only a hair's breadth.

The fate of the sword cultivator in the River God temple was likely the destiny of most spiritual-nexus sword cultivators.

Mo Hua touched the broken sword, filled with quiet sorrow.

No wonder no one in the Grand Void Gate now practices "spiritual-nexus sword"…

Moreover, today's sect is filled only with geniuses from various prefectures, scions of noble families, top-grade spiritual roots, each one a priceless treasure.

Moreover, within the sect today, every one is a genius from various provinces, a scion of a noble family, possessing a top-grade spiritual root and extraordinary talent—none are anything less than precious treasures.

The Grand Void Gate would never dare let its disciples cultivate such a sword technique of mental confrontation—killing a thousand while wounding oneself eight hundred.

"But… I want to learn it!"

"I'm not afraid!"

Mo Hua silently muttered to himself.

He wished someone would clash mentalities with him outright…

"No one's come to teach me…" Mo Hua propped his chin on his hand, furrowed his brows in deep thought, then after a long while, stared blankly at the broken sword.

Could this sword conceal the sword technique within it?

Cause and effect never lie.

Just now, through divination, I confirmed: this sword indeed harbors the karmic traces of the Mind-to-Sword method.

Mo Hua turned the broken sword over and over, finding not the slightest trace of a sword manual, sword moves, or engraved sword patterns.

The sword's intent was gone too.

It had been soaked in a blood pool for centuries—its sword intent had long been worn away.

Why?

Why had the Evil God deliberately submerged this broken sword in the blood pool?

Mo Hua frowned, slowly pondering in his heart.

According to that old fraud's account, the ancient sword cultivator back then was defeated by the River God, his mental essence wounded, his sword shattered, and he fled in disgrace.

The River God sank this broken sword into the blood pool to serve as a warning to others.

But this explanation must be wrong…

If that ancient sword cultivator had truly been so utterly defeated, he could never have escaped alive from the River God's temple, nor left this fishing village.

He escaped alive—this at least proves that though he lost and his sword broke, he somehow suppressed the River God to some degree.

It was a brutal, mutually devastating battle.

In that case, the ancient sword cultivator's mental essence must have been extraordinarily powerful.

He fought alone to the River God's temple, severely wounding the fallen River God; though he exhausted himself and suffered mutual destruction, his life-sword snapped, yet he still withdrew calmly.

This also shows that this ancient sword cultivator's "Mind-to-Sword" technique was exceedingly refined—perhaps he even practiced the most orthodox sword lineage.

If so, then does this sword contain the orthodox transmission of "Mind-to-Sword"?

Mo Hua felt a restless itch in his heart.

"Divine calculation?"

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then sat cross-legged on the ground, placed the sword before him, meditated briefly, his pupils deepening as cosmic patterns surfaced—he began to divine the sword's karmic traces.

At a single glance, an extremely sharp killing intent surged toward him.

Mo Hua's heart trembled—he was about to shut his eyes.

Suddenly, his Grand Void Token shuddered, a faint glow flashed—and the killing intent seemed to recognize Mo Hua's identity, gradually dissolving.

"Grand Void Token… Grand Void Gate…"

Mo Hua fell into thought.

That powerful ancient sword cultivator back then must have been a Grand Void Gate elder.

Mo Hua nodded slightly, then continued gazing, focusing deeply on the divination.

Though the Grand Void Token had neutralized the broken sword's killing intent, the sword's karmic traces remained thick and difficult to peer into.

After all, it was a Jin Dan realm's life-artifact; for Mo Hua's current realm to forcibly divine it was still extremely strained.

Fortunately, the broken sword had soaked in the blood pool for centuries—its sword intent had mostly faded, and its karmic traces had eroded somewhat.

Moreover, Mo Hua had divided his threefold sinister thoughts, greatly advancing his cosmic divination, enhancing the precision of his cosmic calculations.

Otherwise, peering into the sword's karmic traces would have been nearly impossible.

Before Mo Hua's eyes lay a haze of mist. Within the mist, faint sword glimmers lingered.

Pure white karmic threads intertwined, layered and complex.

After an indeterminate time, Mo Hua exhausted his mental essence, pushing his divination to its limit, slowly unraveling the threads—until the karmic traces gradually became clear.

Flickering, fragmented images began to surface before Mo Hua's eyes…

First, a figure, sword on his back, eyebrows long, walked alone into the blood mist, his silhouette resolute.

Hostile cultivators, deformed demons, blood leeches or blood-fish-like evils blocked his path—he cut them all down with a single sword stroke.

His swordlight was pure silver.

It carried the sharpness of the blade, the might of sword qi, and the mystery of sword intent.

It could sever flesh and blood, and also slay evil spirits.

No demon, monster, or evil could stand before him a single moment.

Soon, he reached the River God's temple.

Within the temple, a powerful figure emerged—then the vision tore, rippling violently, as if the object observed was too potent in mental essence, causing interference.

All that was known: a great battle occurred before the River God's temple.

Then, dust settled, the scene froze—the sword cultivator's long sword pierced through a figure resembling the "River God."

Mo Hua's pupils contracted sharply.

The ancient sword cultivator… he won?

But soon after, as if blood had been poured into a river, slowly spreading into a haze, Mo Hua's vision was swallowed by swirling blood mist, obscuring everything.

When the blood mist cleared, the ancient sword cultivator's face was pale, blood at the corner of his mouth, gripping the broken sword, a shard of shattered tip lying on the ground.

A voice of utter disbelief rang out.

"You… are not the River God…"

"Such a powerful evil intent… you vile creature, what are you? Where do you come from? What are your intentions?"

No one… or rather, no "god" answered.

The sword cultivator's expression was bitter, tinged with despair.

After that, the vision abruptly ended…

Mo Hua was stunned.

According to the causal deductions, the ancient sword cultivator had slain the River God—no, at least severely wounded him—but was later ambushed by something far stronger…

"Such a powerful evil intent…"

It must refer to one of the Great Wilderness Evil God's divine relics incarnated?

Mo Hua frowned in thought, then suddenly froze—though these truths were important, they were not what he most needed to know right now…

Where was the method of transforming spiritual insight into a sword?

If Mo Hua guessed correctly, this broken sword, being the ancient sword cultivator's life-bound treasure, must contain key insights into cultivating the transformation of spiritual insight into a sword within its causal traces…

Mo Hua began tracing backward through the causal threads.

But the sword had been sealed too long and defiled by blood qi; too many causal links had been worn away.

Beads of sweat formed on Mo Hua's pale forehead as he exhausted his computational power, inch by inch tracing the threads…

Suddenly, a figure leapt into view.

It was an elderly man with a long beard, his entire body surging with an extremely fierce sword intent, clad in white robes as if woven from swordlight, vast and solemn in their deadly aura.

Mo Hua glanced once—and his eyes burned with pain from the swordlight; he immediately looked away, daring not to stare directly, instead using his peripheral vision to observe the old man's surroundings.

Beside the old man stood a boy carrying a sword on his back.

"Xuan'er…"

"This sword art, I should not have taught you—but I do not wish to…"

Mo Hua's spiritual awareness was insufficient, his causal deduction still lacking mastery; the causal threads were faint, so the voice was intermittent, barely audible.

"Do not wish for you…"

"... do not wish for Grand Void Gate to lose this lineage."

A fog enveloped everything, tangled causal threads, voices merged together, unclear when or where this event occurred.

Mo Hua strained to listen.

"... true essence of transforming spiritual insight into a sword…"

"Your foundation is solid; today I teach you…"

"Shock the Spirit Form…"

Shock the Spirit Form?!

Mo Hua's heart trembled.

Grand Void's True Essence of Transforming Spiritual Insight into a Sword: Shock the Spirit Sword Form?

Mo Hua quietly opened his eyes but still dared not look at the bearded old man—only at the boy beside him, with long, elegant eyebrows.

The boy's eyes held a brilliant sword intent; in his hand he held a sword, sword qi coalescing upon it, fused with sword intent. Though the technique was crude, it subtly radiated astonishing power.

Mo Hua widened his eyes, stared for a long time, then felt a chill.

Damn it—he couldn't understand a thing.

This wasn't an introductory sword manual; it was an advanced sword form of transforming spiritual insight into a sword. Mo Hua had zero foundation—he was utterly lost.

The vision flashed away, gone without a trace.

Mo Hua caught only a fleeting glimpse—he learned nothing.

"Is there something simpler…?"

Mo Hua sighed helplessly and continued tracing backward through the causal threads.

Fragmented, blood-stained, blurred images flickered past.

Voices, as if submerged in water, merged into a chaotic murmur.

Finally, Mo Hua heard two words.

"Transform into sword…"

Mo Hua focused his gaze—this time, the vision showed no bearded old man, only the boy with long eyebrows, standing alone amid lush mountains.

The mountain scenery was familiar—serene, ancient, like Grand Void Gate—but Mo Hua had never seen such a place within the sect.

The boy held his sword, standing amid the mountains, mist and dew dampening his sleeves, veiling his face.

Yet his eyes were bright, as bright as the sword in his hand.

The boy's voice was clear and resonant.

"Transform into Sword Form…"

"First Form of Grand Void's True Essence of Transforming Spiritual Insight into a Sword: Transform into Sword Form…"

"The path of spiritual awareness is endlessly variable, exhausting human thought, inscrutable even to gods and demons."

"The method of spiritual intent is metaphysical; to slay demons and exterminate evil, all sword forms must begin with 'Transform into Sword.'"

"Shock the Spirit Form, Shatter the Spirit Form, Sever the Spirit Form, Extinguish the Spirit Form… all rely on 'Transform into Sword' as their foundation…"

"To transform into sword: refine the sword into qi, refine qi into intent, fuse intent with the sword, transform the intangible into the tangible, unify the tangible and intangible—only then can one use spiritual insight to 'transform into sword' and cut down all things…"

…

Mo Hua listened ravenously, memorizing every word, and watched the boy's movements, mimicking them step by step, beginning to practice.

"Refine the sword into qi…"

Mo Hua tried—and failed.

His spiritual sword was crude in quality, his sword qi weak—he had no foundation.

"Refining Qi into Intent..."

Not possible.

Because Mo Hua is not a swordsman; his foundation in the Sword Dao is thin, his sword Qi is weak, and it is extremely difficult to merge sword Qi with his spiritual sense and manifest it as sword intent.

Since Mo Hua cannot do either of these two steps, he simply shut his eyes and jumped straight to the end:

"Merge intent with the sword; transform the void into substance..."

In the karmic vision, after days and nights of rigorous cultivation, the boy had mastered his sword art and was finally ready to attempt merging spirit with the sword.

Manifest sword intent through spiritual sense, merging it into the long sword in his hand.

Upon his long sword, there was both clear swordlight and an intensely condensed silver-white sword intent.

But Mo Hua discarded the sword and sword Qi entirely.

He merely learned the boy's method of "condensing the sword," and within himself, manifested his spiritual sense as a sword.

This was a "shortcut" method.

But because his spiritual sense was strong enough, and sufficiently condensed.

Thus, within his dantian, his spiritual thought indeed slowly took shape, just like the boy's, forming a sharp "sword form."

It was a pale golden sword.

The sword's shape was crude, like a blade just taken from a forging furnace—a blade core—and it was not long, resembling a child's golden toy sword, fitting perfectly in the hand of Mo Hua's spiritual manifestation.

At this point, Mo Hua's Heaven's Mechanism calculation had reached its limit.

The karmic traces upon the sword were completely erased.

All the retrogressive visions vanished.

The aura on the broken sword grew even weaker, as if it had become an ordinary spirit sword.

Within his dantian, Mo Hua stared at the golden miniature sword manifested by his spiritual thought, and fell into deep thought.

Had he truly learned it—or not?

"Spiritual thought turned into sword..."

It was indeed "turned into a sword."

But this sword, while not entirely unlike the boy's in the karmic past—the ancient swordsman's "spiritual thought turned into sword"—could also be said to be vastly different...

The boy held a sword; Mo Hua held none.

The boy's spiritual thought turned into sword was achieved by aligning inner sword intent with the sword in his hand, merging it with sword Qi to form a weapon of slaughter.

Mo Hua's spiritual thought turned into sword was simply, plainly, transforming spiritual thought itself into a sword...

And it existed only within his dantian; in the real world, there was not even a shadow of it.

Mo Hua scratched his head, troubled.

It seemed that, in learning, he had gone off track again...

But was what he had learned truly "spiritual thought turned into sword"?

He had not cultivated sword into Qi, nor refined Qi into intent—only merged intent with the sword, transformed the void into substance.

No, he had not truly transformed the void into substance...

Mo Hua glanced again at the golden miniature sword in his hand and sighed.

"I'll make do with this for now. If I get the chance later, I'll learn the full 'spiritual thought turned into sword.'"

"From these few fleeting images and fragmented words in the karmic retrogression, to have learned this much is already good enough..."

Mo Hua silently comforted himself, then quietly withdrew the golden miniature sword, yet a doubt lingered in his heart.

"I wonder how powerful this spiritual thought turned into sword really is—I need something to test it on..."

Mo Hua exited his dantian, secured the broken sword, and looked around—no evil spirits anywhere.

Neither the River God nor the Evil God could be seen.

It seemed the great battle long ago had been devastatingly crushed by the ancient swordsman's spiritual thought turned into sword, so the River God had hidden away, leaving only a barren temple here.

He had sunk the broken sword into the blood pool, defiling it with flesh and blood.

Not because the old bastard claimed it was "to serve as a warning"—but simply out of fear.

It had been pierced through the chest, and so it was afraid.

It feared being pierced again, so it hid.

Mo Hua imagined himself in its place, and thought this was very likely the truth.

"Then if that's the case," Mo Hua frowned, "where exactly has the River God—or rather, the Great Wilderness Evil God—hidden?"

The River God temple was empty, but it could not possibly be truly empty.

Mo Hua turned his gaze toward Master She, his expression inscrutable.

Master She had already set up the altar; the objects upon it were either bloody or sinister—nothing remotely orthodox.

"The altar is ready."

Master She turned back, his gaze dark and murky.

Gu An glanced at Mo Hua.

Yu Dahe's expression was excited, full of anticipation as he stared at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua nodded.

Gu An picked up the two black-robed men and threw them before the altar, forcing them to kneel.

The physical bodies of Yu Dahe's two sons lay upon the altar.

Master She began chanting:

"O River God, my lord, your faithful one humbly opens the altar and offers sacrifice..."

"The heavens move by number; the sacrificer follows constancy."

"A life for a life, a soul for a soul."

"Today, I offer two adults as sacrifices—two human lives—to exchange for the lives of two children. I humbly beg the River God, my lord, to show mercy..."

Thereafter, Master She bowed low to the ground and prayed devoutly.

Mo Hua's gaze shifted slightly.

He sensed a faint aura of a formation.

Master She knelt on the ground, using his sleeve to conceal his hand, grinding his fingertip against a stone tile beneath the altar, drawing an unknown formation in blood as ink.

Master She's movements were hidden; Gu An and the others noticed nothing.

Mo Hua's thoughts stirred, but he remained silent.

After muttering for an unknown length of time, Master She finished his prayer and completed the formation. He slowly turned his head, revealing an unmasked, sinister smile.

At that moment, Mo Hua saw the two black-robed men writhing in agony, their spiritual senses instantly drained, becoming two lifeless corpses.

With the sacrifice of the two black-robed men, the atmosphere inside the River God Temple grew abruptly oppressive.

At the temple's center, the River God statue seemed to come alive, its gaze stern and monstrous, looking down upon the cultivators in the hall.

A thick mist of blood instantly spread from all around.

"Boom."

Gu An's Clear Heart Mirror shattered; Gu Quan's Exorcism Hairpin snapped atop his head; An Dahe's Peaceful Jade cracked in response.

Gu An and the others turned pale. They barely drew their blades to strike Master She when their bodies froze involuntarily, their eyes glazed over, and they slowly lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.

Mo Hua also felt intensely drowsy, on the verge of falling asleep.

Moreover, some force seemed to be attempting to pull away his spiritual sense.

Mo Hua cast a silent glance at Master She, then offered no resistance, allowing his spiritual sense to be drawn out from his body.

Soon after, he fainted.

In the entire River God Temple, only Master She remained standing.

His eyes burned with hatred as he sneered:

"Foolish, ignorant mortals, unaware of the Divine Lord's power."

"The Great Dream is a Nightmare... I will kill you all, one by one, in my dreams..."

With that, Master She let out a cruel laugh, slowly closed his eyes, and his spiritual sense left his body as he collapsed to the ground.

After a sensation of heaven and earth inverted, spiritual awareness overturned,

Mo Hua opened his eyes.

Around him floated a faint mist, as if in a dream.

Before him stood a magnificent River God Hall.

The real temple outside was false.

The dream-built temple was the true one.

At the deepest part of the hall, there was an extremely potent divine aura, and a subtly hidden evil god's scent.

A faint smile curled at Mo Hua's lips.

"Found it..."

(End of Chapter)