Chapter 1364: Pure Yang Sword Child

Roar!

Boom! Boom!

The sky of this Thunder Flame Domain was practically about to shatter completely!

The Innate Thunder Dragon was roaring, was bellowing—this was a sword-spirit-like construct formed by the Shangqing Startling Thunder Nurturing Spirit Sword Talisman, the ultimate trump card unleashed when a sword cultivator of the Thunder Yang Heavenly Sword Realm achieved unity of sword and self in passing down their legacy. Its might was terrifying to the extreme, capable of easily slaying peak Refinement Void cultivators, and even those who had stepped a few paces into the extreme of Refinement Void could be cut down.

Yet such an Innate Thunder Dragon, under the bombardment of several hundred thousand annihilation cannons from that steel city, kept retreating, kept retreating, like a battered leather ball being smashed into the ground again and again, grievously wounded each time.

The disparity in strength was plain as day, visible to the naked eye.

Everyone knew the only reason Light Thunder Canghai Tianjun was still alive now was the existence of the Shangqing Startling Thunder Nurturing Spirit Sword Talisman.

This Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong trump-card secret art, boundlessly terrifying, had given him countless chances—try again after one mistake, try again after one failure—born unequal to other sword cultivators from the start.

A sword cultivator of ordinary birth, one mistake, one failure, must pay with their life as the price.

However, this Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong trump-card secret art ultimately had its limits.

Under such repeated grievous injuries, the magic power and divine sense accumulated over several thousand years within the Shangqing Startling Thunder Nurturing Spirit Sword Talisman was draining away like a flood. Light Thunder Canghai Tianjun's body had stopped swelling, beginning to return to a normal human form, sword intent surging, swordsmanship seemingly advancing, drawing close to the peak of the Sword Realm.

Once the battlefield paused and he had the chance to rest, comprehend, and consolidate, no one doubted his swordsmanship would break through to the peak of the Sword Realm.

Yet, he seemed unlikely to have such a chance.

While the Shangqing Startling Thunder Nurturing Spirit Sword Talisman was being consumed and Light Thunder Canghai Tianjun's strength grew ever greater, his death likewise drew ever closer. That radiant, resplendent sun's might grew ever more terrifying, nearly suppressing the entire starry sky.

……

The instant they saw that steel city, the Great Yin-Yang Sword Realm side fell utterly silent.

Xuanyang Divine Lord was stunned.

He was stunned.

Then stunned again, rubbing his eyes.

He suspected his eyes were playing tricks—even the Heavenly Dao net of Dao Merging couldn't be stopped, yet his own eyes had gone blurry. He confirmed it again and again, then his face quickly flushed red.

"Brat!"

"Who led him astray?"

"Is this that Great Sun Sword Pavilion? Truly mad as dogs, fiends of the worst kind!"

Xuanyang Divine Lord could no longer remain refined and affable, bursting out in furious abuse: "Sword cultivator! You are a sword cultivator! How can you use mechanical constructs? The Sun legacy has been utterly defiled by you!"

"Oh heavens! Oh earth!"

"Do you know, this is an act that completely severs one's path forward!"

Xuanyang Divine Lord was heart-stricken, nearly coughing up blood inside.

He seemed to see a composite being—one comparable to a Sun Sword Child, no, not merely a Sun Sword Child, but a Sun Sword Child plus a Lunar Sword Child—just risen, hanging high in the sky, about to illuminate an era, about to push the brilliance of the Sun Sword Dao legacy to its ultimate breakthrough.

No matter what this junior thought in his heart, what he cultivated was the Sun Sword Dao. Even if an enemy, he was an enemy who walked the Sun Sword Dao, and could serve as reference for countless Sun sword cultivators.

Besides, the Sun lineage had never done anything to him; the Gong Fa they cultivated were extremely similar, and in the future it wasn't necessarily impossible to merge.

So long as the Pure Yang Sword Child was strong enough, everything could be discussed, nothing was off the table. A legacy seed from over five hundred thousand years ago, of pure stock, clean background—now the Great Yin-Yang Sword Realm faced many external enemies and was very eager for the strong.

Many things were indeed extremely difficult, the resistance from the Lunar lineage was very great, but it truly was possible.

Yet, just as this Sun sword cultivator's thoughts ran wild, this newly risen star immediately fell.

Why say it fell?

Because the sword cultivator no longer believed in the sword in his hand, and relied on mechanical constructs!

This was the supreme principle of the Upper Realm's Sword Dao, something like a foundational law of immortality.

Now this foundational immortal Dao theorem had been violated by a Soul Transformation junior—what would happen, need it even be said?

"This junior,"

"was ultimately born in the Lower Realm, his path has still gone awry…"

Xuanyang Divine Lord said furiously.

He felt endless regret, endless sorrow.

He could not comprehend such behavior, and harbored deep hatred toward mechanical constructs.

In his view, without a trump card like the Shangqing Startling Thunder Nurturing Spirit Sword Talisman, then fight, then die in battle. If one could not break through one's own limits, then dying was dying.

You were born poor, and in the future would face endless pursuit and killing from the Lunar lineage—every kind of hardship and danger, far beyond what Light Thunder Canghai Tianjun faced now. If you couldn't even pass this threshold, that too was fate.

No excuse whatsoever was a reason for a sword cultivator to use external objects!

"But why doesn't the sword soul shatter?"

"His sword soul remains intact."

Xuanyin Divine Lord was not so exaggerated, frowning as he asked.

A sword cultivator's lifelong path was entirely entrusted to the sword soul and flying sword.

And when a sword cultivator's resolve in their path wavered, the sword soul should also shatter.

This too was one of the immortal Dao theorems everyone took for granted.

"This…"

Xuanyang Divine Lord was stunned.

……

Immortal Qi Sect.

"This mechanism city!"

"How could this possibly be refined by those crude sword cultivators, madmen and fools? Impossible, sword cultivators? They don't have this ability…"

The moment the steel city and several hundred thousand warships appeared, the Tianwen legacy's eyes lit up brightly, like stars.

Born of the mechanism-puppet Immortal Sect, she knew her goods.

With merely a sweep of divine sense, she immediately discovered that these mechanism puppets contained extremely advanced refining techniques, even generally surpassing the mechanical constructs possessed by the Immortal Sect's legacy—such as her own mechanism city.

What was even more terrifying was the military formations of those puppets!

Those formations were far too agile; the mastery of military formations they displayed even surpassed the inheritance she had mastered from the Immortal Artifact Sect. It was not that she had not practiced well—it was simply that they exceeded the formation-path inheritance she had mastered!

At the very least, the military-formation inheritance at the level of a transmission disciple could not compare with that mechanical flying vessel.

This made the Tianwen True Transmission shudder with horror.

"Senior, how is the military-formation inheritance of the Grand Yin-Yang Sword Realm?"

The Tianwen transmission could not help but ask.

"Upper-middle level within Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong, I suppose."

Shadow Puppet Divine Lord recalled for a moment, then said: "Their history is far too long. For tens of millions of years their inheritance has never been completely severed; all their inheritances of pills, artifacts, formations, and talismans are quite decent… However, when it comes to artifact-refining and mechanical-puppet inheritance, they cannot compare with even one ten-thousandth of ours. We are a transcendent-tier existence, just as their sword-path is."

He was quite proud, supremely confident.

"But, this shouldn't be…"

"That military formation, truly…"

"Formation Spirit!"

The Tianwen True Transmission pondered for a long time, then arrived at an answer; her gaze suddenly blazed hot: "Senior, the formation spirit of his mechanical city is very special—its effectiveness exceeds the Void Refinement-tier formation spirit of our sect!"

"It even approaches the Dao Child's mechanical-city formation spirit…"

"I even suspect that, in certain spiritual-energy effectiveness, his mechanical city may not be inferior to the Dao Child's—not in raw power, but in spiritual-energy effectiveness. The Dao Child's mechanical city possesses too many heaven-and-earth rare treasures, immortal-art refining methods; the cost is too terrifying."

"This formation-spirit inheritance may elevate the sect's overall strength at the Void Refinement tier, and its refining approach may provide some insight for the crafting of even higher-tier formation spirits."

She made a precise judgment.

"You mean…"

Shadow Puppet Divine Lord deliberated.

Across the endless river of time, prodigies and geniuses emerged in endless succession; occasionally, prodigies and geniuses would be born who could astonish even Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong, producing breakthrough immortal-path achievements.

The reason Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong has remained strong all along is precisely because its history is long enough, and it has humbly absorbed these achievements, transforming them into its own foundation.