Chapter 635: Infant Treasure Taiqing: The Sword That Slays Nascent Souls

Time slipped by, and another three years passed.

At the Silver Sky Island dormitory, dark clouds hung heavy, lightning flashed and thunder roared; the terrifying pressure of a Nascent Soul heavenly tribulation enveloped an area of several hundred li, all living things trembled, and the sun's light was blocked out.

Boom—

The first streak of blue-purple Lei Ting fell, silently melting space, easily piercing through law domains, shattering the shields of Nascent Soul Xiu Shi De Fa, and blasting the cultivator's techniques into dust, leaving nothing behind.

Such heavenly might,

posed a tremendous crisis even for Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun; meeting it head-on meant a death without remains, with the Nascent Soul shattered.

"Infant Treasure heavenly tribulation…"

Jiang Ding stood outside the Lei Gao Jie, silently watching the sky, and beneath the Lei Gao Jie, a blue-gold flying sword as brilliant as the blazing sun.

She parted the dark clouds, unfolding her own Sword Domain of Spirit-Breaking and Law-Destroying beneath the dim Lei Gao Jie; wind and clouds could not invade, and the Lei Gao Jie could not shake this sword domain in the slightest.

Yes,

the Taiqing flying sword was undergoing its own magic treasure heavenly tribulation.

As long as it weathered the Lei Gao Jie, a qualitative change in spirituality and material would occur, leaping from a magic treasure to an Infant Treasure, greatly increasing its power, and bringing the sword master a faster cultivation speed and a tremendous boost to their Ben Ming Fa treasure.

Influenced by the sword qi and thunderous sounds, in just three years Jiang Ding completed the remaining Earth Sha prohibitions' inscription, encountering none of the expected bottlenecks, truly entering Great Perfection of Earth Sha, reaching the peak of magic treasures, unable to advance further.

This was a limit.

For ninety-nine percent of magic treasures in the world, their fate in this life was exactly this—reaching the end.

Just like the countless cultivators who spent their entire lives at the peak of Jin Dan.

The magic treasure's material, the inscribed prohibitions, the refiner's will, the time spent refining, the treasure's spirituality, how many battles it had experienced, or how much production activity, what experiences it had, what fortuitous encounters it had obtained… and so on—many things could influence a magic treasure's prospects and future.

For the vast majority of magic treasures, refinement ended here.

As a magic treasure of Great Perfection of Earth Sha, it was enough to pass down through generations, gaining a great advantage in Jin Dan-level struggles, embodying the foundation of a sect.

No one wanted to continue refining, to advance further, because that was no different from seeking death; there would be no other possibility.

Occasionally, one-in-ten-thousand magic treasures with greater spirituality were treasured and carefully preserved, accumulating various fortuitous encounters, secret arts, and aids for magic treasures to cross tribulation, preparing again and again through the efforts of generations of cultivators, finally choosing an auspicious day to stake everything on one throw.

Success, and it would soar to the heavens.

An Infant Treasure possessed spirituality, and would shelter certain people in certain lands according to the refiner's will; the family's power would thus undergo earth-shaking changes, a Jin Dan force could easily be destroyed by it, becoming a local hegemon.

Of course, it might also attract the greed of Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun.

Failure, and the efforts and fortuitous encounters of a dozen or more generations of cultivators would vanish into nothing.

After confirming that the Taiqing flying sword had reached complete Great Perfection of Earth Sha with no hidden wounds, Jiang Ding hardly hesitated, nor did he go searching for any magic treasure heavenly tribulation fortuitous encounters; he simply tossed the flying sword into the sky and began crossing the magic treasure heavenly tribulation.

This was what was happening before him.

Boom—

The heavenly tribulation Lei Ting, brewing for months, rumbled down; law domains shattered, space melted, its might enough to terrify Nascent Soul cultivators.

Hum—

The Taiqing flying sword, locked within the heavenly tribulation's aura, lazily swayed its blue-gold sword body once—a response, showing it respected the heavenly tribulation.

It took it very seriously, without the slightest carelessness.

Crack!

The blue-purple Lei Chong Guang fell without any obstruction, striking straight down on the foot-long blue-gold sword body; the terrifying destructive force acted entirely upon it.

Even Cheng Dui De Fa treasures piled here would be shattered into scraps, melted into molten metal devoid of any spirituality, and the hard work of hundreds or thousands of years and countless generations would be wasted.

Blazing Lei Ting erupted, large swathes of space melted, divine sense probing was destroyed, and nothing could be seen clearly.

Jiang Ding's sea of consciousness stung faintly for a moment.

The Lei Chong Guang dissipated.

Looking closely, a flying sword of entirely crimson red stood tall in the sky, its color deep red, carrying terrifying high temperatures; the internal sword body material had undergone some subtle yet essential change.

"Stronger than the refining burn of Ri Yan Jing."

Jiang Ding sighed in admiration.

A single streak of Lei Ting falling refined the flying sword more than hundreds of refinings with Ri Yan Jing.

No wonder in the "Great Sun Sword Scripture" there were no secret arts, no preparations for the flying sword crossing heavenly tribulation; instead, it constantly emphasized letting go of all defenses, not even using sword qi, and enduring the Lei Ting's strikes across the widest possible range.

How could this be Lei Ting,

it was clearly a heaven-sent fortuitous encounter waited over a hundred years!

This was a fortuitous encounter belonging exclusively to magic treasures whose material, foundation, and spirituality were terrifyingly strong; miss it, and it would never come again.

Hum—

The Taiqing flying sword trembled once, conveying a discontented emotion.

'…Weak…'

'…Not enough… weak… not enough…'

She was trying hard to express this meaning.

"Weak? Ambitious."

Jiang Ding praised.

Without further hesitation, he formed hand seals, activating the formations he had pre-inscribed around the area long ago.

Boom—

Within a defense range of dozens of miles, streaks of Lei patterns rose up, currents of electricity hissed, Lei clouds spread in all directions, resembling the visualization of magnetic field dotted lines; azure Lei patterns rippled outward in rings, forming a field domain.

Layer upon layer of magnetic patterns encircled the Taiqing flying sword at the center; from afar, it looked like a sovereign within Lei Ting.

Fourth-grade upper-quality Ten Thousand Magnet Lei Cloud Formation!

The same formation as on the hull of the super warship Great Sun, but its purpose was not defense; instead, it had been specially designed and modified by the Immortal Gate Academy of Sciences.

Its sole function was to enhance, to amplify the power of the heavenly tribulation!

Boom—!

Beneath the tribulation clouds in the sky, a bolt of blue-purple lightning was about to strike when, accompanied by the rising surge of formation patterns, vast thunder energy poured in without end. The blue-purple lightning's radiance suddenly swelled violently; the lightning flared outward, then contracted, its aura multiplying several times over.

The blue-purple lightning twisted, writhed.

Then, astonishingly, it deformed, faintly taking on the aspect of a thunder blade—its edge incomparably sharp, its annihilating blade intent soaring to the heavens!

"The heavenly tribulation has taken form!"

Jiang Ding's face changed; he felt he had overplayed his hand.

In the records of the immortal sect, when a heavenly tribulation takes form, it means the Heavenly Dao has inscribed the methods of historical figures from ages past and is now employing them. Its might far surpasses that of mere lightning.

Many extraordinarily gifted immortal sect predecessors, their battle achievements illustrious, had died beneath such tribulations. Even prodigies survived only one in a hundred.

After the heavenly tribulation took form, that pressure and sharpness made even him feel a terrifying threat; every hair on his head stood on end, his scalp going numb.

This tribulation could beat him to death!

"Should I…"

A thought surfaced in Jiang Ding's mind.

Swordsmanship, sword qi, sword intent—these three could all greatly amplify the combat power of the Taiqing Flying Sword. And there was still the scabbier beside him, ready to be deployed at any moment.

"…No…"

A cheerful thought came through from within the Taiqing Flying Sword.

"…Happy…"

"…This is…what I wanted…"

"This is what you wanted?"

Jiang Ding was taken aback.

This flying sword, after all, had been refined using the fundamental Mi Fa of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion. In essence, it carried the pavilion's intense self-destructive tendency—seeking life through death, finding transcendence amid destruction and demise.

"Then go."

Jiang Ding sighed.

He knew this was a part of his own divine soul and will, harboring some inclination toward slaughter and destruction. The Taiqing Flying Sword had merely given it form—it was no outer demon, but the self buried deep within his heart.

Clang!

Whoosh!

The Taiqing Flying Sword, carrying a joyful sword-song, without any defense, without any attack, met the thunder tribulation blade in the sky head-on.

Boom!

Lightning exploded; the spatial black hole suddenly swelled and expanded, devouring everything—even sunlight—plunging sky and earth into absolute darkness.

Beneath the tribulation's pressure, Jiang Ding could not perceive anything.

He only felt a stabbing pain in his divine soul, as if cut by blades and hacked by axes, his skull about to split open. His perception of distant things weakened drastically; he had Suffered Heavy wounds.

The sword body was grievously damaged beneath the thunder tribulation's lightning blade. The sword body was not indestructible; its spirituality had suffered tremendous harm.

But the joyful sword-song at his ear did not stop.

Growing ever more Gao Ang, ever more joyful, accelerating, accelerating without pause, it plunged headlong into the lightning that had already condensed into substance beneath the dark clouds—seeking the most fearsome lightning to temper itself, to make itself more solid, more keen.

Frenzied and blood-soaked.

Treating its own death and its opponent's as nothing.

Boom—!

Rumble rumble rumble!

Amid the resplendent lightning, Jiang Ding's face was deathly pale, his body swaying, his skull throbbing with pain. His divine soul was not about to split—it had already split, connected only by wispy threads, barely holding together from collapsing into two halves and scattering apart.

The lightning kept rumbling on.

Without pause for a moment, it obscured the passage of time and space, leaving him dazed and half-conscious.

He did not know how long it had been.

The tribulation clouds dispersed; sunlight poured down; the earth was restored to light.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes. His aura plummeted off a cliff, faint as a gossamer thread—he had become weaker than even Foundation Establishment. He barely steadied his body and looked toward the culprit.

A blue-gold flying sword hovered before him.

The once-smooth sword body was now pitted and cratered everywhere, melted by the fearsome formed-shape heavenly tribulation, even beginning to warp; not a single spot remained intact.

At the middle of the blade, there was even a devastating blade scar, nearly cleaving the sword body in two—only a small portion still connected.

It had become a broken sword.

Crippled, pitted, so ruined that no one would pick it up from the roadside. Even if someone chanced upon it, they would only sell it off as scrap copper and iron, never imagining it had any use.

Yet, should it fall into the eyes of a Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun, it would bring terror and trembling.

The instant they saw this flying sword,

Their divine souls would instinctively shudder, icy cold, from the deepest depths of the soul, from the deepest Nascent Soul within, transmitting the fear of encountering a natural enemy—the most primal instinctive reaction.

Because,

This—was a sword born to slay Nascent Souls!

(End of this chapter)