Chapter 468: Sword Casting Villa Seeks Refuge

Huo Can'er said to Xu Jia, "Disciple has already followed the Ancestor's instructions and gone to Sword Casting Villa to negotiate with them, but they insist on meeting the Ancestor in person."

Xu Jia said, "This is to be expected."

He then said to Gongye Xingyun, "Little friend, I trust you have been well."

Gongye Xingyun immediately became fearful, "I dare not; I am a junior of later learning, I dare not be called a friend."

He had already made a decision in his heart; if not for such an Ancestor, how could he have made a determination in the Western Region Golden Buddha Kingdom?

"I, the poor Taoist, said back then that I would exchange the fire method inheritance of Dutian Liehuo Zushi for your Sword Casting Villa's sword casting secret techniques, and that still holds true today."

"Although the sword casting secret techniques are precious and are the root of our villa's heritage, compared to a Great Method that leads directly to a Heavenly Immortal, they are truly incomparable. After all, big sects and factions look down upon sword casting secret techniques, as they each have their own sword refining inheritances. Only when a True Transmission technique is leaked does it bring the disaster of sect annihilation."

"Although Sword Casting Villa yearns for this technique, it can only be exchanged in secret and cannot be made public. To even learn this method, one needs a legal lineage and principle, such as joining the Huashan Sect, otherwise, even if one learned it, one would not dare to pass it down..."

He had come to negotiate terms.

Xu Jia understood, "You want to join the Huashan Sect?"

"The entire sect will relocate."

Gongye Xingyun said, "All seven Earth Immortals of our Sword Casting Villa hope to take the Ancestor as our master, even if it is only as nominal disciples."

Xu Jia shook his head, "If you want to take a master, you can only take Huo Can'er. He has already obtained the mantle of Dutian Liehuo Zushi, and the Fierce Fire inheritance is with him."

"Moreover, observing your techniques, they seem to be vaguely related to starlight and stars, which is indeed quite different from the fire attribute."

Gongye Xingyun had not expected that this Ancestor would look down on them.

"There is no need to move the entire sect; just stay in Luling."

"My Huashan does not intend to seize your family business, nor are we like other sects that wish to bleed you dry. This sword casting secret technique is merely something I, the poor Taoist, am interested in; others may not be. After all, the Huashan inheritance already includes over a dozen sword refining traditions..."

Gongye Xingyun thought they were coming to cling to a powerful figure, or had prepared enough to offer in tribute just for a set of Heavenly Immortal Great Method inheritance, but Xu Jia did not think much of the seven Earth Immortals at all, nor did he want them to join Huashan.

Otherwise, with only Huo Can'er and the remaining two Huashan Elders, it would be difficult to keep the Sword Casting Villa faction in check, and it might eventually turn into a struggle between the Huashan Sword Sect and the Qi Sect.

But at this moment, Gongye Xingyun gritted his teeth and bowed to Huo Can'er, "I beg Ancestor Huo to accept us and teach us the Heavenly Immortal Great Method."

Huo Can'er actually wanted to accept these underlings in his heart; besides, he was now a sect leader and needed his own people, but he still had to look at Xu Jia's opinion.

In this realm, the wind of despising demons is strong; Huo Can'er is, after all, a non-human who attained the Dao, and it was not difficult for Gongye Xingyun to see the Demon Qi within him.

Taking a demon as a master is no different from recognizing a thief as one's father. For an Earth Immortal with a proper and red-blooded background like him, it is actually considered a humiliation.

Seeing Huo Can'er's eager expression, Xu Jia said, "Very well, you may accept them, but they cannot be disciples. Like the two Huashan Elders, they shall be guest Elders of the Huashan Sect. As for how to take a master and return to the ancestral lineage later, that still requires testing."

Huo Can'er was immediately happy, "Many thanks to the Ancestor for your grace."

Xu Jia said, "Bring your starlight techniques and let me see them; I may be able to help you modify them."

Gongye Xingyun immediately took out a Jade Slip.

What was recorded in this Jade Slip was the construction of seven altars, upon which divine positions were enshrined—specifically the Big Dipper. Generally speaking, it was a method of repentance, drawing starlight into the body. Within one's own body, one cultivates seven life stars, similar to the seven wheels among the Three Veins Seven Wheels. Once the life stars are cultivated, one has the ability to dwell in the world.

They even later collected meteorites, absorbed the star power within the meteorites, and based on the seven altars, constructed a Blessed Land, drawing starlight from above and connecting to the Earth Vein below.

Xu Jia looked at it and said, "Is it that once you condense one star within your body, it becomes difficult to condense the next, so you treat this internal star as a Golden Core to nurture, harmonizing the Five Elements and balancing the yin and yang of the universe?"

"That is exactly so. Each of us guards an altar and receives a star's light, which has an exclusive nature; we cannot rotate altars or cultivate other stars."

Xu Jia said, "That is because you lack the general outline."

Xu Jia said, "This method does not actually originate from Taoism, but from the Buddha religion. The Buddha religion believes that Marici is the mother of stars, even claiming she is Doumu Yuanjun, the Big Dipper, and as the mother of Ziwei and Gouchen, she is titled Lady Ziguang."

"This method lacks the part about paying respects to Lady Ziguang, and even the part about the Heavenly Emperor, who is the father of all stars..."

Xu Jia said, "However, it does not matter. You have already refined your life stars into Golden Cores, following the path of an Earth Immortal dwelling in the world, treating it like a chaotic egg to be nurtured. By pouring the Three Treasures into it, a Pangu Dashen who opens the heavens and the earth is produced—which is your Primordial Spirit—opening up a Blessed Land within your body."

"This Blessed Land is related to the stars; that is, as long as the stars exist, you can dwell in the world, and if the stars dim, your power will also weaken."

"Strictly speaking, this should be the method of the ancient shamans who sacrificed to the Heavenly Gods... Hmm, although the composition is complex, it is stitched together very well. The person who created this technique might be a Star Lord from the Shangjie."

Gongye Xingyun could not understand and asked curiously, "I beg the Ancestor for guidance."

Xu Jia shook his head, "The poor Taoist must also carefully deduce it for a while. To be precise, you are suited to fly into the Taixu, find a star in the Milky Way, station yourselves upon it, and connect the internal and external stars together to open up a star Blessed Land or Cave Heaven..."

"Although in a sense, this realm is also a large star ball, you are actually doing fine here... but it is not ownerless, after all."

Xu Jia immediately took the Sword Casting Ancient Scroll to look at it. The Sword Casting Ancient Scroll recorded many methods of sword casting—be it Magic Swords, Immortal Swords, or even Demon Swords from an extremely distant era. Xu Jia even saw the Xuanyuan Sword on it.

The characters on the Sword Casting Ancient Scroll were all bird-and-worm scripts, but a portion had already been deciphered by Sword Casting Villa.

Gongyezi said, "When we cast swords, the first thing is to sacrifice to the furnace—sacrificing before opening the furnace and sacrificing before taking the sword out. And it is not a random sacrifice; it requires an auspicious time, the slaughter of three types of livestock, and hundreds of craftsmen and cultivators to start the cauldron and sacrifice together."

"Another thing is that there is a Sword Washing Pool, where a specific medicinal liquid is prepared to wash the swords."

"Finally, there is the skill of the craftsmen. There are three types of skills: one is the Ghost God Forge, communicating with Ghost Gods to bestow spirituality upon the sword—the craftsman strikes once, and the Ghost God strikes once."

"One is the Sacrifice Forge, where the sword caster will throw themselves into the furnace, using their own spirituality and a lifetime of sword-forging experience to seek the creation of a peerless sword."

"And another is the Ten Thousand Swords Forge, where swords that failed to be forged, or recovered broken swords, or dead swords whose masters have died, are buried in the Jianzhong, and then sword embryos are buried with them to absorb the lingering charm of ten thousand swords, which can be used to forge an Immortal Sword."

"In addition, the flying swords of the seven of us also utilize the method of repentance and Sacrificial Sword, combining the sword with the power of the stars..."

Xu Jia nodded, "Technical talent is worth protecting and absorbing."

They did not understand the Sword Casting Ancient Scroll, but Xu Jia saw it clearly: this was a list from the Sword Casting Lower Court of the Heavenly Court's Works Official Bureau. It was written on it that this was the annual tribute that the Great Heng Dynasty had to pay to the Heavenly Court every fifty years, and there could be no mistakes.

All the earthly Divine Path royal courts of the worlds were "vassal states" of the Heavenly Court; these belonged to the tribute of the vassals.

The Great Heng Dynasty was the original Divine Path royal court, and the Emperor of the Great Heng Dynasty claimed to be the Son of the Heavenly Emperor; after abdicating or dying, he would ascend to the Shangjie to continue being a deity.

(End of chapter)