Chapter 60: Heavenly Sword Sect and Immortal Sword

"Detected spacetime curvature in the Heavenly Sword Sect region: 1.92634."

"According to Article 739 of the Spacetime Accord, no spacetime distortion will be applied to the Heavenly Sword Sect region."

"At the same time, per Supplementary Clause 39, players will receive compensation."

"Determining compensation…"

"Special Training Ground Heavenly Sword Sect fees reduced by 33.33%."

"And full training program unlock obtained."

"You have gained Feat: Common Tongue (Proficient) (Heavenly Sword Sect World)"

……

The sky was clear and the air fresh; a gentle breeze stirred and woke the slumbering Fang Shi.

He opened his eyes, and the very first thing he saw was the blue sky and white clouds, along with a robed, hair-bound cultivator standing ahead.

"Everyone ready, we're about to arrive at the Heavenly Sword Sect."

No sooner had the robed cultivator finished speaking than Fang Shi felt a jolt beneath his feet.

His field of vision began to tilt as the vessel carrying him dove down through the clouds below.

Strangely, even though the vessel tilted downward, the people standing on it felt no pull of gravity.

It was as if some wondrous force held them all in place.

Looking more closely, Fang Shi realized the vessel was actually an enormous longsword.

The longsword rode the wind at speed already reaching the sound barrier.

A thin layer of energy shield enveloped the longsword.

To keep the violent gale from affecting those inside.

Besides the cultivator standing at the sword's tip, there was also a crowd of people dressed in all manner of styles.

Some were dressed like noble young lords and ladies of ancient Hua, others like martial-world heroes, merchants and peddlers, farmers and retainers.

Fang Shi even spotted a beggar standing off alone to one side.

Fang Shi understood at once — past training grounds had always teleported one somewhere to train.

A martial hall, an army, a monastery, a mage's tower, and so on.

The Special Training Ground Heavenly Sword Sect was naturally no exception.

Fang Shi had made discreet inquiries and learned that this group, himself included, were all newly recruited outer disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Being brought back to the sect by a Heavenly Sword Sect cultivator to cultivate.

This was the opening of the Special Training Ground.

Still, Fang Shi was puzzled by the data stream scrolling across his attribute panel?

What did it mean, no spacetime distortion?

Did this mean this training session had no "watching one game of Go while a tree rots" effect?

That was Fang Shi's guess based on the literal meaning.

After all, the only thing about training grounds that involved spacetime was time distortion.

Producing the effect of one day above and a year below.

With that important function gone, the training ground might as well be half useless.

How could a bit of fee reduction make up for that?

Practice as long as you want, but waste just as much time — Fang Shi had planned to train his feat and then go upgrade and advance.

And then there was the so-called full training program unlock.

One look at Heavenly Sword Sect and you could tell it was a sword-training place; he had come here to train the sword too — what use was unlocking other training programs?

Full training program unlock didn't mean the training ground would provide other kinds of training programs.

The training programs the training ground provided had long been fixed in advance.

But correspondingly, whichever training program you chose, the training ground would only boost that program's efficiency.

Just as Fang Shi had chosen a sword-type feat — practicing other programs in the training ground would receive no boost.

But full training program unlock was different: practice anything and you got a 3000% boost.

The problem was Fang Shi felt he didn't need that — his goal was to train the sword.

Training in other programs wasn't part of this plan.

Overall, these two compensations were a total loss, not a single benefit.

If the training ground didn't charge for a full day even when used less than a day, Fang Shi would have quit on the spot.

He consoled himself that it was still a Special Training Ground after all — he should at least see what was different before leaving.

But the moment he looked,

Fang Shi was stunned!

Any thought of quitting was flung straight out of his mind.

As the enormous flying sword entered a mountain range, it was as if it had pierced through a thin membrane.

Heaven and earth shifted; in the distant sky floated a colossal metal sword, so vast it shrouded the entire mountain range.

Two large golden characters were inscribed on the sword's body.

They resembled divine script, yet seemed somehow different.

And even without recognizing them, one could grasp their meaning at a glance.

"Heavenly Sword" — that was the meaning of the golden characters, and perhaps the origin of the Heavenly Sword Sect's name.

Most importantly, upon entering this mountain range, Fang Shi was overwhelmed by the abundant Force within.

More than ten times that of the Otherworld.

Beyond the mountains, the primal force was only slightly better than on Blue Star.

Who knew that within the mountains lay an extraordinary transformation.

The others also sensed the anomaly—they had never encountered so much primal force.

They felt as if, since arriving at these mountains, their minds were clear, their bodies refreshed, their backs no longer ached, their legs no longer hurt, as if they had grown ten years younger.

Added to this, the distant Heavenly Sword only deepened their longing for cultivation.

The robed cultivator laughed heartily: "Welcome, all of you, to the Heavenly Sword Sect. That giant sword is our sect's gate."

"It is also our sect's protective array, and moreover, a celestial sword."

"Any disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect must receive a array talisman from the elders before leaving the mountain, to enter or exit freely."

"Otherwise, even a celestial being who forces entry will lose half their life."

"As for non-celestial beings, they will instantly turn to dust."

The crowd on the flying sword sighed in awe—celestial beings? Wasn't that their very goal in cultivation?

If even the sect's protective array could not be overcome, how powerful must the Heavenly Sword Sect be!

The robed sword cultivator continued: "So if you ever offend some great figure, just hide inside the sect gate, and you'll be perfectly safe."

"Besides, this Heavenly Sword has slain celestial beings before—we don't even regard weak celestials as worthy of notice."

These words stirred intense passion within them, a sense of pride surging in their hearts.

"But what if we offend a powerful celestial being? Won't that bring disaster upon the sect?"

The robed man glanced at the speaker and chuckled: "If you provoke a powerful celestial being, do you think you'll live to return?"

"Besides, with your current strength, you won't even see a celestial being's face after centuries of cultivation, let alone provoke one."

"Enough. Now go to the buildings ahead and report in. Someone will tell you what to do next."

With that, the robed cultivator waved his hand—a flash of light swept over them, and they were instantly transported from the flying sword to the ground.

The robed cultivator himself transformed into a blade of light and flew deep into the mountains.

…

It was a valley, with dozens of houses scattered neatly among the surrounding woods.

Their landing point was the largest of these houses.

The central plaque bore three simple characters: "Newcomers' Hall."

Before the Newcomers' Hall, a cultivator who looked thirty years old had already been waiting.

He sat on a grand armchair, smiling broadly: "Greetings, younger brothers and sisters!"

"From today, you are all outer-disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect, and I am your senior brother."

"I will now inform you of a few matters; the rest you will learn in time."

"The first matter—and the most important one."

"Remember: we are merely outer-disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect."

"Therefore, the sect will not feed or clothe you for free—anything you wish to obtain, including cultivation techniques, must be earned through effort."

"As sword cultivators, we need not gather herbs like alchemy cultivators, nor mine ores like artifact cultivators."

"Our only reliance is the sword in our hands."

"Thus, as outer-disciples, you need only do one thing: hunt demonic beasts."

"Each month, you must submit at least ten demonic beast corpses matching your cultivation level."

"And this is merely the minimum standard!"

"The more you submit, the greater the rewards the sect grants."

"However, you may only carry out these tasks after reaching the Qi Refining stage."

"You are all currently mortals—some of you have probably never even seen a sword more than a few times."

"But it doesn't matter—soon, each of you will receive from me one sword, two sets of outer-disciple robes, the introductory cultivation technique 'Sword Manual,' and a small booklet recording sect knowledge."

"Also, a map and a room number—remember, one person per room; take the room assigned to you, do not swap. Find your exact location using the map."

"Of course, all this assumes you take the Heart Demon Oath."

Fang Shi listened silently, feeling everything was utterly novel.

Throughout the journey, aside from observing everywhere, he had taken no other action.

According to Oath's Thought, encountering such abundant primal force and not immediately practicing the Breathing Method would be a terrible waste.

Moreover, cultivating in this world, with the Training Ground's enhancement, would be extraordinarily efficient.

Thus, the moment Fang Shi saw the Heavenly Sword Sect's gate, he abandoned any thought of leaving this world.

He had assumed unlocking all training programs was a loss-making compensation—turns out it was a massive profit.

Fang Shi believed that when he left the Training Ground, he would surely raise the Breathing Method to Level 4.

Moreover, he had noticed something the senior brother had said.

"You are all currently mortals."

On Blue Star, that statement would be laughable.

Fang Shi was incredibly strong—he could even block attacks at supersonic speed.

To call such power "mortal"? What a joke.

Yet the senior brother not only said it—he said it with certainty.

Fang Shi did not believe the senior brother, a cultivator, was blind.

Unable to distinguish what a mortal was.

He sensed a First Stage aura emanating from the senior brother.

And the senior brother was an outer-disciple—newly arrived disciples must ascend to Qi Refining to fulfill outer-disciple duties.

From this, one can infer that Qi Refining is very likely the first stage.

Therefore, the Sword Art provided by the Heavenly Sword Sect is absolutely a path of cultivation and advancement.

Whether players can improve through self-cultivation rather than by killing monsters to level up.

The answer is yes.

Moreover, Fang Shi has always had this method — it is the Breathing Technique.

As the Breathing Technique is cultivated, the player will naturally be able to change their life form, thereby self-advancing.

It's just that humans on Blue Star discovered that advancing through the Breathing Technique is far too inefficient.

It is nowhere near as fast as killing monsters to level up.

Therefore, they deliberately cut away most of the life-form-changing function and strengthened the function of raising basic attributes.

If the Heavenly Sword Sect's Cultivation Technique were very ordinary, Fang Shi wouldn't have been interested.

But the problem is that the Heavenly Sword Sect's Cultivation Technique is one that can give birth to immortals.

It is absolutely far more powerful than the Breathing Technique Fang Shi currently masters.

He doesn't know exactly how strong an immortal is.

But judging from the array laid out by the immortal artifact, which can cover vast mountain ranges—

It is absolutely not something an ordinary legendary powerhouse can compare to.

……

The Heart Demon Oath is to swear before a stone statue of a young sword cultivator.

This statue is the same size as a True Person, extremely exquisite, with even the texture of the skin clearly visible.

It is said to be custom-made based on the appearance of the Heavenly Sword Sect's Old Ancestor.

It can be said to be the divine statue of the Heavenly Sword Sect's Old Ancestor.

Those who swear the oath will all be perceived by the Heavenly Sword Sect's Old Ancestor.

Whenever a thought of betrayal arises, they will be slain by the Heart Sword.

"I, Fang Shi, swear here that I shall never betray the sect; violators shall be struck down by heaven and earth, fall into the Avici, and never be reborn for all eternity!"

Fang Shi didn't do anything special — everyone swore, so naturally he had to swear too.

As for betraying the sect, that's overthinking it.

He was only coming to this world to train for a while; after leaving, he would have nothing to do with the Heavenly Sword Sect.

There was no question of betraying or not betraying.

After finishing the oath, Fang Shi collected all the supplies.

Among them, the longsword caught his attention.

"Heavenly Sword Sect Standard Longsword"

"Hardness: 15"

"Sharpness: 5"

"Durability: 10"

"Damage Type: Slash/Pierce"

"Damage Range: 1d8"

"Critical Hit Range: 18-20/×2"

"Weight: 3200 grams"

"Type: Single-handed use."

"Evaluation: The most garbage sword in the Heavenly Sword Sect."

Fang Shi directly ignored the last line of the evaluation.

Looking at the attributes alone, this sword was far harder than the refined steel sword, and also twice as heavy.

It was probably to account for the fact that cultivators have outstanding physical abilities.

Therefore, without a second thought, he directly eliminated the refined steel sword.

People rely on clothes, horses on saddles — sword cultivators are the same.

A good sword affects a sword cultivator's strength to a great extent.

As for wielding a wooden sword, or not wielding a sword at all—

That is just bullying newcomers by relying on superior strength.

In reality, when facing opponents of the same level, the quality of the weapon will determine victory or defeat.

Seeing everyone receive their supplies, the Senior Brother said: "Everyone now go to the houses beside us and change into your clothes."

"From now on, within the mountain gate, no matter when, you must wear this outfit; if it gets damaged, go to the Sword Affairs Hall to get a new one."

"As for outside the mountain gate, wear whatever you like."

After a while, everyone had changed into the outer disciple clothes, standing neatly in the room.

The Senior Brother nodded in satisfaction: "Now I'll take you to the cafeteria to eat; leave the other supplies here, we'll come back for them later."

"From entering the gate until now, you haven't eaten yet — you must all be hungry."

"Let me tell you, the food in the cafeteria is all from demonic beasts killed by your senior brothers and sisters."

"After you advance to Qi Refining, it'll be the same — hunt and bring back food for your future junior brothers and sisters."

So everyone followed the Senior Brother, marching in a great procession toward the cafeteria.

Inside the cafeteria was a sea of people, all disciples wearing outer disciple attire.

But strangely, Fang Shi did not sense any Qi Refining aura at all.

Carrying a plate of meat, he walked to the Senior Brother's side: "Senior Brother, these senior brothers don't seem all that impressive."

Senior Brother glanced at Fang Shi: "Not bad eyes. Your martial arts training in the mortal world was passable."

"That's right, you senior brothers haven't even advanced to Qi Refining yet."

"And you've only just joined the sect less than a month ago."

"Once you reach Qi Refining, you won't need to come here to eat."

"Alright, hurry up and eat. This meat is a good thing—you couldn't get it in the mortal world."

Fang Shi didn't care inwardly—wasn't it just the meat of a first-tier creature?

Before his rebirth, he had even eaten third-tier ones. What was there to be surprised about?

Who knew that the moment he swallowed it, Fang Shi's face changed.