Li Qingshan suddenly smiled.
At that moment, the light pierced through the heavy clouds, illuminated the surging waves.
For a moment, the clouds and mist parted, and the wind and snow dispersed.
The clouds seemed to be burning, fluctuating between orange, yellow, violet, and red. The wind and snow that had yet to dissipate was dyed golden by the sunlight, like a sky filled with golden rain. It was magnificent.
This was the deeds of a “god”. His “fury” was lava and fire, bolting lightning and surging waves. His “sorrow” was the howling wind and snow, the heavy clouds that filled the sky. His “laughter” was the shining sun, the phenomenon of spring.
The sword cultivators in the Sword Collection palace all widened their eyes and dropped their mouths, entranced by this wondrous scene. They wondered why the phenomena of nature had changed.
However, there were also some people who suddenly realised something. They gazed at the man at the top of the mountain as if they were gazing at the heavens itself and murmured, “That must be the hero king! No wonder, no wonder!” However, was it no wonder that he could create such natural phenomena, or no wonder that he could hold the master of the Sword Collection palace in his arms?
Yu Zijian let out a sigh of amazement first, overwhelmed by the unbelievable might of a true god before beginning to laugh as well. She knew he had agreed to her request.
“Thanks, Niu Juxia!”
Their eyes met, one pair scarlet and one pair violet. They were no longer the same people of the past. They had both followed down their respective paths, striding over piles of corpses and puddles of blood, becoming an eternal god and a powerful sword cultivator.
But at that moment, the sunlight outlined the sides of their faces, gazing at each other with a smile, like they were the same young man and same young girl as before, having never forgotten their original intentions.
“However, if you want to lend me a hand, just your cultivation is nowhere near enough! I still have other people to visit, so I’ll stow the sword with you for now!” Li Qingshan casually tossed an ancient bronze sword to her and took a step towards the fiery clouds and heaving waves, vanishing between the sky and sea.
“This is!?” Yu Zijian grabbed the ancient bronze sword and immediately sensed its peculiarities. The sword let out a strange tremble that seemed to contain a dragon’s cry, like it was about to turn into a true dragon and fly out of her hand. It required all of her cultivation to grip it firmly, but it also made the Yang Soul in her body surge, trembling and completely losing control.
Her violet eyes became unfocused. In a daze, she saw the cycle of the sun, moon, and stars. The sword contained the route of the heavens, the will of the true dragon.
She gripped the hilt firmly with both hands, like she was laying on the back of a dragon, soaring beyond the Nine Heavens, among the sun, moon, and stars. Looking back, the mountains, rivers, and trees were all in view.
As it turned out, the various dangers she faced in the path of cultivation were only creases of various sizes on the ground. There were no bottlenecks in the world that she could not break through, so there were no more difficulties she could not overcome.
The heavens operated firmly and resolutely, so the ruler had to be the same, constantly striving for improvement with endless determination.
“The Sword of Xuanyuan!” Yu Zijian immediately realised the name of the sword.
Li Qingshan was already thousands of kilometres away by now. He suddenly looked back, also in surprise. Even as the god of the world, he did not expect something like this. Thinking about it, he nodded with a smile and no longer doubted that she needed to lend him a hand.
When that “forceful village chief” of the Youxiong tribe gave him the Sword of Xuanyuan back then, he had already undergone the sixth heavenly tribulation, a Human Immortal with an Origin Soul, yet even he did not immediately see through the secrets of the sword, only treating it to be a regular bronze sword.
Only afterwards did he learn the sword’s power, but he still only treated it as a powerful weapon. Only after comprehending the Divine Dragon Transformation could he use it freely and unleash its exceptional powers.
However, Yu Zijian was only at the fifth heavenly tribulation with a Yang Soul, yet the Sword of Xuanyuan resonated with her the moment it entered her hands. It was truly unbelievable.
However, he soon understood why with further thought.
The first reason was her Pure Yang constitution. She walked the path of the qian dragon and possessed the halo of the heavens. Compared to his body of the demonic and divine where the dragon and snake danced together, it was much more pure.
The second reason was because she was a true sword cultivator, having thoroughly explored the path of the sword over the years. Even her Yang Soul was forged within her sword embryo, vastly different from regular Yang Soul cultivators. On the other hand, he had always used the blade to cut people down. He possessed a deep understanding of the path of the sword, but he did not actually feel any passion towards it, which was why he could toss the Sword of Xuanyuan to her without any hesitation.
Taking the intangible will of the heavens into consideration, the Sword of Xuanyuan was basically an opportunity prepared specially for her.
With a swing of the sword, she cut through all of the brambles as if she had suddenly opened all of her bottlenecks and paved a path to the heavens. There was no longer any confusion or hesitation. All she lacked was time and resources.
And as the god of the world, the lord of the Demon domain, Li Qingshan could pour a tremendous amount of resources into her until she became a sword immortal.
She had the Pure Yang constitution that was blessed by the heavens, the supreme sword of the heavenly emperor, and the fate-changing king of Demon Gods on her side. She had these three opportunities of unparalleled rarity all gathered together. This was an opportunity that only appeared during the crisis of the world, or the heavenly emperor would not have lost his sword and the king of demons would not have been born.
“Sure enough, it’s an auspicious phenomenon, a symbol of great status!”
Yu Zijian settled down and drew the sword from its sheath slowly, extending it towards the sky. She praised, “A fine sword!”
The path of the sword had always been rigid and thus easy to snap, sharp and thus easily blunted. They were very vulnerable to dying in battle and their path was fierce and pure, leading to drastic progress in the beginning, except it would become more and more difficult at higher realms. That was why sword immortals had always been rare. There were plenty of True Immortals that used swords as their weapons however.
Sword immortals were different from regular True Immortals. They were in the business of slaughter and possessed limitless power. Even Demon Gods might not necessarily be her opponent, so was she not a powerful support?
Just as she had said, the crisis of the world was exactly a stage for sword cultivators to perform on, a great opportunity to become a sword immortal. Heroes always arose in times of chaos.
This was a tremendous opportunity, and it all originated from her own decision.
If she did not possess that kind of determination, Li Qingshan would not have handed the Sword of Xuanyuan to her. In order to ensure that she remained safe in the World of the Five Continents, away from the war, he would even unwittingly affect the progress of her cultivation.
If that happened, Li Qingshan would instead become her greatest restraint as her guardian, turning a blessing into a curse. With the idling of time, the divine sword would become covered in dust and gradually lose its edge. She would probably lose the opportunity to become a sword immortal forever.
This was truly mortality and immortality determined on a single whim.
This was the most subtle thought that a person could have. As the buddha said, a single instant had nine hundred cases of life and death. Even gods could not calculate everything. However, this most subtle of thoughts decided the grandest and furthest path, such that a mortal could become a god.
If brother ox directly bestowed him with power, there would not be the Li Qingsan of today. At most, he would enjoy himself to his heart’s content before being reduced to dust once the crisis of the world arrived.
Mortals always desired luck and opportunities, but little did they know that their internal thoughts and beliefs were what decided everything. The difficulties and dangers encountered along the path were all for grinding the sword, which was why the past failures and pains were not worth lamenting over.
People were not free because they were powerful, but powerful because they were free.
“Good luck to you, Zijian!”
Having visited another past acquaintance, Li Qingshan’s mood became better. All of his gloom had been cleared. He continued onwards according to the path in his memories and the names all sprung alive, like they were right before his eyes.
Hua Chenglu, Hao Pingyang, great king Milliped, as well as Han Qiongzhi.
