The Soaring Dragon sword was not one of the Ten Renowned Swords of the Sword Collection palace, but it was close to being one. Perhaps all it lacked was a powerful swordsman to make its name ring through the world, or perhaps it was an empty position among the Ten Renowned Swords for it to fill in.
In terms of quality, the Soaring Dragon sword was definitely an arcane treasure.
Arcane treasures were not divided into grades, as every single arcane treasure was unique. They possessed their own powers and abilities. In terms of resources, the Asura Field obviously exhausted many more resources than the Soaring Dragon sword to refine, but when it came to direct combat, the Soaring Dragon sword’s destructive power was still a little greater.
Previously, Li Qingshan had never opened the sumeru ring to refine the Soaring Dragon sword because he did not want the attention from provoking the Sword Collection palace. However, he had even fallen out with the Dragon King of Ink Sea now, so an additional Sword Collection palace made no difference!
The Traitorous Demon sword had its own, special ability, and it could constantly grow stronger. Perhaps one day in the future, it would become extremely powerful. But right now, it still could not be compared to an arcane-treasure-level renowned sword that had been passed down through the generations for thousands of years.
“A’yue, why are we here?” Xianghua Lu asked in confusion.
As the cloud descended, the Cloud Dream marsh extended off into the distance, becoming even grander and vaster. Even Xianghua Zi, who was racked with thoughts, temporarily forgot about everything around her. The rippling light reflected in her eyes as the deep, green colour constantly expanded.
“For travel!” Li Qingshan smiled.
A layer of mist that never dispersed enveloped the marsh. It rose and fell, and the hot wind blew around, extremely moist.
The vegetation on the islands in the lake was especially lush, forming piles of greenery and almost oozing past the edges of the islands. They seemed like huge flower pots. A flock of white water birds flew up from an island, flying past the lake towards another island as they called out.
Under the setting sun, it was picturesque. There was almost no natural scenery from his past life that could rival it.
He was obviously joking when he said it was for travel, but he was not exactly wrong. Was his current life not a journey?
The clouds dispersed below his feet, and he stood in the centre of the island. Around him were all dense, towering trees, obscuring the sun. It was still dusk outside, but it was already night in here.
Li Qingshan patted a tree that was as wide as three people with their arms outstretched. The trees here were much larger than those around Fragrant Flower market, seemingly due to the climate. The further south they travelled, the larger the trees became. It was said that in the deep south, ancient trees that stood hundreds of meters tall could be seen everywhere, and there were even trees that stood thousands of meters tall. They were known as “a tree, a mountain”. In other words, every single tree was a mountain.
Among them, the tallest one was obviously the Great Banyan Tree King.
However, the island was not peaceful.
Roar!
A strange roar rang out from the jungle. At that moment, thousands of birds were alarmed and took flight, circling over the island.
Xianghua Lu and Xianghua Zi both trembled. The island clearly had a master, and it was not a regular daemonic beast.
“Is it warning me?” Li Qingshan smiled, and with a flash, he arrived at the roar’s origin. He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, King Kong!”
From a branch, a huge silverback gorilla glared at his tiny figure. It balled its fists and thumped its chest, letting out a furious roar!
The foul air rushed over with saliva. Li Qingshan wrinkled his nose. “I want to borrow your place for a while. You don’t mind, right?”
His demon heart flashed, and demon qi gushed out.
The gorilla shrank back and turned around, fleeing to the other side of the island.
“Thanks!”
Li Qingshan waved his hand with a smile and returned to the side of the sisters. He said, “I’m going to start cultivating. You can go play! Don’t forget to come up with a good reason on how many hardships we faced when we escaped from the Zi Lotus altar and how many difficulties we encountered on the way before finally arriving at the headquarters for reinforcements. Xianghua Zi, I’ll leave this to you!”
After instructing them, Li Qingshan found a secluded cave and entered the Asura Field.
Atop the snow mountain, the fierce wind ruffled his scarlet hair. His demon qi surged out and entered the sumeru ring.
A while later, the sumeru ring opened up and revealed an extremely vast space. Li Qingshan did not even have the time to see what was inside.
A streak of golden light whistled over together with the cry of a dragon, rushing straight into the air.
Li Qingshan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky. He was in no hurry to chase after it.
The Soaring Dragon sword flew into the sky before suddenly running into an invisible barrier and bouncing back.
That was the boundary of the Asura Field. Under Li Qingshan’s control, it definitely was not something a masterless arcane treasure could breach!
The dragon cry became clearer and clearer. The Soaring Dragon sword turned into a golden dragon, scales, claws, and all. It was very imposing.
It sped off as a streak of golden light, leaving behind a golden arc as it rampaged through the Asura Field. It was constantly knocked back, unable to find a way out.
Suddenly, it looked back, and the dragon eyes locked onto Li Qingshan on the mountain peak below. It seemed to realise that he was the problem.
“Divine swords really are intelligent!”
Li Qingshan let out a howl and leapt up. The snow mountain beneath him collapsed loudly, and he was already high in the air, throwing a punch at the Soaring Dragon sword.
Renowned swords were like fierce horses. They had to be tamed by the strong!
Abruptly, the Soaring Dragon sword turned into a streak of golden light and shot towards Li Qingshan.
Bang!
The golden dragon hurtled away. Although it was intelligent, it was not under the control of a swordsman, so it was only a sword at the end of the day. How could it contend against Li Qingshan’s strength of the ox demon?
“Originally, I was worried about damaging it, so I didn’t use the Tremors of the Ox Demon, but I never expected to not even disperse the golden dragon it had transformed into. It really is a good sword!”
Li Qingshan praised with a smile and rose up. He was determined to refine the Soaring Dragon sword no matter what!
The Soaring Dragon sword was extremely staunch. It knew it stood no chance, yet it still rushed over. However, the dragon cry was a little more solemn, and the golden light it gave off became even more dazzling.
In the Sword Collection palace, their disciples climbed up the Sword Collection peak in search of their fated sword. It seemed like they chose the sword, but in truth, the sword chose them. The swords chose successors that befitted their will, which was why they allowed them to draw them from the ground.
However, Li Qingshan was giving it no choice. He wanted to become its master forcefully.
It might not have any sense of pride, but the intent its past masters left behind could be summarised in a single saying—to rather break than bend!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
They collided three times in a row. Li Qingshan did not take a single step back, sending the Soaring Dragon sword flying all three times.
The golden light dimmed, and the golden dragon became much fainter, but it still showed no intention of yielding.
Li Qingshan frowned. If this continued, even if he managed to refine the Soaring Dragon sword, he would wear away its spiritual characteristics and its intelligence, making its quality fall. It truly was a renowned sword passed down through the Sword Collection palace after all. Sure enough, it was not something that outsiders could lay their hands on so easily.
The soaring dragon lunged over with its teeth and claws again. With a flash, Li Qingshan extended his hand and caught the dragon horns, making a flip and standing on the dragon’s head.
“Demonification!”
Suddenly, Li Qingshan assumed his Demon Commander form. The curved visor surged violently with waves, expressing his inner excitement.
“Chains of Demon Suppression!”
Several dozen black chains extended out of thin air, coiling around the golden dragon firmly and abruptly tightening!
The golden dragon let out a grievous growl and turned back into a sword.
Li Qingshan grabbed the dragon-shaped hilt, only to sense it was still shaking gently, refusing to yield. He could not help but smile.
“Staunchness leads to brittleness, but even water can pierce rock! Let’s go for a test of endurance!”
Li Qingshan left the Asura Field. By now, the Soaring Dragon sword had been completely suppressed and sealed up by his strength. It was the same effect as storing it in the sumeru ring. He did not have to worry about the Sword Collection palace finding his traces.
In the dark, silent cave, droplets of water dripped down from the stalactites, falling into the shallow water below.
Li Qingshan sat with his legs crossed and his eyes firmly shut. He did not move at all. The Soaring Dragon sword wrapped in chains was placed across his knees.
In his boundless sea of consciousness, he constantly visualised the ox demon and the tiger demon. The demonic nature within him surged, as unyielding as rock and wanting to fight and kill everything.
At this moment, the Demon Suppression statues appeared in his sea of consciousness. The nameless demonfolk demonified, but he refused to yield to his demonic nature, constantly contending against it.
There was no great awakening that came from something like casting aside the butcher’s blade and achieving instantaneous enlightenment. With his stubborn will, he remained locked in a battle with himself forever. This spirit vaguely resonated with the ox demon and the tiger demon.
With the Remorselessness of the Demon Heart, he refused to come to his senses, to achieve awakening. He was only willing to grip the sharp blade firmly and stare at the dripping blood.
The demon heart shone with rings of light, extending out of his body without dispersing. Sometimes, it turned into the tiger demon that battled the very world, and sometimes, it turned into the ox demon that stood with an indomitable spirit. In the end, it turned into something like the demonfolk, constantly assuming the various forms of the Demon Suppression statues.
The stronger his demonic nature and the brighter the demon heart was, the stronger the Demon Suppression Statuary was!
Before he knew it, Li Qingshan’s method of cultivation had already diverged vastly from the Unraging monk’s cultivation method, or even the expectations of this cultivation method’s creator.
Logically speaking, an existence that possessed the demonic nature of the ox demon and tiger demon would completely brush aside the Demon Suppression Statuary. They would only walk towards the peak of the demonic path. They would either be destroyed by their demonic nature or achieve greatness in the demonic path. Only the sagacity and forbearance of the spirit turtle and the nobility and virtue of the phoenix could suppress such a powerful demonic nature, creating a possibility within the impossible!
The gushing demon qi flowed through the Chains of Demon Suppression and wrapped around the Soaring Dragon sword.
Since he could not use force, then he would change the method that he used. He would influence it with his own will!
Just like with a rebellious teenager, using only heavy-handed responses would lead to even more intense resistance. Compared to that, parents would be better off taking their time and having their children accept the new principles.
Fu Qingjin treated the heart of the sword as his own heart, which made him lose himself in the end. Only after his sword broke did he find himself.
However, Li Qingshan wanted to use his own heart as the heart of the sword. If he succeeded, not only would the Soaring Dragon sword retain its spiritual properties, but it would even grow stronger from accepting the powerful will of its new master, Li Qingshan.
However, who knew how many times more difficult that would be. Could he really defeat the heart of the sword the past masters of the Soaring Dragon sword forged?
Even Li Qingshan himself was uncertain. If he truly ran out of options, all he could do was wipe out the sword’s intelligence and consequently its spiritual nature.
Several days later, he smiled and opened his eyes. He saw that a strand of demon qi had already seeped into the Soaring Dragon sword, leaving behind a black speck.
Just like how it was easier to pick up bad habits than good ones, making a rebellious teenager become a good student that excelled virtuously, intellectually, and physically was difficult, but becoming a hoodlum was as easy as it could get. In cultivation terms, that would be “it’s easier to enter the demonic than the orthodox”!
“A sword is a lethal weapon, an item for killing. Compared to being destroyed while being pointlessly stubborn, you’re better off killing to your heart’s content with me and realising your original purpose!”
Li Qingshan smiled gently. The Soaring Dragon sword thrummed, but its resistance became a little weaker.
A dam of a thousand kilometers could fall to an ant’s nest. Once an opening appeared, the rest would unfold with ease. The black speck constantly spread, using merely three days to dye the entire Soaring Dragon sword. The colour became rather heavy and dark, but its edge only became sharper.
Only the dragon’s eye on the hilt continued to shine with golden light.
Another day later, the color of the dragon’s eye suddenly became the same as his demon heart’s. It let out a dragon’s cry, rising up from low to high in a deafening manner. It reverberated through the entire cave.
“Success!”
