Chapter 916: The Humble Sword Forms a Grotto-Heaven
Chapter 916: The Humble Sword Forms a Grotto-Heaven
The black sword automatically filtered out nearly all the insights Li Qing transmitted, accepting nothing but those related to the Dao of the Sword.
It refused to absorb even the slightest trace.
This, however, was something Li Qing had anticipated.
The Wooden Sword, a Heaven's Wonder, was a creation forged from the purest laws of the sword.
How could it so easily accommodate the laws of anything else?
Undiscouraged, Li Qing persisted, trying a variety of different approaches.
And so, time slowly trickled by.
The black sword became more and more corporeal, its aura growing increasingly potent.
Li Qing's eyes lit up. A quick mental scan immediately isolated the one element that seemed capable of fusing with the blade!
It was "Humility"!
"Hide the edge, embrace humility. Sheathe the blade's sharpness. By not striking, one achieves ultimate victory..."
An endless torrent of inspiration erupted in Li Qing's mind.
Images flickered through his thoughts, familiar yet of unknown origin.
He paid them no mind, instead channeling the near-erupting flood of inspiration, continuously pouring it into the black sword.
And the black sword—once so aloof, so utterly uninterested in anything beyond the Dao of the Sword—was now exceptionally receptive.
It even seemed to yearn for it, actively accepting the infusion from Li Qing.
As the Dao of Humility slowly permeated it, the black sword, which had begun to reveal a sharp, conspicuous edge as it neared its final form...
...began to slowly shed that sharpness once more.
It returned to its pitch-black, utterly unremarkable appearance.
But Li Qing understood. This was a sign that the black sword had transcended the constraints of the conventional sword Dao, achieving a new level of breakthrough.
Within the Sword Tomb, the myriad relict blades remained completely oblivious.
Only the Wooden Sword, the Heaven's Wonder at the very center, emitted a nearly imperceptible hum.
It seemed to be expressing its own delight.
At this hum, the thousands of swords bowed once more. Only the black sword beside Li Fan, though it appeared to bow with them...
...in reality, remained perfectly still.
"Success!"
Li Qing knew that the moment he would completely claim this black sword, this Heaven's Wonder, was no longer far off.
He closed his eyes and poured the very last of his essential insights on the Dao of the Sword into the black blade.
After the Wooden Sword hummed, the Sword Tomb sank into an even deeper, deadlier silence.
The quiet was terrifying, so profound that auditory hallucinations began to echo in Li Qing's ears.
It was as if the myriad relict blades were whispering, their soft voices tempting Li Qing, urging him to abandon the black sword and choose one of them instead.
Visions of their world-shattering power, magnificent and brilliant, flashed continuously through his mind.
They sought to sway his will.
But this was Li Qing; how could he be so easily swayed?
He knew this was likely a subtle test from the Wooden Sword.
Perhaps it was uneasy about him taking the black sword and had set one final trial.
Or perhaps it was a spontaneous obstruction, born from a reluctance to part with its companion.
Whatever the reason, these little tricks could not affect him.
Faced with a thousand illusions, Li Qing remained as immovable as a mountain.
His mind and spirit were one with the black sword, admitting nothing else.
So it continued, for three more months.
Then one day, Li Qing's eyes snapped open.
The next moment, he reached out his right hand and, with perfect naturalness, grasped the hilt of the black sword.
Then, he gave it a gentle pull.
There was no earth-shattering clamor, no grand announcement of a divine artifact's birth.
To be precise, there was no sound at all.
As casually as a cloud drifting on a light breeze, the black sword settled into his hand.
The myriad relict blades in the Sword Tomb seemed utterly unaware.
Even the Wooden Sword at the center offered no protest.
Its silence was its consent.
The dead silence of the Sword Tomb was a clear declaration of Li Qing's success.
"Borrowing the wonder of Heaven and Earth to forge a Dao foundation."
Li Qing recited the words in his mind. The physical form of the black sword in his hand instantly dissolved into a dark glimmer of light that flowed into his body.
It flew to his dantian and settled there.
A moment later, the spiritual energy within Li Qing, at the peak of the Golden Core realm, began to boil.
Like a thousand rushing rivers, it all surged toward the black sword.
Like a hundred rivers flowing to the sea, the surging spiritual energy washed over the black sword, causing it to gradually grow ethereal.
It dissolved completely within his dantian, becoming his Dao foundation.
"Glimpsing the laws of Heaven and Earth to refine the Golden Core."
Li Qing chanted again in his heart.
The surging spiritual energy within him did not cease; it continued to pour into the Dao foundation formed by the black sword.
Within the great vortex of spiritual energy, the phantom of the black sword grew ever fainter.
Finally, as it vanished completely, it seemed to form an abyss that swallowed all the spiritual energy in a single gulp.
Boom!
A brilliant light erupted, like the first dawn of creation.
It illuminated the entirety of Li Qing's inner self.
The light flashed, lasting for several breaths.
When the dazzling brilliance at last receded, a unique Golden Core appeared in Li Qing's dantian. It was entirely black, radiating an aura of simple, unadorned antiquity.
If one looked closely, one could faintly discern patterns of a thousand sword-shadows etched across its surface.
Yet it was like an illusion born of darkness; upon closer inspection, they would vanish.
The Golden Core was formed!
The entire process, from start to finish, had taken but a few breaths.
In that time, the clone Li Qing had transformed from a mere empty shell at the peak of the Golden Core realm into a true Golden Core cultivator, one who had forged his foundation and condensed his core with a Heaven's Wonder.
Yet, Li Qing was not satisfied.
"Swallowing the essence of Heaven and Earth to form the Nascent Soul."
Li Qing continued to chant in his heart.
For an ordinary cultivator to reach the Nascent Soul realm, they must rely on a grotto-heaven.
But for one who had forged their foundation with a Heaven's Wonder, this was unnecessary.
A Heaven's Wonder was, in itself, a part of the Heavenly Dao.
It could evolve into a grotto-heaven all on its own!
With a single thought, the newly formed black Golden Core instantly shattered.
The misty spiritual energy within it instantly suffused his entire body.
The countless black fragments of the shattered core flew to every corner of his being.
Their distribution seemed random, but it concealed a profound order!
The arrangement of the fragments faintly outlined the shape of the original black sword.
Using these fragments as a foundation, his spiritual energy, his flesh and blood, his very bones...
...everything within his body began to liquefy.
It was all absorbed by the foundation of fragments.
From the outside, Li Qing's body instantly became deformed and twisted, like a rag doll being torn apart.
A sickening grinding and squelching sound filled the air as his flesh and bones were forcibly extracted.
Combined with the horrific sight of his flesh being compressed...
...the entire scene was both grotesque and profoundly mystical.
Li Qing paid no mind to the overwhelming agony.
He only urged the fragments to devour his body even faster.
When the last remnants of his physical form had been utterly consumed...
...a network resembling human meridians formed between the scattered fragments.
Threads of dark red tissue connected them, looking both uncanny and bewitching.
Suddenly, a brilliant light erupted from all the fragments simultaneously.
It then flowed through the entire network in an instant.
Amidst the flashing brilliance, a miniature [Grotto-Heaven of the Sword], slowly took shape.
(End of this chapter)
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