Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The Purple Glow Peak of the Hundred Blade Mountain in the Middle Sun State was where the Purple Pole Sword Sect was headquartered.

Li Yao and Ling Lanyin had been rushing on their swords day and night after learning the news that the Dragon Spring Meeting was to be held in advance. They reached the place after a crazy journey of more than ten thousand kilometers without rest. But still, they were three days late, and the Dragon Spring Meeting had already begun!

What a magnificent mountain that takes the sky and the earth as a furnace!

Li Yao secretly admired the Hundred Blade Mountain, which span hundreds of kilometers.

As the name ‘Hundred Blade’ suggested, the mountain was steep and had quite a lot of abrupt peaks that stabbed into the sky like swords, spears, sabers, and other blades.

On the precipitous peaks that rose up to the sky almost vertically, countless pavilions had been established wherever there was a gap. They were as magnificent as palaces. Their main colors, green and black, gave a strong sense of solemnity.

Amid the hundreds of peaks, dozens of waterfalls were rushing down like raging dragons made of jade in roaring sounds. Emitting colorful brilliance, the water streams congregated into various forms. The view was quite splendid.

The jade dragons were mixed with tremendous minerals, which made them out-and-out ‘heaven metal waterfalls’. The minerals were also the reason that they were variously colored. Although they were too lethal for people to drink directly, they were the best ingredients to forge swords or to conduct refining.

Li Yao looked up far ahead. Deep inside the Hundred Blade Mountain, brilliant fire was soaring up, pushing the smoke upward into a cloud that covered the mountain.

It looked like both an ocean in the sky and an upside-down furnace that had enshrouded the entire world.

From the depths of the clouds, clangs were vaguely echoing, indicating that it was an ancient refining ground whose scale was unfathomable!

This is rather splendid. It is almost as good as the headquarters of the ‘Hundred Smelting Clan!

Li Yao and Ling Lanyin put away their swords and landed.

The Great Qian Dynasty boasted a vast territory. The thousands of sects were far away from each other.

Therefore, although it was the third day of the Dragon Spring Meeting, the Cultivators from many sects were still arriving.

Li Yao and Ling Lanyin had kept a low profile on their way. They did not reveal the magnificent auras of the Core Formation Stage and the Nascent Soul Stage, wear the attire and badge of the Purple Pole Sword Sect, or hold the banner of the Purple Pole Sword Sect.

Therefore, many Cultivators coming with them did not even know who they were.

Most of the participants of the Dragon Spring Meeting did not come to purchase flying swords. Instead, they were gloating and planning to gain something for themselves now that the great power named ‘Purple Pole Sword Sect’ was falling.

“Hehe. How domineering was the Purple Pole Sword Sect when they conspired with the great eunuch Wang Xi years ago? Their days are finally over!”

“It’s hilarious that they are convening the ‘Dragon Spring Meeting’ in advance to show their power. Are they planning to desperately struggle?”

“But they couldn’t have seen it coming that even ‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao couldn’t bear their crimes any longer and would arrive with the many experts of the six major sects of the Great Qian Dynasty. They are going to suppress the Purple Pole Sword Sect thunderously!

“Although the Purple Pole Sword Sect has seven Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, more than thirty Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators have come to threaten the Hundred Blade Mountain under the call of ‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao. How are they going to win the fight?”

“I’m told that ‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren of the Purple Pole Sword Sect has recently finished polishing a primeval sword, and he is going to challenge Iron Saint Qi Zhongdao’s Heaven Flipping Seal with the sword.”

“Yan Liren is doubtlessly the best sword Cultivator in the world, but Qi Zhongdao’s Heaven Flipping Seal is a primeval treasure that is unparalleled in the entire Ancient Sages Sector. Too many super experts in the Nascent Soul Stage have been knocked down by the Heaven Flipping Seal and unable to move at all the moment it was released! Yan Liren must be crazy to hope to reverse the situation with himself and his sword!

“Yes. Fellow Cultivator Li, Fellow Cultivator Wang, the twelve sects in the South Desert have always been in neat cooperation. We must work together again this time! After Iron Saint Qi Zhongdao suppresses Yan Liren, we can only expect to gain something from the gaps between the fingers of those eminent sects by working together!”

The participants who joined the Dragon Spring Meeting on the third day came mostly from small sects from far-flung areas.

Those Cultivators from the harsh lands naturally did not show much courtesy, nor did they bother to pretend that they had. They gathered and whispered to each other, while they eyed the hills and lakes inside the Purple Pole Sword Sect maliciously.

The five thousand empyreal swordsmen and the hundreds of thousands of disciples of the Purple Pole Sword Sect had long been sent to every corner of the territory.

Compared to the guests whose ill intentions were obvious, the disciples of the Purple Pole Sword Sect not only boasted determination that suggested that they would not hesitate to die together with the enemy but also were well trained and highly obedient. They seemed to be even more organized than the Ling family’s Black Tiger Iron Guards!

What tough swordsmen!

The splendid scenery inside the Purple Pole Sword Sect was already a great eye-opener for Li Yao. But the valiance, calmness, and resolution of the disciples of the sect was a hundred times more impressive than the scenery.

The main business of the Purple Pole Sword Sect was forging and refining, which necessitated minerals.

The Hundred Blade Mountain where the Purple Pole Sword Sect was headquartered was a natural paradise with the most abundant metal resources in the entire Ancient Sages Sector.

The Purple Pole Sword Sect also raised a large, experienced, and skillful team of miners.

Miners were one of the few technology-intensive professions in the age of ancient Cultivators. Not only was the job highly dangerous and arduous, it also required certain knowledge and excellent discipline.

Also, when miners worked inside the caves that were full of spiritual energy radiation for a long time, the spiritual energy slowly nurtured their body, which was of great help to strengthen their soul power and physical build.

Therefore, compared to the peasants who generally made a living on the farmland, not only were miners greater backups for Cultivators, they would also easily make a magnificent army because of their fearlessness and their obedience after they became Cultivators!

The disciples at the edge of the Purple Pole Sword Sect who were greeting the guests around were exactly so.

They were just external disciples and did not receive the honorable title ’empyreal swordsman’ yet. But their full armor, their crossed swords on their back, and the great saber dangling from their waist added to their brutality, declaring that they were not afraid to start a fight anytime, anywhere.

That was exactly the first impression that the Purple Pole Sword Sect intended to leave on the major sects of the world.

Despite her high Cultivation, Ling Lanyin was still very young and had been too focused on her sword arts. She really did not know much about the conflicts among Cultivators.

Hearing that ‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao, the leader of all Cultivators, was also going to deal with the Purple Pole Sword Sect, the girl’s heart was already in a mess.

Now, she was witnessing the tension on the Hundred Blade Mountain. All the disciples were ready for a desperate struggle.

The insignificant sects from the far-flung areas were not respecting the renowned ‘best sword sect of the world’ anymore!

The fall of her sect seemed to be happening soon!

Right then, two ear-splitting noises echoed on the top of two mountains that were as steep as the edge of a sword. The soundwaves spread out like surging tides, leaving a hole more than ten square kilometers in the mist on the top of the mountains.

Thunderous cheers erupted!

Very soon, a piece of shocking news came over.

Master Heavenly Dome, an elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect at the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage, had a fight with Zhuge Xuan, the leader of the Thunderstorm Valley, which was one of the six major sects, with a newly produced Nine Turns Fish Intestine Sword but failed!

Master Heavenly Dome was injured, and the Fish Intestine Sword was broken!

After the news came over, all the disciples of the Purple Pole Sword Sect gritted their teeth, their eyes bloodshot.

The Cultivators from the middle-sized and small-sized sects who intended to fish in troubled waters, however, were rejoicing in delight!

Ling Lanyin shook so hard that she almost fell off from the flying sword which was yet to come to a stop. Her face was one brimming with desperation.

Li Yao, however, chuckled and did not think it was a big deal.

“Se—senior, with the situation in our sect right now, you—”

Ling Lanyin looked at Li Yao, ill at ease.

At this moment, the mysterious old monster was her last hope. She was fearing that Li Yao would immediately change sides and take advantage of the hopeless situation of the Purple Pole Sword Sect after everything that he had seen!

“Kid, no worries. After observing the terrain and the demeanor of the Purple Pole Sword Sect, you are not at a dead end yet!” Li Yao laughed aloud. “The Iron Saint Qi Zhongdao, the thirty Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, and the hundred incoming sects are just bluffs.”

“What?” Dumbfounded, Ling Lanyin stammered. “Thirty Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and almost a hundred sects have arrived. Still more sects are coveting and intending to take advantage of our misfortune. Are they all bluffs?”

“It is exactly because too many sects have arrived that they are bluffs,” Li Yao said casually. “If they were truly determined to destroy the Purple Pole Sword Sect, the six major sects would have come without a sound, lead by their elites. Why would they ask so many insignificant sects who are utterly useless except for giving cheers and applause to join them?

“The more sects there are, the more disorganized they will be. What about thirty Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators? Are they really a gapless group?

“Today, for the major sects, it is an issue of getting more benefits or fewer benefits. It’s just business. But for the Purple Pole Sword Sect, this is a matter of life and death!

“Therefore, everybody in your sect, from the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators to the unofficial, external disciples, will certainly try your best, putting your lives on the line.

“You can easily tell it from the countenance of the swordsmen in your sect. Hearing that your elder in the Nascent Soul Stage has failed, they are merely gritting their teeth hard but show no hesitation or oscillation. It is doubtlessly a gesture that they are going to have a desperate last try!

“As the saying goes, ‘a mourning army is a winning army’. You are now a mourning army!

“The best sword sect in the world, with six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, five thousand empyreal swordsmen, a hundred thousand elite swordsmen, and even more external disciples and miners who are adept at martial arts! All the sects here may be able to destroy you if they truly mean to, but can they eliminate every one of you?

“If they can’t, and the super experts such as ‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren lead some of the empyreal swordsmen to escape, they will see an army of rebels that is ten times more dreadful than the White Lotus Cult and the Heaven Battering Army. Who can bear such dire consequences?”