The Quest for Immortality

Sometimes, he couldn’t quite figure it out.

He was a disciple of the Tai’a Sect, yet his relationships with his fellow disciples weren’t great. Somehow, inexplicably, he ended up mingling effortlessly with the Taixu Sect disciples...

...

Another month passed, and there were little more than two months left until the New Year.

The fourth year of Mo Hua at the Taixu Sect was also approaching its end, amid the bustling daily grind.

It was a day off as well, and Mo Hua, as usual, went up the mountain. Along the way, a group of Taixu Sect disciples greeted him warmly.

”Junior Brother, hello!”

Mo Hua smiled brightly and waved back, acknowledging each of them.

Walking through the mountain paths like this, he reached a quiet spot, chose a large stone, sat down cross-legged, and placed a spirit sword before him.

This was a plain and even somewhat ”cheap-looking” spirit sword.

At the same time, it was the latest ”explosive-type” spirit sword forged by Little Wood according to Mo Hua’s specifications.

Since a sword used for sword control would inevitably break, why not let it completely shatter?

The moment the sword array detonated, the spirit sword would also ”explode.”

This approach had two benefits.

First, when the spirit sword exploded, the fragmented sword shards would scatter along with the sword qi, bursting outward like a rain of pear blossom darts, thus enhancing the power of sword control to some extent.

Second, it allowed for ”destroying the evidence.”

After the sword control, the spirit sword would directly shatter into ”obliteration,” leaving no intact sword weapon behind. This made it harder for others to deduce the details of this swordsmanship technique.

Furthermore, this type of spirit sword was inexpensive to produce.

Little Wood had researched this for a long time and made numerous attempts before finally crafting this explosive-type spirit sword.

Mo Hua was about to test the sword once again.

”A Primary Rank Second Grade flying monster beast is no good—it’s too weak...”

Mo Hua thought silently.

Flying monster beasts already had weaker blood qi compared to land beasts. Their flesh defenses were also inferior; only their ability to soar through the skies at great speed made them challenging opponents.

But all those advantages were effectively countered by Mo Hua’s ”sword control.”

After Little Wood improved the spirit sword previously, Mo Hua was already capable of killing one eagle demon with a single ”sword control.”

Now, the iterative upgrades on this spirit sword had strengthened it further, and Mo Hua wanted to try it out on a stronger monster beast.

”A Middle-level Second Grade Demon Wooden Eagle.”

This was the target Mo Hua deliberately chose.

Among Middle-level Second Grade monster beasts, the Demon Wooden Eagle was relatively weak, but it was undoubtedly much stronger than the Primary Rank Second Grade ones.

Mo Hua calmed himself, unleashed his divine sense, and stayed seated, ”waiting by the tree stump for a rabbit.”

He watched for any chance that a monster beast might fly overhead, allowing him to strike with one clean sword blow.

But after waiting for half a day, all that flew by were Primary Rank bird demons.

Mo Hua sighed lightly.

Encountering a Middle-level Second Grade monster beast in the outer mountains did require a bit of luck.

Of course, it was mainly because the Taixu Sect had been hunting around these mountain peaks with relentless aggression.

Although the Refining Demon Mountain had an abundance of monster beasts, the disciples here would never be able to slay them all. Nevertheless, the smarter monster beasts knew to migrate where the terrain seemed perilous and the cultivators appeared dangerous.

As Primary Rank Second Grade monster beasts decreased, Middle-level ones naturally became even rarer.

Mo Hua felt helpless.

”Shall I try another location?”

Outside the Taixu Sect mountain peaks, he might find something.

Since it was all part of the outer mountains, and he had already scouted them in advance, there shouldn’t be much danger.

Mo Hua packed up his sword, stood up, looked out into the distance, and then headed straight in a direction where he felt the chance of encountering monster beasts was higher.

Upon leaving the Taixu Sect mountain peaks, the surrounding landscape indeed appeared a bit unfamiliar.

After walking for a while, he encountered disciples from other sects.

Some wore their sect’s Taoist robes, while others didn’t.

Those dressed in Taoist robes did so because they had many fellow disciples nearby and were looking out for each other.

Those without Taoist robes traveled in small groups of three to five, opting to act discreetly and avoid exposing their affiliations.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then silently took off his Taixu Sect Taoist robe and replaced it with a simple gray outfit.

Being alone, it was better to remain low-profile.

After walking for a while longer, Mo Hua finally spotted traces of a Middle-level Second Grade Demon Wooden Eagle.

He unleashed his divine sense and tracked the traces all the way to a mountain forest, where he found the eagle demon circling above. Its gaze was fierce, and it let out sharp screeching cries at intervals.

The eagle demon’s massive form exuded an intimidating aura.

Its blood qi and demonic power were both superior to those of ordinary Primary Rank Second Grade monster beasts.

Mo Hua glanced behind him and first chose a retreat route for himself.

If the sword strike missed its mark or failed to heavily wound the eagle demon, he had to decisively flee immediately.

Otherwise, being targeted by this eagle demon could be troublesome.

Mo Hua confirmed the escape route, ensuring everything was foolproof, then sat down, retrieved his spirit sword, and began locking on with his divine sense, controlling the sword via his divine thought.

With a flicker of divine thought, the spirit sword resonated.

A brilliant golden light flared up, cutting through the sky and tracing a sharp golden line. Accompanied by the faint sound of sword resonance, it struck the circling Demon Wooden Eagle with lightning speed.

At the moment the spirit sword hit, golden sword qi erupted.

The sword qi generated by the sword array spun like a miniature tornado, tearing into the eagle demon’s divine body.

Meanwhile, the spirit sword itself was also destroyed by the sword qi, breaking into countless fragments.

The shattered sword splintered into fragments, mixing with the sword qi and bursting forth like golden fireworks in the daylight.

The fragmented sword and sword qi struck together.

Even for a Middle-level Second Grade Demon Wooden Eagle, it was difficult to resist the sudden onslaught.

Its feathers were shredded by the sword qi, while the fragments of the shattered spirit sword sliced through its flesh.

This explosive-type sword control technique could be considered, in a unique sense, a fusion of sword qi and sword weapon.