Li Qingshan caressed the phoenix feathers. The phoenix was not particularly large, only around one and a half meters tall. Its long tail feathers draped down elegantly, filled with indescribable dignity and nobility.

  The Phoenix’s Scripture of Nirvā?a entered Li Qingshan’s head. At the same time, he comprehended its spirit, the phoenix’s dignity and its noble, pure heart. It was different from the spirit turtle’s clear, reflective mental state, more like a virtuous sage of the past.

  The arrival of the phoenix ushered peace.

  As a result, Li Qingshan obtained the fourth mantra—The Phoenix Undergoes Nirvā?a Rebirth, with an Undying Heart.

  Daoism possessed techniques of praying and aversion, which were split into two streams of thought. Those who prayed prayed for blessings and those who averted averted disasters, which had to do with the dispelling and elimination of disasters. The phoenix possessed the power of nirvā?a, or rebirth, possessing an undying heart. Even in the face of life-threatening danger, it was fearless, let alone mere disasters.

  As Li Qingshan was touched by the mantra, he could not help but sigh over how the mantras for the ox demon and tiger demon both sounded like depressing curses, while the mantras for the spirit turtle and phoenix were pleasant blessings. Brother ox, who created these supernatural abilities, was still a demonic daemon after all!

  And, these eight supernatural abilities corresponded to four gods and four demons, so what would the final one belong to?

  Dismissing his various doubts, Li Qingshan settled down to comprehend the Phoenix’s Scripture of Nirvā?a, but he opened his eyes again before long. Sure enough, it was not that simple.

  The spirit turtle lorded over water, and Li Qingshan’s cultivation was completely oriented towards water. Yet, the phoenix happened to lord over fire. As the spirit turtle sunk into the deep sea, the phoenix danced in the nine heavens. One was peaceful, while the other was vigorous. Their natures were complete opposites.

  The concept of a balance between fire and water, the unity of movement and peace, was nothing rare in the cultivation world. However, that was only for regular cultivators. The special nature that these two divine beasts possessed was extremely pure. He would basically be dreaming if he wanted to make them exist in harmony.

  After cultivating for a few hours, Li Qingshan gave up temporarily. The wilderness was not a place to cultivate. He would be better off finishing what he needed to do and returning to the academy!

  Li Qingshan’s thoughts became directed at the sumeru ring again. His eyes gradually lit up, shining brightly.

  The ring contained all of the Soaring Dragon Elder’s possessions. The various spiritual artifacts, no, arcane artifacts, pills, spiritual stones, and talismans must have reached a startling sum. Even to him right now, it was still an astronomical piece of wealth.

  Just the pills inside were probably more than enough for him to increase his cultivation by a single layer, let alone everything else.

  Li Qingshan and Xiao An exchanged glances. Li Qingshan channeled his spiritual energy and extended his soul sense into the ring. The sumeru ring swung open, and an unbelievably large space appeared. There was too much to see inside, where everything glowed or flickered. Before Li Qingshan could even properly see what was in there, a golden streak of light shot towards him.

  The Soaring Dragon sword!

  Li Qingshan had an extremely deep impression of this sword. The blade of the sword was like a dragon’s body, while the hit was like a dragon’s head. It was covered in golden scales, glistening brightly. It seemed like a living dragon.

  And now, the sword actually sprang alive, flying out of the sumeru ring and shooting towards Li Qingshan. It was like a golden bolt of lightning, wanting to avenge its master. The sword thrummed like a dragon’s roar.

  Everything happened right in his face, such that even Li Qigshan was rather flustered. Xiao An was a few steps away, which made it even less possible for her to assist him.

  Clang!

  At that critical moment, the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell rose up and blocked the Soaring Dragon sword. Before Li Qingshan could even let out a sigh of relief, he saw the Soaring Dragon sword bounce off and take off into the sky like a startled dragon.

  “Capture it! It wants to run!” Li Qingshan called out and leapt up, but he was still a beat slower than the Soaring Dragon sword. It was just about to penetrate through the formation and the cavern.

  All of this had happened in a single instant. The Soaring Dragon sword was like a supreme swordsman, throwing its life on the line to launch an assassination attempt before taking off upon failure. Li Qingshan had never expected a sword to be so intelligent. It was inconceivable.

  Clang! A bone sword appeared and sent the Soaring Dragon sword flying. The Soaring Dragon sword circled around a few times before fleeing in a different direction. Twelve Skull Prayer Beads scattered and surrounded it, trapping the Soaring Dragon sword.

  The Soaring Dragon sword exploded with light, and its dragon’s roar became even louder. With a series of clings and clangs, it shook away the Skull Prayer Beads, but it immediately became drastically slower. As it turned out, the twelve Skull Prayer Beads had turned into twelve thumb-sized Skull Demons, clinging onto the sword desperately.

  The Skull Demons possessed startling physical strength, enough to rip apart rock, even surpassing regular Daemon Generals. However, the Soaring Dragon sword actually managed to continue flying about, squirming around in the cave like a golden snake. Whenever it was stopped by Xiao An, it seemed to grow even more frantic. This continued until a huge hand grabbed the hilt firmly, unleashing the Tremors of the Ox Demon and the Spirit Turtle Suppresses the Seas.

  The Soaring Dragon sword let out a long cry before being sent back into the sumeru ring and sealed up.

  Li Qingshan let out a sigh of relief, but he suddenly felt uneasy inside.

  A lone mountain pierced the clouds, like a single island within the sea of clouds. Below, it was not connected with the ground in any shape or form. It just hovered there, alone and aloof.

  This was the Sword Collection palace’s renowned Sword Collection peak. Its cliffs and precipices were covered in swords, either covered in rust or entangled by vines. They all seemed to be nothing special at all. The mountain had hidden away their edge, making them wait quietly for their next master.

  Because swords would be pulled out, there were many sheathe-like grooves among the swords. The moment the Soaring Dragon sword emerged from the sumeru ring, the Sword Collection peak sensed it, and one of the grooves suddenly erupted with light, dispersing the clouds. It was like a mother calling for her travelling child’s return.

  Every single sword would automatically return to the Sword Collection peak after its master died. However, even when the light had subsided, the Soaring Dragon sword still had not returned. It shook up the entire Sword Collection palace.

  On the main peak of the Sword Collection palace, in the Heaven Reliant palace, a middle-aged man swung his hand. “Invite over the Divining Elder.”


  The middle-aged man’s appearance was simple and refined, with his hair flowing freely. Before him was a map that covered all nine provinces. He drew an invisible line on the map with his gaze. Upon closer inspection, this coincided perfectly with the direction and angle from the streak of light that the Sword Collection peak had emitted.

  With a few coughs, an old man with white hair dressed in white stepped into the palace as he leaned against a strangely-shaped sword. He seemed to be tottering about, where just a gust of wind could blow him over, but every single step he stood was extremely steady.

  “Greetings, palace master.”


  The middle-aged man frowned slightly at the sight of the Divining Elder, as just a few years ago, the Divining Elder had not been reduced to this. In order to find the Soaring Dragon Elder’s murderer, he mobilised the heavenly secrets, but he happened to touch on something and suffered from a backlash of the heavenly secrets. Within a single night, all his hair turned white, and he fell unconscious for seven days and nights. When he woke up, he only said a single thing quietly to the middle-aged man,

  “No matter what it is, it’s not something that anyone in this world can deal with. I’d advise the palace master to drop this matter for now. There may be a favourable turn in the situation in the future.”


  “Has there been a favourable turn?” asked the middle-aged man.

  Clang! The Divining Elder drew the Sword of Divination, and his aura changed drastically. His eyes became as deep as the sea, and the Sword of Divination split into black and white along the ridge. A eight trigrams diagram circulated rapidly near the edge as the black and white blended together into chaos.

  A while later, the Sword of Divination flew up, and the tip of the sword landed firmly on the map, landing on the line that the middle-aged man had drawn mentally. His eyes suddenly lit up, and the entire palace seemed to dim.

  “Still the Clear River prefecture?”