Lord Shenxiu
Chapter 431: Dragon Slayer Sword (Congratulations to Alliance Hierarch sense8!)

Chapter 431: Chapter 431: Dragon Slayer Sword (Congratulations to Alliance Hierarch sense8!)

"What to do... I can’t overcome these two families right now," he sighed.

The five supreme sects of the world all have ancient Spiritual Treasures suppressing their fortunes, whose might nearly matches that of Ancient Primordial Spirits, not something a Yin God like Xu Guo could compare to.

Zhong Shenxiu did want to gauge the power of the spiritual treasures of this world, but upon careful consideration, he decided it was better not to court death like that.

He immediately set his sights a notch lower.

Now, picking on the Heavenly Ding Sect, a cultivation sect of the rank of the twelve great sects, Zhong Shenxiu no longer considered them worth his attention.

Those who could catch his interest were instead, the six great orthodox sects.

"After the five supreme sects come the six great orthodox ones... they too inherited the ancient Daoist Skill traditions, such as the Xuanji Hundred Refining Sect’s secret treasure refining techniques, the Qi Origin Sect’s inheritance of ancient Qi Refiner sect, even the Tongtian Divine Talisman Sect’s talisman skills, or the Zhuge Qimen’s ancient array true teachings, and the Divine Movement Sect’s Divine Movement Eight Skills, each holding extraordinary features... Among the six orthodox sects, there should be high-level Returning Elixir Ancestors presiding over them..."

Zhong Shenxiu also discovered the difference between his Primordial Pill and Golden Core.

Apart from his Primordial Pill-level mana, there was also a kind of imperceptible dignity conferred upon him.

Actually, dignity is a Western term; in Central Earth, it should be called ’fruition rank,’ which in legends, only those who attain Dao and become Immortal possess.

And the Primordial Pill Ancestor has a touch of this dignity.

This must be because the new methods embraced different concepts from those of the East and West.

’With this dignity bestowed, perhaps my mana should be rated a bit higher?’

’One of the six orthodox sects, the Corpse Yin Secret Sect, claims to have inherited the true teachings of the Ancient Demon Path, and they love to refine all sorts of zombies and Flying Night Demons, enjoying the extraction of souls to refine artifacts such as the Hundred Soul Banner, Ten Thousand Soul Banner... Surely they have done extensive research on the three souls and seven spirits, their experimental data could be very helpful to me...’

...

The Corpse Yin Secret Sect was different from the Heavenly Ding Sect.

The Heavenly Ding Sect could only build their sect at the borders of Da Jing to control one region.

Yet, the Corpse Yin Secret Sect could openly establish their sect within the heartlands of Da Jing, located in Yin State, with eight thousand miles of poisonous marshes as their outer sect.

Within Yin State, the various military leaders and feudal towns... In reality, are all supported in secret by the Corpse Yin Secret Sect, or might be directly managed by the outer sect disciples.

In this state, they could rightfully be called demon exterminators and Dao protectors, but the atmosphere was very poor.

Yin State, Song Family’s Market.

The Song family was a cultivation family from Yeluo County; although they weren’t part of the thirty-six noble families, generation after generation of their descendants had been disciples in the Corpse Yin Secret Sect, and they even had several Core Formation Ancestors in residence, which was quite extraordinary.

This marketplace, operating under the Corpse Yin Secret Sect’s name, had to turn over most of its income every year. Even so, the profits were more than enough to allow the Song family to live prosperously.

Consequently, the Song family paid great attention to maintaining the marketplace, always having one Core Formation Ancestor in residence.

Furthermore, the transactions were fairly conducted, and they occasionally sent out patrol teams to eradicate nearby rogue cultivators, making this market famous within a thousand miles as a safe place for trade, and it attracted many cultivators.

One day, a streak of light fell from the sky, revealing Zhong Shenxiu’s figure.

On his shoulder, Yu Tongzi sulked, morphed into a thrush, vivid and extraordinary.

Zhong Shenxiu had grown tired of playing with the green sparrow and wanted to change tastes.

At that moment, he walked leisurely into the market, found a random teahouse, asked the waiter to serve Spiritual Tea, and slowly savored it.

"This patron, would you like to hear some news?"

The tea house was actually called Song Family’s Tea House, and a Qi Refiner attendant approached with a full-faced smile, "In our tea house, we’ve collected the latest major events in the Cultivation World. As long as you want to hear it, we can recount it all for you."

"So it’s also a place for trading information? The Song family really knows how to do business."

Zhong Shenxiu laughed heartily, casually tossing out a bottle of Spiritual Pills.

This was actually a top-notch good from the Heavenly Ding Sect, and upon just opening the bottle and smelling it, the attendant’s expression changed, "Good pills! The pill qi is pure, surely the handiwork of those Alchemy Sects. What news would the patron like to hear?"

"I’ve been in seclusion for many years, and there are indeed many things I don’t understand. Tell me everything."

Zhong Shenxiu smiled.

"When it comes to major events in the Cultivation World, it has to be the incident eighteen years ago when the Heavenly Ding Sect was challenged by the Creation Ancestor with a single sword, spreading the Outer Elixir Method throughout the world... This caused who knows how many troubles, but the Creation Ancestor truly performed immeasurable merits, showing a path to heaven for us cultivators who saw no hope in our future... It was said that the Heavenly Ding Sect initially wanted to monopolize the Daoist Skill, but they ended up with a loss of face, truly deserved."

The waiter said with quite a feeling of catharsis.

Although, with his fortunes and opportunities, aspiring to refine an Outer Elixir himself was nothing but a pipe dream.

"And there are still quite a few loose ends from this matter."

"Oh? I would like to hear the details."

"That day, the Creation Ancestor’s Divine Power was boundless, defeating many Golden Core Ancestors from various sects. Among them was one of the Heavenly Mountain’s Seven Swords, the Jinghua Sword’s Li Qionghua Fairy... This Fairy Li is said to have been as beautiful as a flower and as ruthless as they come. She brazenly challenged the Creation Ancestor with her sword but couldn’t even shake a finger of the old master’s, suffering defeat in one strike. Since then, her Sword Heart suffered damage, unable to advance an inch, and she forcibly proceeded with Golden Core Formation a few years back, ending up with only a fourth-grade Pill."

The waiter laughed, "Middle-grade Golden Core is like reaching the skies in one step for the likes of us, but to those great sects’ True Inheritors, who doesn’t aim for Top-grade Pill? It’s said that every one of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect’s seven swordsmen was expected to form a First-grade Golden Core, and now the Jinghua Sword has truly lost face."

"Sword Cultivators value Sword Heart Clarity, an unstoppable forward drive. If they face setbacks, their edge will surely be lost!" Zhong Shenxiu nodded, understanding this was a common issue among Sword Cultivators.

If everything went smoothly, one could certainly gather an unstoppable momentum, achieving a First-grade Golden Core.

But if faced with a setback, interrupting the buildup process, the result would be too miserable to witness.

That Li Qionghua made her move that day, defeating herself without being killed by me, indeed showed some mercy, yet it appears her spirit was too proud.

She probably thought to solidify her Golden Core, then come challenge again.

However, with her Sword Intent already weakened, her Core Formation quality plummeted, resulting in a middle-grade, which was indeed self-inflicted.

"Since ancient times, Pill Formation bears no regrets. Li Qionghua suffered a big loss this time, and she won’t be able to turn the tables in this lifetime. This, however, enraged the great senior brother among the Heavenly Mountain’s Seven Swords—the Dragon Slayer Sword’s Mo Xiaochou! This Dragon Slayer Sword is recognized as the top genius of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect. Initially, when he broke through Refining Gang, he had slain seventeen Golden Core Ancestors from the Demon Sect consecutively, his aura overbearing and unmatched. Now, with the formation of a First-grade Golden Core, he has vowed to challenge the Creation Ancestor with his sword to avenge his junior sister."

The waiter, articulate and clear, recounted the events thoroughly.

"The Creation Ancestor is still a Returning Elixir Old Monster, isn’t the Heavenly Mountain Sword Sect afraid that the Dragon Slayer Sword might also be broken?" Zhong Shenxiu curiously asked.

"Probably they think that since the Creation Ancestor is a Loose Cultivator who has entered Returning Elixir, his Divine Power wouldn’t match those of the great sects’ True Inheritors... The Dragon Slayer Sword dared to make such a claim surely because he has something to rely on. He once went to the Heavenly Ding Sect to test himself against that Returning Elixir Ancestor and also defeated him with a single sword."

The waiter said, "This is Golden Core defeating Returning Elixir!"

Zhong Shenxiu couldn’t help but nod in agreement, "That is truly a genius."

While Ancient Method Cultivators, accustomed to defying odds and defeating higher-level masters, Refining Energy and Cutting Condensed Evil was already impressive, Refining Gang and Cutting Golden Core was quite rare, only possible for True Inheritors of grand sects.

And a Golden Core defeating a Returning Elixir was, in fact, extremely rare.

With such accomplishments, calling the Dragon Slayer Sword a freak of nature wouldn’t be an overstatement.