Chapter 901: Sword Spirit of the Qingfeng Sword

Compared to three years ago, aside from an increasingly mature appearance, Mingtai's greatest change lay in his eyes, which shone brightly like the tips of twin swords, flashing with sharp brilliance.

"I heard, Brother Lu Yang, that you survived the unprecedented Invincible Divine Thunder and the number one Qiantian Lightning Tribulation, which is usually encountered only during breakthroughs to the Deity Transformation Stage, and have now entered that very stage?"

Mingtai set down his great hammer and bowed with cupped hands, visibly delighted to see Lu Yang.

Although everyone in the Sword Pavilion spoke highly of his own talent in the sword dao, in his own eyes, Brother Lu Yang possessed the truly pinnacle talent, while he himself fell somewhat short.

If he were to face the Invincible Divine Thunder and the Qiantian Lightning Tribulation during his own tribulation, he would certainly not survive it.

"And this is..." Mingtai noticed Yun Mengmeng, who had been standing quietly to the side without speaking.

"Her surname is Yun. We crossed paths on the road, and she is traveling with me for the time being."

"So it is Miss Yun." Mingtai bowed politely, showing no disdain despite Yun Mengmeng's low cultivation base.

Yun Mengmeng felt that the people in the outside world were actually quite pleasant, not at all like the terrifying and scheming human hearts her grandmother had warned her about; her grandmother had insisted that when away from home, she must act with a low profile, suppress her cultivation, and absolute not reveal her true strength before meeting Xiao Zhi.

"Are you forging a sword here?" Lu Yang noticed the great hammer Mingtai had just set down.

"This is a tradition left behind by the first pavilion master. He believed that cultivators could enhance their understanding of the sword dao by forging blades."

"Since then, every disciple of the Sword Pavilion must learn the art of forging."

The first pavilion master was the Supreme of the Sword Pavilion, a prodigy of his generation who had advanced victoriously all the way until he was halted at the Half-Immortal stage, falling under the Immortal Ascension Tribulation.

Under normal circumstances, Mingtai would refer to the Supreme of the Sword Pavilion as "Master." However, the fact that she was the sword spirit of the Supreme of the Sword Pavilion was a secret known only to a few high-ranking members of the Sword Pavilion; it was entirely confidential to the outside world, so she could not address him that way in front of Lu Yang.

Lu Yang knew of Mingtai's origins, having been told by the Immortal Fairy.

"So that is how it is."

"Did you come here to purchase a sword, Brother Lu Yang? The swords here are all forged by us disciples of the Sword Pavilion, so they likely will not catch your discerning eye."

"Not necessarily..." In front of Mingtai, Lu Yang felt too embarrassed to say that the grade of these swords was too low to match him.

"Brother Lu Yang might as well try his luck at the Sword Inquiry Grand Ceremony. If there is a sword that resonates with you, it will naturally follow you."

"There is such a custom at the Sword Inquiry Grand Ceremony?"

Although Lu Yang was a sword cultivator, and although the Sword Inquiry Grand Ceremony was the most important event for all sword cultivators, he really had not paid much attention to it, only knowing it was a tradition left by the Supreme of the Sword Pavilion, held once every hundred years.

"Our Sword Pavilion is constantly forging swords. Among the successive pavilion masters and elders, there are always a few who enjoy forging spiritual swords, occasionally creating weapons endowed with spirituality."

"After the lifespans of these successive pavilion masters and elders are exhausted, these swords become masterless objects. If they are forced upon a sword cultivator with whom they share no affinity, it will instead arouse the resentment of the swords."

"But if they remain sealed away forever, the spiritual swords will gather dust, and their spirituality will eventually fade."

"Our Sword Pavilion is unwilling to let spiritual swords gather dust, so we opened the sword treasury. If anyone can resonate with a particular spiritual sword, they may take it, allowing the spiritual sword to shine brilliantly in the hands of a suitable cultivator. However, it is limited to the cultivator's personal use; it cannot be sold or given away, and after the cultivator's death, the spiritual sword must be returned to our Sword Pavilion."

"Your sect is truly generous!" Lu Yang said from the bottom of his heart. Needless to say how precious a sword with spirituality was, yet the Sword Pavilion was willing to let outsiders use them. This generosity filled Lu Yang with admiration; the Sword Pavilion truly deserved its reputation as a sacred ground for sword cultivators.

"It is simply a matter of being unwilling to let spiritual swords gather dust." As a sword spirit, Mingtai felt this most deeply.

"Why not have the Sword Pavilion consider cooperating with our Dao Inquiry Sect?" the Immortal Fairy suggested within the mental space.

"Cooperating?"

"You see, the Sword Pavilion is unwilling to let the swords' spirituality vanish, and our Dao Inquiry Sect happens to possess that capability."

"Is the Fifth Elder that powerful?"

"Not that brat. To keep a sword's spirituality alive forever, one must either find it a master, or have this spirituality ascend into a sword spirit. Look at our sect's River Spirit; isn't that the latter method?"

Hearing this, Lu Yang roughly understood the Immortal Fairy's method, and the corner of his eye twitched. "So, Fairy, your meaning is to refine all the prisoners of the Prisoner Peak into sword spirits and fuse them with the swords of the Sword Pavilion?"

"Exactly, isn't that a great idea?"

"No." Lu Yang rejected the Immortal Fairy's proposal outright; this was not the conduct of an orthodox, righteous sect.

Mass refining of souls, accompanied by gloomy winds and wailing ghosts—if outsiders saw this, it would make their Dao Inquiry Sect look like a demonic cult.

"Furthermore, how would the ownership of the spiritual swords be resolved then? Are we supposed to steal and plunder all these swords back to the Dao Inquiry Sect? Our Dao Inquiry Sect is the leader of the righteous path; we cannot engage in such behavior."

"That does seem to make sense."

"What a pity. This Immortal was thinking of organizing a large-scale sword spirit refining event, and incidentally refining Guan Shanhai into your Qingfeng Sword. Then an immortal sword would have a sword spirit, becoming a top-tier immortal artifact that even the Yingtian Immortal couldn't forge."

"Wait, it seems that if you want your immortal sword to have a sword spirit, there is no need to refine Guan Shanhai." The Immortal Fairy thought of a brilliant idea that could raise the quality of the Qingfeng Sword to a whole new level.

"What do you mean?"

The Immortal Fairy smiled mysteriously. "Little Yangzi, take out the Qingfeng Sword."

Lu Yang complied honestly, drawing the Qingfeng Sword from his identity jade plaque, still failing to grasp the Immortal Fairy's meaning.

He watched as the Immortal Fairy flew out of the mental space, slid along Lu Yang's arm, and with a whoosh, dove straight into the Qingfeng Sword.

"Now your Qingfeng Sword is a top-tier immortal artifact endowed with a sword spirit."

Spending all her time in the mental space was tedious, so changing locations wasn't a bad idea.

The Immortal Fairy warned fiercely, "You are not allowed to put the Qingfeng Sword back into your identity jade plaque!"

"...Fine."

Lu Yang gave the Qingfeng Sword a couple of casual swings. Although according to the Immortal Fairy's theory, the Qingfeng Sword was now the most powerful weapon in the world, Lu Yang felt none of it; it felt exactly the same as before.

"Brother Lu Yang, why did you suddenly pull out your sword?" Mingtai wondered. Just moments ago, Brother Lu Yang had looked as if he were possessed by an ominous entity, and then out of nowhere, he drew the Qingfeng Sword and began brandishing it, as if he were about to randomly slash at a couple of people.

"It's nothing, just bringing it out to catch some fresh air."

"Oh." Mingtai could understand Lu Yang's behavior; sword cultivators all regarded their swords as their true loves, so it was understandable if their minds were a bit abnormal.

"By the way, Fairy, is there something wrong with this girl named Yun Mengmeng?" Lu Yang always felt something was slightly off about this Yun Mengmeng, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The Immortal Fairy snorted in dissatisfaction. "You've treated her to hotpot, invited her to listen to storytelling, and bought her pastries; what could possibly be wrong with her?"

Even she hadn't enjoyed that kind of treatment.