Chapter 1533 — The Tribulation of the Immortal Sword

Forging the divine sword through thirty-six layers of domain took an exceedingly long time, and even a powerhouse of the Imperial Throne like Emperor Shitian Li Youran could not keep at the forge forever.

Even he needed several rests; the others could well be imagined.

Only Shen Mu remained radiant with vigor, as though the vital essence within him could never be spent.

The Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon rather regretted having come so early, but the Southern Emperor had been reborn through reincarnation and had come in person to the Eastern Pole Heaven to invite him, so he had no choice but to come.

Still, having lost so much time, he was none too pleased.

Shen Mu had invited him in order to borrow his strength and brand Shen Mu's qi and blood into the divine sword; this step was the sword sacrifice, and the Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon's qi and blood were unfathomably deep, so only he could help Shen Mu sacrifice the sword with qi and blood. Only when the divine sword was at last forged, however, would that blood sacrifice be needed; these many days he could do nothing but watch the others refine treasures.

Fortunately, in these days the Ten Heavenly Venerables were not in the Heavenly Court but in Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, and had not emerged to this day; thus even his departure from the Eastern Pole Heaven posed little trouble.

This divine sword, melted and reforged again and again, layered with domain upon domain, had consumed a frightening amount of time, and gradually all those divine metals and divine materials dwindled away.

When the Lady of Heaven Yin saw the waters of the Sea of Heaven Yin grow fewer and its sea level fall greatly, she too felt a pang.

Several more months passed.

Within the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground the divine sword's aura grew ever more overwhelming, until many heavenly artisans could not withstand it and had to withdraw, leaving only Shen Mu, the Silent Artisan, and Li Youran still able to hold out, continuing to hammer the divine sword, ever seeking greater perfection. Shen Mu and the Silent Artisan drove the power of the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground to its utmost, yet even the Ancestral Ground gradually could no longer soften the divine sword enough to hammer it.

Seeing this, the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird said softly to Yan'er, "Carry me into the Ancestral Ground and shield me from the sword's aura; I will rouse the Ancestral Ground's power.

" Yan'er shook her body and transformed into a dragon-sparrow, bearing her on her back into the nine heavens of the Ancestral Ground; the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird released her primordial spirit and stirred the Dao fire, and at once its power surged once more!

Shen Mu and the others immediately quickened their pace, seizing the chance to forge. Yan'er strove with all her strength against the sword's aura in the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground; for a short while she could hold, but as time wore on the strain became immense.

The sword's aura emanating from that not-yet-finished divine sword grew stronger and stronger, and the metal qi within the blade was hard to suppress, forming a natural domain of the sword Dao all around, metal qi like blades, seeping in through every opening.

Soon Yan'er was covered in wounds.

The Southern Emperor's heart ached at the sight, but she knew this was the critical moment, admitting not the slightest carelessness, and so could only devote herself wholly to rousing the Ancestral Ground's Dao fire. She was a divinity born from the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground; though her mortal body had been taken by the Fire Heavenly Venerable to be refined, and her own great Dao forcibly seized to become the Fire Heavenly Venerable's cultivation, her soul was a refined spirit engendered within the Ancestral Ground, and her command of its Dao fire surpassed even the Silent Artisan's.

But the metal qi here was too strong; mother and daughter alike could not hold out much longer. Just then, the Western Emperor White Tiger suddenly leaped into the Ancestral Ground, and with the blare of her horn she strove to suppress the sword's aura, and only then did the Southern Emperor and her daughter breathe easy.

But the sword's aura only grew, and even the Western Emperor White Tiger could hardly bear it; her pair of tiger ears twitched without cease. "Quench it! " Suddenly the Silent Artisan, who had all along kept silent, let out a roar like thunder.

Emperor Xuan and Emperor Wu, husband and wife, exchanged a glance, then at once exerted their magic power to gather up the waters of the Sea of Heaven Yin, and its sea level dropped sharply at once!

Those waters transformed into a Dark Tortoise and a Soaring Serpent, and under the two Emperors' command rushed into the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground.

The two Emperors' robes fluttered as they cast one Dao art after another, pitting their cultivation against the nine layers of Dao fire in the Ancestral Ground, cold sweat beading on their brows: "The firepower is too strong; with only our two strengths it is hard to suppress—we should have moved our own Ancestral Ground here.

.

. " The two exchanged a glance, then suddenly revealed their true forms and became the Black Tortoise divinity, treading upon the Sea of Heaven Yin, charging into the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground to send the waters of Heaven Yin into its nine heavens to quench the divine sword.

Kaihuang raised an eyebrow.

Though no master of the forging Dao, he could see that the Silent Artisan had kept silent all this while in order to govern his own Dao heart, to make it resonate with the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground and control the Dao fire to the greatest degree. As a grandmaster of forging, one's command of Dao fire had to be exquisite in the extreme; to open one's mouth and speak might introduce a flaw.

Now the Silent Artisan had spoken, which meant the forging of the sword had reached its final, most critical stage! "Is this divine sword finally about to be completed?

" His heart could not help but surge; the Worry-Free Sword jingled and leapt in its scabbard, as if about to fly out of its own accord. Kaihuang turned and looked around, and saw that the village head Su Muzhe, the former Jingping Imperial Preceptor Jiang Baigui, and the countless sword Dao masters of Jingping—their swords too were jingling and leaping, and some sword cores had even slipped their masters' control, floating in the air and spinning endlessly, while sword after sword drifted slowly through the sky.

As those divine swords flew, they burst into waves of humming, as though on a pilgrimage.

"This sword is a little too strong.

" Kaihuang's heart turned solemn, and he subdued his Worry-Free Sword.

He was the sovereign of the sword Dao; if his Worry-Free Sword too left its scabbard and joined this pilgrimage of ten thousand swords, would it not declare that he deemed himself weaker than Shen Mu?

Though he held great expectations for Shen Mu and deemed his aptitude and potential frightening, when it came to the sword Dao, Shen Mu was still far from his equal. Within the Ancestral Ground, Shen Mu, Li Youran, and the Silent Artisan became three towering giants, using their own vital essence as hammers to forge that divine sword. The divine sword stood ten thousand zhang tall; even those three giants seemed tiny before it.

The forging hammers they had made had been sliced to pieces by the sword's overflowing aura; now only their own vital essence could hammer this divine sword—yet even the finest rune particles within their vital essence were shredded by the surging sword qi.

The three giants steamed with sweat.

Seeing this, the Blind Elder at once cast out a formation diagram that covered all the formation masters; Yan Yunxi, seeing it, could not help showing surprise, and stepped into the diagram as well.