Chapter 1533 — The Tribulation of the Immortal Sword
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
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.