Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 508 - 9: The Relationship Grows Increasingly Complex

Looking at the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect kneeling on one knee, Wang Jiu felt this scene was familiar, yet he couldn’t remember where he had seen it before.

The memory of the Celestial Divine Sword was flawless—perfect for retaining effective information. For someone who values efficiency, even with abundant resources, he wouldn’t waste them on remembering ineffective information. Therefore, during his decades as a human, any memory unrelated to the Sword Dao and battle was deliberately forgotten by him. Seeing the Sect Leader kneeling on one knee only invoked a sense of déjà vu, sending him into deep thought.

The Sect Leader of the Saint Sect was equally persistent, holding a golden blood drop, silently waiting for Wang Jiu’s final response.

A moment later, Wang Jiu gave up recollecting—since he couldn’t recall it in a short time, it must be of low priority and not worth expending more effort on. He simply nodded, stepped forward, raised his long sword, and prepared to absorb the true blood of the Saint Sect into his body.

Though the Divine Sword was not human and couldn’t directly absorb true blood, Wang Jiu had already researched and solved this problem during the Jiuzhou era. As long as a flesh puppet was crafted within the Sword World, it could digest the true blood like a human and then share the Divine Techniques with the Sword World. If resources were abundant, he could directly manifest the flesh puppet externally, replacing the current Illusion Sword Technique—though generally, Wang Jiu didn’t prefer to do so. As the Divine Sword, he either fought alone or chose a contracted mount, creating and riding his own puppet... always feeling a sense of loneliness akin to that of his old friend Zhu Junsen.

In the next moment, as the body of the White Sword touched the golden blood drop in his palm, a crisp metallic clang was heard, and the body of the White Sword unexpectedly recoiled an inch. Meanwhile, the blood drop in the Sect Leader’s palm erupted with countless ripples on its surface, indicating intense vibration.

"Eh? What does this mean?"

The Sect Leader of the Saint Sect was greatly astonished. Just now, the Celestial Divine Sword seemed about to absorb the blood drop, but suddenly a strong repulsion force appeared, forcibly separating the two.

At the same time, Wang Jiu’s expression turned sullen, with the White Sword’s body trembling constantly, emitting a resonant buzz like a challenge, while the Sword Spirit True Form flickered, seemingly on the brink of collapse, yet also like the muscles of a beast poised to strike.

At the moment of contact with the true blood of the Saint Sect, the Demon-Pointing Sword let out a shrill scream, shaking the entire Sword World, an unmistakable reaction of the Demon Race.

If this were during the Immortal Demon war of Jiuzhou, Wang Jiu would have unhesitatingly stirred his Sword Qi into a life-and-death battle with the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect, despite any disadvantage in the battle.

However, this was not the Jiuzhou Immortal Demon war. Wang Jiu forcibly suppressed the urge to start a battle, waiting for the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect to explain the issue clearly.

"I have a question for you."

The voice of the Sword Spirit was like a beast struggling out from the abyss, sending chills down one’s spine.

Even with an absolute advantage in power and advantageous terrain at this moment, the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect felt an irresistible impulse to submit under such oppression, instinctively responding, "Go ahead and ask."

"This true blood of the Saint Sect’s inheritance, where do its Divine Techniques come from?"

The Sect Leader pondered for a moment and replied, "They are continuously enriched and perfected by successive sect leaders..."

"How were they enriched and perfected? Explain clearly!"

The Sect Leader said, "The true blood of the Saint Sect is formed by each sect leader condensing their lifelong cultivation into a drop of blood before passing on the inheritance. This single drop of blood represents my entire life, so..."

"So it contains everything you’ve cultivated and experienced?"

The Sect Leader said, "In theory, yes, but during the blood condensing process, contents with insufficient weight are filtered out. Of the 610 Immortal Techniques I cultivated in my life, barely 10 could be condensed into the true blood... And these 10 Immortal Techniques all come from previous sect leaders. None of the Immortal Techniques I independently designed could withstand the test of blood condensation."

At this point, the Sect Leader felt some dismay. In terms of realm and power, he stood head and shoulders above any previous sect leaders—even those claimed to be prodigies that appear once in a thousand years couldn’t achieve his accomplishments, limited by their times.

However, in terms of pioneering new Immortal Techniques and innovating Immortal Cultivation Theory, his achievements were lackluster. Rather than creating entirely new Immortal Techniques, he was more adept at patching up and refining the foundation laid by predecessors...

In this sentiment, the icy voice of the Celestial Divine Sword came again.

"Write down the historical inheritance of these ten Immortal Techniques, now."

Wang Jiu didn’t care about the Sect Leader’s change of mind in the slightest, demanding aggressively.

"Please wait a moment." The Sect Leader didn’t question the reasonableness of Wang Jiu’s demand, but seriously complied with his request, detailing the inheritance of his ten most cherished Immortal Techniques.

"First is ’Sacred Heart,’ with a history of over two thousand years, the foundation of the establishment of the Saint Sect, handed down from the first generation Sect Leader, unchanged for two thousand years..."

"Unchanged for two thousand years, is it a legacy from the Jiuzhou era?"

"It should be. From the first generation Sect Leader until now, the Sacred Heart has been cultivated for over two thousand years, still seeming like an inexhaustible gold mine, something not possible for people of that era to have designed."

"In the true blood, which part does the Sacred Heart belong to? Don’t point, use your body to tell me."

The pure white long sword rested on the Sect Leader’s shoulder as he spoke.

The Sect Leader then reached out and retracted the golden blood from his palm. In the next moment, a milky white glow radiated from his body.

"If it were to manifest outwardly, it would probably look like this... The so-called Sacred Heart is the foundation of the Saint Sect. All the Immortal Techniques and Daoist Arts we cultivate thereafter must be based on the Sacred Heart. It is both a pillar and a cage. Those possessing the Sacred Heart can have all the Holy Techniques of the Saint Sect but will also lose personal selfishness. Although personal preferences can be retained, they can never surpass the public good of the world. It’s a transformation of the soul. Anyone assuming the position of Sect Leader must pass this trial."

Wang Jiu carefully sensed the power released by the Sect Leader. It was delicate and pure. Delving deeper revealed that this purity was actually made up of a fusion of over ten different powers, with intricate changes that were astonishing.

After a long time, he nodded: "No problem... Quite a remarkable Divine Technique. Even in the Jiuzhou Era, it could be considered an extraordinary idea. But it’s not what I want. Continue with the second one."

The Sect Leader then said, "The second one is ’Entering the Earth’, which allows a person to grasp the power of the earth, freely drawing on power from the earth veins of Xiangzhou. If it were to manifest outwardly, it would probably look like this..."

This time it was a familiar power. After Wang Jiu analyzed the Immortal Technique using the Divine Sword Body, he sighed and said: "In the Jiuzhou Era, this was called the Central State Seal, one of the Great Immortal Techniques of the Myriad Immortals Alliance that enveloped the world. Holding this seal was equivalent to possessing all the resources of the Central Province—earth vein spiritual power, spirit stone deposits, spirit field herbs, and so on. But this Jiuzhou Seal was too overbearing. It was also an unfinished Immortal Technique during the Jiuzhou Era and was fundamentally tainted after the Demon Race invasion. The Entering the Earth you hold now is likely an incomplete and simplified version of the Central State Seal, with less than one-tenth of the original’s efficacy... Yet this just makes it suitable, as an overly powerful force would be meaningless for Xiangzhou. Alright, next one."

"The third one is ’Lingxu’, traversing between reality and illusion, enabling instantaneous travel across vast distances, a necessary condition for the Saint Sect to always protect every corner of Xiangzhou..."

"The fourth one is ’Immortality’, a vigorous vitality extending one’s lifespan. Although the lifespan of cultivators then was already much less than in the Primordial Era, at least among contemporaries, possessing Immortal powers could extend one’s lifespan by more than fifty percent..."

"The fifth one is ’Celestial Derivation’..."

Thereafter, the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect demonstrated and explained the many Immortal Techniques to Wang Jiu one by one, quickly finishing all nine.

Among these nine Immortal Techniques, only two or three were inherited from ancient times when the First Generation Sect Leader founded the sect. The other Immortal Techniques were gradually deduced and perfected by successive sect leaders later on. In terms of exquisite Divine Techniques, they naturally couldn’t compare to ancient inheritances, but for their time, they were unparalleled and held vast potential for advancement. Even by the standards of the Jiuzhou Era, these Immortal Techniques were highly promising.

Any one of these Immortal Techniques was almost on par with the core inheritances of the Three Academies and the Seven Families—after all, much of the Seven Families’ inheritances had been lost. And the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect could skillfully master more than ten of these, truly deserving the title of being the best under heaven.

However, none of these were what Wang Jiu truly wanted.

After a long moment of contemplation, Wang Jiu slowly spoke.

"What is the tenth one?"

"The tenth one..." The Sect Leader hesitated, "It’s somewhat special, not the kind of Immortal Technique or Divine Prowess that easily manifests outwardly. It’s a cultivation of the mind called ’Eternal Hope’."

"Cultivation of the mind? Isn’t there already the ’Sacred Heart’?" Wang Jiu asked.

"In my understanding, it complements the ’Sacred Heart’. The Sacred Heart makes one transcendental, no longer confined to human perspectives. However, we are still humans, with flesh and emotions. There’s a gap between the limitations of reality and the ideal realm of the Sacred Heart, and this requires a balance. ’Eternal Hope’ is such a balance. Though it doesn’t possess any special Divine Prowess, it allows one to see their deepest desires clearly at any time and place, to introspect and manage oneself, achieving a balance between human and Immortal..."

As Wang Jiu listened, his brows furrowed deeper.

Although the Sect Leader’s tone was calm and sincere, without concealing anything, this explanation was clearly unsatisfactory. Complementary to the Sacred Heart? Introspection and self-management? The language was too vague, distinctly different from the previous nine.

Moreover, critically, among the previous nine Immortal Techniques, Wang Jiu hadn’t found the answer he sought.

This tenth one was already the only possibility left.

"Use Eternal Hope and let’s see."

The Sect Leader hesitated: "It’s not that convenient to use this..."

"Don’t waste time."

Feeling the intense pressure from the Celestial Divine Sword, the Sect Leader sighed: "Alright."

In the next moment, the aura of Xiangzhou’s foremost figure became restrained and distant, as if he was immersed in an incredibly deep pool of water.

And within that water, a faint light blossomed.

As the light flickered, two lines of tears rolled down his cheeks, and then, with a sorrowful smile, the Sect Leader said to Wang Jiu.

"Father, I miss you so much."