Chapter 440: Forging the Sword

Han Li's view had been blocked by the sea of swords before, and by the time he saw the blood-colored sword light, it was already too late to dodge.

At this critical moment, he silently recited the incantation in his mind, activated the Divine Refining Art, and suddenly unleashed the Spirit Needle Strike.

At that instant, Xiong Shan felt a cold snort ring out in his mind, so icy that it froze his entire sea of consciousness, causing him to briefly lose focus.

The blood-colored sword light hurtling toward Han Li trembled and momentarily stalled when it was about ten feet away.

But this momentary change altered the entire course of the battle!

Han Li's True Word Dharma Wheel within him reversed rapidly, the Wind Thunder Wings on his back flapped fiercely, and the Azure Luan bloodline within him was simultaneously activated. His figure blurred and appeared beside the blood-colored sword light, where he thrust his five flying swords at a single point on the light.

With a thunderous boom!

The blood-colored sword light exploded violently, sending out a fierce shockwave that blasted Han Li back hundreds of feet, coughing up blood, until he crashed into the torrent of ten thousand swords.

At the same time, pieces of black iron shards flew out from the exploding sword light, colliding in midair and reforming into a black iron talisman.

A figure stumbled out of the void, hair disheveled and face pale as death.

It was none other than Xiong Shan.

A gaping, bloody hole had been torn in his chest, his heart completely shredded. His body was covered in dark red cracks, seemingly intact but actually torn into countless pieces by sword qi.

Now, with a mad look on his face, he leaned on his longsword and walked step by step through the void toward the Ten Thousand Sword Iron Talisman.

But with each step he took, each inch he advanced, chunks of flesh fell from his body. By the time he reached the talisman, he was truly nothing but skin and bones, leaving only a snow-white, crystalline skeleton.

With a sharp crack!

The golden longsword in the skeleton's hand also shattered into countless fragments, scattering in all directions.

With a whoosh!

A golden light flew out from the skeleton's crown, transforming into a small golden Nascent Soul figure, only a few inches tall. It looked wearily at Han Li, who had just barely regained his footing hundreds of feet away, and murmured with a hint of confusion in its eyes:

"Is this... fate...?"

With those words, the Nascent Soul turned into a patch of golden light and dissipated.

Han Li watched from afar and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

In truth, he held little hatred for Xiong Shan; in some ways, they were even kindred spirits. If not for Xiong Shan's deep obsession with him, he would not have wished for this battle.

With Xiong Shan's death, the sword formation in the sky instantly lost control. All the suspended swords rained down like a storm, falling back into the Lifeless Sword Sea.

Han Li flew up, casually retrieved Xiong Shan's storage bracelet with a wave of his hand, then reached out and grabbed the Ten Thousand Sword Iron Talisman. With a few leaps, he landed back on the suspended altar.

He examined the iron talisman in his hand, only to find it looked like a shattered piece of porcelain, covered in deep cracks, as if a little force would break it completely.

Han Li pondered for a moment, his expression shifting slightly.

At this point, he couldn't help but feel hesitant.

He had seen the myriad scenes in the golden light screen earlier and knew how to activate this sword-forging formation, but he was worried about the talisman—whether it could still serve as the formation's core in its broken state and support him in completing the sword forging.

After thinking for a while, he sat cross-legged, set the talisman aside, took out a pill, swallowed it, and closed his eyes to meditate.

After a long while, he stood up, picked up the Ten Thousand Sword Iron Talisman again, and exhaled a heavy breath.

"Regardless, I'll give it a try. Consider it fulfilling your unfinished wish," Han Li said slowly, his gaze fixed on some point in the void.

With that, he tossed the talisman into the air. The black iron talisman glowed brightly and flew back above the altar.

As he chanted incantations, his ten fingers moved like wheels, and the clouds beneath the altar reignited, turning into a sea of crimson flames.

...

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Minghan Immortal Mansion.

High in the sky, a ten-zhang-long jade-green flying carriage flashed with azure light as it sped along.

At the front of the carriage, a tall, slender man stood upright, holding a round compass-like treasure shrouded in white cloud vapor. At its center, a red light flickered continuously.

"Eh, could it be those maggots from the Reincarnation Hall?" the man murmured in confusion.

Behind him stood two golden-armored puppets holding long halberds, standing motionless with no reaction.

...

On the mountainside of the Lifeless Sword Sect, Lu Yuqing held her silver longsword behind her back, gazing up at the peak.

Thick clouds still obscured the view. Earlier, one could hear the continuous rumbling from above and feel the astonishing fluctuations, but now they had ceased for a long time.

It seemed some变故 had occurred up there, but finally calm had been restored.

At her feet, the several wooden puppets had already shattered, scattered all over the ground.

Lu Yuqing's eyes flickered. After hesitating repeatedly, she lifted her foot and began to slowly ascend the stone steps, gradually moving farther toward the peak.

…

After an unknown amount of time.

On the suspended altar, Han Li was surrounded by green light, drenched in sweat.

His seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were now suspended above the hollow area in the center of the altar, arranged in a peculiar shape like a sword formation, with golden electric threads circling each other, emitting the sound of surging currents.

In the blazing flames below, various sword-essence orbs floated up continuously, merging into the sword bodies.

As time passed, the number of swords in the sea of blades below grew fewer, while the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords absorbed more and more sword essence. The aura emanating from the seventy-two flying swords became increasingly intense.

Han Li kept his eyes fixed on all this, and his heart grew more and more tense.

Just as the last dozens of sword-essence orbs merged into the sword bodies and were decomposed and devoured by the缠绕 golden lightning, a cracking sound suddenly came from the high sky.

"Damn it..." Han Li's heart tightened, and he cried out in alarm.

The moment his words fell, the Ten Thousand Sword Iron Tablet suspended in the sky burst with dazzling golden light from its cracks, seemingly about to shatter.

Having learned from Xiong Shan's precedent, Han Li was well aware of the consequences of the tablet's destruction. He quickly rolled his sleeve, intending to pull the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords out of the altar and flee far away.

However, the moment his mana fluctuation touched his lifebound flying swords, a bolt of lightning mixed with vast sword qi burst from the sword bodies, shattering his sleeve into pieces.

His body also felt numb, and for a moment he could not move.

At that moment, on his wrist storage bracelet, a white light suddenly flashed. A slender, palm-sized strange jade token flew out, heading straight for the Ten Thousand Sword Iron Tablet.

"That is..." Han Li's gaze focused on the object, puzzled.

But soon he recalled the origin of that object—it was obtained from Qi Heng, the elder of the Sacred Puppet Sect.

When Qi Heng had fought him back then, he had also used the Seven Kill Sword Formation from the Lifeless Sword Sect. From this perspective, that strange jade token was likely originally an object of the Lifeless Sword Sect!

While Han Li was astonished, he saw the jade token suddenly shine brightly, becoming completely translucent. Inside, golden light threads condensed into four ancient seal-script characters:

“Wúshēng Jiàndǎn”

After the golden characters appeared, the white jade token merged with the light of the Ten Thousand Sword Iron Tablet, gradually becoming one.

Then came a loud crash.

The sky above the altar suddenly darkened. A thick dark cloud from somewhere covered over, with green and purple lights flashing frequently, accompanied by rolling thunder.

On the eight coiling dragon pillars around, the eyes of the eight dragon heads suddenly flashed with golden light, as if coming to life, emitting overwhelming aura, as if about to soar up from the eight pillars at any moment.

Then, the eight dragon mouths opened wide, spewing rolling crimson flames toward the center of the altar. Vast sheets of flame converged in midair, turning into a churning sea of fire.

Seeing this, as soon as his body regained sensation, Han Li immediately flashed out and hovered outside the altar.

The rolling flames in the sea of fire poured down, instantly engulfing the entire altar.

At the same time, a thunderous crack came from the high sky. A green-purple thunder waterfall fell from the dark cloud, plunging into the blazing flames, lasting for a long time.

In the lightning and flames, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were completely invisible, and even divine sense could not penetrate.

The sword-forging furnace that smelts ten thousand swords had truly formed at this moment!

Han Li's expression was complex. He sat down cross-legged in the air at a distance, staring intently into it.

Time passed, and three days had gone by.

On the eight coiling dragon pillars around the altar, the eight dragon heads still had their mouths wide open, spewing rolling crimson flames toward the altar.

The sea of fire engulfing the entire altar had grown even larger than three days ago.

In midair, a green-purple thunder waterfall still fell from the dark cloud, crashing into the blazing flames, its range also larger than before.

Han Li stood near the sea of fire, his complexion calm. It seemed the injuries from the previous battle had healed, but his expression showed a hint of anxiety.

This sword forging had taken such a long time, completely beyond his control. He wanted to speed up the process but could not intervene, only waiting on the sidelines. Fortunately, Xue Han and the others had not appeared.

Inside the Daoist temple below, a beautiful girl in black stood gracefully, none other than Lu Yuqing, who had arrived there at some unknown time.

She moved around the temple as if strolling leisurely, sometimes stopping in front of a dilapidated attic, sometimes crouching by a dry well covered with moss.

Her beautiful eyes occasionally surveyed the surroundings, carrying a hint of bewilderment and an indescribable daze.