Chapter 67

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Chapter 67: The Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect Leader’s Announcement

Before Fengyun Wuji could reach Southern Ascension Big Dipper Mountain, an announcement quashed his intention to meet with Zi Huang.

The Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect Leader Zi Huang, through the Freedom Faction, issued a public notice: “Sword Emperor Fengyun Wuji has established the Sword Domain. On behalf of all disciples of the Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect, Zi Huang extends congratulations to Sword Emperor Fengyun Wuji. Furthermore, any force that harbors hostility or intends to act maliciously towards the Sword Domain will be automatically regarded as an enemy of the Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect.”

Zi Huang: “I am willing to form an alliance with the Lord of the Sword Domain, Fengyun Wuji, and have specially dispatched envoys to the Sword Pavilion. I wonder what the Sword Emperor thinks?”

Fengyun Wuji immediately returned to the Sword Pavilion. Zi Huang’s intentions were clear: the Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect was willing to form an alliance with the Sword Domain but would not join it. Given the strength of the Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect and Zi Huang, this was only logical and entirely within Fengyun Wuji’s expectations. The only unexpected event was that before he could even reach Southern Ascension Big Dipper Mountain, Zi Huang had already sent disciples to the Sword Pavilion to offer congratulations.

Regardless, Zi Huang’s agreement to the alliance pleased Fengyun Wuji, but it also left him somewhat disappointed. Had the tens of thousands of disciples of the Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect joined, the power of the Sword Domain would have surged significantly. Although it might not be enough to contend with the Four Domains, the gap would have certainly narrowed.

The envoy sent by the Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect was a woman named Ming’er, who had a beautiful smile. Throughout the conversation, she examined Fengyun Wuji with a peculiar gaze that made him feel uneasy, as if his every secret was being scrutinized by a pair of eyes.

Fengyun Wuji’s intuition proved correct. The plane from which Zi Huang ascended possessed a strange ability known as “Artistic Conception,” and this woman, Ming’er, had cultivated a peculiar form of it that allowed her to replicate an opponent’s abilities. The intentions behind Zi Huang, the head of the Southern Ascension Big Dipper Sect, sending this woman as an envoy were self-evident.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable in Ming’er’s presence, Fengyun Wuji exchanged a few brief pleasantries, established the stance of alliance, and then handed her over to Chi Shang to deal with. He then retired to the third level of the Sword Pavilion.

Ming’er took a keen interest in Fengyun Wuji’s retreating figure. After a short conversation with Chi Shang, she made an excuse to leave, but not before leaving behind a long, slender, red sword that resembled flames. The sword, named Chi Xiao, was said to be one of the top ten divine weapons and was given to Sword Emperor Fengyun Wuji as a token of alliance.

Fengyun Wuji already possessed the Fifth Sword Gall, with which he had reached a level of unity akin to blood and flesh. It was the best weapon for him, so he had no need for Chi Xiao. Thus, he bestowed the sword upon Chi Shang.

For a swordsman, aside from martial prowess, a fine sword is as precious as life itself. Chi Shang was naturally overjoyed to receive Chi Xiao.

All members of the Sword Pavilion had chosen their preferred martial arts from the Holy Palace and had been training obsessively since their ascension, even more so after joining the Sword Domain.

During the pursuit of the Night Clan, Fengyun Wuji began to pay attention to sword formations. Used well, a sword formation could defeat opponents stronger than oneself. Even before ascension, various sects had the concept of sword formations. However, the strength of the Sword Pavilion was still too weak. Despite more than four hundred years of diligent cultivation, they were still much weaker compared to other ancient masters.

The members of the Sword Pavilion originally came from different sects across various planes. The twenty years of martial strife had led to the loss of many advanced martial arts scriptures, but the loss of sword formations, which were unrelated to individual strength, was not significant.

Fengyun Wuji called upon the members of the Sword Pavilion to submit a copy of their sect’s sword formation mantras and formations. Before his ascension, Fengyun Wuji had challenged many masters, including prestigious sects, and had seen their exclusive sword formations.

Combining the submitted sword formation mantras, Fengyun Wuji spent more than ten days in the Sword Pavilion, pondering deeply. He took the best parts of these mantras, combined them with his unique insights, and based on the principles of heaven and earth, the five elements, and the eight trigrams, he invested a great deal of effort and finally created a powerful sword formation known as the “Mahayana Sword Formation.”

After recording the Mahayana Sword Formation’s diagrams, mantras, and individual sword techniques, Fengyun Wuji handed them over to Chi Shang and stopped interfering. Chi Shang was already highly respected among the members and was meticulous. Not long after receiving the sword formation, Chi Shang began to practice it with the Sword Pavilion warriors.

Fengyun Wuji selected seven individuals from the Sword Pavilion to serve as his personal guards, named “Seven Servants of the Sword Pavilion,” with the titles “Sword One” to “Sword Seven.” These seven were all talented individuals. Fengyun Wuji spent an entire night transferring his energy to them using an improved version of the “Star Absorbing Great Law,” bestowing upon each of them a cultivation of five hundred thousand years.

A cultivation of five hundred thousand years was not much for Fengyun Wuji, who had more than twenty million years of cultivation, but for these newly ascended swordsmen who had been there for only four hundred years, the pleasure brought by the improvement in their strength was indescribable.

Fengyun Wuji personally led these individuals to find a flat area in the mountains to practice until the seven of them worked in perfect harmony and could fully unleash the power of the Mahayana Sword Formation.

Although the alliance announcement with the Southern Ascension Big Dipper provided a bit of capital for the Sword Domain’s survival, Fengyun Wuji knew that to truly survive, it still depended on himself. For a long period, the Southern Ascension Big Dipper would definitely not send a single soldier to help. If his Sword Domain could not hold on, the head of the Southern Ascension Big Dipper would naturally think that the Sword Domain did not have the capital to form an alliance with the Southern Ascension Big Dipper. If it could survive, the Southern Ascension Big Dipper could also say that it had its own share of the credit, and the Sword Domain could not blame it. Fengyun Wuji had already been clear about this when Zi Huang sent the envoy.

Every day during the day, Fengyun Wuji supervised his subordinates in practicing the “Mahayana Sword Formation,” and at night, he urged everyone to practice their internal skills frantically. At the same time, he used his own skills to attract the spirit of heaven and earth to accelerate the progress of the Sword Pavilion warriors’ internal skills. With Fengyun Wuji’s cultivation, this method of attracting the spirit of heaven and earth gathered in a larger amount and faster than the effect of the “Spirit Gathering Sword Formation” in the Hidden Valley. The only drawback was that this method was quite mentally exhausting. Fortunately, Fengyun Wuji could multitask, and the “Mind Sword Body Great Law” had also trained his divine consciousness to be extremely strong. Only with such conditions could Fengyun Wuji continuously attract the spirit of heaven and earth and infuse it into the bodies of thousands of Sword Pavilion warriors for a long period.

On this particular night, Fengyun Wuji was still sitting cross-legged on the roof of the Sword Pavilion, with thousands of Sword Pavilion warriors sitting around the Sword Pavilion, practicing their internal skills with great effort. Suddenly, Fengyun Wuji felt a movement in his heart, opened his eyes, and saw countless dark shadows rushing towards them under the moonlit night…