My equipment is designed for cultivation; I started by slaughtering my way through a small world.

Staring at the Sword Realm Bitter Bamboo less than a meter tall beside him, Gu Qing suddenly spoke:

"Sword, come!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Bitter Bamboo of the Sword Realm, which was less than a meter tall, suddenly trembled.

On the white jade-like bamboo, countless spiritual patterns lit up simultaneously, moving around as if they were alive.

The roots emerge from the soil, without a speck of dust, their intertwined tendrils transforming into the fine, winding patterns on the sword hilt. The bamboo joints taper and converge, making a clear, resonant sound, forming the natural curve of the blade's edge, resembling waves.

"Zheng—"

The sword's cry echoed throughout.

The bitter bamboo rose from the ground, and the whole plant transformed into a three-foot-long sword that was entirely white.

The sword has a long, slender blade with subtle bamboo-like patterns.

The sword guard is wrapped with bamboo branches, as if lightly extended to protect the hand.

The hilt is made of intertwined roots, giving it a warm and smooth feel when gripped.

At the tip of the sword, the cold gleam of white jade was fully revealed.

It hovered in front of Gu Qing, trembling slightly, as if responding to that summons.

"Hahaha--"

"My darling."

Gu Qing laughed loudly.

He then channeled his spiritual energy into the white jade flying sword.

The sword trembled, and the flying sword transformed into a dazzling rainbow of sword light.

"Yi Wood Sword Technique"

"Sword light and shadow split!!"

Before the words were finished, the sword light suddenly split in mid-air.

One beam transforms into two, two beams into four, and the four beams then divide again. In an instant, eighty-one beams of sword light unfold, surrounding Gu Qing like a blooming white lotus.

Each sword light is a sword shadow, both real and illusory, possessing 30% of the original's attack power, its sword cry piercing the air.

Eighty-one sword lights intertwined and swirled, their sword energy crisscrossing.

Gu Qing stood in the center of the sword shadows, his clothes fluttering. The eighty-one sword lights moved at his will, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing, as if controlling his own arm. This power was far, far stronger than ordinary Qi Refining Realm techniques.

the other side.

At the entrance to the Sword Tomb Secret Realm, Su Changge used an ancient mirror to observe the inner disciples.

Five days later, the vast majority of disciples had already obtained their natal flying swords through contracts.

Sword energy fluctuations erupted once again in the secret realm. Su Changge glanced at the location on the ancient mirror and was slightly taken aback.

"Is it Elder Gu's side?"

"he……"

Gu Changge had just switched the image from the ancient mirror to Gu Qing's side when she saw Gu Qing unleash the ultimate sword light splitting shadow technique.

"The strongest sword move in the Yi Wood Sword Technique?"

"In just one month, Elder Gu not only mastered the 72 basic sword moves of the sword manual, but also the Splitting Light Sword Shadow?"

"Compared to his talent in alchemy, his combat talent is also terrifyingly strong!!"

What Su Changge didn't know was that Gu Qing actually only used seven days.

After a brief moment of shock, his gaze fell on the ruined innate spiritual embryo array beside Gu Qing.

Especially containers used to hold various spiritual liquids.

These items, clearly bearing the characteristics of a celestial realm, caused Su Changge's pupils to constrict.

really……

A while later.

Su Changge's expression returned to normal.

Seeing Gu Qing approaching from a distance, Su Changge greeted him with a smile:

"Elder Gu, how is it?"

"Did you find a Sword Realm Bitter Bamboo that you like?"

"Ha ha--"

"I've found a Bitter Bamboo in the Sword Realm that's perfect for me, and now my wish has come true."

Gu Qing paused, then looked around the Sword Tomb Secret Realm. Seeing that there were few inner disciples around, he asked:

"Sect Master, how many disciples are still bound to the Bitter Bamboo of the Sword Realm?"

Where is Yang Xi?

Did she successfully complete the contract?

Su Changge smiled and pointed outside the secret passage, saying:

"Only a dozen or so disciples are still contracting with the Bitter Bamboo of the Sword Realm. The other disciples who successfully contracted have already left the Sword Tomb Secret Realm."

"As for Yang Xi, she is still in the secret realm."

"It's still very difficult to form a contract with a 3,000-year-old Sword Realm Bitter Bamboo. However, Yang Xi has good talent and has already established a connection with a 3,000-year-old Sword Realm Bitter Bamboo."

"It should take at most two or three more days to succeed."

"I see!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Qing pondered for a moment, then said to Su Changge, "Sect Leader, I will return to Cuiyun Peak first. Please take good care of Yang Xi."

"You're welcome."

"Yang Xi is also a disciple of the Azure Emperor Sword Sect, so I will keep an eye on him."

Gu Qing nodded upon hearing this, and then left the Sword Tomb Secret Realm.

……

Before we knew it, eighteen days had passed since our trip to the Sword Tomb Secret Realm.

Bamboo forest behind Cuiyun Peak.

Gu Qing sat under a tall bamboo tree that was about ten meters tall.

Whoohoo! !

A gentle breeze ripples through the bamboo forest.

Gu Qing cleared a flowerbed not far away and released a burst of spiritual energy into it.

"The Enchanting Flower Spell!!"

Hundreds of flowers bloom in the flowerbed, their pollen forming wisps of fragrance that drift into the bamboo forest on the wind.

As the fragrance of flowers intensifies, the pollen from hundreds of flowers mixes into a pale golden powder, weaving a hazy mist through the forest.

Birds flew by in the distance, but before they reached mid-air, they circled and fell, plunging into the golden mist and falling into a deep sleep.

Gu Qing stood up and waved gently.

The golden pollen in the bamboo forest dissipated, and soon the bird, startled, fluttered away.

"The various sword moves of the Yi Wood Sword Technique contain the true meaning of wood. Some sword moves are as brilliant as blooming flowers, while others are as desolate as a cold autumn."

"The Bewitching Flower Spell is a wood-attribute spell. Both are essentially applications of spiritual power, but they highlight the characteristics of wood-attribute spiritual power from different perspectives."

"Whether it's the true meaning of sword techniques or the effects of wood-attribute spells, they are essentially the evolution of the profound mysteries of the wood attribute."

"Spells and sword techniques seem to corroborate each other..."

Gu Qing stood in the bamboo forest, using his left hand to cast the Flower Bewitching Spell with his spiritual power, while his right hand transformed into emerald green Yi Wood Sword Qi.

Through magical deduction, we can verify the true meaning of the sword moves.

In the palm of his right hand, the emerald green Yi Wood sword energy transformed into a flower bud and gradually bloomed.

"Bang!!"

Before the sword energy flower could fully bloom, it exploded out of control into wisps of spiritual energy that dissipated into the bamboo forest.

"It's really not easy to comprehend the profound mysteries of swordsmanship with just one Yi Wood Sword Technique."

"but……"

"This path is indeed feasible."

If sword light could be as varied as magic, but without the complexity of magic, its power would increase dramatically.

"How difficult it is for sword light and magic to completely merge!"

"The sword energy can only condense into a flower bud, it can't bloom yet, it's just a little bit short..."

As Gu Qing sensed the changes in spiritual energy in her hands, her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

What would happen if the two were completely integrated?

Dispersing the two wisps of spiritual energy in his hands, Gu Qing looked at his natal spiritual root beside him.

Eighteen days later, the Bitter Bamboo of the Sword Realm brought back from the Sword Tomb Secret Realm emitted a bright white glow on its main stem, and its surface was covered with blue jade spots.

"It's just one step away from evolving from White Jade Bitter Bamboo to Blue Jade Bitter Bamboo."

"only……"

"The Azure Emperor Sword Sect is becoming increasingly unstable, making it very difficult for me to cultivate my natal spiritual root peacefully in the back mountains!"

ten days ago.

Yang Xi then told him that the Tiger Fiend Sect's offensive against the Azure Emperor Sword Sect was getting stronger and stronger, and the two sides had already engaged in several deadly battles at the Foundation Establishment level around the spirit stone mine in Golden Rooster Ridge.

Currently, the Azure Emperor Sword Sect has not suffered any casualties among Foundation Establishment cultivators, but nearly five hundred Qi Refining disciples have been killed or injured.

The Tiger Demon Sect possesses a secret technique that allows humans to transform into demons, enabling them to rapidly cultivate low-level disciples at the Qi Refining Realm.

Despite the fact that individual disciples of the Azure Emperor Sword Sect were stronger than their opponents, they were still forced to retreat in this battle for resources due to the overwhelming numbers of their opponents.

The only advantage of the Azure Emperor Sword Sect is that its Foundation Establishment Realm warriors are of higher quality than its opponents.

And there are just a tiny bit more in number.

According to Su Changge, the Tiger Fiend Sect is supported by the Wei Kingdom's royal family, which has enabled the Tiger Fiend Sect to grow stronger. Starting five hundred years ago, it began to clash with the Azure Emperor Sword Sect, a conflict that continues to this day.

Three hundred years ago,

The previous sect leader of the Azure Emperor Sword Sect, along with several Golden Core Realm elders, engaged in a decisive battle with the Tiger Fiend Sect. That battle shattered Jinyun Mountain, which was 800 miles away. In the end, three Golden Core Realm elders from the Tiger Fiend Sect self-destructed on the spot, their Golden Cores extinguished.

Meanwhile, the former sect leader and several elders of the Azure Emperor Sword Sect were all seriously injured.

Not long after, they passed away peacefully within the sect.

This marked the beginning of the era in which Su Changge led the Azure Emperor Sword Sect.

"To this day."

"The Azure Emperor Sword Sect has not produced a Golden Core cultivator for nearly three hundred years. In contrast, the Tiger Fiend Sect produced a Golden Core cultivator a hundred years ago."

"The disparity in strength between the two sides is widening."

"The Azure Emperor Sword Sect's power can only rely on its array advantage to hold onto the various resource points that the sect once occupied."

"Even though the Azure Emperor Sword Sect has reduced its power, the Tiger Fiend Sect is gradually encroaching on its territory."

The spirit stone vein at Golden Rooster Ridge is the last spirit stone resource point for the Azure Emperor Sword Sect. If this spirit stone vein is lost, the sect's disciples will find it difficult to continue their cultivation stipends.

"Of course, this will also affect myself..."

Gu Qing looked at his natal spiritual root. Although the Sword Realm Bitter Bamboo was stimulated by the Creation Essence of the [Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Creation Bottle], the spiritual energy required for its growth would not decrease.

Compressing the spiritual energy required for a century of growth into a single day consumes an astronomical amount of spiritual energy.

If Gu Qing were to cultivate the Sword Realm Bitter Bamboo in the Immortal Kingdom, his spiritual coins would probably be exhausted by now, or even turn into a negative number, leading to bankruptcy and making him a valuable talent of the Immortal Kingdom.

Gu Qing touched his storage ring, his expression turning somewhat grim.

The concentration of spiritual energy inside the Azure Emperor Sword Sect is higher than outside the sect, but it still cannot meet the explosive spiritual energy needs of the Bitter Bamboo in the Sword Realm.

Having earned most of the spirit stones in this world, Gu Qing had been feeding them all to his innate spiritual root, leaving him penniless once again.

……

"Master!"

"Master!!"

Just then, a clear and cheerful voice came from afar.

A young man dressed in a plain white dress rode in on a sword.

"Wow--"

"Master, your innate spiritual root is about to undergo a transformation!"

Upon seeing Gu Qing and looking at the Bitter Bamboo of the Sword Realm beside him with its special spiritual patterns, Yang Xi couldn't help but open her mouth wide in amazement.

Gu Qing's Bitter Bamboo in the Sword Realm can continue to grow.

She was the only witness within the sect.

"Yang Xi!!"

"What brings you here today?"

Gu Qing suppressed her displeasure and greeted him with a smile.

"Master, I have come here on two occasions, one good and one bad."

Which one would you like to hear first?

A mischievous glint flashed in Yang Xi's big eyes as she looked at Gu Qing with curiosity.

"hehe--"

"Let's hear the good news first!"

"The good thing is..."

"Look, Master, guess what's in here?"

Yang Xi smiled and took out a storage bag, which she then waved up and down in front of Gu Qing, making it quite dazzling.