A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Sword-Forging Servant and Ascending to Immorta

Zhou Lingxuan stood up from the bed.

Once the thought of going to the Sword Testing Stone to see the sword mark with my own eyes came up, I couldn't suppress it anymore.

However, he did not rush out to find Old Qin immediately.

This can't be rushed.

What is the Sword Testing Stone? It's the place where the Centennial Sword Ranking is determined, and only the most outstanding geniuses in the entire Heavenly Sword Pavilion are qualified to leave their mark on it.

That kind of place is probably not a place that anyone can go to whenever they want.

Even with Qin Lao's connection, a mere servant who had just entered the abandoned hall would need a plausible reason to make such a request.

He composed himself, pushed open the door; it was time to get to work.

Following the familiar path to the bottom of the valley, you can see the three giant pits churning with dark red subterranean fire in the distance.

At the old spot, thirty feet away from the fire pit, nine large wooden boxes were neatly arranged.

It seems that the output of Qifeng and Dantang is indeed quite substantial today.

Zhou Lingxuan walked to the boxes, but instead of moving them, he opened them one by one, following yesterday's procedure.

He reached into the first box, which contained some discarded magical artifact parts, their spiritual energy mixed and disordered.

The purple jade hammer in the sea of ​​consciousness trembled slightly, and that power was completely devoured.

After absorbing three boxes of waste, the small hammer's luster brightened considerably, and Zhou Lingxuan felt his whole body brimming with inexhaustible energy.

He clapped his hands, ready to start moving things.

He bent down and grabbed the edge of the first box, estimating that the strength would be similar to yesterday, and raised his arms.

"call!"

The heavy wooden crate was flung into the air like an empty box.

Zhou Lingxuan himself was stunned for a moment.

He quickly reached out to take it, and the box landed steadily in his palm, so light that he could barely feel its weight.

"His strength... has increased that much?"

He looked down at his arms, and the muscle definition seemed even more pronounced than yesterday.

It seems that the effect of tempering the body is not only to repair damage, but also to continuously strengthen his body.

Suppressing his surprise, Zhou Lingxuan carried the box and walked towards the fire pit.

He walked steadily over a distance of thirty zhang.

But the closer you get to the fire, the higher the temperature rises, and an invisible pressure squeezes in from all directions.

In an attempt to resist the heatwave, the blood and qi in his body began to surge uncontrollably.

When he was less than five steps away from the fire pit, Zhou Lingxuan was about to take a step with his left foot.

The thought had barely formed when my body reacted in a completely different way.

His left leg seemed to be launched out by a giant bow, taking a step that covered a distance of nearly ten feet!

His center of gravity shifted forward instantly, and his upper body, along with the box in his arms, plunged straight down into the rolling fire pit below!

A wave of scorching heat hit them, instantly turning their eyebrows and hair curly and charred.

Zhou Lingxuan's pupils contracted sharply.

At the critical moment of life and death, his physical instincts honed over ninety years of blacksmithing saved him.

His right foot was firmly planted on the ground, and with a sudden burst of strength from his waist and abdomen, he forcefully pulled his forward-moving body back.

"Bang!"

The wooden crate slipped from his grasp and fell into the fire pit, where it was instantly engulfed by the dark red flames.

Zhou Lingxuan himself fell backward in a sorry state, landing hard on the scorching stone slab, less than a foot from the edge of the pit.

He was panting heavily, his back soaked with cold sweat.

If he had been just an inch further forward, he would be a charred corpse by now.

"What happened?"

Zhou Lingxuan braced himself on the ground, his palms sizzling from the heat, but he didn't care. He quickly crawled back more than ten steps on his hands and feet until the scorching heat subsided considerably before he stopped.

He stared at his legs, still in shock.

In that instant, he clearly felt that his body had completely slipped out of his control.

Trying to take one step, you end up taking three.

This is not his own power at all.

Zhou Lingxuan sat on the ground for a full quarter of an hour before standing up again.

He didn't dare go any closer, but instead looked at the remaining eight boxes from a distance, his brow furrowed.

He tried to raise his hand, but the movement was very slow.

The arm obediently rose.

He tried taking two more steps, but the steps were extremely small.

The legs are also fairly well-coordinated.

"Could it be my imagination?"

He shook his head, dismissing the idea. That feeling of losing control just now felt too real.

Zhou Ling-Xuan thought for a moment, then walked towards the fire pit again. This time he didn't take anything and moved very slowly.

One step, two steps...

When he stepped into the area within ten steps of the fire pit again, that feeling returned.

The surrounding pressure suddenly increased, and the blood and qi in the body were like boiling water, rushing and crashing through the meridians.

He tried to stop, but his right leg slid forward another half step on its own.

That half step caused his upper body to stagger.

Zhou Lingxuan's heart tightened, and he quickly mobilized all the muscles in his body to stabilize himself, then carefully retreated.

The feeling of being out of control only completely disappeared when they retreated to a safe area thirty feet away.

"So that's how it is."

Zhou Lingxuan leaned against a discarded iron ingot, let out a long breath, and finally understood the problem.

The root cause lies within oneself.

After being strengthened by the Heaven-Forging Hammer, his strength, speed, and reaction time far surpassed what they used to be.

But his mind, his consciousness, is still stuck in the state of that centenarian from the past.

This is like an old driver who has driven an oxcart his whole life, suddenly being asked to ride a wild horse that can travel a thousand miles a day.

Walking slowly on flat ground is fine, but once you get to a complex environment that requires precise control, an accident will immediately happen.

Just now, when he approached the underground fire, his body passively activated its power to resist the high temperature and pressure.

His consciousness couldn't keep up with this outburst, so he naturally lost control.

"The upgrades are too fast, the foundation is unstable..."

Zhou Lingxuan gave a bitter smile, a wave of fear washing over him.

Fortunately, I didn't act rashly yesterday and keep hitting myself.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even need anyone to cause trouble; he would ruin himself.

Having figured this out, he wasn't in a hurry to deal with the remaining boxes.

Although this place is dangerous, it is actually an excellent training ground for him now.

The pressure of the subterranean fire can be used to force myself to adapt to this brand new body.

For the next half day, Zhou Lingxuan spent his time messing around near the fire pit.

He first approached the fire pit empty-handed, only to retreat again and again.

From initially staggering and losing balance, he gradually regained his footing and was able to move freely within a ten-step range.

He only started moving the remaining boxes when he felt it was about time.

One bite, one bite, and another bite.

Every move is an extreme challenge to one's control over their body.

By the time the last box of scrap was thrown into the fire pit, it was already getting dark.

Zhou Lingxuan collapsed to the ground, exhausted, his body feeling as if he had been pulled out of the water.

But his eyes were brighter than ever before.

Now, he can barely control his body, and at least he won't almost die from taking a single step anymore.

He stood up, dusted himself off, and prepared to go back to the cabin to rest.

As soon as I arrived at the door of my residence, I saw a familiar figure pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back.

It's Elder Qin.

"Brother Qin?"

Upon hearing the voice, Old Qin immediately turned around, his face beaming with smiles.

"Brother, you're finally back!"

He quickly came forward, grabbed Zhou Lingxuan's arm without saying a word, and led him into the house.

"Oh dear, look at you! You've been doing those chores again?"

As he spoke, Old Qin took out a set of clean clothes and a bottle of pills from his storage bag.

"Don't go doing those box-moving jobs anymore."

Zhou Lingxuan was somewhat puzzled: "If I don't go, then who will?"

"I'll arrange someone else," Old Qin said casually, seemingly unconcerned.

"The abandoned hall may not have much else, but it has no shortage of laborers. That kind of place is inherently dangerous; what does it matter if one or two more die?"

Old Qin stuffed the pill into Zhou Lingxuan's hand.

"Your time is precious; it should be used for important matters. My young master's sword depends entirely on you!"

Zhou Lingxuan held the medicine bottle in his hand, remaining silent.

He knew that Old Qin was being so kind to him entirely because he needed something from him.

The old man, like other inner sect cultivators, didn't care about the lives or deaths of those menial servants who were none of his concern.

"Brother Qin, I appreciate your kind gesture."

Zhou Lingxuan put the medicine bottle back on the table.

"But I still have to do this work myself. Just sitting in the house all day waiting won't get me anywhere."

"I'm starting to make some progress."

Old Qin's eyes lit up suddenly, and he leaned closer, his voice extremely low.

"really?!"

"Hmm." Zhou Lingxuan nodded. "However, before I can actually begin the repairs, I need to go to a place first."

"Where? Just tell me, brother! As long as it's in the Heavenly Sword Pavilion, there's nothing I can't get!" Old Qin patted his chest and assured him.

Zhou Lingxuan looked at him and slowly spoke.

"I want to go and see the Sword Testing Stone."

As soon as he finished speaking, the smile on Old Qin's face froze instantly.

He opened his mouth, and the arrogance he had shown towards me deflated like a punctured balloon.

Instead, he looked troubled and hesitant.

"A testing stone?"