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

The two servants nodded repeatedly.

Zhou Lingxuan walked over on the gravel, making a noise.

Old Sun turned around abruptly, raised the lantern in his hand and shone it forward. After seeing who it was, his wrinkled face immediately broke into a wide smile.

"Manager! You're finally back!" Old Sun hurriedly came to greet him, bowing very low.

Zhou Lingxuan waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to be so polite.

"Why are you wandering around aimlessly in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

"We're just afraid something might go wrong."

Old Sun chuckled and moved the lantern to the side, afraid of dazzling Zhou Lingxuan's eyes.

"Before you left, you instructed me to keep a close watch on the waste pills and scrap materials. I figured the wind would be strong at night, so I'd feel more at ease taking people on a couple of patrols."

Zhou Lingxuan glanced at the neatly arranged courtyard.

The ground was swept clean, and several iron barrels filled with toxic substances were neatly stacked in a sheltered corner, covered with a moisture-proof tarpaulin.

This old man is indeed reliable.

"Alright, go and rest after this patrol." Zhou Lingxuan took out two pieces of silver from his sleeve and tossed them to Old Sun. "Take these and buy some liquor to warm yourself up."

Old Sun hurriedly accepted the silver, thanked him profusely, and left with his men.

Zhou Lingxuan watched their retreating figures, feeling quite relieved.

This was the abandoned hall he wanted. No one caused trouble, everyone did their job, and they worked peacefully.

He turned and walked towards his own courtyard.

The courtyard is located at the deepest part of the abandoned hall, next to the fire vein of the Jia-class land.

As Zhou Lingxuan approached the courtyard gate, he suddenly stopped.

He raised his hand and made a light tap in mid-air with his fingertips.

A very faint ripple spread through the air.

This is the warning formation he set up before he left. Now, the spiritual energy nodes of the formation show signs of being forcibly impacted.

Has anyone been here?

Zhou Lingxuan's breathing slowed down instantly.

Deep within his consciousness, the small purple jade hammer trembled slightly.

A pure and intense sword intent silently converged along his meridians to his right index and middle fingers.

He didn't use his divine sense to investigate, as that would easily alert the enemy.

Zhou Lingxuan pressed himself against the courtyard wall, gently placed his left hand on the wooden door, and then pushed hard.

"Squeak—"

The wooden door opened with a click.

Zhou Lingxuan flashed and disappeared into the shadows behind the door, his sword intent poised to strike.

The courtyard was very quiet.

There were no assassins, no ambushes.

Only a series of heavy, rhythmic breaths came from under the stone table in the center of the courtyard.

Zhou Lingxuan looked over by the moonlight and was stunned.

Lei Yang was sprawled out on the stone table leg, fast asleep.

The boy was clutching the sheathed Wind and Thunder Sword tightly in his arms, his head tilted to one side, and a glistening drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Zhou Lingxuan breathed a sigh of relief and dispersed the sword intent from his fingertips.

He stepped out of the shadows, and as soon as he took a step, his foot stepped on something, making a crisp "crack" sound.

I looked down.

It was a broken piece of bluestone.

Zhou Lingxuan then noticed that the ground in the entire courtyard was in a terrible state.

The once smooth bluestone pavement is now full of potholes and crisscrossing sword marks.

These sword marks were extremely messy and utterly haphazard, as if someone had been smashing the ground with a hammer.

But each sword mark was extremely deep, and the cut not only had a rough feel of being torn apart by brute force, but also had a trace of charred blackness, and a faint burnt smell wafted in the air.

Zhou Lingxuan squatted down and reached out to touch one of the sword marks.

The remaining lightning power surged up his fingertips, making his fingers slightly numb.

"This kid..."

Zhou Lingxuan stood up and walked to Lei Yang's side.

Before he left, he specifically instructed Lei Yang to stay in the formation to guard against Zhang Qian, and to use the Spirit-Slaying Wood Sword Sheath to polish his physical body.

It seems that this kid has been busy all along.

Zhou Lingxuan carefully examined the sleeping Lei Yang.

The boy's breathing was long and powerful; with each rise and fall of his chest, a rumbling sound like muffled thunder emanated from his body.

That's the sound produced when the Qi and blood are at their peak, surging and rubbing together in the meridians.

Zhou Lingxuan extended two fingers and placed them on Lei Yang's pulse point.

The moment it touched, an extremely powerful force rebounded back.

Zhou Lingxuan did not resist directly, but withdrew his hand, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Lei Yang's physical strength has increased dramatically compared to when he was cleansed by the Heavenly Lightning a few days ago!

He looked down at the Wind and Thunder Sword in Lei Yang's arms.

The scabbard made of spirit-repelling wood was originally intended to isolate the overflowing lightning power of the Wind and Thunder Sword, preventing Lei Yang's tiger's mouth from being devoured again.

But now, within the black wood grain on the surface of the scabbard, there are extremely fine wisps of dark purple lightning.

These electric sparks seeped into Lei Yang's body little by little, following his hands as he held the sword.

Lei Yang's body not only did not reject it, but instead, like a dried-up sponge, greedily absorbed the lightning power.

The lightning energy entered his body and perfectly merged with his already turbulent blood and qi, constantly tempering his bones and muscles.

Zhou Lingxuan understood.

While practicing haphazardly, this kid actually found an opportunity to resonate with the Wind and Thunder Sword by relying on his body's instincts.

He used the Wind and Thunder Sword as a hammer for forging iron, and his own body as the sword blank on the anvil.

Every swing of the sword is a way of using the weight of the Wind and Thunder Sword and the power of lightning to forge oneself in a profound way.

"What a monster," Zhou Lingxuan couldn't help but curse in his heart.

If he continues training at this pace, the barrier of the Body Tempering stage within Lei Yang's body is already teetering on the brink of collapse, and could be forcibly broken open at any moment by this violent surge of blood energy.

Once he breaks through, this kid's physical strength will definitely reach an extremely terrifying level.

Zhou Lingxuan did not wake Lei Yang.

When it comes to cultivation, it's best to let it happen naturally. Forcibly interrupting it will only ruin the energy that this kid has worked so hard to develop.

He took off his drab, gray steward's coat and casually draped it over Lei Yang.

The early winter night wind was already a bit chilly. Although this kid was full of energy, he was still prone to catching a cold if he slept in the wind.

Zhou Lingxuan walked to the stone table and sat down on another intact stone bench.

He picked up the teapot on the table, poured himself a cup of cold tea, and gulped it down.

The cool tea flowed down his throat and into his stomach, completely calming his head, which had become feverish from the journey.

The matter concerning the Weapon Hall has come to a temporary end.

Now that Chen Baichuan was on guard, it wouldn't be so easy for Li Yuan to pull any more tricks.

As for how the two of them fought, and who won or lost, Zhou Lingxuan didn't care at all.

He helped Chen Baichuan only to repay a favor and, incidentally, to find a powerful backer within the inner sect.

Now that his backing is secure, he needs to focus his attention back on himself.

Zhou Lingxuan internally focused on his dantian.

Peak of Qi Refining Stage 6.

That barrier leading to the seventh level was like a thick iron wall, stretching across the meridians.

He had previously relied on the bottle of top-grade longevity pill given to him by Elder Shen to forcibly push his cultivation to this level.

But the medicine's effects had already worn off.

To break through the seventh-order barrier, relying solely on absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth would be insufficient for his over ninety-year-old body with its extremely poor aptitude; even if he absorbed until he died, he still wouldn't have enough.

A massive accumulation of resources is necessary.

Zhou Lingxuan tapped his fingers lightly on the stone table.

The abandoned hall was his biggest resource.

Although the discarded pills delivered by the Pill Hall every day contain deadly poison, as long as the poison is removed with the Purple Jade Hammer, what remains is the purest medicinal power.

The waste materials sent by the Equipment Hall, containing residual spiritual energy and the five elements, can also be used to temper the physical body.

And there are also the crisscrossing underground fire veins.

While others fear the raging fire of the earth, he can use it as a tempering pool, repeatedly forging his body like a magical artifact through the high temperature and pressure.

"We need to speed things up," Zhou Lingxuan muttered to himself.