Dragon Blood Sword Box

In the quiet room, Ting Lanyue, He Chengchuan, and the other disciples under Elder Pu all crowded forward. Ting Lanyue's injuries were severe, but she still gritted her teeth and came over to watch. Many of these disciples possessed soul weapons, but their soul weapons were of mediocre quality, so they were extremely curious about the soul weapon Elder Pu had spent twenty days forging.

"A wooden box?"

Ting Lanyue and the others were stunned for a moment as they stared at the wooden box, which stood six feet tall. Zhong Yue was also somewhat puzzled. Elder Pu's soul weapon for him was this wooden box. It had been carved from a kind of dark-red wood, seamless and whole, and when it stood upright, its height reached precisely to his chest.

The wooden box was covered in many patterns—dragon-shaped markings that should have been totem markings. Yet those markings did not look as if they had been carved afterward. Rather, they seemed to be patterns the wood had possessed naturally!

"This is... Dragon Blood Wood!"

Ting Lanyue was startled and blurted out, "It really is Dragon Blood Wood! I heard the senior qi refiners of my Dating Clan say that there is a Dragon Blood Forest on Sword Gate Mountain. Legend has it that ten thousand years ago, a true dragon was wounded in the Great Wilderness and bled. Its blood flowed into the forest, dyeing a section of the woods on Sword Gate Mountain red! Because Dragon Blood Wood has been soaked in dragon blood, it naturally possesses Dragon Markings. But Dragon Blood Wood grows slowly; it might not mature even after several hundred years. Even the elders would be reluctant to use Dragon Blood Wood to forge soul weapons!"

"Even the Sword Gate elders would be reluctant to use it?" Zhong Yue's heart jolted, and he immediately felt that the wooden box was incomparably heavy.

He was not Elder Pu's disciple, yet Elder Pu had actually used such precious material to forge a soul weapon for him. This gift was simply too weighty!

Elder Pu stroked the wooden box and smiled. "This Dragon Blood Wood was bestowed upon me by the Sect Master in my early years after I rendered meritorious service to Sword Gate. It has some effect on nurturing souls, soul weapons, and sword qi, but it is of little use to me, so I never forged it into a soul weapon. Originally, I intended to leave it to my disciples, but later I never found a disciple I was satisfied with, and it remained unused."

A look of relief appeared on his face as he smiled. "Zhong Yue, although you are not my disciple, you and I are fated to meet. You have also cultivated the Flood Dragon Totem, which happens to be a perfect match for this Dragon Blood Wood. That is why I used it to forge a sword box for you."

Zhong Yue was both surprised and delighted, but also somewhat uneasy. "Elder Pu, this is far too precious..."

Elder Pu threw his head back and laughed. "Precious? Not precious in the slightest! If you had not taken care of Lanyue and the others, my disciples might all have died in the Demon Ruins! The disciples of the other qi refiners all died in the Demon Ruins—more than a thousand of them, wiped out to the last! Only more than a dozen of my disciples survived. What does a mere piece of Dragon Blood Wood count for beside that merit? You deserve this Dragon Blood Wood Sword Box! Zhong Yue, open the sword box and take a look!"

Zhong Yue steadied himself and opened the Dragon Blood Wood Sword Box. With a soft click, the sword box opened, revealing a wooden-textured hilt inside.

He gently drew out the soul weapon. The sword was five feet long, with strange patterns along its spine that should have been totem markings. It weighed roughly a hundred jin, and it felt substantial in his hand!

The sword was jet-black all over, yet a dark-golden radiance shimmered through the blackness. It had likely been forged by blending Mysterious Iron and Mysterious Gold into black gold, increasing the soul weapon's hardness and sharpness.

The surface of the soul weapon was covered in the patterns of the Thunder Pattern Totem, like traces left behind when lightning struck the sword. Clearly, Elder Pu had used pure thunder patterns to forge this soul weapon!

The dragon-scale-like patterns were the Flood Dragon Totem, making the soul weapon seem to be covered in dragon scales. It radiated a bone-piercing chill and was astonishingly sharp. The instant he drew it from the sword box, he even vaguely heard what seemed to be the flow of dragon blood within the blade!

He offered his soul into the sword and felt it move through the weapon without hindrance. Offering his soul into it brought no discomfort whatsoever; instead, it was extremely soothing.

This was the difference between a high-quality soul weapon and an ordinary one. A soul could not remain outside the body for too long, or else it would be damaged!

A good soul weapon was like another body. Offering one's soul into it caused no discomfort, and even after a long time, it would not damage the soul.

A lower-quality soul weapon offered far less protection to the soul. After a short while, the soul would be damaged, and it would have to be withdrawn into the body for nourishment.

When Zhong Yue offered his soul into the sword, it was as if he had entered another body. This showed just how fine the sword was—it was truly a superior soul weapon!

"Dragon Blood Wood nourishes the Dragon Scale Sword, making it most suitable for you."

Elder Pu spoke slowly. "The two nourish each other, and they can also nourish your body, helping you cultivate. Soul weapons require frequent soul offerings for nourishment. The more closely your soul and spirit fuse with a soul weapon, the greater its power and the faster its speed will be. Zhong Yue, are you satisfied with these two soul weapons?"

Zhong Yue withdrew his soul, overjoyed. He stroked the Dragon Scale Sword and Dragon Blood Sword Box and said repeatedly, "Satisfied, satisfied!"

"This Dragon Blood Sword Box can store nine Dragon Scale Swords. There is only one now; you will have to find a way to obtain the others yourself."

Elder Pu smiled. "However, once you become a qi refiner and refine sword qi, this sword box can be filled with sword qi. With a thought, hundreds or thousands of streams of sword qi can burst from the sword box, surpassing soul weapons by who knows how many times!"

Ting Lanyue, He Chengchuan, and the others were envious beyond words. Zhong Yue was also enthralled, murmuring, "Sword qi?"

"Using metals such as Mysterious Gold and Mysterious Iron to forge soul weapons is merely a minor path. What is truly indestructible is sword qi!"

Elder Pu's expression grew solemn as he earnestly instructed them, "Qi refiners refine qi. Sword Gate cultivates sword qi. Once you have cultivated your spirit, you can use it to collect various kinds of essence and refine them into sword qi, freeing yourself from these copper and iron objects. Take this sword box, for example. If it stores soul weapons, it can hold only nine. But if it stores sword qi, let alone nine—even a hundred or a thousand streams can fit inside!"

Zhong Yue's heart shook violently. "A hundred or a thousand streams of sword qi?"

With a single point of his finger, hundreds or thousands of streams of sword qi erupting from the sword box—how terrifying and dazzling would that scene be?

"Today, I will no longer teach you any new cultivation arts. If you bite off more than you can chew, you will digest nothing. Continue cultivating the methods I taught you before. Only then can you achieve a good ranking in the Unrestricted Duel."

Elder Pu instructed everyone, then said to Zhong Yue, "You entered the sect too late and have cultivated too few arts. If I taught you other methods now, I fear you would have no time to master them. You still need to familiarize yourself with the Dragon Blood Sword Box and Dragon Scale Sword. If you spent too much energy on new cultivation arts, it would instead do little to improve your strength. The Unrestricted Duel will be filled with core disciples from the great clans, each wealthy enough to drip oil, with soul weapons from head to toe. The chances of winning through cultivation arts alone are extremely slim. But good soul weapons are enormously useful. During these days, you can focus on offering your soul to these two soul weapons, consolidating your previously cultivated Flood Dragon Totem and Thunderclap Sword Art, and increasing the power of both methods."

Zhong Yue felt somewhat disappointed. He had originally wanted to learn a flying technique while the Scripture Hall was open this time, but Elder Pu's words were not wrong. Only two months remained before the Unrestricted Duel, and cultivating another art would indeed be too rushed.

Moreover, refining soul weapons would also take some time. It would be better to use this period to increase the power of the Thunderclap Sword Art and Flood Dragon Totem. That would instead give him better odds of victory.

"You also need to be careful."

Elder Pu lowered his voice. "In your duel with Shui Qinghe of the Shuitu Clan, people saw your strength. Be wary of someone attacking you. If they injured you before the Unrestricted Duel and left you unable to use your full strength during the contest, the chances of someone else entering the Spirit Void Hall would increase by another point."

Zhong Yue's heart turned cold. Elder Pu continued, "With your current strength, I will not say you can rank among the top ten, but you already possess the threat of someone who can. So be careful that no one clubs you from behind. Even if they do not ambush you, I fear some experts may use you to hone themselves!"

"Use me to hone themselves?"

Zhong Yue thanked him and smiled. "Elder Pu, rest assured. I also want to use them to hone myself and warm up for the Unrestricted Duel. I'll fight all the way to the Unrestricted Duel!"

Elder Pu watched his departing back, his heart filled with emotion. "A boy this outstanding is more lovable the longer one looks at him. In the past, who knows how many people would have fought to take him as a disciple? Unfortunately, he just had to offend the Tian Feng Clan... Offending the Tian Feng Clan would have been one thing, but he then had to offend the Shuitu Clan as well. Among the ten great clans, he has offended two in one breath... I expect he will soon offend a third, and then a fourth..."

Within the Upper Academy, the core disciples of the various great clans also descended from Sword Gate Mountain one after another, preparing for the year-end Unrestricted Duel. Every great clan had disciples whom they cultivated with all their might, and there was no shortage of people who were no weaker than Shui Qinghe!

Nearly every clan had disciples who had refined their spiritual power until it could transform the insubstantial into the substantial!

"Shui Qinghe still hasn't displayed his full strength. I really want to see what he looks like when he does."

In a quiet room of the Lishan Clan, a young woman stood with spiritual power condensed behind her, transforming the insubstantial into the substantial and manifesting a great flower thirty-six feet across. Within the great flower, a three-faced, four-armed Demon God slowly rose to its feet. Standing on one leg, half-crouched, it forced the surrounding Lishan Clan disciples to retreat one after another.

The Lishan Clan's totem was the Lishan Demon God Flower. When Zhong Yue had surveyed the scenery of the Great Wilderness during the examination in Azure Sky Hall, he had once seen a demonic lotus. The lotus had covered hundreds of miles, and it had been the Totem Spirit left behind by the Lishan Clan's ancestor!

This Lishan Clan girl had already cultivated to the point of recreating the Lishan Totem Spirit, manifesting a Demon God Flower from her spiritual power and giving birth to a Demon God within the flower. She was no weaker than Shui Qinghe; in terms of subtlety, she was even superior!

"Li Xiuniang, aside from Shui Qinghe, what of that Zhongshan Clan fellow?"

On the platform in the quiet room, a qi refiner of the Lishan Clan asked, "Is he worth watching?"

Li Xiuniang strode forward. With every step her feet landed, demon lotuses bloomed incessantly. She giggled, "He is not worth my excessive attention yet. His strength poses a threat to me, but not a great one. The ones who truly interest me are the experts cultivated by the Youyu Clan, Taolin Clan, Junshan Clan, Leihu Clan, and the other great clans! Still, this Zhongshan Clan fellow can be used for practice first, allowing me to accumulate an invincible aura before the Unrestricted Duel!"

Meanwhile, in a quiet room of the Leihu Clan, a burly man with a bristling beard had a god who controlled thunder appear behind him. The three-eyed Lei Gong also laughed and said, "The Zhongshan Clan fellow can be used for practice, allowing me to accumulate an invincible aura and an invincible conviction. Like a starving tiger pouncing down the mountain, my speed will grow faster and faster. Then, when I face experts like Shui Qinghe, I can rely on my invincible aura and conviction to pounce on those fellows and kill them with a single blow!"