Martyrdom Forges Divine Weapons

A figure had just revived inside the cave dwelling when he immediately sprinted toward the Artifact Refining Pavilion.

It was Ji, the player who had previously been refined as "pill fuel."

As he ran, he rapidly typed into the guild channel.

[Ji: @Shi Gandang, I'm coming, I'm coming! I was just helping someone refine pills, so I got held up! You saved the "medicinal catalyst" job for me, right?]

[Shi Gandang: Hurry up! We're waiting for you!]

At that moment, Su Ling'er was staring at a corner of the Artifact Refining Pavilion.

Lin Qingfeng noticed where she was looking, and a trace of pride appeared on his face, which always liked to put on an air of unfathomable profundity.

This was a self-created cultivation art among the players, one that had received the system's recognition!

He cleared his throat and explained to Su Ling'er:

"This is the supreme body-tempering art independently created by the disciples of our sect, forging a new path beyond countless cultivation methods—Sword Refining Art.

Elder Qian didn't teach us this. We disciples created it ourselves!"

Su Ling'er could not stop mocking them inwardly as she listened.

Self-created?

Of all the cultivation arts in the world, which one had not evolved from fragments of the Primal Dao Canon?

Calling it self-created most likely just meant deriving something through deductions based on certain fragments.

It was not as though those brilliant geniuses of old had never tried to create cultivation arts themselves, but such acts seemed to defy the heavens. Not only were there countless constraints, but some even suffered heavenly punishment.

She refused to believe that this unreliable-looking Demonic Sect truly had someone capable of comprehending a path to heaven from nothing?!

But Sword Refining Art...

Su Ling'er's heart stirred. Why was a body-tempering art named after a sword?

What did that mean?

As if seeing her confusion, Senior Disciple Brother explained, "Artifact refinement requires countless hammerings and temperings, allowing something to shed its old form and become a divine weapon.

The fundamental principle of our Gui Xi Sect's Sword Refining Art is exactly the same.

It uses heaven and earth as the furnace, and the body as the artifact.

One regards one's own flesh, blood, and bones as an incomplete sword blank, and one's meridians and blood vessels as inscriptions waiting to be carved.

Using endless pain as fire and heaven's hammer to forge and pound without end, the ideal ultimate stage is to forge this fleshly Mortal Coil into a humanoid flying sword while still alive!"

Listening to Senior Disciple Brother speak so confidently, Su Ling'er felt that it actually seemed somewhat profound.

After all, this was an ancient Demonic Sect with the lineage of ancient Evil Cultivators. No path they took would be surprising.

Still, she was not optimistic about turning people into flying swords.

Yet she also wanted to see with her own eyes what this so-called Sword Refining Art looked like.

Just then, a sudden change erupted in that corner.

The disciple who had voluntarily lain down on the iron-forging platform had already had his limbs and torso tightly bound with iron chains by several fellow disciples, leaving him unable to move.

Yet he did not look forced in the slightest. Instead, his face held the determination and anticipation of someone heading toward sacred ground.

"Shi Gandang, are you ready?"

After checking that his willpower and body-tempering attributes had reached the required level, the disciple named Shi Gandang roared:

"Cut the crap, bring it on! I can take it!"

"Good!"

Two disciples carried up a huge bronze cauldron together.

Inside was a mass of violently boiling viscous liquid.

Countless bubbles burst across its surface.

A mosquito happened to fly over the rising currents and was instantly corroded by the steaming heat, turning into ash.

The boiling vapor alone could leave an insect without a corpse?

The liquid's corrosiveness was actually this terrifying!

It also gave off a pungent herbal smell.

"Pour it!"

The leading disciple shouted sharply. Holding a long-handled medicinal ladle inscribed with countless runes, he touched the liquid, and the runes lit up at once with a sizzling sound.

Then, he scooped up a ladleful of scalding Medicinal Soup and poured it over Shi Gandang's head!

Sizzle—!

The sound of flesh being burned and corroded was crystal clear.

Shi Gandang had set his pain sensitivity to the lowest level, but he still gave a scream for the atmosphere.

However, since he had not bought the specialized "Pain Module"...

He could only howl stiffly, "Ah—!"

His skin was corroded bright red by the Medicinal Soup. Flesh dissolved away, then new flesh slowly grew back under the effects of some medicinal power, only to be corroded again.

His entire body seemed to be enduring unimaginable agony!

His somewhat deliberate performance nevertheless genuinely shocked Su Ling'er.

With black lines covering her face, she watched ladle after ladle of corrosive, scalding Medicinal Soup continuously poured over Shi Gandang's body while his screams echoed without end.

And it was not over yet!

Several assisting disciples each took massive Dharma hammers from their storage bags.

The hammerheads were dark gold, carved with mysterious spiritual patterns.

At that moment, the figure came racing over from afar.

"I'm here, I'm here!"

It was Ji.

He ran to the edge of the platform, glanced at Shi Gandang's "painful" performance, and curled his lip.

Still not as professional as my paid version.

The Pain Module you buy with money really is different.

He turned toward the cauldron of boiling Medicinal Soup and shouted:

"Senior Brother, I'm here to be your 'medicinal catalyst'!"

"I'll show you what real pain is!"

As he spoke, under Su Ling'er's incomprehensible gaze, he leaped straight into the scalding bronze cauldron!

Splash!

Sizzle—!

Aaaahhh—!

Ji's body convulsed violently in the cauldron. The pain-twisted expression on his face was enough to make anyone feel it themselves, while his shrill screams made one's scalp tingle.

It was too horrible!

Su Ling'er watched with terror gripping her heart.

Then his flesh began to corrode, dissolve, and break down at a rate visible to the naked eye, until it finally merged completely into the Medicinal Soup.

The disciples around the platform were accustomed to it. They lifted their medicinal ladles again and began stirring continuously.

Then they poured the Medicinal Soup infused with Ji's flesh-and-blood essence over Shi Gandang's body.

Sizzle... sizzle...

"Begin the forging!"

The leader bellowed.

They raised their Dharma hammers and smashed them brutally down onto Shi Gandang on the platform!

Bang!!

"Ah!"

Shi Gandang screamed in cooperation.

The disciples seemed to follow some bizarre rhythm as they took turns hammering Shi Gandang's body.

With every blow of the heavy hammer, Shi Gandang let out a scream, while the Medicinal Soup stained with his fellow disciple's flesh-and-blood essence penetrated deeper into his body.

On one side was the inhuman hammering; on the other, the sacrificer rapidly dissolved in the boiling soup.

The disciple in the cauldron had completely turned into a pool of blood, and the Medicinal Soup had become even stranger and more horrifying in color.

Refining with living sacrifices!

Using the body as an artifact!

No wonder Senior Disciple Brother had been so pleased when she mentioned "Martyrdom Forges Divine Weapons." This was how they did it?!

They used a living fellow disciple as a sacrifice, melting him into the Medicinal Soup solely to extract the essence of his flesh and blood!

Then they used another fellow disciple as an insensate iron blank, hammering him with heavy hammers!

This was the cultivation art you created?!

They truly were demonic Evil Cultivators, impossible to judge by common sense.

However, in the instant her mind was shaken, the changes in the arena once again exceeded her expectations.

When the bang! bang! bang! of hammering finally stopped, the disciple named Shi Gandang was covered in mangled flesh and blood, his aura weak to the extreme.

Just as Su Ling'er thought he was certainly about to die, an overwhelming and tyrannical aura abruptly burst from within his body!

That aura was more than twice as powerful as before!

His previously waning aura, after enduring this inhuman forging, had actually...

Broken and then been rebuilt, his cultivation soaring!

He... he had actually broken through because of this!

This actually... really was a body-tempering cultivation art?

This Demonic Sect had truly turned such an inhuman torture into a cultivation path that could steadily increase one's strength?!

As expected of an ancient Demonic Sect!

"Junior Sister, do you understand now what 'Martyrdom Forges Divine Weapons' means?"

Lin Qingfeng's voice rang out at just the right moment.

"Refining artifacts is refining the heart.

This is the Sword Refining Art created by the disciples of our Gui Xi Sect. It relies on no external objects and seeks only the self.

Every breakthrough comes from surviving certain death, and every cultivation session is a rebirth amid endless pain."

"Junior Sister, although you have a Pseudo Spiritual Root, your comprehension is innately exceptional. If your will is also far beyond ordinary people's, then you are quite suited to cultivating such a method.

Besides, you were the one who personally spoke the words 'Martyrdom Forges Divine Weapons.' I believe you possess such resolve as well."

Buzz—!

Su Ling'er's mind turned to mush.

Was this... digging my own grave and jumping into it?

I'm suited for it?

Suited for your big head!

You're the one suited for it! Your entire sect is suited for it!

...Fine, looking at you all, you really do seem pretty suited for it.

But is this a cultivation art normal people can practice?

What is going through your heads?

And why would those people willingly sacrifice themselves?

Are they all in such a rush to reincarnate?

Heavens, that man jumped in without the slightest hesitation and let himself be corroded and melted away!

Was this why he sought immortality and the Dao?!

Wait... what did that disciple look like just now?

Forget it. That isn't important.

This Demon Den is too terrifying!!!!

Sect Master... they seem to want my life now!!!!