Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

After True Person Cang Yue of Tian Ding Mountain fell, Chenping Continent went a very long time without seeing any Sword Cultivators who truly dazzled.

This indirectly led to the gradual decline of swordsmanship across Chenping Continent.

Then Sang Zhe burst onto the scene with his Rulong Sword Canon and Dual Sword Style, quickly establishing himself in Chenping Continent.

Even the Dao Gate Walker of Tian Ding Mountain at the time couldn't help remarking, after meeting Sang Zhe, that Sect Master Sang would surely achieve great things in the future—and might even reach the Ascension Realm.

But Sang Zhe flashed across the heavens like a shooting star at the height of his power. He wanted to forge an Immortal Sword for himself, and after untold hardship, found an immortal artifact's unworked core in the Wuxian Mountain Range of the Western Regions of Chenping Continent. He then asked Gu Jing, True Lord Ling Xuan, the eighth-generation Ascension Realm leader of Tian Ding Mountain, to forge the sword for him.

One had to understand that forging an immortal artifact required at least several thousand years of cultivation by an Ascension Realm cultivator.

It was undoubtedly a troublesome undertaking, and everyone believed that the eighth-generation Ascension Realm leader of Tian Ding Mountain would refuse Sang Zhe's request.

But, against all expectations, Gu Jing agreed.

There was no way it could be that simple. Though Gu Jing agreed to forge an Immortal Sword for Sang Zhe, he also demanded that Sang Zhe do him a favor before the forging began.

He had to collect the king cores of ten ninth-realm great demons.

The "cores" of demon beasts from the First Realm through the Seventh Realm were called demon cores, while the "cores" of eighth- and ninth-realm great demons were called king cores.

The request