,/.

After a bout of enlightenment, he had learned the Silent Breath Technique.

Enlightenment felt great, but afterward, it left him with the same feeling as entering a sage-like state after the thrill had passed.

Su Fan let out a wistful sigh.

A moment of enlightenment, a moment of bliss... no wonder that mysterious force had gone from powerful to declining.

The Silent Breath Technique could become a forbidden technique not only because it consumed one's life, but also because of its strength.

Using the Silent Breath Technique for one day consumed one year of lifespan!

No one could use it whenever and wherever they pleased.

Yet Su Fan did not care.

He immediately used the Silent Breath Technique on the spot.

He concealed his strength, making others think he was still the useless trash of the Mortal Sword Realm.

After finishing a box of pastries, Su Fan emerged from the Forbidden Technique Tomb.

Just as he was preparing to catch fish to fill his stomach, he saw Ling Rushuang walking through the air toward him with a box in hand.

"Senior Sister Ling!"

Ling Rushuang nodded, glanced at him a few times, set down the food box in her hand, then picked up the old food box by Su Fan's feet.

She turned and left.

Watching her beautiful retreating figure, Su Fan touched his face and fell into deep thought.

Carrying Ling Rushuang's food box back to the cave, Su Fan still did not let down his guard. After confirming that the food was not poisoned, he entered the Forbidden Art Graveyard again.

"My talent is no longer far behind those chosen geniuses."

After improving his talent several times, Su Fan believed that his current talent was not too far beneath those prodigies.

Moreover, his strength had reached the late stage of the Mortal Sword Realm.

"But my strength is still too weak."

"I've already found a forbidden technique to raise my realm. Next, it's time to cultivate it and improve my cultivation!"

Su Fan arrived before a massive tomb.

"The Tomb of the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder!"

This was a forbidden technique that burned lifespan into power to raise one's realm.

"The Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder!"

Each time he burned lifespan, his strength could rise once, climbing step by step like a heavenly ladder.

But ordinary cultivators ultimately had limited lifespans.

Su Fan was an exception. He possessed an infinite lifespan and could squander it as he pleased. To him, any cultivation method that could raise his cultivation through lifespan was an Invincible Art.

"What lies buried here are not forbidden techniques at all. They are all Invincible Arts. My invincible path begins here."

Su Fan sighed as he opened the Tomb of the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder.

He took out the Forbidden Technique Jade Slip.

Pressing the jade slip against his forehead, he committed the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder's cultivation method to memory.

After quite a while.

Su Fan returned the Forbidden Technique Jade Slip to the jade coffin and closed the forbidden technique tomb.

"This Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder actually has restrictions!"

Although the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder could burn lifespan to increase cultivation.

After each use, however, he had to wait one month before he could burn lifespan to increase his cultivation again.

And after reaching the Emperor Sword Realm, the interval required to use the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder would become even longer.

How much strength one gained from burning lifespan depended on talent and physique.

The maximum increase each time also varied from person to person.

Su Fan's dream of burning a hundred thousand years of lifespan in one breath to raise his strength had fallen through.

He could only improve once every month.

"Still, that's fast enough. Who can compare to me if I improve once a month?"

"My talent is still a little too low. I need to keep improving it. If I spend a thousand years of lifespan, my talent should rise to a very high level, right?"

Though the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder had restrictions on raising cultivation, those restrictions were not particularly severe.

Su Fan could barely accept improving once a month.

"Next, I need to cultivate the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder."

Su Fan sat cross-legged and immediately used the Heavenly Enlightenment Technique to gain enlightenment into this forbidden technique.

Boom!

He entered a state of enlightenment once more.

Wave after wave of insight surfaced, leaving his entire body incomparably refreshed.

His mind was clear and his spirit invigorated.

He did not know how much time passed.

Su Fan opened his eyes and exhaled, entering a sage-like state once more.

"Sigh, after enlightening myself so many times, it's just this."

Su Fan smacked his lips. Enlightenment was not difficult at all.

And as the number of enlightenments increased, he entered that sage-like state after every session.

"I've learned the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder. It's time to improve my strength."

Su Fan was filled with anticipation.

He could finally break through the Mortal Sword Realm and step into the Profound Sword Realm.

Sword God Mountain's sword cultivation system stood alone within the cultivation world. To break through into the Profound Sword Realm, one needed to condense a Mystic Sword.

The Mystic Sword contained one's own sword power. When holding a treasured sword, the Mystic Sword within the body would merge as one with the sword in hand.

It would continuously nourish that sword, eventually nurturing it to the realm of unity.

Sword God Mountain's sword cultivation system had once been hailed as the orthodox sword path under heaven. Naturally, it possessed its own unique qualities.

Every Sword God Mountain disciple who broke through to the Profound Sword Realm had to choose a sword compatible with their own Mystic Sword.

Once they broke through to the Spirit Sword Realm, they could absorb the sword into their body, and their sword would contain a spirit.

Because of this cultivation system that stood alone in the cultivation world, Sword God Mountain disciples were thirty percent stronger than cultivators of the same realm.

For an early-stage Profound Sword Realm cultivator to fight, or even defeat, a mid-stage Profound Realm cultivator was perfectly ordinary.

Of course, that was the Sword God Mountain of the past.

Sword God Mountain had long since declined. Though its unique cultivation system still remained, it was ultimately far inferior to what it had once been.

Among Sword God Mountain's Spirit Sword Realm cultivators today, only a scant few could absorb a sword into their bodies and have their swords contain spirits.

Su Fan cultivated Sword God Mountain's techniques. Under normal circumstances, breaking through to the Profound Sword Realm would inevitably condense a Mystic Sword within his body.

But his breakthrough would not be normal.

He would break through using a forbidden technique.

In theory, after breaking through, he would not belong to the Profound Sword Realm, but rather to the cultivation world's Profound Realm.

Because there would be no Mystic Sword within his body.

Su Fan was just about to use the Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder to break through.

Then he suddenly stroked his chin and muttered, "I'm a Sword God Mountain disciple. What I cultivate is also Sword God Mountain's forbidden technique, so I must be part of the orthodox sword path."

If he left Sword God Mountain's realm system behind, how could he still call himself part of the orthodox sword path?

Sword God Mountain might have declined, but it had once been the orthodox sword path under heaven. As an inheritor of the orthodox sword path under heaven.

He had to be legitimate in name and principle.

"A small goal: command all sword paths under heaven!"

"Become the supreme figure among all sword cultivators under heaven!"

Therefore, he had to follow Sword God Mountain's sword cultivation system.

"I cultivate forbidden techniques. How am I supposed to condense a Mystic Sword? And how can it transform into a Spirit Sword?"

Su Fan frowned.

"No rush. The Heavenly Enlightenment Technique can bring enlightenment. If I enlighten myself on this, I might find a way!"

Thinking this, Su Fan wasted no words and used the Heavenly Enlightenment Technique again, entering a state of enlightenment.

After quite a while, Su Fan came back to his senses and scratched his head. This time, enlightenment had not given him a solution.

"Continue!"

He entered a state of enlightenment once more.

A moment of enlightenment, a moment of bliss; endless enlightenment, endless bliss.

After each burst of bliss, Su Fan briefly entered a sage-like state, then continued enlightening himself and continued enjoying that bliss.

He had no idea how many times he had enlightened himself.

After burning tens of thousands of years of lifespan, Su Fan finally gained enlightenment into a method.

"I really am a genius!"

Su Fan was delighted. There was no cultivation problem that enlightenment could not solve.

If one bout of enlightenment was not enough, then he would enlighten himself ten times, a hundred times...

Having a long lifespan was simply this extravagant.

"Now it's time to break through!"

Light gleamed in Su Fan's eyes as radiance surged across his body, as though a ring of years had emerged.

An illusory ladder reaching the heavens appeared before him.

The Fate-Defying Heavenly Ladder!