Clearvoid Invisible Sword

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, Lin Yun had been tending the Hundred Herb Garden for over half a year.

Using the resources he skimmed from the Hundred Herb Garden, Lin Yun refined pills once every fortnight. Together with the garden's spiritual energy, this had allowed him to cultivate the White Yang Diagram up to its thirty-sixth illustration.

Meanwhile, he had also decided what kind of flying sword to refine from his Five-Metal Sword Embryo.

The various schools and sects of the Zu Mountain world possessed many formidable flying swords, with the Emei Sect foremost among them. Its sword immortals were renowned throughout the Divine Land.

Among Emei's many immortal swords was one that appeared and vanished at its wielder's will, formless and immaterial, shadowless and silent. It could cross a thousand miles in an instant, counter emptiness with emptiness, and overcome nothingness with nothingness. It was called the Clearvoid Invisible Sword.

This immortal sword had originally been refined by Kuxing Toutuo, one of Emei's Three Immortals, according to the Taiqing Daoist Orthodox School Formless Sword Art. Using five metals essence as its foundation, he gathered western Taiyi gold essence and absorbed sun and moon essence, repeatedly refining them with three thousand six hundred kinds of spiritual herbs, pure yang fire, and pure yin energy, before fusing in the spiritual energies of both Buddhism and Daoism.

When wielded, this sword cast neither shadow nor light and made not the slightest sound. It could appear and vanish at its wielder's will, often escaping an enemy's notice until it was already upon them.

The Formless Sword Escape cultivated through this sword could even unite wielder and sword, concealing them in the void and allowing them to pass freely through formidable restrictions laid down by others. Its wonders were truly endless.

This was the flying sword Lin Yun had decided to refine.

Unlike other orthodox flying swords, which required immortal materials and divine metals such as Taiyi gold essence from the outset, this sword could undergo its initial refinement with five metals essence alone. It suited Lin Yun's current circumstances perfectly.

As for the other sword-refining materials needed to bring the Clearvoid Invisible Sword to an advanced stage, such as western Great White essence, if Lin Yun remembered correctly, Geng essence existed in the Mortal Realm. It should be able to substitute for western Taiyi gold essence when the time came.

The three thousand six hundred kinds of spiritual herbs would not be too difficult to gather with sufficient care. As for sun and moon essence, collecting it would be no trouble once the Dew-Catching Plate had been refined into a magical treasure. Gathering pure yang fire and pure yin energy would be easier still.

The final requirement of fusing Buddhist and Daoist spiritual energies existed because Kuxing Toutuo had turned from Daoism to Buddhism. Naturally, he had incorporated Buddhist spiritual energy to make his flying sword better suited to himself.

But the Supreme Clarity Daoist Orthodox School Formless Sword Art was a Daoist Orthodox School sword art to begin with. Lin Yun could naturally cultivate it and refine the sword without Buddhist spiritual energy.

Although Lin Yun's five metals essence sword blank could now appear and vanish at his will after being refined with the Yin-Yang Dew condensed by his Dew-Catching Plate and the medicinal vital energies of the Hundred Herb Garden's many herbs, it still could not be considered a truly completed Clearvoid Invisible Sword.

By the standards of flying swords in the Zu Mountain world, it would have to undergo at least one cycle of refining its form and substance before it could count as a genuine flying sword.

Lin Yun's invisible sword was still far from that point. At best, it could barely be called a Formless Sword Embryo.

He would have to keep adding five metals essence and repeatedly refine it with sun and moon vital essence and spiritual herbs before completing its first cycle of form and substance refinement.

Thus, to refine his invisible sword, Lin Yun, who had spent over half a year cultivating in seclusion in the Hundred Herb Garden, began to crave movement after all that stillness. He prepared to descend the mountain again and gather Five-Metal Raw Materials from which to extract five-metal essence.

When he asked Martial Uncle Ma for leave, the older man was very pleased with his work over the past half year. Although Lin Yun had been skimming medicinal power and vital energy from the garden's herbs in all sorts of ways, he also watered them regularly with Yin-Yang Dew. As a result, the herbs were actually growing exceptionally well.

After considerable deliberation, Martial Uncle Ma approved Lin Yun's request, but insisted that he return as soon as possible, within three months.

Just as Lin Yun descended the mountain, a thousand miles from the Yellow Maple Valley, in Divine Hand Valley on Colorful Clouds Mountain in Jingzhou, Han Li lay comfortably in a grand armchair, lazily reading a book. He had only recently made a name for himself as a divine physician within the Seven Mysteries Sect.

"Han Li! Han Li! Come see what good things I've brought you!" A boisterous voice rang out beyond the valley, drawing steadily closer.

Hearing it, Han Li resignedly put away the untitled booklet in his hands and rose to meet him.

"Li Feiyu, stop making such a racket. I told you I'm not interested in antiques, paintings, or calligraphy. Stop bringing them over," Han Li said helplessly as he stood before him.

He had no interest in the Seven Mysteries Sect's attempts to win him over. They might as well give him gold and silver directly, so he could send it home and improve his parents' and little sister's lives.

Li Feiyu opened a bundle and said with a grin, "Don't be so hasty. Take a look at what I brought this time before you say that."

As he spoke, he took several things from the bundle, first picking up an exquisite mirror and handing it to Han Li. "Look at this marvelous glass mirror. What do you think? Much clearer than a bronze mirror, isn't it? Impressive, right? How about giving it to our little sister for her dowry? And these glass bottles and bowls-what do you think? I have no idea how the Taobao Association fires them. Their craftsmanship really puts nature itself to shame."

Han Li was genuinely surprised by the things Li Feiyu laid out. Although he was now an immortal cultivator, he had never seen such exquisite little objects before.

"The Taobao Association?" Picking up a mirror and carefully studying the utterly ordinary-looking youth reflected in it, Han Li asked almost without thinking.

"It's just a merchant association," Li Feiyu replied casually. "I heard it suddenly got its start a little over a year ago in Xi Zhou, or somewhere else. It only recently expanded into Jingzhou."

Setting down the mirror, Han Li casually picked up a small, delicate glass bottle. It seemed to contain some kind of red liquid. When he opened it, a soft, elegant fragrance immediately wafted out, prompting him to ask curiously, "What's this?"

Li Feiyu snatched the bottle from Han Li's hand and quickly capped it. "Give that back! It's called perfume, and it's expensive! This one isn't for you."

After carefully putting the perfume bottle away, Li Feiyu continued, "Deputy Sect Leader Ma sent you all these things. He went to a great deal of trouble to collect these rarities. It's strange, though-the Taobao Association that sells them doesn't just accept gold and silver. You can trade copper, iron, and tin for them too. Deputy Sect Leader Ma exchanged a whole lot of tinware for this glass mirror."

Han Li found that rather odd as well. Gold, silver, and copper made sense, since they were currency to begin with, but what use were things like iron and tin?

The things Han Li could not make sense of were precisely Lin Yun's handiwork.

Lin Yun had never imagined that the little money-making novelties he had introduced as a transmigrator would catch Han the Old Devil's eye.

The last time he descended the mountain to gather Five-Metal Raw Materials, Lin Yun had used these little transmigrator money-making tricks to collect gold, silver, copper, and iron. To ensure a steady supply of those Five-Metal Raw Materials, he had even established two merchant associations, named the Taobao Association and the JD Association.

To safeguard the merchant associations, he had also specifically brought several gangs under his control. For the sake of their growth, he had even dug out a few martial arts manuals from the Daoist books of senior immortals who had once roamed the martial world, then handed them to those martial artists.

Then he had used a few little demonic tricks that clouded the mind

to take complete control of the people running those gangs and merchant associations. Only then had he felt comfortable leaving the money-making businesses in their hands. All he needed to do was collect Five-Metal Raw Materials from them at regular intervals.