By comparison, the hidden weapon diagrams and internal cultivation methods in the Scripture Pavilion of the Tang Sect of His Previous Life were nothing but a pile of wastepaper!
If he could take just one look inside that Scripture Pavilion, he would gladly trade even his Twin Martial Souls for the chance!
As the sun climbed high, the morning assembly on Dao-Seeking Cliff came to an end.
The gray-robed elder departed in a streak of light, and the tens of thousands of disciples began dispersing, returning to their cave dwellings to digest what they had gained from today's discourse.
Qian Renxue followed Yun Gugu back along the same route to the Outer Hall's Spirit Medicine Garden, carrying a broom and a wooden bucket.
They walked along the quiet white-jade corridor.
Qian Renxue's steps were much lighter than before, and even the lingering gloom between her brows had dissipated considerably.
Cultivate oneself. Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth.
The Ninety-Nine Grade Supreme Dharma Body.
This vast, wondrous knowledge had opened her eyes completely and brought an earth-shaking change to her state of mind.
After returning to the Medicine Garden, Qian Renxue set down her broom, walked over to a spiritual herb glowing with pale-blue light, and carefully weeded around it.
Her movements were gentle. The pure light Spiritual Energy around her flowed naturally, faintly resonating with the surrounding spiritual herbs in a wondrous way.
Standing a short distance away, Yun Gugu quietly watched Qian Renxue work, a trace of approval flashing through her eyes.
This girl might have come from the lower world, but her comprehension was truly astonishing.
Not only had she instantly broken through to the Spirit Movement Realm Late-stage, but even more remarkably, after hearing so many heady legends, she could still remain composed and settle down to these chores.
"Xue'er."
Yun Gugu slowly approached and called softly.
Qian Renxue hurriedly rose and bowed respectfully. "Yun Gugu, what are your instructions?"
Yun Gugu looked her over and nodded slightly.
"You gained sudden enlightenment from today's discourse, and your cultivation has reached the Spirit Movement Realm Late-stage."
"Under the Outer Hall's rules, maids at the Spirit Movement Realm Late-stage no longer need to perform menial work like sweeping and weeding."
Hearing this, Qian Renxue felt a surge of joy.
No more chores?
Did that mean she would have more time to cultivate and accumulate those so-called Contribution Points?
Yet Yun Gugu's next words made her heart skip another beat.
"As it happens, a message has arrived from the Inner Hall."
"One of the Divine Maiden's spirit pets has been rather agitated lately. A maid with a pure Light Spiritual Root is needed to help soothe it."
Yun Gugu looked at Qian Renxue, her tone serious.
"The light aura around you is exceptionally pure. You would be a suitable choice."
"Go and get ready. Later, you will accompany me to Spirit Beast Peak in the Inner Hall."
The Inner Hall!
And she would be coming into contact with the Divine Maiden, who had become a Spirit Grade Heavenly Sovereign in her twenties!
Qian Renxue's breathing instantly quickened.
It was like a country girl suddenly being summoned to the imperial palace to serve a princess. The sense of unreality left her somewhat dazed.
"Yes, I'll go and prepare right away," Qian Renxue answered hurriedly, forcibly suppressing her excitement.
Just then, however, the image on the Sky Screen rippled like water.
The scenery of the Great Desolation Divine Realm gradually faded, and the view began racing across the endless void.
The scene changed again.
This time, the place that appeared was neither a range of mountains wreathed in immortal mist nor a bustling ancient city.
This was a world filled with a sharp, deadly aura.
The Great Thousand World, the Sword Domain.
The endless mountain peaks resembled peerless blades thrust into the earth, their tips pointing straight at the heavens.
A keen aura filled the air, making one's skin ache. Even a gentle breath felt like swallowing razor blades.
On a steep mountain path in this Outer Sect.
Sword Douluo Chen Xin had changed into a somewhat coarse gray Outer Sect disciple's uniform.
This Peerless Douluo, who had stood high above others on the Douluo Continent and was renowned for possessing the greatest offensive power, now followed a white-clothed youth respectfully, like an apprentice newly admitted to the sect.
The white-clothed youth looked young, but his back was ramrod straight. He was like a sharp sword ready to leave its sheath at any moment, making others afraid to look directly at him.
He was the Senior Brother Guide responsible for familiarizing Chen Xin with Outer Sect affairs.
"Junior Brother Chen Xin."
The white-clothed youth spoke coolly as he walked ahead, without turning his head.
"Though you ascended from a Lower Plane, being able to withstand the planar pressure shows that your foundation is passable."
"But over these past few days, I've also examined your so-called cultivation method."
The youth stopped and turned, his gaze settling on Chen Xin as he shook his head slightly.
"That sword you normally use to defend yourself is what you call a Martial Soul, isn't it? The Seven Kill Sword, was it?"
Hearing this, Chen Xin hastily bowed, cupping his fists. "Yes, Senior Brother."
A faint mocking smile curled the youth's lips, as though he found the name rather amusing.
"That thing deserves to be called a sword?"
The words were spoken lightly, yet they struck Chen Xin's heart like a heavy hammer.
Without sparing Chen Xin's dignity, the youth began his blunt assessment.
"It's merely a phantom pieced together from energy and the remnant souls of those inferior beasts."
"It has never been tempered by Heavenly Exotic Flame or fused with any Heavenly Treasures and Earthly Precious Materials, much less possesses a Sword Embryo or Sword Bone."
"Your Seven Kill Sword may look sharp, but it's actually as fragile as a sheet of paper."
"In our Sword Domain, true Sword Cultivators pursue sword heart clarity and man and sword as one."
"A sword is a vessel for the Great Dao. It must have a physical form capable of bearing supreme sword intent."
The youth sighed, his eyes filled with sorrow at that inferior cultivation method.
"You've made a mass of energy that could collapse at any moment your lifelong reliance."
"If you encounter a true expert in the future, they won't even need to use Spiritual Arts. A single wisp of pure sword intent will instantly shatter the internal structure of that wretched sword of yours!"
"Fighting with such a worthless phantom is an insult to the very word 'sword.'"
Every word the youth spoke traveled through the Sky Screen and across the entire Douluo Continent.
For a moment, the entire continent boiled over.
It split into two sharply divided camps.
On the grounds of Shrek Academy.
Yu Xiaogang had still been wallowing in dejection after the blow dealt by "Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth," but hearing someone disparage Martial Souls so thoroughly instantly brought his stubborn arrogance surging back.
He shot to his feet, pointing at the Sky Screen and sneering repeatedly.
"Nonsense! Utterly absurd!"
Spittle flew from Yu Xiaogang's mouth in his agitation.
"Martial Souls are gifts bestowed upon us Soul Masters by the laws of heaven and earth, perfectly suited to each of us!"
"The Seven Kill Sword is universally acknowledged as a top-tier tool Martial Soul on the Douluo Continent. It is linked to Sword Douluo by blood and connected to his heart and mind."
"How could lifeless objects forged from ordinary iron possibly compare to the Martial Souls we're born with?"
Some of the commoner Soul Masters around him who possessed sword-type Martial Souls also looked thoroughly unconvinced.
"Grandmaster is right! Those people from that Sword Domain are far too arrogant!"
"When Senior Sword Douluo unleashes his ninth Soul Skill, he can cleave apart a mountaintop. That's genuine destructive power."
"What do they know about man and sword as one? Our Martial Souls are part of our bodies. That's the most perfect sword!"
These people were accustomed to standing high above others and possessed an almost pathological blind reverence for Martial Souls.
However powerful the Great Thousand World might be, they could not accept the foundation of their survival being denigrated as "worthless junk."
Yet amid this uproar and clamor, the Douluo Continent's upper echelons who had truly come to their senses and witnessed the horrors of the Great Thousand World reacted entirely differently.
Inside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Listening to the Soul Masters cursing outside, Ning Fengzhi shook his head somewhat helplessly.
He did not care how badly the Seven Kill Sword was disparaged.
His mind was occupied entirely with the information revealed by that Senior Brother Guide's words.
"Uncle Gu."
"Did you hear that?"
"In the Sword Domain's eyes, the Seven Kill Sword doesn't even qualify as the most basic Sword Embryo. It simply cannot withstand true sword intent."
Hearing this, Gu Rong could not help swallowing, his withered old face filled with shock.
"Sect Master, I heard."
"That's a supreme tradition overseen by a Saint Grade Heavenly Sovereign known as the Green-Robed Sword Saint."
"If even that old scoundrel's Seven Kill Sword is trash in their eyes..."
Gu Rong raised his head, staring intently at the image on the Sky Screen.
"Then just how terrifying must the swords their sect acknowledges be, those physical swords forged from Heavenly Treasures and Earthly Precious Materials?"
The reactions of these two camps played out across the Douluo Continent.
Some still clung desperately to the glory of Martial Souls, unwilling to let go, while others were already brimming with anticipation, eager to witness the true swords of the Great Thousand World.
Meanwhile, within the Sky Screen.
Faced with his Senior Brother Guide's merciless reprimand.
Chen Xin did not argue like the clamoring Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent.
He merely lowered his head in silence, a profound understanding flashing through his eyes.
Ever since coming to the Sword Domain and witnessing Outer Sect disciples sever a sea of clouds with a casually unleashed strand of Sword Qi.
He had already known that his Seven Kill Sword truly deserved to be nothing more than a toy.
"Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother." Chen Xin bowed sincerely.
Seeing that his attitude was reasonably proper, the white-clothed youth did not criticize him further. He turned and continued up the mountain.
"Put away that phantom of yours."
"Under sect rules, all newly admitted Outer Sect disciples may visit the Sword Tomb and choose a sword of their own to use for the time being."
"You're lucky today. You've arrived just as the Sword Tomb opens. Follow me."
The Sword Tomb!
Hearing those words, both Chen Xin within the Sky Screen and Ning Fengzhi and the others outside it instantly began breathing heavily.
The two climbed the steep mountain path.
Before long, they arrived before a vast gorge shrouded in thick mist.
At the gorge's entrance stood two grayish-brown stone pillars a hundred zhang tall.
Their surfaces were mottled with the marks of time and covered in unfathomably deep sword scars.
Merely standing at the entrance, Chen Xin felt a terrifying aura surging toward him with the force to topple mountains and overturn seas, scraping his cheeks painfully.
Seeing this, the white-clothed youth beside him took out a jade token and gently waved it at the empty space ahead.
Hum.
In an instant, the mist at the entrance receded to either side like a tide, finally revealing the true appearance of the Sword Domain Outer Sect's Sword Tomb.
When the sight within the gorge appeared clearly before everyone's eyes, the entire Douluo Continent instantly fell utterly silent.
Even Yu Xiaogang, who had been clamoring just moments before, now resembled a drake seized by the throat. His mouth hung open, but he could not make a sound.
It was simply too staggering.
As far as the eye could see, within that bottomless gorge.
Millions upon tens of millions of swords of every kind were densely packed, thrust point-first into the ground!
Some looked as though they had been cast entirely from ice, while others were crimson, the air around their blades warping under intense heat.
Others had already broken in two and were covered in rust, looking like nothing more than scrap metal.
Yet without exception, even the rusty broken sword had a heart-rattling wisp of fiendish energy and lingering sword intent coiling around its hilt!
"Is... is this the Sword Tomb?"
Chen Xin could not help swallowing, his legs trembling slightly.
For a sword fanatic, the visual impact of seeing so many peerless swords piled together was simply beyond words.
By contrast, the white-clothed youth stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the sea of swords within the gorge as he said evenly:
"Stop staring. This is only our Sword Domain's outermost Sword Tomb."
"Most of what's stored here are swords left behind by Outer Sect disciples who died in battle."
"Some are defective pieces forged by the elders of the Inner Sect's Artifact Refining Hall while practicing. They found them an eyesore and simply tossed them here."
Defective pieces?!
Hearing this, Ning Fengzhi nearly had a heart attack.
Heavens, treasured swords radiating such a world-destroying aura were only fit to be defective pieces in their rubbish heap?
Seemingly intending to broaden Chen Xin's horizons, the white-clothed youth casually pointed at a black Great Sword planted at the edge of the gorge.
There was a fist-sized notch in the Great Sword's blade, making it look badly damaged.
"See that black sword?"
The youth began introducing it casually.
"Elder Wang of the Inner Sect forged it from ten-thousand-year profound star iron some years ago."
"He originally intended to bestow it upon his personal disciple, but when testing the sword, he took it to slay a Primordial Poison Dragon with the strength of an Upper Earth Sovereign."
"Too much force was used, and a notch chipped out of the blade."
"Elder Wang disliked its imperfection, so he just tossed it here."
It had slain an Upper Earth Sovereign-level Primordial Poison Dragon!
And just because of a single chip, it had been thrown away like trash?!
Even so, they dreamed of owning a divine weapon like this!
Meanwhile, the White-Clothed Youth turned to look at the dumbstruck Chen Xin and reminded him.
"The rules are simple."
"You can go in now and use your heart to sense the call of these swords."
"If you gain the approval of any one of them, you may take it with you."
Suddenly, as though something had occurred to him, the youth's expression grew somewhat serious, and he could not help emphasizing his words:
"Remember, only attempt what is within your abilities."
"Not a single sword here is something you can forcibly wield as you are now."
"If you insist on forcibly drawing those vicious swords."
"There is only one outcome."
Before you continue