Chapter 152: Tai Chi Sword Formula

The Seven Luminaries Sword Manual consists of seven master swords:
The Sun Sword, the Moon Sword, the Eastern Year Sword, the Flocking Fire Sword, the Great White Sword, the Northern Dipper Sword, and the镇星 (Zhenxing) Sword.

The spiritual materials required for forging them are extremely rare heavenly treasures, ones that ordinary cultivators might struggle to even catch a glimpse of in a lifetime.

Among them,
the forging catalysts for the Sun Sword and the Moon Sword are the Extreme Yang Spirit Essence and the Extreme Yin Spirit Essence, respectively.

Jiang Min had managed to acquire only three drops of the Extreme Yang Spirit Essence—not too few to be useless, but certainly not many.

The Extreme Yin Spirit Essence was equally rare, with harsh conditions for its formation, and very little of it ever entered public circulation. Most of the time, one had to venture into subterranean Yin veins to search for it, and those in need of it were primarily ghost cultivators.

She had not expected to encounter the Extreme Yin Spirit Essence at a stone-appraisal gathering, and the reason Jiang Min was able to perceive the Extreme Yin Spirit Essence hidden within the giant boulder was because the Ancient Immortal was actively guiding her.

The intention to impart the Dao was quite obvious.

However, she first needed to clearly state her misgivings to the Ancient Immortal.

Jiang Min reined in her gaze, slightly lowering her brows and eyelashes, and called out in her heart, "Senior Immortal! Can you hear me?"

Her palm gave a slight, resonant response.

Seeing this,
Jiang Min spoke the words she had pondered over for quite some time.

"Senior, in your eyes, I suppose I have no secrets. My thoughts, my character, and my method of cultivation should all be crystal clear to you."

"Yet, I must still explain my misgivings to you clearly."

A gentle emotional ripple passed over,
as if encouraging her to continue.

A faint stir arose in Jiang Min's heart. Ever since the giant statue of the Ancient Immortal was placed inside the Hall of the Immortal Lord, the Ancient Immortal's responses had become much more vivid than before.

"I do not know what happened ten thousand years ago, but today, your inheritance has become a taboo. None of the Ten Nations of the East Plain hold any record of your inheritance or offer sacrifices to you, and the Central Plain is no different."

"Two Divinity Transformation cultivators have once visited the fragmentary grotto-heaven of the Ziyin Sword Sect. One of them laid down a banishment grand array outside your Daoist arena to prevent anyone from approaching, and even destroyed the ancient Daoist hall, severing the inheritance completely."

Jiang Min paused for a moment before thinking to herself, "Under such circumstances, even if this junior sincerely wishes to learn, I simply dare not!"

Seeing that the Ancient Immortal gave no reply, Jiang Min narrowed her eyes slightly and thought, "In fact, before I met Senior, I had already obtained the forging method for the Seven Luminaries Swords, but I nearly died in that land of inheritance. At that time, the entire inheritance ground was razed to the ground... No, it was blasted into a deep crater of ruins, and not a single soul survived."

"I am merely an insignificant person with a lowly level of cultivation, and in the eyes of that yellow-robed orthodoxy, I could be eradicated with a flick of a finger. Whether it is me or any other cultivator who happens to stumble upon Senior's inheritance, the outcome remains the same."

"The Seven Luminaries Sword Manual conforms to the Daoist principles of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, and only those with the Five Spiritual Roots can cultivate it. I presume that yellow-robed orthodoxy closely monitors individuals with the Five Spiritual Roots. If I were to make a great fuss about gathering these materials, I fear I would truly be targeted."

"A swordsman's sword is only truly a sword when it is drawn from its sheath. If these Seven Luminaries Swords were indeed forged, would I truly have to live in concealment for the rest of my life?"

"If that is the case, this junior can only abandon Senior's inheritance and seek another path. Please forgive me, Senior."

There are tens of thousands of swordsmanship arts in this world, and countless methods of forging swords; why must she stubbornly cling to a taboo art and plunge herself into mortal danger?

With the peach branch by her side, her path of cultivation was smooth, devoid of the cultivation hardships faced by practitioners with the Five Spiritual Roots.

To stay alive was the only thing she needed to do.

After obtaining the Seven Luminaries Sword Manual, Jiang Min had constantly deliberated and weighed this matter, hesitating and swaying, yet the decision in her heart had long since leaned toward refusal. The Ancient Immortal possessed boundless divine powers and could surely read her mind, knowing her thoughts and concerns.

The Seven Luminaries Sword Manual had never been her first choice; it would only ever serve as a "last resort."

Even so, some things ultimately had to be spoken aloud formally.

Jiang Min was not the type to keep things bottled up inside.

Hum!

The white pearl resting on the offering table of the Hall of the Immortal Lord suddenly hummed and vibrated, radiating a brilliant glow.

Thousands of glowing ancient characters drifted out from the white pearl, suspending themselves in the center of the spacious Hall of the Immortal Lord, dense and numerous—they were precisely the contents of the Seven Luminaries Sword Manual.

Then,
some of the ancient characters continuously detached themselves from the scripture of the Seven Luminaries Sword Manual, aligning one by one to gradually form a brand-new sword classic.

Named—
The Taiji Sword Manual!

"Huh? The Taiji Sword Manual?"

Jiang Min also noticed the commotion within the Hall of the Immortal Lord, focusing her divine sense on the changes in the white pearl. When the new chapter of the sword manual emerged, she was genuinely startled.

As the new sword manual was continuously reorganized and perfected, Jiang Min finished reading through the contents of the Taiji Sword Manual once. The more she read, the more alarmed she became.

For the first chapter of the Taiji Sword Manual was something she had seen before at Mount Taiji—it was known as the fragmentary chapter of the Yin-Yang Sword Manual. However, that sword manual had been incomplete and lacked any forging method, rendering it a lost art of Mount Taiji.

"Could this Taiji Sword Manual be the complete version of the Yin-Yang Sword Manual!"

"What about the Yin-Yang True Scripture? That cultivation method was also incomplete. Could there be a corresponding, complete Taiji True Scripture?"

When Jiang Min thought of this, a thought that did not belong to her suddenly surfaced in her mind.

[The Taiji True Scripture, the Nine Sects Hall.]

She was slightly stunned.

This was a hint given to her by the Ancient Immortal.

Could it be that the complete Taiji True Scripture was located within the Nine Sects Hall? If she could acquire it, she would not need to retrain a new cultivation method, but could simply continue practicing straight from the Yin-Yang True Scripture she was currently cultivating.

Now,
she had both her sword-forging method and the corresponding sword manual.

She also had a clue regarding her cultivation method.

Although the inherited Daoist arts of Mount Taiji were derived from the Ancient Immortal's heritage, they no longer constituted a forbidden art; rather, they were a lineage that could be openly and righteously studied.

Joy welled up in Jiang Min's heart, and she said sincerely, "Jiang Min shall never forget the grace of Senior imparting the Dao!"

She committed the contents of the Taiji Sword Manual to memory, raised her eyes, and refocused her attention on the grey-black giant boulder sitting upon the high platform.

The Taiji Sword Manual required the forging of only two swords—
the Sun Sword and the Moon Sword.

Moreover, the forging method differed slightly from the Seven Luminaries Sword Manual, being far more flexible. The primary material for the sword body could be chosen freely, while the other auxiliary materials were nearly identical to those of the Seven Luminaries Sword Manual. Jiang Min happened to be able to use the peach wood as her primary material.

"The catalysts required for both swords are still the Extreme Yang Spirit Essence and the Extreme Yin Spirit Essence, so I must secure this boulder and obtain the Extreme Yin Spirit Essence within it."

"As for the few other spiritual materials that are hard to find, I will search for them slowly."

At this moment,
the female cultivator at the Core Formation stage standing upon the platform was introducing the giant boulder.

"This stone possesses an extremely heavy Yin Qi, and it is certain that something related to Yin Qi is nurtured within it. Strangely enough, even the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator struggles to pierce through this outer crust to detect what lies inside the stone."

Upon hearing this,
the cultivators of the Myriad Stone Pavilion immediately broke into animated discussions.

"Since we have no idea what the situation is, doesn't that mean we have to gamble on the stone?"

"Growing a natural crust and proving difficult for divine sense to penetrate generally points to two possibilities. First, there is a good treasure inside, which is a form of protection by heaven and earth for its treasures; second... there is a millennium-old Yin corpse or Yin soul inside, and this is the stone cocoon they have spun. If it's a treasure, then naturally we profit. But if you open the crust and release a Yin corpse or Yin soul, that would be the height of misfortune!"

"Objects of Yin Qi are useless to cultivators of our generation; we had better not take this risk."

The female Core Formation cultivator immediately announced the price.

"The starting price for this Yin Qi giant boulder is five superior-grade spirit stones."

Five superior-grade spirit stones!?

A rare expression of astonishment appeared on the faces of many cultivators.

Superior-grade spirit stones were not merely items for valuation; their inherent preciousness was already equivalent to heavenly treasures. The pure spiritual Qi they contained could be refined instantly without needing to circulate it through a cultivation method first. In critical moments lacking spiritual power, especially during magical combat, they were enough to save one's life.

Therefore, situations priced in superior-grade spirit stones were truly rare.

Just moments ago, several other strange stones had been priced solely in medium-grade spirit stones.

Just as everyone thought no one would buy it,
two voices rang out simultaneously within the Myriad Stone Pavilion.

"I'll buy it."

"I am buying it."

As Jiang Min raised her jade scepter, her gaze abruptly fell upon a black-robed cultivator sitting on the opposite side of the pavilion. That black-robed cultivator had raised their jade scepter at the exact same moment as her, intending to purchase the giant boulder.