Gateway of Immortality

Back when he was at the Kuiyin Sect, Qin Sang had experienced the agony of his primordial spirit being injured, but compared to what he felt today, that pain was insignificant.

The moment he drove the ebony sword into his primordial spirit, he passed out cleanly and swiftly.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he woke up. He lay on the ground, motionless like a corpse, his eyes dazed as he glanced at the ceiling of the cave dwelling before gently closing them again.

After lying still for a long time and regaining some of his qi, he quietly reached for the jade bottle by his side, took out a healing pill, and carefully swallowed it. He cautiously activated his cultivation art to restore his primordial spirit.

A few days later, his primordial spirit injury improved, and he continued this process.

Three years passed like this.

During these three years, the only time he left the cave dwelling was once a month, when he would visit Huilong Temple to check if there were any summons from his sect to avoid missing an assignment and getting reprimanded. He also made a trip to the capital of the Guyuan Kingdom to indulge in a few baskets of large meat buns to satisfy his appetite. Other than that, Qin Sang stayed behind closed doors, completely focused on cultivating the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment.

Hard work never disappoints those with dedication. A year into cultivating the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment, an art he had once believed was impossible to master, he saw noticeable progress.

The ebony sword began to show signs of merging with his primordial spirit.

What followed was Qin Sang's battle against the sword qi that attacked his primordial spirit. He endured the constant torment of this sword qi for two full years before finally adapting, allowing him to enter a successful meditative state in this condition.

The cave dwelling was eerily silent and unusually dark.

Only at the location of the spiritual spring, the fully recovered Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid emitted a dazzling glow, with a mist forming above its stamens. This mist, which had appeared two years earlier, constantly shifted into various illusions, all so vivid they seemed alive, making it a marvel to behold.

Phew!

Qin Sang awoke from his meditation, exhaling deeply with a hint of joy on his face.

This was his second successful meditation. The last time had been five days ago, which felt more like an accident.

Although he had adapted to the pain radiating from his primordial spirit, entering meditation was still challenging. However, Qin Sang followed Daoist Jixin's teachings carefully—maintaining calmness, never becoming anxious or impatient. After each failure, he would silently recite the Scripture of Tranquility to stabilize his thoughts before continuing his attempts. Eventually, he succeeded again.

When he couldn’t enter meditation, the only thing he could do was sleep to restore his energy. It had taken him a long time to finally sleep soundly again, and as a result, he had become quite haggard, wasting a lot of time that could have been spent cultivating. Now, at least, he no longer had to worry about this issue.

Qin Sang pressed his ten fingers to his forehead, a habitual action by now. The pain from his primordial spirit was far more irritating than the migraines he had suffered in his previous life.

He later came up with a method to avoid giving himself any idle time. Twelve hours a day, aside from brief periods of sleep and time spent on Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment, he filled every moment with various tasks. Most of this time was dedicated to practicing the Five-Elemental Breaking Sword and the Spirit Evasion Art, with excellent results.

After pressing his forehead for a while, Qin Sang stood up from the ground and paced over to the spiritual spring, gazing in fascination at the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid for a moment before shifting his gaze to the pool below.

Compared to three years ago, the spring's source had clearly expanded, and the water flow was much stronger. By now, the pool had collected a fair amount of spring water, and the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid's roots had intertwined into a vibrant mass.

Qin Sang wasn’t sure how long it would take for the spiritual spring to fully mature, but it seemed it wouldn’t be much longer.

Once the spiritual spring matured, he would move both it and the cave dwelling to a more secluded spiritual vein, allowing him to plant the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid in his cave dwelling permanently.

Otherwise, he would have to uproot the orchid every time he went on a long journey, and even after replanting, it would take a full year before it could resume growing, making its eventual maturity a distant dream.

Today was the end of the month again. Qin Sang sealed the cave dwelling and used the Sky Shuttle to fly to Huilong Temple.

At Huilong Temple, he set up a simple illusion array to block mortals. Since the time of Gu Tiannan and his disciples, the temple had lost all its vitality, and in just a few years, it had fallen into severe decay.

Qin Sang landed in the main hall, his expression shifting slightly as he noticed a Sound Transmission Talisman darting around inside the barrier like a headless fly. He reached out and captured it, discovering that it wasn’t a summon from his sect, but a message from someone named Yu Daiyue.

This person claimed to be a senior brother from the same sect, inviting Qin Sang to explore an ancient cultivation site in the Yuncang Marshlands, promising to discuss the details in person. The message was quite earnest.

Qin Sang thought for a moment but couldn’t recall knowing any Foundation Building Realm cultivator by the name of Yu Daiyue.

After Qin Sang broke through to the Foundation Building Realm, apart from Sect Leader Yu, and Senior Brothers Wen and Gong, he hadn’t interacted with any other Foundation Building Realm cultivators. After obtaining the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment, he secluded himself for intensive cultivation. For three years, he hadn’t even returned to his sect, living as low-profile a life as possible. He had no idea why this person had sought him out.

The Yuncang Marshlands stretched endlessly, a desolate and uninhabited place.

It was said that many undiscovered ancient cultivation sites lay hidden within, some concealing rare treasures. There were often stories of people stumbling upon great fortunes, though it was hard to discern truth from fiction.

At this critical stage of cultivating the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment, Qin Sang had no interest in exploring ruins. He politely declined the invitation and sent the Sound Transmission Talisman back. Afterward, he descended the mountain, devoured several baskets of meat buns, and returned to his cave dwelling.

Two months later, Qin Sang finally managed to completely rid himself of the influence of the sword qi that tormented his primordial spirit, allowing him to meditate freely. Now, he could proceed to the next step—visualizing the killing symbol, drawing the intent of slaughter into his primordial spirit to refine the spiritual sword!

The first killing symbol described in the art wasn’t as violent as the subsequent four. Over the past three years, Qin Sang had already rehearsed this process countless times, and everything was now in place, waiting for the final step.

His spiritual consciousness touched upon the art in his mind, and he swiftly visualized the first killing symbol from the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment.

Qin Sang’s mind entered a state of deep meditation, and with a resounding boom in his head, only the killing symbol remained.

Every stroke of the killing symbol was written with the Sword of Slaughter, conveying an overwhelming intent to kill. As Qin Sang followed each stroke, he couldn’t help but feel parched, his mind shaken. It was as if he were watching a peerless swordsman slaughter all living beings with his sword.

In an instant, Qin Sang’s chest swelled with murderous intent, as if he had become this swordsman, the enemy of the entire world. He could barely control himself, feeling the urge to raise his sword and cut through everything.

Kill a man every ten steps, travel a thousand li without stopping!

Fortunately, the Jade Buddha had always kept his mind anchored, preventing him from getting lost in the killing symbol.

His primordial spirit visualized and comprehended the Dao of Slaughter[1].

As time passed, the ebony sword within his primordial spirit suddenly began to stir.

Over the past three years, Qin Sang had engraved countless runes onto the sword’s body. As soon as he started visualizing the killing symbol, these runes, along with his primordial spirit, seemed to transform into a furnace, using the intent of slaughter to refine the sword!

As the visualization continued, the intent of slaughter invaded his primordial spirit, enveloping the spiritual sword.

In an instant, the runes lit up with a dazzling glow. Suddenly, a crisp crack echoed, and a nearly imperceptible fracture appeared at the end of the sword’s hilt. This wasn’t part of the astra itself but the most fragile point of the ebony sword.

The ebony sword trembled violently, as if it were wailing in sorrow.

"Ah!"

At that moment, Qin Sang was abruptly jolted out of his meditation, drenched in cold sweat. His face showed deep unease, as the excruciating pain from his primordial spirit had forcibly pulled him out of his meditative state.

1. This refers to the way of slaughter and killing. Dao can mean "path, way, truth, a concept, etc." ☜