Chapter 156: The Birth of the Ziyang Immortal Sword!

The Ziyang Holy Land had carved out a minor grotto-heaven using the Ziyang Immortal Sword.

Crouching tigers and hidden dragons resided within. Aside from the Holy Master of the Ziyang Holy Land, perhaps no one else knew exactly how many powerhouses were concealed inside this minor grotto-heaven.

The reason the six great holy lands stood tall and unshaken was precisely because they did not merely rely on the Central Plains; the grotto-heavens where their holy lands were situated possessed an unending and profound heritage.

It was said that even the Demonic Path's Blood-Transforming Demonic Sect—which naturally called itself the Blood-Transforming Divine Sect outwardly—had a holy master who was merely a powerhouse in the early stage of the Mahayana realm during its weakest period.

Because the Qianyuan Academy and the Xuanhua Dao Sect had successively produced peerless figures who rose to prominence, they suppressed the other holy lands to the point where they could not even hold their heads up.

Naturally, the Blood-Transforming Demonic Sect became the primary target for these figures to temper their own realms, vanquish demons, uphold the righteous path, and build their reputations.

By the time these powerhouses either ascended or faded into obscurity, the Blood-Transforming Divine Sect had been beaten down until only a single holy master in the early Mahayana stage remained, cowering within its minor grotto-heaven.

At that time, the neutral Holy Dragon Temple suddenly took the lead, wanting to reshuffle the power dynamics of the six great holy lands.

It united with three other righteous sects—excluding the Jade Maiden Sect—including the Ziyang Sword Sect, deciding to completely annihilate the Blood-Transforming Divine Sect and partition its grotto-heaven.

However, everything went smoothly at first, and after multiple probes, when they finally fought their way into the main hall of the Blood-Transforming Divine Sect, an "old demon," exuding an aura of unfathomable ages, suddenly awakened. He turned out to be an Earth Immortal-level entity who had failed at the peak of the Tribulation Crossing realm.

In short, the final outcome was that the six great holy lands remained at peace with one another, and the Blood-Transforming Demonic Sect continued to exist.

That period of history became a taboo!

The Ziyang Holy Land might not possess such an ageless monster comparable to an immortal; its ultimate trump card was laid out right in the open. As long as the Ziyang Immortal Sword remained there for a single day, no holy land would dare to harbor designs on the Ziyang Holy Land.

All six great holy lands possessed trump cards. Those without them had long since been reshuffled out of existence.

Although the Ziyang Holy Land lacked such ageless monsters, it still harbored quite a few hidden powerhouses.

Naturally, they sensed the anomaly at the Sword-Washing Pool.

"Hmm? The current peak master of the Sword-Washing Peak seems to be a young girl named Yun Yi. Has she made a breakthrough?"

A long-browed elder muttered to himself as he refined a flying sword within a desolate, uninhabited cold pool.

"Ten thousand swords ringing in unison? Is there a proud daughter of heaven, or has another elder or peak master achieved success in cultivation?"

"Forget it, never mind. I'll continue my undisturbed seclusion. This heavenly tribulation is making everyone panic, and I don't want to ascend yet. Spare me, please!"

An elder who looked like an incorrigible child spoke in a madcap manner.

"The Sword-Washing Peak? I'm not going, definitely not..."

"..."

Within the Ziyang Holy Land, although many areas were disturbed, they quickly quieted down again.

As for the 108 peaks and veins representing the holy land's heritage, either because their cultivation levels fell short or because they were occupied with pressing matters, none of them paid too much attention to the strange phenomenon occurring on that peak.

……

Above the Sword-Washing Pool, Yun Yi, Pei Yuxin, and Hong Lang were sweating profusely. While maintaining the operation of the Sword-Washing Peak's array, they also had to apply new seals.

"With this kind of aura, Senior Sister Pei, your disciple couldn't possibly be comprehending the *Ziyang Sword Scripture*, could he?"

"Could the Ziyang Sword Intent, lost for many years, be about to reappear in the pugilistic world?"

"But aren't they saying that without obtaining the Ziyang Immortal Sword, it is fundamentally impossible to comprehend the Ziyang Sword Intent?"

Hearing Hong Lang's endless chattering, Pei Yuxin could only mumble perfunctorily, "Mhm, yeah, oh."

She certainly couldn't admit that she hadn't taught Cao Xuan the *Ziyang Sword Scripture* at all—wouldn't that be confessing unprompted?

The others were baffled, but the aura still had to be suppressed.

After all, as far as they were concerned, it was not yet time for Cao Xuan to be exposed.

The Golden Core stage was still far too fragile!

……

On the other side, within the Ziyang Immortal Sword, the Ziyang Sword Spirit was lazily resting.

Before encountering a suitable master, she spent almost all her time in this bored state, using the main immortal sword body to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to recover herself.

"What a pity, the spiritual energy of the lower realm is still far too thin!"

"Only someone with top-tier sword dao talent, nourishing the sword with sword intent and recovering through the power of rules, can achieve the effect of the upper realm!"

No one knew that the three previous hosts chosen by the Ziyang Immortal Sword had actually made her increasingly picky.

Over the years, there had been no shortage of brilliantly talented individuals, but none of them met the requirements of the Ziyang Immortal Sword.

Because to her, the condition for acknowledging a master required mutual benefit!

Unfortunately, even when she later encountered disciples with talents similar to those of her first three masters, her acknowledging them as master would truly mean unilateral giving without any return.

Moreover, if their talent fell short and the rule power transformed by their sword intent was insufficient for her recovery, further combat would only cause her to break down all over again.

"It's a pity I can't enter the upper realm, or else it would discover me!"

It wasn't that the Ziyang Sword Spirit hadn't thought about ascending to the upper realm with a Ziyang Sword Sect ancestor, but thinking of that mortal enemy, she had no choice but to give up.

"If I ascend, that generation of masters would also be the weakest existence. If I followed them up there, I'd just be walking straight to my death!"

The Ziyang Sword Spirit felt quite helpless, having nurtured the Ziyang Sword Sect for so many years.

Other holy lands relied not only on their sect heritage, but also on their senior master figures in the upper realm.

As for the Ziyang Holy Land, although it also had ancestors in the upper realm, the actual founder was none other than the Ziyang Immortal Sword before her eyes.

"What a shame, they're all incompetent descendants who never made a name for themselves in the upper realm."

The Ziyang Sword Sect was one of the six great holy lands on the Xuanhua Continent, but in the upper realm, it was merely an unknown, minor sect.

At this moment, the Ziyang Sword Spirit suddenly sensed a pure and unadulterated sword dao rule appearing within the sect.

It was her first time witnessing the manifestation of a "rule."

For Cao Xuan, whether the system-rewarded sword intent reached great completion or perfection, it needed to be activated and transformed into his own.

As for the Ziyang Immortal Sword, because of her extremely high tier, she immediately discovered that an "original" sword dao rule was waiting to evolve inside the Sword-Washing Pool.

Upon seeing this mass of dense rules, the Ziyang Sword Spirit's eyes instantly turned red.

She didn't even notice at the very first moment that Cao Xuan had already transformed into a Sword Dao Body.

Without a second thought, the Ziyang Sword Spirit directly "drew her sword and soared into the sky," flying toward Cao Xuan!

And so, the entire Central Plains trembled!

All powerhouses above the Soul Formation stage—whether from holy lands or first- and second-tier sects—experienced a shocking vision appearing in their minds at that very moment.

The towering Ziyang Immortal Sword, which had stood firmly before the mountain gates of the Ziyang Sword Sect, actually rose from the ground!

Some holy land ancestors seemed to recall a certain scene, and their entire bodies trembled violently.

Some ancient powerhouses, tasked with guarding the sect's inheritance jadeslips, saw three figures wielding immortal swords emerge in their minds and immediately trembled with fright.

To an outsider watching, they might have taken them for mere mortal ants.

Only the powerhouses of the holy lands knew that this person was actually a Tribulation Crossing realm powerhouse.

The stronger one was, the more one understood the meaning of awe.

Though some holy masters were astonished, they remained brimming with a bellicose spirit—only to be discovered by their ancestors and given a sound beating!

"The Ziyang Immortal Sword has emerged three times, and the world has lost two great holy lands!"

"Why wasn't it three great holy lands?"

The holy master clutched his head and muttered!

"Because during its final emergence, the other five great holy lands behaved just like obedient little sheep!"