King of Creation
Chapter 231 - 228: Spirit Sword Grave Mountain

Chapter 231: Chapter 228: Spirit Sword Grave Mountain

Clang!

As Ye Zhen was stunned, he spun around abruptly, and during the spin, his Changfeng Sword sheathed and unsheathed like lightning, and his spiritual power erupted like a volcano, bursting forth.

In an instant, more than fifteen layers of Hundred-refined True Gang enveloped Ye Zhen’s body, and beneath the Hundred-refined True Gang, the Guardian Spirit Light of the Black Wind Medium-Grade Armor was immediately triggered.

The momentum that flashed from the void was so astonishing, Ye Zhen almost used all his strength to react in that moment, creating an extremely shocking scene.

However, after turning around, Ye Zhen’s expression suddenly turned to one of sheer astonishment.

Behind him in the void, there was nothing like the terrifying presence he had imagined, and the shocking aura that had made Ye Zhen’s hair stand on end seemed as if it had never appeared.

Not only was the astonishing momentum nowhere to be seen, but even the other passengers on the deck were unaffected, especially a few women, who were showing exaggerated expressions as if they were looking at a big fool.

Ye Zhen was momentarily dumbfounded.

What was going on?

Was it all an illusion?

That was impossible!

"Hehe, Young Hero Zheng must be passing the Spirit Sword Grave Mountain for the first time, right?" Another passenger surnamed Ma on the same ship looked at Ye Zhen and expressed a sudden realization.

"Spirit Sword Grave Mountain? This... Indeed, it is my first time. I would appreciate your guidance, Senior Ma."

The Senior Ma whom Ye Zhen referred to was actually a wealthy merchant with the surname Ma from the Phantom Divine Empire, who stayed next to Ye Zhen’s cabin, in Cabin Bing. It was said that half of the goods on board Henghai were his.

This merchant surnamed Ma was not only a businessman but also a martial artist with considerable cultivation.

Coincidentally, this Boss Ma’s cultivation was also at the Peak of the Spirit Summoning Realm, and he had been stuck at this peak for fifteen years already, which was also why Ye Zhen addressed him as Senior Ma.

Since both had cultivation at the Peak of the Spirit Summoning Realm, they had something in common, and over the past few days, Ye Zhen had conversations with Boss Ma.

Boss Ma came from a martial arts noble family, and his innate bloodline talent was also quite good, vaguely said to be above the Five Veins. Fifteen years ago, he had broken through to the Peak of the Spirit Summoning Realm.

When one’s cultivation reaches the Peak of the Spirit Summoning Realm, it is natural to begin tempering spiritual power, preparing for the condensation of the Spiritual Power Seeds, and Boss Ma also prepared for two or three years. According to his elders’ estimates, with Boss Ma’s bloodline talent, the likelihood of condensing the Spiritual Power Seed was as high as eighty, even close to ninety percent.

But after those two or three years, the first attempt to condense the Spiritual Power Seed ended in complete tragedy for Boss Ma.

At the last moment, not only did the condensation of the Spiritual Power Seed fail, but a large amount of the innate bloodline spiritual energy within his bloodline was also depleted.

According to his elders’ estimates, after this first failure, the likelihood of Boss Ma successfully condensing the Spiritual Power Seed the second time dropped precipitously to fifty percent, even less than fifty percent.

After another three years of hard work, Boss Ma tried to condense the Spiritual Power Seed once more, but, as expected, ended in failure. The probability of successfully condensing the Spiritual Power Seed plummeted from fifty to thirty percent.

After that, the chances for Boss Ma to break through to the Spirit Transformation Realm by condensing the Spiritual Power Seed became extremely slim.

The predicament Boss Ma faced had caused Ye Zhen some alarm; after a nearly ninety percent chance of success ended in failure, his martial arts journey had been at a standstill to this day.

However, through the conversations with Boss Ma over these days, Ye Zhen also detected a hint of something unsaid.

It was roughly that Boss Ma had not given up on martial arts but sought to break through Spirit Transformation in another way.

After the second failed attempt at condensing the Spiritual Power Seed, Boss Ma devoted himself to business, and his assets began to snowball.

As acquaintances of circumstance, it was naturally not about sincere exchanges, and though Ye Zhen wished to obtain some useful information from Boss Ma, Boss Ma had always been vague and unwilling to say much.

But Ye Zhen guessed that Boss Ma was probably hoping to use his wealth to aid his breakthrough. Since the Phantom Divine Empire had a Pill King, he was likely targeting the Spirit Storage Pill.

This also indirectly confirmed that the Phantom Divine Empire indeed had dealings with Spirit Storage Pills, proving Ye Zhen was on the right track.

But obtaining a Spirit Storage Pill must be very difficult.

Even a wealthy and powerful merchant like Boss Ma had struggled for more than ten years and still hadn’t obtained a Spirit Storage Pill; it was no wonder it was difficult.

"Hehe, this Spirit Sword Grave Mountain is the tail among the three public secret realms of the Black Dragon Domain, the most anticipated but also the most helpless of secret realms.

Just now, you must have sensed an incredibly astonishing Sword Momentum from the void, seemingly directed at you, right?"

"Exactly!"

Now, Ye Zhen was even more puzzled.

"That’s the amazing Sword Qi that erupts from the Spirit Sword Grave Mountain from time to time. Almost every martial artist passing the Spirit Sword Grave Mountain for the first time will have your reaction!"

While speaking, Boss Ma laughed and pointed into the void, "Look, here it comes again!"

Indeed, Ye Zhen’s face changed, and an even more formidable Sword Momentum suddenly appeared from the void. It seemed like a sword light shooting skyward.

In the moment that the sword light emerged, the boundless sea of clouds in the void was cleaved apart, and that sea of clouds, which seemed thousands of kilometers thick at a glance, was actually split in half.

How fierce was this Sword Momentum?

Hiss!

Ye Zhen involuntarily took a sharp breath.

A Sword Momentum extending thousands of kilometers, that was absolutely terrifying.

As far as Ye Zhen knew, even the Sword Momentum of Liao Feibai was only a little over a hundred meters long at most.

While Ye Zhen was still in shock, another sword light surged up, splitting open the clouds that were about to close again. For a moment, one sword light followed another, preventing the clouds from closing up.

"Eh, looking at how tightly packed this sword light is, it seems Spirit Sword Grave Mountain has reached the day of its outburst again," commented Boss Ma, a hint of surprise in his voice, which was quickly followed by a trace of regret.

"What a pity, if it weren’t for the fact I need to escort these goods, I might have spent a few days trying my luck there."

"Senior Ma, what exactly is going on with this Spirit Sword Grave Mountain? Please enlighten me," Ye Zhen requsted.

"Manager Wu, prepare the finest Five Spirits Brew. I’m going to have a few drinks with Senior Ma!"

Merchants don’t wake up early for no profit. Ye Zhen knew he had to spend a little to learn about the situation at Spirit Sword Grave Mountain. A jug of Five Spirits Brew from the Henghai cost as much as ten low-grade spirit crystals.

What was most important was that every burst of sword light from inside the Spirit Sword Grave Mountain could involuntarily trigger Ye Zhen’s first Sword Vein without any effort on his part.

As the sword light emerged, the first Sword Vein inside his body would spontaneously manifest and quiver, as if there was some mysterious connection, which greatly puzzled Ye Zhen.

"Senior Ma, please!"

"This is good wine! After just one cup of this Five Spirits Brew, the spiritual power surges inside one’s body. If it weren’t for my cultivation being stuck at the peak of the Spirit Summoning Realm, this jug of Five Spirits Brew could be equivalent to three days of arduous cultivation!"

After half a jug of Five Spirits Brew, Boss Ma’s lips loosened.

Once a martial artist’s cultivation reaches the Spirit Summoning Realm, drinking ordinary alcohol wouldn’t get them drunk, not even after a thousand, or even ten thousand cups. However, with spirit wine like Five Spirits Brew, drink too much of it, and even martial artists in the Spirit Transformation Realm would get drunk!

"This Spirit Sword Grave Mountain, it is said to have existed for over a thousand years now, since the foundation of the Sword Origin Empire."

"Do you know why the Sword Origin Empire is named as such? And the origin of the Sword Origin Sect within the empire? In fact, all because of this Spirit Sword Grave Mountain!"

"Do you know about the Sword Origin Flag, the Spiritual Treasure of the Sword Origin Sect? It’s crafted using the myriad spirit swords that burst forth from this Spirit Sword Grave Mountain..."

....

After about half an hour and two jugs of Five Spirits Brew, when Boss Ma’s tongue was practically swollen from all the drinking, Ye Zhen finally got a general idea about Spirit Sword Grave Mountain.

Black Dragon Domain has three major public secret realms, and Spirit Sword Grave Mountain, within the territory of the Sword Origin Empire, is one of them.

What the people of today know about Spirit Sword Grave Mountain still originates from a catastrophe that occurred a thousand years ago.

A thousand years ago, because the mountain resembled a sword and was densely covered with broken swords, it was called Sword Tomb.

Somehow, the long-silent Sword Tomb suddenly exploded, like a volcanic eruption, spewing countless broken and fragmented swords.

Among them, a spirit sword glinting with sparkling spirit light was obtained by a martial artist named Yuan Shan. The radiance of that spirit sword shocked countless powerhouses.

This incident immediately caused a bloody storm in the then Tian’an Ancient Country; the Sword Origin Empire had not yet emerged, and the Sword Tomb was still within its borders.

While the whole world was hunting down Yuan Shan, he mysteriously disappeared.

Five years later, Yuan Shan reappeared out of nowhere, dominating the world with his Four Symbols Sword Technique, and geniuses, powerhouses, and experts fell one by one before him.

Before long, Yuan Shan founded the Sword Origin Sect, and he became the founding ancestor of the sect.

More than ten years later, the Tian’an Ancient Country was completely annihilated, and the Sword Origin Empire appeared. The royal lineage of the Sword Origin Empire also bore the surname Yuan, descendants of Yuan Shan, the founding ancestor of the Sword Origin Sect.

This is the origin of the Sword Origin Empire and Sword Origin Sect.

Since the spirit sword prophesied from the Sword Tomb helped Yuan Shan come up with the Four Symbols Sword Technique and dominate the world, Yuan Shan naturally placed great importance on the Sword Tomb.

What’s more crucial is that ever since that time, every so often, Sword Tomb Mountain would erupt like a volcano, shooting out hundreds, if not thousands, of broken swords.

The quality of those broken swords was quite high, and some of them even contained strong sword momentum, which one could use to comprehend the Sword Dao.

Many improved their swordsmanship dramatically because of this, and there were those who devised profound sword techniques.

Several years after the Sword Origin Sect was established, the Sword Tomb was declared a forbidden land of the sect, where non-disciples who dared trespass would be put to death without mercy!

However, the curiosity of martial artists is not something that can be stopped by merely declaring a forbidden land.

To maintain the forbidden land of the Sword Origin Sect, more than half of the sect’s resources were devoted to guarding it.

However, Sword Tomb Mountain is very special, unable to have any formations placed around it, and can only be patrolled by human vigilance. Over the decades, the Sword Origin Sect has lost thousands of disciples, not to mention the large numbers of martial artists who infiltrate Sword Tomb Mountain every year in search of spirit swords and opportunities.

This level of consumption, even for the Sword Origin Sect, was unsustainable.

Gradually, the rules of the forbidden land became nothing more than a mere formality.

Over the past thousand years, the Sword Origin Sect has completely given up on guarding, and the Spirit Sword Grave Mountain has ultimately become a public place, turning into a public secret realm accessible to everyone.

Of course, the most important reason is that, except for the first eruption of the Sword Tomb that produced a half spirit sword, no other spirit sword has appeared for a thousand years.

Even though it’s a public secret realm, there are still many martial artists waiting, especially those who specialize in the Sword Dao. They do not have extravagant hopes of obtaining a spirit sword but only wish to find a broken sword with a strong sword intent to achieve leaps in their swordsmanship.

The strong sword momentum that just burst forth from the void is an omen of Spirit Sword Grave Mountain’s imminent eruption.

"Heh, Young Hero Zheng, Spirit Sword Grave Mountain has a minor eruption every month, and a major one every three months. It’s a great place, and there are quite a few martial artists who have made a fortune and had a sudden increase in cultivation because of it..."

"Indeed, by the way, Senior Ma, do you have news about the Spirit Storage Pill..."

"What pill?... uh... this wine is really good... I’m drunk..."

Watching Boss Ma pretend to pass out drunk on the table, Ye Zhen silently cursed the old fox, but there was nothing he could do except get up.

In the next moment, Ye Zhen was on the deck, soaring into the air, flying towards Spirit Sword Grave Mountain.

Not for anything else, but simply because his Sword Vein Divine Power could be triggered by the Sword Qi from Spirit Sword Grave Mountain’s eruption, Ye Zhen had to go and see for himself. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)