Chapter 12: A Surge in Swordsmanship Mastery, the Sword Spirit Illuminated!

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At that moment, deep within a ruined mountain on the outskirts of the Hundred-Section Mountain Range, the Nine-Dragon Heaven-Burying Cauldron hovered silently in the air.

There was no one around.

Qin Ming had entered the great cauldron long ago.

The thirty thousand martial manuals he had purchased had already been thrown inside.

With a thunderous boom!

Golden scriptures surged from within the cauldron, illuminating the heavens. Every character was exquisite and profound.

Yet before long, they were all drawn back into the cauldron, where they were gradually smelted and refined. Their true meanings were extracted, along with their most essential and profound mysteries.

At last, strands of biting sword essence began to spread through the cauldron.

A moment later, intricate and arcane sword techniques surfaced in Qin Ming’s mind.

Success!

The second technique he had refined was called Abyssal Dragon. It was like a sword dragon soaring from the depths of an abyss, its sword force even fiercer and more savage.

Once the sword was drawn, the azure heavens would surely be stained with blood!

It had to be said that the Nine Heavens God-Slaying Sword Art truly defied the heavens.

Every technique within it was a supreme killing move.

And each was fiercer than the last…

Anyone entangled by such a sword art could only consider himself unlucky. Qin Ming, however, gave it little thought.

Because the one who ought to be troubled was not him.

It was his enemy.

This technique was extraordinarily profound and contained countless variations.

Within the space of the cauldron, Qin Ming spent a full four months comprehending it.

As he studied it, his eyes gradually brightened.

His understanding of the sword grew increasingly profound.

“The so-called sword heart is none other than my own heart. When my heart is clear, the sword heart is clear…”

As he spoke, an intense fluctuation of sword intent gradually radiated from Qin Ming’s body. It was as though he had transformed into an unparalleled, savage sword.

His attainments in the sword had clearly surpassed the ninth level of Sword Qi.

He had already glimpsed the realm of the Sword Heart.

The path of the sword was divided into Sword Qi, Sword Heart, Sword Intent, Sword Dao, and Sword Domain.

Each realm had nine levels.

At present, Qin Ming’s sword fluctuations had already reached the first level of the Sword Heart realm.

Had a sword cultivator been present, he would certainly have been astonished.

The lineage of sword cultivation had always been rare, and it was extraordinarily difficult to master.

One could not say that it took ten years to temper a sword, but tempering one sword in a year was still considered normal.

His sword attainments had risen one after another, reaching a monstrous level that defied the heavens!

After confirming that he had fully comprehended the second technique, Qin Ming appeared in the outside world in a flash.

He stored away the Nine-Dragon Heaven-Burying Cauldron, then walked alone toward the depths of the mountain range.

This was only the outer region, where there were merely a few scattered demon beasts.

There were not even enough to fill the gaps between the teeth of the Heaven-Burying Cauldron!

As he advanced deeper, the viscous aura of demon beasts grew increasingly dense, so thick it seemed impossible to disperse.

Only then did Qin Ming stop.

“Boom!”

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“Boom!”

A deep, muffled sound rang out. The earth trembled, and the surrounding mountains shuddered.

A beast tide had arrived!

A beast tide was no ordinary matter. Tens of thousands of ferocious beasts gathered together, possessing astonishing destructive power.

Even cultivators of the Bitter Sea realm would not dare underestimate it.

Qin Ming’s expression remained unchanged. He chose instead to advance against the tide.

At that moment, a white-haired old man fleeing for his life hurriedly seized Qin Ming by the arm, his face filled with panic.

“Young man, don’t throw your life away! That is the direction the beast tide is coming from. It’s utter chaos there. Turn around and run at once, or not even your bones will be found!”

Qin Ming had already removed his black clothes, revealing his true appearance.

He was far too young and handsome, causing the old man to assume that he was some reckless young scion who had come from a powerful clan to gain experience.

He was probably seeing a demon-beast tide for the first time and had panicked.

Otherwise, why would he choose to advance against it?

Was that not simply throwing his life away?

For cultivators who had lived in the Hundred-Section Mountain Range for years, fear of the beast tide had long been carved into their bones.

Nearly every beast tide brought with it massive casualties.

Before the terrifying physical bodies of the demon-beast race, human cultivators were like sheets of paper, easily torn apart.

Qin Ming smiled and said, “The more chaotic it is, the better. I intend to fish in troubled waters and seize a few opportunities amid the disorder.”

Upon hearing this, the white-haired old man shook his head and stopped trying to persuade him.

People died for wealth.

Birds died for food.

Watching Qin Ming’s departing figure, the old man sighed. “Alas, what a pity. He’s so young.”

With that, he fled as quickly as his feet could carry him.

The deeper Qin Ming went, the fewer cultivators he saw. Soon, there were almost none.

“Roar!”

Heavy breathing rang out in rapid succession.

In the next instant, dozens of demon beasts leaped toward him, their stench piercingly foul.

These demon beasts possessed little intelligence and were driven only by their instinct to hunt.

Their cultivation was roughly equivalent to the first level of the human Meridian Condensation realm.

Between their teeth hung pieces of broken limbs. As they howled, showers of blood sprayed through the air.

Clang!

Qin Ming pressed two fingers together, and sword qi began to whirl furiously around his fingertips.

He had no suitable sword at hand, so he could only use his fingers as a sword.

With a sweep of his finger, a metallic sheen encircled its tip.

Pfft!

Several demon beasts were struck by the sword qi at once, their bodies exploding in midair.

Qin Ming immediately strode forward, sword qi crisscrossing around him.

The sword qi took the shape of dragons!

As it roared away, it seemed like a true dragon surging from an abyss.

Vast numbers of demon beasts were cut down, each killed in a single strike.

Whenever Qin Ming employed the Nine Heavens God-Slaying Sword Art, nine vague and savage swords floated behind him, radiating boundless ferocity.

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Of those nine swords, six had already solidified completely.

Only three had yet to fully take shape.

The savage swords did not attack, however. They merely hovered in silence, cascading down the profound mysteries of the sword art.

There was no doubt how powerful they would be once unleashed.

After only a few breaths, all the demon beasts had been slain.

Qin Ming then threw them into the Nine-Dragon Heaven-Burying Cauldron to be refined into essence, which nourished his Longevity Blood and caused it to increase by the slightest amount.

“Not bad. I estimate that after slaying several hundred more demon beasts, I’ll be able to condense the second drop of Longevity Blood.”

Having made up his mind, Qin Ming’s eyes brightened as he carefully searched the surrounding area for another beast tide.

To others, beast tides were harbingers of death.

To him, they were walking spirit stones…

After two days of slaughter, an aura of killing gradually enveloped Qin Ming.

It was an aura forged through slaughter.

More than a thousand demon beasts had died by his hand, and he had nearly wiped out every beast tide in the vicinity.

The mere presence of that aura caused weaker demon beasts to whimper and fall silent in fear.

Beneath the night sky, Qin Ming sat cross-legged before a blazing campfire.

The sizzling fragrance of roasted demon-beast meat drifted through the air. Mixed with the smoky scent of the fire, it made one’s mouth water.

He tore off a piece of roasted meat and ate as he reviewed everything he had gained over the past two days.

The demon beasts inhabiting the several nearby peaks had been slaughtered to the last one.

They had multiplied in this area for many years, and in recent times, their swallowing of human cultivators during beast tides had allowed them to grow increasingly powerful.

Who would have thought that one day, a single human would wipe them all out?

They were demon beasts.

But that youth’s talent was truly monstrous!

After slaying so many demon beasts, his second drop of Longevity Blood had finally condensed.

The two drops of Longevity Blood shone brilliantly within his body. As golden light surged, they brimmed with an unimaginable, surging power.

Under the nourishment of those two drops of Longevity Blood, the strength of his physical body had risen explosively.

After making a rough test, Qin Ming discovered that even an ordinary strike from him now possessed the peak power of the Soul-Forging realm.

This Longevity Blood was truly too abnormal.

After all, it was the foundation of the Undying Emperor Scripture, the guarantee that would protect eternal life and prevent one from falling into reincarnation.

This was not a cultivation technique that the Xuanyao Continent ought to possess.

Qin Ming glanced up at the sky.

Perhaps it had come from the Upper Realm!

As for the so-called Upper Realm, his heart held no reverence toward it.

One day, he would meet its strongest experts at the summit, grasp the sun and moon in his hands, and bring down the heavens through his own power.

Perhaps if anyone learned of this thought, they would laugh at his ignorance and overconfidence.

But youth was meant to burn with passion.

If the young did not burn with passion, what would make them young?

The preciousness of youth lay in daring to dream and daring to fight.

If one day he lost his edge, he would also lose the greatest capital of youth.

Just as Qin Ming was eating roasted demon-beast meat, a disturbance arose behind him, accompanied by the sound of something tearing through the air.

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