A Name Shakes the World – The Great Geng Sword Formation
1,886 words
Chapter 655: A Name Shakes the World – The Great Geng Sword Formation
Without time to think further, Han Li sat down cross-legged right where he was, circulating his qi to breathe. Immediately, the biting cold sensation in his eyes greatly subsided.
If anyone had been looking at Han Li at that moment, they would have noticed that a faint layer of blue light, extremely weak, had appeared on his closed eyelids without anyone knowing when.
A full half-hour passed before the chill gradually receded from his eyes.
Han Li let out a long breath. After his eyelids twitched a few times, he opened his eyes, then instinctively glanced around.
A flicker of doubt crossed his face.
“Really no change at all? Not even the slightest effect?” Han Li blinked and muttered to himself.
But after thinking it over, he lowered his head, then raised it again, forcing spiritual power into his eyes with a surge.
Deep within his pupils, a blue light flashed instantly.
“Eh!” Han Li couldn’t help but let out a soft exclamation.
The forbidden wall of the quiet chamber opposite him had turned into a blurry, faint blue in his vision.
Startled, his concentration wavered, and the wall returned to normal.
“No wonder the Core Formation cultivators and above of the three sects weren’t interested in this spiritual water. With this barely-there penetrating ability, it really is something no one would care about. Several auxiliary spells can achieve far better results. But that’s only the effect of washing the eyes once. If I use the spiritual water to wash them every half-month, who knows what kind of ability my eyes might develop over time? That’s actually something to look forward to.” Han Li gazed at the ball of spiritual water still floating before him, thinking to himself.
Without hesitation, he cast the spell again, repeating the same cleaning process.
There was enough spiritual water here for over a dozen cultivators to wash their eyes once.
With Han Li’s deep cultivation now, even though he used a larger amount, it still took several cycles to finish.
By the time the spiritual liquid was completely expended, Han Li’s eyes looked no different on the surface. Only when he actively channeled spiritual power into them did the blue light flash into existence for a moment. The ability to see through restrictions didn’t seem to have improved significantly either.
Han Li wasn’t discouraged by this. After all, there was still a long road ahead, and he had plenty of time to gradually develop his eyes’ abilities.
The next day, Han Li informed Silvermoon of his plans and entered his meditation chamber. He took out the golden page that recorded the Azure Origin Sword Art.
This sword art, he knew, had thirteen layers, making it a complete and full set of techniques. The abilities it granted followed a sequence of increasing power: the Azure Origin Sword Light, the Protective Sword Shield, the Split-Image Sword Technique, and so on.
The first two were convenient to use on the fly, but their power was honestly unremarkable.
As for the third technique, the Split-Image Sword Technique, Han Li was relatively satisfied with it.
True, every time he had used it in battle, it hadn’t immediately secured victory. But that was because his opponents had been too strong. If he had been facing an ordinary cultivator of similar cultivation, they would have been utterly unable to withstand the siege of hundreds of sword lights and would have been dismembered in an instant.
Now that he could cultivate the tenth layer, he could naturally learn a new technique from the sword art.
It was almost funny. Although he had obtained the complete Azure Origin Sword Art from the golden page, the one who forged the page had deliberately concealed the cultivation method for the final technique. He didn’t know the words, but he knew they were law; it was a deliberate choice by the page’s creator.
Even though he knew those gleaming, unreadable characters were the cultivation method for the last technique, his cultivation had been insufficient. Even after forming his core, he still couldn’t discern what that final technique was.
As for the thirteenth-layer technique, it was likely because its realm was already beyond this world. Every time Han Li read it, he found it profoundly obscure and difficult. Cultivation was out of the question; he couldn’t even comprehend the meaning. It seemed he would only be able to unravel its intricacies after reaching the Spirit Transformation stage or leaving this realm altogether.
Han Li hadn’t been anxious about this at the time. In the cultivation world, it was common for masters to place restrictions on inherited treasures to prevent disciples from coveting powerful techniques before their cultivation was sufficient. He knew that once his cultivation was high enough, he would naturally obtain the method.
Now, with his Nascent Soul cultivation, reading this technique’s formula would naturally pose no problem.
With that thought, Han Li tossed the golden page into the air. He opened his mouth and spat out a ball of azure light, which gently caught the page and held it aloft.
Then, with a calm expression, he flicked his fingers in rapid succession, sending beam after beam of azure sword light into the golden page. With flashes of light, the page absorbed them completely.
With Han Li’s profound spiritual power now, he naturally didn’t have to wait as long as he had during his Foundation Establishment days. After a short while, the page had absorbed enough true essence and began to radiate brilliant golden light. Countless light characters, each the size of an ant, began to appear one after another on the page’s surface.
Seeing this, Han Li made no move to hesitate. He stretched out his hand and made a grasping motion toward the page. With a “swoosh,” it shot into his palm.
Instantly, the dense mass of light characters surged madly from his hand into his head through the palm that held it.
Han Li accepted the torrent with a calm expression.
As expected, the parts of the Azure Origin Sword Art that had originally been unreadable now appeared clearly before his eyes.
Without overthinking it, Han Li put the golden page away and immediately closed his eyes to examine the newly acquired technique.
“Great Geng Sword Formation? What is this? How does it involve formations?” Han Li had barely glanced at the unfamiliar content when the words immediately materialized in his mind as large golden characters. Startled, a look of surprise crossed his face.
Light characters in pale gold appeared one after another in his divine sense. Han Li sank into the comprehension of these formulas, his body completely motionless.
He sat there cross-legged, and before he knew it, three days and three nights had passed.
The expression on Han Li’s face was very strange. One moment, he was extremely excited; the next, he was frowning; occasionally, he would break out in a cold sweat in a bizarre display.
By the evening of the third day, the expression on Han Li’s face finally stabilized.
A moment later, he took a deep breath with a gloomy expression and opened his eyes. A glimmer of profound thought flickered in his gaze.
“The description of this sword formation is a bit exaggerated. If I can cultivate it to the point where it has even a third of the power it claims, I could roam the entire Heavenly South unopposed.” Han Li licked his dry lips and murmured, his face full of mixed emotions, as if he could hardly believe what he had just learned.
“But then again, it’s impossible to know just when I’ll be able to use this technique. The number of sword lights required to set up the formation alone is absurd; at the very least, I need over a hundred. No wonder one golden page held the technique and the other the method for refining the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. The two are inseparable; you can’t have one without the other. The Split-Image Sword Technique was probably created for the sake of this formation. Otherwise, there would be no way to set it up.” Han Li pondered to himself.
Of course, the more powerful the flying swords and the more sword lights there were, the more powerful this sword formation would be.
Han Li estimated that, given enough time, if he used his seventy-two flying swords to conjure four sword lights each and set up a grand formation of three hundred and sixty sword lights, even a late Nascent Soul cultivator would be hard-pressed to say for sure. A mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator entering this formation wouldn’t die, but would definitely be flayed alive. As his cultivation advanced and he could conjure even more sword lights, killing a late Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn’t be impossible.
But besides needing enough sword lights to set up the formation, to use this technique, he would also need to re-refine the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords by adding a material called “Geng Essence” into each flying sword.
Han Li was no stranger to this material. It was the world-famous “Sharp Metal Treasure,” rarely seen by anyone. It was almost as rare as the Refining Crystal he had once obtained. In terms of value, for some cultivators, Geng Essence was far more valuable than even that crystal.
If even a tiny piece of Geng Essence was added to a blade or magic treasure, and it was tempered a little afterwards, the treasure’s sharpness would be multiplied. It was something that cultivators who used flying swords, flying daggers, and similar treasures considered as precious as their own lives.
But for Han Li, this was a massive problem.
Forget about how much “Geng Essence” was needed for a single flying sword. Even with the smallest amount, if it had to be spread across seventy-two flying swords, the total quantity required would be astronomically high.
Where was Han Li supposed to find so much “Sharp Metal Treasure”?
Whenever a cultivator obtained this item, they would either immediately fuse it into their own magic treasure or trade it for what they needed. In short, as soon as it appeared, it would be used up by a cultivator.
Not just in the Heavenly South, but even in the Heavenly Star Sea, which was rich in rare materials, it hadn’t appeared in several millennia.
Even with all the spirit stones he had, there was simply nowhere to trade for it.
Now, faced with the astonishingly powerful “Great Geng Sword Formation,” Han Li could only stare helplessly, like the moon in the water or the flowers in the mist.
After thinking it over repeatedly in the quiet room, Han Li could only smile wryly and put the matter to the back of his mind for the time being. He then took a jade box out of his storage pouch.
Opening the lid, the contents revealed a golden, dazzling ball, from which came a faint, crackling sound of thunder.
Staring at this supreme treasure, Han Li’s expression instantly became serious.
Now that his cultivation was fully developed, he could finally attempt to control this flame. If he succeeded in refining the Ice Flame, then the chances of taking the Void Heaven Cauldron would be greatly increased.