The so-called Nine Palaces.
If viewed by elemental directions, it’s divided into Eight Trigrams and the Central Palace.
This is the Nine Palaces Immortal Dao, encompassing everything, and is the foundation of cultivation for all living beings.
If viewed by numerology, “two and four for the shoulders, six and eight for the feet, three on the left, seven on the right, nine on the head, one on the base, five in the center.” This well-known Nine Palaces calculation chart is also the cornerstone of the Nine Palaces Merchant Association.
The Nine Palaces Merchant Association is divided into nine halls.
Qian Xu comes from the famous Qianliu Hall, adept at manipulating weapons.
He is one of Qianliu Hall’s most outstanding disciples in recent years, with a cultivation level reaching the Five Elements realm.
Although his talent cannot compare to the peerless genius guarding the ninety-ninth pass, his cultivation is superb.
At critical moments, he can briefly unleash his Five Elements realm cultivation, which is why he is responsible for guarding this crucial one-hundredth pass.
In reality, Qian Xu never expected to genuinely have an opportunity to act.
Too many unexpected events occurred during this period.
Not only was Jiang Ke’er’s explosive strength surprising, but there were also some unfortunate coincidences on his own side.
For example, the peerless genius who originally guarded the ninety-ninth pass didn’t need to die at all.
A precious talent like him shouldn’t have risked coming to Hanye Island in the first place.
He himself was originally the sword cultivator responsible for guarding the ninety-ninth pass, while the sword cultivator guarding the one-hundredth pass was someone else entirely—a formidable figure who personally descended from the Tribulation Immortal Hall!
However, that ninth-rank official from the Tribulation Immortal Hall named Yuan Zheng, the true trump card of this Sword Debate Competition, suddenly had a mishap at the last moment, breaking through temporarily and being kicked out of the Novice Realm!
The high-ranking officials of Myriad Blades State who received the news were furious.
It was precisely at this time that the peerless genius said he wanted to gain some practical combat experience, which led him to Hanye Island to serve as the ninety-ninth pass guard.
And then he was gone.
The task of stopping Jiang Ke’er then fell to Qian Xu.
“Good.”
Qian Xu scoffed inwardly, secretly unleashing his cultivation restrictions.
He wasn’t going to be overconfident, even though the cultivation sealed within him and all his preparations were originally meant to deal with Qiao Xiaoxian.
The people above hadn’t anticipated Jiang Ke’er’s strength growing so rapidly…
However, it just so happened that Qiao Xiaoxian wasn’t present, and no one would interfere with him completing his mission. So, he might as well go all out!
Five Elements realm cultivation.
Coupled with the sixth-grade magical sword from the Nine Palaces Merchant Association—Formless Slash.
Since you, Jiang Ke’er, like to play one-hit kills, fine… then let you taste what it’s like to be one-hit killed in return!
With the double true qi bonus provided by the Formless Slash, Qian Xu was confident he could instantly kill even a sixth-rank cultivator.
He was a chosen one with the ability to kill above his rank! What was a mere Two-Form realm minor demon…
Qian Xu gripped his sword with one hand and formed a spell with the other.
His spiritual power burst forth, completely draining the surrounding metal elemental spiritual power!
In a flash, Jiang Ke’er seemed to see Qian Xu transform into a primordial giant forged from metal.
The giant held a terrifying longsword capable of splitting heaven and earth, smashing down towards her, impossible to evade!
The Five Elements Metal Elemental Dharmakaya, visible only to Jiang Ke’er who directly faced Qian Xu’s killing intent, appeared for just an instant but profoundly impacted Jiang Ke’er’s thoughts.
She didn’t know this was a higher level of Five Elements cultivation.
She simply instinctively absorbed countless pieces of information from the fleeting metal elemental dharmakaya, unconsciously integrating them into her own cultivation path, learning and contemplating without realizing it.
She felt like her head was about to explode.
The amount of information was on a completely different level than before, and it was no longer just about sword techniques.
It also contained an understanding of heaven and earth rules and insights into the nature of metal elemental spiritual energy.
She felt that she wasn’t learning sword techniques, but rather using instinct and scarce basic cultivation knowledge to decipher this entire world!
Deciphering the principles of cultivation in this world, deciphering the rules of existence for all things.
Countless strange characters and images danced in her mind.
Her Identification spell flickered.
She even forgot her life-or-death situation, merely instinctively experiencing a certain sensation.
Finally, she replicated this sensation to her dantian, running it once with a strange rhythm.
Then came a “crack”.
It was as if something was gestating from the black gouyu in her dantian, like a new sprout, causing the gouyu to crack slightly.
Her sword-holding hand swung unconsciously.
Jiang Ke’er’s gaze was dazed as she charged directly towards Qian Xu’s sword tip.
Her heel twisted unconsciously, and her speed suddenly accelerated again!
She was so fast that Qian Xu, even with his Five Elements realm cultivation and dynamic vision, couldn’t clearly see Jiang Ke’er’s movement trajectory at all!
What the hell?!
Qian Xu nearly cried out in fear, not just because of the terrifying speed, but also because… he thought he’d seen a Dharmakaya behind Jiang Ke’er!
It was a monstrous nine-tailed creature, a bizarre Dharmakaya he’d never heard of.
No matter what it was, Jiang Ke’er was only in the Two-Form realm! There was no way she should have any connection to a Dharmakaya!
She seemed to have shattered the cultivation ironclad rule that had been unbroken since ancient times, crumpling the rigid hierarchy that all cultivators painstakingly had to obey, and tossing it into the trash like toilet paper.
Immediately after, Jiang Ke’er nimbly leaped, drifting lightly and elegantly over the sword light, circling around to Qian Xu’s back.
With her back to Qian Xu, she held her longsword in a reverse grip, placing her small, third-grade “trash” sword against Qian Xu’s neck from the side.
Maintaining her forward momentum, she gave a gentle flick.
Her long tail swished, and in a blink, she was gracefully gone.
She didn’t seem like a sword cultivator; she moved with the elegance of an assassin.
Jiang Ke’er had no idea what Qian Xu was thinking, nor did she know about the Five Elements realm.
She just felt… Qian Xu’s head flew faster and higher than anyone else’s.
“Thank you for the guidance. You let me win. Farewell.”
“Next.”
She instinctively continued to dash forward, only stopping abruptly at the edge of the cliff, scratching her head in confusion.
“Huh? I passed?” Facing the many cultivators rushing over, Jiang Ke’er muttered disappointedly, “That was fast. I don’t even feel warmed up yet…”
The human cultivators, whose minds were already collapsing, suffered severe secondary damage upon hearing Jiang Ke’er’s words and seeing her genuinely innocent expression, which she couldn’t fake.
Many were so enraged that their spiritual energy ran wild, causing them to go berserk and be carried away.
The entire scene was silent.
The human sword cultivators couldn’t accept reality, so they were speechless.
—It’s over.
Myriad Blades State’s reputation was utterly ruined.
What nonsense about sword cultivators, what noble combat techniques only humans could learn, what a king’s weapon… all the meanings forcibly attributed to the sword as a weapon completely collapsed within these mere ten-odd minutes.
The Way of the Sword was done for.
Perhaps it was just beginning… but that was for the demon race.
With Jiang Ke’er’s talent, she would undoubtedly lead the demon race’s sword dao to a completely new height.
From this day forward, until Jiang Ke’er was defeated by a human sword cultivator of the same realm or until her death, human sword cultivators would never be able to hold their heads high.
Along with the entire Myriad Blades State, they were forever nailed to the pillar of shame.