At this moment... with the divine sword and the nascent soul, Xiao Wenbing had everything ready except for the final push.
Volume 22, Chapter 44: Condensing the Divine Sword (Part 1)
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The cultivation of sword techniques involves introducing a differentiated nascent soul into the divine sword and replacing it, thus completely controlling the divine sword within one's heart.
This is why ten thousand swords must be forged in one furnace. Only when the spirituality is dispersed will a divine sword not possess too much spirituality, thus preventing the creation of a true spirit within the weapon. Only by differentiating the nascent soul can one seize the opportunity to gain control of the divine sword.
He guided a nascent soul out of the Heavenly Void Ring. Looking at this naked little figure that looked exactly like himself, Xiao Wenbing felt a strange sensation in his heart.
He then took out a replica of the Heavenly Dao, focused his mind, and exhaled the Nine Flavors True Fire, using his own divine power to condense a sword infant.
With his mind as the guide and divine power as the means, the method of condensing the Myriad Swords Technique has its own wonders. An hour later, he had successfully condensed his first Nascent Soul Sword.
Carefully sensing the Nascent Soul Sword, a strange and comfortable feeling inexplicably arose within me.
He understood, of course, that this was because of the nascent soul within the sword.
Gently sensing every change in the divine sword with his divine sense, he felt an instant connection with it, as if they were flesh and blood. Slowly, the Nascent Soul Sword shrank, eventually reaching a length of only three inches.
He opened his palm, and the Nascent Soul Sword flew into his hand, lying there quietly.
Although the sword was incredibly small, Xiao Wenbing could still clearly sense the immense power it contained.
A satisfied smile spread across his lips; this was the true divine sword.
Size, length, weight, and power are all determined by the mind; everything is as the mind dictates.
The Myriad Swords Technique is indeed a unique cultivation method, but it is also a method that incorporates weapon crafting techniques. Only grandmasters who have truly mastered weapon crafting to a profound level can truly comprehend its power.
The first line of small characters on the sword manual reads like this:
One sword to master the basics, a hundred swords to annihilate immortals, a thousand swords to slaughter gods, ten thousand swords to be invincible.
What a magnificent display of invincibility with ten thousand swords!
However, upon thinking of those words, Xiao Wenbing's smile gradually froze. Suddenly, he felt a surge of doubt and distrust towards them.
With his thick, long eyebrows furrowed, Xiao Wenbing began to call upon his half-teacher, half-friend, Mirror God.
"Mirror God, come out."
A wisp of smoke drifted out from the Heavenly Void Ring, quickly revealing the illusory body of the Mirror God: "What are you doing?"
“Something’s not right with this sword,” Xiao Wenbing said decisively.
The Mirror God's divine sense merged with Xiao Wenbing's divine sense, and the next moment it lightly swept across the divine sword.
“It’s perfectly normal,” Mirror God asked, seeing nothing amiss.
"Its power is insufficient."
"No way." The Mirror God was greatly surprised, and its gaze towards Xiao Wenbing suddenly became somewhat strange. It coughed and solemnly admonished, "It's just a mere divine sword, yet the power it unleashes has reached the pinnacle of a cultivator's realm. It can be said to be able to contend with a level ten spiritual weapon. Are you still not satisfied?"
“Mirror God, this is a replica of the Heavenly Dao Divine Sword.” Xiao Wenbing patiently explained, “The Heavenly Dao Divine Sword itself is a top-grade divine weapon. If it is not possessed by a Nascent Soul, its power is enough to shake the heavens and the earth. But after the Nascent Soul is possessed, why has its power decreased so much? It’s now almost the same as a level ten spiritual weapon. Refining, refining, is it possible that the more you refine, the worse it gets?”
"Hmm, this... seems to be a problem," Mirror God said seriously.
“Of course it’s a problem.” Xiao Wenbing said irritably, “I’ve only ever heard that the more you refine a weapon, the better it becomes, but I never knew that the more you refine it, the more useless it becomes.”
The Mirror God stopped speaking and instead probed the divine sword with his divine sense once more.
Xiao Wenbing immediately stopped talking. He knew that although his cultivation speed was unparalleled, in terms of knowledge, he could not catch up with the spirit of the artifact, which was more flexible than most gods.
After a long while, the Mirror God let out a long sigh and said, "I understand."
"Haha." Xiao Wenbing flattered, "I knew it. As long as the Mirror God takes action, he will be able to find the problem immediately. Tell me, what is the reason?"
"It's your own fault," Mirror God said coldly.
"Me?" Xiao Wenbing was greatly surprised. Could it be that there was something wrong with the steps he had taken during his cultivation? He carefully recalled every step of his cultivation and finally realized with sorrow that although his actions were not perfect, they were absolutely following the instructions exactly.
"That's right, it's you." However, the Mirror God didn't give him any face, and said directly, "Your Nascent Soul level is too low."
A mere Nascent Soul cultivator could hardly unleash the full power of the divine sword.
Xiao Wenbing was furious and said, "Mirror God, my Nascent Souls have absorbed the most refined immortal spiritual energy. Even if you take them out one by one, they are no less powerful than those cultivators in the Great Completion stage."
"Yes, you yourself said it's at the Great Completion stage, so the maximum power this immortal sword can unleash is at the level of a level ten spiritual weapon."
Xiao Wenbing was taken aback, and his heart skipped a beat. If that were really the case, wouldn't this sword manual become a useless tool?
After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Are you saying that because my Nascent Soul ability is insufficient, I cannot unleash the true power of the Heavenly Dao Divine Sword?"
"That's right."
"Is there a way to fully utilize it?"
"From your current perspective, there is actually a way."
"Speak quickly." Xiao Wenbing's eyes lit up. He had personally experienced the power of the Heavenly Dao Divine Sword. Even a treasure god might not possess such powerful energy. If we follow the words of the Lonely God, as long as the full power of this divine sword can be unleashed, even a high-level god would flee in terror.
If I were to unleash the full divine power of the Heavenly Dao Divine Sword, then…
Thinking of this, Xiao Wenbing suddenly felt more confident about the saying "A thousand swords can slay gods, ten thousand swords can be invincible".
The Mirror God didn't sense his excitement, and simply said calmly, "As long as you self-destruct and consume all the power of the Nascent Soul in an instant, you can unleash the full power of the Heavenly Dao replica."
"Self-destruction?"
"That's right. Anyway, you have a lot of Nascent Souls, so it's no big deal if a few self-destruct. Just keep detonating them, and you'll get used to it soon."
A black line slowly gathered on Xiao Wenbing's forehead, and his voice seemed to seep out from between his teeth: "Mirror God..."
The Mirror God shuddered. Why did he feel a chill all over his body even though he had no physical form?
"Haha, just kidding," it thought to itself, then quickly said, "Actually, you're just too impatient."
"How so?"
"This Ten Thousand Swords Technique is indeed an unparalleled skill. Its most important feature is that it accumulates quantitative changes to achieve qualitative changes."
Xiao Wenbing pondered these words, as if he had gained some insight.
“You only have one divine sword, so its power is naturally not great. But if you could combine ten swords into one, then the power you possess would undergo a qualitative change.” The Mirror God explained honestly, “Ten swords combined into one is the first transformation, a hundred swords combined into one is the second transformation, and a thousand swords combined into one is the third transformation. If you could reach the highest level of the fourth transformation, then each divine sword could unleash one hundred percent of the power of the Heavenly Dao Divine Sword.”
Xiao Wenbing's eyes lit up immediately. So that's how it works. Then when he cultivates ten thousand divine swords, wouldn't that be equivalent to the powerful strength of ten thousand real Heavenly Dao Divine Swords gathered together?
The power of ten thousand top-grade divine weapons—it's enough to kill gods and Buddhas alike.
Once he reaches that level, aside from the old tortoise and the lonely god, probably no one would dare to challenge him.
A hundred swords can annihilate immortals, a thousand swords can slaughter gods, and ten thousand swords can make one invincible. So that's the reason.
If he were to cultivate to the fourth stage, when all ten thousand swords were combined into one, who knows how powerful they would be? Just thinking about it is enough to make one's heart tremble.
With a sudden thought, Xiao Wenbing asked curiously, "Mirror God, do you remember that in the cultivation world there is a method of refining weapons called the Hundredfold Technique? It seems to be very similar to this Myriad Swords Technique."
“Yes.” Mirror God considered for a moment and said, “Perhaps these two cultivation techniques were created by the same person.”
He nodded slightly. Since arriving in the Immortal Realm, he had rarely seen anyone use the Hundredfold Technique when refining weapons. This was naturally due to the extremely low success rate, so even among weapon masters, the Hundredfold Technique was not popular.
The extremely low success rate and stringent conditions are exactly the same as those of the Myriad Swords Technique.
Now that the Mirror God has said that, it does seem quite possible.
Suddenly, a loud bird call came from high in the sky. Xiao Wenbing suddenly realized what was going on and laughed, "Mirror God, don't discuss these things with me. Go back. I need to continue my cultivation."
The Mirror God responded listlessly. "You were the one who spoke first, yet you're blaming me. That's really unreasonable."
Ignoring the Mirror God's inner grumbling as he re-entered the Heavenly Void Ring, Xiao Wenbing sat cross-legged, took out the second replica of the Heavenly Dao Divine Sword, and began to infuse it with his nascent soul.
Volume 22, Chapter 45: Condensing the Divine Sword (Part 2)
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Streams of spiritual energy were continuously poured into the divine sword, simultaneously entering a newly formed nascent soul that had been lively just moments before.
This kind of nascent soul was originally intended for creating external avatars. Now, using it to manipulate the divine sword can be considered another form of external avatar.
However, the power of this sword-shaped avatar far surpasses that of ordinary ones.
Each time Xiao Wenbing forges a divine sword, it takes him five days. This process is already at its most perfect level under the control of the divine essence; any faster and it would be impossible.
Day after day, year after year, when he finally forged the thousandth divine sword, he had lived in this beautiful forest for more than five thousand days.
When the thousandth divine sword was successfully forged, a powerful aura capable of destroying the heavens and the earth surged from Xiao Wenbing's body. That incomparable, supremely strong divine power completely silenced the entire forest.
At this moment, everyone understood that the person who had brought them to the Immortal Realm had passed the final tribulation of refining the spirit and officially entered the ranks of the gods.
Having condensed a thousand divine swords, Qianjian Tushen naturally met the standard for becoming a god. Therefore, at this moment, he naturally entered the highest hall of cultivators.
The roc in the sky cried out loudly, and Zhang Yaqi on its back showed a gratified smile.
Inside the Immortal Imprisonment Cave, Zha, whose divine body had been fully restored, slowly awoke from his meditation. Feeling the aura that was even more powerful than that of the Supreme God, he looked relieved.
Looking back, all the decisions and investments made in the past have been worthwhile.
Xiao Wenbing raised his divine sword high, looked up to the sky and roared. After more than ten years of hard work, he finally succeeded.
That kind of ecstatic joy that came from the bottom of his heart was naturally unknown to outsiders.
Thousands of powerful and unparalleled sword lights soared into the sky, forming a magnificent and dazzling lotus of light in the air.
With a startled cry, the roc flapped its wings and soared into the sky. Even though it was the god among birds, possessing steel feathers with protective power almost like a divine artifact, it dared not confront the thousand sword lights head-on here.
A figure swirling with multicolored light slowly descended amidst the endless sword light.
The powerful sword light, though seemingly indestructible, automatically swarmed around the five-colored radiance upon encountering it; its control was entirely at the heart of the mind. This demonstrates that Xiao Wenbing's divine nature had officially reached its pinnacle.
"Wenbing, congratulations."