Chapter Sixty: The Three Thousand Feet Sword Bridge

  The ice surface of Mingyue Lake, with Lu Qing as the center, began to melt rapidly within a radius of several feet. The icy water gradually spread across the ice surface, wetting Zhao Qianye's boots, but he didn't move, his eyes fixed intently on Lu Qing's transformation.

  Half a time later, the purple and blue light on Lu Qing's body finally dissipated. A moment later, Lu Qing opened his eyes. Including Duanyan and Duanqin Cloud not far away, they both felt two sharp purple and blue lights flashing by. As for Yu Ji and Hua, who were in the same Tianwei realm as Lu Qing, they felt a deep pressure at this moment.

  This shows that Lu Qing already posed enough of a threat to him.

  He stood up tall, Lu Qing looked down at the ice cave that had already formed a small pool under his feet, with half of his calf submerged in it. His right leg shook lightly, and he suddenly floated up into the air. With his right hand, he grasped the Heart Refining Sword stuck in the ice surface, and after rising to a height of six zhang, he slashed down through the air.

  Sigh——

  A foot-long purple-blue sword energy shot out, almost at a speed that was hard to discern with the naked eye, and pierced through several giant trees that were as thick as several people could hug.

  Boom——Boom——Boom——

  A few feet in diameter holes appeared in each tree trunk, the sap inside was instantly evaporated, and a faint green smoke emerged.

  Dropping to the edge of the pond, Lu Qing's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise. This Wind and Thunder Sword Qi was indeed formidable. Without incorporating the Wind and Thunder energies, he would have needed at least two sword energies to achieve the same effect. The destructive power and penetration had greatly improved after adding the Xun wind energy.

  "There are always many things about you that surprise me." Zhao Qianye appeared beside Lu Qing at some point, gazing at him with profound meaning in her eyes.

  "I'm afraid I'm no match for you now," Yu Jihua also came over from one side, "Your Wind and Thunder Sword Qi is even more terrifying than Qianye's."

  "How are you feeling now?" Zhao Qianye asked.

  Lu Qing sank into thought for a moment before saying, "The Thunder Energy has fully merged in, while the Xun Wind energy is unfamiliar since it's just entering, so only a tiny bit has merged."

  Nodding, Zhao Qianye said: "It should be, your original Purple Electric Sword Yuan gave you a talent that others don't have. This thunder energy doesn't need to be as difficult to tame as ours. From now on, just keep getting familiar with the Xun wind energy until it's fully integrated, and your Wind Thunder sword energy will truly take shape. The current power is only half of it."

  "Half!" Lu Qing and Yu Ji Hua were both shocked at the same time.

  "Not bad," Zhao Qianye nodded affirmatively, "don't underestimate any power outside the Five Elements, especially when two or more elemental attributes combine. As long as they don't counteract each other, their combination can almost possess nearly double the might of a single attribute."

  He paused, "And Lei, known for its destructive power, Xun Feng, known for its speed. Xun Feng is manageable, but Lei is almost universally recognized as the most difficult to guide and merge with among the Ten Million Great Mountain's powers. The combination of these two, their strength isn't something you can easily judge."

  However, Lu Qing was not thinking about these things at this time. At this moment, he was still confused by the scene that had just occurred. Originally, his dantian's endurance had already reached its limit, and all he needed to do was wait for Zhao Qianye, the guardian deity beside him, to cut off his spiritual connection with the wind and thunder energies. But then, a blood-red ancient long sword suddenly appeared in his dantian's qihai, exactly like the one that had appeared when he was building his foundation, except this time it directly appeared in his dantian's qihai.

  As soon as the blood-colored long sword appeared, the Xun wind seemed to have encountered something terrifying and instantly became docile, allowing Sword Yuan to swallow it in. Until the last wisp of Xun wind was swallowed, the edge of the blood-colored long sword shattered like ice fragments into starry dots, dispersing into the Dan Tian.

  This blood-colored long sword is not simple, Lu Qing thought to himself, but after the matter, he couldn't find even a hint of the sword's shadow, which made his heart even more suspicious. The mysterious person, the blood-colored long sword, and that mysterious old man in the deep alley of Chaoyang City who could release sword intent... Unconsciously, Lu Qing thought of that ordinary-looking old man again, an unfathomable swordsman.

  "Alright, since Lu Qing has already accepted the power seed, let's prepare and set off in two days." Yu Jihua said.

  "Departure?" Lu Qing was stunned, "You guys——"

  He nodded, and exchanged a glance with Duan Qingyun who was walking over. Yu Jihua said: "We've received news that the Beast Ruins' five-yearly riot is about to begin. The Outer Affairs Hall and the Sword God Temple have jointly issued a large-scale mission to garrison the city of Luorijing. Anyone who is a sword attendant or above can receive it."

  "Riot?" Lu Qing asked in confusion, this matter, he had never heard of it before, after all, he was only thirteen years old, and many things still needed to be accumulated, which was also the reason why his master Xuanqing let him go down the mountain this time.

  "Not bad, it's just the Beast Ruins riot near the City of Sunset," Yu Jihua said affirmatively, with a somewhat serious expression on his face. "The Beast Ruins is a gathering place for spiritual beasts adjacent to my Purple Mist Sect and Qingyu Sect, covering an area of nearly 100 miles. The ranks of the spiritual beasts inside are mostly only one rank, with few reaching two or even three ranks. As for four-rank spiritual beasts, they are almost non-existent in the Beast Ruins. Of course, that Thunder Python discovered before the annual festival is already a rare sight in over a decade."

  "While the riot, until now the reason is unknown, every five years, the spiritual beast inside will be led by one or two third-order spiritual beasts to trample the towns and villages around Lu Ri Cheng. Wherever they pass, nothing is left, and this has been going on for nearly a hundred years. Therefore, every five years, the Foreign Affairs Hall will issue such a garrison mission, with double the usual points, and the spiritual beast you kill can be completely handled by yourself."

  He nodded and Zhao Qianye said, "Spirit beasts absorb various spiritual energies and powers from the heavens and earth, possessing abilities that make people wonder. Especially their spiritual blood, before the fifth stage, all the essence of their bodies is scattered in their fresh blood. For us, who have received the power of the seed, killing a spirit beast of the same rank as us, their spiritual blood is of great help in fusing with the power of the seed."

  "Not bad, and the fight with the spiritual beast is also a good exercise for us to improve our swordsmanship. It allows us to accumulate enough experience, even faster than if we were just practicing alone." Duan Qingyun spoke seriously, causing some surprise among Lu Qing and the others. Is this really Duan Qingyun? However, the three of them didn't say anything, while Yu Jihua looked at Duan Qingyun with a thoughtful expression.

  Everyone went back to prepare some things. During this time, Lu Qing made a trip to the sword casting house and handed over a wooden box entrusted by Qi Lao to Huang Lao. However, Huang Lao kept making clicking noises with his mouth, sizing up Lu Qing for half a stick of incense before letting him leave.

  One day later, four people left the Chaoyang Palace and headed towards the peak. In front of the palace gate, Nie Qingtian was leaning against the wall with a white martial attire, holding a jug of Qingyu wine and pouring it into his mouth. He looked at the four people going up and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. Then, under the astonished gaze of the two outer door disciples guarding the gate, he transformed into a white light and headed towards the peak.

  A moment later, five figures stepped onto the snowy peak of Chaoyang Peak. Here, the clouds and fog were vast and confusing, looking down, there was even a layer of cloud and fog gathering and dispersing under their feet, but it was actually Lu Qing and his party, and Nie Qingtian was also among them. When he caught up, it really surprised several people, but after seeing the turbulent battle intention that flowed out unintentionally in his eyes, the four of them understood.

  At the top of the peak, there is a small stone house. Next to the stone house, an old man about seventy years old sits cross-legged on the snowy ground in front of the house. What's strange is that the snow around him doesn't melt at all, as if he were sitting on a big ice block.

  "You will cross Cambridge."

  "Yes, and please have the Four Guardians open up the sword formation. This is our waist badge." Yu Ji stepped forward, bowed his body, and presented the five people's identity badges in his hand.

  "En—" nodded, the old man raised his hand and waved it, instantly a scorching hot sword energy shot out, its entire body purple-red, at least ten feet long, shooting into the void outside the cliff facing Zixia Peak. Under the gaze of Lu Qing and others, that sword energy seemed to have fallen into a pool like a drop of water, creating ripples in the empty space, and then a shocking scene appeared before Lu Qing.

  Although he had heard that the summit had a sky bridge leading to the Central Purple Ruins, when he really saw it, Lu Qing was still shocked. This wasn't a sky bridge at all, but rather a sword bridge.

  This bridge spanned the clouds and fog, its entire body a deep black, entirely constructed from countless refined black iron swords. The tips of the swords connected to their hilts, forming a sword-hilt shape along the cliff edge that was several zhang long. The guardrails were also made up of straight-standing, densely-packed black iron swords. Looking out at the bridge, it seemed to be at least three thousand zhang long, its entire body radiating a faint purple glow. Lu Qing knew this was the power of the sword array above.

  At this time, looking from afar, it seemed like a giant sword spanning two peaks, its entire body emitting an astonishing and heart-pounding sword aura that didn't leak out but was instead contained on the bridge's surface. However, with Lu Qing and the others' cultivation having reached the level of refining their innate abilities, their divine sense could vaguely feel the might of this Sword Bridge.

  It's likely that once the sword array is activated, its power will be enough to shock heaven and earth, shaking mountains.

  This is the means of a thousand-year-old sect on the verge of advancing to the Golden Heaven level!

  What a stroke of genius!

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