Plundering the Heavens

Chapter 324: Take Everything

The longsword of Refined Iron was embedded into a tomb at an angle with only a few inches visible from the outside. Its hilt was full of black rust, and the blade itself had been chipped in several areas with all manner of cracks threading throughout, as though it had gone through a great battle. Despite all of this, the sword was still covered in a layer of malice that could not be taken lightly. The sword was like an aged soldier whod just returned from his hundredth battle; his gaze might be dim, his body filled with wounds, his stature weak as though he could fall over at any moment, and yet the malice contained within could not be looked down upon at all.

When Fang Xing looked towards this Refined Iron longsword, he could sense the extraordinary power contained within as well as its mournful cries over days and nights. It felt as though it was a masterless spirit waiting for someone to take it away and bring it back to the battlegrounds after waiting for so long.

Refined Iron Sword Container, refined a hundred times and heated with a naked flame until it became able to communicate with the spirits sword spirit within masterless soul.

Information appeared in Fang Xings mind after his attention was caught by this Refined Iron longsword, and he felt he understood it much better after some careful comprehension. This Refined Iron longsword wasnt an actual sword, it was a sword container that housed the real sword, which was a kind of sword spirit and currently a soul without an owner. This sword spirit was the true Sword Embryo.

Sword Embryos could be nurtured within the bodies of a cultivator, and its battle prowess would increase alongside the cultivators cultivation level. This was the foundation of real techniques of the ancient Flying Swords!

So this is the so-called Sword Embryo everyone has been talking about so much? The golden crow came up as well and took a few glances. It doesnt look very sturdy, though.

Fang Xing responded with a look of disdain. What does being sturdy have to do with being a great treasure? Then, with a short pause, he explained the information hed learned from the Book of Revelation to keep the bird from getting too careless while handling things.

The golden crow was suddenly interested when he heard all of this. Hurry and take the sword spirit, then?

One mustnt do so too hastily. These sword spirits involve ones spirit sense; every person should be able to take only one!

The golden crow was dumbstruck. Then what the hell was the point in coming inside so early?

Fang Xing sighed. I only just found out about this now. Its not like Ive seen it before!

The golden crow gave it some quick thought before responding, Why dont we find the best two and then smash the others?

What a wastral. Fang Xing looked at the crow with contempt and no longer spoke with him.

As an experiment, Fang Xing tentatively pulled the longsword out while carefully sensing it, and he noticed that when the sword was pulled from the tomb, an invisible power seemed to steadily leak out.

Fang Xing immediately understood why the Huangfu clan hadnt taken away all the Sword Embryos for themselves after discovering the Sword Mound. This area had the ability to nurture these Sword Embryos, and if the Sword Embryo was pulled free, its spirit would begin to slowly leak out. There was a high likelihood that if they were unable to find someone to nurture the Sword Embryo, the spirit would dissipate faster and faster until it was completely gone and the Sword Embryo was no more.

These Sword Embryos could be considered a spiritual existence and were only able to survive in specific circumstances. This longsword was similar to the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits that could house beast spirits, but this sword had received far too much damage to protect the Sword Embryo any longer, and the only way to keep their spirits intact was to keep them inside this tomb chosen by the Mysterious Domain. This was the only place the sword spirits were able to just barely maintain themselves, and as soon as they were pulled free, the spirits would begin to disperse.

Nn, seems well only be able to keep them for three days before they all dissipate, but that should be enough! Fang Xing waved his hands after making up his mind. Ill take them, Ill f*cking take them all!

These words were the ones the golden crow liked most. His eyes brightened and he flapped his wings to fly off into the distance while Fang Xing began to move as well. It was as though this man and crow were pulling carrots out of the soil, and anywhere there was a Sword Embryo, theyd go and pull it out. Before long, nearly all of the hundred or so Sword Embryos in the outer areas of the graveyard had been collected into his storage sack, with only a small amount near the southeastern entrance of the valley remaining. That was where the battle was taking place right now, and they didnt want to alert anyone to what they were doing.

This should be enough from the outer areas. Theres still the ones inside the grand hall. Fang Xing stopped the golden crow who was completely indulging in his happiness and looked towards the great black hall at the depths of the Sword Mound. It was a rather abnormal-looking hall, one that was a solid black as though built from a single material. It stood at a slant within the Sword Mound and the exterior was considerably tattered and worn down, yet the hall itself gave off a bone-chilling aura.

It was possible to see the Huangfu clans formations scattered about the graveyard, yet there wasnt any sign of formations surrounding the grand hall, as though even the Huangfu clan didnt have enough power to do so. Based on the information from Li Ying, this was where the highest-quality Sword Embryos would be.

The reason for the alliance in the first place was to get the Sword Embryos housed inside this grand hall. As the prince of Ghost Kingdom, Li Ying had in fact received a summons from Huangfu Shenji that allowed him to enter and choose a Sword Embryo. The summons had been taken by his sister in advance, yet Li Ying had decided not to go back to his sister to retrieve his summons and had instead formed an alliance with Fang Xing at great risk to enter the Sword Mound without one. The reason for such a decision was simple: Li Ying knew the summons would only allow him to choose from the ordinary Sword Embryos outside the grand hall, and what he actually wanted was access to the highest-quality Sword Embryos hidden in the depths of the grand hall deep within the Sword Mound.

Thered been a few cultivators whod managed to investigate the area before the Huangfu clan locked up the Sword Mound, and said cultivators had found that the qualities of the Sword Embryos in the outer areas couldnt even be compared to those in the depths of the black hall. It was unknown why the first group of cultivators who arrived werent able to obtain any Sword Embryos in the halls depths and could only get a sword from the outer areas, but it was from their regretful stories that news of the differences spread.

Since Fang Xing had access to such a place, normal Sword Embryos would naturally be out of the questionif he could have only one, he wanted the best. The ordinary ones couldnt be left behind either though, of course, considering how much they were worth!

Fang Xing carefully scrutinized the area after arriving at the front of the grand hall, but when he saw there wasnt any present danger, he picked up his courage and pushed open the doors.

Creak .

The interior was exposed to him, but the hall was pitch black with an icy cold atmosphere. This kind of chill didnt come from a low temperature, either, but from some kind of existence that kept any sunlight from filtering inside.

After Fang Xings eyes got used to the darkness, he could see five altars within. The five altars were blue, red, white, gold, and purple, and they were arranged in a star shape at the center of the grand hall. The altars were each thirty inches tall and had a broken sword placed on top with different shapes and appearances. The swords were also all blue, red, white, gold, and purple, and yet over these colors was a shade of ancient bronze as well, showing that these five swords were all forged from copper.

Thats not right. The swords outside are all made from Refined Iron, so why are the five swords in this hall made from copper? the golden crow muttered in confusion once hed managed to get a look inside as well.

It was common knowledge that iron was more durable than copper, and Refined Iron was a hundred times more condensed and solid than ordinary iron. This was why most of the spirit weapons in the cultivation realm were crafted with Refined Iron, aside from a few that required special materials. It was rare to use copper to craft anything since not only was copper weakpreventing the weapon from being able to withstand combatthey were extremely brittle and prone to rust. In the present-day cultivation realm, using Refined Iron for spirit tools and weapons was the norm and copper tools had become a rare sight.

And yet, such an odd phenomenon had appeared inside this Sword Mound. Those low-quality Sword Embryos in the outer areas were crafted with Refined Iron, whereas the five colored Sword Embryos in the grand hall were crafted with a curious kind of bronze.

Although Fang Xing wasnt able to understand the reason even after some thought, he quickly came to his decision. Who cares! The deeper inside, the more value it has! This is an unchanging rule, so well take them all too!

Alright. The golden crow spat on his claws and flew towards the altar that was closest to him. He moved his black claws that were as tough as the weapons of gods soldiers towards the bronze sword on the blue altar precisely the same way hed plucked the swords outside like carrots, but before his claws even managed to touch the copper swords surface, a blue light flashed across the altar and rippled forward. Oh my god! the golden crow cried out, right before he was flung away like an arrow.

Fang Xing had been standing behind the golden crow, and he flinched in surprise when he saw the crow suddenly be shoved away. The golden crow groaned and believed Fang Xing would catch him, but after the moment of initial surprise, Fang Xing instead jumped to the side so the golden crow could sail past.

Boom .

The golden crow was sent flying out of the grand hall, and a mournful cry rose up after a long time had passed. You bastard, you have no sense of camaraderie.

Fang Xing let out a sigh of relief before cursing back, Who told you to be so impatient? As long as the golden crow wasnt dead, hed be fine; Fang Xing stopped worrying about him and instead turned his head to carefully inspect these five altars. The Book of Revelation within his mind began to turn, and it fortunately only needed to use a third of his Qi before it was able to identify the name and function of these five altars.

These were complex and mysterious Spirit Support Altars that existed for the purpose of nurturing Sword Embryos and keeping them from dissipating. At the same time, these altars had a strange restriction that prevented anyone from taking the Sword Embryos, which could only be removed from the inside. In other words, these five differently colored Sword Embryos could only come out of their own volition and nobody could obtain them before then.

The golden crow massaged his waist while crawling back into the grand hall. Have you found anything yet? he asked when he noticed Fang Xing in deep thought.

Fang Xing sighed and looked helplessly towards these five Sword Embryos. Yes, I have.

The golden crow trusted Fang Xing completely and was filled with joy. Then how do we get them?

Fang Xing let out a long sigh. We gotta suck up to them.