I should devote all my focus to cultivation and forming my Spiritual Infant. Qin Sang thought.

Of the two jade slips in his possession, one recorded the Qingzhu Sword Scripture, while the other contained the second section of the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment.

There was no need to rush into studying the Qingzhu Sword Scripture for now. Taking a deep breath, Qin Sang extended his spiritual consciousness into the second jade slip.

To this day, he still did not know the true name of the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment.

In the depths of the Nether Valley, Qin Sang had obtained the later five stages of this art, which could be cultivated from the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm all the way to the late stage of the Spiritual Infant Realm.

At that time, he had only skimmed through it briefly and had felt both joy and concern. The joy came from discovering that the later parts of the art remained as formidable as before.

The sixth and seventh stages introduced two new killing symbols, quite different from the ones Qingzhu had created himself. They were far more intricate and profound.

Even a genius like Qingzhu could not transcend the limits of his own era and personal understanding.

This cultivation art must have been the culmination of countless generations’ efforts, perfected through endless trial and refinement, a legacy no single individual could achieve alone.

Naturally, Qin Sang had to switch to cultivating the real killing symbols and begin anew from the sixth stage.

Fortunately, since Qingzhu’s creations were based on this very foundation, both killing symbol systems shared the same origin. Even if Qin Sang started over, he could quickly regain his current level of cultivation.

Reaching the peak of the Core Formation Realm would not take long either. The authentic killing symbols would allow him to progress even faster.

Once he mastered all seven killing symbols, Qin Sang estimated that his cultivation speed would surpass that of most dual-spiritual-root cultivators.

Whether he could rival the so-called ones favoured by the heavens, those born with Heavenly Spiritual Roots, he could not yet say. After all, his own foundation was far too shallow.

However, after reaching the Spiritual Infant Realm, he would no longer be able to forge new killing symbols.

The Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment contained only seven killing symbols in total!

At that point, his cultivation speed would still remain exceptional, but that would mark the limit. And with it came the part that worried Qin Sang most.

Before the Core Formation Realm, each minor realm breakthrough had been smooth. So long as he condensed a new killing symbol, he could easily advance without encountering bottlenecks caused by his art.[1]

That advantage would vanish after reaching the Spiritual Infant Realm. Beyond that realm, every bottleneck could only be broken through by his own strength.

"Killing symbols..." Qin Sang murmured softly.

It was only after forming the Spiritual Infant that the true purpose of the killing symbols would be revealed, as they were tied to a new supernatural ability known as the Seven-Yin-Soul Killing Array.

During the Core Formation Realm, the art’s supernatural ability manifested naturally through the ebony sword, splitting into separate sword lights.

At the early stage, one sword light was formed. At the middle stage, two more appeared. At the late stage, four additional lights emerged, for a total of seven.

Each of these seven sword lights carried a fragment of the cultivator’s soul aura. They were what Qingzhu had called sword souls!

If one failed to form the Spiritual Infant and no longer aspired to ascend further, these seven sword souls could each be refined into an external incarnation. With seven incarnations equivalent to late-stage Core Formation cultivators, such a person could easily dominate anyone below the Spiritual Infant Realm.

These seven sword souls were deeply entwined with the later cultivation process.

The method required the cultivator to project the killing symbols on their life-bound spiritual sword onto the sword souls, then refine those seven sword souls into their primordial spirit, gradually merging them with the seven yin souls!

The Seven-Yin-Soul Killing Array was named after this very process! Reading up to this point, Qin Sang couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath.

The three yang souls and seven yin souls were profound and mysterious beyond measure.[2]

Within the immortal cultivation world, there were indeed many arts involving the soul, yet most of them were vague and generalized. This was the first time Qin Sang had ever seen a cultivation method that clearly separated the three yang souls and seven yin souls, and even used them as part of the cultivation process.

The Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment actually required the seven yin souls to merge with sword light and killing symbols. This was something utterly unheard of.

Do I need to refine the seven yin souls into sword spirits?

"Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment, Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment... Perhaps it should really be called the Primordial Spirit Sword Refinement?" Qin Sang murmured to himself.

"What a pity the art is incomplete. I can’t tell what its ultimate form is meant to be. Sword cultivators truly are madmen!"

Regardless, before forming his Spiritual Infant, he could not change his cultivation art. Once he reached the Spiritual Infant Realm, he could dedicate himself to a deeper understanding of it. Perhaps his confusion came only because his current cultivation was too shallow, making his interpretation biased.

"With the sword spirit and the Killing Sword fragment, it’s foreseeable that I might one day gather both the complete art and the Killing Sword. It’d be far too great a pity to abandon it halfway. Judging from the aura of Ziwei Palace and Seven-Kill Hall, they must have been top-tier powers in ancient times. Countless sword cultivators must have poured their lifetimes into this art. It certainly holds great meaning..."

Qin Sang temporarily set these doubts aside. He examined the killing symbol of the sixth stage of the Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment and linked his mind to the ebony sword.

Dispelling the killing symbol created by Senior Qingzhu would cause his cultivation to fall back to the early stage of the Core Formation Realm. Though regaining his strength wouldn’t be difficult, it would still take time.

For now, the priority was to retrieve the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid and handle his remaining matters. Once he found a secure place to settle, he would enter seclusion again, striving to reach the peak of the Core Formation Realm in one go and prepare to form his Spiritual Infant.

A month later, Qin Sang left the cave dwelling and continued southward.

"Xuanlu Stronghold belongs to Shaohua Mountain’s territory. I wonder if Dongyang Bo and Shaohua Mountain still exist. It’s been three months since Ziwei Palace emerged, so cultivators from the seven strongholds should be out searching for treasures by now. I’ll ask someone first. If Xuanlu Stronghold is still in Shaohua Mountain’s hands, I’ll have to enter from Yinshan Stronghold instead..."

As Qin Sang planned his route, his figure swept swiftly across the sky toward the south.

Unexpectedly, throughout the entire journey, he didn’t encounter a single cultivator. That surprised him.

"Do the cultivators of Small Cold Domain no longer come to Ancient Immortal Battlefield?"

Landing atop a barren mountain, Qin Sang gazed toward the south. The Spirit Tide was nearing its end; Foundation Building cultivators should already have been out searching for treasures, yet not a single figure could be seen.

Even if the Ancient Immortal Battlefield was vast and sparsely populated, such emptiness was far too unusual.

Given that, he dared not rashly enter the stronghold. Just then, Qin Sang suddenly recalled something.

Years ago, while cultivating in the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, he had once followed Che Yutao, a disciple of Dongyang Bo, to explore an ancient cultivator’s estate.

It was there that he had been captured by the old man Di Que. After several perilous encounters, he had managed to kill him, obtaining Di Que’s insect-controlling technique, the Crimson Fire Gilded Gold, and the Nine-Dragon Heavenly Chariot Talisman.

After being transported to the Witch God Continent, these treasures had played vital roles in cultivating his life-bound insect gu and subduing both the fat silkworm and the Sky-Eyed Butterfly.

It could be said that his achievements today were inseparably linked to that encounter.

And the entire incident had begun because Di Que coveted the Inner Vision Primordial Talisman of Daoist Master Xuanyu from the Shangyuan Tranquility Palace, claiming that the talisman could assist in forming the Spiritual Infant.

Yet after both Di Que and Daoist Master Xuanyu perished, Qin Sang never found that talisman.

Later, when upheaval struck the depths of the ancient estate, spatial rifts spread across the surrounding mountains. Che Yutao and the others were forced to retreat. Qin Sang, still only at the Foundation Building Realm, lacked the power to explore further and had never returned since.

"I wonder who controls that ancient estate now. I might as well take a look."

After a moment of thought, Qin Sang decided to make a detour there. He still remembered where the entrance lay.

Truthfully, he didn’t hold much hope. Even if the Inner Vision Primordial Talisman still remained there, neither destroyed nor taken, whether it truly aided in forming the Spiritual Infant was uncertain.

Otherwise, why would the Shangyuan Tranquility Palace have ever lacked Spiritual Infant cultivators?

1. Minor realm is used to refer to stages within a realm. For example, early stage to middle stage of the same realm would be a minor realm. ☜

2. Hun(魂) and po(魄) are types of souls in Chinese philosophy and traditional religion. Within this ancient soul dualism tradition, every living human has both a hun spiritual, ethereal, yang soul which leaves the body after death, and also a po corporeal, substantive, yin soul which remains with the corpse of the deceased. Some controversy exists over the number of souls in a person; for instance, one of the traditions within Daoism proposes a soul structure of sanhunqipo (三魂七魄), i.e., "three hun and seven po". ☜