"So the Sects hid them away to be secretly trained?"

"Bah!" An Gongyu said with disdain. "Those Noble Families sent their Celestial Spirit Root geniuses to the Central Continent long ago to join the Major Sects there."

The Major Sects of the Central Continent have incredibly high standards for a cultivator’s talent and lineage, but they will always accept someone with a Celestial Spirit Root, no questions asked.

"The Major Sects of the Central Continent are nothing but a bunch of selfish bastards. Back in the day, the power and influence of our Seven Sects weren’t the slightest bit weaker than theirs! We moved to the Western Continent for the sake of the Human Race’s grand design. But look at our current state—we face generational gaps and don’t even have a Divinity Transformation Cultivator in our sects. The Nine Yang Sect was even annihilated, its lineage completely severed."

After reaching Core Formation, Golden Core Cultivators from the Western Continent all journey to the Central Continent to gain experience. Some even settle there permanently and never return.

Fueled by the spirit wine, An Gongyu recounted many tales of his past travels in the Central Continent.

Yang Jing listened, drinking along with him. Before he’d transmigrated, the Central Continent map in the game Nine Heavens World hadn’t even been released, so it was fair to say he knew very little about it.

An Gongyu’s heart was heavy with frustration, and before long, he too passed out drunk.

"Yang Jing, in a thousand years, our Six Sects have only produced two geniuses who could hold a candle to those from the Central Continent. One is Yan Bing of the Taixu Sword Sect, and the other is you. Restoring the glory of our Six Sects is your inescapable duty!"

Yang Jing had someone come and help An Gongyu to a room to rest.

’Yan Bing is the name of the Hall Master of the Taixu Sword Sect’s Demon Slaying Hall.’ The name was one Yang Jing had heard countless times. Among all the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Six Sects, he was considered the most likely to advance to the Divinity Transformation realm.

"Central Continent... Central Continent..."

Yang Jing muttered the name of the Central Continent a couple of times, then sat down cross-legged to begin refining the surging Spiritual Qi in his Dantian.

’This Cyan Jade Liquid from the Heavenly Yi Han Family is really potent!’

Billowing Spiritual Qi was drawn in by his Five Elements Wheel and refined into Magical Power.

Seven days had passed by the time Yang Jing finished refining all the Spiritual Qi from the spirit wine. He had managed to condense one more drop of Magical Power from it.

Spirit wine of a comparable grade is far less effective for increasing one’s Magical Power than elixirs are. Its main advantage is that it doesn’t cause one to build up a resistance. It’s mostly drunk for the flavor, making it an absolute luxury for ordinary cultivators.

Yang Jing took care of the miscellaneous matters that had piled up over the seven days, then returned to his Quiet Chamber to prepare for the refining of the Celestial Waterfall Sword.

’This sword is quite remarkable.’ Of the many Spiritual Artifacts Yang Jing had refined, few could compare to it.

What’s more, it was a rare flying sword that contained a Spatial Restriction, which was primarily there to accommodate the Star Core within it. For this reason, the sword could not be placed in a Storage Bag and could only be carried on his person or stored in a Sword Box.

The tip of the Seven-Star Thunderbolt Spear could almost be considered a simplified version of the Celestial Waterfall Sword, so Yang Jing was already confident about the refining process.

He methodically took out the Spiritual Gold and began processing it with practiced ease.

The original Artifact Refining Atlas for the Celestial Waterfall Sword was incredibly complex, listing dozens of Spiritual Materials. This was mainly because the Restrictions were so intricate, particularly the Seven Star Treasure Prohibition. The various complex Spiritual Materials were primarily to facilitate embedding the Restrictions into the flying sword.

While this method lowered the difficulty of the Artifact Refining, it also reduced the flying sword’s resilience.

Naturally, Yang Jing had no need to compromise. He directly chose the materials most suitable for refining a flying sword, assembling five types of metal: Profound Gold, Profound Essence Gang Silver, Taiyi Xijin, Nine Luminaries Profound Iron, and Red Essence Fire Copper.

He had exchanged Merit Points for all of these Spiritual Golds in the secret treasury of the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion. In fact, the Nine Luminaries Profound Iron wasn’t even in the Governor’s Mansion’s treasury; Meng Sima had to personally intervene and have it sent over from the Supreme Profound Upper Yang Sect.

This Spirit Iron was a Spiritual Material that had fallen into the Nine Heavens World along with the Star Core, making it the most suitable material for refining the Celestial Waterfall Sword.

Because the quality of the chosen Spiritual Golds was so high, Yang Jing spent nearly a full seven days—and even had to use the Ice Soul Cold Flame from his Divine Fire Gourd—just to freeze all five metals into a fine powder.

He carefully used his Magical Power to compress the mass of powder into the shape of a sword.

Since Yang Jing also practiced a Body Refining Skill and knew a Magic for Controlling Qi with Force, he didn’t need to make his flying sword as short as an ordinary Sword Cultivator’s. They typically did so to better execute the Sword Qi Thunder Sound technique. He set the blade’s length at three feet, which, including the hilt, gave it a total length of three feet and seven inches.

It could be used as a flying sword or wielded by hand in combat.

Yang Jing took a deep breath and began inscribing the various Restrictions.

The Artifact Refiner who invented this sword must have also been a master of Arrays. Even with Yang Jing’s own profound skill in Arrays, he could find no room for improvement.

After using his True Fire to completely fuse the Celestial Waterfall Sword’s embryo into a single piece, Yang Jing carefully took out the Star Core he had obtained from Wei Ying.

He placed it within the sword guard of the Celestial Waterfall Sword.

Just as he had calculated, the space within the sword guard accommodated the Star Core perfectly.

As the Star Core was set in place, the previously lifeless Celestial Waterfall Sword seemed to spring to life.

Celestial Spirits Star Force flowed over the blade like water, making the entire sword seem as if it were alive.

Because Yang Jing himself had refined the sword, he was able to bind it to himself with ease.

He grasped the still-warm Celestial Waterfall Sword. Thanks to the large amount of Spiritual Gold used, the blade was quite heavy, but because its center of gravity was perfectly placed, it felt incredibly well-balanced in his hand.

The longsword’s Spiritual Light flickered, and he could feel a wave of adoration from the Spiritual Essence within, like a child’s for its parent.

On a sudden impulse, Yang Jing gripped the Celestial Waterfall Sword and performed the entire Twenty-Four Solar Terms Swordsmanship right there in the Quiet Chamber.

His Sword Intent poured from the blade and struck the Restrictions of the Quiet Chamber, causing them to flash with Spiritual Light.

The Profound Celestial Furnace even began to radiate a sense of fear toward Yang Jing.

This fierce Sword Intent was already powerful enough to wound the Spiritual Essence within a Spiritual Artifact.

Sensing the Profound Celestial Furnace’s fear, Yang Jing recalled his aura. With a carefree smile, he fastened the Celestial Waterfall Sword to his waist with a silken cord.

When he stepped out of the Quiet Chamber, he found Zuoqiu Feng lounging inelegantly in the chair in his study.

Her eyes fell on the Celestial Waterfall Sword at Yang Jing’s waist, and she found it hard to look away.

"Ahem, Junior Martial Uncle Zuoqiu."

Yang Jing coughed awkwardly.

"So this is why you’ve been poring over Artifact Refining Techniques,"

Zuoqiu Feng remarked with a sigh.

"This is the way of the Ancient Sword Cultivators. Very few cultivators do things like this anymore."

In ancient times, Sword Cultivators would personally refine their own swords to serve as their Lifebound Flying Swords. But as Artifact Refining Techniques grew increasingly complex and the barrier to entry became higher, fewer and fewer of them continued this tradition.

"I just have a small talent for Artifact Refining, so why not put it to use?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Yang Jing said humbly.

"Your talent for Artifact Refining is more than just ’a small’ one."

Zuoqiu Feng rolled her eyes. News of Yang Jing’s astonishing success rate in refining Spiritual Artifacts had already spread throughout the Western Continent.

"Sometimes I truly wonder if there’s anything among the Hundred Skills of Cultivation that you *can’t* do."

"You flatter me, Junior Martial Uncle Zuoqiu."

Yang Jing said, waving his hand.

"It’s a pity our Five Elements True Spirit Sect only has one high-grade Sword Mantra, the True and False Five Elements Sword. It’s truly a waste of your Sword Dao Talent."

Zuoqiu Feng said,

"And even this Swordsmanship only came about because the founder of our Five Elements True Spirit Sect sought guidance from the Taixu Sword Sect’s founder while trying to perfect the Great Five Elements Divine Light Prohibition."

Among the Seven Great Sects, the Five Elements True Spirit Sect was the youngest. Its founder had only started widely accepting disciples and establishing the sect after arriving in the Western Continent. This was different from the other Six Sects, who had migrated with their entire clans in tow, which is why the Five Elements True Spirit Sect’s foundational legacy was the shallowest.

"It’s alright. The True and False Five Elements Sword Scripture also contains the method for refining a flying sword into a Lifebound Flying Sword. It’s not that much worse than other Sword Mantras."

Yang Jing said, gripping the hilt of his Celestial Waterfall Sword.

Strictly speaking, Sword Cultivators could be considered a branch of Artifact Cultivators. By binding a flying sword as their Lifebound Flying Sword, the sword and cultivator could support each other and advance together.

If a Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator was fortunate enough to obtain a Magical Treasure Level flying sword and bind it as their Lifebound Flying Sword, their cultivation speed could even rival that of a cultivator with a Celestial Spirit Root.

The Five Elements True Spirit Sect, on the other hand, could be considered Talisman Cultivators; the Five Elements Wheel was essentially a Lifebound True Talisman.

But in the present era, the various Cultivation Techniques were no longer as distinct as they were in ancient times. Instead, they drew upon one another’s strengths to compensate for their own weaknesses, each developing its own specialties.