As they walked, the Heavenly Star Sword Saint listened to the story of Li Yaozu's cultivation in the Snowy Region, and the brighter his own eyes shone, for he benefited immensely.
"Then in that sword box of yours..."
After the Heavenly Star Sword Saint finished listening, he again pointed at Li Yaozu's sword box.
However, whenever the topic came to this, Li Yaozu would always become evasive and talk about other things.
It seemed as if there was some heaven-shaking secret inside it.
What secret could there be?
At least, in the eyes of Li Wei, this Old Ancestor, there was no secret at all. Watching the flickering, evasive look in Li Yaozu's eyes, Li Wei let out a foolish grin.
Inside the sword box was Fang Linglong!
Li Yaozu's ability to break through to the Divinity Transformation realm and to return from the Snowy Region was also because of Fang Linglong!
After spending over a hundred years together, with only the two of them in the Snowy Region, Li Yaozu had truly learned many things from Fang Linglong, this Demon Lord of the Demon Cave.
[Your descendant, Li Yaozu, after many years of cultivation in the Snowy Region, has gathered the five elemental 'Sword Foundations' of Heaven and Earth and integrated them into his own body, breaking through to the peak of the Nascent Soul realm.]
[Under the guidance of Fang Linglong, your descendant Li Yaozu began to cultivate the Sword of Returning to Simplicity.
Recalling how you slew the Moon God with a single strike all those years ago, he began to ponder the technique of 'one strike to break ten thousand techniques'.
At Fang Linglong's reminder, he observed the patterns of snowflakes. After ten years of observing the snow, he has obtained the Trait: Insight.]
[Trait Effect: Insight]
[He can more easily see through the fundamentals of all things in the world and find their flaws. Perception +20%, Combat Effectiveness +10%]
[Your descendant, Li Yaozu, under the guidance of Fang Linglong, has found the place where the Sword Venerable underwent transformation. He has obtained the Sword Venerable's legacy and has acquired a new identity—Successor of the Sword Venerable.]
Seeing this information on Li Yaozu's panel, Li Wei's expression was still a bit strange.
He remembered that at the time when Li Yaozu obtained the Sword Venerable's legacy, the Sword Venerable's final remnant of his divine soul had asked that the successor, should they achieve mastery, help him complete one final wish. And that was to help him kill a female demon lord, to avenge his hatred...
Within that divine soul, one could see the Sword Venerable's grief, indignation, and unwillingness to accept his fate.
And then...
This final wisp of his divine soul saw Fang Linglong, whom Li Yaozu was carrying on his back.
It fell silent for a long, long time. Finally, with a furious roar, it thoroughly dissipated from the world.
[Your descendant, Li Yaozu, has obtained the Earth-rank Cultivation Method: Slaughter Sword Scripture.]
[Description: This sword technique is for slaughter. Use the body as the sword, use blood to nourish the sword. The Blood Sword can absorb an opponent's Domain and Rules. When the Sword Dao reaches Great Completion, one can reach the Void Refining realm.]
[Obtained Earth-rank Sword Technique Scripture: Blood Sword Slashes the Heavens.]
[Description: Nourish the Blood Sword with one's body to manifest a Blood Domain. The Slaughter Sword absorbs Rules and Domains to generate 'Blood Swords' within the Blood Domain, which are then used to fight the enemy.]
[Obtained the Sword Venerable's legacy Dharma Treasures: Mid-grade Dharma Treasure 'Slaughter Sword' and Low-grade Dharma Treasure 'Heavenly Profound Heart-Protecting Mirror'.]
[Slaughter Sword:
Effect: Can be used as the core of the Slaughter Blood Domain. Using it as the spiritual array, one can form the Slaughter Blood Domain.
Side Effect: Once the Blood Domain is formed, it will simultaneously affect the user's mind and spirit. Excessive slaughter will cause the swordsman to enter the demonic path.]
[Heavenly Profound Heart-Protecting Mirror: The divine mirror protects its master and can prevent the swordsman from falling into the demonic path as a result of killing.
Effect 1: Within the divine mirror exists its own Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land.
Effect 2: It can transform into a doppelganger containing sixty percent of its master's strength (at a level below the Peak of Divinity Transformation), which can then fight alongside its master.]
This was also the legacy that Li Yaozu obtained with the help of Fang Linglong!
At the time, Fang Linglong had said that as for this Sword Venerable's legacy, it was fine to use parts of it, but there was no need to learn it all.
That Sword Venerable was just an indecisive, wishy-washy piece of trash.
He practiced that so-called 'Slaughter Sword'; it was clearly a technique of slaughter, yet he insisted on erecting a monument to his own virtue, proclaiming himself a person of the righteous path and refusing to enter the demonic path no matter what.
He spent over a thousand years fighting just to get a 'Heavenly Profound Heart-Protecting Mirror' to protect his own mind and spirit.
Li Yaozu deeply agreed with these words. In reality, he also rarely used this Slaughter Sword and the Sword Venerable's other techniques and martial skills.
Using them merely for reference was of great benefit, but he had a Sword Dao of his own.
That mid-grade Dharma Treasure was, right now, lying inside the sword box...
Lying there as well was Fang Linglong!
[Your descendant, Li Yaozu, after many years of cultivation, has achieved complete mastery of the Sword Venerable's legacy.
Under the guidance of Fang Linglong, he integrated the 'Heavenly Profound Heart-Protecting Mirror' into the sword box, turning the sword box into a Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land.
He then placed Fang Linglong within the sword box to rest.]
[Your descendant, Li Yaozu, has thoroughly integrated various Sword Daos and has broken through to the Divinity Transformation realm—Fifth-Grade Divinity Transformation.]
[Obtained Profession—Sword Venerable]
He reviewed Li Yaozu's information, bit by bit.
Three days later, as Li Yaozu and the Heavenly Star Sword Saint were conversing, they arrived at Qilin Mountain!
At this moment, the grand array on Qilin Mountain was still active.
Li Dalong was currently using the Heaven-Piercing Coffin to violently smash the Qilin Mountain array. Under the trembling gazes of Lin Wudao and the other Tian Xing avatars within the array, Li Dalong suddenly paused.
He slowly looked into the distance.
"Yaozu?"
A look of joy flashed in Li Dalong's eyes. He shouldered the Heaven-Piercing Coffin and headed towards Li Yaozu.
As his father approached, after not having seen each other in person for over a hundred years, Li Yaozu's eyes instantly turned red. "Dad!"
"Yaozu."
A lump formed in Li Dalong's throat. A thousand words were on the tip of his tongue, yet for a moment, he couldn't utter half a sentence.
He glanced at the sword box on Li Yaozu's back and, disregarding the Heavenly Star Sword Saint's presence, after all, for many years now, their Li family had long since come to see the Sword Saint as one of their own, he just said, "Yaozu, is the Demon Lord in your sword box? Thank you, Demon Lord, for taking care of Yaozu all these years."
"..."
In an instant, Li Yaozu was mortified.
The Heavenly Star Sword Saint, standing to the side, his eyes instantly went wide.
He pointed at Li Yaozu's sword box, then looked again at Li Yaozu's expression, which screamed that the topic was too embarrassing to mention.
After a long moment, he said through gritted teeth, "You, Li Yaozu! Hiding a Demon Lord in your sword box! No wonder you never said anything! You had a guilty conscience!"
"..."
Li Yaozu glanced at his old man, then glanced at the Heavenly Star Sword Saint, whose eyes were now burning with the thirst for knowledge, and let out a long sigh.
Well, that's just great, Li Yaozu thought. From now on, my good brother will surely think that the Demon Lord and I have some kind of sordid affair going on, and that's how I managed to reach Divinity Transformation in just over a hundred years, right?
Forget it, forget it.
There's nothing to be ashamed of, anyway. Let him think whatever he wants.
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