The First Immortal of Destiny

Besides his friends and acquaintances in the Riverside Sect, Jiang Yingying, Geng Zheng, Peng Chenshu, and other acquaintances from the Heaven Sword Sect whom he had met in the Abandoned Ghost Zone, had all arrived at Tianshan City. Unfortunately, Li Yu, one of their group of four, had died at Death Jaw. Otherwise, the entire party that had ventured through the Abandoned Ghost Zone together could have gathered here in this city!

Jiang Yingying and the others knew that Shen Mo possessed many elixirs. Hence, they were overjoyed when they met him and wanted to buy some Demon Suppressing Pills. Shen Mo didn't refuse. He sold them some Demon Suppressing Pills and other Grade II elixirs at the standard market price!

Geng Zheng had always looked down on Shen Mo because of the Soul Refining Flag. However, as for the struggle for the Green-skinned Ghost's remain or defeating Meng Sanchi of the Heaven Sword Sect during the Tianshan Grand Ceremony, he didn't dwell much on these events. After all, the sword intent he comprehended was "Punish Demons"! His strife with Shen Mo was merely a matter of differing principles.

This time, with the demon catastrophe erupting in Zhong State, he surprisingly invited Shen Mo to join them in slaying Heavenly Demons. Not only Geng Zheng, but Jiang Yingying and Peng Chenshu also shared this intention! However, Shen Mo had just gathered many Thunder Killing Pearls and was eager to begin refining them to upgrade his Big Dipper Sword embryos, so he ultimately declined.

For the past ten days or so, he had been constantly on the move, hardly resting for a day, as he roamed the Tianshan battlefield! He had personally slain a full ten late-stage Class II Heavenly Demons! There were over a hundred mid-stage Class II Heavenly Demons, and as for early-stage Class II and even Class I Heavenly Demons, their numbers were countless. He had also fought two peak Class II Native Heavenly Demons, using all his abilities to defeat them. Unfortunately, they still managed to escape. This incident further solidified Shen Mo's determination to enhance his various abilities as soon as possible!

Besides the disciples of the major immortal sects who arrived first via the Teleportation Array, next came a large number of Qi Gathering Realm disciples from lesser immortal sects and rogue cultivators, all capable of controlling artifacts. The last to arrive were the Body Tempering Realm cultivators who could not use Flying Escape.

「The Tianshan battlefield.」

It was several times more bustling than when the Ghost Nation Ruins first appeared! Anyone who killed a demon head could use their merit of slaying demons to claim rewards from the Demon Slaying Hall. Apart from the disciples of the Five Great Sects, who had Identity Tokens to record their merits, disciples from other immortal sects and rogue cultivators had to first visit the Demon Slaying Hall to obtain a merit token. These tokens were quite similar to the one Shen Mo had received from Zhang Taian in Tianshun Country. All could be refined with a Blood Sacrifice to record the achievements of slaying demons!

Noticing that more and more cultivators were fighting Heavenly Demons on the Tianshan battlefield, and that mid to late-stage Class II Heavenly Demons were becoming rarer, Shen Mo put away the Soul Refining Flag and returned to Tianshan City to rest and recuperate. He also took the opportunity to exchange all his merit of slaying demons for Wood-Thunder Demonic Pearls, Fire-Thunder Demonic Pearls, and Earth-Thunder Demonic Pearls!

The Tianxuan Sword, Tianquan Sword, and Yuheng Sword... also successfully underwent promotion and transformation, becoming middle-grade profound level Flying Swords. Adding these to the previous middle-grade profound level Tianshu Sword and Tianji Sword, and the high-grade profound level Yaoguang Sword, six of the seven Big Dipper Swords had now taken form! Only the Sun Opening Sword, which required the extreme element of light, had yet to be forged. Shen Mo couldn't find any related spiritual items on the Demon Slaying Hall's exchange list.

However, with Elder Huang's arrival, this problem was resolved. Previously, Elder Huang Changqing had been entrusted by Peak Master Zhou Shili to find Shen Mo and inquire about the items he needed. After some consideration, Shen Mo informed Elder Huang of his requirements. Then, this Stars Peak Elder, perhaps due to being busy with various matters, delayed for several more days. It wasn't until today that he finally brought what Shen Mo needed. Among the items was a piece of top-grade Forging ore imbued with the extreme intent of light... Red Heaven Gold!

This immortal material is an even rarer treasure than Divine Iron! Shen Mo grabbed the fist-sized ore from the box and carefully examined it. This item, like Divine Iron, originated from Beyond the Heavens, but it was not the same type of metallic material.

The name "Red Heaven" referred to the spectacle of this stone's appearance in the world. Like a crimson rainbow streaking across the sun, it plummeted from the Ninth Heaven to the earth. Even in broad daylight, ordinary people could clearly see a rainbow-hued light appearing in the sky, like a star falling to the mortal realm. If it appeared at night, it could illuminate an area of several hundred miles, shining as bright as day!

And "Luminous" described its external characteristics. It continuously emitted streams of glass-like light, illuminating the room so brightly that every minute detail was visible.

With this item, the Sun Opening Sword can also be forged and transformed.

The Big Dipper Array is finally completely formed...

When that time comes, I'll be able to contend even with a peak Class II mutated Heavenly Demon!

What I need to do in the future is to continue searching for treasures containing extreme intent, striving to upgrade every Dao sword to the top-grade profound level.

Shen Mo placed the Red Heaven Gold back into the box. He wasn't in a hurry to forge the Sun Opening Sword right now. Instead, he took out the Flying Sword from the box.

A top-grade Flying Sword, Thunderstroke!

As Shen Mo also cultivated the 'Sword Control Spirit Technique', his sword-controlling speed was already comparable to that of an ordinary late-stage Qi Gathering Realm cultivator! But compared to a peak Qi Gathering Realm cultivator, he was still lacking. The 'Sword Control Spirit Technique' from the Cloud Sword Sect was not of a low grade. After all, it was a magic skill on par with the 'Big Dipper Seven Star Sword Formation'. Even if Shen Mo were to find another top-grade magic skill and use [Martial Performance] to cultivate it to an initial level, his escape speed would at most increase by ten to twenty percent. There would be no qualitative change! Thus, he had set his sights on a Flying Sword for transportation.

Unexpectedly, Peak Master Zhou Shili had been quite supportive, managing to acquire such a potent tool for him from Rising Sun Peak. Indeed, the Red Heaven Gold and the Thunderstroke Sword were not from Stars Peak's Treasure Hall; they were rewards from the two Main Peaks—Rising Sun Peak and Bright Moon Peak! Along with the jade slip from Stars Peak, these three items constituted the sect's rewards!

The Thunderstroke Sword had different characteristics from the Demon Slaying Sword, but their Forging concepts were extremely similar. The metallic materials required for its casting, the runes engraved into the sword embryo during Forging, and the casting methods and techniques... all revolved around the "extreme speed" characteristic necessary for sword control! It might not be very effective for executing swordplay or slaying enemies, but for flying as a means of transport, it was the absolute best of the best!

Shen Mo began to suspect that the same Forgemaster had forged both the Demon Slaying Sword and the Thunderstroke Sword. The characteristic style of the Flying Swords, the Forging concepts, and the refining techniques were all far too similar! If not the same person, then likely a master and disciple from the same lineage, or martial brothers from the same school!

When Shen Mo wanted to use the Demon Slaying Sword to perform swordplay, he would stand on a middle-grade magic sword to fly through the air. Even if his Escape Skill was superb, it couldn't compensate for the differences in the Flying Swords' characteristics. Now that he had the Thunderstroke Sword, his flying escape speed should no longer be inferior to that of an ordinary Qi Gathering Realm Layer IX cultivator.

During this period, I have already cultivated the 'Sword Control Spirit Technique' to the 'Integration' level.

I can also employ the Violent Speed method described in it...

My previous Flying Sword used for transportation would shatter after a single use of the technique. Now, with the Thunderstroke Sword, it should be able to withstand the violent Mana of this method.

Shen Mo didn't dwell on it further. He quickly squeezed out a drop of essence blood and refined the Thunderstroke Sword.

This way, my normal escape speed will be no weaker than that of an average peak Qi Gathering Realm cultivator.

After using the Violent Speed method, I fear I might even slightly outperform peak Qi Gathering Realm cultivators from the Five Great Sects, unless they possess superior martial arts.

Immediately afterward, Shen Mo's gaze fell upon the last item in the box. It was from Zhou Shili, the Peak Master of Stars Peak: his renowned and powerful battle technique, a low-grade spiritual level cultivation method—the 'Constellation Great Hand Seal'!