This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

Northern River Border is situated at the apex of this triangle.

Now, all sixteen outposts within the triangle behind it have fallen into the hands of the Demon Race.

Northern River Border has become a solitary city.

If unwilling to abandon Northern River Border, once the Demon Race launches another attack, Northern River Border will find itself in a dire situation with enemies on all sides, unable to call for help.

The cultivators of Northern River Border would be essentially forfeit.

It's clear that the Human Race couldn't do something so foolish.

Thus, they retreated decisively and swiftly.

In the end, it might seem like Northern River Border "fell," but there's a substantial difference.

Giving it up voluntarily differs significantly from being conquered by the Demon Race.

Besides, Northern River Border hasn't vanished.

The Human Race quickly constructed a new fortress at the base of the triangle previously formed by the seventeen outposts.

The fortress is new, but the name remains the same.

"Northern River Border."

The cultivators of Northern River Border retreated completely to the new Northern River Border, establishing it as a bridgehead, staring across at the Demon Race, waiting for their next move.

Another month passed just like that.

During these days, Lu Qingshan was also resting.

The powerful outburst of the Bing Syllable Mantra, besides having significant consumption, like other outburst secret techniques, has some side effects.

Roughly equivalent to the sage time after the outburst.

In fact, as far as Lu Qingshan knows, both in previous and current life, the rule that outburst secret techniques inevitably have side effects only sees an exception in the Power of the Mountains and Seas.

The immense power released by the Bing Syllable Mantra surged into Lu Qingshan's body, rushing through his meridians, causing considerable impact and damage even in a brief thirty breaths.

Worse yet, he used the Bing Syllable Mantra twice in just two days.

Such overlap made Lu Qingshan's situation even more severe.

Fortunately, however, he is the Young Sect Leader of the Sword Sect.

So, he could enjoy the best healing pills and recuperate in optimal conditions.

But even so, it took Lu Qingshan a full month to completely heal the injuries in his meridians and recover to his best condition.

"Unless absolutely necessary, the Bing Syllable Mantra should be used sparingly." This is the biggest takeaway from Lu Qingshan's month-long healing.

Apart from healing, he also absorbed the gains from the Northern River Border battle during this time, preparing for the next battle.

First, his experience points once again broke the billion mark, reaching the terrifying number of 1.021 billion.

However, since the Law Domain seed hasn't condensed, he cannot break through the Integration Realm, so he had to reserve this portion of experience points, waiting for the day he opens the Law Domain and ascends to Integration.

Additionally, his astonishing performance in the Northern River Border battle earned him a massive amount of battle merits.

After deliberation, Yumen Pass issued a commendation for the entire fortress.

The commendation content was quite simple.

One hundred thousand battle merits.

Adding up the battle merits for slaying those of the Demon Race and his original meritorous accumulation...

If one probed Lu Qingshan's identity token with Divine Sense now, they would see lines of golden shimmering words.

The reason for the golden shimmer is because when the permissions reach the highest "A" level, this "special effect" appears.

Identity---Lu Qingshan

Sect---Sword Sect

Permissions---Grade A (cumulative battle merits 238924)

Battle merits----230874

...

Not even all Eighth Realm Cultivators can accumulate such terrifying battle merits.

After all, in outer battlefield, there is an unspoken rule of not deploying Eighth Realm Cultivators in large-scale battles.

And large-scale battles are precisely where the most battle merits can be accumulated.

Lu Qingshan, at this moment, is only a Sixth Realm Cultivator.

This is proof of his significant contribution to the Human Race in the war against the Demon Race.

With unparalleled potential and talent, combat power comparable to peak Seventh Realm Cultivators, along with such colossal contributions....

In less than two months, Lu Qingshan secured his position as the Young Sect Leader of the Sword Sect.

No one has any doubts about this anymore, secretly admiring Xie Qingyun's sharp eye, worthy of being a Sword Immortal.

With such terrifying battle merits in hand, the first thing Lu Qingshan did was to spend seventy thousand battle merits to exchange for many rare spirit materials for Peach Blossom.

Inside the Mountain Tower, in the quiet chamber.

Lu Qingshan sat cross-legged.

Peach Blossom floated above, with many variously glowing spirit materials below.

Extreme Wind Fire Slurry, Primal Cold Water, Chaos Fine Gold....five elements wonders abound.

Or earthy yellow, or scarlet, or dark blue, or emerald, or brilliant gold light emanates from these spirit materials, and are absorbed by Peach Blossom, making its spiritual nature even more dazzling.

However, those spirit materials also started shrinking slowly at a visible speed.

The floor beside Lu Qingshan has long piled up with many remnants of spirit materials, having lost their spiritual essence.

Finally, after another hour, the last shred of spiritual light in those spirit materials was also absorbed by Peach Blossom.

"Buzz!" Peach Blossom trembled, the sword humming sharply.

Having "eaten its fill," Peach Blossom still joyfully and briskly bounced around Lu Qingshan, expressing gratitude and joy, yet its blade emitted a terrifying sharp glow.

99%.

This is the progress shown in Peach Blossom's metamorphosis bar.

"Peach Blossom has already reached a certain threshold, it's not far from breaking through to a Pseudo Dao Artifact.