Chapter Sixty-Eight: Reforging the Blood Sea Blade

Martial Arts Realm: Body Refinement / Spirit Refinement
Skill Points: 1207 (Skills may be upgraded, synthesized, or deduced)
Skill 1: Culinary Arts, Mastery (Experience: 262/1600)
Skill 2: Four Seas Fist, Peak (Can be upgraded by consuming five skill points)
Skill 3: Blood River Blade (Incomplete, four moves), Peak (Can be completed, deduced, or synthesized by consuming skill points)
Skill 4: Blood Refining Primordial Skill, Peak (Can be upgraded, deduced, or synthesized by consuming skill points)
Skill 5: Six Paths Demon Suppression Scripture, First Path (Spirit Refinement Peak) Blood Refining Ninth Cycle (Peak), Second Path, Primordial Embryo Beginner (0/1000000)
Skill 6: Carefree Wanderer, Mastery (1260/90000)
Skill 7: Five Elements Demon Suppressing Palm, Peak (Upgrade conditions not yet met)
Skill 8: Blood Town Mountains and Rivers (Divine Power, Second Stage, 190/200)
Skill 9: White Dragon of the Waves, Peak (Can be upgraded by consuming ten skill points)

He glanced once more at his attribute panel.

“Carefree Wanderer’s experience upgrades slowly.”
“Divine Power, Second Stage, is nearly at its peak.”
“Blood Refining Divine Power is exceedingly difficult.”

The second stage meant he had mastered Blood Town Mountains and Rivers divine power with proficiency. Divine Powers have nine stages, with the ninth being revered. Without reaching the Divine Power Realm, it was nearly impossible to cultivate to the ninth stage.

Baili Feihong looked at his remaining skill points, deliberating back and forth, yet chose not to advance into the Primordial Embryo Realm. This time, his upgrade had been too rapid. His mind was flooded with countless pieces of information. He had not yet digested them; to elevate his realm again would only throw his mind into chaos.

“Though Refining the Acupoints has reached its peak, the vital energy within the acupoints is still empty. I must accumulate more energy so the Primordial Embryo may be nurtured to greater strength.”

“The Spirit Refinement level is at its peak, but my martial will needs to be honed further through the practice of martial skills and tempering my heart.”

Though at peak levels, Baili Feihong understood his Body Refinement realm, acupoint refinement, and spirit refinement were hollow shells.

In the days that followed, Baili Feihong inhaled the vital energy of heaven and earth, guiding it into the acupoints throughout his body. Simultaneously, he began to temper his martial will.

The martial will of the Four Seas Fist.
The martial will of the Blood River Blade.
The martial will of the Five Elements Demon Suppressing Scripture.
The martial will of the White Dragon of the Waves.
The martial will of the Carefree Wanderer.

Martial skills infused with martial will gained a hint of the Dao’s rhythm. Only when his martial skills neared the Dao could he break through their peak and step into the realm of martial divine powers.

Moreover, martial will could temper the Primordial Embryo, making it more complete.

Reaching this stage meant forging a hundred arts into one body. The more martial skills mastered, the higher the quality of the Primordial Embryo refined.

A hundred days swept by in the blink of an eye.

At last, Carefree Wanderer broke through to the stage of consummate skill. The rest of his martial arts also reached the level of martial will. As for the Primordial Embryo seed, it grew ever more radiant.

These hundred days of secluded cultivation yielded the greatest harvest: he filled his acupoints to the brim with vital energy from heaven and earth. The power stored within his body was enough for him to unleash dozens of Blood Refining Divine Powers.

His meridians were densely woven like stars, encircling the Primordial Embryo seed, infusing it with streams of acupoint energy.

Within his sea of consciousness, a vague demon god, as if the guardian of the world, began to take shape.

The Spirit Refinement Realm deepened further.

Six refinements of the mundane body serve as the foundation, the beginning of tempering the flesh—it is not the end. In future cultivation, regardless of the methods, one can never neglect blood, bone, marrow, acupoints, and spirit refinement. Only the means of cultivation change; there is no longer exclusive focus on these six refinements. However, whatever strength is cultivated—the Primordial Embryo, divine powers, manifestations—will always feed back into the body and soul, their mysteries ever-deepening.

“Three and a half months, the whale demon has lingered around HLD, as if waiting for something.”

Baili Feihong stood atop a high peak, gazing down upon the sea. The colossal shadow of the demon seemed to sense his gaze, slowly sinking beneath the waves. With his vast divine sense, he could clearly perceive the whale demon’s wariness toward him.

This demon was deeply wary of him.

Baili Feihong lowered his head. It seemed he had finally grasped a sliver of power to resist fate.

Dongbin City was bustling, but to the Great Yuan Empire, it was no more than a tiny speck on a map.

“HLD is my place of fortune.”

“Whale demon, I won’t slay you for now.”

“Guard my doorstep well.”

To find a secluded place for cultivation in Dongbin City was already difficult. Unless he ventured into the Transverse Mountains. But the monsters and beasts of those mountains were no laughing matter.

Even Dali Mountain—Baili Feihong did not yet have the courage to tread there again. Only those who had experienced the terrors of Dali Mountain could comprehend the dreadful power hidden in Dongbin City’s wealth veins.

Even someone as proud as Gongyang Yan, knowing the horrors of Dali Mountain, dared not use his authority to flatten it.

A single step forward was like a divine power, his figure soaring like a fresh breeze into the clouds.

The consummate Carefree Wanderer filled in Baili Feihong’s deficiencies in movement techniques. This skill contained the martial will of the first Guardian. Even as he only used it as a movement technique, he felt it was no less than a divine martial art.

The Carefree Wanderer scripture embodied a terrifying martial philosophy. Perhaps only when he developed this skill to its peak could he touch the true pinnacle of Carefree Wanderer.

The flowing sea wind propelled him; a single stride spanned a thousand feet. He returned to Dongbin City in but a moment.

After a hundred days of cultivation, his skiff anchored at HLD had long since been overturned by hurricanes and waves, sinking to the sea’s depths.

Three and a half months away from Dongbin City—upon stepping into the city, Baili Feihong immediately sensed something amiss in its atmosphere.

Returning home, he found the door locked. After asking his neighbors, he quickly understood: the agent who had rented the place to him had come to reclaim the property. Since Baili Feihong had not been home, the house had not been rented out yet.

“Well, I’ll just buy the house then.”

Though the house was simple, the well connected to the underground river was indispensable.

He snapped the lock, returned to the courtyard, and carefully inspected the contents of the house. None of his possessions were missing.

Some valuables were intact, though the bedding inside had become moldy.

Under the banyan tree, he dug up the fortune gifted to him by Ji Xiaoqian. Taking out a gold ingot, he exchanged it for a set of dark robes with embroidered pythons and sought out the agent, finding the landlord.

He purchased the courtyard directly from the landlord.

Afterward, he went to Qin’s Blade Shop.

“Master Qin, I must trouble you again.”

He handed the Blood Sea Long Blade to the shopkeeper of Qin’s Blade Shop.

The shopkeeper received it respectfully. When Baili Feihong had first commissioned the blade, he was not yet a Demon Suppression Bureau officer. Now he was a Demon Suppression Envoy, a status too lofty for the shopkeeper to provoke.

“Rest assured, Lord Baili. This time, I will reforge it for you and produce a formidable demon-slaying blade.”

Shopkeeper Qin spoke with excitement.

“If you need any rare materials, just inform me. I’ll collect them for you. As for payment, don’t worry about it. Here’s a gold note—one thousand gold yuan as a deposit.”

Baili Feihong took out a gold note from his sleeve. This note was issued by the largest bank in Dongbin City and could be exchanged for cash.

Shopkeeper Qin accepted the gold note, astonished by such generosity.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. He glanced around mysteriously and whispered, “My lord, according to our ancestral records, the forging of the Demon Suppressing Sword for slaying Kun, our ancestor was involved. The forging secrets have been passed down.”

“Is that true?” Baili Feihong asked in surprise.

“It’s true. I can gather the other materials, but one rare component is only found in the Demon Suppression Bureau.”

Shopkeeper Qin’s eyes were filled with longing.

Forging a demon-slaying weapon was every craftsman’s dream. But some unique materials were simply beyond his reach.

“I’ll see to the Demon Suppression Bureau’s materials. Master Qin, I entrust the reforging of the Blood Sea Long Blade to you.”

Shopkeeper Qin stepped forward and whispered something in Baili Feihong’s ear. Baili Feihong nodded and turned to leave.