As Yang Hong moved, a torrent of flying swords shot towards him.
"Qing Feng!"
A gentle breeze emanated from Yang Hong, soft and ethereal.
Yet, this gentle breeze managed to block all the ferocious flying swords.
Like a lover's tender caress smoothing the thunderous rage of a volatile, faithless man, the overwhelming sword qi and flying swords halted obediently three feet from Yang Hong.
"Disperse~"
At Yang Hong's gentle command, the sword qi and flying swords instantly dissipated.
His speed remained unchanged, and he continued to advance rapidly. In just a few breaths, he covered five li.
"Tian Jian!"
Seeing Yang Hong's incredible speed, the people from the Qianyuan Sword Sect hidden in the shadows were first stunned, then unleashed this change in the sword intent formation.
*Whoosh~ Whoosh~*
An ancient, plain long sword, seemingly boundless, appeared in Yang Hong's vision.
"Guard~"
As the ancient long sword lunged, Yang Hong stopped. He opened his right hand into a palm and placed it in front of him, his left fist clenched at his waist, his body slightly lowered into a horse stance.
A will as firm as a rock radiated from Yang Hong. The terrifying sword intent, capable of piercing the heavens and severing time, struck Yang Hong, who was like a mere blue stone in a great river, emitting a *crackling* sound.
Yang Hong's horse stance gradually lowered, and the momentum of his left hand steadily filled, even rising.
Half of the destructive sword intent that struck him was repelled, while the other half was transformed and concentrated entirely into his left fist.
"Attack!"
When the build-up in his left hand reached its apex, he slowly threw his fist out.
It was aimed diagonally towards the sky.
Without a sound, without any movement, the immensely powerful long sword was completely annihilated by the momentum within this punch. The colossal sword vanished in an instant.
Simultaneously, the flowing clouds in the high heavens also disappeared.
"Eh~"
After this punch, Yang Hong let out a surprised sound. The aerial restriction that had enveloped him since entering Qianyuan Immortal City had also vanished.
"It's more convenient if I can fly."
With that thought, he took out a flying sword from his storage ring.
"Stop! Sect Leader Yang, please show mercy and cease your attacks.
Please~ Hurry, please!"
Seeing Yang Hong take out his flying sword, the voice from the shadows cried out in terror. Immediately, an elder in a green Daoist robe, surrounded by sword qi, flew out and bowed solemnly to Yang Hong.
Duamumu Yitong broke out in a cold sweat. This Yang Sect Leader, rumored only to be good at farming, possessed terrifying combat power.
Not only had he broken through the seventh-grade Guardian Mountain Array, the [Myriad Sword Qi River], but his powerful punch had even created a loophole in the Qianyuan Sword Sect's ninth-grade aerial restriction.
If Yang Hong were to draw his sword, wouldn't he tear down [Shou Jian Shan] itself?
"Fellow Daoist, please~"
Yang Hong saw the cold sweat on the elder's forehead and naturally understood he was afraid. He casually put away his flying sword.
"Sect Leader Yang truly hides his strength. Your power is at the ninth-stage Mahayana, yet you appear to be only at the mid-stage of the Integration Realm.
You are clearly playing the pig to eat the tiger."
As they walked slowly along the bluestone path, Duamumu Yitong couldn't help but complain.
"I am indeed at the fourth level of the Integration Realm, I'm just better at fighting."
"Cough cough~ Better at fighting, and you say 'just'?"
"Would you like to spar with me, fellow Daoist?"
"No~ No~"
Duamumu Yitong repeatedly shook his head and waved his hands at Yang Hong's invitation.
Sparring with you?
I don't want to die!
With that thought, Duamumu Yitong quickly quickened his pace, leading Yang Hong into Shou Jian Shan.
Passing through the formation area below the mountain, they were greeted by a bamboo forest.
The bamboo was iron-grey, each stalk standing tall and pointing towards the sky. The bamboo nodes exceeded a foot, and the branches were sparse but long and straight. The bamboo leaves resembled miniature swords.
A faint sword qi emanated from each bamboo stalk.
"Iron Sword Bamboo, and all of them are sixth-grade or above, with seventh and eighth-grade as well. Qianyuan Sword Sect's foundation is indeed extraordinary."
Yang Hong did not have this kind of bamboo, but he had seen its introduction in the Spirit Plant Atlas. It was a top-grade material for flying swords, possessing both metal and wood attributes.
"Heh heh~ It's just average, not comparable to Qing Feng Villa's spirit plants.
Sect Leader Yang, I heard your Qing Feng Villa has many ninth-grade spirit plants. Is that true?"
"Yes, it's true.
Why, does Qianyuan Sword Sect want to buy them?"
"Qing Feng Villa sells ninth-grade spirit plants?"
Duamumu Yitong stopped in surprise, looking at Yang Hong with disbelief.
"Yes, but for ninth-grade spirit plants, I only accept spirit plant trades, such as eighth-grade Iron Sword Bamboo."
Yang Hong said this while looking at over ten silver-grey bamboo stalks in the forest. These were eighth-grade Iron Sword Bamboo. With just one of them combined with his artifact refining skills, there was a high chance of forging an eighth-grade flying sword.
He currently didn't have a single eighth-grade flying sword.
If he spent some more time cultivating it to ninth-grade, he might even be able to directly forge a ninth-grade flying sword.
"Heh heh~ I cannot make such a decision. It would require the sect leader's approval."
"Oh~ Then please inform your sect leader, fellow Daoist, so we can discuss it."
"Alright~"
Duamumu Yitong agreed and took out a jade slip to contact the Qianyuan Sword Sect leader, True Master Nine Swords.
Beyond the bamboo forest was a patch of grassland. This grass was also extraordinary, being the Nine Star Sword Grass, a spiritual medicine that could help sword cultivators quickly comprehend sword intent.
Qing Feng Villa had a lot of this grass, but due to the lack of sword intent nurturing, most of it was only sixth-grade, with only a small amount of seventh-grade Nine Star Sword Grass.
However, here at Shou Jian Shan, as far as the eye could see, tens of thousands of Nine Star Sword Grass were mostly seventh and eighth-grade, with a few sixth-grade ones.
As for ninth-grade sword grass, Qianyuan Sword Sect wasn't generous enough to display it.
After the grassland came a forest – the Iron Birch Forest.
Yang Hong was familiar with this spirit tree. In the Ten Thousand Monster Sea, he had enlightened an Iron Birch Tree Demon named Hua Lei, who had now become an eighth-order Tribulation Crossing Realm cultivator.
Following the bluestone path, he saw four more types of spirit wood and five types of spirit grass, all of which were top-grade spiritual herbs that could aid sword cultivation. More than half of them were top-grade spirit plants that Yang Hong's Qing Feng Villa did not possess.
This sparked a cunning idea in his mind, and he secretly decided to trade for a few spirit plants that he absolutely had to have.
Passing through the mountain waist, which could be considered an herb garden, they finally reached the summit of Shou Jian Shan, a palace complex where sword qi clashed.
The central building indeed made Yang Hong pause in surprise. It was a perfectly square structure, slightly depressed in the center.
It resembled a whetstone. He never expected the sect hall of the Qianyuan Sword Sect, a sect known for its sharp edge, to have such a subtle and restrained architecture.
"Fellow Daoist Yang, please. My sect leader has been waiting in the sect hall for a long time."
"Please~"
Seeing the surprise in Yang Hong's eyes, Duamumu Yitong, who had felt somewhat stifled along the way, chuckled again.
"Hmm~"
Stepping across the threshold of the 'whetstone' building, Yang Hong suddenly felt his body sink. A large portion of his true qi was instantly sealed, leaving only a small amount of sword qi, which he rarely cultivated, still operational.
The sudden change made Yang Hong tense. His sword qi and sword intent began to circulate at high speed.
"Sect Leader Yang, rest assured, this is a special restriction of the Sword Grinding Hall, but it will not cause any harm to anyone."
"Heh heh~"
Yang Hong didn't believe it. With all other powers sealed and only sword qi able to move, it looked like a trap.
Just as he was preparing to unleash his full strength and break free, a surprised voice interrupted his actions.
"Eh~ It's you~ It's actually you!"