Chapter 1270: Refining the Sword

The Purple Splendor Sword Intent had been refined into Chen Mobai's Myriad Sword Dharma Body a long time ago; it could even be said to be the very foundation of his Dharma Body.

However, there were simply too many sword intents within the Myriad Sword Dharma Body. Chen Mobai's cultivation period was short, and his focus on the Great Dao was more critical, leaving him with very little time to dedicate to these sword intents. The Purple Splendor Sword Intent was no exception; its daily upgrades relied entirely on the Purple Lightning Sword.

Therefore, when the Purple Lightning Sword was stuck at the peak of the fifth tier, this sword intent also remained at that level.

Although the bottleneck from the peak of the fifth tier to the sixth tier was merely a half-step away, in reality, for most magical artifacts and even living beings, it was an insurmountable chasm.

As Chen Mobai already possessed the sixth-tier Primal Yang Sword, he had no urgent expectations for his "old employee," the Purple Lightning Sword, always reassuring it to take its time and not rush.

Of course, he certainly hoped the Purple Lightning Sword would successfully advance. After all, they had fought side-by-side for many years, sharing deep affection, and he had even invested a supremely precious piece of sixth-tier Nine Heavens Profound Thunder Gold into it.

If it didn't upgrade before his ascension, his reputation as the foremost artifact refiner in the Eastern Continent might suffer.

However, it seemed the opportune moment had arrived.

The Kui Beast, the Thunder Lord among the Nine Great True Spirits, had unexpectedly come to the Eastern Continent to meet its demise, and in doing so, had achieved great success in its Dao, drawing down the Nine Heavens Tribulation Layer. This provided the energy needed for the Purple Lightning Sword to advance.

Relying on its Armor Dao, the Kui Beast had ignored the sword intent and sword fiend, charging directly into the Heaven-Severing Sword Domain. Two tenths of its Dao power were absorbed and refined by the Myriad Sword Dharma Body, which was the 'intent' required for the Purple Lightning Sword's ascension.

Coupled with the Nine Heavens Profound Thunder Gold, which had long been refined into it as the 'artifact' component.

With these three elements combined, the Purple Lightning Sword could finally take the difficult step toward promotion.

As Chen Mobai's divine sense stirred, the sixth-tier Purple Splendor Sword Intent, like a purple star, resembled a brilliant thunderball, erupting with dazzling light and soaring skyward.

At the same time, the Purple Lightning Sword, already saturated with the essence of the lightning tribulation, transformed into a streak of bright light and descended from the heavens.

The sword intent and the sword artifact, a thousand zhang above the Myriad Sword Dharma Body's head, perfectly collided and merged.

Roaring thunderous sounds echoed!

The tribulation lightning, which was originally entirely controlled by the Kui Beast, now saw a small portion begin to surge towards the Purple Lightning Sword. It was continuously absorbed and refined by the sword, propelling it towards the sixth tier.

To refine a sword artifact at such a critical moment!

Truly worthy of the One Yuan True Monarch's legacy, the foremost artifact refiner of the Eastern Continent!

And that Immortal of Flame, who claimed to be the foremost artifact refiner in the Celestial River Realm, is far inferior to this Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness.

Above the Heavenly Dipper, the God-Transformation cultivators from the Five Continents and Four Seas who witnessed this scene began to chatter amongst themselves once more.

Among them were several fifth-tier artifact refiners. Although they might have only successfully refined a handful of items, perhaps just one or two, or even gained some by chance, their discernment was extraordinary. Upon seeing the Purple Lightning Sword's movements, they immediately knew it was advancing towards the sixth tier.

Currently, among the major powers of the Five Continents and Four Seas, there were no sixth-tier artifact refiners.

If Chen Mobai could successfully elevate the Purple Lightning Sword in front of them, even if by sheer luck, he would still be hailed as the "Foremost in Artifact Refining."

"Senior Brother, do you think it can succeed?"

Tai Xu Immortal, standing to one side, pointed at the Purple Lightning Sword below, which, after absorbing the sixth-tier Purple Splendor Sword Intent, was erupting with myriad bolts of lightning, resembling a giant thunderball, as he asked.

The Hao Ran One Qi Immortal was also a fifth-tier artifact refiner, his skill even comparable to, if not better than, that of the Immortal of Flame.

However, the Hao Ran One Qi Immortal, who usually enjoyed pontificating and critiquing, remained silent this time.

The other God-Transformation cultivators nearby thought he was unoptimistic, but Tai Xu Immortal understood that it was quite the opposite.

Due to his connection with the One Yuan True Monarch, Qianqiu Pen and Ink Grove had always disliked people and things associated with him, and the Hao Ran One Qi Immortal had made no secret of this just now. Therefore, if the Purple Lightning Sword were to fail, given his temperament, he would likely already be mocking it.

His current silence clearly indicated a high probability of success, making the Hao Ran One Qi Immortal reluctant to say anything more, lest he be humiliated if the Purple Lightning Sword successfully advanced.

"Will the Kui Beast just watch as the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness refines his sword?"

At this moment, a Divine Soul Dharma Idol resembling a five-colored mountain peak posed this question.

Although Tai Xu Immortal was seeing him for the first time, he immediately recognized him as Hermit Five Profound from Xuanwu Peak in Zhongzhou.

He was also listed by the Impermanence Pavilion as one of the new Six Wonders of the World, slated to succeed the Demon Venerable.

From his tone, it seemed he was eager for the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Wilderness's sword refining to fail.

As soon as his words fell, true to expectation, the Kui Beast above the Abyssal Sea stirred. Accompanied by violent sonic booms, the Kui Beast transformed into a green thunderball, rocketing skyward and landing before the Purple Lightning Sword, which was currently absorbing myriad tribulation lightning bolts to advance.

It roared in fury, its horns gathering immense and vast power, then heavily slammed them towards the Purple Lightning Sword's blade.

"Excellent timing!"

Chen Mobai, however, smiled in the face of this attack.

He remotely cast a sword art, causing the Purple Lightning Sword to rotate in mid-air, meeting the bull's horns head-on with the flat center of its eight-sided blade.

Under the immense force, the thick, straight blade was bent into an arc by the horns, erupting with flashes of lightning that surged towards the Kui Beast.

But the Kui Beast was the Thunder Lord; controlling lightning was as simple as breathing for it.

As it exhaled and inhaled, the lightning flashes bursting from the Purple Lightning Sword's blade flowed into various parts of its body, replenishing its essence, qi, and spirit.

Just as the Kui Beast felt a slight sense of triumph, it noticed something was amiss.

The Purple Lightning Sword, bent by its horns, suddenly began to rebound with increasing intensity.

It was as if this impact had pierced the Purple Lightning Sword's bottleneck; its previously slow advancement momentum surged dramatically at this moment.

With a deafening boom!

The Purple Lightning Sword officially crossed the bottleneck that had held it back for decades, becoming a sixth-tier sword artifact.

This was Chen Mobai leveraging the Kui Beast's power to shake open the Nine Heavens Profound Thunder Gold's essence within the Purple Lightning Sword, allowing this naturally formed sixth-tier immortal metal to completely merge into the blade.

The reason the Purple Lightning Sword had been unable to advance previously, apart from its shallow foundation and insufficient sword intent, was that the Nine Heavens Profound Thunder Gold had not been fully refined. Chen Mobai lacked a sixth-tier cauldron and true fire, so he could only slowly assist its elevation using the Can Tong Qi, but because he spent most of his time comprehending the Great Dao, he largely left the Purple Lightning Sword to its own efforts.

The Kui Beast's Dao of Strength and Dao of Thunder combined perfectly to provide the greatest assistance, allowing the Purple Lightning Sword to overcome its final hurdle to advancement by using the beast's horns.

After successfully advancing, the Purple Lightning Sword felt its thunderous primordial power expand to an extreme, becoming more than ten times stronger than before. It began to discharge electricity wildly, erupting with sixth-tier sword intent amidst booming sounds, attempting to straighten its bent blade and push away the annoying Kui Beast pressing down on it.

Facing this, the Kui Beast roared in response, simultaneously employing all three Daos it controlled: the Dao of Thunder suppressed the sword blade's purple lightning, the Dao of Armor withstood the sword fiend's sharpness, and the Dao of Strength bore down on the center of the sword spine, determined to break this newly-ascended sixth-tier sword artifact with overwhelming power.

Any other opponent, even the Lord of the Central Demonic Path, would retreat a considerable distance when facing the sixth-tier Purple Lightning Sword.

But the Kui Beast, on the other hand, showed no fear whatsoever.

This was because the Purple Lightning Sword's essence was lightning, and lightning could absolutely not harm the Kui Beast; it would even be restrained by it. Besides lightning, swords also possessed sharpness, but the Kui Beast had its Qi armor, which, even if it couldn't fully block, meant it didn't need to worry about being cut down by the sword.

The sword spirit of the newly advanced Purple Lightning Sword had barely enjoyed a few seconds of triumph before being completely suppressed by the Kui Beast; its blade became even more bent than before.

Chen Mobai, who had been guiding the entire ascension process of the Purple Lightning Sword with the Can Tong Qi, naturally perceived this scene.

"Master, save me! This brute's strength is too immense!"

The Purple Lightning Sword's spirit directly cried out for help.

The Myriad Sword Dharma Body immediately threw the Primordial Bell from its hand, smashing it with a clang against the enraged Kui Beast's waist and abdomen, sending it flying up to the Ninth Heaven.

Tai Xu Immortal and the other God-Transformation cultivators observing the battle in the sky instantly scattered, clearing the area.

After being flung upwards, the Kui Beast noticed the Divine Soul Dharma Idols from the Celestial River Realm, but it pretended not to, roaring as it dispelled the Primordial Bell's force. It then transformed back into a green thunderball, controlling an boundless sea of lightning, and charged towards the Abyssal Sea.

Chen Mobai, wielding the Purple Lightning Sword with his Myriad Sword Dharma Body, unleashed its post-ascension power to the fullest, cooperating with the Primordial Bell in a complementary offense and defense.

However, the Purple Lightning Sword was too heavily countered by the Kui Beast. Even with the augmentation of the Heaven-Severing Sword Domain, it could barely maintain control over its primordial lightning to prevent it from being manipulated by the opponent, and while its blade could pierce through the Dao of Armor, it was utterly incapable of inflicting fatal wounds.

It needed to imbue the Purple Lightning Sword with new power that could cleave through the Kui Beast's Qi armor and break free from the constraints of the Dao of Thunder.

After several attempts, Chen Mobai had, through his Myriad Sword Dharma Body, completely mastered the newly ascended Purple Lightning Sword. Subsequently, the key to dealing with the Kui Beast emerged in his mind.

For anyone else, achieving this would require at least a hundred years of contemplation and practice.

But Chen Mobai already had a plan for this.

Lightning was a Post-Natal Dao; elevating it to a Pre-Natal Dao was precisely "Destruction"!

In the past, Chen Mobai had wielded the Purple Lightning Sword to unleash the "Dao Extinction" sword strike, which contained the essence of destruction.

He himself had personally experienced the true meaning of destruction when he used the Primordial Chaos Qi Cannon to destroy Pluto, and had even comprehended the Great Dao of Destruction by utilizing the Dao platform outside the threshold when the Purple Heavens Palace descended upon the Three-Eyed Race's planet.

Previously, Chen Mobai had thought that this Pre-Natal Great Dao held little use for him.

After all, no matter how hard he tried, he could never catch up to Bai Guang in this aspect.

Furthermore, his Pure Yang path had long been set on Sacred Virtue and Ultimate Misfortune.

If he were to vigorously cultivate Destruction as well, with his attention divided, he might not succeed in any Dao.

However, there would be no problem at all if he were to refine this Great Dao into a sword artifact.

After all, the Purple Lightning Sword had been striving on its own before; Chen Mobai only needed to refine the Great Dao of Destruction into it, and the rest would depend on its own destiny.