The Opportunity of Tempering in the Great River

Gu Yang looked down.

He looked at the black reverse scale stained with sweet, metallic heart's blood.

He did not decline; extending two fingers, he picked it up with extreme coldness and tucked it into his sleeve.

"Get lost."

Receiving permission, Mo Ji felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

She gave Gu Yang a deep look, an expression of absolute submission akin to a low-tier demonic beast gazing up at a behemoth of the abyss.

In the next breath, she crushed the teleportation jade talisman in her hand without hesitation.

Furious laws of space descended instantly.

A blinding white light flashed, and her alluring, graceful, yet battered body completely vanished into the wild, dense forest filled with crisscrossing sword qi.

The bottom of the cliff fell back into dead silence.

Only the thick stench of blood lingered in the fierce wind for a long time.

Gu Yang stood quietly in place, his deep black eyes looking toward the deepest part of the dense forest, at the phantom of Broken Sword Mountain hidden in the clouds.

His gray silhouette swayed slightly, like a drop of water falling into an ink sea, vanishing once again into the profound shadows.

Following the undercurrent of the Sword-Washing Great River, which was brimming with fragmented Gengjin sword qi, Gu Yang traveled silently along the edge of the wild sword-wood forest like a weightless phantom.

The howling wind tore through the forest, sounding like ten thousand swords resonating together.

And at the end of his line of sight, the cluster of grayish-white stone pillars towering into the clouds, looking like countless sharp swords piercing straight into the firmament, was already in view.

The Thousand-Wall Stone Forest.

Separated by the surging, roaring Sword-Washing Great River, Gu Yang stopped in his tracks.

The deep blue river water was like a flowing, exquisite sapphire. Yet, amidst the swirling mist, it exuded a strong, pungent stench of rust and blood.

At this moment, the riverbank was not deserted.

Seven or eight disciples clad in the snow-white sword robes of the Supreme Sword Sect coldly occupied a stretch of flat river shoal.

The leader, a True Inheritance Disciple named Lu Chen, held a compass engraved with complex array patterns. With a deeply furrowed brow, he stared at the rushing river surface, seemingly calculating something.

A hundred paces away from them, over a dozen rogue cultivators in various attires were staring in this direction with greedy, green-glowing eyes.

Gu Yang's deep black eyes swept over the crowd.

His gaze paused for half a breath on a familiar figure wearing washed-out green cloth clothes and carrying a rusty iron sword on his back.

Mo Bufan.

This genius rogue cultivator, known within the Righteous Path Alliance as the "Sunny Boy," was currently mingling among the rogue cultivators, wearing a faint smile that seemed sincere but carried a hint of ruffian charm.

"System, consume 10 Destiny Points to perform a targeted intelligence deduction on this section of the Sword-Washing Great River before me."

A cold, mechanical voice sounded in his sea of consciousness.

[Ding! Command confirmed. Deducting 10 Destiny Points. Remaining Destiny Points: 190]

A pale blue light screen slowly unrolled in his dark sea of consciousness.

[Blue Intelligence: In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, this section of the Sword-Washing Great River will experience an extremely rare "Sword Qi Backflow" tide. At that time, a hidden sword eye at the bottom of the river will erupt with a five-hundred-year-old "Purple Gold Sword-Washing Sand."

Note: The water of the Sword-Washing River can reflect a cultivator's obsessions and replicate a mirror-image inner demon. When the tide recedes, it creates a "window period" of the laws, during which the mirror-image inner demon can leave the river water to devour and replace the original body.

The Purple Gold Sword-Washing Sand is not an artifact-refining material, but the core array eye used by an ancient mighty figure to suppress the mirror-image illusion array here. [Click to view coordinates]]

A trace of extremely cold realization flashed in the depths of Gu Yang's eyes.

He was in no rush to reveal himself. Leaning back, his figure blended seamlessly into the shadow of a massive sword-wood tree.

The time it took for an incense stick to burn passed in a flash.

The dark clouds in the sky were torn apart by the fierce wind, and moonlight cascaded down like a waterfall.

"Splash—"

The originally surging and roaring deep blue river water let out an extremely muffled wail without any warning.

The water level retreated madly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Large swaths of riverbed mud, covered in sword marks, were exposed.

And right in the center of that mud, a spot of purple-gold light, like a dazzling star, suddenly lit up.

Extremely pure Gengjin sword qi, mixed with the fluctuations of ancient array patterns, instantly swept across the entire river shoal.

The scenery was as beautiful as a fairyland, but the aura of this exotic treasure, enough to drive people mad, instantly stretched the atmosphere on the riverbank to the extreme.

"The Supreme Sword Sect is handling business here. All idle personnel, get out of a hundred-zhang radius!"

Several sword sect disciples behind Lu Chen drew their longswords. Their icy sword qi directly carved a deep trench in front of the rogue cultivators.

The rogue cultivators' expressions changed. Intimidated by the despotic power of the Supreme Sword Sect, they involuntarily took a step back.

Right in this moment of retreat.

"Senior Brother Lu has such great prestige! The fortuitous encounters of the mystic realm are available to everyone in the world."

Mo Bufan stepped out from the crowd.

His handsome face was full of grief and indignation. The rusty, broken iron sword in his hand pointed diagonally at the ground, and his righteous voice echoed across the empty riverbank.

"Your Supreme Sword Sect treats human lives like grass. Do you really think this Eastern Region is your family's backyard?!"

These words were like a spark thrown directly into a powder keg piled high with dry firewood.

The rogue cultivators, whose eyes were already red due to the influence of the mystic realm's violent sword qi, had their greed and hostility thoroughly ignited.

"Kill these sons of bitches from the Supreme Sword Sect!"

"Kill! That Purple Gold Sword-Washing Sand is mine!"

Dozens of colorful, low-quality magical artifacts and talismans smashed into the Supreme Sword Sect's defensive line like a rainstorm.

A chaotic battle erupted instantly.

Severed limbs and broken arms, accompanied by warm blood, were tossed high into the air and then smashed heavily onto the muddy river shoal.

The pungent smell of blood instantly masked the rust scent of the river water.

However.

At the edge of this meat-grinder-like slaughter, Lu Chen, who was fiercely protected from behind by his fellow disciples, didn't even turn his head.

His bloodshot eyes were fixed dead on the Sword-Washing Sand radiating purple-gold light in the center of the mud.

"Mine... the opportunity for Core Formation... it's mine!"

Lu Chen's Adam's apple bobbed violently. He thrust out his hand, his fingertips greedily touching the edge of that purple-gold halo.

It was exactly at this split second.

The river's tide receded, completely hitting the bottom.

The "window period" of the laws descended.

"Splash."

An extremely subtle sound of water.

In the shallow puddle of deep blue water at Lu Chen's feet, his reflection suddenly and bizarrely curled the corners of its mouth into a grin.

A bone-chilling arc.

Before Lu Chen could react, the reflection beneath the water's surface suddenly thrust out a pale, swollen hand, gripping his ankle in a deathly vice.

An absolutely irresistible, tremendous force transmitted over.

"Plop!"

Lu Chen didn't even have the time to let out a scream before his entire body was forcefully dragged into the shallow puddle barely an inch deep.

Scalp-numbing chewing sounds, accompanied by the crisp cracking of shattering bones, echoed muffledly from beneath the puddle.

In merely one breath.

A pale hand pushed against the mud, and he stood back up.

"Lu Chen" stretched his stiff neck, emitting crisp cracking sounds.

The face was exactly the same, but his temperament had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.

Extremely gloomy and cold, devoid of any emotion.

There was not a trace of human greed in the depths of his eyes, only a killing sword intent that was pure to the extreme, as if it could freeze the soul.

Disaster completely detonated at this moment.