Chapter 339 - 337: Thunder Sound Sword

Chapter 339: Chapter 337: Thunder Sound Sword

The Celestial Thunder faded. Where it had struck, a pile of Thunder Crystal Fragments rustled down, leaving a ball of purple light hovering in mid-air.

Bai Zichen beckoned, and the purple light shot over, landing obediently in his hand and transforming into a three-foot-long Flying Sword.

Its body was deep purple bamboo, mottled with Thunder Marks, and it felt like rough, molten rock to the touch.

Because he had personally forged it, he felt a spiritual connection to the sword even without undergoing the formal Refinement process. It felt like an extension of his own arm.

’This is the first Tier Three Flying Sword I’ve forged with my own hands. With such a good start, how could I worry about not having a steady supply of Tier Three Flying Swords in the future...’

Back in the day, the Fish Dragon Sect had managed to equip every Main Vein Core Formation True Man with a Thunder Sound Sword.

What Bai Zichen wanted was for a single person to have a dozen Thunder Sound Swords. When he was wealthy enough, he could set up a Star River Sword Array using nothing but Thunder Sound Swords.

He swung the Thunder Sound Sword gently, but to his surprise, it was not accompanied by any sound of thunder.

’Even the Sound Bamboo Sword emits a Jade Sound when used, which has become its signature feature, yet the Thunder Bamboo Sword has none... It must be fully activated to unleash the Celestial Thunder Power hidden within its bamboo body. The Nine Heavens Thunder Sound has the power of Exorcism and Shocking Evil, and the ability to refine Demonic Qi.’

The birth of Thunder Sound Bamboo required it to be struck by Celestial Thunder, infusing the Spiritual Bamboo with the Supreme Yang and Firm power of Celestial Thunder.

At the final stage of its forging, it was tempered by Thunder Fire. It was only under this double blessing that the Thunder Sound Sword gained its Exorcism Demon Divine Power.

However, after each use, the Thunder Sound Sword would need at least three to five years to gather the world’s Thunderbolt Power again.

During this process, it becomes an unremarkable, ordinary Tier Three bamboo Flying Sword.

With his fifth Tier Three Flying Sword now in his possession, Bai Zichen performed a quick refinement and gave it a spot in the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box as well.

’According to the records of the Fish Dragon Sect, the Thunder Sound Sword is forged from Spiritual Bamboo, after all, so it’s a step below a Five Metals Flying Sword in terms of hardness... It’s easily nicked and damaged when clashing with a flying sword of the same tier. However, both the Sword Nurturing Technique and the Pure Qi in the Sword Box are first-rate for repairing flying swords. It doesn’t even matter if a Wood Element Flying Sword is sliced in two.’

Unless he encountered a Demon Cultivator that needed to be countered, the Thunder Sound Sword’s only use in Bai Zichen’s hands was for Array Formation. He would never use it for regular Combat or sword duels.

Therefore, this weakness—the fragility of the sword’s body—could be mostly ignored.

The Sword Refinement had been a success, and although he still had a second Enlightenment Bodhi and several stalks of Thunder Sound Bamboo, he restrained the urge to continue.

A one-in-three success rate would have been completely acceptable for normal Sword Refinement.

But with the aid of the Enlightenment Bodhi, the Artifact Refining skill he displayed far exceeded his actual realm.

With his Comprehension effectively "cheating" for him, a mere thirty percent success rate seemed far too low.

The Bamboo Sea was on the right track; every few years, a stalk of Sacred Sound Bamboo would reliably withstand a Celestial Thunder strike and, on the verge of death, burst with new life, mutating into Thunder Sound Bamboo.

But if the Sword Refinement success rate was too low, wasting too many stalks of Thunder Sound Bamboo would greatly delay his goal of gathering twelve flying swords.

Preparation is never wasted time. He decided to thoroughly review and absorb the experience gained from this successful Sword Refinement.

Even if he couldn’t reach the Tier Three Top-Grade Artifact Refining Realm, he had to at least become a genuine Tier Three Top-Grade Sword Refiner.

’Unfortunately, the current situation doesn’t permit me to leave Black Mountain. Too many eyes are on me... Otherwise, if I could travel to Beiyuan and exchange Sword Refinement insights with the fellow Daoists of the Tianhe Sword Sect, I would surely gain a great deal.’

The Tianhe Sword Sect’s Sword Refining Skill was unparalleled in the Northern Domain.

Even compared to the Sword Cultivation Sects of the Central Domain, they each had their own strengths, and it was hard to say which was definitively superior.

In any case, even if the Five Phoenix Sword Sect was the most prominent Sword Cultivation Sect in the current Cultivation Realm, having produced a Divinity Transformation Great Power, they still lacked the ability to directly forge Tier Four Flying Swords.

Everyone’s upper limit for Sword Refinement was Tier Three Flying Swords. The only differences lay in the number of Sword Refining Secret Techniques they had mastered and their success rates.

When Bai Zichen first obtained the Moon Xuan Sword, he had made a Dao Heart Oath that if the Tianhe Sword Sect ever faced peril in his lifetime, he would aid them three times.

However, judging by the current situation, the Tianhe Sword Sect had two Nascent Soul cultivators in charge, both wielding Tier Four Flying Swords, making them a dominant regional power.

There was no sign they would need his help anytime soon; it seemed he had gotten the Moon Xuan Sword for a bargain.

But since that agreement existed, and both Tang Fei and Yann Yuanzai believed Bai Zichen’s Sword Dao Talent was so rare as to shake the heavens—so great that a Tier Four Flying Sword would be unable to contain itself upon seeing him from afar and would voluntarily submit—they practically saw him as one of their own. Even if he was unwilling to join them as a disciple, they wished they could bind him firmly to the great ship of their Sword Sect.

If he were to visit and request an exchange of Sword Refining Skill, he would undoubtedly be permitted.

Perhaps Yann Yuanzai, who had only recently reached the Nascent Soul realm, would even proactively teach him the secrets for a Sword Cultivator to Shatter their Core and Transform into a Nascent Soul.

After all, Bai Zichen’s miraculous feat of "Sword Slashes the Nascent Soul" had further proven their excellent judgment that day.

It completely shattered the rumors that the Tianhe Sword Sect had suffered a bitter loss and, to save face after being forced to hand over a Tier Four Flying Sword, had hyped an obscure junior from Liang Country to the high heavens.

...

A fair-complexioned Daoist priestess with a plain, unadorned face waited in a side hall on Celestial Thunder Cliff.

Only after the meeting in the main hall concluded and the crowd had dispersed was she invited inside.

"Senior Sister Chen, I’m so sorry. Things were a bit busy today; I’ve made you wait."

Huo Feiyan was actually impatient with tedious duties, but of her two senior brothers, one had become the Deputy Sect Leader, while the other had reached Late-Stage Foundation Establishment at a young age and was recognized as the disciple who most resembled their Master—the Sect’s top-ranked Core Formation Seed.

That left only her, who, having no particular strengths, could only take on the trivial affairs of Celestial Thunder Cliff.

Otherwise, she, as a disciple, would seem far too useless, unable to demonstrate any value at all.

"Junior Sister Huo, you’re too kind. I’m used to a quiet life and didn’t have much to do at the main mountain, so I came early."

Although she was much more senior, Chen Wei put on no airs, speaking gently and politely.

On one hand, Chen Wei simply had a gentle, non-competitive nature. On the other, while both were Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, Chen Wei’s background was far inferior to Huo Feiyan’s status as Ancestor Bai’s third disciple. Within the Qingfeng Sect, their positions were not on the same level.

She felt no sense of disparity about this.

To have come this far from being an ordinary Outer Sect Disciple was already a stroke of immense luck.

With her aptitude, if she hadn’t received a special inheritance at the Five Mountains Temple and gained the attention of Ancestor Ge Cang, she likely would have had no hope of breaking through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck.

Furthermore, her Thunderfall Body exhibited no special properties and was of no help in her Cultivation, making her no different from an ordinary Cultivator.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, Chen Wei began the process of refining the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead.

Logically, only a Core Formation True Man could refine such a Magical Treasure, but the uniqueness of her Thunderfall Body allowed her to begin refining and nurturing it ahead of time.

Once formed, the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead had remained motionless within her Dantian Qi Sea. With her Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, she had no way of activating it.

If Chen Wei ever reached Core Formation, this Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead would automatically sublimate into her Lifebound Magical Treasure.

Decades ago, before Ancestor Ge Cang refined his own Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead, he had summoned her to observe hers carefully.

Today, having been summoned by Ancestor Bai, she already had a good idea of the reason.

’So fast! Ancestor Bai is already considering refining an Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead to resist the Celestial Thunder Tribulation...’

Huo Feiyan chatted with Chen Wei for nearly an hour. Having run out of topics, their conversation drifted to idle gossip about how the Sect’s Lan Family had fallen into chaos, fighting over the inheritance after two of their Foundation Establishment Cultivators passed away in succession.

Finally, a chubby Bear Beast ran into the hall, brazenly leaped onto a table, and began to feast on a plate of dried fruit.

"Senior Sister Chen, let’s go. Master should be finished with his meditation and breathing exercises."

Huo Feiyan led Chen Wei into Ancestor Bai’s Cave Mansion. They followed a Jade Bridge across a path shrouded in mist and stopped outside a thatched hut to bow.

"Master, I have brought Senior Sister Chen."

"Chen Wei, do you know why I have summoned you?"

Bai Zichen’s closed eyes opened, a red glint flashing within them like a blade of lightning.

"I understand. It is my honor that my meager abilities can be of benefit to Ancestor’s Nascent Soul Path."

Chen Wei raised her head and tapped several points on her body. Her Magical Power converged, and a Treasure Bead was slowly expelled from her mouth.

The Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead had been rooted in her Dantian Qi Sea for decades, and because of her Thunderfall Body, it had long since become one with her.

As she expelled it from her body, a pain like a twisting knife stabbed her chest. Her face turned deathly pale, and large beads of sweat rolled down her forehead.

Chen Wei bit her lip, suppressing a cry of pain with immense willpower and trying to think of other things to distract herself.

’So this is the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead. To think such an unremarkable-looking pearl can actually absorb Celestial Thunder...’

Bai Zichen muttered to himself as his Divine Sense swept over the Treasure Bead, inspecting it thoroughly, inside and out.

The refining method for the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead was clearly documented on the third floor of the Transmission Hall, and he had sent for it long ago.

The reason he had summoned Chen Wei was to see what a properly refined Divine Bead looked like, lest he make a mistake during his own refining process.

As someone with a Thunderfall Body who had also directly received the Artifact Refining knowledge from the Inheritance Stele, the Magical Treasure Chen Wei had refined was naturally the most authentic and correct version.

Besides preparing for his Celestial Thunder Tribulation, Bai Zichen had suddenly made the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead a top priority because he discovered that this treasure could be of immense help in his Sword Refinement.

Currently, the biggest drawback when refining the Thunder Sound Sword was his inability to control the strength of the Celestial Thunder, meaning whether the sword could survive the Thunder Fire Tempering stage was left entirely to fate.

And the greatest function of the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead was to absorb Celestial Thunder, thereby reducing the power of a Celestial Tribulation.

So, if he were to use the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead during Sword Refinement, wouldn’t that be perfect?

If the Celestial Thunder was too strong, it could absorb some of the power. This would not only aid in Sword Refinement but also allow him to familiarize himself with using the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead, so that he could wield it with ease when his own Tribulation Crossing arrived.

He observed the Thunder Bead in front of Chen Wei for a long time. The few ancient characters inscribed on it left a deep and powerful impression on him.

’It seems to be the concepts of the Thunder God and celestial punishment from the Flower Bird Talisman, simplified, deconstructed, and then integrated into the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead...’

Ever since obtaining the *Complete Translation of the Flower Bird Talisman*, Bai Zichen could decipher the meanings of most common Flower Bird Talisman inscriptions.

Having studied it thoroughly, he waved for Chen Wei to retract the Treasure Bead. He then closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, comparing what he saw with the description of the Acquired Thunderfall Divine Bead in the artifact refining inheritance.

Opening his eyes, he saw the weakened Chen Wei being supported by Huo Feiyan. He rummaged through his storage bag, found a Sound Bamboo Sword he had made for practice, and offered it to her.

"Thank you for your trouble. Go back and get some rest."

Over the years, Bai Zichen had given out nearly twenty Sound Bamboo Swords, making it the most popular type of Flying Sword among the Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Qingfeng Sect.

All the Foundation Establishment Cultivators took pride in owning a Sound Bamboo Sword.