Chapter 563: Eight Directions Returning Origin Sword Post

"Where did you put it?"

The clay figurine wasn’t in the qiankun bag. Xiao He had all those little trinkets.

He had specifically carved out a small space in his Immortal Cave for Xiao He to hoard her toys.

There was nothing he could do; Xiao He was a demon, and her Dao cultivation wasn’t deep enough yet to open a qiankun bag.

It should be right there.

Returning to the Immortal Cave, Song Yan walked to a corner.

"Song Yan!!! What are you doing?!"

Xiao He was very displeased with Song Yan rummaging through her toys.

"Where’s that clay figure I gave you a few days ago?"

"It’s here."

"Are you taking it back?"

Xiao He was furious, pressing her forehead against Song Yan’s head, her pair of snake eyes glaring menacingly.

"Uh... no, there seems to be something inside... I’ll just take it out."

"Alright then."

Song Yan took back the clay figurine and subconsciously scanned it with his Divine Sense.

"Eh?"

He found that his Divine Sense couldn’t penetrate the clay figurine.

"Strange..."

He fiddled with it for a long time before noticing something peculiar among the small objects behind the clay figurine.

"The hairpin on the clay figurine can actually be removed."

What exquisite craftsmanship.

The sword tucked diagonally into its back, and the wine gourd at its waist, could all be detached.

Song Yan gently opened it, revealing a hidden seam on its back, and opened the clay figurine.

Indeed, a small piece of a page was hidden inside. Song Yan took it out, only to find that the material of this page was extremely special.

It looked like a thin layer, but after carefully unfolding it, its size was actually no different from an ordinary calligraphy post!

Xiao He had already transformed into her human form, huffing as she reassembled the clay figurine. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

These small items, which could be disassembled and reassembled, were among the most unique in her "collection"!

The more Xiao He thought about it, the angrier she got. In her rage, she bit Song Yan’s thigh, then angrily ran away.

Song Yan ignored Xiao He’s antics and carefully examined the calligraphy post.

"Ancient script again..."

The handwriting on the post was strong and forceful, the calligraphy throughout rising and falling with the grace of flowing clouds and water. Just one glance at it evoked a sense of unbridled Aura.

At the beginning of the script, six characters were written.

Eight Directions Returning Origin Sword Post.

At the end of the scroll was the faint impression of a half-seal, but perhaps due to the passage of time, it was now too blurred to be legible.

Song Yan spread it out on the stone table and read it through carefully.

"Hmm? This doesn’t seem to be just a calligraphy post..."

On the back of the Sword Post was a short invitation written in a unique font.

Reading it closely, the content recorded on this Sword Post was mainly about one thing.

The ancestor of the Xie Family, a Sword Cultivator, was named Xie Tianji. This person possessed extremely high martial arts Aptitude. At the tender age of nineteen, his Sword Dao had already reached the Transcendent Realm.

After turning twenty, his reputation soared, and he became unrivaled in the Martial Forest of Chu Kingdom.

Even the Martial Forest of the Central Domain had come to know his name.

During a Martial Forest Tournament held in the Central Domain, a Sword Post was sent to him, inviting him to participate.

Xie Tianji traveled from Chu Kingdom to the Central Domain, and with an undefeated stance, he once again claimed the title of "World’s Number One," which symbolized the highest honor for Martial Artist in the Mortal world.

However, he did not return directly to Chu Kingdom but embarked on a long journey.

"The so-called ’World’s Number One’ is merely a fleeting reputation that shackles one."

"Throughout the Four Seas and Eight Desolations, there are heroes and recluses, like stars in the sky..."

He once exchanged martial arts with an ascetic monk in the vast snowy mountains... He once engaged in life-and-death battles with extraordinary hermits in distant oceans... He also once brewed wine and discussed swords with an old man in a straw cloak amidst the misty forests and mountains.

Throughout his journey, whether in sparring matches or life-and-death battles, he never suffered a single defeat.

Until he met a young man.

He was a young man who looked even younger than Xie Tianji himself before he began his travels across the world.

He finally lost.

That was an "Immortal."

He sat and discussed the Dao with the Immortal. The Immortal said: "At the end of the Immortal path, the sword’s edge rusts."

There are no true Sword Cultivators left in the world.

The Immortal admired his Comprehension Ability and lamented his Aptitude.

He stated directly: "If you are willing to kneel, you can become a Named Disciple, Cultivate Immortal techniques, and seek eternal life."

Could he Cultivate the Sword Dao?

The Sword Dao was gone, nowhere to be learned.

Xie Tianji politely declined the Immortal’s guidance.

In his later years, he returned to Chu Kingdom and discovered that the Sword Post from back then, which had accompanied him through over thirty years of wind and frost, remained completely undamaged.

He then recorded his experiences from traveling the Four Seas and Eight Desolations in extremely concise and condensed words on its back.

To his Xie Family members, he did not mention his various experiences outside Chu Kingdom.

He only left a precept, instructing his Bloodline descendants not to forget the Sword Dao.

If they possessed the Aptitude to seek Immortality and the Dao, they should also Cultivate the sword.

...

Song Yan let out a long breath.

Refusing an Immortal Opportunity?!

Those few words brought him an unparalleled shock.

Who in the world can escape death?

No matter how brilliant you are, how much power you wield, in the end, you will all return to dust.

Only the path to Immortality offers a glimmer of hope for eternal life.

In the Mortal Martial Forest, for the sake of the elusive "Immortal path" and "Opportunity," mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, and bloody storms often occur.

But such an Opportunity was placed before him, and this person... actually refused it?

...

With a thought, he summoned the liangyi pearl. At this moment, its appearance seemed somewhat different; it glowed faintly with a white light.

"A calligraphy post written by a Mortal... Why would the liangyi pearl fluctuate?"

...

Song Yan couldn’t understand.

For some inexplicable reason... he abandoned the idea of continuing to Cultivate his spiritual power Realm and silently took out some brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones he had previously purchased at the Heart Cultivation Academy from his qiankun bag.

Stroke by stroke, he began to copy it.

...

From the perspective of the Xie Family descendants, Xie Tianji was somewhat stubborn.

However, it was probably this stubborn conviction that allowed him, as a Mortal Martial Artist, to exchange blows and discuss the Dao with an Immortal.

A Mortal’s life, in this magnificent and vast world, is extremely insignificant.

Most people spend their entire lives without seeing even the tip of the iceberg of this world.

Xie Tianji spent his entire life and finally unveiled a corner of the world.

But the world beyond was not as wonderful as he had imagined.

At the end of the Immortal path, the sword’s edge rusts.

How utterly boring.

So... what kind of mood was he in when he wrote down the most brilliant part of his life?

...

Unconvinced.

Song Yan only saw these two words on this Sword Post.

How could the Sword Dao decline?

Where does the Immortal path end?

What he wanted to see was a world where a hundred schools of thought contended, where the Sword Dao was vast and ever-changing, a world where one could truly be free and unconstrained, seeking the Dao in one’s heart.

Word by word, sentence by sentence, stroke by stroke, Song Yan didn’t know how many pages he wrote.

He was as if possessed.

The ink on his brush had long dried, and the Xuan paper was all used up.

Yet, he continued to copy in the air with the dry brush and ink.

The Sword Dao seed beneath the Zhen Dao Sword Mansion hummed softly, and his heart thumped along with it!

The sound of sword cries in his ears grew louder and louder, then at a certain moment, suddenly fell silent... His vision became dreamlike.

It was a young man, alone, battling a multitude of heroes, his sword suppressing the Martial Forest, winning the title of "World’s Number One."

A young man, embracing a brazier on a cold mountain, exchanging skills with an ascetic monk.

A young man, crossing vast oceans, engaging in life-and-death battles with extraordinary hermits.

A middle-aged man, mistakenly entering the misty forests and mountains, brewing wine and discussing swords with an old man in a straw cloak.

That person’s appearance grew older and older, the marks of time on his face deepened, but the fervor in his eyes for the Sword Dao remained undiminished.

In fact... it grew even stronger!

Finally, he reached his twilight years.

Facing the Immortal, he refused to kneel.

Everything the Immortal said did not extinguish the fervor in his eyes... The shouts in his ears grew louder and louder.

"May the Sword Cultivators of the world be vast and ever-changing..."

"May the Sword Cultivators of the world be truly unconstrained."

"May the Sword Cultivators of the world no longer have to kneel to seek the Dao!"

At this moment, beneath the Zhen Dao Sword Mansion, its sharpness could no longer be concealed.